For the past few month’s my son has been acting super weird and it’s making me very worried, It’s almost like he’s a different person now, He says a bunch of weird thing’s wich i don’t know the meaning to, Sometimes he randomly shouts out “AGENCY AGENCY”,“THAT’S SO SHEIST”, “HE HIT THE GOOBNUT HAHAHAH” “BRO HE HAXXED ME MAN THIS GUY’S SO LUCKY DUDE”, “I’M APPLYING THAT BIG PRESH” What does all this mean ? Is Big presh some type of slang for drug ? Is agency some type of gang ? He constantly invites people and welcomes them to the “agency”, I think he might be special ? I contacted his teacher to see if she maybe has some insight on what’s going on at school, I thought he might of made new friends that influenced him in a bad way, But the teacher told me he lost all of his friends. He did something so horrible yesterday i still can’t believe it, He stole my wallet, i confronted him about it and he told me he spent all on the money on l’agence and invested it in Agency Stocks” Apparently a guy like him invests and makes double ??? That’s what he told me but he lost all of the money and told me he got haxxed and now we’re in crippling debt, Someone please help me, I want my son back

Hi I need some feed back from the community.
I had a crush on girl back in H.S. 1992-1996 we have friends in common. She tried many times talking to me but I was shy to talk her because I really like her. We live in the same area and used to play handball with same people. She tried to say hi which I successfully did say hi sometimes. One time I was with my father a clothing store were she waiving at me but not until was told my father to say hi. I think she like me back then, but was shy to talk to her. She left with her family to Florida in 1995 but she came to NYC and used to see her sometimes she would smile but again I was timid. 1996 I heard she had become a mom. I was sad but I thought I had to move on. After I finish college in 2000 I joined the Navy in 2000-2004 during that time I became extrovert dated some girl, then I got married but lasted two years. I always thought about the crush I had in H.S. When through hardship and the only person that brought me comfort my crush. I then finish my time in the Navy in 2004 quickly join the Army in 2004-2008. I met second wife which at point she was pregnant with my son. At that time we were not married. Also, in the Army when through some hardship my only comfort was my crush and not my girlfriend (soon to become wife). I got out the Army in 2008. My wife at the time my girlfriend never understood that I need time to readjust we separate and the only person who help was my father. I got married in 2013 and got divorce two years ago. In 2008 I joined Facebook and found my crush tried to ad her a friend but I think at the time she was married she never answer. I did send to messages telling her how I felt and telling her that the hardship that I had in the Navy and Army, that I always tough of her and was the only tough that made happy. Second message told her about my feelings and never again message her and left alone. 2009 I started a import business and doing wholes of sock and phone accessories. While all this I finish my second bachelors in accounting 2011, then also when on finishing my Masters in Accounting and Finance and obtaining my CPA. 2013 my girlfriend got married and since we had our son wanted to give a shot to work thing out. I was able to buy a restaurant from a family member and then open another one in PA. I got divorce in 20022 we share responsibilities with my ex-wife for the restaurants that we owe . I always tough about my crush used to look her up from time to time nothing else. I started posting on my Facebook pics me how a look now and make a few real from H.S with my pictures and the 2 months ago I went on Facebook look my crush up and send her a friend request I tough we are 46 we are more mature she has not block or accept the friends request. I'm only following her the cancel request is grey out. Last week I build courage to like one of her posting. I know in her posting she mentioned not having a husband and having a small daughter. I tough there 2 options 1 she blocks or 2 she says notices me. A week later she takes her posting down and then a few days later she changes her profile picture. I was going to like her new picture, I guess she change her setting where only friends can like her new posting or pictures. So I muster the guts and send a message telling her that her hair and eyes look beautiful. I have a gut feeling that she read my message even though in my messenger still say sent. She hasn't block me or anything like that so I really don't know what to think. She still letting me follow her, but I'm trying to make sense out this.
I'm just want people though since is hard for me to talk to someone. I tell myself let it go but have to give a shot. Maybe it work maybe not I just have to know. Thanks everyone for the feedback.

So. I had a surprise 50th today. My friends trying to make me have some good times. My son died a while ago and my life has been shambles. My only child gone. 😫😪 I have put on 50 pounds. This year because of it. I’m embarrassed of the photos and would like to be thinned out so I can have them to print out to put on my wall. I don’t want to share publicly. Can someone help me? Willing to pay.

So my girlfriend (technically fiancé) and I both lived in North Carolina she is temporarily in California donating her stem cells and her kidney to her son who needs them. She’s been very very off lately due to the stress and everything and I’m not trying to push her but in the beginning when she was out there we talked about me coming there for a week to visit she been there for 2 months now and won’t be back for good till mid August but like I said we talked about it and scheduling has been changing and she’s been mentally exhausted how do I bring it up and actually set plans to come see her without stressing her out. To be honest I don’t even know if she wants that but then again she is very stingy with money and hates people spending money on her and she sees it being very expensive to visit her.
Also lately she’s been saying love you instead of I love you and I’ve read there is a difference I’m scared she’s falling out of love cause love you just sounds like a yeah yeah yeah 👍🏼 love you but I love you sounds more intense and intimate and meaningful.
Please help

Hi there, sorry if incorrect format or misspellings I'm on mobile and in so much pain. So I had a marsupialization done on my left side on Thursday (it's now going on Sunday almost midnight) and when I first came home I didn't really feel much as I was pretty numb, and I was knocked completely out for this. Then on Friday I was in a lot of pain and the area was black I mean it looked like I had been burned so bad and had charcoal there. So I called the drs office and they told me to alternate between ibuprofen and tylenol along with my oxycoden. They gave me that because I regularly take hydrocodone for chronic pain issues. Normally she doesn't give "pain" meds. But they told me no baths, no soap, they didn't give me any antibiotics and basically no real instructions. Now I've dealt with this same cyst for 8 years. I had it drained twice in office about 8 years ago, it seemed to work but never fully went away. Then I got pregnant and when I gave birth I asked if she could drain it but she said no because of infection, okay I get that. I asked again at my 6 week appointment and she asked " well does it bother you?" And I said no it's just uncomfortable and that's all I ever heard from every dr until I recently said yes it does because it was so large I couldn't even put a finger in my vagina, like my vagina was non existence. Which leads me to here. Now today I was in so much pain. It's not really black anymore but it's super swollen and red and I can't sit or lay down it's miserable and sorry for tmi but it smells awful. I use a water bottle after I pee, I really need to do number 2, but I can't I even have taken stool softners and it's right there but because of the pain I physically can't get it out which just is awful. Please tell me some of your experiences with this. I feel this will not end. I miss playing with my son and hanging out with him, my mom is a big help as we live with her, but I just hate this and I feel like it's botched or something, I am bleeding but not a lot and it's a dark color and doesn't smell great (sorry tmi) what can I do to help with some of this pain? I do ice as they told me no heat at all. Also my inner thigh and left butt cheek hurt as well. Sorry for the long post. Thank you so much.

Not sure if I am cut out to be a med spouse.
We have been together dating now for almost 3 years. Me (30F) and him (27M). When we started dating he has always told me one of his goals was to get into med school. We didn’t know for sure if it was going to happen and this was his second time applying as the first round he tried, he didn’t get accepted into any schools. About a year and a half into dating, he got accepted into a med school within our state but 3 and a half hours away from home. We were living together when he got accepted and we talked about if I was moving with him or do LDR. I also have a now 9 yr old son so making the decision to uproot his life also was very hard for me. I also had my mom back at home to help me with my son and if I moved I would have no support system with my son. I did sit down and talked to my son to be sure he would understand to most of his ability if he would be okay with the possibility of moving and all the changes that came with it and to my surprise was very excited to maybe move to a new city. I also had my job, where I had work at for almost 7 years and leaving my job was also extremely hard for me as I was very happy at my job. I developed a lot of relationships with my customers that I had bonded and built trust with within those years in my field. I was very leaning towards trying to do LDR his first year of school and then move once he was more established at school. As the date got closer to making a final decision, I want to say he basically gave me a ultimatum of if we did long distance he didn’t think out relationship would work. He has never been in a long distance relationship before and neither had I but I was willing to put in the work and I reassured him that we could make it work but in his mind he didn’t think it would work because “he would constantly be worried about me”. I asked for a promise ring as I was uprooting my whole life and I just needed a reassurance for him to make this big move and he said no bc I just needed to trust his words. I was scared to put an end to our relationship so I decided to move with my son to support his dreams. I was very well aware that a lot of the responsibilities of supporting him would lean on me but prior moving he told me we would split rent 50/50 as he would be living off of his loans. He would help me when he could with house chores and with my son as needed.
I thrive off living life with a routine and communication of how our weeks will go. As soon as school started for him as much as I asked for his weekly class schedule there was always some excuse as to why “he forgot to send it to me”. I needed his schedule to plan accordingly as I was about to start a new job and needed to figure out how I was gonna make it work with my son’s school schedule also. We’ve had a lot issues right off the bat starting med school. He likes to go out and so every chance he to “celebrate” after an exam he would be out with classmates. I would stay home bc obviously I have my son and I also work the next day. I don’t mind him going out at all but its more about how he still barely made time to do anything with me like go out for a dinner date after an exam or just do something fun together. His immediate thought was to go out drinking with friends. Making me feel that he was putting these “new friends” before me.
But long story short because I think my rant is long enough. My bf is finishing his 1st year of med school. He has failed exams and had to retest a couple times and I have seen him fall into depressive episodes and just shut down. I try to be supportive and let him go thru it until he is ready to talk but I can’t say its has been easy for me when he is moody, grumpy and mean towards me a long the way. He gets mean with my son too when my son is being “too loud” for him. I clean I cook I do laundry basically do 90% of everything around the house. He will every couple of weeks maybe do something around the house. I guess most of the times I don’t feel appreciated. I cook after a 10hrs day of work and I don’t get a thank you and on the rare occasion “wow that was a good meal” and I only know he enjoys my food if he ask for seconds. I buy groceries and I would have to basically beg him to come out and help me bring them in to the point where I don’t ask anymore and he just bought me a wagon I guess so I don’t struggle too much carrying all the bags in. Ive expressed several times that I also work 10-11 hrs/day at work that I need a little help too and I don’t feel like I ask for a lot. He doesn’t know how to cook so I never ask him to cook. I clean the house every week. All I ask for is maybe dishes to get wash and just heavy lifting things that maybe I don’t have the strength for and trash to be taken out. I really try my best to make life easier for him while he is doing school but I also remind I am not his mom as he is also a mamas boy and his mom did everything for him even as an adult . He is very coddled by his parents.
I get home sick all the time. When we first moved, I went back home to visit once a month the first semester. Sometimes we were able to go all together but sometimes his schedule wouldn’t work with mine and I would have to go by myself and that was fine but I noticed when I would go by myself he would always find a reason to fight and make that time period that I was back at home miserable. For example my last visit back home was Spring break and I went on a girls trip to another state and back home to visit. At first he was fine when I left but when I was on vacation, he was being short with his texts and just by the way he was texting I knew something was wrong or he was mad. I asked him on my trip if he was mad I got to travel and he took it super personal and just stopped texting me. When I got back from my trip I was in my home town and he finally told me he was upset that I was on a trip on the same week his spring break was. Prior to all of this he knew my girls trips was planned months in advance. I had told him prior to me leaving he could drive back home and we could spend a few days together after my trip together and he refused and I think he was just trying to be difficult bc I didnt invite him on my trip, but WHY would I do that when it was specifically a trip for girls. So he told me I was extremely inconsiderate for going on that trip. So theres that..
We almost broke up after that but we tried to fix things. Fast forward to now I started having a gut feeling as something was off bc he barely wants intimacy anymore and I get it. We are both tired from our day to day. I never want anything anymore bc everything feels rushed and just to make him feel good and then he has to be done quick bc he has to go back to studying. One day recently I went thru his phone and found out he has been texting a girl through a fake number app. They don’t talk consistently but the intentions are there. Doesn’t seem like anything physical has happened but he definitely is trying constantly to meet up with her some day, he just hasn’t bc he has no time bc of school. I haven’t said anything out of consideration that he was going thru finals for end of year. I will admit I have been a little checked out mentally but this was just the icing on the cake bc I have been nothing but supportive to be cheated on. I think I am just numb to everything bc I can’t tell if I’m mad or sad or just relived that maybe this is my sign to go back home. Ive lost almost over 20 lbs since moving bc I dont barely eat just when Im home. My hair is starting to fall out more and I can’t tell if its stress. I guess from all of this I think you can kinda tell what I’m going thru. I have no friends here and its hard to hold this all in and have no one to talk to. My friends back home just tells me to come back already and that he doesn’t deserve me. I just didn’t really think this would be happening but I guess better now then later. I could go on and on about amongst other stuff but I’ll leave at this.
Thank you for reading my rant if you got this far. I know my writing is all over the place.

I am not The OOP, OOP is u/Wide-Area-6779
His mistress made him a better husband. I feel nauseous.
Ongoing
Originally posted to TrueOffMyChest
Thanks to u/queenlegolas for suggesting this BoRU
TRIGGER WARNING: emotional infidelity, physical assault, verbal abuse, manipulation
Original Post Nov 22, 2023
This is a throwaway. I’m just nauseous and want to vent please let me do it here?
Everything changed about 3 years ago and my husband became my dream man. Before that, we suffered a lot in our marriage. After 2 hard pregnancies and PPD my libido was diminished and we fought all the time. After 4 years of dead bedroom we started therapy. I thought that was where the improvement came from.
My husband started paying attention to me. In the beginning I was panicking because whenever he paid me attention before he expected sex but now it felt like he was seeing me as a human being for the first time. He was attentive and caring. Emphatic. He touched and cuddled and kissed me out of the blue, without wanting sex in return. He started helping around the house, bringing me flowers, take out dinners when I work late, planning date nights. Anniversaries, birthdays and holidays are planned perfectly and I started getting the most beautiful and thoughtful gifts. When we fought, he would come the next day and admitted his wrongs and very accurately (if he was the one in the wrong) something he never did before. He would apologize too when back in the days him apologizing would be a blow to his ego. He said he was happy all the time and lucky to have us as his family. Everything was better and I even got my libido back if not as high as I hoped.
I found their conversation about 5 days ago and I have probably spent over 50 hours reading them. 3 years worth of conversation. He would tell her his woes and she would listen. 99 out of 100 times she sided with me. She taught him about intimacy and how important it is in marriages. The tragically funny part is that he never got angry or offended by her telling him off. Calling him silly, stubborn or at times man baby. Her honesty was brutal and yet he agreed with her. She was the one suggesting all the changes and he would ask her for advice about gifts, traveling and all the beautiful things he did for our family.
He thanks her all the time for helping him turn his miserable home life around, making it tolerable. With all these texts there were the texts between them that are about them like nobody else existed around them. The flirting, sextalk and pictures. The longing to see each other.
He says she is the love of his life every day and that he wishes their circumstances were different. She says the same. They both agree that divorce would ruin their families and that they couldn’t be that selfish. how admirable!
I feel nauseous. My happiness for the past three years was fake. I don’t know what to do. I want to hurt them. I want to expose them and I want to ruin whatever they think is perfect happiness
Hi!
I’m getting chat requests about my comments not being visible. Is this normal? I’m trying to answer you guys. Sorry
Hi again
Since I can’t comment and I can’t answer all the chats I will answer here
I am 35. My husband is 39 we have two children 9&7
She is 40 and she has one child 14. She is in a dead bedroom with her husband too and for 14 years.
The affair is physical too yes but they meet maybe once every month or every other month. She tells my husband that what they feel is probably limerence but that they don’t know it yet because they meet so little. She lives in another city
Update - My husband left me after I told his mistress’s husband about their affair. March 19, 2024
I was here some weeks ago, with my original post. I finally decided that I really should reach out to the husband of my husband’s mistress. I found him easily and I contacted him. He didn’t believe me at first and was rude about it and told me to go f myself. I hesitated to contact him again to be honest but after a few days I realized that I would too not believe a stranger just popping in my dms accusing my SO of cheating so I recorded my husband’s phone with my phone. Especially the messages where she’s sent explicit photos and stuff. I also went to the contact to show the number. He didn’t answer me the first day then he called me the c-word and blocked me. I thought well then, I have done my part and it’s on him if he believed me or not. Then after a week my husband came home angry and he yelled at me for exposing them. He asked me why I didn’t confront him instead, my problem was with him. I have never seen him yell like this then he packed a bag and left for about a week. I think he’s traveled to her.
When he got home he said that it was over. He said that he has been trying to make me happy for years and he’s done everything a good husband would do but still, nothing was good enough for me. I’ve made him miserable for years and instead of taking it out on him, I chose to hurt a woman and her child. He moved to his parents house and now he’s renting an apartment I have heard that he travels the weeks he doesn’t have the children to be with her and that she’s moving here soon when she gets full custody of her child.
I have not been feeling well at all. He has never spoken to me directly since he left and I haven’t seen him. He adamantly refuses to talk to me. Like I never existed in his life. I don’t know what I have done to deserve this treatment. I hate that they won.
RELEVANT COMMENTS

So basically your cheating ex is trying to blame you for him cheating. The delusion of cheaters.
You only informed the mistress's husband that she couldn't keep her legs closed to a cold breeze.
He had a right to know. Onwards and upwards.
UpdateMe

OOP

He didn’t blame me for anything. He doesn’t care that he cheated. He was only angry that her husband hurt her and her child.
Maybe my post was this convoluted that everyone here is thinking he is trying to put the blame in me? He doesn’t care at all. He just thought that I should have confronted him instead because he was the one who cheated on me.
I told everyone around us what he done and he doesn’t even care

~
List-and-dumbfound

The last 3 years of your marriage were a lie. You know that now. Who he is the person he treated you before his affair partner had to convince him to be good to you. He is not a good person.
Do they even really know each other? Like how it is to be around each other on a daily basis. They are genuinely dumb to think the list will stay with 3 kids around plus handling chores and day to day things of life. They have 2 custody battles ahead of them and divorced on top of it.
If he’s angry with you the next time you have to see him, ask him why? He got what he wanted. He wanted to be with her and now he is. So why is he angry that you gave him what you wanted.
It’s probably shame that he’s painted to be a cheater. Not he can’t manipulate the narrative and paint you as the bad person.
If what they won is each other? Let them have each other. They are both awful people so they deserve each other

OOP

He is not angry about the divorce. He is angry I told the husband instead of him because the husband hurt her and her kid

DrNefariousMcFarious

He’s not angry bc of that, he always assumed that if you found out he could gaslight you into thinking that it was somehow your fault or not happening, but by you telling the other husband, there was no getting around it.

OOP

No he is angry about me putting his AP in danger.. he gives zero fucks about staying in our marriage or not. He only was with me to help raise the children and probably wait for her to get rid of her husband. I am not trying to he dramatic here but the soon I realize the truth the better is is for me to move on I think

I want full custody of my children after he went and beat up his mistress’s husband within an inch of his life and ended up in jail. Mar 22, 2024
This morning I got a call from my mother in law that my husband has been in jail for the past couple of days and only got out this morning but the charges weren’t dropped. Apparently his mistress and her husband had another altercation last weekend and she ended up hurt again.
Now I want full custody of my children. He is out but charges are not dropped so it will probably lead to some punishment. I don’t know if family court would count this in case I want full custody and supervised visits. My mother in law was hostile when I told her this and she’s one of the people who have supported me so I am expecting some push back. I don’t care.
RELEVANT COMMENTS
inquiryreport

You probably should not have let your MIL in on this idea. Her first reaction is going to be that it will threaten her ability to see the grand kids and her son’s ability to be a father. Even if you think she is on your team have to assume she isn’t.

OOP

Yeah it was a big mistake

NEW UPDATE

He celebrated Mother’s Day with his mistress and her son May 12, 2024
Thank you so much for staying in touch and I am so sorry that I cannot answer your dms. I haven’t been active on Reddit and I have received tens of dms every day since my posts. I have been trying to adjust to life as a single mother. It is hard and especially the weeks I don’t have my children. Unfortunately, I could not convince court to give me sole custody even with my husband’s pending legal issues due to him not having any priors. He however succeeded to limit my family’s access citing parental alienation. I am not allowed my children around my family without supervision (MIL). All of this actions are temporary however until we get a court date. He is refusing to meet or talk to me for any reason besides texting about the children.
He is not in jail (for those who are asking) he has no priors so he is out. He will probably not be getting any jail time either but rather parole. Anyway, his mistress has secretly recorded some of the abuse she was getting from her husband and she has sole custody of their child now. She has moved to our city and she and her child are living with my MIL. Yes, MIL and from what I have gathered, she lives with my husband on the days I have the children.
Today I was out with my children and my friend and her children to have mother’s day brunch. I was the happiest I been for months because I got a bouquet of flowers and chocolate that is signed from my children (worlds best mom) and I knew that it was from my husband. Anyway when we arrived to the restaurant, there he was with his mistress and her child. They were celebrating mother’s day too. Her son was sitting between them and she had gift papers and flowers all around her on the table. I froze and wanted to leave but he came and apologized and said that he didn’t mean for this. She was crying and hugging her son. I wanted to faint because my children were so excited to see him and wanted to go inside and eat brunch with their dad. He told our children that it was mommy’s day then he asked me if I wanted her to leave so the children can have lunch with both of us. I just left with the children and took them to McDonald’s instead. He sent me a long text saying how sorry he was and how he wished that he loved me as much as I deserved and that he wished me to find love soon. He doesn’t regret our marriage and hope I don’t either because we got our beautiful children out of it that we need to raise and to not punish them because of what he did. Please let us not let our resentment of each other to spill out on our children. Let us promise to keep them happy and loved. Let us not use them as pawns. I asked him what I lacked that she has. A question that have been living rent free inside my head He said to stop this. This is futile. I insisted and I called him and he answered for the first time in months. I told him I wanted to know. No matter how harsh the truth was I can’t live without knowing. He said Mothing. I lacked nothing and she is not better in any way. He just loves her and loves himself when he is with her. He feels real and genuine happiness with her that he never felt in his entire life. I hang up and he texted I am sorry. This is the truth you asked for. You are not less than. You lack nothing. Please let us give our children the good life they deserve. Don’t hurt them to hurt me
I don’t know what I have done in my previous life to deserve this. The way he was with her. He never looked at me that way not even when we first met. I don’t know how to stop thinking about them. It is in my brain all day. I want full custody of my children and I will fight for it as much as I can. She will never be their step mother. Her custody is not finalized either and hopefully she will have to move back to her city so her husband can have visitation rights and she is out of my life. If my husband wants to move to be with her. My children stay with me.
RELEVANT COMMENTS
OOP told to be careful around the husband, and asked what his mother thinks

Well I am not stupid and he can record me all he wants because I was very calm and I genuinely agree that the children come first. Even her child tbh. But I know that she only had emergency custody of hers because of the assault but I know the rules here and she will probably need to move back soon because her husband has right to meet his son. In that case my husband can move away but he can’t have custody because I want a stable home for them. I don’t know why I am getting hate in my dms calling me vindictive.
I am very grateful to you and others who are mentioning that she is coaching him to say things. Of course! How stupid was I not to figure this out. From not talking to me for a second to being all nice and begging me to forgive him and to keep it amicable? Of course it is her. Even mother’s day flowers was probably from her.
MIL is very devastated about what happened and she visits me every day even when the children aren’t home. She said that she had to take her in until she gets her own place. No she is not allowed to meet the children and it is already decided and MIL is making sure this is not the case. I understand that MIL chooses her son but she hasn’t given up on me.
I have talked a lot with mom about what happened and no she doesn’t feel guilty. She said that it was different (of course it is🙄) hers was real love and dad’s ex was very abusive. I don’t know, I don’t believe in karma or anything but she said that she at least understands now how dad’s ex felt. I feel anger because some people win and some lose and I still love him very much. I regret exposing what happened. At least I could have had 4 more years together. And the children would have been a bit older. I regret so much things that I have done in a moment of grief and anger

OOP When told to be careful what she puts in text messages and once again be weary of the mistress

Thanks. I have been very careful about texting because as I am keeping all the evidence, I am counting on him doing that too. About his mistress, it is less “evil” than that because I was wrong about her recording the abuse. She stole the surveillance her husband had installed around their house to spy on her. MIL told me this today. She is probably hoping for full custody but I know the rules here and he will have right to see his son no matter so the c-word will have to move back sooner or later.
Only them I will be asking for full custody if my husband moves with her to her city because I don’t want a part time father to my children who shows up whenever he pleases. I want stability. He is either a father or not

THIS IS A REPOST SUB - I AM NOT THE OOP
DO NOT CONTACT THE OOP's OR COMMENT ON LINKED POSTS, REMEMBER - RULE 7

I am NOT OOP, OOP is u/Born_Analysis8995
Originally posted to self
My (16m) mom (40f) confessed that she is my sister and I now feel bad
Trigger Warnings: death of a loved one, past sexual assault, teen pregnancy, drugs and alcohol use, mentions of overdose
Original Post (Wayback Machine): May 11, 2024
Idk why I feel so much guilt about this whole situation. This happened 5 days ago, 1 week after my 16th birthday.
So my mom (sister) explained our entire family situation. Her mom (my bio mom) was assaulted as a teenager (15) and was forced to keep the child because of her parents, eventually giving birth to my mom. They struggled a lot during this time and my mom was resented by her mom so she moved away as soon as she was 18 and went NC. Her mom began spiralling with drugs, alcohol, etc once she left and eventually ended up pregnant again with me around the time my mom was 23. However, she was deemed unfit to raise me so they managed to contact my mom and she agreed to take me in. My bio mom never really recovered and ended up overdosing a year later.
This completely surprised me because I genuinely never had clue I wasn't actually my mom's child. We look very much alike and she went to great lengths to become my mom. She said that I don't need to call her mom anymore and that I deserved to know the truth before I turn 18. This upset me and I absolutely disagreed with her and said that no matter what she would always be my mom and I would always call her that because she is in every way my mom. And we both cried over this and hugged and I thanked her for telling me the truth also.
The thing that is eating away at me though is that she sacrificed so much to raise me and I can't repay her in any way. Like she hasn't dated at all even though I know that she wants a partner. She also changed professions to better accommodate me. She has done so much and I can't repay her in any way. And I haven't always been the best to her either. I was definitely difficult as a child and recently I haven't really been listening and respecting her as much as I should be. And I know I've probably said some mean things over the years, mostly around wanting to be with my dad (she initially said that she had a husband that abandoned us when I was born). All of this just made me feel so much guilt and sadness. And I know if I talk to her about it she'll just reassure me that she is happy and I shouldn't worry but I can't get rid of this feeling.
I've decided that I'm going to be the best son ever and do everything she says from now on. But I still can't get rid of this feeling. I don't know what to do.
Relevant/Top Comments
YoungeCurmudgeon4: Your sister is an amazing woman and an incredible person and deserves all the love and respect in the world.
As for you, handling this so well takes a lot in a person. Be proud of yourself. And always believe in yourself.

OOP: Thanks I'll try my best ❤️ My love for her is probably at an all time high. I wish I'd know earlier so that I could have always treated her this way.

TraditionalShop6800: Talk to your mom, thank her and tell you are grateful for how she raised you. And now, she should think about herself too. Encourage her to date again and find a partner.

OOP: Okay I will. I think I'll take some time to figure out the right words to say to her 😅

Galactus1701: Repay her by being the best person you can be. Help her, be respectful, study and always be grateful.

OOP: Absolutely will be the best son I can 😅

BiasCutTweed: You have to also give yourself a little grace here - your mom sounds amazing and deserves all the best, but what she clearly wanted for you was to give you a normal, stable childhood. And it’s very normal for children to act out sometimes, to say things in anger, to be difficult. It’s all a part of growing up.
The good thing is that it’s easy to see from your reaction to what she told you that she did an amazing job and you’re well on your way to becoming a great person she will be proud of. Take all of this and let it strengthen those good qualities. Do your best for her and yourself but don’t beat yourself up for past mistakes you can’t change. You don’t need to repay her for the choices she made, you just need to live a life that makes you both happy.

OOP: Thank you for the advice ❤️ I'll definitely try my best to feel proud of myself and also make her happy

 
Mini Update: May 12, 2024
I've literally been tearing up from all the comments and messages from everyone. I am honestly so grateful for all the kind words and reassurance. Genuinely thanks so much ❤️
Not much of an update really but I thought I would still share. I took a few pieces of advice and have done them randomly during day. Firstly Happy Mother's Day everyone. Hope you had a great time. Me and my mom had a few things planned for today and I got back just over an hour ago now. We went to the cinema then a restaurant and ended the day with bowling. Honestly had an absolute blast and she was happy throughout. I got her a gift too, it was a photo engraved bracelet which I gave her at the end of bowling.
One advice I got was saying things that show her I care about her so I said "Your the best" and hugged her after the cinema. I also said "I love you" when giving her the bracelet which made her cry 😭
I still do feel the guilt but I'm not gonna let it get me down. Don't want more stress especially with exams coming up 😅 I saw a lot of comments mentioning that I shouldn't keep my feelings bottled up so I am planning on conveying all my feelings to her soon. I'll probably write a letter because I know I'll probably start crying before I even start speaking 😂 I think that will definitely give me some peace of mind. Thanks all again for taking the time to read this ❤️
(Also I completely forgot how biology works in my last post 😅 She would be my half-sister not sister since I doubt our father's were the same. But regardless I'm still going to call her mom 😁)
 

DO NOT COMMENT IN LINKED POSTS OR MESSAGE OOPs – BoRU Rule #7

THIS IS A REPOST SUB - I AM NOT OOP

At the time I (32F) was dating my partner (30M). We both had children, he a son (4M) and I a daughter (9F). My partners brother was getting married and myself and my daughter were invited. To prepare for this wedding I bought my daughter (9) a beautiful long floral dress. It wasn't showy or anything like that, she's 9 and I don't allow that. Now I may be bias but my daughter is very beautiful. She has long curly dark blonde hair, blue eyes, porcelain coloured skin and is very tall. When my daughter and I go out, we get stopped everywhere we go. I'm always told how beautiful she is, asked what nationality we are (we have a Maltese, Italian background and some polish from her father) , she has a beautiful look, there's even a lady at the supermarket that can't help but run out of the bakery section with a cookie or cupcakes for her whenever she sees her. She says she's so beautiful, she makes her smile and of course I love this. My partners mother is very controlling and of course my partner was a momma's boy. My partners mother decided she wanted to pick the dress for my daughter even though I had already bought her one. I didn't want to cause a fight or argument, as the mother had already caused issues with her controlling behaviour towards the wedding and I really thought that she was just excited about the wedding and wanted it to be perfect for her son. I told her that was okay as my daughter could wear the other dress anytime. The dress she picked for my daughter was horrible. It was this weird brown dress that looked kinda furry, to be honest almost like a potato sack. Again I said nothing, this isn't my wedding. Then she told me that we had to cut my daughters hair into a short bob. I told her that I would not be doing this as myself and my daughter love her long curly hair. She told me that if my daughter did not cut her hair off and wear the dress, we could not attend. I said no problem, we won't be attending. My partner, the mummas boy, decided to get very upset and told me I'm being silly and to just do what she says. I said absolutely not. My daughter was against cutting her hair and I was not going to make her cut her hair when she didn't want to, for one day ! This caused a huge fight and I stood my ground. Two days before the wedding, my partners other brothers partner came to me as she saw us arguing about what happened and she told me that the mother purposely picked a hideous dress and wanted to cut my daughters hair so my 9 year old daughter would not pull focus from the wedding and basically upstage everyone. A 9 YEAR OLD LITTLE GIRL !!!! pulling focus from everyone at the wedding. This was insane ! I couldn't believe what I was hearing. My partner was still on his mother's side and told me to do as she asked and I refused. My daughter and I did not attend and instead we had our own girls day as she was very upset at what had occured and felt like she had done something wrong, which she didn't and I let her know this.. AITA for refusing to attend the wedding ?

My wife just found out she's pregnant. I'm in IT and just recently started a business and have been working a full time job, helping around the house, and working on my business. just got back from a business trip and hadn't seen my friend in a while. I asked him if his and wife if they wanted to come over but he said his wife wasn't feeling up to it but he would. I get my daughter 2 days a week. This is her doing and it's always Wednesday and Saturday unless something happens. So she's here as well as my crazy dogs and my son. Obviously it was going to get hectic but I wanted to go over some business stuff and IT options for my clients. She said that it was weird that I wanted to have a friend over while my daughter and her friends were over, she's 10. I don't think that's too weird but w.e. I then basically told her about how she always has friends over and family but I feel like any time I want to invite someone over that's my family or a friend she gets upset. The argument escalated and she said the house was dirty and I feel like out of spite started to aggressively clean the house. My wife has 3 part time jobs and goes to school part time now as well so she is definitely over loaded but I only wanted my friend to come over for a calm discussion about how our lives are going. She thought we were going to drink but I told her I had no intentions of drinking even though he asked me if he needed to get beer (he doesn't drink much but assumed I'd want a beer and was willing to drink a few with me.) I said no I have some but didn't say I was going to drink. Anyhow she was very angry with me and I'm thinking it's mostly hormones but it's like this any time I want to have a friend over or family which is almost never. Maybe I am the asshole or maybe I didn't put everything here idk. I will say that I did tell her I feel like she is trying to manipulate me into thinking a man having friends over when he has kids is weird. I don't feel like that is weird especially if there is no drinking involved. Even if we did have a few beers, which was never the intention, how would that be weird if we were in the den discussing business and not just getting hammered? I love my wife, I know she's hormonal right now, and she is everything to me. I even offered to call my friend and cancel or meet him out but that made her even more angry. I feel like I'm not aloud to have people over but she is and she said that even when her friends come over I invite them. There's obviously more underlying here like I want more time with my daughter but when she came over I had a friend over, she thought it would be weird to have a stranger in the house when my daughter had a sleepover (we've been friends for years), but I don't see it.

I tried to shorten this as best as I could.
I (18f)(Maryland, U.S.A) use to nanny for a family who owns a rabbit. The rabbit was kept outside in dangerous temperatures, unsafe environment, a ~2 by ~2 box, alone, had no hay or toys, on wire, and being tormented by their kids during the very little time it had outside of it's cage. They were abusing and neglecting it. They have an autistic son who treated and handle the rabbit like a stuffed animal. It was dangerous for the rabbit even if he didn't mean it any harm. There’s a lot more detail I could go into. I ended up quitting due to them not being willing to change their treatment towards the rabbit. I called animal control and they sent a police officer out to investigate. The officer said no one was home but the rabbit had shelter so it was fine. Later on I compiled a bunch of research and articles on how they were neglecting the rabbit and offered to take it since I have 2 of my own. I was super nice but they basically told me to go away. So I told them I understood and wouldn't be contacting them again. A bit later I decided to review the county's animal rights law where they live (County B). I wrote down each law that they violated and how in an email that I sent animal control. They said they would send an animal control officer out, not a police officer. I responded saying I would be willing to take the rabbit if it was surrendered. I don't believe animal control even read my email or reviewed the laws I cited. They went to the family and said the rabbit had a roof and food so it was fine.
Later I received a call from a private number. I picked up and the man on the other end of the phone identified himself as a police officer for county B. I asked for him name and he muttered something. I asked him to repeat himself and he said "the same thing I said the first time". I wrote down the name I believed I heard. He proceeded to tell me that he was good friends with the family and also a police officer. He said that making a report to animal control was harassment and that he would make a case. Then he told me that as a police officer he would make sure to turn a misdemeanor into a felony and he'd make sure that it would follow me for the rest of my life. I asked him if he had read my email outlining every law that was violated, he said no. He asked for an example and I said how the cage had a wire bottom. He then admitted he didn't know the animal rights laws. He proceeded to tell me that even though he hasn't physically seen the family in 2 years that he could guarantee the rabbit was perfectly fine. This didn't make sense since the rabbit is only around a year old. He then proceeded to try and convince me there was nothing wrong with their treatment of the rabbit. He brought up that he had 5 tours in the military and was a police officer for a long time. He then talked about how he had seen and done horrible things while on the job and that I could never comprehend or understand. He compared the rabbit to what he has seen and said that the rabbit was fine in comparison. He started telling me that animal control would euthanize the rabbit and that they euthanize almost any animals they get. He kept trying to get me to say I would drop the report. It felt as if he was trying to scare me into not talking to animal control by threatening the rabbits life. He also told me to not talk about the family's autistic son in a very threatening tone and that he "would do a lot for that boy". At one point in the call he said "as a police officer I can punch you once but you'll remember it for the rest of your life." As a disabled woman that comment in particular was very scary to me. He also went on a tangent about God and about how he "isn't racist". There was a lot more he ranted about. I have PTSD and he triggered it. He had scared and intimated me.
I was worried and intimated into almost giving up. Luckily someone pointed out to me that a cop shouldn't say those things. I looked up the name I heard and found a retired police officer by that name on the County B's police website. I also found that a man with that name was friends with the mom on facebook. I decided to call the state police and they transferred me to the town I live in's police department. I told the officer what had happened. He told me that the man's actions weren't legal or professional. He also looked up the man name in some type of record system and said there was currently no active officer with the name I heard. He told me to call the station if I received another call from this number. I can't remember if he said if he would tell county B's police, as I was still very freaked out at this point.
I decided to email county B's police anyway since I was still very anxious, scared, and concerned. I believe he impersonated a police officer and threatened me, both physically and legally. They said it was not their department. I called animal control and they confirmed that they didn't assign a police officer to this case. I was worried that this man might hurt me physically, get the rabbit euthanized, make a false report, or interfere with animal controls investigation. He had freaked me out severely. I had to have extensions on my college work because I was too scared to go to campus. I still haven't gotten another job due to fear of something like this happening again. It was hard for me to handle emotionally and mentally. Around this time I got very ill and was in incredible pain. I did not try to get further help on this situation since I was scared and in a lot of pain. I have had surgery that has helped the pain and given me a lot of time to think. I am finally ready to try and do something over what he did. Is there any case or some type of justice I can get from this? I've had really bad nightmares over the rabbit's safety and the threats ever since. I'm hoping some type of justice might help get rid of them. I need help and guidance and I hope I can get that here.

Hey Reddit, hold onto your hats because this story has everything: a wedding, a villainous MIL, a vegan crisis, a meltdown, and a phone explosion.
So, picture this: I (19F) just married my dream guy, Jimbo (30M), and we threw a totally epic vegan wedding. No meat, no dairy, just pure plant-powered bliss. Enter my MIL, Karen (because of course her name is Karen), who thinks veganism is a cult and that I'm brainwashing her precious son.
Now, my sister Kate (26F) brought her adorable son, Tommy (6M), who is on the autism spectrum. Tommy is a sweet kid with some sensory issues, so we set up a special quiet room for him, complete with soft pillows and his favorite toys.
The ceremony was beautiful, like something out of a fairy tale. But during the reception, I saw the most outrageous thing: Karen was feeding Tommy chicken nuggets. CHICKEN. NUGGETS. At my VEGAN wedding! My jaw hit the floor. I rushed over and, with steam practically coming out of my ears, asked, "What on earth are you doing?!"
Karen, with a smirk that would make the Grinch proud, said, "He was hungry and your weird rabbit food isn't cutting it for him." I was like, "Are you serious right now? You should have asked me or Kate first!" And she just rolled her eyes and said, "Calm down, it's just food. Stop being so dramatic."
Tommy, sensing the tension, started to get upset. Kate swooped in like Superwoman and took him to the quiet room to calm down. Meanwhile, I turned to Karen and told her she was way out of line. She huffed off, muttering something about me ruining everything with my "crazy vegan cult."
Next thing I know, everyone's phones are blowing up like a fireworks display on the Fourth of July. Half the family thinks I overreacted and that Karen was just trying to help. The other half thinks Karen was a total jerk and disrespected our big day.
Now, I'm sitting here, doubting myself, wondering if I really am the bridezilla Karen's making me out to be.
So, Reddit, AITA for exploding at my evil MIL at my own vegan wedding over chicken nuggets and causing a scene that led to my autistic nephew having a meltdown and everyone’s phones blowing up?
TL;DR: MIL fed my autistic nephew chicken nuggets at my vegan wedding, I exploded, chaos ensued, and now everyone's phones are blowing up. AITA?
(If you've seen a post like this from me before it's because I'm stupid and didn't realize you can only make shitposts on the weekends)

Hi, I (36f) am in a relationship with a 50 year old man now for about 5 years. Don't judge he's great. He helps cook, clean, does yardwork, loves me and my son and my 2 cats and dog. He helps take care of us and i feel safe with him. He moved in with myself and my son last October. I have one teenage son, and he has 5 adult kids, 2 grandkids, and 1 more grandkid on the way. I love kids that's not the issue. I'm having a hard time with the 18-22 year old kids, there are 3. I feel like he babies them I do not raise my son like that. For example this past week his daughter (22) stayed with us while she's doing an internship. I love her very much. But Every day when I get home from work there are dishes in the living room on the kitchen table and the room she's staying in is trashed. I bring it up to him nicely tonight, she left today for 5 days then will be back. The spare room looks like a bomb went off. Now my 14 year old sons room is not perfect ok but I get on him about it or he's grounded and he's also 14 so yeah struggle is real his clean is there is a path on the floor unless I take his phone. I nicely say to my SO am I allowed to ask his daughter to pick up after herself and tidy up the spare room? He says yes. I say will this affect her and my relationship or would you like to say something to her? His response is "there are so many other things in life to be worried about you could've just picked up the clothes" so I'm pissed naturally because I am not a maid I am not even my sons maid he picks up his damn dishes and starts laundry and I'm sorry but he lives here and that is his room so if it's not perfect whatever I shut the door. Am I an asshole for expecting his adult children to at least pick up after themselves and respect our house? He makes me feel like I'm overreacting but he has zero expectations for his kids it's so effing irritating. I feel like I'm ruining out relationship because he gets irritated when I bring up stuff like this. Is it worth the fight? Should I just learn to live with it? He also still gives all of them money. And we're struggling at our house. He just says he has to learn at his own pace eventually he'll start charging them rent eventually he'll stop giving them 100$ a week. Ahhhhhh my parents booted me out at 18. Another example is his sons grad party there were 5 of us running around prepping cooking cleaning including my son and his was playing video games the whole time... Another one we're on vacation in Mexico with 3 of his kids and my son, his son wakes up, myself and my SO had made a big breakfast, he asks what it is and says nah could you just make me a bowl of cereal? Like what and my SO reached for the bowls! You are 18 you have legs get your own bowl of cereal. Ahhhh why does this piss me off so much! Please help. Do I need help or to communicate this better? I told him I feel taken advantage of and that a lot is expected of me.

The trinity is one of the main topics the INC focuses on, and in every argument/debate i've seen is nothing but a misrepresentation of what Christians (Catholics, Orthodox, and Protestants) believe in the Trinity. This thread is for this purpose of denouncing the lies of the INC in regards to this topic.
I will not give everything off in one post so that people will not get turned off with being introduced to a wall of text so as this thread progresses, more content will drop in.

1) Is the word Trinity in the Bible?

Answer is no. However, this is not a good argument because the word "Bible" and "Epistles" are not found in scripture either. These are words were later made to give a name for certain things taught in the Bible. "Epistle" was made to give a name to all of paul's letters, the word "Bible" was made to give a word for the compiled OT and NT. Likewise, the word "Trinity" was made to have a word for the 3 different persons of God described in the bible.
In the Bible, it was called "the Godhead" Colossians 2:9-10 - In him dwells the fullness of the Godhead.

1. The word "God" in hebrew is Elohim. In one of James_Readme's threads, I asked him as to what the hebrew word for God is, which he chose not respond to. Here is the reason why, if you read the book of Isaiah, you'll see a class of angels such as Cherub and Cherubim, the difference between the two is that Cherub is singular while Cherubim is plural. Same thing with Seraph and Seraphim. In hebrew, anything that ends with an IM is masculine plural, there ElohIM is plural. God is a plural word.

Genesis 1:26 God said, Let us make man in our image, after our likeness

2) Isaiah 45:5

I am the LORD, and there is no other; apart from me there is no God.
When the INC uses this verse, they are misrepresenting and being dishonest as to what we believe the Trinity to be. We believe the Trinity is 1 God.
Matt 28:19: baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost. It says "Name" (singular) not "Names"
John 10:30, I and the Father are one.
John 1:1 - The Word was with God and the Word was God
The Bible shows that there is only 1 God, but it describes 3 different essences of this one God. Therefore since the Bible teaches the Father, Son, and HS to be one God then obvious Isaiah 45:5 is applicable (has always been applicable) to the triune God. Again, go back to the hebrew word for God being "ElohIM".

3) Jesus says the Father is my God

John 20:17 - ‘I am ascending to my Father and your Father, to my God and your God.’”
This is a complicated one, because it will require to understand the nature of Jesus. Being God and Man. When Jesus became man, he took our nature and became submissive to the Father
Hebrews 2:9 - What we do see is Jesus, *who for a little while was given a position 'a little lower than the angels'
Yes, Jesus called the Father God, and likewise God the Father calls Jesus God.
Hebrews 1: 8 - But of the Son he says, “Your throne, O God, is forever and ever.....
Now, the INC posted a "rebuttal" to this https://incmedia.org/does-hebrews-18-call-jesus-god/

Brother Bob: So dear friends, who is this prophecy all about? In Hebrews 1:8, Apostle Paul was simply quoting this: Psalm 45:6-7, “to the Son He says ‘Your throne, O God**,**” and you know, it’s in this portion of the verse is why people draw the conclusion and think that God is calling Jesus God. But, let’s go back again to Hebrews 1:8 and include verse 9 with it this time, because that is so very important to do, it reads this way, including verse 9:

This is a poor rebuttal.
First, this Bob guy doesn't explain is what/who that Psalms 45 prophecy is about. It's a Messianic Prophecy, so even back then in Psalms Jesus is already being called God. This INC minister is not answering as to who is that "God" and why is the Father using that prophecy in reference to the son.

Now, False preachers, they will only read verse 8, leave out verse 9, You have loved righteousness and hated lawlessness; Therefore God, Your God, has anointed You With the oil of gladness more than Your companions.”
[Hebrews 1:8-9 New King James Version]
Brother Bob: So dear friends, it is made clear here in verse 9, that to the son, whom God is referring to, is one who has a God. The true God does not have another God, or else there would be two Gods. Hebrews 1:8-9 is simply, then, an important prophecy about the Son who was anointed with the oil of gladness, and who hates lawlessness and loves righteousness.

Verse 9 just proves our point. This isn't implying "another God" but both the Father and the Son to be God. Next, this guy leaves out v10-13 that helps affirm that this entire chapter is showing the Father and Son to be equally 1 God.
V10: HE (God) ALSO SAYS: In the beginning, Lord, you laid the foundations of the earth, and the heavens are the work of your hands.
Who is the Father referring to as Lord, who laid the foundations of the earth?
then in v13, “Sit at my right hand, until I make your enemies, a footstool for your feet" This is quoting Psalm 110:1, which begins with "and the Lord said to my Lord, sit at my right hand..." Who is this Lord?
Another reason why this Bob person is wrong is because even the muslims will say Hebrews 1 has the Father calling Jesus God. If you go to the Muslim sub and ask them what do they think of Paul, they will bash him for being a false prophet. The muslims think Paul is the guy who started the belief of the trinity and they use this verse as an example of the "corruption" made by Paul . That is why they reject the NT, that is why they claim the Quran was sent by God --because the NT was corrupted. So even they know what the actual message of this chapter is.

The INC will play games as much as they want, but in the end they have to prove why their church has credibility. They are a church made by filipinos and believed by only filipinos, and they are not only contending with 2000 years of christian teachings but they are basing their stance on a bunch of books that were compiled and translated by churches they consider as "false teachers".
I'll leave this for now, there are other things such as Matthew 24:36 and other verses which i will get through some other time.

TL:DR: My fiance is messaging another woman, and i am devastated. And very pregnant. How do i navigate this?
Background: We've been together for 5 years, engaged for 2.5. We have an 18-month old together and I am currently 32 weeks pregnant. I also have a 9 yo from a previous marriage. We bought a house together 2 years ago. I lost my job in March and he has his own business.
Full disclosure: I've been in some rocky relationships. I've been cheated on, I've been the cheater. But I have never loved anyone like this, and I've never even considered cheating on my fiance. In fact, I outgrew my "wild" phase when we started getting serious, and I have never been more happy, loved, satisfied, and wanted.
Until recently. 2 weeks ago, he had to go out of town for work. He asked me to go, but we had nobody to take care of our dogs, so I stayed home with my 18-month old (my 9 yo was with other parent). We had been in a weird funk for a couple of weeks before this, and I really didn't know why. I thought the distance would maybe help, and it did. We flirted, talked dirty, said how much we missed each other, & we were both super lovey. I couldn't wait for him to get home.
However, one odd thing happened. He told me he'd like to watch me with another woman. This immediately sent up red flags, because he knows that I HAVE done that before but he's never said he wanted that to happen. All kinds of thoughts went through my head.. "Is he wanting to see someone else? Am I not good enough anymore? am I not satisfying him sexually?" But, I told him I would do that since it was his fantasy. I asked him who he had in mind, because I KNEW he had to be thinking of someone. He said he didn't know, but suggested the person I did it with before, which happens to be my best friend. We were young and experimenting, we've grown past it, and I'm not interested in that with her at this point. So, i told him as much. He said okay, then we can go on a dating app or something together, and reassured me that he would NOT go on any without me or look for anyone without me.
Nothing much more has been said about it.. he worked at home for a week, then last week our son and I joined him out of town. I thought we were good.
Last night, I was in the bathroom getting ready for a surprise congratulatory dinner I threw for him for obtaining a new license for his business, and he left his phone in the bathroom with me. His Snapchat went off, it didn't phase me, but he hurried into the bathroom and snatched his phone up. It ended up being his brother and he announced that to me like.. I care? So it was weird. Later, he ran into the store and left his phone in the car and I snooped.
There was a message thread from a lady that I don't know. His last message to her was along the lines of, "I hope I didn't freak you out last night by asking you to fool around." She hadn't yet responded. I almost threw up. I didn't dare scroll up to see the rest of the conversation because I knew I wouldn't be able to handle it. I closed Snapchat and set his phone down, and drove home like nothing happened. I got my kids to bed, then sat in my bed and cried for 3 hours. He was in the basement watching TV.
I vented to my aforementioned best friend, who confessed to me that after we had talked about his fantasy, he messaged her to ask if she would be interested.. after I told him I didn't want that. Why didn't she tell me when it happened? Because she's an awful friend and always has been, but I can tell her anything. Now, though, I don't even want to talk to her.
I had no idea what to do. I'm broken. I text him to say that I wanted to get my tubes tied after this baby (we'd been debating on having another) because if something happened to us, we'd have 4 kids with split parents. Idk why, it was the only thing I could think of that would alert him to the fact that something was wrong, without having the full-on conversation. He asked why I was thinking like that, said that he would never leave me, blah blah blah, a bunch of total horse shit in my opinion. I eventually went to "sleep" (if you can even call it that), and he came to bed and snuggled up to me. I pretended to be snoozing.
We had a big fun day planned today, so I didn't want to ruin it for my kids. Which is why I chose to not confront him last night. I held it together pretty well, except in the shower and now. But he can tell something is wrong. He asked me about 100x what's wrong, if he did something wrong, etc. He also had a very bad upset stomach today. Maybe nerves?
Anyway, I'm now getting my kids to bed and then I'm going to sit down with him. I really don't know what to expect. I don't think there is anything he could say that will make me ever feel secure again. I truly thought this was my forever, my happy ending. I could go on and live this life, where I'm constantly second guessing myself and being suspicious any time he kisses me, but I don't want that. I'm in the most vulnerable position I've ever been in, and it is fucking terrifying. I have no one. I have no job, soon to be 3 kids, and hell, maybe homeless.
Please send me good vibes, prayers, whatever you believe. And if you have a similar story and you were able to move past it and be happy again, please tell me how.

Around 8 months ago, our son (23M) seems to have decided it’s time to commits to the gym, going there about 2-3 times a week.
Me (49M) and my wife (46F) have been big on physical fitness for decades, and we make sure to spend free time there or in our personal gym. We were happy to help him but he did not like the intensity and load of our routine so we let him go at his own pace.
6 months in, he’s gone down from 173lbs to 150lbs and visibly toned up. When she found out, she wasn't happy, saying he shouldn’t be that much lighter than her. She is close to 180lbs, but is tall for a woman and fit so a lot of it is muscle, I am closer to 210lbs of muscle.
Since then, she’s been constantly on him for it. She criticizes everything he eats, saying he eats nothing but bird food, and should eat more to build muscle. He often counters saying she doesnt see everything he eats. He tends to eat 1 meal and snacks or fruits throughout the day, and has done this before working out.
He’s made it a habit of eating a plate of rice mixed with chicken and vegetables, especially after he exercises. She thinks the quantity is not enough for him to build up. She keeps saying if he keeps it up, his muscles and joints will deteriorate.
He was too slow to help me lift a couch once and his sister (28F), who was staying at the time, helped instead and did it faster. Wife now insists both she and his sister are stronger than him and that “As a man”, he shouldn’t be okay with that. “As a man” she believes 150lbs is too light for him.
He also likes to walk every morning. Between 1-2 hours. She says he should focus more on weight training “As a man”
I remember at one point, we were dropping him off to the gym. She asked him how much his load was, he said “Enough”, then “Enough to make my muscles feel tired”, she said that was a dumb limit then kept asking how much his weight was. When he said 30lb weights for bicep curls and 100+lbs for seated rows she goes “… oh…” then just says he should be building up to more anyways. “As a man”. Since his cousin (19M, student athlete) who is much taller than him, clocks in at 195lbs.
You may see a pattern here. While I believe my son could become stronger than he is, this is his choice. He committed himself to change and has shown results. I'm proud of that. I do plan on intervening to make sure he’s maintaining muscle, and improve his routine, but I feel the expectations my wife has set for him are ridiculous and humiliating. He is not interested in making the gym a large part of his life, he's not interested in becoming insanely powerful and that’s that. If my father ridiculed me this way when I made progress, I would not be the man I am today.
I have brought this up in private numerous times, Over all of them, she tells me all our son does is play video games, has slowed down too much with his studies, has no social life, hasn’t worked a job ever since he was fired 5 months ago in a move from his boss we both agree was bullshit (He notified his boss he wouldn’t be available multiple days in December, multiple times in advance, but he couldn’t be bothered to remember) and adds we were both married with a house at his age. He is still financially dependent on us.
It seems this has unearthed a lot of issues my wife has with our son. I am well aware of these flaws of his but I don’t see how badgering him on his fitness and comparing him to others is going to solve that.
I would very much appreciate an outside opinion about this. I have no idea how to push this further without causing a scene, so I would like to know what you would do in my situation. My son is making acceptable progress with something for once and it feels like my wife is now sabatoging him.

A Homily Prepared For Sunday May 19, 2024
The Collect
O God, who on this day taught the hearts of your faithful people by sending to them the light of your Holy Spirit: Grant us by the same Spirit to have a right judgment in all things, and evermore to rejoice in his holy comfort; through Jesus Christ your Son our Lord, who lives and reigns with you, in the unity of the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.
The Gospel
John 7:37–39a
37 In the last day, that great day of the feast, Jesus stood and cried, saying, If any man thirst, let him come unto me, and drink.
38He that believeth on me, as the scripture hath said, out of his belly shall flow rivers of living water.
39 (But this spake he of the Spirit, which they that believe on him should receive: for the Holy Ghost was not yet given; because that Jesus was not yet glorified.)
Commentary on Today’s Gospel Selection;
In our Gospel selection for today, Pentecost Sunday, we look at an event which takes place on the last day of the Feast of Tabernacles, also known as Feast of Booths, and Sukkot. The event takes place in SeptembeOctober, and celebrates the fall harvest of grapes and olives. It lasts seven days with a holy convocation on the eighth day (Leviticus 23:36).
Jewish law specifies that, during the Feast of Tabernacles, Jewish people “You shall dwell in booths seven days. All who are native-born in Israel shall dwell in booths, that your generations may know that I made the children of Israel to dwell in booths, when I brought them out of the land of Egypt” (Leviticus 23:42-43). It also characterizes this feast as a fall harvest festival (Exodus 23:16; Deuteronomy 16:13).
It was during this feast or celebrations that:
“Jesus stood and cried, saying,If any man thirst, let him come unto me, and drink. He that believeth on me, as the scripture hath said, out of his belly shall flow rivers of living water.” (vs. 37-38) To understand the context of the situation in which Jesus stands and makes this pronouncement, you have to understand the daily rituals which took place during the festival.
During the first six days of the week long event, a priest would go to the Pool of Siloam and draw a pitcher full of water, then march in procession back to the temple with the people repeating from a verse found in Isaiah 12:3, “Therefore with joy shall ye draw water out of the wells of salvation.”
Then upon returning to the temple the priest would pour out the water in an offering to God, commemorating the water that poured from the rock that sustained the ancient Israelites (Exodus 17:1-7; Numbers 20:1-13) as well as the rains that sustained Israel during the year just passed.
Everyday for six days, the people had been celebrating the water that had given their people physical sustenance; Jesus now tells them that he is capable of satisfying their spiritual thirst.
“as the scripture hath said, out of his belly shall flow rivers of living water.”(v. 38b) Just as we today think of the heart as being the center of emotions, (e.g. from the heart) in those times, they believed that the belly was the place where warm kindly benevolent feelings were generated. Jesus is saying that those who believe in him will receive these spiritual waters, waters of spiritual blessings, salvation.
When lost in the desert, the children of Israel thought the waters from God that materialized as flowing from a rock, were a blessing, a salvation in the physical sense for those who faced death from thirst (dehydration.) At the core of Jesus message to them that day, lies the fact that instead of worshiping an event that took place hundreds of years beforehand, a miracle that only provided physical sustenance for a brief time, they should be paying attention to his message which offers an eternal spiritual sustenance.
This verse brings to mind Jesus’ words to the Samaritan woman, “the water that I will give him will become in him a well of water springing up to eternal life” (John 4:13-14).
Jeremiah 2:13 also contains a reference to spiritual water: “For my people have committed two evils; they have forsaken me the fountain of living waters, and hewed them out cisterns, broken cisterns, that can hold no water.” Likewise we see in Jeremiah 17:13 “O LORD, the hope of Israel, all that forsake thee shall be ashamed, and they that depart from me shall be written in the earth, because they have forsaken the LORD, the fountain of living waters.” Perhaps Jesus recognized this disparity which could be seen in the religious rite in which the people celebrated his Father’s gift of water for physical thirst while remaining obvious to “the fountain of living waters” that God offered them.
In writing this Gospel, John the Evangelist, adds a note to the reader in verse 39; “But this spake he of the Spirit, which they that believe on him should receive: for the Holy Ghost was not yet given; because that Jesus was not yet glorified.”
Here we find an explanation as to why these verses were selected for Pentecost Sunday, the day that the Holy spirit descended upon the Followers of Christ. Water and the Spirit are connected elsewhere in John — for example, when Jesus tells Nicodemus that “Except a man be born of water and of the Spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God.” (3:5). In Jesus’ conversation with the Samaritan woman, living water is the symbol of the revelation of God in Christ which satisfies all spiritual thirst (4:10-15). “But whosoever drinketh of the water that I shall give him shall never thirst; but the water that I shall give him shall be in him a well of water springing up into everlasting life.” (John 4:14)
This living water that springs up into everlasting life, as promised by Jesus, is water that satisfies one’s spiritual thirst. A water that traditionally has been found through attendance and membership in the church, where one learns about the message and teachings of Christ, the essence of the water itself.
Unfortunately over the last decade, we have watched a great exodus from the church; in particular the old main-line churches. Those churches hemorrhaging membership most excessively, are those who in recent years have spent less time on—if not totally abandoning—the Gospel of Christ, while embracing a social gospel that may be based on good intentions, but none the less fails to address the people’s spiritual thirst.
Indeed, when questioned by pollsters attempting to gather information regarding this great exodus, a large number of people say that they identify as “spiritual but not religious.” Assuming that these people are indeed spiritual, then we can also assume that they are not finding in these churches, the water and spirit, with which to satisfy their thirst.
Ironically, we find the Hebrew people in chapter 7 attending a great celebration, one in which the observances commemorate important events in their history as a people chosen by God. Annual celebrations that for them, were certainly fun and wondrous to participate in, but yet—as Jesus noted by his crying out—they were failing to receive the spiritual water of God and instead they were focusing on recreating an event of centuries past. I say this is ironic, in that today we find the churches focusing, not on recreating events of the past as a commemoration of the importance of the event, but rather on progressive social ideologies that often conflict with the word of God itself. A so called social gospel that often drowns out the message of the Gospel of Christ.
Instead of uniting together as brothers and sisters in Christ seeking the water and spirit that Jesus spoke of, our churches are inculcating, not a gospel of the spirit that unites us in the name of Christ, but rather an ideology that divides us along social constructs and identities.
People who readily identify—when asked—as spiritual, seem to have an innate thirst for authentic spirituality, and apparently are not finding a cure for that thirst in these churches that are no longer churches of Christ, but which are now, for all pratical purposes, churches of progressive ideology.
But yet, if you really seek through the news media diligently, you will see signs that the Holy Spirit is descending again, in some ways, just as it did during that event we commemorate today.
The principalities of this world work to suppress the news of the spirit moving, but yet reports are emerging of young people filling the pews at revivals, mass baptisms, even the conversion of formerly reprobate celebrities who have now found Christ and are trying to turn around their life, to be as born again. We also are witnessing an increasing number of celebrities who are speaking out, unapologetically affirming their Christian beliefs and advocating for traditional family values and lifestyles. The Holy Spirit has touched the hearts of these individuals, compelling them to ignore their fears of persecution or their aversion to being called out as not being politically or socially correct.
As we observe the day that the Holy Spirit descended upon those in that room, let us be cognizant of the fact that there are many people in this world today, who are hungry for authentic Christianity. Those who thirst for authentic water and spirit that satiates the spiritual thirst. Those who can be characterized as being the least of these.
The “least of these” is a phrase that originates from Matthew 25:31–46, a passage often used in these modern times, to guilt Christians, causing them to embrace this false social gospel that is emptying the churches. Christians are not leaving because they do not want to help others, but due to the fact that they instinctively know that this passage, and others, are used out of context in an effort to guilt them into accepting what they know in their heart is wrong.
Matthew wrote this at a time, in which most likely the least of these, the needy, those imprisoned and persecuted, those that Christ called his bothers, most likely were his brothers and sisters, as it was a time in which Christians were discriminated against and tortured for their beliefs. Matthew was preaching to a congregation that knew all too well what the conditions Jesus spoke of were like.
While we are always to help the financially impoverished, a careful reading of Matthew 25:31–46 and its historical context demonstrates the need to give aid to the spiritually impoverished as well. When we look at how this passage was taught prior to the emergence of the social gospel a century past. We find a rebuke of the minsters who teach such false doctrines in these words of Jesus: “For I was hungry and you gave me no food, I was thirsty and you gave me no drink, I was a stranger and you did not welcome me, naked and you did not clothe me, sick and in prison and you did not visit me.’ Then they also will answer, saying, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry or thirsty or a stranger or naked or sick or in prison, and did not minister to you?’ Then he will answer them, saying, ‘Truly, I say to you, as you did not do it to one of the least of these, you did not do it to me ”
There are yet those who are spiritually hungry, spiritually thirsty, naked in spirit, they are treated as strangers by the modern church because they hold traditional values dear. There are those who speak out against all sorts of abominations and now find themselves in prison, sick and isolated. But yet the churches of social gospel turn a blind eye to them.
The rest of us must keep the spiritually hungry and thirsty in our prayers, reach out to them and help them find the spirit that is once again moving today as it moved two millennia ago.
Benediction:
O God the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the only Savior, the Prince of Peace: Give us grace seriously to lay to heart the great dangers we are in by our unhappy divisions; take away all hatred and prejudice, and whatever else may hinder us from godly union and concord; that, as there is but one Body and one Spirit, one hope of our calling, one Lord, one Faith, one Baptism, one God and Father of us all, so we may be all of one heart and of one soul, united in one holy bond of truth and peace, of faith and charity, and may with one mind and one mouth glorify you; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

A Homily Prepared For Sunday May 19, 2024
The Collect
O God, who on this day taught the hearts of your faithful people by sending to them the light of your Holy Spirit: Grant us by the same Spirit to have a right judgment in all things, and evermore to rejoice in his holy comfort; through Jesus Christ your Son our Lord, who lives and reigns with you, in the unity of the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.
The Gospel
John 7:37–39a
37 In the last day, that great day of the feast, Jesus stood and cried, saying, If any man thirst, let him come unto me, and drink.
38He that believeth on me, as the scripture hath said, out of his belly shall flow rivers of living water.
39 (But this spake he of the Spirit, which they that believe on him should receive: for the Holy Ghost was not yet given; because that Jesus was not yet glorified.)
Commentary on Today’s Gospel Selection;
In our Gospel selection for today, Pentecost Sunday, we look at an event which takes place on the last day of the Feast of Tabernacles, also known as Feast of Booths, and Sukkot. The event takes place in SeptembeOctober, and celebrates the fall harvest of grapes and olives. It lasts seven days with a holy convocation on the eighth day (Leviticus 23:36).
Jewish law specifies that, during the Feast of Tabernacles, Jewish people “You shall dwell in booths seven days. All who are native-born in Israel shall dwell in booths, that your generations may know that I made the children of Israel to dwell in booths, when I brought them out of the land of Egypt” (Leviticus 23:42-43). It also characterizes this feast as a fall harvest festival (Exodus 23:16; Deuteronomy 16:13).
It was during this feast or celebrations that:
“Jesus stood and cried, saying,If any man thirst, let him come unto me, and drink. He that believeth on me, as the scripture hath said, out of his belly shall flow rivers of living water.” (vs. 37-38) To understand the context of the situation in which Jesus stands and makes this pronouncement, you have to understand the daily rituals which took place during the festival.
During the first six days of the week long event, a priest would go to the Pool of Siloam and draw a pitcher full of water, then march in procession back to the temple with the people repeating from a verse found in Isaiah 12:3, “Therefore with joy shall ye draw water out of the wells of salvation.”
Then upon returning to the temple the priest would pour out the water in an offering to God, commemorating the water that poured from the rock that sustained the ancient Israelites (Exodus 17:1-7; Numbers 20:1-13) as well as the rains that sustained Israel during the year just passed.
Everyday for six days, the people had been celebrating the water that had given their people physical sustenance; Jesus now tells them that he is capable of satisfying their spiritual thirst.
“as the scripture hath said, out of his belly shall flow rivers of living water.”(v. 38b) Just as we today think of the heart as being the center of emotions, (e.g. from the heart) in those times, they believed that the belly was the place where warm kindly benevolent feelings were generated. Jesus is saying that those who believe in him will receive these spiritual waters, waters of spiritual blessings, salvation.
When lost in the desert, the children of Israel thought the waters from God that materialized as flowing from a rock, were a blessing, a salvation in the physical sense for those who faced death from thirst (dehydration.) At the core of Jesus message to them that day, lies the fact that instead of worshiping an event that took place hundreds of years beforehand, a miracle that only provided physical sustenance for a brief time, they should be paying attention to his message which offers an eternal spiritual sustenance.
This verse brings to mind Jesus’ words to the Samaritan woman, “the water that I will give him will become in him a well of water springing up to eternal life” (John 4:13-14).
Jeremiah 2:13 also contains a reference to spiritual water: “For my people have committed two evils; they have forsaken me the fountain of living waters, and hewed them out cisterns, broken cisterns, that can hold no water.” Likewise we see in Jeremiah 17:13 “O LORD, the hope of Israel, all that forsake thee shall be ashamed, and they that depart from me shall be written in the earth, because they have forsaken the LORD, the fountain of living waters.” Perhaps Jesus recognized this disparity which could be seen in the religious rite in which the people celebrated his Father’s gift of water for physical thirst while remaining obvious to “the fountain of living waters” that God offered them.
In writing this Gospel, John the Evangelist, adds a note to the reader in verse 39; “But this spake he of the Spirit, which they that believe on him should receive: for the Holy Ghost was not yet given; because that Jesus was not yet glorified.”
Here we find an explanation as to why these verses were selected for Pentecost Sunday, the day that the Holy spirit descended upon the Followers of Christ. Water and the Spirit are connected elsewhere in John — for example, when Jesus tells Nicodemus that “Except a man be born of water and of the Spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God.” (3:5). In Jesus’ conversation with the Samaritan woman, living water is the symbol of the revelation of God in Christ which satisfies all spiritual thirst (4:10-15). “But whosoever drinketh of the water that I shall give him shall never thirst; but the water that I shall give him shall be in him a well of water springing up into everlasting life.” (John 4:14)
This living water that springs up into everlasting life, as promised by Jesus, is water that satisfies one’s spiritual thirst. A water that traditionally has been found through attendance and membership in the church, where one learns about the message and teachings of Christ, the essence of the water itself.
Unfortunately over the last decade, we have watched a great exodus from the church; in particular the old main-line churches. Those churches hemorrhaging membership most excessively, are those who in recent years have spent less time on—if not totally abandoning—the Gospel of Christ, while embracing a social gospel that may be based on good intentions, but none the less fails to address the people’s spiritual thirst.
Indeed, when questioned by pollsters attempting to gather information regarding this great exodus, a large number of people say that they identify as “spiritual but not religious.” Assuming that these people are indeed spiritual, then we can also assume that they are not finding in these churches, the water and spirit, with which to satisfy their thirst.
Ironically, we find the Hebrew people in chapter 7 attending a great celebration, one in which the observances commemorate important events in their history as a people chosen by God. Annual celebrations that for them, were certainly fun and wondrous to participate in, but yet—as Jesus noted by his crying out—they were failing to receive the spiritual water of God and instead they were focusing on recreating an event of centuries past. I say this is ironic, in that today we find the churches focusing, not on recreating events of the past as a commemoration of the importance of the event, but rather on progressive social ideologies that often conflict with the word of God itself. A so called social gospel that often drowns out the message of the Gospel of Christ.
Instead of uniting together as brothers and sisters in Christ seeking the water and spirit that Jesus spoke of, our churches are inculcating, not a gospel of the spirit that unites us in the name of Christ, but rather an ideology that divides us along social constructs and identities.
People who readily identify—when asked—as spiritual, seem to have an innate thirst for authentic spirituality, and apparently are not finding a cure for that thirst in these churches that are no longer churches of Christ, but which are now, for all pratical purposes, churches of progressive ideology.
But yet, if you really seek through the news media diligently, you will see signs that the Holy Spirit is descending again, in some ways, just as it did during that event we commemorate today.
The principalities of this world work to suppress the news of the spirit moving, but yet reports are emerging of young people filling the pews at revivals, mass baptisms, even the conversion of formerly reprobate celebrities who have now found Christ and are trying to turn around their life, to be as born again. We also are witnessing an increasing number of celebrities who are speaking out, unapologetically affirming their Christian beliefs and advocating for traditional family values and lifestyles. The Holy Spirit has touched the hearts of these individuals, compelling them to ignore their fears of persecution or their aversion to being called out as not being politically or socially correct.
As we observe the day that the Holy Spirit descended upon those in that room, let us be cognizant of the fact that there are many people in this world today, who are hungry for authentic Christianity. Those who thirst for authentic water and spirit that satiates the spiritual thirst. Those who can be characterized as being the least of these.
The “least of these” is a phrase that originates from Matthew 25:31–46, a passage often used in these modern times, to guilt Christians, causing them to embrace this false social gospel that is emptying the churches. Christians are not leaving because they do not want to help others, but due to the fact that they instinctively know that this passage, and others, are used out of context in an effort to guilt them into accepting what they know in their heart is wrong.
Matthew wrote this at a time, in which most likely the least of these, the needy, those imprisoned and persecuted, those that Christ called his bothers, most likely were his brothers and sisters, as it was a time in which Christians were discriminated against and tortured for their beliefs. Matthew was preaching to a congregation that knew all too well what the conditions Jesus spoke of were like.
While we are always to help the financially impoverished, a careful reading of Matthew 25:31–46 and its historical context demonstrates the need to give aid to the spiritually impoverished as well. When we look at how this passage was taught prior to the emergence of the social gospel a century past. We find a rebuke of the minsters who teach such false doctrines in these words of Jesus: “For I was hungry and you gave me no food, I was thirsty and you gave me no drink, I was a stranger and you did not welcome me, naked and you did not clothe me, sick and in prison and you did not visit me.’ Then they also will answer, saying, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry or thirsty or a stranger or naked or sick or in prison, and did not minister to you?’ Then he will answer them, saying, ‘Truly, I say to you, as you did not do it to one of the least of these, you did not do it to me ”
There are yet those who are spiritually hungry, spiritually thirsty, naked in spirit, they are treated as strangers by the modern church because they hold traditional values dear. There are those who speak out against all sorts of abominations and now find themselves in prison, sick and isolated. But yet the churches of social gospel turn a blind eye to them.
The rest of us must keep the spiritually hungry and thirsty in our prayers, reach out to them and help them find the spirit that is once again moving today as it moved two millennia ago.
Benediction:
O God the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the only Savior, the Prince of Peace: Give us grace seriously to lay to heart the great dangers we are in by our unhappy divisions; take away all hatred and prejudice, and whatever else may hinder us from godly union and concord; that, as there is but one Body and one Spirit, one hope of our calling, one Lord, one Faith, one Baptism, one God and Father of us all, so we may be all of one heart and of one soul, united in one holy bond of truth and peace, of faith and charity, and may with one mind and one mouth glorify you; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

A Homily Prepared For Sunday May 19, 2024
The Collect
O God, who on this day taught the hearts of your faithful people by sending to them the light of your Holy Spirit: Grant us by the same Spirit to have a right judgment in all things, and evermore to rejoice in his holy comfort; through Jesus Christ your Son our Lord, who lives and reigns with you, in the unity of the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.
The Gospel
John 7:37–39a
37 In the last day, that great day of the feast, Jesus stood and cried, saying, If any man thirst, let him come unto me, and drink.
38He that believeth on me, as the scripture hath said, out of his belly shall flow rivers of living water.
39 (But this spake he of the Spirit, which they that believe on him should receive: for the Holy Ghost was not yet given; because that Jesus was not yet glorified.)
Commentary on Today’s Gospel Selection;
In our Gospel selection for today, Pentecost Sunday, we look at an event which takes place on the last day of the Feast of Tabernacles, also known as Feast of Booths, and Sukkot. The event takes place in SeptembeOctober, and celebrates the fall harvest of grapes and olives. It lasts seven days with a holy convocation on the eighth day (Leviticus 23:36).
Jewish law specifies that, during the Feast of Tabernacles, Jewish people “You shall dwell in booths seven days. All who are native-born in Israel shall dwell in booths, that your generations may know that I made the children of Israel to dwell in booths, when I brought them out of the land of Egypt” (Leviticus 23:42-43). It also characterizes this feast as a fall harvest festival (Exodus 23:16; Deuteronomy 16:13).
It was during this feast or celebrations that:
“Jesus stood and cried, saying,If any man thirst, let him come unto me, and drink. He that believeth on me, as the scripture hath said, out of his belly shall flow rivers of living water.” (vs. 37-38) To understand the context of the situation in which Jesus stands and makes this pronouncement, you have to understand the daily rituals which took place during the festival.
During the first six days of the week long event, a priest would go to the Pool of Siloam and draw a pitcher full of water, then march in procession back to the temple with the people repeating from a verse found in Isaiah 12:3, “Therefore with joy shall ye draw water out of the wells of salvation.”
Then upon returning to the temple the priest would pour out the water in an offering to God, commemorating the water that poured from the rock that sustained the ancient Israelites (Exodus 17:1-7; Numbers 20:1-13) as well as the rains that sustained Israel during the year just passed.
Everyday for six days, the people had been celebrating the water that had given their people physical sustenance; Jesus now tells them that he is capable of satisfying their spiritual thirst.
“as the scripture hath said, out of his belly shall flow rivers of living water.”(v. 38b) Just as we today think of the heart as being the center of emotions, (e.g. from the heart) in those times, they believed that the belly was the place where warm kindly benevolent feelings were generated. Jesus is saying that those who believe in him will receive these spiritual waters, waters of spiritual blessings, salvation.
When lost in the desert, the children of Israel thought the waters from God that materialized as flowing from a rock, were a blessing, a salvation in the physical sense for those who faced death from thirst (dehydration.) At the core of Jesus message to them that day, lies the fact that instead of worshiping an event that took place hundreds of years beforehand, a miracle that only provided physical sustenance for a brief time, they should be paying attention to his message which offers an eternal spiritual sustenance.
This verse brings to mind Jesus’ words to the Samaritan woman, “the water that I will give him will become in him a well of water springing up to eternal life” (John 4:13-14).
Jeremiah 2:13 also contains a reference to spiritual water: “For my people have committed two evils; they have forsaken me the fountain of living waters, and hewed them out cisterns, broken cisterns, that can hold no water.” Likewise we see in Jeremiah 17:13 “O LORD, the hope of Israel, all that forsake thee shall be ashamed, and they that depart from me shall be written in the earth, because they have forsaken the LORD, the fountain of living waters.” Perhaps Jesus recognized this disparity which could be seen in the religious rite in which the people celebrated his Father’s gift of water for physical thirst while remaining obvious to “the fountain of living waters” that God offered them.
In writing this Gospel, John the Evangelist, adds a note to the reader in verse 39; “But this spake he of the Spirit, which they that believe on him should receive: for the Holy Ghost was not yet given; because that Jesus was not yet glorified.”
Here we find an explanation as to why these verses were selected for Pentecost Sunday, the day that the Holy spirit descended upon the Followers of Christ. Water and the Spirit are connected elsewhere in John — for example, when Jesus tells Nicodemus that “Except a man be born of water and of the Spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God.” (3:5). In Jesus’ conversation with the Samaritan woman, living water is the symbol of the revelation of God in Christ which satisfies all spiritual thirst (4:10-15). “But whosoever drinketh of the water that I shall give him shall never thirst; but the water that I shall give him shall be in him a well of water springing up into everlasting life.” (John 4:14)
This living water that springs up into everlasting life, as promised by Jesus, is water that satisfies one’s spiritual thirst. A water that traditionally has been found through attendance and membership in the church, where one learns about the message and teachings of Christ, the essence of the water itself.
Unfortunately over the last decade, we have watched a great exodus from the church; in particular the old main-line churches. Those churches hemorrhaging membership most excessively, are those who in recent years have spent less time on—if not totally abandoning—the Gospel of Christ, while embracing a social gospel that may be based on good intentions, but none the less fails to address the people’s spiritual thirst.
Indeed, when questioned by pollsters attempting to gather information regarding this great exodus, a large number of people say that they identify as “spiritual but not religious.” Assuming that these people are indeed spiritual, then we can also assume that they are not finding in these churches, the water and spirit, with which to satisfy their thirst.
Ironically, we find the Hebrew people in chapter 7 attending a great celebration, one in which the observances commemorate important events in their history as a people chosen by God. Annual celebrations that for them, were certainly fun and wondrous to participate in, but yet—as Jesus noted by his crying out—they were failing to receive the spiritual water of God and instead they were focusing on recreating an event of centuries past. I say this is ironic, in that today we find the churches focusing, not on recreating events of the past as a commemoration of the importance of the event, but rather on progressive social ideologies that often conflict with the word of God itself. A so called social gospel that often drowns out the message of the Gospel of Christ.
Instead of uniting together as brothers and sisters in Christ seeking the water and spirit that Jesus spoke of, our churches are inculcating, not a gospel of the spirit that unites us in the name of Christ, but rather an ideology that divides us along social constructs and identities.
People who readily identify—when asked—as spiritual, seem to have an innate thirst for authentic spirituality, and apparently are not finding a cure for that thirst in these churches that are no longer churches of Christ, but which are now, for all pratical purposes, churches of progressive ideology.
But yet, if you really seek through the news media diligently, you will see signs that the Holy Spirit is descending again, in some ways, just as it did during that event we commemorate today.
The principalities of this world work to suppress the news of the spirit moving, but yet reports are emerging of young people filling the pews at revivals, mass baptisms, even the conversion of formerly reprobate celebrities who have now found Christ and are trying to turn around their life, to be as born again. We also are witnessing an increasing number of celebrities who are speaking out, unapologetically affirming their Christian beliefs and advocating for traditional family values and lifestyles. The Holy Spirit has touched the hearts of these individuals, compelling them to ignore their fears of persecution or their aversion to being called out as not being politically or socially correct.
As we observe the day that the Holy Spirit descended upon those in that room, let us be cognizant of the fact that there are many people in this world today, who are hungry for authentic Christianity. Those who thirst for authentic water and spirit that satiates the spiritual thirst. Those who can be characterized as being the least of these.
The “least of these” is a phrase that originates from Matthew 25:31–46, a passage often used in these modern times, to guilt Christians, causing them to embrace this false social gospel that is emptying the churches. Christians are not leaving because they do not want to help others, but due to the fact that they instinctively know that this passage, and others, are used out of context in an effort to guilt them into accepting what they know in their heart is wrong.
Matthew wrote this at a time, in which most likely the least of these, the needy, those imprisoned and persecuted, those that Christ called his bothers, most likely were his brothers and sisters, as it was a time in which Christians were discriminated against and tortured for their beliefs. Matthew was preaching to a congregation that knew all too well what the conditions Jesus spoke of were like.
While we are always to help the financially impoverished, a careful reading of Matthew 25:31–46 and its historical context demonstrates the need to give aid to the spiritually impoverished as well. When we look at how this passage was taught prior to the emergence of the social gospel a century past. We find a rebuke of the minsters who teach such false doctrines in these words of Jesus: “For I was hungry and you gave me no food, I was thirsty and you gave me no drink, I was a stranger and you did not welcome me, naked and you did not clothe me, sick and in prison and you did not visit me.’ Then they also will answer, saying, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry or thirsty or a stranger or naked or sick or in prison, and did not minister to you?’ Then he will answer them, saying, ‘Truly, I say to you, as you did not do it to one of the least of these, you did not do it to me ”
There are yet those who are spiritually hungry, spiritually thirsty, naked in spirit, they are treated as strangers by the modern church because they hold traditional values dear. There are those who speak out against all sorts of abominations and now find themselves in prison, sick and isolated. But yet the churches of social gospel turn a blind eye to them.
The rest of us must keep the spiritually hungry and thirsty in our prayers, reach out to them and help them find the spirit that is once again moving today as it moved two millennia ago.
Benediction:
O God the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the only Savior, the Prince of Peace: Give us grace seriously to lay to heart the great dangers we are in by our unhappy divisions; take away all hatred and prejudice, and whatever else may hinder us from godly union and concord; that, as there is but one Body and one Spirit, one hope of our calling, one Lord, one Faith, one Baptism, one God and Father of us all, so we may be all of one heart and of one soul, united in one holy bond of truth and peace, of faith and charity, and may with one mind and one mouth glorify you; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

A Homily Prepared For Sunday May 19, 2024
The Collect
O God, who on this day taught the hearts of your faithful people by sending to them the light of your Holy Spirit: Grant us by the same Spirit to have a right judgment in all things, and evermore to rejoice in his holy comfort; through Jesus Christ your Son our Lord, who lives and reigns with you, in the unity of the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.
The Gospel
John 7:37–39a
37 In the last day, that great day of the feast, Jesus stood and cried, saying, If any man thirst, let him come unto me, and drink.
38He that believeth on me, as the scripture hath said, out of his belly shall flow rivers of living water.
39 (But this spake he of the Spirit, which they that believe on him should receive: for the Holy Ghost was not yet given; because that Jesus was not yet glorified.)
Commentary on Today’s Gospel Selection;
In our Gospel selection for today, Pentecost Sunday, we look at an event which takes place on the last day of the Feast of Tabernacles, also known as Feast of Booths, and Sukkot. The event takes place in SeptembeOctober, and celebrates the fall harvest of grapes and olives. It lasts seven days with a holy convocation on the eighth day (Leviticus 23:36).
Jewish law specifies that, during the Feast of Tabernacles, Jewish people “You shall dwell in booths seven days. All who are native-born in Israel shall dwell in booths, that your generations may know that I made the children of Israel to dwell in booths, when I brought them out of the land of Egypt” (Leviticus 23:42-43). It also characterizes this feast as a fall harvest festival (Exodus 23:16; Deuteronomy 16:13).
It was during this feast or celebrations that:
“Jesus stood and cried, saying,If any man thirst, let him come unto me, and drink. He that believeth on me, as the scripture hath said, out of his belly shall flow rivers of living water.” (vs. 37-38) To understand the context of the situation in which Jesus stands and makes this pronouncement, you have to understand the daily rituals which took place during the festival.
During the first six days of the week long event, a priest would go to the Pool of Siloam and draw a pitcher full of water, then march in procession back to the temple with the people repeating from a verse found in Isaiah 12:3, “Therefore with joy shall ye draw water out of the wells of salvation.”
Then upon returning to the temple the priest would pour out the water in an offering to God, commemorating the water that poured from the rock that sustained the ancient Israelites (Exodus 17:1-7; Numbers 20:1-13) as well as the rains that sustained Israel during the year just passed.
Everyday for six days, the people had been celebrating the water that had given their people physical sustenance; Jesus now tells them that he is capable of satisfying their spiritual thirst.
“as the scripture hath said, out of his belly shall flow rivers of living water.”(v. 38b) Just as we today think of the heart as being the center of emotions, (e.g. from the heart) in those times, they believed that the belly was the place where warm kindly benevolent feelings were generated. Jesus is saying that those who believe in him will receive these spiritual waters, waters of spiritual blessings, salvation.
When lost in the desert, the children of Israel thought the waters from God that materialized as flowing from a rock, were a blessing, a salvation in the physical sense for those who faced death from thirst (dehydration.) At the core of Jesus message to them that day, lies the fact that instead of worshiping an event that took place hundreds of years beforehand, a miracle that only provided physical sustenance for a brief time, they should be paying attention to his message which offers an eternal spiritual sustenance.
This verse brings to mind Jesus’ words to the Samaritan woman, “the water that I will give him will become in him a well of water springing up to eternal life” (John 4:13-14).
Jeremiah 2:13 also contains a reference to spiritual water: “For my people have committed two evils; they have forsaken me the fountain of living waters, and hewed them out cisterns, broken cisterns, that can hold no water.” Likewise we see in Jeremiah 17:13 “O LORD, the hope of Israel, all that forsake thee shall be ashamed, and they that depart from me shall be written in the earth, because they have forsaken the LORD, the fountain of living waters.” Perhaps Jesus recognized this disparity which could be seen in the religious rite in which the people celebrated his Father’s gift of water for physical thirst while remaining obvious to “the fountain of living waters” that God offered them.
In writing this Gospel, John the Evangelist, adds a note to the reader in verse 39; “But this spake he of the Spirit, which they that believe on him should receive: for the Holy Ghost was not yet given; because that Jesus was not yet glorified.”
Here we find an explanation as to why these verses were selected for Pentecost Sunday, the day that the Holy spirit descended upon the Followers of Christ. Water and the Spirit are connected elsewhere in John — for example, when Jesus tells Nicodemus that “Except a man be born of water and of the Spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God.” (3:5). In Jesus’ conversation with the Samaritan woman, living water is the symbol of the revelation of God in Christ which satisfies all spiritual thirst (4:10-15). “But whosoever drinketh of the water that I shall give him shall never thirst; but the water that I shall give him shall be in him a well of water springing up into everlasting life.” (John 4:14)
This living water that springs up into everlasting life, as promised by Jesus, is water that satisfies one’s spiritual thirst. A water that traditionally has been found through attendance and membership in the church, where one learns about the message and teachings of Christ, the essence of the water itself.
Unfortunately over the last decade, we have watched a great exodus from the church; in particular the old main-line churches. Those churches hemorrhaging membership most excessively, are those who in recent years have spent less time on—if not totally abandoning—the Gospel of Christ, while embracing a social gospel that may be based on good intentions, but none the less fails to address the people’s spiritual thirst.
Indeed, when questioned by pollsters attempting to gather information regarding this great exodus, a large number of people say that they identify as “spiritual but not religious.” Assuming that these people are indeed spiritual, then we can also assume that they are not finding in these churches, the water and spirit, with which to satisfy their thirst.
Ironically, we find the Hebrew people in chapter 7 attending a great celebration, one in which the observances commemorate important events in their history as a people chosen by God. Annual celebrations that for them, were certainly fun and wondrous to participate in, but yet—as Jesus noted by his crying out—they were failing to receive the spiritual water of God and instead they were focusing on recreating an event of centuries past. I say this is ironic, in that today we find the churches focusing, not on recreating events of the past as a commemoration of the importance of the event, but rather on progressive social ideologies that often conflict with the word of God itself. A so called social gospel that often drowns out the message of the Gospel of Christ.
Instead of uniting together as brothers and sisters in Christ seeking the water and spirit that Jesus spoke of, our churches are inculcating, not a gospel of the spirit that unites us in the name of Christ, but rather an ideology that divides us along social constructs and identities.
People who readily identify—when asked—as spiritual, seem to have an innate thirst for authentic spirituality, and apparently are not finding a cure for that thirst in these churches that are no longer churches of Christ, but which are now, for all pratical purposes, churches of progressive ideology.
But yet, if you really seek through the news media diligently, you will see signs that the Holy Spirit is descending again, in some ways, just as it did during that event we commemorate today.
The principalities of this world work to suppress the news of the spirit moving, but yet reports are emerging of young people filling the pews at revivals, mass baptisms, even the conversion of formerly reprobate celebrities who have now found Christ and are trying to turn around their life, to be as born again. We also are witnessing an increasing number of celebrities who are speaking out, unapologetically affirming their Christian beliefs and advocating for traditional family values and lifestyles. The Holy Spirit has touched the hearts of these individuals, compelling them to ignore their fears of persecution or their aversion to being called out as not being politically or socially correct.
As we observe the day that the Holy Spirit descended upon those in that room, let us be cognizant of the fact that there are many people in this world today, who are hungry for authentic Christianity. Those who thirst for authentic water and spirit that satiates the spiritual thirst. Those who can be characterized as being the least of these.
The “least of these” is a phrase that originates from Matthew 25:31–46, a passage often used in these modern times, to guilt Christians, causing them to embrace this false social gospel that is emptying the churches. Christians are not leaving because they do not want to help others, but due to the fact that they instinctively know that this passage, and others, are used out of context in an effort to guilt them into accepting what they know in their heart is wrong.
Matthew wrote this at a time, in which most likely the least of these, the needy, those imprisoned and persecuted, those that Christ called his bothers, most likely were his brothers and sisters, as it was a time in which Christians were discriminated against and tortured for their beliefs. Matthew was preaching to a congregation that knew all too well what the conditions Jesus spoke of were like.
While we are always to help the financially impoverished, a careful reading of Matthew 25:31–46 and its historical context demonstrates the need to give aid to the spiritually impoverished as well. When we look at how this passage was taught prior to the emergence of the social gospel a century past. We find a rebuke of the minsters who teach such false doctrines in these words of Jesus: “For I was hungry and you gave me no food, I was thirsty and you gave me no drink, I was a stranger and you did not welcome me, naked and you did not clothe me, sick and in prison and you did not visit me.’ Then they also will answer, saying, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry or thirsty or a stranger or naked or sick or in prison, and did not minister to you?’ Then he will answer them, saying, ‘Truly, I say to you, as you did not do it to one of the least of these, you did not do it to me ”
There are yet those who are spiritually hungry, spiritually thirsty, naked in spirit, they are treated as strangers by the modern church because they hold traditional values dear. There are those who speak out against all sorts of abominations and now find themselves in prison, sick and isolated. But yet the churches of social gospel turn a blind eye to them.
The rest of us must keep the spiritually hungry and thirsty in our prayers, reach out to them and help them find the spirit that is once again moving today as it moved two millennia ago.
Benediction:
O God the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the only Savior, the Prince of Peace: Give us grace seriously to lay to heart the great dangers we are in by our unhappy divisions; take away all hatred and prejudice, and whatever else may hinder us from godly union and concord; that, as there is but one Body and one Spirit, one hope of our calling, one Lord, one Faith, one Baptism, one God and Father of us all, so we may be all of one heart and of one soul, united in one holy bond of truth and peace, of faith and charity, and may with one mind and one mouth glorify you; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

A Homily Prepared For Sunday May 19, 2024
The Collect
O God, who on this day taught the hearts of your faithful people by sending to them the light of your Holy Spirit: Grant us by the same Spirit to have a right judgment in all things, and evermore to rejoice in his holy comfort; through Jesus Christ your Son our Lord, who lives and reigns with you, in the unity of the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.
The Gospel
John 7:37–39a
37 In the last day, that great day of the feast, Jesus stood and cried, saying, If any man thirst, let him come unto me, and drink.
38He that believeth on me, as the scripture hath said, out of his belly shall flow rivers of living water.
39 (But this spake he of the Spirit, which they that believe on him should receive: for the Holy Ghost was not yet given; because that Jesus was not yet glorified.)
Commentary on Today’s Gospel Selection;
In our Gospel selection for today, Pentecost Sunday, we look at an event which takes place on the last day of the Feast of Tabernacles, also known as Feast of Booths, and Sukkot. The event takes place in SeptembeOctober, and celebrates the fall harvest of grapes and olives. It lasts seven days with a holy convocation on the eighth day (Leviticus 23:36).
Jewish law specifies that, during the Feast of Tabernacles, Jewish people “You shall dwell in booths seven days. All who are native-born in Israel shall dwell in booths, that your generations may know that I made the children of Israel to dwell in booths, when I brought them out of the land of Egypt” (Leviticus 23:42-43). It also characterizes this feast as a fall harvest festival (Exodus 23:16; Deuteronomy 16:13).
It was during this feast or celebrations that:
“Jesus stood and cried, saying,If any man thirst, let him come unto me, and drink. He that believeth on me, as the scripture hath said, out of his belly shall flow rivers of living water.” (vs. 37-38) To understand the context of the situation in which Jesus stands and makes this pronouncement, you have to understand the daily rituals which took place during the festival.
During the first six days of the week long event, a priest would go to the Pool of Siloam and draw a pitcher full of water, then march in procession back to the temple with the people repeating from a verse found in Isaiah 12:3, “Therefore with joy shall ye draw water out of the wells of salvation.”
Then upon returning to the temple the priest would pour out the water in an offering to God, commemorating the water that poured from the rock that sustained the ancient Israelites (Exodus 17:1-7; Numbers 20:1-13) as well as the rains that sustained Israel during the year just passed.
Everyday for six days, the people had been celebrating the water that had given their people physical sustenance; Jesus now tells them that he is capable of satisfying their spiritual thirst.
“as the scripture hath said, out of his belly shall flow rivers of living water.”(v. 38b) Just as we today think of the heart as being the center of emotions, (e.g. from the heart) in those times, they believed that the belly was the place where warm kindly benevolent feelings were generated. Jesus is saying that those who believe in him will receive these spiritual waters, waters of spiritual blessings, salvation.
When lost in the desert, the children of Israel thought the waters from God that materialized as flowing from a rock, were a blessing, a salvation in the physical sense for those who faced death from thirst (dehydration.) At the core of Jesus message to them that day, lies the fact that instead of worshiping an event that took place hundreds of years beforehand, a miracle that only provided physical sustenance for a brief time, they should be paying attention to his message which offers an eternal spiritual sustenance.
This verse brings to mind Jesus’ words to the Samaritan woman, “the water that I will give him will become in him a well of water springing up to eternal life” (John 4:13-14).
Jeremiah 2:13 also contains a reference to spiritual water: “For my people have committed two evils; they have forsaken me the fountain of living waters, and hewed them out cisterns, broken cisterns, that can hold no water.” Likewise we see in Jeremiah 17:13 “O LORD, the hope of Israel, all that forsake thee shall be ashamed, and they that depart from me shall be written in the earth, because they have forsaken the LORD, the fountain of living waters.” Perhaps Jesus recognized this disparity which could be seen in the religious rite in which the people celebrated his Father’s gift of water for physical thirst while remaining obvious to “the fountain of living waters” that God offered them.
In writing this Gospel, John the Evangelist, adds a note to the reader in verse 39; “But this spake he of the Spirit, which they that believe on him should receive: for the Holy Ghost was not yet given; because that Jesus was not yet glorified.”
Here we find an explanation as to why these verses were selected for Pentecost Sunday, the day that the Holy spirit descended upon the Followers of Christ. Water and the Spirit are connected elsewhere in John — for example, when Jesus tells Nicodemus that “Except a man be born of water and of the Spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God.” (3:5). In Jesus’ conversation with the Samaritan woman, living water is the symbol of the revelation of God in Christ which satisfies all spiritual thirst (4:10-15). “But whosoever drinketh of the water that I shall give him shall never thirst; but the water that I shall give him shall be in him a well of water springing up into everlasting life.” (John 4:14)
This living water that springs up into everlasting life, as promised by Jesus, is water that satisfies one’s spiritual thirst. A water that traditionally has been found through attendance and membership in the church, where one learns about the message and teachings of Christ, the essence of the water itself.
Unfortunately over the last decade, we have watched a great exodus from the church; in particular the old main-line churches. Those churches hemorrhaging membership most excessively, are those who in recent years have spent less time on—if not totally abandoning—the Gospel of Christ, while embracing a social gospel that may be based on good intentions, but none the less fails to address the people’s spiritual thirst.
Indeed, when questioned by pollsters attempting to gather information regarding this great exodus, a large number of people say that they identify as “spiritual but not religious.” Assuming that these people are indeed spiritual, then we can also assume that they are not finding in these churches, the water and spirit, with which to satisfy their thirst.
Ironically, we find the Hebrew people in chapter 7 attending a great celebration, one in which the observances commemorate important events in their history as a people chosen by God. Annual celebrations that for them, were certainly fun and wondrous to participate in, but yet—as Jesus noted by his crying out—they were failing to receive the spiritual water of God and instead they were focusing on recreating an event of centuries past. I say this is ironic, in that today we find the churches focusing, not on recreating events of the past as a commemoration of the importance of the event, but rather on progressive social ideologies that often conflict with the word of God itself. A so called social gospel that often drowns out the message of the Gospel of Christ.
Instead of uniting together as brothers and sisters in Christ seeking the water and spirit that Jesus spoke of, our churches are inculcating, not a gospel of the spirit that unites us in the name of Christ, but rather an ideology that divides us along social constructs and identities.
People who readily identify—when asked—as spiritual, seem to have an innate thirst for authentic spirituality, and apparently are not finding a cure for that thirst in these churches that are no longer churches of Christ, but which are now, for all pratical purposes, churches of progressive ideology.
But yet, if you really seek through the news media diligently, you will see signs that the Holy Spirit is descending again, in some ways, just as it did during that event we commemorate today.
The principalities of this world work to suppress the news of the spirit moving, but yet reports are emerging of young people filling the pews at revivals, mass baptisms, even the conversion of formerly reprobate celebrities who have now found Christ and are trying to turn around their life, to be as born again. We also are witnessing an increasing number of celebrities who are speaking out, unapologetically affirming their Christian beliefs and advocating for traditional family values and lifestyles. The Holy Spirit has touched the hearts of these individuals, compelling them to ignore their fears of persecution or their aversion to being called out as not being politically or socially correct.
As we observe the day that the Holy Spirit descended upon those in that room, let us be cognizant of the fact that there are many people in this world today, who are hungry for authentic Christianity. Those who thirst for authentic water and spirit that satiates the spiritual thirst. Those who can be characterized as being the least of these.
The “least of these” is a phrase that originates from Matthew 25:31–46, a passage often used in these modern times, to guilt Christians, causing them to embrace this false social gospel that is emptying the churches. Christians are not leaving because they do not want to help others, but due to the fact that they instinctively know that this passage, and others, are used out of context in an effort to guilt them into accepting what they know in their heart is wrong.
Matthew wrote this at a time, in which most likely the least of these, the needy, those imprisoned and persecuted, those that Christ called his bothers, most likely were his brothers and sisters, as it was a time in which Christians were discriminated against and tortured for their beliefs. Matthew was preaching to a congregation that knew all too well what the conditions Jesus spoke of were like.
While we are always to help the financially impoverished, a careful reading of Matthew 25:31–46 and its historical context demonstrates the need to give aid to the spiritually impoverished as well. When we look at how this passage was taught prior to the emergence of the social gospel a century past. We find a rebuke of the minsters who teach such false doctrines in these words of Jesus: “For I was hungry and you gave me no food, I was thirsty and you gave me no drink, I was a stranger and you did not welcome me, naked and you did not clothe me, sick and in prison and you did not visit me.’ Then they also will answer, saying, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry or thirsty or a stranger or naked or sick or in prison, and did not minister to you?’ Then he will answer them, saying, ‘Truly, I say to you, as you did not do it to one of the least of these, you did not do it to me ”
There are yet those who are spiritually hungry, spiritually thirsty, naked in spirit, they are treated as strangers by the modern church because they hold traditional values dear. There are those who speak out against all sorts of abominations and now find themselves in prison, sick and isolated. But yet the churches of social gospel turn a blind eye to them.
The rest of us must keep the spiritually hungry and thirsty in our prayers, reach out to them and help them find the spirit that is once again moving today as it moved two millennia ago.
Benediction:
O God the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the only Savior, the Prince of Peace: Give us grace seriously to lay to heart the great dangers we are in by our unhappy divisions; take away all hatred and prejudice, and whatever else may hinder us from godly union and concord; that, as there is but one Body and one Spirit, one hope of our calling, one Lord, one Faith, one Baptism, one God and Father of us all, so we may be all of one heart and of one soul, united in one holy bond of truth and peace, of faith and charity, and may with one mind and one mouth glorify you; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

18M here. So basically I unfortunately belong to a country where majority of the public is lower to normal middle class PPL, everyone trying to earn wealth n live a luxurious life in some way or other, most common of which is study hard, like really hard, get into the best colleges of the country to pursue an engineering degree, then get a job through college placements. And the worst part is, the acceptance rate of these universities is about 0.1%(IITs). So, my parents have been real douchebags when it comes to raising children; Used to beat me up, throw me out of the house for little mischiefs or no apparent reason back when I was a little kid. It made me hate them so much, n made me scared. I think I have a good mind, like I'm good at picking up things, be it learn a language, learn to play an instrument etc, like I like learning things. But I never knew this supposed to be a good aspect of my life could cost me my childhood and my teenage. Realising this, my father decided that I would prepare for the exam to get into the universities I mentioned, and started to become stricter and stricter with my academics. Y'all won't believe the disappointed faces and taunts I had to bear with when I lost just 2-3 marks in my tests. This behaviour of them never let me feel appreciated in any way, which makes me extremely happy n shocked when someone else appreciates any thing I do. So all in all, I had only one thing to do in life, study study n study, everything else was just a DISTRACTING hobby which should just remain a hobby. I still remember that once my father took my piano keyboard away just because I wanted to practice a song I was trying to learn and was apparently wasting time on it. Guess what, I was just in 5th grade then. Talking about the current situation, I live alone in a hostel, having given 2 crucial years of my life when u gain some experiences before entering adulthood, have just been wasted. I sacrificed everything, my school life, my friends, a girl I really liked for the first time in my 10th grade but nothing really happened because I had to move out, and tried giving my best to that exam. But I couldn't succeed, and sadly would have to spend one more year, same life, wake up and start studying, take all my fomo out on gym, come back start studying and sleep.
The worst thing they have done to me, which I very much resent, is not appreciating me expressing myself. Be it feelings, thoughts, opinions. I don't remember much, but I used to talk a lot as a kid, but once in a random convo, my dad got pissed and told me to shut the fuck up that I speak too much, well that was the last time I ever spoke to him properly. I couldn't care less if I don't get to speak so much to my family, but this has affected my social skills, made me an introvert. Noone likes to keep a convo with me alone, I always have to be in a group to enjoy a conversation. And I get this weird feeling when someone listens to me carefully and enjoys what I say, makes me feel unreasonably appreciated. Also my school life has been very terrible. First I couldn't stop changing schools because of my dad's stupid job, so could never make any real friends. When I finally settled in a school in 8th grade, covid hit, and I was locked in my narc household for almost a year, couldn't talk much with friends online, couldn't talk to a girl, couldn't do this that, just study. Then all I know is, I have to quit my school just like that, to prepare for these universities.
So yes, continuing my parents obsession with my studies and me getting a job, I have come to realise why they want me to do it. They were failures in their time, didn't get a good college, didn't study properly, didn't gain enough skills and thus did not land a good job. They are tired of working and providing for the family, and expect me to take over asap with an unreasonably high paying job so that they can retire and chill. Being the elder son, I totally do understand my responsibility towards my family and that sooner or later, I have to be the primary breadwinner. But this could be done in a better way, they could have just acknowledged my feelings if they didn't want to help, they could've been more considerate that I'm too a human with feelings. What was the point of being so strict and naive?? I hate them, just waiting for my college to move out, and start earning so that I'm no longer accountable to them in any way, live my own life with no one controlling it like a fucking dictator. But this won't be anytime soon, a minimum 2-3 years more. So 20-21 years of my life have been a LITERAL WASTE. I don't know how to cope with this.