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Aftermath: Book I
Broken Unity
By Parugi
The soft pitter-patter of rain, rhythmically striking the metal hull of the boat, creating a light drumbeat that partially echoed in the cold night. The splitting of the waves as the front of the boat carved a slow path through the icy, black waters. The snapping of his own fingers as he observed the familiar sea, a small fire flickering on and off as he did so. These sounds were all that the Toa of Fire heard as he sat upon the deck of his group's ship, leaning over the middle bar of the railing, his glowing red eyes set on the horizon. His small fires, hissing as rain fell upon them, constantly attempting to quench the flames, illuminated the area around him. Two sword hilts glistened in the sheathes on his belt; from beneath the hood of his rain-soaked crimson and black robe, which he had pulled tightly against his armored body, a scarred, black and red Kanohi Kualsi glinted momentarily in the light.
Clasped on his shoulder was a silver piece of metal, bearing on it an intricate coat of arms — a demonic, yet regal looking mask, set behind a dagger and a branch; the symbol of the Dark Hunters, one of the largest, longest lasting groups of criminals and murders in the known universe. It was not a symbol that the Toa wore that often, nor did he wear it lightly; while he was indeed a member of the organization, he had always felt certain… restraint within the organization; as such, his loyalty to the cause was questionable at best. Despite his personal feelings towards them, however, this mission required that he bear some sort of identification for his new employers. The Toa simply could not avoid wearing that hated clasp this time around — though, admittedly, it wouldn't be required for long…
He let his eyes wander to his left, scanning another area of the vast sea; amidst his peripherals, barely visible due to the rain that was running down his mask in an impressive stream, he could see the door to the inner cabins, where his brother and sister hunters rested. There they waited, as he did, for their arrival at Exa-Nui; and from there, introductions with their employers.
The Toa of Fire turned his gaze back to the front of the deck. He, like the others, had received little information on the two beings who had requested their services. From what he had been told, the contractors had been a group of five Makuta; two of these — a pair of twins, Makuta Jaeda, the Mistress of Crimson, and Xaeda, the Lord of Ebony — acted as their leaders. Together, they acted as guardians and watchers of the island of Exa-Nui, sworn to keep the darkness of the island — confined to a vast land known simply as Kra-Wahi, the Darkness of Exa-Nui – in check, making sure that the shadows did not provide a threat to the rest of the island.
That, however, was all he knew, discounting his own, personal knowledge of the island. For the Dark Hunter, just like those that currently traveled with him, had originated on the island, acting as defenders of the land along with their other six brothers and sisters. Jealousy, however, was a powerful corruptor, and the six of them had found themselves envying the superior skills of their brethren during the Great War. It did not take long for the Toa of Fire to convince the others to leave with him, to seek out new lands…
Yet, he did not remember these Makuta being on the island when they had left. Kra-Wahi had existed, there was no doubt of that; he recalled that terrible place far too vividly. He remembered the ever-present darkness in the area, a shadowy mist that made it virtually impossible for most normal beings to see in. It was a place infested with monsters that Matoran could only dream of, never imagining that they were right at their door step. A gate had separated it from the rest of the island, keeping the shadows behind it at bay; how that had worked for so long, and why it seemed as if it wasn't working now was another question entirely…
So… what could Makuta need our help in keeping back there, if they possess dominion over the darkness already? he wondered. Do doubt they were plotting something; his experience in the Dark Hunters had taught him that even the most docile of beings could and most certainly did have plots hidden beneath their wings, just waiting for the right moment to strike. The Toa shook his head; he was making assumptions. Soon enough, they would find out what they were needed for…
It seemed like an eternity before the Dark Hunter received the first dreadful sign that they were drawing near. Deep, black clouds suddenly blotted out what light of the moon had managed to get through the rain clouds. The darkness only intensified the sounds of rain and wind around him, yet it seemed to dull his feeling of touch; a small fire coming to light in his hand quickly fixed that, giving him a slightly larger field of vision. Steam rose from the flames where raindrops continued to land; their hissing, coupled with the shadows around the Dark Hunter, gave the surrounding darkness an unnatural feel to it, one that he hadn't felt since he had been here last.
Home sweet home… he thought bitterly, gripping the railing tightly as he rose to his feet.
It didn't take long for the island to rapidly come into sight; the Toa increased the size of the fire he was holding, slowly expanding his view. The rocky cliffs that outline most of Kra-Wahi were beginning to come into view, slowly growing larger and taller. Angry waves lashed out at the rock faces, as if they were clawing for something hidden within. Once or twice, a shape would appear in the darkness above, before quickly fleeing to escape the light. A larger shape, possibly a Rahi, appeared in the water below as they neared; the darkness and the sloshing of the sea made it impossible to tell just what it was, which only added to the chills that were rapidly rolling along the Toa's back.
The boat had turned right at this point, beginning to cut a new, westward path, closely following along the cliff face. The Toa of Fire held on tightly, keeping his grip as the boat rocked back and forth with the waves, his other hand held level with his head, the sole light source in the area. For a while, the scenery stayed static. Soon enough, however, the cliff suddenly vanished, and the Toa found himself staring at a metallic dock. The structure jutted out into the open water — at least five Bio in length, he estimated. Small, white lights lined its sides, perfectly spaced out though still providing little visibility on their own. A wide roof had been built above the entire thing, causing the water and rain to cascade down its slanted sides. The sight would have almost been beautiful, were it not for the strange being waiting at the dock.
Whether it was a robot or not was difficult to tell, the distance between the boat and dock notwithstanding. The person was tall, slightly bigger than a Toa and bearing a Kanohi; yet he was also extremely thin. The Dark Hunter was surprised that he could support the weight of his own body, let alone the deep blue armor that he wore. He couldn't help but notice that the being's arms — or at least, the shoulders — were quite… strange. They were lower than most other peoples' shoulders were, about level with the middle of his chest. In each of his hands he held a lantern, and behind him, a black cape concealed his back. His expressionless, light blue eyes cut through the shadows with ease, locking with those of the Dark Hunter as the boat docked.
"Welcome," the being said quietly, his voice heavily metallic, yet airy at the same time. The Toa of Fire opened the gate on the other side of the deck, slowly walking down the steps until he arrived on the platform. Behind him, he could hear the metallic clicks and creaking as the rest of his party gathered their supplies and began to head outside.
He didn't bother waiting for them, instead opting to get things moving along. He nodded at the being. "Greetings," he said, flashing his clasp to the creature. "My name is Dusk. I come on behalf of the Shadowed One."
"I know who you are," the being said simply. The way he said it almost made Dusk flinch, though he kept his cool; he was already getting back vibes off of this… thing. "I am Kadris, servant of the Mistress and the Lord. I have been told what to look for in regards to the Dark Hunters that she has requested." He stared at Dusk. Everything he said was stated in a completely mechanical fashion; the Dark Hunter was strongly beginning to believe that he was a robot, though the organics that were quickly becoming visible as his eyes grew more adjusted to the dark indicated otherwise. "Fire, ice, earth, air, stone, water. These are the elements that she requires. You are the Toa of Fire. The others have been sent with you. Is this correct?"
Dusk was silent for a moment. "I'm the only one you could actually call a Toa at this point, but yes, they're in the cabin..."
"I did not call the others Toa," Kadris pointed out, his emotionless gaze turning to the cabin door as it opened. Dusk averted his gaze to the side as heavy footfalls sounded behind him. Metallic clinks and clangs sounded as metal bumped against metal, as the Dark Hunters' possessions bumped against each other inside of their satchels. Kadris watched the approaching hunters with the same expression that he had been staring at Dusk with; it was only now that the Toa of Fire realized that he hadn't blinked once during their conversation. "Subjects identified. Huntress; ice. Pharaoh; stone. Grim; air. Fraction; earth. Dusk; fire. Unable to locate Shifter. Where is Shifter?"
"He'll follow after us once we leave," Dusk said quietly, as the others, too busy talking, fidgeting and arguing amongst themselves, ignored Kadris. "He doesn't like to be seen unless he absolutely has to… He's secretive like that."
Kadris studied Dusk's face for a fleeting moment, and then nodded. "Very well. Presence verified; Shifter, water, is here. Please follow me." Mechanically, he turned and began walking to the shore, where a set of stairs awaited them, paving the way to an underground cavern. Dusk crossed his arms and followed after him; the others did not. He stopped and turned to look at them upon realizing this.
"Who's that freak?" Fraction, former Toa of Earth, asked, his gruff voice filled to the brim with disdain. His body matched the level of his voice; like a Toa, he stood at seven feet, though his back was considerably and permanently hunched due to the weight of the four large, mechanical wings that had been implanted into his back. A silver, Pehkui-shaped Mask of Molecular Disruption, the Kanohi Doron, hid his dark face, revealing only his orange eyes. "The Shadowed One said we'd be workin' for Makuta — chance of a lifetime, he said. I ain't followin' orders from some robotic butler."
"He works for the Makuta, my brother," Dusk said irritably. "We are under contract to them; that doesn't mean they have to personally welcome us back home — even the Master has a servant for that. Would you come into this weather for a pathetic lot of killers?"
Pharaoh laughed at that; as prideful as she was, she had to admit that the Toa of Fire had made a rather good point. The other two ignored her, simply glaring each other down. Their stare down was broken as Kadris returned up the steps. "Please follow me," he repeated. Dusk shot another look at his winged brother before obliging, walking towards the stairs. Slowly, the rest of the group followed, with Fraction at the back. A series of sounds sounded from behind them as they descended, like a mass of scurrying mechanical rats, though it quickly died down. Were they to look back, they would see that the boat was gone, no remnants of it left for prying eyes to see.
The group emerged from the bottom of the staircase, into a surprisingly well-lit hallway. The metal walls dimly reflected the lights of the torches; not enough to hurt one's eyes after traveling amongst the shadows, but certainly enough that Dusk allowed the flame in his hands to die down. Kadris, too, went to turn off his lamps; as he did, the Toa of Fire looked over at him, jaw dropping slightly in surprise as he realized why the being's shoulders had looked so unreal. Kadris did not possess one pair of arms, but three; the pair above the torch-wielding ones reached out from behind his cape to extinguish the lamps, moving the fabric enough to give Dusk a view of the third pair folded beneath. He couldn't help but stare as the middle arms lowered, still clutching the lamps, allowing the top pair of long, thin arms to be used for whatever Kadris needed them for.
The robotic being looked at him, his expression turning to one of confusion as he noticed Dusk's gaze. "Is there something wrong with me, sir?"
"What? No…" Dusk said uncomfortably, realizing what he was doing. "It's just… Never mind."
"Are you lying to me?" Kadris asked. "You seem frightened. Or perhaps disgusted. You feel as if I am unnatural. Is this assumption correct?"
"No, it's not," Dusk lied. "Look, can we just get moving? I want to rest."
"You contradict yourself with this request for both movement and rest," Kadris said, turning forward again. "But very well. I will lead you to my masters. Follow me." He took off again, walking at a steady pace. Dusk threw a look at Fraction and the others; the former Toa of Earth merely shrugged, though he was unable to hide his smirk before they moved on.
The rest of the trip was uneventful. They walked for some time through that hallway, aware of the mechanical movements behind them that signaled Shift's presence, though never looked back; doing so would just cause the Dark Hunter to disperse, to hide amongst the flittering shadows from the torch light. They focused on the walk. As Dusk grew bored, he closed his eyes, letting his senses guide him. He could hear and feel his surroundings more clearly by shutting off his view of the world, the windows that allowed light to reach his eyes.
He could distinctly make out the footsteps of each of the beings behind him — the heavy, weight-bearing steps of Fraction. The light steps of Pharaoh, a direct contrast to her large, heavily armored being. The sluggish footfalls of Huntress, perfectly modeling her drastically eroded mental state. The light, metallic taps on the ground as Grim moved his three, spider-like legs across the ground. There was the unsettling sliding sound that was caused by Shift as he moved behind them, phantom like with each movement, as if he were stalking prey. And finally, there were Kadris's steps, perfectly spaced out, set just long enough for the next movement to occur and not a moment longer. He opened his eyes as the sounds of wind grew louder, the end of the hallway nearing at last.
Seconds later, they arrived at the next staircase. Climbing it, they emerged into a large courtyard-like area — not unlike the training arenas back on Odina, Dusk noted. Large walls, easily fifty feet high and at least as long as that, stood on three sides, including the one that they had emerged from; to their left, a massive fortress stood. Directly across from the fortress, in the center of the wall, was a pair of large doors. Four obelisks stood at each corner of the courtyard, each of them thirty feet tall and covered with strange runes; at their tips were large fires that illuminated the courtyard, hardly reacting to the rain falling upon them. Strange beings stood guard upon the courtyard walls, vigilantly watching the great expanse of land that lay beyond. They were visible by the light of the torches, each one armed with crossbows and swords. All were identical to Kadris in build, each possessing six arms and a mask, though Dusk could not make out their armor colors.
"What, exactly, is this place?" Grim, former Toa of Air, asked. His voice was quiet, airy and sly. He was a silver-tongued individual, ever calm, always able to weasel his way out of a sticky situation or whenever he did not want to deal with a problem. His determination, however, was infallible; never once had he given up a hunt. Despite every other disgusting attribute about him, from his half-Toa, half-spider appearance to his treacherous personality, Dusk had to respect his fellow Hunter's charisma.
"This is my home," the Makutas' servant answered. "It is Mistress Jaeda and Master Xaeda's fortress. It is from here that they watch over Kra-Wahi. It is from here that the future will change. I know this for a fact; Jaeda's words ring true even in the darkest of hours." He stopped at the mouth of the tunnel, turning to look at the Dark Hunters. "For the current time, and for many days to come, this, too, will be your home. You will live here. You will operate from this fortress, acting on the orders of the Mistress and the Mistress alone; in return for your assistance in the Mistress's plans, you will be treated to luxuries that are not present for your brother and sister hunters on Odina. Do you understand this?"
Pharaoh's interest peaked at this. "That wasn't mentioned before… Luxuries fit for a queen, I presume?"
Kadris nodded shortly. "Warm beds. The comfort of a fire. Specialized equipment. All that you could wish to eat — even foods befitting the more… enigmatic appetites of those amongst us." His gaze darted to Huntress as he spoke; Dusk knew exactly what he was talking about.
Huntress, former Toa of Ice, was a massive being. Long ago, prior to their joining the Dark Hunters, she had been a truly beautiful person; travelers on Exa-Nui had been enamored by her, and statues had been made by the Matoran in her honor. Like the others, however, she soon fell out of the popular light when jealousy and bitterness towards the other six Toa Exas' superior skills and abilities took over, driving her, like Pharaoh and their brothers, to seek out a new life. Upon joining the Dark Hunters, she, like most of the others, had been mutated, modified — and in her case, transformed into a monster with a chilling soft spot for Kraata… inside of her stomach. No doubt that would disturb the Makuta here, though there was little they could do to stop it. Dusk knew that; for the Shadowed One had tried, at least until he learned of the effects the Kraata had on her…
"Do you understand?" The Dark Hunters nodded unanimously. "Then let us go; my masters await your arrival."
They continued forward. Kadris led them through the large courtyard, completely ignoring the rain that was quickly becoming an unrelenting nuisance to Dusk. They were paid no heed by the guards littered throughout the place; it seemed to Dusk that they were totally single-minded when it came to their duties, especially if Kadris was any indication. He wondered what their story was. Never before had he seen these kinds of beings, on or off of Exa-Nui, yet here were a relatively large number of them, diligently serving the Makuta of the island.
Briefly, he toyed with the idea that, perhaps, they were results of experiments by the shadow-casters, though quickly disregarded the thought. The Makuta might have been skilled Rahi makers, but creators of an entire, sapient species? That was the territory of Mata Nui — and it was territory that even the Shadowed One dared not to tread on.
It was not long before they had cleared the massive outer area. Their multi-armed guide stepped forward, raising a hand; the doors to the palace opened, granting them entrance. He stepped aside, indicating for them to enter; once they had all filed in, Kadris willed the doors to shut again. Dusk was given a very brief moment to observe the entrance hall, noting the neatly polished surfaces all around, the majestic carpets that spanned from the first door to the one far in front of them, before he was hastened along once more. They were about to meet their hosts; of this, the Toa of Fire was sure. Never before had he felt such power emanating from a single room.
"Ladies and gentlemen," Kadris said as he moved to the last pair of double doors, placing his hands upon them. "I once again welcome you back to Exa-Nui… and am pleased to introduce you to the masters of Kra-Wahi, the Mistress Makuta Jaeda, and her honorable brother, Makuta Xaeda."
He pushed, giving the Dark Hunters their first view of their two contractors, as well as the room in which they waited. The doors had opened into yet another large room, this one designed with black and white, metallic plates covering the walls, creating intricate patterns in certain places. The rug continued on from the hallway, rolled right to the foot of a raised platform. Upon this was placed two thrones, one made of ebony and one of ivory — and upon those sat two impressive figures. Dusk stared in awe at them as the group moved forward, coming to a halt a few yards in front of the Makuta.
Even seated upon their thrones, raised just enough so as to force him to look up at them, the Toa could tell that one was significantly larger than the other. His armor was pitch black in color, save for where it covered parts of his torso, arms and legs; there, silver protosteel reflected the white lights in the room, only adding to his menacing appearance. His legs and trunk were heavily armored, though his arms were comparatively thinner, as well as unnaturally long; this and his razor-clawed fingers, lying out upon the armrests of his ironically ivory throne, gave him a deeply monstrous appearance, greatly enhanced by the large tusks and minotaur-horns jutting out from his Kanohi. Red eyes glowed behind his mask; a pure, black cape cascaded down his back, the end, hanging over the edge of his seat, flowing gently in the soft wind within the room. Attached to his mask was a crown-like decoration, designed with several more blade-like horns, jutting forward. His perfectly polished armor rounded him off, giving the Makuta the appearance of a very dark, yet regal being.
Sitting on his right, his companion was far less menacing; whereas he was around eleven feet, she stood at a mere seven feet, the same size as a typical Toa. Her armor was pure white in color, neatly polished like that of the black-armored being. Unlike his, she possessed no extravagant spikes or decorations on her armor or mask; while she bore a similar, though smaller crown and a cape on her back, clasped at the throat with a brilliant, red jewel; it was not meant to intimidate others or to emphasize her 'royal' status. If anything, these objects merely emphasized her simplistic appearance, and in turn, made her more beautiful, at least in Dusk's eyes. She sat with a straight, though unimposing stature, one leg crossed over the other while she leaned back, her golden eyes casting a welcoming light upon Kadris and the party of Dark Hunters.
The Toa of Fire watched the two beings with intense interest, standing at attention on the floor in front of them; even through his stormy, troubled mind, he felt a sort of enchantment as he looked upon the female being. Any fool, he thought, who did not see the beauty that he saw was either extremely foolish or was very sluggish of mind. He looked at his brothers; Grim and Fraction were staring up at the Makuta, as well, and Dusk could tell that they, too, were enamored with the female Makuta, just as he was.
"My masters, we have arrived," Kadris stated, bowing to the two Makuta. "All Dark Hunters are confirmed present." Stepping to the side, he introduced each as their codename, stating their representative elements along with them. When he was finished, he turned back to the Makuta, awaiting further instruction.
The mistress nodded. "Thank you, Kadris; you may go." The six-armed being nodded, turning around and exiting the room. She looked at the Dark Hunters now. "Hello, my friends," the female said to them; her voice was soft and cool, a beautiful sound emanating from a beautiful being. "We are honored to welcome you into our home. Allow me to introduce myself; I am Makuta Jaeda. This is my brother, Makuta Xaeda. Though I'm sure you know this by now…"
"My lady; my lord," Dusk said as he stepped forward from the group, bowing to his two employers. As he did so he became painfully aware of his soaked cloak, which, like those of his companions, continued to drip water onto the floor. No one else seemed to pay attention to this. "The Shadowed One sends his regards, and his sincerest hope that all is well here."
Jaeda smiled, ignoring a scoff from her brother. "His regards are acknowledged, though I am afraid that all is not well around here." She leaned forward in her seat slightly, smiling. "If that were the case, then we wouldn't have called you here, would we have?" Dusk nodded, straightening up again.
"What's the problem, then?" Pharaoh asked, doing her best to hide her disgust at her brothers. To have someone else, even a source of income, placed above her was unbearable; to be unable to publicly voice her disapproval even more so. "Five Makuta and an army of… well, just an army of anything... I doubt there's a beast in this section of the island that you couldn't deal with by yourselves. Certainly you can do more than a group of former Toa can?"
Makuta Jaeda chuckled. "So you wish to jump right into business; I like that. Very well. Our… predicament… isn't related to our ability to control the shadows, Pharaoh, so much as it relates to your origins and the island as a whole," she said carefully. "Recently, the structure of Exa-Nui has come under threat by a rogue Toa of Magnetism. His name is Tarius – and he's powerful; stronger than any other Toa that we've dealt with in the past. Our allies haven't helped at all in our attempts to stop him, and his own have only made the task more difficult. We believe that he hails from an island north of here; a land of ice, one that has recently seen its fair share of trouble thanks primarily to Skakdi pirates and a criminal organization called the Ring, though this background information affects very little due to the fact that we don't know for certain how much of it is true."
Dusk nodded again. "You want us to help stop him."
Xaeda spoke up now. "That is not all," he said, his gruff and deep voice reverberating against the walls. "Tarius seeks to take possession of a number of powerful artifacts on the island." He held out his hand, using his illusion abilities to create images of six orb-like objects. Mist swirled inside of each of them, the clouds in each a different color. "The Orbs of Exaina. Powerful objects that anchor these very lands together. Exaina created them thousands of years ago as a way to join the various islets of Exa-Nui into one land; Tarius would put them in danger for his own profit and amusement."
Jaeda nodded solemnly. "That's not all. Should Tarius get his hands on the orbs, he will come into possession of... potentially destructive forces, shall we say. The objects themselves are not inherently dangerous, powerful as they are; how they are used, however, is a different story. Should he ever decide to hand these orbs over to darker forces in the universe, things could get very messy, very quickly. Surely no one wants that to happen?" She leaned back in her seat, her elbows resting on the armrests of her throne, her chin resting on the backs of her hands. "Our job for you is simple, really. Find these orbs before Tarius does; bring them back here. From there we can create new, better protected hiding places for them, so as to ensure that they never again come under the threat of rogues and thieves."
"It will be done," Dusk said, nodding. Grim, however, wasn't so willing to agree; something had caught his attention, and in his mind, it needed to be touched on.
"What of the Toa Exa?" he asked; Huntress growled at the mention of them. "As you know — and as we know — there is… bad blood between the Dark Hunters and the Toa of this island. We will not be able to operate without their interference; even if we could, we would never be able to efficiently operate alongside them. We're past that point."
"You raise an interesting point, Grim," Jaeda said, moving her hands; one she placed on her chin, while the other fell to the armrest. Xaeda cast a glance at her. "We cannot contact or recruit the Toa to our cause; their duty lies first and foremost in the protection of the Matoran, and that is something that we must respect. They are, however, aware of Tarius's activities; he has posed a constant threat as a raider on the island for the past several years, always willing to attack and steal from the Matoran without a second's hesitation. Because of this, they will no doubt prove useful in delaying and distracting him from his primary objective. As for the problem of your movements on the island… do not worry about that for now. The Toa are not aware that you have come; you will be able to pose as drifters while you work. So long as you don't do anything rash, they shouldn't trouble you."
The former Toa of Air wasn't convinced, though he nodded nonetheless. Jaeda leaned forward and stared at each of the Dark Hunters in turn, before smiling. She relaxed, pressing back against her throne.
"Excellent," she said. Kadris entered the room again, waiting at the door. "Kadris will show you to your rooms. Consider the facilities of this palace yours to use, with a few exceptions. You will get a grand tour tomorrow; after that, we much begin our mission. That said, good night, my friends; may you find comfort from your past demons within these walls."
Dusk nodded a short 'thank you' to Jaeda before following the others back into the entrance hall, the door swinging closed behind them. Kadris motioned for them to follow yet again — the final time for the night — before heading to a side door on the right side of the room. Dusk walked slowly behind the rest of the group, thinking about the conversation. In the shadows next to him, a dark silhouette of a Toa materialized, small pieces of metal climbing up from the ground to create the shape. Deep blue eyes glowed where its face would be.
"What do you think of them?" a highly auto-tuned and hydraulic voice asked quietly. Dusk stopped, staring straight ahead; if he looked at him, Shifter would leave — such an opportunity to speak with the Dark Hunter was rare, even for a sibling.
"They seem genuine," he answered quietly. Shifter was silent. "I don't quite understand what is so hard about capturing a single Toa, but I'm sure they have their reasons for not being able to. Perhaps they're busy."
"Maybe. Though their response regarding the Toa Exa was weak," the mechanical Dark Hunter said. "I'm willing to trust them for now, Dága, because I trust your judgment. But there is a component to the situation that they have not told us. As such, don't be surprised if things turn out badly in the end for someone; Mata Nui knows that we of all people deserve the karma…" The Toa of Fire closed his eyes as the sound of shifting metal sounded, signaling his brother's retreat from the area. Taking a breath, he followed after the others; after that journey, he just wanted to rest…
The soft pitter-patter of the rain as it thudded against the doors of the entrance hall. The clatter and clanging of his feet against the floor with each step he took. The sounds of his many possessions as they jostled and bounced around in his satchel, the noises reverberating against the metal walls of the entrance hall. These noises were all that Dága heard as he headed to his room, unknowingly toward the first day of what would become his biggest challenge yet.
Edited by Parugi, Jun 11 2016 - 06:44 PM.


text:
I think I read that he is a majority owner and is the one that pushed them towards the 1-100 scale they started this year....although I'm not sure if that stuck because I haven't seen much of it.
I think I read that he is a majority owner and is the one that pushed them towards the 1-100 scale they started this year....although I'm not sure if that stuck because I haven't seen much of it.
went ahead and merged in the article coup found a couple weeks ago.
Really curious to see what impact this will have for Andy (who lives in Cincinnati) as well as Sunday Night Football (on which Cris and Andy work).
I don't think he had many editing issues.
I did. Part of it was my fault. I couldn't hit the word maximum very often without some help, but most of the stuff I wrote was replaced by the same type of voice. They usually took out out my jokes, which was fine. The one thing I wasn't happy about was an article on Preston Parker after the Cruz injury. I wrote a piece discussing Parker in a rosy-ish manner, using some of his stats to say he wasn't going to be Cruz, but might still produce in the slot. I made a quip about dancing at the end as reference to Cruz.
What made the site was different and my name was taken off. The article became how Parker would not succeed (which ended up being true after some early flashes of competency). Then the writer used an almost identical joke at the end.
That's about it. I submitted a few times after and was not published.
Obviously, I still need work as a writer and I may have not been an exact fit for what they wanted. I still think I could be with time, but that's not up for me to decide. It is true that I am better at writing a story while having the time and space to tie it all together. My sentence syntax will always suck, but that's not as important in sports writing. I would never make it in academic writing.
EDIT: It was still fun to write those and am grateful that I got a chance to submit there. It certainly made me feel more legit.
Last edited by Rich Gapinski; 09-29-2015 at 02:29 PM.
As a writer, I'm like the last girl at the bar. In the morning, you may regret asking for my services, but I'll get the job done. As long as I don't puke on your floor.
Twitter: @PolishedSports
thanks for clarifying Rich.
Maybe I should apply for a job there...
For the record, I am thin, I am not friendly (most of you already know that). I have no idea what 'looks like he has given himself to the digital realm' means. Sounds like I'm a character in a 'Ready Player One' style tech fantasy book.I found Freeland in the new Cincinnati headquarters of Pro Football Focus, surrounded by unadorned walls. He's a thin, friendly man who looks like he has given himself to the digital realm.
For those curious:
Cris isn't the only owner of PFF but he is the majority owner.
Evan and Rich both wrote excellent articles for PFF last year. Things didn't really work out, I will only say that it wasn't at all the fault of Rich or Evan or the quality of their writing. Part my fault, part PFF's fault.
For those who expressed interest in employment (whether real or joking), PFF has an open audition type hiring process every offseason. You get a game tape and instructions and do what's called 'player participation' (what player was in what position at the snap of the ball). I went through it this offseason just to get a better understanding of the process. It's not easy, at all. You're working off TV copy (as you would during the season since coaches tape isn't released early enough). It is very cool, you get a great understanding of how teams use their players, especially on defense. If anyone is interested or has questions, let me know. It's not limited to Cincinnati, you can live anywhere (a lot of the analysts live in England, where PFF started).
Workin' on mysteries without any clues

subset: commoncrawl


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Nobody enjoys being slandered. A besmirched reputation, no less than a black eye, arouses the urge to fight back. However, thirsting for vengeance is dangerous, even when the grievance is just. A healthy desire to restore your good name can be easily upstaged by an undisciplined thrill at shaming your adversary.
For the much-maligned Family Research Council (FRC), it is hazardous to navigate these waters. The FRC is outspoken in its support for biblical marriage and sexuality. The group routinely endures scurrilous accusations of bigotry. It's not hard to fathom why FRC might wish to seize any opportunity for settling scores with ideological foes.
We believe most of the FRC's positions, policy statements, and goals are on target. But we have major reservations about FRC's methods for public engagement. Too often, its leaders traffic in flatly untrue statements. (Among FRC president Tony Perkins's claims: President Obama hates Christianity; his administration excludes Christians; and the military, under his command, bans Bibles and embraces bestiality.)
We can understand why Perkins lashed out at an obnoxious rival, the Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC), in the wake of an attempted massacre at FRC's Washington, D.C., headquarters. Once a venerable civil-rights organization, the SPLC has disgraced itself in recent years by branding the FRC an anti-homosexual "hate group." Certainly, the SPLC deserves to have its falsehoods rebutted. But the FRC erred in eagerly claiming, so soon after the attack, that the SPLC had given the gunman "a license to shoot."
About the would-be mass murderer's motives, there can be little dispute. The suspect, 28-year-old Floyd Corkins, allegedly ...1


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The 17th century was defined by the calendar of Earth as occurring from the year 1601 through the year 1700.
Events Edit
- Flint meets the Earth astronomer Galileo Galilei. (TOS: "Requiem for Methuselah") During his lifetime, Galileo proves that the Earth is not the center of the universe. As a result, religious authorities make him renounce his support for those claims on the premise of a death sentence for disobedience. (DS9: "In the Hands of the Prophets")
- The Marlonian 2nd century occurs. This is when the Marlonian cookware found by Jean-Luc Picard originated. (TNG: "Rascals")
- In the mid to late 17th century, it would be the last time until 2375 that the Book of the Kosst Amojan, an ancient tome considered highly dangerous, would be removed from the Bajoran Central Archives. (DS9: "The Changing Face of Evil")
- 1623
- Posthumous publication of the First Folio by William Shakespeare on Earth. (TOS: "Requiem for Methuselah")
- 1632
- Spinoza is born on Earth. (TNG: "The Offspring")
- 1647
- A man named Ronin is born in Glasgow, on Earth. He becomes infused with an anaphasic lifeform, effectively granting him eternal youth. (TNG: "Sub Rosa")
- 1663
- The Lucasian Chair of Mathematics is created at Cambridge University. (TNG: "All Good Things...")
- 1665
- Human mathematician Pierre de Fermat dies, leaving behind a note claiming to have discovered "remarkable proof" for what becomes known as Fermat's last theorem. (TNG: "The Royale"; DS9: "Facets")
- 1666
- Human scientist Isaac Newton devises three laws of motion that form the basis of Earth's understanding of physics and the universe. Newton's epiphany comes when a member of the Q Continuum, later named Quinn, jostles the apple tree that Newton is sitting under, causing an apple to fall on Newton's head. (VOY: "Death Wish")
- 1677
- Spinoza dies on Earth. (TNG: "The Offspring")
- 1680
- The Spanish serve as the overlords of several American Indian tribes in the region later known as New Mexico. These Indian pueblos rise up against the Spanish and drive them out of the region, in what was known as the Pueblo Revolt. (TNG: "Journey's End")
- 1690
- The Spanish return and brutally reconquer the area they were driven out from in 1680 by American Indians, killing several hundred of them and maiming several thousand more. Javier Maribona-Picard, an ancestor of Jean-Luc Picard, is one of the Spanish soldiers in this campaign. (TNG: "Journey's End")
- 1691
- The inhabitants of Megas-Tu are forced to leave their homes in Salem, Massachusetts, on Earth, following the Salem witch trials. (TAS: "The Magicks of Megas-Tu")
The Star Trek Encyclopedia (4th ed., vol. 2, p. 188) dated this event to 1692.
Notes Edit
The following events are from the fourth edition of the Star Trek Encyclopedia (vol. 1, pp. 180, 269, 324 and vol. 2, pp. 43, 50, 80, 269, 380):
- Unspecified - Danny Boy is composed.
- 1601 - Pierre de Fermat is born.
- 1608 - John Milton is born.
- 1611 - William Shakespeare writes The Tempest.
- 1616 - William Shakespeare dies.
- 1622 - Molière is born.
- 1642 - Isaac Newton is born.
- 1673 - Molière dies.
- 1674 - John Milton dies.
- 1685 - Georg Friedrich Händel is born.
|16th century
|18th century
External links Edit
- 17th century at Memory Beta, the wiki for licensed Star Trek works
- 17th century at Wikipedia
Community content is available under CC-BY-NC unless otherwise noted.


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I'm looking for a tennis partner to play indoors, preferably at McGill but I could also play at Uniprix.
I'm a 4.5, and I'm looking for a 4.0+ partner who is either willing to play occasionally or on regular basis.
Views: 495
Replies to This Discussion
hi i would play with you
regards Sven
sure, whenever you want. I'm available weekdays after 6h00 pm and weekends pretty much at any time. Let me know.
cool, whenever you want
sure, can you book the court?
[edit: please share private info via PM or Friend Request]
There's a court at 9 PM also. Does either of you want to play for another hour?
I'm down, my number is 438 880 6086
Hi Diego,
I'm also looking for a 4+ partner to hit with regularly at McGill as well. I see you've got a lot of replies, but if you're still looking, I'm definitely down. I'm free most of MWF during the day, weekends, and most weekday evenings. Let me know.
Sure, whenever you want, just that right now its really hard to book courts at mcgill, all are taken, so we could play at uniprix if that suits you. Let me know.
© 2019 Created by Mark / The Mayor. Powered by


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WE must begin with prayer for these churches because five of the larger churches in the US are Pastored by Nigerians. Revival hit Nigeria several years back and men began to walk forward to serve God in deeper ways. One notable brother is the Pastor of one of the larger Charismatic groups in Russia,I believe in the St Petersburg area. He doesn't like western influence in his church either because they are more negative than real faith in Jesus.
They (the Nigerians ) believe continuously for God's best and it usually happens.
Pray for these people they believe in Jesus and actually crave being in his presence. The attacks they are feeling right now is an open demonic attack because the devil doesn't want to lose out there.
m7th--circle of revival


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We are continuing our series tonight on the subject of origins: creation or evolution. I know that there are some who are new with us tonight and some who have missed some of the prior messages. So let me just give a brief review, and I'll try to make it brief and concise, because I have so much that I want to say, and I'm glad I have a full hour to say it tonight. But I want to begin by saying this, and I guess this sort of establishes the premise of everything I say: Evolution is an impossibility. If you remember that, you'll understand that we're left with no alternative but creation. Evolution cannot occur.
And we have been examining why in the last couple of messages. We have been discussing the impossibility of evolution, particularly from the viewpoint of information theory. And I've been telling you that every living thing has a DNA code, every living organism has a genetic code programmed with the exact information to produce, preserve and repair that living thing. It has no less than that necessary information and no more than that necessary information. The genes in every organism limit that organism to what it is. It cannot be less than it is, and it cannot be more than it is. There is no genetic information to transform it into something other than what it is. The Bible talks about kinds of living things that can reproduce after their own kind. And that essentially is saying the same thing. There can be variations within a kind, but not anything beyond that.
Science has tried to tell us that evolution is a process called mutation, that living organisms have the capacity to mutate, simply means to change. But you need to understand this: Mutations do not change the nature or the kind of any living organism. They don't make it anything other than it is. What mutations involve, and this is important, is always a loss of existing information. There is never a gain of information. Mutations never add new genetic information. Mutations therefore do not work toward an upward evolutionary process. Mutations are not a mechanism for upward evolutionary process. Dr. Werner Gitt, a director and professor at the German Federal Institute of Physics and Technology, answered this question: Can new information originate in a living organism through mutations? And this is his response, and I quote: "Mutations can only cause changes in existing information. There can be no increase in information and, in general, the result of mutations is injurious. New blueprints for new functions or new organs cannot arise. Mutations cannot be the source of new information," end quote.
Honest scientists must admit that all of life had to be designed individually by an immense, intelligent mind that programmed everything. Now when you think about the complexity of this, it is absolutely staggering. Just think about the human brain, for a moment. The human brain is more complex than a 747, for example. A 747 is made up of six million components. Can you imagine a 747 evolving out of a scrap pile of metal? It's absolutely ridiculous. The more science looks at life, the more complex it becomes. The body, for example, is made up of trillions of cells. In just one of those cells, one out of trillions, the amount of information, the amount of genetic information in one of those cells has been estimated to fill at least one thousand books of 500 pages. That's to run one cell out of trillions in one human body. And most scientists think that is an underestimation of the complexity. Where did all this information come from? Better, from whom did all this information come?
To make evolution the answer is ridiculous. To make chance the energy is also ridiculous, so ridiculous as to qualify someone for a trip to the mental institution. Why then do scientists continue to advocate this ridiculous theory of evolution motivated by chance? Why do they do that? Well, the bottom line is they do it to avoid God. They do that to push God out of their lives, to avoid His law, to avoid His standards, to avoid His will, to avoid His Word and to avoid His judgment on their lives. Evolution is nothing more than what Henry Morris so aptly called it, "The long war against God."
Evolution is the contemporary expression of the long war against God. The Old Testament says the fool has said in his heart there is no God. That is foolish. It is not rational to reject a Creator. It is not rational to empower chance. It is not rational to assume that one kind of living organism can become another. It is not wise to reject God's law and God's Word and God's gospel. If it is neither rational nor wise, then why do men do it? And the answer is that men do it because they love sin and they love darkness because their deeds are evil. They love themselves and they love their sin and they refuse to worship God or submit to His Word or His law. They will not recognize Scripture. And by the way, Scripture shows us that what is in God's world is in God's Word. All we know about creation from nothing is what the Creator has told us, and the only place He's told us is in the Scripture. Evolution is a war on God. It is the sort of contemporary fight, the contemporary modern attack in the long, long war that Satan has carried on against God.
In 1989 scientist Henry Morris wrote an excellent book called, The Long War Against God. And in that book he shows the impact of evolutionary theory on the world. And he reveals the irrefutable fact that the almost universe belief in evolution that permeates every area of human thinking has affected every area of human life. Not just how we view the physical world, not just how we view the biological sciences, it has affected social sciences, it has affected behavioral sciences, it has affected psychology, it has affected the humanities, it has affected liberal arts, it has affected philosophy and it has even affected religion. Quoting Henry Morris, he says this, "Evolution's lie permeates and dominates modern thought in every field. That being the case, it follows inevitably that evolutionary thought is basically responsible for the lethally ominous political developments and the chaotic moral and social disintegrations that have been accelerating everywhere," end quote. He goes on in his book to show how everything from genocide to fornication to homosexuality to abortion, to all matters of the destruction of human dignity, not seeing man as made in the image of God, to crime, to drugs, and everything else is all a part of the result of a materialistic, humanistic universe without God. So, says Morris, evolution is nothing more than the pervasive modern version of the conflict of the ages, the long war against God.
Evolution is empty philosophy. It is vain deceit. It is designed to attack the Creator and His glory. It denies His glorious revelation in Scripture. It denies His authority over the universe of man. It denies the dignity of man. It denies the image of God in man. It is a cunningly devised fable. It is religious harlotry. It is the latest abomination of the earth spawned by the father of lies, Satan. Now if I could have said it any stronger I would have. You see, the world has always believed the deceiver. The world has always believed the liar Satan and joined him in his long war against God.
The story of the history of the nations of the world, the cyclical story of how the world repeats its same demise is given us in Romans, chapter 1. I want you to look at it. This is a very familiar chapter. I know that and I'm not going to stay here very long. But I do need to remind you that this chapter, chapter 1 of Romans, verses 18 and following, lay out how the scenario of the long war against God is played over, and over, and over. And what you have here is the history, the cyclical history of what happens in the nations of the world throughout the history of the world. Verse 18 says, "The wrath of God is revealed [and it's] revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men who suppress the truth." Now the truth is obvious. The truth about a Creator is obvious. The truth about a God who is a person because we are persons is obvious. The truth about a God who is moral because we have a moral sense and a moral conscience is obvious. The truth about a God who has established right and wrong is obvious because it's in the fabric of our life. The truth that there is a Creator, a first cause for this massive effect called the universe, is obvious because rationality is built on cause and effect and leads you back ultimately to the first cause. Men suppress the truth.
Verse 19 says, "That which is known about God is evident within them; for God made it evident to them." And He did that by giving them reason, and reason says, reason is basically a sequence of cause and effect patterns. Anytime you do research you work on cause and effect. Anytime you come to understand a principle, you understand it because there's a cause and effect relationship, there's a sequence of things that builds to a conclusion. That's rationality. Reason is the ability to link things together to come to right conclusions. And God has put into the mind of man rationality, so that he can rationally go back to the fact that there had to be a first cause. That leads him back to God.
And then God is poured into the heart of man, as Romans 2 says, law, moral law, written by God on the heart. And so verse 19 says what "is known about God is evident within them," that God is, according to verse 20, the Creator of the world. You can look at the creation of the world and see His invisible attributes. You can look at creation and you know that God is powerful. You can look at creation and you know that God is intelligent beyond comprehension. You can look at creation and know that the mind of God is so massively and vastly and infinitely complex as to be absolutely incomprehensible to our puny brains. You can look at creation and you can know that God loves beauty and order. You can look at creation and see that God has a delicate touch, at the same time God has a powerful, almost overbearing, touch that can kill and crush. You can see so much about His attributes.
You can see His goodness manifest in the rain, and the sunshine, and the food we enjoy, and the beauty of the world around us, and the love that He's poured into life, and the wonder of romance, and the blessing of children, and the exhilarating joy of adventure. You can see that God is a God of beauty, and kindness, and goodness. So much can be known about His eternal power and divine nature. So much can be known, verse 20 says, that if you don't see God in this and you don't come to recognize Him for who He is, you're without excuse. The creation is not intended to point you back to a one-celled thing in some primordial soup. It's intended to point you back to God, and it's intended to show you everything about the mind of God, and nothing about some imaginary evolutionary process empowered by chance.
Any view like that, any progressive creationistic view, any theistic evolutionary view, strikes a blow at the intention of God in Creation, to manifest His great power. It isn't that God is some one-dimensional God, as the theistic evolution would, evolutionist would tell us; He sort of launched it all and then evolution took over. That doesn't give glory to God, that gives glory to the survival of the fittest, which is a viewpoint invented by Charles Darwin and his friends to explain appearances, when they didn't know things that they know today that contradict all of that. God is not glorified, God is not honored, when we give evolution the credit for creation, when we give evolution the credit for the complexity of the universe, the complexity of the smallest, smallest microcosm of creation, or when we give evolution the credit for the macrocosm of creation. God is honored and God is glorified when we give Him the credit for all of it.
Verse 21 indicates that rationality and morality, built into the fabric of human life, rationality and morality take us to God. It's inevitable. And so he says in 21, "Even though they knew God," I mean there was nowhere else to go but to God, but typically what they do, is, "they don't honor Him as God," they do not thank Him for His creation, "but they become empty in their speculations." They trade in God for stupid speculations. And then, "their foolish heart becomes dark." The light goes out. And "they profess themselves to be wise," and they get PhDs, and they write books, and they are actually fools, fools with a garbled, impossible, incoherent, irrational viewpoint. They call it wisdom, God calls it folly.
And therefore, verse 23 says they literally steal "the glory of the incorruptible God." They turn from the incorruptible God, the supernatural God, the God who is bigger than His creation, who is outside His creation, and in God's place they substitute "an image in the form of corruptible man and birds and four-footed animals and crawling creatures." They worship the creation instead of the Creator, verse 25 says. They exchange the truth of God and they believe the lie, Satan's lie that perpetuates the long war against God, and they worship and serve the creature. That's what evolutionists do. They literally believe that the creature is the creator, don't they? Sure they do.
I'll never forget hearing a USC professor give a lecture on how snakes became birds. This is how it went. I heard it with my own ears. Snakes were crawling around the ground all the time and eating bugs. But the bugs got wise and so when they saw a snake they scurried away into a hole and the snakes were having a hard time getting food because the bugs stayed away from them. So the snakes began to realize that they needed to surprise the bugs and the best way to do that would be to climb trees. And so snakes developed a capacity to climb trees and they'd hang on the branches and the bugs couldn't see them and when they would look down and see a bug they'd go down and get the bug. But the bugs began to know they were up there. And so the bugs stayed further and further away from the trees. And the snakes were frustrated by this and so eventually they thought it would really suit their purposes if they could hollow out their bones, develop wings, and fly. This is the University of Southern California, PhD. And so they did and that's how we got birds. Now that is someone professing to be wise who is a fool. So we give, we worship the creature, and we commend the snake for his ability to transform himself into a bird; which is absolutely impossible. It doesn't have the genetic information to fly or to hollow out his bones, or to grow feet or a beak.
But, you know, this is exactly what Romans says. They threw wisdom away and accepted stupidity and folly because their foolish heart was darkened. Their speculations were empty, and futile, and useless because they had turned their backs on the only rational explanation for anything, which was God, because they didn't want God crowding them with His moral standards. They began to worship the birds and the animals, and they "served the creature rather than the Creator who is blessed forever, amen." And so, you know what? God gave them up, gave them up to sexual sin, homosexuality and every other kind of sin that he lists in verse 28 to 32. That's the way it goes, they just plunged into the depth of horrible iniquity. That's, that's the real story of where evolution comes from. It's part of the long war against God. And if we had time I'd quote you voluminous quotes from evolutionists who give such blasphemous and mocking statements about God. There's no need to listen to those.
The Bible, on the other hand, clearly and repeatedly states that God is the Creator of everything, everything. Let me just show you this and I'm going to take a little time with this because it's so important to understand this. Genesis 1:1 says it. It can't be said any more clearly or comprehensively, "In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth." That's very clear and unmistakable. John 1, "In the beginning was the Word [referring to Christ] and the Word was with God and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God [Now listen to this.], all things came into being by Him and apart from Him nothing came into being that has come into being." Now how else can you say it? There's no evolution in John 1:3, "All things came into being by Him and apart from Him nothing came into being that has come into being." Listen, nothing is in existence that He didn't create.
In Hebrews, chapter 11, a familiar verse, "by faith," it's the only way, not by empirical analysis, "By faith we understand." In other words, you have to believe the Bible. "By faith we understand that the worlds were prepared by the Word of God," that God spoke and everything was created. Now listen to this, "So that what is seen was not made out of things which are visible." Now there is an absolute statement that totally discounts evolution. What you see in the created world was not made out of some other material, but rather, everything you see in God's created universe was made by Him out of nothing, out of nothing. And that's exactly what it says in the book of Genesis. That's a great verse, Hebrews 11:3.
Colossians 1:16, speaking of Christ who is God the Creator, verse 16, "For by Him all things were created." You notice how many times the Scripture repeats the word all? "All things were created." What do you mean by that? Well, "in the heavens," that would be everything that exists in the universe, everything. "And on the earth," everything in our little microcosm, this earth, everything outside this earth and everything on this earth; He created everything. And listen to this, "visible and invisible." You can see a mountain, He made it. You can't see the wind, but He made it. You can see an ocean, He made it. You can't see an electric current going through the air but He made it. Visible and invisible, and that includes angelic beings called thrones, dominions, rulers and authorities, "all things," repeating it again, "have been created by Him and for Him." I mean, this is absolutely beyond question, beyond question.
And as you flow through the Bible it is relentless in its affirmation of this truth. In Deuteronomy 4:32, "Indeed, ask now concerning the former days," Moses says, "which were before you, since the day that God created man on the earth." There was a day when God created man on the earth. He is not the final stop in a multi-billion year process of evolution. There was a day, we know it to be the sixth day, as Genesis tells.
In Psalms, and I can't take you to all of the Psalms that extol God as Creator, but Psalm 104 is a good illustration of this. Psalm 104, "Bless the Lord, O my soul! O Lord my God, Thou art very great; Thou art clothed with splendor and majesty, covering Thyself with light as with a cloak, stretching out heaven like a tent curtain." You know, the ridiculous, the ridiculous irrational perspective of evolution only tries to solve the question of how life generated on earth, how in the world do they hope to explain how you get an infinite universe? God stretched it out. Verse 3, "He lays the beams of His upper chambers in the waters; He makes the clouds His chariot; He walks on the wings of the wind; He makes the winds His messengers, flaming fire His ministers." Verse 5: "He established the earth upon its foundations, so that it will not totter forever and ever. Thou didst cover it with the deep as with a garment." He made the oceans, He made the earth. The Psalm goes on like that. He put the springs in the valleys, verse 10 says. It was He who made the wild animals and the birds. He's the one that caused the grass to grow, verse 14. And so it goes all the way to verse 24, "O Lord, how many are Thy works!"
There's no credit here given to some irrational chance. Verse 24, "O Lord, how many are Thy works!" Listen to this, "In wisdom Thou hast made them," there's that word again, "all." And the more we know scientifically, the deeper we penetrate into the incredible mysteries of this creation, the more wise the Creator becomes. "The earth is full of Thy creatures." That's what that word is, "The earth is full of Thy creatures." It goes on to talk about "the sea, great and broad, in which are swarms without number, animals small and great. There the ships move along and Leviathan," the sea monster, the great whales, goes on like this. Verse 31: "Let the glory of the Lord endure forever; Let the Lord be glad in His works." I mean, it's all His. He made it all, there's never any other explanation for it.
Psalm 148, "Praise the Lord! Praise the Lord from the heavens; praise the Lord in the heights! Praise Him, all His angels; praise Him, all His hosts! Praise Him, sun and moon; praise Him, all the stars of light! Praise Him, highest heavens, and the waters that are above the heavens! Let them praise the name of the Lord for He commanded and they were [What?] created."
The prophet Isaiah speaks of God's creative power in Isaiah chapter 40, verse 28. Boy, this is just a great verse, mark this one down. "Do you not know?" You want to say this to a world of evolutionists. "Do you not know? Have you not heard? The Everlasting God, the Lord, the Creator of the ends of the earth does not become weary or tired. His understanding is inscrutable." His mind is so far beyond us that we can't even begin to approach it. Again, Isaiah 42:5, "Thus says God the Lord." What God are you talking about, Isaiah? The God "who created the heavens and stretched them out, who spread out the earth and its offspring, who gives breath to the people on it and spirit to those who walk in it, I am the Lord." Always the Creator of everything.
In Isaiah 45, Isaiah is not through honoring God as Creator. Verse 5, "I am the Lord, there is no other; beside me there is no God. I will gird you, though you have not known Me; that men may know from the rising to the setting of the sun that there is no one besides Me. I am the Lord, and there is no other, [I am] the One forming light and creating darkness, causing well-being and creating calamity; I am the Lord who does all these. Drip down, O heavens, from above, and let the clouds pour down righteousness; let the earth open up and salvation bear fruit, and righteousness spring up with it. I, the Lord, have created it." He's talking about what He's going to do in the great and glorious re-creation of the earth in the kingdom. It's His creation. He can do with it as He pleases when He pleases.
And verse 9, a warning to the evolutionists, "Woe to the one who quarrels with his Maker." Look at verse 12, same chapter, "It is I who made the earth, and created man upon it. I stretched out the heavens with My hands and I ordained all their hosts." Look at verse 18, "For thus says the Lord, who created the heavens (He is the God who formed the earth and made it, He established it and did not create it a waste place, but formed it to be inhabited.), I am the Lord and there is none else."
Malachi the prophet emphasizes the same thing: God is the Father of us all. Malachi 2:10, "Do we not all have one Father? Has not one God created us?" Man is not the end of an evolutionary chain, he is the direct creation of God, as is everything else.
Mark 10 and verse 6, "But from the beginning of creation [Jesus speaking], God made them male and female." God created man, He did not just evolve. In Mark, chapter 13, verse 19, this emphasis, (It just hammered home, and I'm not giving you all the scriptures.) but Mark (You think I am but I'm not.) Mark 13:19, "For those days will be a time of tribulation such as has not occurred since the beginning of the creation [and just in case you haven't learned it] which God created." "The creation which God created," over, and over, and over this emphasis is made in Scripture. We saw it in the Old Testament prophets; I showed it to you there in the gospel of Mark. You have it in the epistles. Ephesians 3:9: "God who created all things." "God who created all things." The apostle Peter, along with Paul, makes the same emphasis. "Therefore," 1 Peter 4:19, "let those who suffer according to the will of God entrust their souls to a faithful Creator." God is our faithful Creator.
And then, of course, I want you to turn to Revelation because this is where everything sort of sums up. Revelation, chapter 4, and let's go to heaven and see what heaven thinks about evolution. Verse 11: "Worthy art Thou, [O Lord], our Lord and our God, to receive glory and honor and power." Why? "For Thou didst create all things, and because of Thy will they existed, and were created." Chapter 5, same emphasis is made, God, the great and sovereign God, is the Creator, His is the glory, His is the power, His is the dominion. He is the One who "purchased for God men with His blood from every tribe and tongue and people and nation," and all of heaven begins to ring with praise to God. "To Him who sits on the throne, to the Lamb, be blessing and honor and glory and dominion forever and ever." And finally verse 13, "Every created thing," and that's all there are, there aren't evolved things, there're just created things. It doesn't say every created thing and all the mutated things. "Every created thing which is in heaven and on earth and under the earth and on the sea" and everywhere; this is the, this is the redemption of all the created universe.
But go to Revelation, chapter 10. This is a fabulous chapter. A strong angel comes down out of heaven. But the angel, this great, strong, angel who comes down, and has a little book, which represents the book that describes the judgment of God; and the angel, verse 5, John sees "standing on the sea and on the land," indicating that God's judgment is going to fall on the sea and the land, as Revelation points out it does. And the angel swears by God. He identifies God, "Him who lives forever and ever." And further identifies God by this statement, "Who created heaven and the things in it, and the earth and the things in it, and the sea and the things in it." Absolutely unmistakable.
Now finally, in our moving through Scripture: Revelation 14. You know, when the tribulation time comes and terrible, terrible judgments are going to come flying from the throne of God, you can see the war machine cranking up. In Revelation 4 and 5, the war machine in heaven starts to crank up. Similar language to that in Ezekiel, chapter 1; as God's war machine moved in the past, it will crank up to bring judgment in the future. But during the time when God pours out judgment, that seven-year period, particularly in the last three and a half years, at the same time the gospel will be preached. It will be preached by two witnesses mentioned in chapter 11. It will be preached also by the hundred and forty-four thousand Jews mentioned in chapter 7, and later on as well.
But there's one other great preacher that is identified in the 14th chapter of Revelation, verse 6, "I saw another angel flying in midheaven." You've seen messages when you were at the football game pulled by the little airplane that flew across and had the banner. You've seen messages put on the side of a blimp. Well that's sort of the idea, but not quite. You have here a flying angel in midheaven and he's got "the eternal gospel to preach to those who live on the earth, and to every nation and tribe and tongue and people." That's pretty exciting stuff. If you want to know the gospel, just look up. And this is what the angel preaches, here's the everlasting gospel. This is the same message that's always been preached. It's never changed. "Fear God, and give Him glory." Beloved, that is the message. "Fear God, and give Him glory, because the hour of His judgment has come; and worship Him who [Him who what?], made the heaven and the earth and sea and springs of waters," the Creator, the Creator. The eternal good news is: Fear God and worship Him. That's the good news of salvation, that God can be reverenced and God can be worshiped, God can be glorified. The sinner can come and be brought into a capacity to know God, and to adore God, and to glorify God through the forgiveness of sins. The angel will preach the age-old gospel, and the age-old gospel is this, folks: The Creator has become our Redeemer. The Creator has become our Redeemer.
The same God who created in the end will be bringing judgment in anticipation of His re-creation. This is the constant identification of Scripture, that the Creator is the Redeemer, that the Redeemer is none other than the Creator who created absolutely everything. I can't, I can't leave out Nehemiah because it sums it up. Nehemiah, chapter 9, verse 5, all these Levites get together and they say, "Rise, and bless the Lord your God forever and ever! O may Thy glorious name be blessed and exalted above all blessing and praise!" Listen to this, "Thou alone...," here's their praise. "Thou alone art the Lord. Thou hast made the heavens, the heaven of heavens with all their host, the earth and all that is on it, the seas and all that is in them. Thou dost give life to all of them and the heavenly host bows down before Thee. Thou art the Lord." That's how it is always in Scripture, always. God is given full credit and full glory for the creation. How did He do it? Psalm 33, "By the word of the Lord the heavens were made, and by the breath of His mouth all their host." He just "spoke," verse 9, "and it was done; He commanded, and it was established," Psalm 33.
There are two great passages in the book of Acts in which Paul makes this so abundantly clear. In Acts 14 and verse 15: There Paul and Barnabas are preaching in the pagan environment at Lystra, where the people worshiped the typical gods of the day. And they say to the people, "We are men of the same nature as you, and we preach the gospel to you in order that you should turn from these vain things to a living God." What God? The "God who made the heaven and the earth and the sea and all that is in them."
It was on Mars Hill, in Acts 17, that Paul ran into the philosophers. They had established an altar to the unknown god just in case they left somebody out in their pantheon of deities. So he said let me tell you about the God you don't know. I'll tell you about Him. Verse 24: He's "the God who made the world and all things in it." That's who He is. He's "the God who made the world and all things in it." You know, it's not as if this is some obscure statement, right? Every time you come to these passages it's comprehensive and it is exclusive of any evolutionary process. God created everything, and everything that exists, God created. Scripture repeatedly identifies God as the Creator.
Now with all that in your mind let's go back to Genesis 1:1. This simple statement, "In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth." Folks, you either believe that or you don't. Given that statement and the multiplicity of other statements that I just read to you, if you don't believe this then you have a lot of other things in the Bible not to believe.
You know, it really wearies me to hear the critics assault the Bible. Flying in late last night I read an absolutely ridiculous article in US News and World Report about the apostle Paul, which totally misrepresented the Word of God, misrepresented him and were the foolish musings of Christ-denying and godless men. And they do the same thing to the book of Genesis, and some of it, and they all pass themselves off as religious scholars. "It is widely held that the Genesis creation account needs to be taken not as literal history, but that it is some kind of Hebrew poetry that is allegorical." Well if that's true then you're going to have to allegorize all those passages, too. But this is the scholarly approach: "Well, we don't take this as actual history here that God actually created in six days. This is Hebrew poetry."
Douglas Kelly, who has written an absolutely outstanding book to which I shall be continually indebted in this series, called Creation and Change, says, "Many biblical interpreters have attempted to avoid the obvious conflict between a straightforward reading of the text of Genesis and opposing, naturalist theories of origins. They have done so by suggesting that Genesis, chapters 1 through 11, and especially the first three chapters, are poetic writings rather than chronological history. This position is surprisingly common among people who generally hold to a high view of scriptural authority." That's pretty amazing.
The great scholar of Westminster Seminary in Philadelphia (I cut my teeth on many of his writings as a student.), Edward J. Young, an authority of frankly massive erudition in Hebrew and cognate languages, responds to these claims that Genesis 1 to 3 is poetry rather than serious history. Edward Young addressed the question in his writing, Is Genesis Poetry or Myth? And this is what he said: "To escape from the plain factual statements of Genesis some evangelicals are saying that the early chapters of Genesis are poetry or myth, by which they mean that they are not to be taken as straightforward accounts and that the acceptance of such a view removes the difficulties. To adopt such a view, they say, removes all troubles with modern science." Then Young says, "Genesis is not poetry. There are more poetical accounts of creation in the Bible, such as Psalm 104, certain chapters of Job, and they differ completely from the first chapter of Genesis. Hebrew poetry has certain characteristics and they are not found in the first chapter of Genesis. So the claim that Genesis 1 is poetry is no solution at all. The man who says, 'I believe Genesis purports to be a historical account, but I do not believe that account,' is a far better interpreter of the Bible than the man who says, 'I believe Genesis is profoundly true, but it is poetry,'" end quote.
So, don't give us any of that nonsense about poetry; just say you don't believe it. That's a better approach. Genesis 1 is not written according to the laws of Hebrew poetry. You can find lots of passages in the Old Testament that are. This isn't. There are no usages of the typical, traditional types of parallelism that occur in Hebrew poetry. And Douglas Kelly says, "No amount of exegetical straining can find the slightest poetic view of Genesis 1 to 11 in the books of the New Testament. If it was poetry, we would expect the New Testament writers to assume that it was poetry and to treat it as poetry. But when you read the New Testament writers commenting on Genesis, it is obvious that they take it as history."
Henry Morris summarizes the New Testament usage of the Old in this way. He says:
"The New Testament is, if anything, even more dependent on Genesis than the Old. There are at least 165 passages in Genesis that are either directly quoted or clearly referred to in the New Testament. Many of them are alluded to more than once, so that there are at least 200 quotations or references to Genesis in the New Testament. It is significant that the portion of Genesis which has been the object of the greatest attacks of skepticism and unbelief, the first eleven chapters, is the portion which had the greatest influence on the New Testament. There exist over 100 quotations or direct references to Genesis 1 through 11 in the New Testament. Furthermore, every one of those eleven chapters is alluded to somewhere in the New Testament, and every one of the New Testament authors refers somewhere in his writings to Genesis 1 to 11 [Every New Testament author]. On at least six different occasions Jesus Christ Himself quoted from or referred to something or someone in one of those eleven chapters [six different times], including specific references to each of the first seven chapters. Furthermore, in not one of these many instances where the Old or New Testament refers to Genesis is there the slightest evidence that the writers regarded the events or personages as myths or allegories. To the contrary, they all viewed Genesis as absolutely historical, true, and authoritative," end quote. Thank you, Henry, that's good stuff.
Walter Brown lists some 71 New Testament references to the early chapters of Genesis and concludes. Here's his conclusion: "Every New Testament writer refers to the early chapters of Genesis, every one. Jesus Christ referred to each of the first seven chapters of Genesis. All New Testament books except Galatians, Philippians, 1 & 2 Thessalonians, 2 Timothy, Titus, Philemon, 2 & 3 John, refer to Genesis 1 to 11. Every chapter of Genesis 1 to 11 except chapter 8 is referred to specifically somewhere in the New Testament. Every New Testament writer apparently accepted those early chapters as historically accurate."
Now if you go back to the book of Genesis for a moment, the outline of Genesis further supports the historicity of the first chapters, and I'll kind of end with this. Ha, ha. I've got the best stuff ahead of me here. But if you just outline the book of Genesis: Chapters 1 to 11, primitive history; chapters 12 to 50, patriarchal history, that's where Abraham, Isaac and all the way through to Joseph, Jacob and Joseph. You have primitive history: creation, Fall, Flood, dispersion. You have patriarchal history: Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Joseph. It's very well divided. Nobody will argue that 12 to 50 is history. Why do they argue that 1 to 11 is history? They really don't want to argue that the Flood was not history because there are so many evidences of it. They don't necessarily want to argue that the dispersion, Tower of Babel, and the nations, and the language, is not history either. There has to be some explanation for the diversity of languages and nations.
What they really want to argue with has to do with the first three chapters of Genesis and what they are most concerned to argue with is creation. They think that science has made its point and debunked the Bible. But Genesis is history: Primitive history, 1 to 11; patriarchal history, 12 to 50. In fact, I give you a little fast; this is a fast lesson in Genesis. Look at chapter 5. The word generation is genealogy; history, history. Chapter 5, verse 1, "This is the book of the genealogy of Adam." Chapter 6, verse 9, "These are the records of the genealogy of Noah." Chapter 10, verse 1, "These are the records of the genealogy of Shem, Ham and Japheth." Chapter 11, verse 10, "These are the records of the generations of Shem." Verse 27: "These are the records of the generations of Terah." Chapter 25, I think that's the next one, and verse 12, yes, "These are the records of the generations of Ishmael." Verse 19: "These are the records of the generations of Isaac." And so it goes. Chapter 36, "These are the records of the generations [or genealogies] of Esau." Verse 9, "These...are the records of the generations of Esau," again indicated. Chapter 37 verse 2, "These are the records of the generations of Jacob."
You can just divide this entire book into historical records. That's what it is. If you go backwards, you go from the history of Joseph to Jacob to Esau to Isaac to Ishmael to Abraham to Terah to Shem, Ham, Japheth, Noah, Adam, God. That's how it goes. It's history. It's ludicrous, when there are so many clear-cut statements that this is history, to make the history part that has to do with God myth. Well, that's enough. There's more next time. I'll get to verse 1. Let's pray together.
Strengthen our faith, Lord, through this, and our trust and confidence in You and Your greatness. We praise You that You are the Creator-Redeemer. That's who You are and that's how You want to be known and worshiped and glorified. We praise You for Your creation and Your redemption. Amen.
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