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Judgment among the gods – Psalm 82

A Plea for Righteous Judgment

Where, O Lord, will we find righteous judgment, truth of testimony, a jury of understanding?

If not at the Throne of Heaven, give us gods among us with Your own heart for justice and mercy.

Have mercy upon us, heavenly Father, for all men are sinners. Yet let us know your love for righteousness by Your penalty of the guilty.

Vindictive man of dust, cunning woman of deceit:

Do you cry out for vengeance against those who have trespassed your rights, while you plea for mercy for your betrayal of good?

What jury will hear their guilt while overturning your own sin?

82:1 מִזְמֹור לְאָסָף אֱֽלֹהִים נִצָּב בַּעֲדַת־אֵל בְּקֶרֶב אֱלֹהִים יִשְׁפֹּֽט׃

Psalm 82: A psalm of Asaph.

God stands in the divine assembly;

he pronounces judgment among the gods:

“How long will you judge unjustly
and show partiality to the wicked?

The LORD God Most High! Among other gods?

What can it mean to speak of a divine assembly? Who can judge? Who are these judges of men and women?

We cannot know or face Almighty God in this life. Man knows not the judgment of the Most High, justice which makes right all that is wrong. The plea of this Psalm cries out to the Judge of all, to his appointed rulers.

God takes His stand in His own congregation;
He judges in the midst of the rulers.
Psalm 82:1 NASB

The NASB translation of Psalm 82 may help clarify, referring to the other gods as the congregation of God, rulers over the judged who He also judges.

Almighty God has all Authority! He sits among other gods, rulers of that which the Lord delegates.

Justice required of other gods

3 Provide justice for the needy and the fatherless;
uphold the rights of the oppressed and the destitute.
4 Rescue the poor and needy;
save them from the power of the wicked.”

5 They do not know or understand;
they wander in darkness.
All the foundations of the earth are shaken.

Our earthly judges, rulers seated in the thrones of justice, must judge rightly, helping their own subjects. These other gods in our earthly congregations owe obedience to the God above all gods.

6 I said, “You are gods;
you are all sons of the Most High.
7 However, you will die like humans
and fall like any other ruler.”

I say: to the President, the Premier, the Prime Minister; to the King and Prince, the Queen and Empress: You are gods – rulers over men and women under your dominion. Yet know your Authority comes down from the Most High God of Creation.

Though you eat bread by the sweat of your subjects, you will return to dust and you will fall like any prince, your ashes returned to dust.

Our plea to God

He IS God! above all men, above all spirits, above all rulers of heaven and earth! Our Father God rules over the congregation of the other gods. We can ask for justice and we may ask for mercy. Yet in true humility and obedience all will bow down.

8 Rise up, God, judge the earth,
for all the nations belong to you.

The Lord will judge the earth and nations.

Until that Day, He appoints judges, gods among us, men and women subservient to Almighty God.

David also says:

86:8 אֵין־כָּמֹוךָ בָאֱלֹהִים אֲדֹנָי וְאֵין כְּֽמַעֲשֶֽׂיךָ׃
Psalm 86:8 KJV

elohiym ‘Adonay ma`aseh

Among the gods there is none like unto thee, O Lord; neither are there any works like unto thy works.

David also declares:

For the LORD is great, and greatly to be praised: he is to be feared above all gods.
For all the gods of the nations are idols: but the LORD made the heavens.
Psalm 96:4-5 KJV

Say among the heathen that the LORD reigneth: the world also shall be established that it shall not be moved: he shall judge the people righteously.
Psalm 96:10 KJV

The LORD יְהֹוָה Yĕhovah shall judge righteously.

He IS a God among the gods of the earth, even in the council of the rulers of the heavens and the earth.

The gods and idols of the heathen, other nations who do not judge righteously must bow down to the LORD God, for He will give the rulers of the lands true and just council.

God among other gods

Many men and women of many nations worship gods of many names. God appoints other gods, rulers and judges, over the heathen and over the faithful. These will bow down to the Lord God, as will all men of dust and angels worship at His Throne.

We are His created. Let us worship the Lord.

One Flock, One Shepherd

6:4 שְׁמַע יִשְׂרָאֵל יְהוָה אֱלֹהֵינוּ יְהוָה אֶחָֽד׃
6:5 וְאָהַבְתָּ אֵת יְהוָה אֱלֹהֶיךָ בְּכָל־לְבָבְךָ וּבְכָל־נַפְשְׁךָ וּבְכָל־מְאֹדֶֽךָ׃
Deuteronomy – KJV

: שְׁמַע יִשְׂרָאֵל‬; “Hear, [O] Israel”

Hear, O Israel: The LORD our God is one LORD:

And thou shalt love the LORD thy God with all thine heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy might.

Jesus, Shepherd of Israel, Son of God

Controversy erupts in Jerusalem among religious and political leaders – controversy even to this day. The Messiah Jesus comes before us as Redeemer and Sacrifice for our sins.

He was and IS and will be God, Judge of all souls.

Yet in this incident Jesus stands accused as a Son of Man, a god among other gods appointed to rule over the Jews.

John 10:

11 “I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep.

Jesus then refers to the rulers of the Jews, as “hired hands,” judges who do not care for the lives of their flock. It’s no small insult to the leading religious authorities, who later will convict Jesus wrongly before their own court. This God will become the Perfect Sacrifice for the sin of the world.

Solomon’s Porch overlooking the Temple courtyard

God among the appointed gods

23 Jesus was walking in the temple in Solomon’s Colonnade. 24 The Jews surrounded him and asked, “How long are you going to keep us in suspense? If you are the Messiah, tell us plainly.”

25 “I did tell you and you don’t believe,” Jesus answered them. “The works that I do in my Father’s name testify about me. 26 But you don’t believe because you are not of my sheep…

“I and the Father are one.”
John 10:30 CSB – words of the Messiah Jesus

The religious officials answer:

33 “We aren’t stoning you for a good work,” the Jews answered, “but for blasphemy, because you—being a man—make yourself God.”

34 Jesus answered them,
“Isn’t it written in your law, I said, you are gods?
If he called those whom the word of God came to ‘gods’—and the Scripture cannot be broken— do you say,
‘You are blaspheming’
to the one the Father set apart and sent into the world,
because I said: I am the Son of God?
John 10:34-36 CSB

Jesus escapes their stoning during the Festival of Lights to become the Sacrifice of Most Holiness during the Passover.

He IS the body and blood, shed for our sin.

Let us worship and bow down only to Christ, our Lord and Savior. He IS a God among other gods and He will judge their righteousness and ours.

Amen.

November 7, 2018
A Witness through John – Samira سمير
“My food is to do the will of him who sent me and to finish his work,” Jesus told them.
John 4:34 CSB

Shopping for Groceries

If you’re reading the Gospel (Good News) wondering why Jesus did something or other you will often find mentions of food. John answers our cravings into the personalness of Jesus with stories using symbolism for food, signs like turning water into wine or feeding of the five thousand.

In our series on the Gospel and writings of John you may find satisfaction for your hunger to know why Jesus did what He did. We left off with John’s most famous story of Nicodemus coming to Jesus in Jerusalem at night.

John 3:

22 After this, Jesus and his disciples went to the Judean countryside, where he spent time with them and baptized.

23 John also was baptizing in Aenon near Salim, because there was plenty of water there.

John then continues his stories of witness with Jesus having a conversation with someone unexpected as they travel north through Samaria, a woman at a well. Even though John was not present, he tells us what they said and provides context into why their conversation is important.

This story connects the first journey of Jesus and the Disciples in their travel and mission from Judea and Jerusalem, then back to the Galilean towns where they live.

Food for Thought

I have fed you with milk, and not with meat: for hitherto ye were not able to bear it, neither yet now are ye able.
1 Corinthians 3:2 KJV http://blb.sc/008Bfe

To begin, just a brief mention here from a letter of the Apostle Paul to the church at Corinth.

Paul uses a Greek word τροφή trophē which the King James Version translates literally as ‘meat.’ Trophe figuratively means nourishment, which most Bibles translate symbolically as food.

We have more here than just milk or a little ‘evangelism moment.’ This is meat for the mature believer with ears to hear, nourishment for our famished souls.

Jesus’ teaching to the Disciples after this encounter with the Samaritan woman and Paul’s encouragement to the church are the same; that is, both provide food to the mature listener.

John 4:

When Jesus learned that the Pharisees had heard he was making and baptizing more disciples than John (though Jesus himself was not baptizing, but his disciples were), he left Judea and went again to Galilee.

“He, Jesus, left for Galilee. John records that his disciples were baptizing (presumably in the Jordan near where the Baptist drew crowds). As at other times Jesus may have gone ahead and set a meeting place with the Disciples for a later time.

Samaria from Jerusalem via mountains or Jordan River valley wilderness

4 He had to travel through Samaria; 5 so he came to a town of Samaria called Sychar near the property that Jacob had given his son Joseph.

Retelling the Gospel

John would have learned this Gospel witness in the time that followed; for only Jesus and the woman at the well were present at first.

In order to put this conversation into an observable context I have chosen the name of Samira for the woman at the well.

Samira means ‘someone you chat with in the evening’ (in this instance, a Samaritan woman).

يرة‎ – a conversation in Samaria with the Messiah

Samira سميرة‎ – a woman at a well in Samaria

7 A woman of Samaria came to draw water.

Jesus: Give me a drink

Samira: How is it that you, a Jew, ask for a drink from me, a Samaritan woman?

Jesus: If you knew the gift of God, and who is saying to you, ‘Give me a drink,’ you would ask him, and he would give you living water.

Samira: Sir (سيدى) (sayedy), you don’t even have a bucket, and the well is deep. So where do you get this ‘living water’?

You aren’t greater than our father Jacob, are you? He gave us the well and drank from it himself, as did his sons and livestock.

Jesus: Everyone who drinks from this water will get thirsty again. But whoever drinks from the water that I will give him will never get thirsty again.

In fact, the water I will give him will become a well of water springing up in him for eternal life.

Samira: Sir, give me this water so that I won’t get thirsty and come here to draw water.

John’s later commentary

[John (to the reader): The men of Sychar told me how their wives resented the sinful life of this woman, but Samira later witnessed to me that Jesus lovingly smiles at her, then initiating their quick dialogue.]

Jesus: Go call your husband and come back here.

Samira: I don’t have a husband.

Jesus: You have correctly said, ‘I don’t have a husband,’ For you’ve had five husbands, and the man you now have is not your husband. What you have said is true.

[John: She told me she wondered if this man could have spoken with the men in town; then thought, ‘No, it is not possible; for he has just arrived from the Jerusalem road.’ It was then that she knew this was no ordinary traveler and drew some water from the well for this son of man, as prophets are called.]

Jesus, a man like no other

Samira: Sir, I see that you are a prophet.

Our fathers worshiped on this mountain, but you Jews say that the place to worship is in Jerusalem.

Jesus: Believe me, woman, an hour is coming when you will worship the Father neither on this mountain nor in Jerusalem.

You Samaritans worship what you do not know. We worship what we do know, because salvation is from the Jews.

But an hour is coming, and is now here, when the true worshipers will worship the Father in Spirit and in truth.

Yes, the Father wants such people to worship him.

God is spirit, and those who worship him must worship in Spirit and in truth.

[John: That was the same thing Jesus had just said to the Pharisee Nicodemus in Jerusalem.]

Samira: I know that the Messiah is coming (who is called Christ). When he comes, he will explain everything to us.

Jesus: I, the one speaking to you, am he. [ἐγώ εἰμι ὁ λαλῶν σοι]

The Messiah, the Christ

What a remarkable encounter John records. The Apostle will retell this story of Good News for years to come.

Jesus, the Messiah of Israel, has come not only for those in Judea and Jerusalem, but to those of all of Israel, even the despised Samaritans.

John’s Gospel records:

27 Just then his disciples arrived, and they were amazed that he was talking with a woman. Yet no one said, “What do you want?” or “Why are you talking with her?”

Of course these were questions John also wanted to ask Jesus, but did not.

The Samaritan woman returns to Sychar and later men and women from town come out to the well by the highway to meet the Messiah in person.

John now records a conversation with Jesus and the Disciples with a focus no longer on water, but on food.

31 In the meantime the disciples kept urging him, “Rabbi, eat something.”

“I have food to eat that you don’t know about.

33 The disciples said to one another, “Could someone have brought him something to eat?”

34 “My food is to do the will of him who sent me and to finish his work.

The Disciples most likely failed to understand this connection between their literal food and Jesus’ symbolic meat of spiritual nourishment.

Why would Jesus even stop to talk to this Samaritan woman?

35 “Don’t you say, ‘There are still four more months, and then comes the harvest’? Listen to what I’m telling you:

A Harvest of Faith

What is the harvest? What does the Messiah mean?

Jesus speaks now to John and the Disciples.

Jesus: Listen to what I’m telling you:
- Open your eyes
- and look at the fields, because they are ready for harvest.
- 36 The reaper is already receiving pay
- and gathering fruit for eternal life,
- so that the sower and reaper can rejoice together.
37 For in this case the saying is true: ‘One sows and another reaps.’

38 I sent you to reap what you didn’t labor for; others have labored, and you have benefited from their labor.”

The Harvest they Witnessed

What did the Disciples likely see? Crowds of Samaritans, men and women coming from town to see their Messiah. These must have looked like a flowing sea of ripened wheat moving in waves toward them.

Yet what harvest did Jesus see in Samaria?

Labour not for the meat which perisheth, but for that meat which endureth unto everlasting life, which the Son of man shall give unto you: for him hath God the Father sealed.
John 6:27 KJV

Jesus tells John and the Disciples that they must work in the fields. They must stop and tell the people they meet about the meat or the food of the Gospel, the Good News of everlasting life.

Other translations of John 6:27 read: ‘Don’t work for the food that perishes..’ or ‘Do not work for food that spoils..’

Jesus and the Disciples were traveling though Samaria. The Disciples nearly missed the harvest, Jesus tells them before dwelling there for two nights. We almost miss the harvest as well.

Work for the ‘food that lasts for eternal life,’ ‘food that endures to eternal life..’ This is the joining of the Reaper and the Sower in Samaria in John 4. It is the joining with Jesus after the feeding of the five thousand in John 6.

We have food – food the Son of Man has given us, “.. because God the Father has set his seal of approval on him.”

Samira, first fruits of an abundant harvest – food for the faithful

Along a road less traveled in a place unexpected on the way to where we thought we were headed, a harvest of faith appears. In a simple encounter Jesus simply asks a sinner:

“Give me a drink”

What is your answer, fellow Samaritan, rejected gentile, priest or Levite?

What say you, when a stranger approaches and asks you,
“Give me a drink?”

Will you ‘love your neighbor’ with the food of eternal life, as Jesus did for Samira, a mere woman by a well on His journey to the Cross?
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To be continued...
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October 24, 2018
John 3:16 – God’s Love
.. so that everyone who believes in him will not perish but have eternal life.
John 3:16 b

The Bible’s best known verse

John 3:16 KJV – For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth

STOP! You lost them on “whosoever and believeth.” (No one talks like that anymore except fanatics and crazy people with signs.)

Nearly everyone has heard it. God so loved the world. – John 3:16

“So what?” think all the worldly viewers of your very public witness.

And you want everyone to know the same love of our savior you have experienced (and they are so worldly). Yet every time they give you that “so what?” look.

You may have even memorized John 3:16 as a child, but do you even get it as one mature in Christ?

In fact, have you truly read all of this chapter of John recently or have you ever studied John 3?

As I mentioned in the previous post, Jesus’ dialogue with Nicodemus about Spirit continues past John 3:16. Nicodemus, a faithful Jew, would have listened and considered every word of the Messiah of Israel.

Let’s step back from witnessing to the world for just a moment of personal reflection in the Spirit.

A Contemporary Conversation

Even Christians fail to consider that Jesus spoke every word of witness fully aware that the end of His earthly mission was death — even death on a Cross.

And so is your end, son or daughter of dust – your end is death and your destiny an awakening to the Judgment.

Yet only in God’s Son will you have eternal life, mercy to save your soul from damnation you deserve, penalty for the sins of this mortal life.

Those you have wronged cry out for justice. Almighty God, ‘el Shadday, from whom you walked away, grieves as a Father over the hardness of your heart.

Why, just as Satan and your enemies have accused, you deserve no mercy.

Has your unconverted friend or estranged family member given weight and consideration that we will perish? Do they see in Jesus eternal life in the Light of His love?

This challenging dialogue from John’s Gospel confronts every mortal with a life or death decision: accountability to facing the LORD, with … or without repentance.

Jesus’ Dialogue with Nicodemus, Good News for the world witnessed by John

Now there was a Pharisee, a man named Nicodemus who was a member of the Jewish ruling council.

Visit of Nicodemus to Christ

The Apostle John certainly records this dialogue with Nicodemus as a witness. John would have been present. His understanding at the time would not have been as complete as after the Resurrection, but John records a remarkable conversation.

This learned Jewish official refers to Jesus as his teacher – a Master instructing him.

And in the room with Jesus sit John, Nicodemus, and perhaps others seeking to learn more from their Messiah.

You should join them.

In this dialogue with Jesus, you should listen to Jesus’ answers to informed questions of this learned ruler of Israel, who acknowledges his own place at the foot of the living Son of Man.

And be certain to set aside what you think you know about Jesus and listen.

John 3:

Nicodemus: “Rabbi, we know that you are a teacher who has come from God…

Jesus: “.. no one can see the kingdom of God unless they are born again.

Nicodemus: “How can a man be born when he is old? ..

Jesus: “Truly I tell you, unless someone is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God. Whatever is born of the flesh is flesh, and whatever is born of the Spirit is spirit.

Do not be amazed that I told you that you must be born again. The wind blows where it pleases, and you hear its sound, but you don’t know where it comes from or where it is going. So it is with everyone born of the Spirit.”

Nicodemus: “How can these things be?

Jesus: “Art thou a master of Israel, and knowest not these things?

“Truly I tell you, we speak what we know and we testify to what we have seen,

“and you receive not our witness.

Jesus confronts us with truth!

Do you receive it? Or do you need to hear more from the Spirit to be convinced?

Beloved listener, now witness to this dialogue with Nicodemus, a ruler of the Jews at the feet of Jesus for His teaching, what further proof do you need?

Jesus: “I have spoken to you of earthly things and you do not believe; how then will you believe if I speak of heavenly things?

“No one has ascended into heaven…

except the one who descended from heaven —the Son of Man.

So Jesus’ truth and question to the listener is:

Do you believe that Jesus IS the Son of Man, the Messiah of God, descended from heaven – in the flesh?

What will Jesus say to Nicodemus and the world of why He has descended lower than the angels to be born into the womb of a woman of dust?

Miracle of the Cross

14 And as Moses lifted up the bronze serpent on a pole in the wilderness, so the Son of Man must be lifted up,
Sign of a Raised Serpent

“We sinned when we spoke against the Lord and against you. – Numbers 21:7

The LORD intercedes for sinners… repentant sinners.

“so that everyone who believes in him may have eternal life.

Nicodemus and every religious ruler of the Jews since Moses understand. Sin must be punished! A remedy for sin requires not only repentance, but sacrifice זֶבַח.

Silence in the Presence of the Lord

The leader of the Pharisees also remains silent in the presence of Jesus.

Perhaps one scripture or another of response to hearing God’s Word comes to mind for Nicodemus, such as these words of the Prophet Isaiah.
```
Then I said:

Woe is me for I am ruined

because I am a man of unclean lips

and live among a people of unclean lips,

and because my eyes have seen the King,

the LORD of Armies.
```
John 3:16

We have listened with expectation to Jesus’ dialogue with Nicodemus, wondering along with the Apostle John what the Messiah will reveal next. In these most beloved words Jesus reveals the reason for His own Sacrifice at a time still unknown to them.

“For God loved the world in this way:

or “God loves the world this much:

John’s Gospel would have been completed perhaps three decades after this conversation with Nicodemus. The world would be those to whom it is written at the time, a Greco-Roman world, believers in Greece, Asia-minor or modern-day Turkey. These gentile believers, along with Jews who accept Jesus as the Messiah, know that we are the world κόσμος kosmos to whom Jesus speaks.

Nicodemus and Jews wondering if John the Baptist or Jesus could be their Messiah would have considered Scripture as Jesus speaks these words.

וְהוּא יִשְׁפֹּֽט־תֵּבֵל בְּצֶדֶק יָדִין לְאֻמִּים בְּמֵישָׁרִֽים׃
Psalm 9:8

And he shall judge the world in righteousness, he shall minister judgment to the people in uprightness.

Judge of the World

You want someone to judge righteousness, don’t you?

Yet who can judge the sins of others? Certainly not christians, as we often do. This is just one of the reasons the world hates Christ, but it is not the only reason.

Who do you want to judge your own sin? Can you stand before the Judge of the world (whoever He may be)?

He gave his one and only Son,

Healing of the Serpent, Healing by the Cross

John Wesley makes the connection of the Serpent lifted up in the wilderness [v.15] and the healing for believers by gazing upon Christ.

He must be lifted up, that hereby he may purchase salvation for all believers: all those who look to him by faith recover spiritual health, even as all that looked at that serpent recovered bodily health.

Yea, and this was the very design of God’s love in sending him into the world.

God so loved the world – That is, all men under heaven: even those that despise his love, and will for that cause finally perish.
John Wesley

Eternal Life or Judgment?

… so that everyone who believes in him will not perish,but have eternal life.

Yes, all believers: Jews (Messianic Jews, as we know know them), Gentiles (the rest of the world), Greeks and Romans.

You do not want to think of eternal life, but only this waning existence we call life. It is in the flesh and all realize it will end. But eternal life? That would be something else to consider, especially if it could contain the just punishment of our considerable sin and unrighteousness.

17 For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him.

So Jesus was not sent to condemn the world. This the Lord confirms to Nicodemus and those of you listening intently to the Messiah. Jesus came to save the world through him. Substitution for a required sacrifice, justification required for acquittal from our deserved sentence for sin.

18 Anyone who believes in him is not condemned,

Good News!

This is Good News to the Pharisee Nicodemus, who by his knowledge of Scripture believes in the resurrection.

And it is Good News to and who listen to the Messiah, the Son of God our Father in Heaven.

Yet Jesus adds something here christian-sounding false preachers reject. In fact, as much as we would like for this Good News to apply to all of our loved ones and friends, it does not.

… but anyone who does not believe is already condemned, because he has not believed in the name of the one and only Son of God.

Sorry … your mom or your dad, your brother, sister or friend, your misleading ‘good’ religious teacher – all are condemned, if they do not substitute this God-sent Sacrifice, Christ Jesus, for their own sin.

19 This is the judgment:

And why? Why does a loving God accept some for eternal life, yet punish others for not accepting the Messiah Jesus as their Lord?

Darkness or Light?

The light has come into the world,

Jesus IS the Light of Almighty God!

“In him was life; and the life was the light of men,” John testifies.
John 1:4

… and people loved darkness rather than the light because their deeds were evil.

It’s true. We would hide our sin in the shadows.

Yet in the Judgment hiding sin is not an option. In the Light of Christ, the Messiah of the Lord God, we have life eternal only because He paid this dear price and severe penalty for our sin.

Here we sit listening to Jesus, along with Nicodemus. Or here we now sit reading the truth of the Word.

To which mortal souls of the world will you run?

20 For everyone who does evil hates the light and avoids it, so that his deeds may not be exposed.

²¹But anyone who lives by the truth comes to the light, so that his works may be shown to be accomplished by God.”

We must believe in Jesus to have eternal life.

Nicodemus, now in his later life, will leave the meeting in darkness to come to the light and practice the truth, true religion in his later life. John is the only Disciple who will not lose his life for his witness of Christ Jesus.

Shortly after this conversation between Jesus and Nicodemus, John the Baptist will be beheaded for his witness that Jesus is the promised Messiah of God.

The Invitation of John 3:16

And what of your witness and mine in these last days?

What has the Spirit put on your heart as you have listened with Nicodemus to the only begotten Son of God?

Jesus would love you!
o mortal of dust,
wonderfully formed
with water and spirit.

Yet will you love
the Son who came down,
born like you
to be crucified on a Cross?

Just to save
your sinful soul?
Just to save
your sinful soul.
Jesus So Loves the World
Jesus would love you!
Roger@talkofJesus.com
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God's Love Through John
to be continued...
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October 16, 2018