Category: Hope

The Only Way to Heaven

Posted on by Dorci

“Jesus is ‘the stone you builders rejected, which has become the cornerstone.’ Salvation is found in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given to mankind by which we must be saved.” Acts 4:12

No other name. Not the allah of islam, not gautama buddha, not mahatma gandhi, not the pope, not good works, not self, not any other god. Regardless of one’s belief, the truth is that there is only one God – the Creator of the universe and of every living thing – on whom we can call who has the power, through His Son’s death, to forgive our sins and prepare a place for us with Him in heaven.

Many believe Jesus to be just another name in a long list of good men, prophets, whatever. But Jesus set Himself apart from all others.

He healed when no one else could, He loved when no one else would. He rose the dead and forgave sin.

Over and over He bucked the religious system – that of every other god – to do His Father’s will, to be the living logos of the Father Himself. He repeated “I and the Father are one.” John 10:30

Jesus said, “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.” John 14:6

Not a way, not a truth, not a life. He is THE only, and no one else can or ever has claimed that. No one. No one else is the bridge to the Living God but Christ who allowed Himself to be betrayed, whipped, tortured and nailed to a cross to be the sacrifice to pay for our sins.

And then His righteousness and power over death were proved on the third day when, despite the seal on the tomb, despite the strictly ordered guard, the stone was rolled away and the tomb was empty.

He had risen from the grave and the Bible tells us He appeared to His disciples and over five hundred people at one time before He ascended back into heaven.

And after He ascended, He appeared to Saul, one of the greatest persecutors of Christians at the time, and Saul believed in Him, his name was changed to Paul, and he became one of the greatest living proponents for the truth of Christ, and he wrote more that became the New Testament than any other author.

Because time has past doesn’t make the truth any less true.

No other god can forgive sins. No other god promises to be the way to heaven. No other grave of any god is empty.

That may sound narrow or restrictive. But in actuality, Jesus is the most inclusive way there is. Every other god says you have to do…this or that to earn forgiveness. Other gods say only certain people can go to heaven. The way of those religions is actually far more restrictive, and they are actually dead ends that don’t lead to heaven at all, but instead to an eternity far from the presence of God and everything that is of God: love, joy, peace and everything good.

Jesus says anyone can go to heaven if they will simply believe in Him. Doesn’t matter their age, their gender, their color, their past beliefs, their past religions, their past sins, their past anythings! If you will believe in who He says He was (and is), believe in what He said, believe that He is the Son of God who died to pay for your sins and who rose from the grave and has the power to give you spiritual life both now and after this life, tell Him right now, ask Him to come into your life, and you will be saved.

None of us has tomorrow promised to us. I think any of us can look around at our own families, to those of loved ones, and to the world to know that’s true.

Don’t wait. Believe in Him now. He waits at the door of your life and He knocks. What you do with Christ is the most crucial decision you will make your entire life. Your eternity depends on it. I promise you, you will never regret it. And you will have a Friend for life.

In Christ,
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It’s Time to Pray

Posted on by Dorci

Hello friends,
I’m sorry I’ve been AWOL for a little while, but I’ve been in the process of selling our house and moving, and that’s taken just about everything out of me. I’m getting settled, though, and my thoughts are turning to our election process here in America and the state of our society, and it has me grieved.

I’ve posted this on my personal Facebook page, but I wanted to open it up to any of you who may be interested in our future here in America, and in large part, the rest of the world.

Whoever would like to join me, I’ll be fasting and praying on Sunday, March 13. At least that’ll be one day. There may be more before election day.

Of course what we face is nothing new. David was also distressed by lying lips and deceitful tongues. But he cried out to God and David tells us that God heard him. God will hear us, too, as we pray fervently from a righteous, repentant, and humble heart. My prayer is for God’s grace and mercy to open the eyes of those who are currently blinded by the enemy, and for belief that leads to salvation.

“I call on the Lord in my distress,
and He answers me.
Save me, Lord,
from lying lips
and from deceitful tongues.
What will He do to you,
and what more besides,
you deceitful tongue?
He will punish you with a warrior’s sharp arrows,
with burning coals of the broom bush.
Woe to me that I dwell in Meshek,
that I live among the tents of Kedar!
Too long have I lived
among those who hate peace.
I am for peace;
but when I speak, they are for war.”
Psalm 120

May God bless and keep you,
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Rejoice!

Posted on by Dorci

this is the day 3
 

 

No matter what this day holds, no matter what or whom we encounter, no matter the circumstances, the surprises, the joys or the hurts, our righteous God is the creator of this day. He has already been here, He knows what it holds, and He has made provision for us through it all. Let us keep that awareness in our hearts as we walk through today (and tomorrow…), holding His hand, praising and trusting Him as we go.

Thank you, Father, for your great, great love towards us!

Devoted to One

Posted on by Dorci

Paul, in his 2nd letter to the church in Corinth (11:1-4):

“I hope you will put up with me in a little foolishness. Yes, please put up with me! I am jealous for you with a godly jealousy. I promised you to one husband, to Christ, so that I might present you as a pure virgin to him.

But I am afraid that just as Eve was deceived by the serpent’s cunning, your minds may somehow be led astray from your sincere and pure devotion to Christ.

For if someone comes to you and preaches a Jesus other than the Jesus we preached, or if you receive a different spirit from the Spirit you received, or a different gospel from the one you accepted, you put up with it easily enough.”

 

From the very beginning of the church the enemy did his level best to deceive God’s chosen. Beware of imitations! False teachings, false gods, false beliefs, false prophets, false miracles and false doctrine are all around.

Do not be fooled.

Know God’s Word so when wolves come in sheep’s clothing you can smell it a mile away. We must be discerning in these last days and refuse to settle for anything less than the pure truth of the Spirit of God that washes us clean and purifies and readies us for the day of our wedding feast with our Bridegroom.

Until then, God has so much in store for us!

Let us put the world behind and be about our Father’s business so that we will have no reason to be ashamed when He comes for us. What a glorious day that will be!

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All Things New

Posted on by Dorci

To Gaze Upon a King

Posted on by Dorci

Oh dear ones, loved so greatly by God, can I ask you to, for just a moment, lay down your tape and scissors?  To take your eyes away from the Christmas movies and your ears from the holiday music?

Can I ask you to come take a journey with me?  We are going to see a King.

There is a little, ancient town full of people who have come to be counted in the census.  All the rooms are full, too.

There is a very young woman who is about ready to give birth.  She and her husband have come a long way and she looks tired and uncomfortable. Her labor pains have begun.

“The barn is available,” they’re told.

Humbly, they make their way to the stable.  He tries to make her comfortable with a bed of hay as the animals make room for a royal guest.

She gives birth and the pain is soon forgotten as joy overwhelms her.  He is perfect in every way.  They gaze upon their miracle child, the one given to them by God Himself.  There is a feeding trough, and he makes a bed for this tiny baby.  The stars are shining on this most special of nights.

Baby Jesus 2

Meanwhile, out in the nearby fields, men who only a moment ago were tending sheep now stand in shock and fear as a glorious and heavenly light shines around them and an angel of the Lord appears to them and says,

“Do not be afraid. I bring you good news that will cause great joy for all the people. Today in the town of David a Savior has been born to you; He is the Messiah, the Lord. This will be a sign to you: You will find a baby wrapped in cloths and lying in a manger.”

The shepherds are barely able to take it in when a whole host of angels appears, praising God and saying,

“Glory to God in the highest heaven, and on earth peace to those on whom his favor rests.”

They grab their staffs and run to the place where this Savior, this long-awaited Messiah has been born.  He is beautiful and they can hardly believe it.  They have seen the great Shepherd.

Room has been made for this little family of three.  They wonder what the future holds in and through this new and precious life.

Sometime later, other worshippers make their way from the east.  A star has led some wise men on a journey.  It’s been long and dusty, but they’ve been moved by something, Someone, beyond them to make it.  They’ve brought gifts suitable to present to royalty: gold, frankincense and myrrh.

Gold for a King, but not just any king.  A King who has chosen to strip Himself of His heavenly robes and crown and become like us.

Frankincense, symbolizing His priesthood, one that would never end.

Myrrh for embalming, for one day in the not-too-distant future, this King will die for the sins of the world.

The star that led them from so far away has stopped directly over the house where the King lay.  They step inside and bow before Him and worship Him.  They present their gifts, and Mary and Joseph continue to marvel at God’s love, His miracles and His glory.

The world looks different to them now.  Suddenly it is filled with hope and love and promise.  Under the light of the stars was the Light of the world. Salvation was here.

This, they knew, was no ordinary child.

This was a King.

The Binding of Our Spirits

Posted on by Dorci

Wait for the Lord; be strong and take heart and wait for the Lord.
Psalm 27:14

Moses did it for 40 years, and then again for another 40.  Joseph did it for 13 years. David did it for 8 years. Jonah did it for 3 days. The Hebrews did it for 430 years.  And who knows how long Job did it.

I’ve been doing it for almost 12 years.  Maybe you’ve been doing it, too.

All of us have either just gotten through, or we’re going through, or we will soon go through a waiting period.  The question is, though, what or whom are we waiting on?

In my particular case, I can easily wait on the right doctor, the right blood test, the right scan, the right procedure, the right medication, and on and on.  And I do believe that God uses doctors and medicine to achieve His purposes.  But only in His timing.

He is the One I wait on.  My healing will come in His way, and in His time.  And that healing may not come until I see my Savior face to face, but it will come.

He is my glory, my portion, my all in all.

Moses may well have thought his life in the desert herding sheep would be all the life he’d ever see.  But God was preparing him to lead God’s people across the desert.

God was preparing Joseph to lead Egypt, David to be King, and the Hebrews to trust and follow Him into the Promised Land.  And God was bringing Job into a deeper, far more intimate relationship with Him than he ever imagined.  And I believe God used Job as a witness to his friends and to the people of the town that a righteous man is one who lives by faith in God, not just by the rules he follows. (I would love to know how many people put their faith in God through Job’s amazing testimony.)

The word wait in Psalm 27:14 is qâvâh – to bind together (perhaps by twisting), to collect, to expect, to gather together.

cord
 

Our wait in the Lord in not sitting and doing nothing.  Through it we learn to let go of the world, strand by strand, and bind our spirits to His. We become one with our Savior, and His heart becomes our heart; His will, our will.

As our spirit becomes more and more bound with His, we confidently watch, expectantly look to Him for our salvation in all things. We know that God sees our heart and hears our prayers.  We understand that His wait has a purpose.  He is preparing us, teaching us, maturing us, and best of all, loving us.  Never think that the lack of an immediate answer means God doesn’t love you.  Remember Moses and Joseph and David and Jonah and Job and His beloved people who waited in Egypt.

Whatever we wait for on this earth, whether it’s health or relationships or jobs, or for our brothers and sisters in certain parts of world who wait for their release from unjust imprisonment, whether that’s a jail cell or the evil hands of their abusers, or a million other things, all of us who love and follow the Lord Jesus Christ wait on Him for our ultimate rescue.

“For the creation waits in eager expectation for the children of God to be revealed. We know that the whole creation has been groaning as in the pains of childbirth right up to the present time. Not only so, but we ourselves, who have the firstfruits of the Spirit, groan inwardly as we wait eagerly for our adoption to sonship, the redemption of our bodies. For in this hope we were saved. But hope that is seen is no hope at all. Who hopes for what they already have? But if we hope for what we do not yet have, we wait for it patiently.
Romans 8:19, 22-25

Even the creation groans for the time when sin is a thing of the past and God brings us all into the presence of His glory.  We wait, too, but we wait expectantly, patiently, hopefully, knowing that our rescue is near.

And while we wait, while we groan inwardly with creation for all things to be made new and perfect and beautiful, we must hold onto the hope that our waiting here prepares us for our life there.  Our wait, and all we’ve gone through, will be worth it as we stand before Jesus and the purpose for it all is suddenly clear, and we share our reward with the Rescuer of our souls.

Since ancient times no one has heard,
no ear has perceived,
no eye has seen any God besides you,
who acts on behalf of those who wait for Him.
Isaiah 64:4

The End of the Age

Posted on by Dorci

“As Jesus was sitting on the Mount of Olives, the disciples came to him privately. ‘Tell us,’ they said, ‘when will this happen, and what will be the sign of your coming and of the end of the age?’
Matthew 24:3

Zombies, desert wastelands, hoarding of water, dilapidated and cobwebbed dwellings, eating anything…or anyone, unspeakable evil, violence upon violence, death upon death, and some guy named Max, who is either very angry or half insane. Maybe a little bit of both.

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Our culture is mesmerized by thoughts of straining to survive a post-apocalyptic age. It is enamored by the fight to withstand a revolution led by the most heinous of us, worlds overtaken by flesh-eating undead, by inhabitants of another world hell-bent on our destruction.  It is just this side of obsessed with all things ungodly and other worldly, as long as that other world is the one that breathes fire and sulfur.

It’s been made so fascinating, so entertaining, that scarcely anyone would think there could be, somewhere in the fray, some truth, and that the actual truth it mimics could be much more real and more frightening than fiction.

So why all the allure about the end of the world?

Could it be that our Creator has built into us, somewhere in the recesses of our souls, inside our DNA, an awareness of this truth?  Just as we have an awareness of something, or in reality Someone, greater than ourselves – someone who created us, someone who’s responsible for the existence of this world we live in, for the intricacy of atoms and the ginormousness of billions and billions of galaxies, and for the vacuum inside us that we all search to fill until we fill it with Him – is an awareness, and a question about our future.

And could it be that like all superheroes, God has an adversary, and that adversary will use our craving to fill the void inside us, and our fascination for the dark side of truth, to create a world so fantastical that we couldn’t possibly believe there is any actual truth to it? Where he himself is only a guy in a red suit with fluff-filled horns and a plastic pitchfork, and no one could really believe in the existence of someone like that, could they?  It’s all just too preposterous.

Only it isn’t.

God does have an adversary, many of them, in fact, but chief among them is satan, who isn’t red and I highly doubt carries a pitchfork, but was a created angel who rebelled against God and was banished from heaven. One-third of the angels rebelled with him, and his goal is to incite as many souls as possible to rebel against God, too.  satan’s tactics have always been subtle – to mimic God by taking a grain of truth and building around it so many tantalizing lies that we’d rather believe and act on the lies rather than the truth. 

He did it in the garden with Eve, and he even tried it in the wilderness with the Son of God.  His war against God won’t end until God ends it, and if we’re not careful, we can find ourselves on the wrong side of the battle line.

Just like the disciples, we have a curiosity about the end of the world as we know it because God wants to speak to our hearts through it, and the last thing satan wants for us to do is listen. Will the end include zombies and evil aliens? No. But the Bible has a lot to say about the end of all things and the time when Christ returns.

Jesus’ response to the disciples’ question was to warn them, and us, to be on the lookout for false prophets, false messiahs (mimics of the truth), wars and rumors of wars, nation rising against nation, famines and earthquakes, increased wickedness, many turning away from the faith, betraying and hating each other.

“Immediately,” Jesus said, “after the distress of those days the sun will be darkened, and the moon will not give its light; the stars will fall from the sky, and the heavenly bodies will be shaken.’ Then will appear the sign of the Son of Man in heaven. And then all the peoples of the earth will mourn when they see the Son of Man coming on the clouds of heaven, with power and great glory. And he will send his angels with a loud trumpet call, and they will gather his elect from the four winds, from one end of the heavens to the other.”  Matthew 24:29-31

Paul tells us:

“For the Lord himself will come down from heaven, with a loud command, with the voice of the archangel and with the trumpet call of God, and the dead in Christ will rise first. After that, we who are still alive and are left will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. And so we will be with the Lord forever.”  1 Thessalonians 4:16-17

Could it be that satan has hijacked that glorious truth by mimicking God once again, and masterminded a theater of lies where he, instead, “resurrects” hoards to a state of hideous undead, so satisfying to the flesh that the world eats it up?  Has entertainment been used by satan like a blaring horn in the distance to draw the world away from the actual truth that one day they will face God for judgment of their sins if they haven’t believed in Jesus Christ?

I don’t put it past him.

Paul told the church in Thessalonica, and the Word tells us, that no one knows the day or the hour but that “the day of the Lord will come like a thief in the night. While people are saying, ‘Peace and safety,’ destruction will come on them suddenly, as labor pains on a pregnant woman, and they will not escape.” 1 Thessalonians 5:1-3

The book of Revelation gives us a glimpse into the real apocalyptic time when God’s judgment rains down upon the earth. It is teeming with visions of stars falling to the earth, warring angels, dragons, the seal of God on the foreheads of His servants, and of course, satan, once again mimicking God’s actions through the anti-Christ by forcing people to wear his number instead.

The enemy of God knows he’s living on borrowed time, and he appeals to the dark side of our nature, the attraction we all have toward sin and darkness, and bit by bit, tiny victory after tiny victory, if we don’t choose our steps carefully, we can follow him down the wide road as he robs us of our joy and peace and the life God wants to give us.

Through Paul, God reminds us that “you, brothers and sisters, are not in darkness so that this day should surprise you like a thief. You are all children of the light and children of the day. We do not belong to the night or to the darkness. So then, let us not be like others, who are asleep, but let us be awake and sober (watchful). For those who sleep, sleep at night, and those who get drunk, get drunk at night. But since we belong to the day, let us be sober (watchful), putting on faith and love as a breastplate, and the hope of salvation as a helmet.” 1 Thessalonians 5:4-8

We may not see the destruction of all things in our lifetime, but we will all see the end of our mortal bodies, and Paul goes on to remind us how we’re to live until then: “acknowledge those who work hard among you, who care for you in the Lord and who admonish you. Hold them in the highest regard in love because of their work. Live in peace with each other. And we urge you, brothers and sisters, warn those who are idle and disruptive, encourage the disheartened, help the weak, be patient with everyone. Make sure that nobody pays back wrong for wrong, but always strive to do what is good for each other and for everyone else. Rejoice always, pray continually, give thanks in all circumstances; for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus. Do not quench the Spirit. Do not treat prophecies with contempt but test them all; hold on to what is good, reject every kind of evil.  1 Thessalonians 5:12-22

And what will be the afterlife for us then? 

For those who die in rebellion to God, those wishes will be granted and they will not see the Light of God for the rest of eternity. Those souls will be banished from the presence and love of God to eternal destruction and torment.

But for those who die believing in Jesus Christ, those will be raised to everlasting life, and the ones who are yet alive and are believing when Christ comes again will join them all to ride to victory.

 

Search me, God, and know my heart;
test me and know my anxious thoughts.
See if there is any offensive way in me,
and lead me in the way everlasting.
Psalm 139:23-24

 

Spiritual Vision

Posted on by Dorci

“But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you; and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.”  Acts 1:8

“One thing I do know. I was blind but now I see!”  John 9:25

Up until the very moment I was saved, I had always believed two things: that God and satan were equal powers at opposite ends of the spectrum of good and evil, and that abortion was acceptable.

spiritual visionBut the second I believed in Christ and was filled with the Holy Spirit, my spiritual eyes were opened and I knew those things I had believed were lies.

In Christ, through the Holy Spirit, we have been given a second set of eyes, if you will, that gives us the vision to see, to walk, to know, to trust, in the Spirit. That spiritual vision allows us to see the truth that is Christ, and to walk this journey in the light of God.

We have a choice every day to use only the eyes in our head by feeding our flesh, or to use the spiritual eyes of our hearts by feeding our spirit.

While on the island of Patmos, John wrote that he was in the Spirit as he was given a revelation of Jesus Christ, a vision of Him in all His glory in the heavenly realm.  He saw Him dressed in holy robes with a golden sash, eyes blazing like fire, feet like bronze glowing in a furnace, voice like the sound of rushing waters, a face like the sun shining in all its brilliance.  He was the One Who had the authority to hold the angels and the churches in his hand, and also the keys of death and Hades. 

When John wept because no one was found worthy to break the seals and open the scroll that would unleash the timely events of the future of all things, an elder comforted him with this, “Do not weep! See, the Lion of the tribe of Judah, the Root of David, has triumphed. He is able to open the scroll and its seven seals.”  Revelation 5:5

When we, too, are walking in the Spirit – praying, worshipping, taking in the Word of God, obeying, forgiving, fellowshipping, loving – our spiritual vision will become clearer, and our foundations stronger.  We will see Christ for who He is, high and exalted, with authority over all things.  We will believe and experience the depth of His power and love in our lives, along with His wisdom and discernment, and no puny trial will take us down.

It’s easy, though, with all that goes on in our busy lives to forget to feed the spiritual life, and then our dim, human eyesight prevails again, the flesh follows it, and we revert back to seeing and living and believing like the world.

We see (and judge) others by how they look outwardly instead of by the beauty of their souls.  We see them through their worldly wealth or poverty instead of by the riches of their inherent value as one made in the image of God.  We see them through their sins instead of as people whom Christ died for and who are in need of prayer and a Savior.

John told us that “…anyone who hates a brother or sister is in the darkness and walks around in the darkness. They do not know where they are going, because the darkness has blinded them.” 1 John 2:11

We can choose, instead, to see with our spiritual eyes – the vision we’ve been given through the power of the Holy Spirit.  Just as we’ll see and know Christ more clearly, we’ll see others through His eyes, the spiritual lens of His grace and mercy and forgiveness.

“Yet a time is coming and has now come when the true worshipers will worship the Father in the Spirit and in truth, for they are the kind of worshipers the Father seeks. God is spirit, and His worshipers must worship in the Spirit and in truth.” John 4:23-24

Holy Spirit, please interrupt our busyness and remind us to seek you in all we do. Remind us to stay in prayer about all things at all times; remind us to be thankful; remind us to feed on the bread of your Word; remind us to fellowship with other believers, that we might encourage and be encouraged.  Help us to see with the unique vision You give us, to love You, Your people, and even those who consider us their enemies.  Help us to walk in You, that we might grow in faith and grace, and not stumble when the enemy comes.Help us to be disciplined to allow Your light to shine through us in this ever-darkening world.  Help us to discern Your still, small voice, that we might follow You on our constantly winding journeys, that we might one day hear “Well done, good and faithful servant.”

In Jesus’ Precious Name, Amen.

The Power of Love

Posted on by Dorci

Hello

I am so excited to be back with you after my long hiatus.  God has been good and faithful and has done some great things in my heart and life during my break and I’m ready to resume our journey with the Lord together.

Life is hard, I know, and the world seems to be getting crazier, darker, and more unstable than ever, but I hope to encourage you to keep focused on Jesus.  He is our compass, our light, our peace, our truth, our hope.

He is our solid foundation.

When all else is shaky, we can walk surefootedly, and we can stand unwaveringly in our faith and trust of the God who loves us.

The enemy would have us get sidetracked, even in things that seem good, but none of it means a thing if our focus does not continue to be this:

“Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength.”  Mark 12:30

This is the crux of our journey.

Everything we do hinges on God’s love – understanding and receiving it more and more as we grow in our relationship with Him, and loving Him back more today than we did the day before.

God’s love is where all true treasure lies.

From His love all good things flow.  With it we have the power to forgive, the confidence to pray, the strength to serve, the courage to do whatever He calls us to do.  And that’s when an enriched life begins.

As that love between us and God grows, nothing will be able to move us.  No surprise diagnosis, no financial upset, no personal attack, no shocking headline, nothing.

Walking with Jesus we can endure anything, and endure it with a peace and joy that can only come from Him.

During my break each one of you (followers on the website and on the Facebook page) have been prayed for individually, by name.  Let me tell you, it was an absolute joy to do that.  I hope the Lord blessed you through it as much as He did me.

Please feel free to ask for prayer anytime.  You are all on my heart and I love you all very much.

If you follow God Treasure through email, please consider liking the Facebook page where I post scripture and music and other things I may not necessarily post on the regular website.

And if you follow only through Facebook, since FB has a quirky policy of not getting the all the posts to all the followers, please consider signing up on the website – Godtreasure.net – to receive the blogs by email so you don’t miss any.  I promise, I won’t send you anything else! And the more you like the posts on FB, the more likely you are to get the posts.  And don’t forget to share!  

“The Lord bless you
and keep you;
the Lord make his face shine on you
and be gracious to you;
the Lord turn his face toward you
and give you peace.”

Numbers 6:24-26

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