WOE TO THE SHEPHERDS! THE LION OF JUDAH ROARS OUT OF ZION IN THE LAST DAYS – PART II: REMOVING LAMPSTANDS

SCRIPTURE. “TO THE ANGEL OF THE CHURCH OF EPHESUS … But I have this [‘one charge’ to make] against you: that you have left (abandoned) the love that you had at first [‘you have deserted Me, your first love’]. Remember then from what heights you have fallen. Repent (change the inner man to meet God’s will) and do the works you did previously [when first you knew the Lord], ‘or else I will visit you and remove your lampstand from its place,’ unless you change your mind and repent.” – JESUS OF NAZARETH, Revelation 2:1, 4-5, Amplified Classic Edition

KEY WORDS: Left; Love; Remember; Fallen; Repent; Remove (Lampstand)

QUOTATIONS

PAINE. “These are the times that try men’s souls: The summer soldier and the sunshine patriot will, in this crisis, shrink from the service of their country; but he that stands it now, deserves the love and thanks of man and woman. Tyranny, like Hell, is not easily conquered; yet we have this consolation with us, that the harder the conflict, the more glorious the triumph.” Thomas Paine, The American Crisis, Pennsylvania Journal, Dec. 19, 1776; edited

TOLKIEN. “‘You renounce your friendship even in the hour of our need,’ he said. ‘Yet you were glad indeed to receive our aid when you came at last to these shores fainthearted loiterers and well-nigh emptyhanded. In huts on the beaches would you be dwelling still had not the Noldor [the wise kindred of the Elves] carved out your haven and toiled upon your walls.” – J. R.R. Tolkien, The Silmarillion, 1977; edited

SANDERS. “An enemy cannot betray you, as you already expect your enemy to try to bring you down. Only a trusted friend, acquaintance, or family member can betray you, and that is what truly makes Betrayal so hurtful and sad.” ― Bohdi Sanders, Modern Bushido: Living a Life of Excellence, 2011; edited

1. FIRST THOUGHTS

Permit me to begin our discussion today with three rather personal illustrations of what happens between young men and women in romantic relationships of one degree or another. Three such young ladies who I know and care about have told me that their “partners” are in various stages of abandoning their commitments for ‘freedom from commitment,’ to put it bluntly.

I propose that there is a virtual Epidemic of Irresponsibility in America and in her Church today. Hardly anyone wants to ‘own up,’ to use the common catch-phrase. Thus we have record work walkouts (“job abandonment”), a catastrophic drop in marriage rates with increases in divorces, and a 40% “vaccine refusal” population consisting mostly of right wingers and Evangelicals.

This leads to a bottom line acceleration in Broken Covenants of all kinds.

BETRAYAL. Clearly, this is one of the most painful human experiences under heaven. A foundational definition of it is offered by NOAH WEBSTER’S (1828) classic Dictionary: “To deliver into the hands of an enemy by treachery or fraud, in violation of trust; to violate confidence by disclosing a secret, or that which was intrusted; to expose.”

So, whether we are dealing with an intimate interpersonal relationship on the one hand, or an international agreement failure on the other, The Impact can be horrendous. An online public medical journal describes it in detail.

“The effects of Betrayal include shock, loss and grief, morbid pre-occupation, damaged self-esteem, self-doubting, anger. Not infrequently they produce life-altering changes. The effects of a catastrophic betrayal are most relevant for anxiety disorders, and OCD and PTSD in particular.” – “Betrayal: A Psychological Analysis,” PubMed, Dec. 24, 2009; edited

When dealing with a national, international or Spiritual Betrayal, of course, the Consequences are much more dire: Civil unrest and violence, all out war, and in the parlance of Christian Theology, loss of Vision, apostasy, and finally, utter destruction through loss of one’s faith.

Selah.

AMERICAN BETRAYAL. I have considered myself an American patriot during virtually all of my adult years, even a brief time spent with the Students for a Democratic Society (SDS) in the 1960s before becoming a Christian in 1979 and shortly after that, a Reagan Republican in 1980.

But something happened to our nation when in November 2016 we elected, with overwhelming support from the American Church, one DONALD JOHN TRUMP to the White House. I don’t have to tell you that we have never been the same since then, nor ever shall be again.

In a related development, a very important book was published in 2020 by intelligence and counterterrorism expert MALCOLM NANCE entitled, ‘The Plot to Betray America: How Team Trump Embraced Our Enemies, Compromised Our Security, and How We Can Fix It.’

 Here is an excellent Summary offered by the Washington Post.

“In ‘The Plot to Betray America,’ New York Times bestselling author and renowned intelligence expert Malcolm Nance reveals exactly how President Trump and his inner circle conspired, coordinated, communicated, and eventually strategized to commit the greatest acts of treachery in the history of the United States: Compromising the presidential oath of office in exchange for power and personal enrichment.

Seduced by the promises of riches dangled in front of them by Vladimir Putin, the Trump administration eagerly decided to reap the rewards of the plan to put a Kremlin-friendly crony in the Oval Office. Even after his Impeachment, Trump continues to defend Putin and jeopardize American intelligence. And instead of interfering, Trump’s powerful Republican allies have done everything they can to facilitate Trump’s irreparable damage to national security.”

Two years later, Nance published an even more alarming work, ‘They Want to Kill Americans: The Militias, Terrorists, and Deranged Ideology of the Trump Insurgency’ (2022). In it, he portended the following chilling scenario for America’s immediate future.

[This book] is an early warning to the nations. America may once again come under a wave of terrorist attacks. But unlike our foreign enemies, the chaos agents and subversives who attacked our democracy from overseas in the global war on terrorism, the enemy that threatens our democracy now is within our borders. They are American. And they are radicalizing, arming, and planning to kill Americans to install a dictatorship. They must be stopped. Hopefully before the blood flows in earnest.”

As many published analyses confirm, America seems hell-bent toward armed confrontation among and between political factions so deeply carved that they are compared to the run-up to our first Civil War over institutionalized Slavery.

CHURCH BETRAYAL. More destructive and spiritually violent is what is taking place in light of these events inside the once sacred sanctuaries of America’s Evangelical houses. I don’t have adequate words to describe what I believe will be God’s assessment of this unprecedented ‘Religious coup d’etat’ at the hands of over 80% of our Pastors and Christian Leaders.

Mark me well: This single Mega-Event has catapulted our nation and the entire world within inches of the Final Apocalypse. Precisely as Jesus said it would. – cf. Matthew 24:5-12 

“For many will come claiming to be the Messiah and will lead many astray. When you hear of wars beginning, this does not signal My return; these must come, but the end is not yet. The nations and kingdoms of the earth will rise against each other, and there will be famines and earthquakes in many places. But all this will be only the beginning of the horrors to come. Then you will be tortured and killed and hated all over the world because you are Mine, and many of you shall fall back into sin and betray and hate each other. And many false prophets will appear and lead many astray. Sin will be rampant everywhere and will cool the love of many.” – MATTHEW 24:5-12, TLB

In addition, I just finished reading a compelling essay by JARED YATES SEXTON entitled, “Christian Nationalism’s Popularity Should Be a Wake-Up Call” (Time, Jan. 28, 2023; edited). By his own account as a recovering, lapsed Baptist, he insightfully tackles what has happened in our Christian circles since the rise of Trump’s MAGA Nationalism. And he is terrified.

Here are some excerpts from his riveting essay.

“In trying to understand these authoritarian energies [in our Nation and Church], the rise of Christian Nationalism, and the Crisis we face, my research has informed me that these narratives have followed very discernible and predictable cycles. Beginning with the merging of Christianity and State power in Rome, the Tenets of the Faith have been co-opted into aiding in the preservation and expansion of power. The Religion’s persecution complex fuels larger concepts of Apocalypticism that create life or death struggles where literally everything hangs in the balance and compromise and mercy are tantamount to suicide.”

Thus has the American Christian Narrative and even its theology been radically transformed – make that read, ‘scandalized’ – in just seven years. Beginning with the Advent (play on words intentional) of Donald Trump as the current American Messiah so far as the great majority of the White Church is concerned. 

1. HOW DID THIS HAPPEN?

As I embark upon the important second section of this essay, I am for some reason reminded, somewhat whimsically I might add, of the Star Trek television and movie chief flight engineer character, Lt. Commander Montgomery Scott, or “Scotty,” portrayed first by James Doohan and later by Simon Pegg.

Some of you already know where I am going with this in Scotty’s favorite shout to the invincible Capt. James Tiberius Kirk. In a thick Scottish brogue, mind you: “I’m doin’ the best I can, Captain! But I canno’ hold it much longer!”

This in its turn brings to mind the compelling work by the brilliant Irish poet, WILLIAM BUTLER YEATS, “The Second Coming,” first published in 1919. Listen to the painful lament similar to the hapless Mr. Scott, of vastly more significance to the world Yeats was engaging a century ago.

And to ours today, beloved.

“Things fall apart; the Center cannot hold; / Mere anarchy is loosed upon the world, / The blood-dimmed tide is loosed, and everywhere / The ceremony of innocence is drowned; / The best lack all conviction, while the worst / Are full of passionate intensity.”

TO THIS POINT. I unapologetically state that the American Republic and its Protestant Church are quite literally, spiritually and politically, “breaking apart” at Warp speed, in Star Trek vernacular. To ascertain just how and why this is happening, I turn to a favorite journal and favorite writer for this daunting task.

Writing for The Atlantic, former presidential speechwriter, policy analysis and Christian ethicist PETER WEHNER penned an essay entitled, “The Evangelical Church is Falling Apart” (Oct. 24, 2021; edited).

Pay very close attention to his Driving Question that guides this important inquiry about the disaster occurring in the American Church.

“How is it that evangelical Christianity has become, for too many of its adherents, ‘a Political Religion?’ The historian GEORGE MARSDEN told me that political loyalties can sometimes be so strong that they create a religious like faith that overrides or even transforms a more traditional Religious Faith. The United States has largely avoided the most virulent expressions of such political religions. None has succeeded for very long—at least, ‘until now.’

Indeed, both Marsden and Wehner nailed it when they both grasped that American Christianity had lost its Vision and attendant power, discernment and Divine favor when it went Political. I would go so far as to propose that it effectively exchanged Jesus for Donald Trump beginning on that Day of Infamy in New York, June 21, 2016.

i.e., “Give us Barabbas!”

Neither the Church nor the State has ever been the same, nor do I see any evidence of it coming back to its Roots in our Founding Documents, nor the God who inspired them.

Not a whisper.

FIVE CONTRIBUTING FACTORS. What I was able to glean from Wehner’s ranging analysis were these Trigger Events that worked together to lead the Church toward increased error and ultimately, to widespread Apostasy and the wholesale Rejection of Christ and Canon.

1. COVID-19. “The Coronavirus Pandemic, of course, has placed religious communities under extraordinary strain. Everyone in America has felt its effects; for many Christians, it’s been a bar to gathering and worshipping together, sharing Communion and performing baptisms, and saying common prayers and participating in rituals and liturgy. Not being in community destabilized what has long been a core sense of Christian identity.” DK. I would add that the forces of Trump reconfigured Christian Doctrine into a matter of political ideology by their canonization of “Individual Rights!”

• CATECHESIS FAILURE. “‘What we’re seeing is massive discipleship failure caused by massive catechesis failure,’ James Ernest, the vice president and editor in chief at Eerdmans, a publisher of religious books, told me. Ernest was one of several figures I spoke with who pointed to Catechism, the process of instructing and informing people through teaching, as the source of the problem. ‘The Evangelical Church in the U.S. over the last five decades has failed to form its adherents into disciples. So, there is a great hollowness. All that was needed to cause the implosion that we have seen was a sufficiently provocative stimulus. And that stimulus came.’”

• THE MEDIA. “‘Culture catechizes,’ Alan Jacobs, a distinguished professor of humanities in the honors program at Baylor University, told me. Culture teaches us what matters and what views we should take about what matters. Our current political culture, Jacobs argued, has multiple technologies and platforms for catechizing—television, radio, Facebook, Twitter, and podcasts among them. People who want to be connected to their political tribe—the people they think are like them, the people they think are on their side—subject themselves to its catechesis all day long, every single day, hour after hour after hour.”

• POLITICAL IDOLATRY. “Scott Dudley, the senior pastor at Bellevue Presbyterian Church in Bellevue, Washington, refers to this as ‘our Idolatry of Politics.’ He’s heard of many congregants leaving their church because it didn’t match their politics, he told me, but has never once heard of someone changing their politics because it didn’t match their church’s teaching. He often tells his congregation that if the Bible doesn’t challenge your politics at least occasionally, you’re not really paying attention to the Hebrew scriptures or the New Testament. The reality, however, is that a lot of people, especially in this Era, will leave a church if their political views are ever challenged, even around the edges.”

• DONALD TRUMP. “‘Too often, i fear, when Americans look at the Church, they see not the Face of Jesus, but the Style of Donald Trump.’ The former president normalized a form of discourse that made the once-shocking seem routine. Russell Moore laments the ‘Pugilism of the Trump Era, in which anything short of cruelty is seen as weakness.’ The problem facing the Evangelical Church, then, is not just that it has failed to inculcate adherents with its values—it’s that when it has succeeded in doing so, those values have not always been Biblical.”

THE PERFECT STORM. Preceding these Five Historical Developments of course are several Precursors such as: The Faith-Prosperity-Dominion Movements; Culture-wide Biblical Illiteracy; The Materialism of ‘The American Dream;’ and as I wrote of some time ago, Fractures in the American Founding (Slavery, Native American Policies, and Freemasonry).

It becomes clearer to me every day that Donald Trump’s arrival on the American Political and Religious scene was diabolically timed to achieve what Steve Bannon and others jubilantly proclaimed as the Social Chaos needed to transform America into a brutal Totalitarian Religious State – ‘an Illegitimate Theocracy,’ that combines a few tortured Scriptures with the ruling protocols of Caligula, Rasputin, Machiavelli, Torquemada and Hitler.

THE CONSEQUENCES. Thus we see the rapid rise of an atrocity called “Christian Nationalism,” tens of millions of Christians daring to syncretize their faith with QAnon, Conspiracy-based cultism (current estimates are that there are at least 60 million American adherents, and it is spreading to Europe), and finally, outright Blasphemy against the Christian Cross of Jesus Christ in patent rejection of the Savior in favor of a Human Deliverer in the person of Donald John Trump.

Selah.

1. THE TEACHING

SCRIPTURE. “TO THE ANGEL OF THE CHURCH OF EPHESUS … But I have this [‘one charge’ to make] against you: that you have left (abandoned) the love that you had at first [‘you have deserted Me, your first love’]. Remember then from what heights you have fallen. Repent (change the inner man to meet God’s will) and do the works you did previously [when first you knew the Lord], ‘or else I will visit you and remove your lampstand from its place,’ unless you change your mind and repent.” – JESUS OF NAZARETH, Revelation 2:1, 4-5, Amplified Classic Edition

KEY TERMS. As always, we deep dive into the roots of this Teaching by the Messiah, to gain more depth and nuance as to what was being counseled to this mostly obedient Church.

• LEFT. From an intense form of the Greek term, ‘Aphiémi [ἀφίημι]: To omit, disregard, forsake or abandon [by ext., ‘to betray’ a covenant]; to stop, quit or cease one’s obligation to [to ‘fall away’ from one’s commitment]; can take the form of evil speaking or blasphemy; also, to let die; to render inactive [‘to renounce, apostatize’]; to withdraw or depart from [for perpetuity or for eternity].”

• FIRST LOVE. The key word here is ‘Prótos’ [πρῶτος]: “The highest or utmost in importance; one’s chief concerns before all else; the beginning [of one’s purpose]; foremost, supreme; refers to rank or dignity; a leader or captain [of one’s very soul]; first in rank, influence or honor; a direct  reference to the Eternal One; preceding all others in excellence or significance.”

• REMEMBER. Here the Lord specifies the first step back toward restored fellowship with Him. Taken from the Greek, ‘Mnémoneuó’ [μνημονεύω]: “To recall to mind, make mention of [out loud]; to rehearse; to punish one’s lapse or forgetfulness; to think of or feel for a person or thing; to preserve the memory of; to preserve from being forgotten; to consider or meditate upon.”

• FALLEN. The next step is to realize the gravity of one’s sin. From the word, ‘Ekpipto’ [ἐκπίπτω]: “To fall out, fall off, fall away; hence in nautical language: I fall off from the straight course; I fade away, wither away; I fall from, lose, forfeit; I am cast ashore; I am fruitless; to perish or fail; to fall powerless, fall to the ground, be without effect; of the divine promise of salvation by Christ, Romans 9:6; to lose, become inefficient or effective.”

• REPENT! Now the demand of the fallen Pastor first, then the parishioners. From the familiar Greek word (though rarely heard of in our churches anymore), ‘Metanoeó’ [ μετανοέω]: “To think differently or reconsider; to relent, implying feelings of regret or sorrow; show remorse; to display a fresh, sincere willingness to do the will of God; to heartily amend with abhorrence of one’s past sins.”

• QUICK LAMPSTAND REMOVAL. I combine several words here to drive home the catastrophic results of continuing in our Apostasy. From the Greek terms, ‘Tachu’ [ταχύ], “Speedily or swiftly, without further delay. And ‘Luchnia’ [λυχνία], “Candlestick as illuminator or torch, implying the Light of the Spirit of God; Finally, ‘Kineó’ [κινέω], “To set in motion, move, remove, excite, stir up; to cause to go away and thereby provoke a great commotion.” DK. This is, by any interpretation, the Death of Church, period. It no longer ceases to exist. We shall consider additional consequences in the Commentary that follows.

THE SIN OF EPHESUS. “‘Nevertheless, I have somewhat to allege against thee — Exemplary as thou art in many respects; or, as somewhat is not in the original, the verse may be properly read, I have against thee that thou hast left thy first love — Namely, the zeal and fervour of it, which thou didst manifest to Me and My cause;that love for which the Church at Ephesus was so eminent when St. Paul wrote his Epistle to them. Neither they nor their pastors need to have left this; they might have retained it entire to the end. And they did retain it in part, otherwise there could not have remained so much of what is commendable in them. But they had not kept, as they might have done, the first tender, affectionate love [for Christ] in its vigour and warmth …

But even in the threatening the Promise is implied in the case of True Repentance. ‘And will remove thy candlestick out of its place!’— This threatening, considered as addressed to the angel or pastor of the Church, meant, ‘Unless thou repent, I will remove the flock now under thy care to another place, and put it under the care of another pastor, where it shall be better taken care of.’ Considered as addressed to the Church, it implies that it should no longer continue to be a church, if the members of it did not endeavour to recover their lost ground, and to shine at least with their former lustre; but that the hedge of discipline should be broken down, and the Light of the Gospel removed from them. From the flourishing state of the Church, however, at Ephesus, for a time after this, there is reason to believe that both the pastor and his flock did repent, although, not long after, they declined again, and fell lower than ever; and this Church, with the other churches addressed in these Letters, was ruined and overthrown by heresies and divisions from within, and by the arms of the Saracens from without.” – JOSEPH BENSON, Notes on the Holy Bible, 5 vols., 1811-1815; edited

NOTE. “This one charge!” This Church had done everything by the numbers, had obeyed God in almost all their ways, had protected the truth and would not tolerate false teachers and doctrines. They had got it right, but they forgot one thing: ‘The absolute Preeminence of Christ,’ the very Light and animating Force of all of their success. They forgot Him. They abandoned Him.

Harsh and terrifying lessons for today, beloved. Are we listening?

Now to the terrible importance of all this, I ask you to consider most seriously and soberly in prayer the answer to the following QUESTION: What in your best Biblical estimation happened to the Unrepentant Pastor of this Church and his congregation when they at last fell into utter ruin?

Accepted freely back into the communion of saints, or thrown into outer darkness? Answer well, beloved, and weigh it most carefully against what is happening in the American Church in this present, devastating hour.

1. LAST THOUGHTS

SINNERS IN THE HANDS OF AN ANGRY GOD. I have written of this classic and prescient sermon by JONATHAN EDWARDS at least twice before, delivered on July 8, 1741 – some 280 years ago at Enfield, Connecticut. This single sermon provoked much of the impetus for America’s First Great Awakening, virtually saving Colonial  America from early collapse.

Its relevance to a foundering America in 2023 cannot be stated strongly enough. ONLY GOD can rescue us! Not Donald Trump nor Ron DeSantis nor Nikki Haley nor Joe Biden. No. And that is where we have lost our way, my friends. We have, like the Churches of Ephesus and Pergamos and Thyatira and Sardis and especially Laodicea, forgotten and forsaken the One who begot us as a Nation and Church.

And after some 120 years, since the turning of the century in 1900: God has become Angry with us!

Except this time there is no longer space for us to get it wrong once more. That horse has left the barn and that ship has sailed. God is giving America one last opportunity to Repent. After this, The Judgment. But to be honest, I think Judgment has already begun and the final Destruction of America has become nearly a fait accompli.

FOUR PROMISES. As I was putting this study together over a seven-day period of time, I was strongly led to three incendiary and one conciliatory passage that shall serve as my End Notes. All Scriptures are rendered in the New King James Version.

1. DEUTERONOMY 19:21. “Your eye shall not pity: life shall be for life, eye for eye, tooth for tooth, hand for hand, foot for foot.” DK. This is the Principle of Lex Talionis, or “Law of Retaliation” that insures punishment of an offender of God’s Precepts is in just measure determined by their offenses. It was not so much to “retaliate,” but to protect against undue, cruel reproof. God’s Judgments of unrepentant churches and pastors shall revert to this ancient Law of Justice. The Age of Grace has at this point fully ceased – for them at least.

• EZEKIEL 26:19-21. “For thus says the Lord God: ‘When I make you a desolate city, like cities that are not inhabited, when I bring the deep upon you, and great waters cover you, then I will bring you down with those who descend into the Pit, to the people of old, and I will make you dwell in the lowest part of the earth, in places desolate from antiquity, with those who go down to the Pit, so that you may never be inhabited; and I shall establish glory in the land of the living. I will make you a terror, and you shall be no more; though you are sought for, you will never be found again,’ says the Lord God.” DK. One can compare the United States to the ancient, sinful City of Tyre, promising to bring up floods and “ruins of desolation, a terrible example of My vengeance, never to be found again [in Eternity]” (J. Benson, Commentary, 1811-1815).

• JEREMIAH 21:5-6. “I Myself will fight against you with an outstretched hand and with a strong arm, even in anger and fury and great wrath. I will strike the inhabitants of this city, both man and beast; they shall die of a great pestilence.” DK. The most terrifying aspect of this passage is that by this assessment, America has made God her avowed Enemy. John Gill points out that the Lord shows “the greatness of His indignation … in hot displeasure, a punishment inflicted in vindictive Wrath by a righteous Judge, appearing in a warlike manner” (Exposition, 1746-1763).

• DEUTERONOMY 4:30-31. “When you are in distress, and all these things come upon you in the latter days, when you turn to the Lord your God and obey His voice (for the Lord your God is a merciful God), He will not forsake you nor destroy you, nor forget the covenant of your fathers which He swore to them.” DK. I love the way Matthew Henry, always the tender theologian, observes: “He foresees [our] revolt from God to idols. Those, and those only, shall find God to their comfort, who seek Him with all their heart” (Exposition, 1708-1710). At the very last minute, Almighty God remains, “Jehhovah Rachum, the God of Mercy.” But after this last call, I dare say there shall very likely not be any more calls. That was my distinct impression. Selah.

CODA. Appropriate to our lengthy discussion of God’s Judgments upon His own houses as inevitable, joined with His Last-Minute Mercies, I end with a Warning from the PROPHET AMOS.  This humble sheep-tending shepherd was no formally trained messenger of the Lord, but rather an obedient servant who for just a short time left his flocks to deliver his fiery rounds at an Israel waning in “an age of affluence, luxury and moral laxity” about two years before a great earthquake (Wm. MacDonald, Commentary, 1995, p. 1113).

“Shall a trumpet be blown in the city and the people not be alarmed and afraid? Shall misfortune or evil occur [as punishment] and the Lord has not caused it? Surely the Lord God will do nothing without revealing His secret to His servants the prophets. The lion has roared; who will not fear? The Lord God has spoken; who can but prophesy?”- AMOS 3:6-8, AMPC

Beloved, the Lion of the Tribe of Judah has roared for these past several years to the American Church, yet she has not heard nor heeded. She insists upon her own path, her own messiah, and her own kingdom. ‘Unless she shouts’ to the Lord of Heaven a mighty cry of remorseful Repentance, she shall go the way of all nations who returned to dust from whence they came, never to be seen again.

Wake up America! Rouse yourselves Pastors and Priests! Hear His voice while it may still be heard, Magistrates! Fall is nearly gone, and the cold of Winter fast approaches. Yet the warmth of Yeshua’s Embrace is still extended for another Moment, should you be wise and humble and courageous enough to Return to it.

Or perish.

Ever your servant, DK

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