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No, the blood of Jesus did not buy forgiveness of sins from God (Matthew 26:28)

By Jeremy Myers
36 Comments

No, the blood of Jesus did not buy forgiveness of sins from God (Matthew 26:28)
http://media.blubrry.com/one_verse/feeds.soundcloud.com/stream/421529790-redeeminggod-112-did-jesus-shed-his-blood-to-purchase-forgiveness-of-sins-from-god-matthew-2628.mp3

In Matthew 26:28, Jesus says, “For this is My blood of the new covenant, which is shed for many for the remission of sins.” Does this mean that the blood of Jesus had to be shed so that He could buy forgiveness of sins for us from God?

Let’s see … what is the best way to answer this question? … Let me try this:

NO!

Ha!

blood of Jesus ChristBut I bet you want a better explanation …

I know that there are several verses in the Bible that some use to argue for the idea that Jesus had to shed His blood to purchase forgiveness of sins from God, but when carefully studied in their contexts, none of these Bible passages are teaching this idea.

God has always forgiven all people of all their sins simply because this is who God is. He did not need to be paid off or bought before He could forgive us. (That wouldn’t be forgiveness anyway…. you can either forgive a debt or be repaid, but not both.)

Matthew 26:28 is one of the passages that sometimes is quoted in defense of this idea that Jesus paid for our sins with His blood.

During the Last Supper on the night before His arrest, trial, and crucifixion, Jesus shared the Passover Meal with His disciples and imbued new symbolism into the bread and wine.

He said that the bread represented His body broken for them and the wine represented His blood shed for them. He then said that these things point to the new covenant in His blood, which is for the forgiveness of sins.

Some seem to assume through this description of events that Jesus was teaching His disciples that His blood would purchase the New Covenant and the forgiveness of sins from God.

But there are two keys which provide a better understanding of this text. A careful look at the context and what the rest of the New Testament teaches about the New Covenant and forgiveness reveals something different.

Let us briefly consider both concepts and how they relate to Matthew 26:28.

Matthew 26:28 and the New Covenant

Jesus was not teaching that His blood was the purchase price for forgiveness and the New Covenant, but that His blood was the sign of such things.

crucifixion of JesusIn reference the New Covenant, the blood of Jesus signaled that this New Covenant was now in effect. In essence, Jesus died to inaugurate or enact the New Covenant.

It is important to think of the New Covenant, not as a new system of laws and regulations to keep, but instead as a Last Will & Testament. And indeed, the term Jesus uses here does have this idea in view. Jesus is not sharing a new legal Contract, but new legal Will.

When we think of the Covenant as a “Last Will & Testament” rather than as a legal contract (as the Greek words used seem to indicate), it becomes clear that a Last Will & Testament is not put into effect as long as the one who made it still lives (cf. Hebrews 9:15-17).

For a Last Will & Testament to be enacted, the one who made it must die. Yet since this is God’s Last Will & Testament, and since God cannot die, it was impossible for the Will to come into effect unless God became human and died as a human, which is what He did in Jesus Christ.

So when Jesus speaks of His blood representing the New Covenant, He is pointing out the fact that the New Covenant which had been promised through the Old Testament prophets (cf. Jeremiah 31:31-34) would now be put into effect because the one who made this Last Will & Testament was now here and was about to die.

All of this is explained in more detail in Hebrews 9–10.

So when we understand that Jesus is talking a Last Will instead of a legal contract in Matthew 26:28, we then understand that the blood of Jesus was for the purpose of enacting the legal terms of this new Last Will & Testament. The death of Jesus was not needed to buy forgiveness, but to enact a new Will.

But what about the statement in Matthew 26:28 about the forgiveness of sins? Doesn’t that prove that Jesus did, in fact, die to purchase forgiveness of sins from God?

Matthew 26:28 and the Forgiveness of Sins

When it comes to the forgiveness that Jesus mentions in Matthew 26:28, it is critical to recognize that there are two types of forgiveness in the Bible.

cup of new covenantThere is charizomai forgiveness and aphēsis forgiveness. Charizomai forgiveness is based on the free grace (charis) of God and is freely extended to all people throughout all time for all sins, with no strings or conditions attached.

Aphēsis forgiveness, however, does have conditions, such as repentance and turning from sin. But aphēsis forgiveness has nothing to with our standing with God or what He thinks about us. Aphēsis forgiveness is not about our relationship with God.

Instead, aphēsis forgiveness is about our relationship with sin. Aphēsis forgiveness is only about one thing, and that is whether or not we are addicted to sin or break free from sin. This is why a better English translation for aphēsis is “release” or “remission.”

Aphēsis forgiveness is not about getting forgiveness from God, but is instead about breaking free from the addictive and destructive power of sin in our lives.

If you are addicted to a certain type or pattern of sin in your life, God has 100% forgiven you for this sin. This is charizomai forgiveness. But God’s charizomai forgiveness doesn’t help you much in breaking free from sin. For this, you need to repent, confess, and take steps to turn away from this sin, and start following God instead. When you do this, you will gain aphēsis, release, from the power of sin in your life.

So what kind of forgiveness is Jesus talking about in Matthew 26:28? It is aphēsis, release. This is why many Bible translations use the word “remission” here instead of “forgiveness.”

Jesus is not talking about how He is going to get God to forgive our sins. No, Jesus is talking about how His life and death, about how His shed blood, is going to help us break free from the power of sin in our lives.

Jesus is telling His disciples that through His blood, that is, through His violent death as a sacrificial scapegoat, they will gain deliverance and release from the sin that has enslaved humanity since the foundation of the world.

And this is exactly what happened. The violent death of Jesus on the cross exposed the lie of scapegoating and sacrificial violence for what it was. Those who see this lie are then able to live their lives in freedom from it.

How to Understand Matthew 26:28

So Jesus’ words at the Last Supper closely mirror what we have seen about blood in Genesis 4:10 and Hebrews 12:24 above. The murder of Abel by Cain represents the fratricidal, murderous violence upon which all human civilization is built. In unveiling this sin, the author of Hebrews compared the word spoken by the blood of Abel with the Old Covenant, and then contrasts this with the word spoken by the blood of Jesus and the New Covenant.

Matthew 26:28 blood of new covenant

Whereas the Old Covenant and the blood of Abel was concerned with sacrifice, vengeance, and retaliation, the New Covenant based upon the blood of Jesus speaks of grace, mercy, and forgiveness.

And this is what Jesus says to His disciples during their Last Supper.

He brings them to the table and says, “I’m going to inaugurate a New Covenant, a new way of doing things, a new Last Will & Testament. And it’s going to be put into effect through my death. And when you see what I am revealing through my death, you will gain release from the addictive and destructive power of sin that has enslaved humanity since the foundation of the world.”

Do you see? There is no mention in here of buying forgiveness from God. Quite the opposite in fact. Jesus is not saying, “I am going to die so God can forgive you.”

No, Jesus is saying, “I’m going to die so that you can learn that God has ALWAYS forgiven you, and my death will show you how to live in a similar way toward others. My death is going to show you how to extend unconditional love and free forgiveness toward others, as God has always extended toward you. And when you live this way, you will break free from the sin of violent, bloody, sacrificial scapegoating that has plagued humanity since the very beginning.”

So do you see?

The Old Covenant, the Mosaic Covenant, enslaved us to sin, and thus, to sacrificial and scapegoating violence.

But the New Covenant in Jesus, introduced to us and inaugurated for us through His own violent death on the cross, shows that we are completely forgiven and have always been forgiven, and that there is nothing for which God will not forgive us.

The New Covenant enacted through the death of Jesus which brings release from our bondage to sin.

Therefore, we too can forgive. Rather than lash out in violence against those who wrong us, we can, like God, simply extend love and forgiveness.

By seeing God’s loving, forgiving, non-retaliatory character through the death of Jesus, we are shown the way to live in loving, forgiving, non-retaliatory community with other people. Observing the Lord’s Supper serves as a reminder of the way we are to live with one another.

In the Last Supper, Jesus used the cup of wine to symbolize how He was making a new Last Will & Testament with humanity. This time, the Testament will be put into effect by His own blood.

When we see Him do this, it is then that our eyes are opened to the truth about sin. What we see in the death of Jesus helps us finally break free from the destructive power of sin that has plagued humanity since the foundation of the world.

This is how the death of Jesus reveals our sin to us, and releases us from the bondage of sin in our lives.

Jesus did not buy forgiveness of sins for us from God, but instead revealed that God has always loved and only forgiven, and we can live this way as well.

The Gospel DictionaryUnderstanding the Gospel requires us to properly understand the key words and terms of the Gospel. Take my course, "The Gospel Dictionary" to learn about the 52 key words of the Gospel, and hundreds of Bible passages that use these words.

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God is Redeeming God, Redeeming Theology, z Bible & Theology Topics: blood of Jesus, crucifixion of Jesus, death of Jesus, Easter, forgiveness, forgiveness of sins, Matthew 26:28, New Covenant

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Jonah 1:10-12 – Jonah Teaches Terrible Theology

By Jeremy Myers
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Jonah 1:10-12 – Jonah Teaches Terrible Theology
http://media.blubrry.com/one_verse/feeds.soundcloud.com/stream/314492829-redeeminggod-71-jonah-110-12-jonah-teaches-terrible-theology.mp3

Jonah 1:10-12Have you ever taught anyone some bad theology? I have. Sometimes I go back to look through the sermons I preached when I was a pastor fifteen years ago, and I cringe at some of the things I said back then. Sometimes I wonder if fifteen years from now I will cringe at some of the stuff I teach today…

But I never purposefully taught anything wrong. I think most Bible teachers try their hardest to accurately present the truth of Scripture to others.

But in Jonah 1:10-12, we see that in response to some questions from the sailors, Jonah teaches them some very bad theology about God. Furthermore, I am convinced that Jonah knew for a fact that what he was teaching them was wrong.

So that raises the question … “Why would Jonah teach such terrible theology?” This is what we will see in Jonah 1:10-12. We will see what Jonah taught that was so wrong, and we also begin to develop a theory about why Jonah taught such terrible theology, even though he knew it was wrong.

We will also see that we might be teaching the same sort of terrible theology today. Listen to the episode to find out!

The Text of Jonah 1:10-12

Then the men were exceedingly afraid, and said to him, “Why have you done this?” For the men knew that he fled from the presence of the Lord, because he had told them.

Then they said to him, “What shall we do to you that the sea may be calm for us?”—for the sea was growing more tempestuous.

And he said to them, “Pick me up and throw me into the sea; then the sea will become calm for you. For I know that this great tempest is because of me.”

In this discussion of Jonah 1:10-12 we look at:

  • The additional questions from the sailors
  • The additional answers from Jonah
  • Why Jonah’s answer in 1:12 is terrible theology
  • Why we Christians often give the exact same answer to the world today

Resources:

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God is Redeeming God, Redeeming Scripture Bible & Theology Topics: death of Jesus, Easter, human sacrifice, Jonah 1:10-12, sin, theology

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Why Christians should not Celebrate Christmas or Easter, Drive a Mazda, or Use a Calendar

By Jeremy Myers
51 Comments

Why Christians should not Celebrate Christmas or Easter, Drive a Mazda, or Use a Calendar

pagan ChristmasThis time of year I see article after article from Christians about why it is sinful to decorate Christmas trees, wrap presents, and sing “Deck the Halls.”

Here is an example:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u1xqD9-9RA0

Whenever I see these blog posts, Facebook articles, and YouTube videos, I always want to ask if they celebrate Easter, drive a Mazda, or use a Calendar.

Why?

Because the exact same logic people use to say that Christians should not celebrate Christmas can also be used to say that Christians should not celebrate Easter, should not drive a Mazda, and should not use a Calendar.

Here is the logic some Christians use to teach that it is sinful to celebrate Christmas:

  1. Christmas has roots in the pagan holiday of Saturnalia. It was celebrated with decorating trees, baking cookies, putting up lights, passing out presents, and singing songs.
  2. If we do these things for Christmas, then we are participating in a sinful, pagan holiday.

This is the basic logic, and some Christians occasionally find passages like Jeremiah 10:1-5 to support this view.

But let us plug the same logic in to the holiday of Easter:

  1. Easter has roots in the pagan holiday that celebrated Ishtar, the sex goddess. Among other things, the spring celebration of Ishtar was observed with sunrise celebrations, decorating eggs, giving candy, and cute bunnies. It reminded people of new birth and new life.
  2. If we do these things for Easter, then we are participating in a sinful, pagan holiday.

Ishtar Easter

And how about driving a Mazda:

  1. The Mazda car is named after the chief Persian deity, Ahura Mazda. Even the early symbol of the Mazda line of cars (1936-1962) resembled the dual-winged image of Ahura Mazda   and can still be seen in the modern winged “M” logo of the Mazda (see the three images below).
  2. Therefore, driving a Mazda is a tribute to Ahura Mazda, the pagan Persian deity, and is sinful for Christians. The same thing can be said, by the way, about driving a Saturn or a Mercury.
Ahura Mazda
The early Mazda Logo
The modern Mazda Logo

Following the Christmas logic, we also cannot use a calendar:

  1. All the days of the week are named after pagan deities.
  • Sunday = Sun’s Day
  • Monday = Moon’s Day
  • Tuesday = Tyr’s Day
  • Wednesday = Woden’s Day
  • Thursday = Thor’s Day
  • Friday = Frey’s Day
  • Saturday = Saturn’s Day

And most of the months of the year are also named after various pagan deities.

  • January = Janus’s month
  • February = month of Februa (pagan purification)
  • March = Mars’ month
  • April = Aphrodite’s month
  • May = Maia’s month
  • June = Juno’s month
  • July = Julius Caesar’s month
  • August = Augustus Caesar’s month
  • September = the seventh month*
  • October = the eighth month*
  • November = the ninth month*
  • December = the tenth month*

*The Roman calendar originally only had 10 months, with the first 60 days of the calendar being “monthless.” January and February were later added to the Calendar, but the final four months of the year retained their numbered names.

  1. Therefore, to talk about the days of the week or the months of the year is to give honor to the false gods and deities after which they are named.

As long as we are at it, we should also stop wearing Nike clothes and shoes, eating Mars bars, using Venus razors, buying Hermes handbags, or investing in Janus funds. And since all the planets are named after pagan Roman deities, we shouldn’t talk about our study our solar system. We also shouldn’t visit the Statue of Liberty. And no matter what, we should definitely stay away from the Washington monument and churches with steeples since they are symbols that come from pagan rituals that celebrated the male phallic.

Do you see where all this is going? As soon as Christians start to try to avoid and condemn anything and everything that has pagan roots or symbolism, we end up having to just sit at home twiddling our thumbs. Of course, even that is fraught with danger, because as Paul himself writes, every single human being has a background that is filled with paganism (cf. 1 Cor 6:9-11). So we cannot even be around ourselves!

Yes, this has now crossed over into the realm of the absurd.

But that is exactly the point.

All these condemnations of various aspects of life because those areas of life have pagan origins are nothing but absurd.

They also deny and reject the absolute fact that our God is a redeeming God. That Jesus Christ is a redeemer. That everything in heaven and on earth has been placed under the feet of Jesus so that He is all in all. That everything can be received with joy and thanksgiving in the name of Jesus. That everything is “Yes” and “Amen” through Jesus Christ, the Lord of all.

So this Christmas season, go put up lights on your tree. Go bake cookies and pass out presents. Go drive your Mazda to your job on Monday while you wear your Nike shoes and snack on a Mars bar. And while do you do all these pagan things, give praise to Jesus because He has redeemed everything, including you and me.

Jesus is a redeemer

So go ahead! Cut down the tree, decorate it with silver tinsel and gold ornaments, bake the cookies, hand out presents, sing the carols, and do it all with praise to Jesus Christ, who is our Redeemer!

If you want to read more about this, I have written a short eBook on the subject, titled Christmas Redemption. Get your copy on Amazon today for $2.99.

Better yet, “Hope” and “Love” Members of RedeemingGod.com will get this book for free a few weeks after signing up. Join now.

God is Redeeming Life Bible & Theology Topics: Christmas, Christmas Redemption, Easter, pagan, redemption

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Are Christians infatuated with the Blood of Jesus?

By Jeremy Myers
33 Comments

Are Christians infatuated with the Blood of Jesus?

fountain of bloodHave you ever listened to some of the songs Christians sing around Easter? We seem to be infatuated with the blood of Jesus.

Take this song as an example:

There is a fountain filled with blood drawn from Emmanuel’s veins;
And sinners plunged beneath that flood lose all their guilty stains.

Or this one:

Have you been to Jesus for the cleansing power?
Are you washed in the blood of the Lamb?
Are you fully trusting in His grace this hour?
Are you washed in the blood of the Lamb?

Refrain:
Are you washed in the blood,
In the soul cleansing blood of the Lamb?
Are your garments spotless? Are they white as snow?
Are you washed in the blood of the Lamb?

Then there is this song:

What can wash away my sin?
Nothing but the blood of Jesus.
What can make me whole again?
Nothing but the blood of Jesus.

Refrain:
O precious is the flow that makes me white as snow;
No other fount I know; nothing but the blood of Jesus.

blood of JesusThese songs have images of a bloody river and a fountain filled with blood drawn from Emmanuel’s veins. Yikes! Some Christian songs sound more like a gruesome and gory scene from a Freddy Krueger movie than from something having to do with Jesus Christ.

And what’s this about washing in the blood of the lamb? That sounds an awful lot like some ancient Pagan sacrificial rituals where worshippers pour the blood of bulls, goats, and lambs over their heads.

Is this really what God wants from us? To take baths in the blood of Jesus? To swim in rivers of blood and dance around in bloody fountains?

What is the deal with the blood of Jesus?

I fully admit that I used to focus a lot on the blood of Jesus as well. In fact, I once preached a whole sermon about the painful trial and bloody ordeal that Jesus experienced on the cross.

But in recent years, I have begun to wonder if all this emphasis on the blood of Jesus, including His suffering and pain on the cross, is what Jesus really wants.

Does Jesus want us to focus on the blood He spilled and the pain He endured on the cross?

I used to think so, but in recent years, I am not so sure.

Reservations About the Blood of Jesus

One of the first things that made me wonder about our infatuation with they blood of Jesus is the realization that the Gospels don’t say much about the blood of Jesus. Similarly, there is hardly any mention about His suffering and pain. For the most part, the Gospel accounts of the crucifixion of Jesus are fairly benign.

blood of Jesus ChristThey report the details of what happened and what was said, but they report almost nothing about the gruesome nature of crucifixion or the pain that Jesus must have endured.

Then more recently, I read the following section from Darin Hufford’s book The Misunderstood God:

We have scientifically based teachings that walk us through the pain and suffering Jesus must have gone through during the Crucifixion. We make movies that dramatize the flogging and beating He underwent on our behalf. At Easter we put together pageants and invite outsiders to come and watch Jesus get the tar beat out of Him for their sins.

We have come to believe that it is God’s heart to hold this moment over the heads of His children in an effort to get them to obey the rules. If we are graphically reminded of the pain and suffering He underwent on our behalf, perhaps we will do our best to repay Him by living a right life.

The God I grew up with was like the mother who constantly reminded her kids of the pain she went through during childbirth in an effort to guilt them into doing what she wants. … Sadly, the gospel message has been affected by this way of thinking. “God loves you; come to Him,” has been turned into, “Jesus got a major beating that was meant for you, so come to Him.”

… Imagine if a man broke into my home and was planning on killing my wife and children, but I convinced him to take my life instead of theirs. If he let them escape and then proceeded to take me into a back room and film himself torturing me for hours until finally taking my life, do you think I would ever want my family to see that videotape? Absolutely not! I would want them to remember my life and my love for them. There is nothing inside me that would ever want them to view the pain I underwent to save their lives. That would break their hearts.

This is how God feels when we reenact the stations of the cross in an effort to riddle people with guilt and condemnation. It doesn’t motivate; it exasperates. This is not what love desires (pp. 63, 67).

He makes a good point, doesn’t he?

One could argue, I suppose, that the Gospel authors barely mentioned the blood and gore because the original readers of the Gospel accounts were quite familiar with the agonizing nature of crucifixion, and since most of us are not, the details need to be presented. To some degree, I hold to this argument myself, which is why I continue to keep online my study about the pain of crucifixion.

blood of Jesus ChristYet at the same time, if we want to truly understand what the Gospel authors were saying, we need to do our best to let them provide the details they think are important, and try to set aside the rest as nothing more than interesting historical side notes.

And when it comes to understanding what the Gospel authors are saying about the crucifixion of Jesus, they have chosen to focus very little of their attention on the suffering and blood of Jesus.

So if we want to understand the Gospels, we should do the same.

The blood of Jesus is not that big of a deal in the Gospels, nor is His pain and suffering.

Jesus went to the cross out of love, to rescue us from sin, death, and devil, but since the Gospels (or the rest of the New Testament for that matter) don’t place much emphasis on the blood of Jesus or the pain He went through on the cross, maybe we shouldn’t either…

The cross of Jesus is CENTRAL to everything!

Transform your life and theology by focusing on the crucifixion and resurrection of Jesus:

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God is Redeeming Theology Bible & Theology Topics: blood, crucifixion, cruciform, crucivision, death of Jesus, Easter, resurrection, Theology of Jesus

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Dancing With Jesus

By Jeremy Myers
10 Comments

Dancing With Jesus

dancing with JesusMy friend, Sam Riviera, wrote this about how he spent Easter:

Amazing grace,
How sweet the sound.
That saved a wretch like me
I once was lost,
But now am found.
Was blind,
But now I see.

We spent Easter morning with the outcast — the lame, the halt, the thieves, the alcoholics, the drug-addicts, the murderers. We climbed out of our warm beds and headed out into the streets laden with bags of clothes, food and water. We shared what we had with those who had slept under bushes, on the ground and any other place they could find.

Happy Easter! Happy Easter! Almost every person greeted us with “Happy Easter!”

These are supposed to be the people who don’t know Jesus. Yet they know Jesus. They have seen Jesus walking among them. He has danced with them. He loves them. They like Jesus.

Jesus was with them in prison. He visited them there. He was with them in Southeastern Asia when they spent the years rotting away in bamboo cages lowered into holes. He was with them as they walked the streets of America, looking for a place to lay their head. They told us Jesus was with them.

“Grace. It’s all about grace. No matter had bad we screw up, God’s grace is still good. He never forgets us. He’s always there. He’s always been there for me. He’s been there the last eighteen years while I’ve traveled around the country. I don’t have a dime to my name, but I’ve got God’s grace. It’s all about grace. Don’t ever forget that.”

So said the man sitting on the sidewalk on Easter morning. The man with no home. The man with nothing. But he knows that Jesus lives!

“See this mark behind my ear,” said another. That’s where the VC shot me. The bullet came out through my nose. See this big white patch on my thigh” he said, pulling up his pant leg. “That’s where they got the skin to graft onto the left side of my face. Another bullet ripped a big hole there and they had to patch it. God got me through it and He’ll get you through whatever comes your way too.”

We went to give a cup of water, a warm coat. We found Easter. The risen Jesus had been there. The risen Jesus was there, walking among those outcast and despised by the world. He too had been outcast and despised. He knows what it’s like. He walks among those He loves. They see Him. They see the One who was despised, rejected and afflicted. He is one of them.

He is risen!

He is risen indeed!

He walks among His people.

He loves us. Whether we’re thieves, adulterers, liars, cheats, gluttons, alcoholics or murderers, He loves us.

Whether we see Him in a fancy building with stained glass windows or dancing with us in the streets, He’s there. He’s alive.

If you haven’t seen Him, walk with those who do see Him. Perhaps you’ll catch a glimpse. Perhaps He’ll come and sit with you. Perhaps He’ll dance with you.

There is so much need in the world!

And YOU can help.

Fill out the form below to receive several emails about how to love and serve the poor and homeless.

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God is Redeeming Theology Bible & Theology Topics: Discipleship, Easter, following Jesus, He is risen, mission, Sam Riviera, Theology of the Church

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