Latest Observations

[Jethro Bodine]

RolloTomasi,

Have you changed your avatar?
Are you trying to confuse me?
Or are you just showing off?
Enquiring minds want to know.

This was his avatar for a long time:

 

[Rollo Tamasi]

Oh. BTW Rollo Tomasi

You're being very critical by calling me a critical Christian.

Wondering

LOL, Jethro likes the way you tell me off.
Ha Ha Hah!

Did you know it's easier to kick a heroin habit than a smoking habit?
My latest observations are that you are very much a Jethroite!

You are indeed now subject to the connotations of what a Jethroite really is.

 

[GodsGrace]

This was his avatar for a long time:

Hmmmm.

Coffee AND a cigar!

Whew!

If only I had known...

I would have been a lot harsher on him!!

LOL

Just kidding.
(I t hink)

Wondering

 

[GodsGrace]

LOL, Jethro likes the way you tell me off.
Ha Ha Hah!

Did you know it's easier to kick a heroin habit than a smoking habit?
My latest observations are that you are very much a Jethroite!

You are indeed now subject to the connotations of what a Jethroite really is.

Are you serious? Re kicking the habit, I mean. How will I ever trust you in the future if you can say this???

Gosh. What connotations? I think Jethro is an okay guy.
Hope it's not something YOU have in mind!
Please remember that I'm just a girl.
(it does come in handy sometimes!!)

Wondering

 

[Rollo Tamasi]

Are you serious? Re kicking the habit, I mean. How will I ever trust you in the future if you can say this???

Gosh. What connotations? I think Jethro is an okay guy.
Hope it's not something YOU have in mind!
Please remember that I'm just a girl.
(it does come in handy sometimes!!)

Wondering

I do not say any of this in jest.
Everything I've said, look it up, it's out there.

 

[Rollo Tamasi]

Are you serious? Re kicking the habit, I mean. How will I ever trust you in the future if you can say this???

Gosh. What connotations? I think Jethro is an okay guy.
Hope it's not something YOU have in mind!
Please remember that I'm just a girl.
(it does come in handy sometimes!!)

Wondering

Jethro Bodine and the cute little girl wondering.
I guess we'll just have to start a Jethro Bodine fan club?
Oh, and be sure to ask him about his best friend Anton.

 

[eddif]

Eddif,
I like no. 5.
Could you expound a bit on your item no. 6 in post 29?

Wondering

6 sent Israel into captivity to help

Ephesians 4:8
Wherefore he saith, When he ascended up on high, he led captivity captive, and gave gifts unto men.

By grace one day I may can say more:
This captivity of Israel is probably a type of Jesus doing work in the future.
The Ezekiel captives were the good guys (like Jesus in the future).
The Gentile captors were helped
The Jewish captives helped others

You picked a work in progress.

Your comments?


eddif

 

[GodsGrace]

Jethro Bodine and the cute little girl wondering.
I guess we'll just have to start a Jethro Bodine fan club?
Oh, and be sure to ask him about his best friend Anton.

Hi Rollo,

I'm hoping the friend is Anton Corbin.

Anyway, okay. Let's get serious for a moment.

I looked up some info in cigarette smoking being harder to kick than heroine.
Here's one:

By Candy Lashkari

An addiction is an addiction and it may be tougher to quit smoking cigarettes compared to beating a heroin addiction. An Australian study found that many long term smokers have tried to quit 7.4 times but are still unable to do so. Sydney GP Raymond Seidler actually feels that people do not realize that quitting smoking is just as bad as kicking heroin out of your life.

"What smokers don't realise is that nicotine addiction is as powerful, or even more powerful, than heroin addiction," he said. " The (brain's) receptors for smoking are as strongly attached to nicotine as the heroine receptor is to opiates. That can come as a shock to a lot of people. Quitting is therefore a serious challenge for most." said Dr Seidler.

Rollo you've kind of proven my point. Cigarette smoking is very bad for a human being. God wants only good things for us. Now, you might look upon this whole concept as rules that we have to follow. And that's not really how it is - I'm not sure you're Christian or I think you would have understood.

Secularly speaking, which of the following would you prefer:
You're the father of a 20 year old. He comes to you and says he's going to start smoking OR he comes to you and says he's going to start shootin' up heroin.

Be honest. Which would distress you more? Which one will effect his life more? Cigarette smoking effects your lungs, heroine ruins your life.

Also, I'd say that I'm not too concerned with what Sydney Raymond Seidler thinks of cigarette smoking - even though he does agree with me that it's a pretty powerful addiction. I'm more interested in what God would want for me. And I think smoking is not one of those things so I try to keep away from it and am happy to do it.

Also, you're forcing me to think in terms of what's worse. This is not reasonable. If you have to pick between two bad things, why pick one at all? Keep away from both!

And I stick to my statement that it's a lot tougher to kick heroine than it is to stops smoking. You have to end up in rehab for heroine - and sometimes it doesn't even work. You could quit smoking with a patch and most times it does work.

Christians learn to trust God. Every biblical concept is for our own good. Sounds like when our parents were raising us, doesn't it? Don't you think it turns our that they were right? I nfever used this line with my kids because I hated it so much - but I found other ways to tell them the same things. And I'd do it again because looking back over many years, I see that it's all true and good.

Wondering

 

[GodsGrace]

6 sent Israel into captivity to help

Ephesians 4:8
Wherefore he saith, When he ascended up on high, he led captivity captive, and gave gifts unto men.

By grace one day I may can say more:
This captivity of Israel is probably a type of Jesus doing work in the future.
The Ezekiel captives were the good guys (like Jesus in the future).
The Gentile captors were helped
The Jewish captives helped others

You picked a work in progress.

Your comments?


eddif

 

[Rollo Tamasi]

Hi Rollo,

I'm hoping the friend is Anton Corbin.

Anyway, okay. Let's get serious for a moment.

I looked up some info in cigarette smoking being harder to kick than heroine.
Here's one:

By Candy Lashkari

An addiction is an addiction and it may be tougher to quit smoking cigarettes compared to beating a heroin addiction. An Australian study found that many long term smokers have tried to quit 7.4 times but are still unable to do so. Sydney GP Raymond Seidler actually feels that people do not realize that quitting smoking is just as bad as kicking heroin out of your life.

"What smokers don't realise is that nicotine addiction is as powerful, or even more powerful, than heroin addiction," he said. " The (brain's) receptors for smoking are as strongly attached to nicotine as the heroine receptor is to opiates. That can come as a shock to a lot of people. Quitting is therefore a serious challenge for most." said Dr Seidler.

Rollo you've kind of proven my point. Cigarette smoking is very bad for a human being. God wants only good things for us. Now, you might look upon this whole concept as rules that we have to follow. And that's not really how it is - I'm not sure you're Christian or I think you would have understood.

Secularly speaking, which of the following would you prefer:
You're the father of a 20 year old. He comes to you and says he's going to start smoking OR he comes to you and says he's going to start shootin' up heroin.

Be honest. Which would distress you more? Which one will effect his life more? Cigarette smoking effects your lungs, heroine ruins your life.

Also, I'd say that I'm not too concerned with what Sydney Raymond Seidler thinks of cigarette smoking - even though he does agree with me that it's a pretty powerful addiction. I'm more interested in what God would want for me. And I think smoking is not one of those things so I try to keep away from it and am happy to do it.

Also, you're forcing me to think in terms of what's worse. This is not reasonable. If you have to pick between two bad things, why pick one at all? Keep away from both!

And I stick to my statement that it's a lot tougher to kick heroine than it is to stops smoking. You have to end up in rehab for heroine - and sometimes it doesn't even work. You could quit smoking with a patch and most times it does work.

Christians learn to trust God. Every biblical concept is for our own good. Sounds like when our parents were raising us, doesn't it? Don't you think it turns our that they were right? I nfever used this line with my kids because I hated it so much - but I found other ways to tell them the same things. And I'd do it again because looking back over many years, I see that it's all true and good.

Wondering

Thank you for sharing, you are so kind.
My point was not all that you've made it out to be.
Quit smoking is the socially acceptable thing to do.
It is, shall we say, politically correct.
We tend to be focused on what the world tells us to be focused on whether we realize it or not.

We see two people.
One is smoking a cigarette.
The other is drinking a diet coke.
Which one do we place judgment on and want to tell them they should stop.
Then we look at ourselves in the mirror and say, "well, at least I'm not as bad as them".

We all have to get past this and move forward.
These are also part of my latest observations.

 

[GodsGrace]

Hi Eddif,

"He led captivity captive". It reminds me of how Jesus has won sin. Sin is still around, but it's the dominian of sin that He has won. The captivity is what would have kept the Israelites captive - in a foreign nation. But Jesus won that; He set the captives free.

Ezekiel always reminds me of the Good Shepherd. " I myself will shepherd them, for others have led them astray".
From a song - can't remember the name. So yes. God Himself will shepherd His people and save them from captivity. Sounds like Jesus to me.

King David comes in here somewhere. I think his reign, or the House of David, ended. But Jesus will pick that up again. In the Davidic Covenant, it is promised that David's Kingdom will be worldwide. Jesus' lineage goes back to David, and HIS reign is world wide.

Ephesians 4:8

Jesus freed the captives. The ones in Paradise. Paradise is not heaven. Heaven was closed to all until Jesus redeemed all, past, present and future. The dead that had faith were awaiting Jesus' redemptive work in Abraham's Bossom. See Luke 16:19-31. After His sacrifice, the doors of heaven were opened.

Also, in Ephesians 4:8 it speaks of Jesus going to the depths (paradise?) where he preached the good news and let the saved ones know heaven was opened up.

Also, he ascends. And is seated at the right hand of the Father. Which denotes that all authority is given to Christ. He will reign in the New Jerusalem.

I'm not sure what the "gifts to men" could mean. It would seem like salvation. Could it be this? Or it could be spiritual gifts. It could be looked up. Or you could comment...

Tomorrow...

Wondering

 

[childeye]

Gosh Childeye,

There's almost too much going on here and we could practically pick at each other's individual sentences, which would be quite a chore!

But in your above post, I THINK you're getting forgiveness mixed up with judgment?

You speak of discernment. If you're discerning something, you're trying to figure it out. You're even, maybe, trying to decide which of two roads is the correct one. If you're doing this, you're judging. I'll agree with everything you say but I disagree with the proliferation problem. Is this the thread where I said:

A man who accepts everything
believes in nothing

So, yes. I DO believe judgement is necessary. A righteous judgement just as you and Eddif and others have stated. Let's take smoking for instance. I can judge that it's a bad habit. Our bodies are a temple and nothing impure should enter that temple. Am I a legalist? NO. If someone is a christian and smokes, I'm not looking down my nose at them. We each have our road to take and this is a journey and we'll each make it to whatever marker the Lord has for us. But does that not allow me to say that smoking is bad for you? And to say to my friend, I wish you wouldn't smoke!?? In a nice way...

Is it wrong for me to judge that divorce is horrible. That it leaves children depressed, unable to cope with life, and wondering what it's all about - seeing their mother with a different man and their father with a different woman.
Isn't ACCEPTING all this, just going to make it be easier? Isn't it better to say, I know it's going to happen and there might even be a good reason (sometimes), but it's WRONG. For the individual persons involved, for the children involved and for society as a whole.

I just want to repeat that I did say in my original post that humility and grace are necessary ingredients. And self-righteousness is always a danger due to our sin nature.

Would you not agree with the above?

Wondering

I agree with most of what you said, except the proliferation problem. I particularly liked what you said about self-righteousness always being a danger due to our sin nature. But I'm not sure about the mixing forgiveness with judgment thing. Maybe I do and maybe I don't.

I agree that there are definitely actions that are right and wrong to be sure. And anyone who loves someone enough to tell them they are concerned about where that person's personal choices are taking them, is never wrong when voicing their valid concerns to that person. It would be wrong not to. I see this as courage, and not self-righteous judgment. I respect it greatly in a person, and esteem it as something that is an attribute of God, unto His Glory.

And so with sincere respect, I will forthrightly say, that I suspect there is some semantic confusion at work when you say, I THINK you're getting forgiveness mixed up with judgment? And for this reason, I am not sure how to respond.

For instance, let's say a person steals from me. And let's say my first reaction, is to get mad and feel violated. But then, through empathy I am put in their shoes, and I see a person under duress and fallen into the delusion that they are somehow improving their lot in this world by possessing this, that they have stolen. This voice of empathy moves me to forgive even because I am not actually diminished by the loss, anymore than the thief is elevated by the gain. In fact, in mutual love they would be welcome to what they felt they needed to steal.

But then there is another voice also claiming to be empathy. It says "how do you know they aren't selling this item that you worked hard for, at some ridiculous price, just to buy liquor, get drunk and party at your expense?" Now I must judge/decide, and as I judge and by how I judge, it becomes apparent that I am being judged, because I am actually projecting.

My point is that forgiveness is, in this example, a judgment. I cannot separate the two. But my judgment is really about deciding which voice is Godly, not whether stealing is right or wrong. My discernment is now conducted by examining the spirit I am left with in my heart, according to which voice I listen to, and which one I discard. I discern according to which voice I want to believe in. I will choose the voice that forgives, even as that is the very reason I trust in the Christ.

Now about the proliferation issue. I trust that you will accept my valid concerns, when I boldly say that acceptance of any sin is not what causes sin to proliferate. To be clear, speaking out in un-acceptance of sin performed by others, does not cause sin to cease in proliferating. So as to qualify what I mean by acceptance and un-acceptance of sin, I will rephrase. Declaring what is right or wrong does not stop the proliferation of sin. Why? Because sin is the product of deception. The sin appears to be right to the deceived person. The deceived must see the lie in their psyche that manifests every sinful lust, that precedes every sinful action. One needs the Holy Spirit for this. It is this Spirit of Truth Who is able to convict a person of sin and stop proliferation. He convinces what is the right way, by showing how and why, it is the best way for that persons own personal wellbeing. Without Truth, one can only reason upon lies. Do you agree with this?

 

[dianegcook]

Gosh Childeye,

There's almost too much going on here and we could practically pick at each other's individual sentences, which would be quite a chore!

But in your above post, I THINK you're getting forgiveness mixed up with judgment?

You speak of discernment. If you're discerning something, you're trying to figure it out. You're even, maybe, trying to decide which of two roads is the correct one. If you're doing this, you're judging. I'll agree with everything you say but I disagree with the proliferation problem. Is this the thread where I said:

A man who accepts everything
believes in nothing

So, yes. I DO believe judgement is necessary. A righteous judgement just as you and Eddif and others have stated. Let's take smoking for instance. I can judge that it's a bad habit. Our bodies are a temple and nothing impure should enter that temple. Am I a legalist? NO. If someone is a christian and smokes, I'm not looking down my nose at them. We each have our road to take and this is a journey and we'll each make it to whatever marker the Lord has for us. But does that not allow me to say that smoking is bad for you? And to say to my friend, I wish you wouldn't smoke!?? In a nice way...

Is it wrong for me to judge that divorce is horrible. That it leaves children depressed, unable to cope with life, and wondering what it's all about - seeing their mother with a different man and their father with a different woman.
Isn't ACCEPTING all this, just going to make it be easier? Isn't it better to say, I know it's going to happen and there might even be a good reason (sometimes), but it's WRONG. For the individual persons involved, for the children involved and for society as a whole.

I just want to repeat that I did say in my original post that humility and grace are necessary ingredients. And self-righteousness is always a danger due to our sin nature.

Would you not agree with the above?

Wondering

Hi Wondering
Hope you are having a good New Year so far.
I think God cares more about spiritual things, more than fleshy.
Clean the inside of the cup first.
Matt.15:11
Not that which Goeth into the mouth defileth a man, but that which cometh out of the mouth, this defileth a man.

Good evening

 

[childeye]

Hi Wondering
Hope you are having a good New Year so far.
I think God cares more about spiritual things, more than fleshy.
Clean the inside of the cup first.
Matt.15:11
Not that which Goeth into the mouth defileth a man, but that which cometh out of the mouth, this defileth a man.

Good evening

I think you've said what we all needed to say, but with far fewer words.

 

[GodsGrace]

Thank you for sharing, you are so kind.
My point was not all that you've made it out to be.
Quit smoking is the socially acceptable thing to do.
It is, shall we say, politically correct.
We tend to be focused on what the world tells us to be focused on whether we realize it or not.

We see two people.
One is smoking a cigarette.
The other is drinking a diet coke.
Which one do we place judgment on and want to tell them they should stop.
Then we look at ourselves in the mirror and say, "well, at least I'm not as bad as them".

We all have to get past this and move forward.
These are also part of my latest observations.

Good Morning Rollo,

You say we have to get passed this and move forward. The looking in the mirror part and thinking we're not as bad as them. (the ones smoking and the ones drinking diet soda).

Some points. I don't see smoking as being socially unacceptable. Maybe it is; I don't live in the states so I'm not up to par on this. I see it more as harming my body - which is harmed enough just by nature so I try to help it along. If I remember, it started out like this there too, and maybe it's developed to being socially unacceptable.

There are those gradations I was speaking about. If we went down that road, we'd have to stop eating and drinking almost everything - unfortunately.

You're asking us to stop judging? This is impossible to the human nature. No matter how close to God you are. You're practically asking me to be perfect as our Father in heaven is perfect. We know Jesus didn't mean it literally and I'm hoping you're not.

I can only repeat, if I can't judge, it means I accept everything. And I don't. Especially as a Christian person. I'm more sensitive to sin, bad acts, call it what you will, than folk who's conscience has not been well-formed by christian ideals and everything is more acceptable to them.

Re the looking in the mirror part. Here I couldn't agree with you more. This is pride. This is self-righteousness. In every post of mine I said we have to guard against this. There's a judging that is of oursleves, that could be used to puff us up - this is pride and self-righteousness. There is a judging that is of God and humble and seeks to make humanity better. This judging is absolutely required of christians.

When we look in that mirror, we shouldn't be seeing ourselves, but the Lord. If we see Him, we see perfection. And when we look at ourselves we see sinful man and will always be put back in our place so as to avoid pride and self-righteousness.

So are you agreeing with me, or are you saying we should never judge?

I DO think we should get passed your mirror analogy.

Wondering

 

[GodsGrace]

I agree with most of what you said, except the proliferation problem. I particularly liked what you said about self-righteousness always being a danger due to our sin nature. But I'm not sure about the mixing forgiveness with judgment thing. Maybe I do and maybe I don't.

I agree that there are definitely actions that are right and wrong to be sure. And anyone who loves someone enough to tell them they are concerned about where that person's personal choices are taking them, is never wrong when voicing their valid concerns to that person. It would be wrong not to. I see this as courage, and not self-righteous judgment. I respect it greatly in a person, and esteem it as something that is an attribute of God, unto His Glory.

And so with sincere respect, I will forthrightly say, that I suspect there is some semantic confusion at work when you say, I THINK you're getting forgiveness mixed up with judgment? And for this reason, I am not sure how to respond.

For instance, let's say a person steals from me. And let's say my first reaction, is to get mad and feel violated. But then, through empathy I am put in their shoes, and I see a person under duress and fallen into the delusion that they are somehow improving their lot in this world by possessing this, that they have stolen. This voice of empathy moves me to forgive even because I am not actually diminished by the loss, anymore than the thief is elevated by the gain. In fact, in mutual love they would be welcome to what they felt they needed to steal.

But then there is another voice also claiming to be empathy. It says "how do you know they aren't selling this item that you worked hard for, at some ridiculous price, just to buy liquor, get drunk and party at your expense?" Now I must judge/decide, and as I judge and by how I judge, it becomes apparent that I am being judged, because I am actually projecting.

My point is that forgiveness is, in this example, a judgment. I cannot separate the two. But my judgment is really about deciding which voice is Godly, not whether stealing is right or wrong. My discernment is now conducted by examining the spirit I am left with in my heart, according to which voice I listen to, and which one I discard. I discern according to which voice I want to believe in. I will choose the voice that forgives, even as that is the very reason I trust in the Christ.

Now about the proliferation issue. I trust that you will accept my valid concerns, when I boldly say that acceptance of any sin is not what causes sin to proliferate. To be clear, speaking out in un-acceptance of sin performed by others, does not cause sin to cease in proliferating. So as to qualify what I mean by acceptance and un-acceptance of sin, I will rephrase. Declaring what is right or wrong does not stop the proliferation of sin. Why? Because sin is the product of deception. The sin appears to be right to the deceived person. The deceived must see the lie in their psyche that manifests every sinful lust, that precedes every sinful action. One needs the Holy Spirit for this. It is this Spirit of Truth Who is able to convict a person of sin and stop proliferation. He convinces what is the right way, by showing how and why, it is the best way for that persons own personal wellbeing. Without Truth, one can only reason upon lies. Do you agree with this?

Hi Childeye,

I agree with all you say. Except the proliferation part.

But first, let me say that, yes, you do bring judging to forgiving as show in your pp no. 6. You've judged that a sin has occurred, but now you're wondering about forgiving and are choosing the voice in you that says to forgive.

I think semantics are playing a part here. Maybe the judging I'm talking about is different from the judging your talking about. Here's why. And now we get to the proliferation problem.

I don't know how old you are, but I've lived through many changes in the last decades. So let's take an example.
Many years ago dating was a serious thing. You didn't date different men and then got married one day. You kind of dated one or two and then settled down into marriage.

Here we are today. 50% divorce rate. Marriage is no longer respected as it once was. Many couples are either living together or they live together for a while before getting married to test the waters and make sure they're compatible.

So what has caused this drastic change?

It was unthinkable for a couple to live together back in my day - the dark ages. Only Hollywood types did this and they were very much criticized for it too!

The cause has been acceptance.

Ever so slowly norms became more liberal. Little things here and there were accepted by society as a whole. This took a long time to develope - but develope it did. Did human nature change? No. Human nature remains the same and is a constant. It's our acceptance of practices that has changed. When I was 14 I might have liked some guy and would have liked to be with him. But it was not acceptable. Today it is. So you see 14 year olds going around and acting as if they were 18 or more - but they still have the brain of a 14 year old. Then they grow up and couples decide to live together. It's okay to do now.

You see? Acceptance of sin makes that sin proliferate.

Wondering

 

[GodsGrace]

Hi Wondering
Hope you are having a good New Year so far.
I think God cares more about spiritual things, more than fleshy.
Clean the inside of the cup first.
Matt.15:11
Not that which Goeth into the mouth defileth a man, but that which cometh out of the mouth, this defileth a man.

Good evening

Hi dianegcook,

I'm dense and wish we could be more clear on things.
Which would be the fleshy things?
God cares more about what comes out of the mouth than what goes in.
I agree.
But what are you saying exactly?

If this is referring to judging, are you saying I shouldn't??
Or that I have to be perfect before I can??

That's a long way off!!

Wondering

 

[Rollo Tamasi]

Good Morning Rollo,

You say we have to get passed this and move forward. The looking in the mirror part and thinking we're not as bad as them. (the ones smoking and the ones drinking diet soda).

Some points. I don't see smoking as being socially unacceptable. Maybe it is; I don't live in the states so I'm not up to par on this. I see it more as harming my body - which is harmed enough just by nature so I try to help it along. If I remember, it started out like this there too, and maybe it's developed to being socially unacceptable.

There are those gradations I was speaking about. If we went down that road, we'd have to stop eating and drinking almost everything - unfortunately.

You're asking us to stop judging? This is impossible to the human nature. No matter how close to God you are. You're practically asking me to be perfect as our Father in heaven is perfect. We know Jesus didn't mean it literally and I'm hoping you're not.

I can only repeat, if I can't judge, it means I accept everything. And I don't. Especially as a Christian person. I'm more sensitive to sin, bad acts, call it what you will, than folk who's conscience has not been well-formed by christian ideals and everything is more acceptable to them.

Re the looking in the mirror part. Here I couldn't agree with you more. This is pride. This is self-righteousness. In every post of mine I said we have to guard against this. There's a judging that is of oursleves, that could be used to puff us up - this is pride and self-righteousness. There is a judging that is of God and humble and seeks to make humanity better. This judging is absolutely required of christians.

When we look in that mirror, we shouldn't be seeing ourselves, but the Lord. If we see Him, we see perfection. And when we look at ourselves we see sinful man and will always be put back in our place so as to avoid pride and self-righteousness.

So are you agreeing with me, or are you saying we should never judge?

I DO think we should get passed your mirror analogy.

Wondering

I was just thinking how well you express yourself.
I agree with you.
I left it open for people to express themselves and you do it so well.
As I said in the OP, I hate to talk about myself.
I let you do the talking.
I think we are a team.
Are you ready for your indoctrination into the Rollo Tamasi camp?

 

[Jethro Bodine]

Are you ready for your indoctrination into the Rollo Tamasi camp?

And remember, wondering, don't drink the Kool-Aid until he tells you to.

 

[Jethro Bodine]

I was just thinking how well you express yourself.
I agree with you.
I left it open for people to express themselves and you do it so well.
As I said in the OP, I hate to talk about myself.
I let you do the talking.
I think we are a team.

I think she's going to require more buttering up before she'll fall under your evil spell and submit to your indoctrination.