When Jesus walked into the Temple complex and saw a teeming market, filled with sheep and doves and graft and corruption, Jesus knew He couldn’t walk past. “Should I stand by while they turn my Father’s house into a place of thievery?” he says. The answer, of course, is no.

And so the tables are literally turned. Money tumbles onto the cobblestones. Sheep make a quick getaway while they can. And members of the Sanhedrin look on, glowering.

“This is a place of worship!” Jesus shouts.

Peter loves his Master. But this bold move, in full view of Jerusalem’s religious authorities? It makes Peter nervous.

John stands beside Peter, beaming. “This is a good thing,” he reassures Peter. High time someone cleansed the Temple. High time someone took on the corrupt and craven elements in the Almighty’s house.

 Judas watches as a stray coin rolls by his feet. He steps on a piece of silver—as if to hide it—then quickly bends down and picks it off the stone, happy to add it to the disciples’ small coffers.

Or, perhaps, his own.

Jesus’ act is audacious. Impulsive. One more affront to the religious establishment. One more blemish on Jesus’ record. But it’s far from the worst offense: Already, word has reached Caiaphas, leader of the Jewish Sanhedrin, that Jesus has been making outrageous, blasphemous claims about being the Son of God. Unsubstantiated hearsay, Caiaphas realizes—for now. But such abhorrent allegations cannot go unchallenged.

If Jesus insists on turning over tables, then Jesus Himself must be turned over to the authorities. His claims must be investigated. And if deemed fact, this Jesus must die.

But while Caiaphas and his cadre of priests hope to bring a quick end to Jesus’ affrontery, only Jesus understands that His work, in many ways, is just beginning.

Forget flipping over a few tables: Christ means to turn the world itself on its ear.

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The nearly 100-foot-high statue of Christ the Redeemer stands atop Corcovado mountain, spreading its arms wide, as if to embrace the entire city. The sun beats down on Rio’s beaches—beaches so filled with sunbathers and tourists that it can be hard to see any sand. Millions of tourists flock to the city every year, and for some, it might seem as though this corner of Brazil is paradise. A place untouched by the worries of the world.

Ruben and Eunice Paiva know better.

Ruben was a left-leaning Brazilian congressman in the early 1960s. But when the government was toppled by a military coup in 1964, Ruben was forced out and into self-imposed exile. He and his family—wife Eunice and five kids—returned five years later, but the military dictatorship is in control. And by 1970, that dictatorship feels increasingly under pressure: Terrorists are kidnapping foreign ambassadors and exchanging them for the release of political prisoners. The country’s rulers want to stamp out this insurgency now. Left-leaning protestors, journalists and educators are increasingly scrutinized.

Oh, and one-time politicians, too.

They come for Ruben on a gloriously sunny day—a holiday, when the Paiva family might’ve well gone to the beach. Several men walk into the house, armed and prepared for trouble. They tell Ruben they’d like him to give a “deposition.” As Ruben dresses for the trip, his daughter, Nalu, asks if she could borrow one of his shirts.

“Do I have a choice, Nalu?” he says with a smile, while a stranger with a barely concealed gun looks on. “And where’s my kiss?”

Nalu, clueless about the room’s looming peril, gives him one. And she asks why he’s putting on a tie.

“I’m just helping these gentlemen,” Ruben say. “I’ll be back soon.”

But he wasn’t back. Not that day, or that night, or the next day. That deceptively mundane goodbye launched the family into a nightmare one can barely contemplate.

The sun seems to always shine on Rio. But on Jan. 20, 1971, the Paiva family entered into a dark, uncertain night.

The post I’m Still Here appeared first on Plugged In.

The communists said they hoped for that, too. And part of their vision—rooted in the atheistic ethos of communism—was to “re-educate” all religious citizens in antireligious campaigns.

It’s why they pull a pregnant Neng from her teaching job for questioning. She’s married a man from the British colony of Hong Kong, and her parents sent her to Christian schools for education, so they’re concerned about her commitment to Mao’s vision for China.

Neng adamantly tells them that, though she may have gotten swept up in a Christian bandwagon when she was younger, she grew out of her beliefs as she got older.

But as she thinks about those beliefs she had had as a child, Neng begins to realize that, though distant, perhaps she still does believe in the Christian God.

“Are you a Christian?” A government official demands.

Slowly, the thoughts in her head racing, Neng opens her mouth to respond.

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She’d been born in Azerbaijan (then part of the U.S.S.R.). Her own two daughters were born there, too. Her husband, Ivan, works as a Soviet rocket scientist. She herself is a respected school administrator in Baku, Azerbaijan, and a proud member of the Communist Party.

But ethnically, she’s Armenian. And in the eyes of many, that makes her an outsider.

Nothing new there, either. She’d been used to the occasional side-eye, the derogatory remark, the infrequent burst of ethnic tension. As long as Moscow was in charge, those issues felt minor.

But in 1988, Moscow’s power wanes. The Soviet Union is fraying at its edges. And many former countries—or would-be countries—now strain at the seams, reaching for independence.

And in Azerbaijan, Violetta and her family don’t feel at home anymore—all because they’re Armenian.

Bricks shatter the windows of Armenian businesses. People carry signs promising death to Armenians. The school closes its doors to the Petrosyan girls—a sympathetic teacher telling Violetta that they’re simply not safe at the school anymore.

But it’s only when the shooting begins—executions of Armenians right in the streets—that the Petrosyans flee, running straight into Russia proper. There they hope for another chance at home.

But they find a cold welcome in Volvograd, Russia. Housing is dismal. Jobs are scarce—at least for Armenians. The only hint of friendliness they find is inside a ramshackle church, and that’s hardly a suitable refuge for the secular Petrosyans.

Sure, Violetta and Ivan have a place to stay in Volvograd. The apartment comes with walls, a roof—even heat sometimes. And if they need a bathroom, well, it’s just down the hall.

But a home? They’re still looking.

The post Between Borders appeared first on Plugged In.

That “saturation” part means Chris works with a maintenance crew that goes so far down in the ocean’s dangerous depths—sometimes as deep as 1000 feet down to maintain miles of fuel pipes that run along the ocean floor—that he must be treated with pressurized gas before each lengthy dive.

Of course, it’s the dangerous side of things that make Morag consistently worry. Does he really have to risk his life repeatedly in the crushing depths just to make a living? Couldn’t he find something on the dry, sunny surface that he could do?

Chris kisses his bride-to-be and laughs off her fears. “It’s just like going into outer space, except in the opposite direction,” he chuckles.

After a beat, she replies “Is that supposed to reassure me?”

Let’s face it, Morag has a point.

Even though it’s all becoming second nature to young Chris—after all, he works with an experienced, dedicated crew—accidents do happen. And sometimes storms at sea create unpredictable problems for the ship far above on the water’s surface.

Sometimes the thick umbilical cables that connect the divers to oxygen and diving bell communications can tangle or even snap. Sometimes the power goes out, and the ocean floor becomes a pit of ink-black nothingness.

And sometimes all of those things happen at once, leaving a stranded diver with nothing but minutes of oxygen in his diving suit’s emergency back-up.

That’s when an entire crew must do all they can to fight the ocean, fight the storms, fight the failures, and desperately try to save an endangered crewmate.

In this case, that endangered soul is a guy named Chris.

The post Last Breath appeared first on Plugged In.

Unfortunately, they’re also running from the law.

The three fugitives broke free from a chain gang and hightailed it away from their shotgun-toting captors as quickly as they could. And not just for freedom’s sake: The trio is after the spoils of a robbery committed by the fast-talking Everett before he got sent to the farm. The total sum of that heist? One million dollars. Well, technically, a million point two. That’s no insignificant sum of money, especially in the Depression-era South.

But why the rush? (After all, Pete only had two weeks left on his sentence.)

Turns out, the state government plans to flood the valley housing Everett’s treasure in just a few short days. If they’re to get their reward, they’ll have to make it there before the valley is swallowed up by 9,000 hectares of water. No small task, considering they’re still chained to each other.

So, with the authorities nipping at their heels, Everett, Pete and Delmar set off on an odyssey across the forests, fields and towns of 1930s Mississippi; a long and winding road that they’re sure will lead them to their fortune.

Though the fortune they find may be much different than they expect.

The post O Brother, Where Art Thou? appeared first on Plugged In.

That is, until a mutual friend bumps into Ingrid at one of her book signings. Amidst their small talk is a bombshell: Martha has cancer.

Shocked by this revelation, Ingrid visits her friend in the hospital. Martha is delighted to see her. Martha’s prognosis is not good: Her cancer is inoperable. Martha’s only hope of living lies in experimental treatments.

Ingrid regrets the time they lost and promises to be with Martha every step of her journey. Despite the difficult circumstances, the old friends quickly reconnect. Martha’s spirits are buoyed by Ingrid’s presence.

Then, Martha learns that her treatments have failed. Her cancer has metastasized. Even with her treatments, it’s now only a matter of time. She bemoans the false hope she allowed herself. Though Ingrid finds the prospect of death terrifying, she is steadfast in support of her friend. She’s happy to do whatever is needed to comfort Martha … or so she thinks.

Martha is tired of fighting. Now, she simply wants a “good death.” In her mind, that means leaving life behind before she deteriorates any further. And so, through some illicit means, she acquires a euthanasia pill.

She plans to take it to end her life. And she wants Ingrid to be there when she does.

Martha says she has “faced death many times” as a war correspondent but has always shared the journey with others. Everyone else that Martha is close with has refused her request. Ingrid is the only one left.

As you might imagine, this stirs up an incredible amount of conflict in Ingrid. Assisting Martha in her suicide would be gut-wrenching … not to mention illegal.

What’s a friend to do?

The post The Room Next Door appeared first on Plugged In.

Stan knows that in the life of a teenager, even the smallest problem can feel monumental. And so he tries to impart some of the wisdom that has come to him with time and experience. Many of his students eventually realize he’s right: All things eventually do pass, often without the dramatic outcomes they expected. As a result, they’ve come to respect Stan and trust him.

But Nathan Williams is another matter. All Stan really knows about Nate is that he’s in foster care, he’s a decent athlete, and his grades are poor. Oh, and he just got arrested for burglary.

Still, Stan sees something promising in the teen. He knows that Nate has had some seriously tough luck. But with the right guidance, he believes Nate could become a great man.

So, Stan pulls a few strings to get the prison warden and judge (both former students) to release Nate into his custody. Then he pulls a few more to get Nate’s probation officer (another former pupil) to cut the wayward teen a few breaks.

Unfortunately, that was the easy part. The hard part will be getting Nate to trust him—to accept that Stan is offering this gift, this opportunity, purely out of the goodness of his own heart.

[Caution: This review contains spoilers.]

The post Brave the Dark appeared first on Plugged In.

So, seeing Ross in that newly elected position is, well, unexpected. As was Ross’ personal request for Sam to slip into his vibranium-laced Captain America suit to take on an important mission.

However, since the signing of the Sokovia Accords, Sam’s Captain America is one of the only superheroes the government can call upon. So Sam Wilson upholds his duty.

Oh, but that isn’t the only surprise in store. Because after Sam follows through and obtains what turns out to be a package of mysterious but vital international importance, Ross invites Sam to a public gathering and a personal audience at the White House.

They aren’t chums! But Sam decides to step away from past grievances and show up anyway. Of course, he also decides to use the public view of the White House meeting to help his friend Isaiah Bradley.

Isaiah is one of the supersoldiers who was experimented on by the US government way back when. The man even wore the uniform of Captain America for a while. But then he was framed and thrown into prison for 30 years. Sam is determined to bring Isaiah with him and to force everyone to recognize that this giant of a man was wronged.

Ross says Isaiah’s attendance is fine.

And indeed, Sam and Isaiah’s joint appearance at the White House event gets the news reporters buzzing. Not only that, but Ross pulls Sam in and hits him with an unexpected broadside: He wants him to start up the Avengers again. “The world needs those heroes. It needs them now!” Ross declares.

Sam is shocked. Is it possible? Can he do it?

Just about the time Sam is whispering the news to Isaiah and making plans in his head, however, something goes terribly wrong. Isaiah and five other men at the White House event suddenly go berserk and try to assassinate the president.

It’s insane, crazy. And after Isaiah runs, throwing people around like matchsticks and smashing through a White House window, Sam stops him. And … Isaiah has no memory of the event.

So, it looks like Sam will have to put the Avenger’s rebuild on the back burner. Instead, he has a mystery to solve and a friend to help. He’ll have to not only be a shield-carrying hero, but a detective, too.

Meanwhile, President Ross is beginning to look a little red around the collar. What’s that all about?

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The retired Marine sniper has no connections, no relationships. No one will miss him if he “vanishes” for a year to monitor a secret so big that not even the president knows about it.

And what is that secret?

Well, no one really knows. But the monitoring station there is made entirely of concrete. And the cliffside is covered in suspended mines, automatic sentries and “cloakers” that prevent satellites from finding the location. And deep in the fog below, Levi can hear unworldly screeches. The soldier whom Levi is set to relieve from the duty, J.D., tells him the task: to restock the mines and ammo every day, and prevent whatever creatures make those sounds from getting out.

With that simple task explained, J.D. leaves Levi to his own devices.

Except, he’s not fully alone. Because across the gorge, there’s another tower like his own, similarly equipped with sentries, mines and a lone guardsman. And despite being told not to communicate, it’s not long before the two sentries start talking.

Her name is Drasa. She’s from Lithuania. And she, like him, is an expert killer.

Despite being separated by a gorge full of ominous fog and screeching unknowns, she makes Levi feel a little less alone in the world.

Especially when she warns him that something is crawling up his tower.

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