ABSTRACT
THE BLOOD
COVENANT
In His final act of mercy towards a proud, rebellious,
and sinful mankind, God sent His word through and in
His son Christ Jesus (John 1:14) to give us grace and
truth. He could have sent a legion of warring angels to
obliterate mankind and repopulate the earth anew
(Deuteronomy 9:14), but He chose mercy and grace,
costly grace. That is what the blood of the last
covenant means to me, grace, grace, grace, priceless
grace.
Themba Lupuwana
LFCC Discipleship Training Centre : Level 1
Table of Contents
Table of Contents
1
1. Introduction
1.1 The Covenant and I
1.2 A life of Sin and Rebellion
1.3 Fear and Confusion Reigning
1.4 “Mixing it”
1.5 The Gentle Knocking
1.6 A Timely Stern Warning
1.7 A Radical Salvation and Transformation
1.8 A New Redemption Song
2
2
2
2
2
3
3
3
4
2. The Genesis of a Covenant in the Bible
2.1 God the Covenanter
2.2 Man, the Covenant Breaker
2.3 Consequences of Breaking a Covenant
2.3.1.1 A Living Example
2.4 Christ the Substitute in the Old Testament
5
5
6
6
6
7
3. The New Covenant
3.1 A Crimson River Flowing in this Life
3.2 Saved by the Power of His Blood
3.3 Accessed Through Humility and Grace
3.4 Our Towering Pride
3.5 From Crimson to Clear Crystal Waters
3.6 His Enduring Grace and Blood
7
7
8
9
10
10
10
4. Conclusion
4.1 Born into Sin and Grace
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The Blood Covenant
1.
Introduction
1.1
The Covenant and I
In His final act of mercy towards a proud, rebellious, and sinful mankind, God sent
His word through and in His son Christ Jesus (John 1:14) to give us grace and truth
in love (Ephesians 4:15). He could have sent a legion of warring angels to obliterate
mankind and repopulate the earth anew (Deuteronomy 9:14), but He chose mercy
and grace, costly grace. That is what the blood of the last covenant means to me,
grace, grace, grace, Priceless Grace.
1.2
A life of Sin and Rebellion
I believe I was born into a life of sin until saved by grace in the power of the blood of
Jesus Christ that was shed to seal a new covenant between Him and God on behalf
of all mankind. This means that all my life I lived in sin and rebellion against God and
His original plans and purpose for my life until I met His son Jesus Christ. At this
juncture I could not extricate myself from sin and rid myself of the enormous debt I
had accumulated in my reckless and shameful lifestyle. This debt manifested as
heavy guilt and constant anxiety that produced a persistent state of emptiness and
desolation in my soul.
1.3
Fear and Confusion Reigning
I lived in fear of many things such as purposeless life, material loss, personal
physical injury, witchcraft, death and hell. In pursuit of protection from all these fears
except the last one, I devoutly worshipped and appeased ancestral spirits. My
devotion surpassed that my two elder brothers and many of my peers such that
family, clan and community elders had voluntarily yielded to my leadership. I was a
very young “strong man” (Mathew 12:29) of the family and clan who was feared in
the community for his ruthlessness against injustice. I somehow instinctively knew
that my ancestors cannot help me avoid hell and so I would pray to God
simultaneously as I appease them.
1.4
Mixing it
Even though I was raised in and a member of the Methodist Church, I never read the
bible but I would leave it open on a randomly selected page next to my bed for
months as evidence of protection from God. These pages of my bible still contain the
splatter stains from witchdoctors’ concoctions that I used to sprinkle in my house. I
never prayed directly to God alone but would mention Him in my prayers to
ancestors that He should bless them so they can bless and protect me. As members
of my church were doing and my forefathers did, I was “mixing it” just like the
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Samaritans did when they were settled in Samaria after Northern Israel was exiled
by the Assyrian king, Shalmaneser.
2 Kings 17:41 “So while these nations feared Adonai, they also worshipped their
idols. Their children and grandchildren do as their fathers did to this day.” TLV
1.5
The Gentle Knocking
All this time I was searching and seeking for peace that I knew should come from
somewhere higher than the household altars, grave sites, rivers, valleys, forests and
mountains. We had to move to East London in order to take up a post as a principal
of a high school near the city. I then began to cry uncontrollably whenever I attended
with my family the city Methodist Church services. I knew it wasn’t their singing or
the preaching which I never could understand or appreciate. One Sunday morning a
government official from my district was seated in front of me and witnessed my
heavy sobbing throughout the service. My mother in law was seated next to me on
this occasion and said nothing; she must have been both perplexed and
embarrassed.
Revelation 3:20 “Behold, I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears My voice
and opens the door, I will come into him and will dine with him, and he with Me.” TLV
1.6
A Timely Stern Warning
God was working inside of me without my knowing, my ignorance kept sending me
back to the witchdoctors and fortune tellers in search for answers to me alarming
irrepressible behaviour. I however must have been wearing His patience thin whilst
playing dumb about His existence and His calling upon my life. Upon calling a long
time fortune teller she told me she is saved and does not do any divination. She
however could see that God’s calling upon my life had entered a profoundly serious
and dangerous phase. She told me since I am obstinate God was about to strip me
bare of everything, including my wife and children, until I surrender to Him. She told
me to surrender to Jesus Christ and His sacrificial blood will cleanse me of all my sin
and help me overcome all my remaining habits of the flesh which were smoking and
drinking.
John 3:36 “He who trusts in the Son has eternal life. He who does not obey the Son
will not see life, but the wrath of God remains on him.” TLV
1.7
Radical Salvation and Transformation
That Tuesday afternoon, in fear of God’s wrath, I bundled my family into my car and
drove to the Abbotsford Christian Centre and found it locked, but a security guard
directed us to Downtown Christian Centre. We gave ourselves to the Lord that
evening at a Discipleship Training class after which the Pastor repeated the fortune
teller’s prophecy over me.
It was a completely radical life transformation that I endured henceforth. Whilst
having no doctrinal teaching yet, I discarded my previous life with a deep resentment
for the devil for the wasted years of my life. My profound dedication and devotion for
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Christ Jesus and the Gospel and was even a cause for concern to my wife. I spent
all my spare time reading the bible and studying and praying His word. I spent nights
in solitude with the Lord and experienced visions, signs, miracles and wonders even
before I could read about them in the bible.
Psalms 42:2-4 “As the deer pants for streams of water, so my soul pants for You, O
God. 3 My soul thirsts for God, for the living God. When will I come and appear
before God? 4 My tears have been my food day and night, while they say to me all
day: “Where is your God?””
My hunger for the revealed word of God seemed unsatisfiable and my thirsting for
His Spirit unquenchable. I never looked back, not once, till today, and I lost all “would
be” friends and, to a certain extent, my biological family. In Christ I was blessed with
a true spiritual family and friends thanks to the saving grace and blood of Christ
Jesus that restores all mankind to God.
Matthew 19:29 “And everyone who has left houses or brothers or sisters or father
or mother or children or property, for My name’s sake, will receive a hundred times
as much, and will inherit eternal life.” TLV
1.8
A New Redemption Song
I am the man Elihu refers to in Job 33:17-29 who is graciously ransomed by an
angel from the Pit after continuously failing to heed God’s repeated call upon his life.
Like him I sing my perpetual salvation song;
Job 33:27-30 “He sings to others, saying, ‘I have sinned and perverted what is right,
but I did not get what I deserved. 28 He redeemed my soul from going down to the
Pit, and my life sees the light.’ 29 Indeed, God does all these things, twice, even
three times with a man, 30 to bring his soul back from the Pit, that he may be
illuminated with the light of life.” TLV
In fulfilment of this scripture God has blessed my family with a gift of song and
released more than sixty songs supernaturally which we sing in our ministry. He also
blessed my son with gift for playing musical instruments, song writing and music
production.
My daughter was declared by a paediatrician to have only three months to live when
she was only five years old. On the day she was to die I cried out bitterly to God and
He heard me and she was healed miraculously whilst strewn over my shoulder in my
bedroom. God has blessed her with a beautiful voice, knack for violin and other
instruments, poetic song writing and is writing her second book at the age of 17
years.
2
The Genesis of a Covenant in the Bible
2.1 God the Covenanter
A covenant is a binding agreement between two or more persons, which has terms
that are either irrevocable or perpetual in nature until they are fulfilled. A covenant is
sealed with an oath or with blood of an animal or of the covenanters. In the
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beginning God made an agreement with His heavenly council (Daniel 7:9-10) to
create human beings.
Genesis 1:26 “Then God said, “Let Us make man in Our image, after Our likeness!
Let them rule over the fish of the sea, over the flying creatures of the sky, over the
livestock, over the whole earth, and over every crawling creature that crawls on the
land.”” TLV
This genesis of the story of God and His relationship with man clearly depicts Him as
a covenanter on behalf of man rather than with man. In this bloodless covenant with
himself, God proposes, agrees and decides to create man with divine intent. God
then performs both the creative and constructive aspects of his intent to perfection.
God is able to accomplish this mission because, by himself, He is both willing and
able to do so as an inherent trait of His righteousness. We see here the origin, true
nature and meaning of covenanting, when the parties are able to deliver according to
their undertaking no matter what it costs them.
2.2 Man, the Covenant Breaker
This reality of course remains only until man enters the scene in the character of
Adam and Eve, his dear lovely wife. God cuts a covenant with Adam in Genesis 2:
15 -17 and for the first time in the Bible we hear the mention of consequences for
failure by a party to keep part of his undertaking. God agrees with man that he can
rule and reign over the rest of His creation and enjoy all the benefits that accompany
this royal responsibility, except for one. Out of the two trees in the centre of Eden,
God gave man the right to eat the fruit of life, but disallows him from eating the fruit
of knowledge of what is good and evil. God purposely reserves this central aspect of
man’s spiritual development for himself to impart to man through an intimate
relationship that involved daily fellowship in the garden between Him and Adam in
the “wind of the day”.
Genesis 2:15-17 ““Then Adonai Elohim took the man and gave him rest in the
Garden of Eden in order to cultivate and watch over it. Then Adonai Elohim
commanded the man saying, “From all the trees of the garden you are most
welcome to eat. But of the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil you must not eat.
For when you eat from it, you most assuredly will die!”” TLV
Here God wants to develop man according to His creative intent, to make man attain
the character or likeness over and above the image or physical resemblance of God.
This development of man’s soul is so paramount to God that He decides to assign
the task of teaching and discipling man to Himself alone. Because of the importance
of this mission, God fully mitigates the possibility of man eating from the wrong tree,
and thereby aborting the mission, by decreeing a sever consequence, death.
If we look into the above verses with hindsight of how the Bible unfolds this
relationship until it is finally consummated in the eternal salvation of mankind, we
realise that it is impossible for mankind to keep a covenant with God. It is quite
apparent when one studies the Bible that God has not broken any of His covenants
He has made concerning mankind, but mankind has broken every covenant God has
entered into with him. From Adam to the last generation at the second coming of
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Christ Jesus, we have all sinned and fallen short of His grace. No one is good
because no one does good on earth in God’s eyes, as David succinctly puts it in his
contemplative song.
Psalms 53:3-4 “God looks down from the heavens on the children of men, to see if
anyone understands, who seeks after God. All have turned aside—together they
have become corrupt. There is no one who does good—no, not even one!” TLV
2.3 Consequences of Breaking a Covenant
Failure to keep all the law incurred a definite curse and death to the one who
transgresses it, without mercy. The harshness of the penal code that accompanied
the law was to mankind not an effective deterrent against sin.
Genesis 2:17 “But of the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil you must not eat.
For when you eat from it, you most assuredly will die!” TLV
Deuteronomy 27:26 ““Cursed is the one who does not uphold the words of this
Torah by doing them.” Then all the people are to say, “Amen.”” TLV
2.3.1 A Living Example
We read in the book of Jeremiah how the Jews bore the full brunt of God’s wrath
unleashed against those who persistently break His covenant. God decreed that they
should meet the same fate as the calf that was killed to cut the covenant. On the
verge of the conquest and destruction of Jerusalem by Nebuchadnezzar, King
Zedekiah repented and cut a covenant before God with the nobles, generals,
officials, and people of Jerusalem to set all Hebrew slaves free. A calf was killed, cut
into two pieces and all covenanters walked between these pieces before God,
including the king. They set their slaves free in accordance with the law of jubilee
which had been continually transgressed. God accepted their earnest repentance
and drove Nebuchadnezzar away from the city before its walls were breached.
Immediately the covenanters reneged on their undertaking and ordered their slaves
back into bondage. God sent His judgement through the prophet Jeremiah.
Jeremiah 34:17-21 “Therefore thus says Adonai: “You have not obeyed Me, to
proclaim liberty, everyone to his brother and everyone to his neighbor. Behold, I
proclaim for you a liberty,” declares Adonai, “to the sword, to plague and to famine!
So I will make you a horror to all the kingdoms of the earth. 18 I will give the men
who have transgressed My covenant, who have not performed the words of the
covenant which they made before Me, when they cut the calf in two and passed
between its parts 19 —the princes of Judah and the princes of Jerusalem, the
officers, the kohanim, and all the people of the land who passed between the parts of
the calf— 20 I will even give them into the hand of their enemies and into the hand
of them who seek their life, and their dead bodies will be for food to the birds of the
sky and to the beasts of the earth.” TLV
2.4 Christ the Substitute in the Old Testament
This perpetual status of mankind’s unreliable character on earth has robbed us of the
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ability to rule over the rest of God’s creation. We are instead subjugated by the very
creation we were intended to dominate. When mankind exchanged the truth about
God with a lie from the devil in the Garden of Eden, we rejected God and His
covenant and entered into a covenant of our own lustful desires, death. The created
became our masters and gods that have ruled over us ever since, until the time of
Christ Jesus’ victory on the cross.
Throughout all this malady of insubordinate misdemeanour by mankind, God has
kept His original agreement to make us righteous rulers over the earth, to His glory,
even to the point of sealing a new and everlasting covenant in the blood of His only
begotten Son, Christ Jesus. This was because the old covenant He made with His
son on behalf of Abraham and his descendants did not succeed in saving and
restoring mankind to His original plan and purpose. This old covenant sealed in the
blood of animals was not effective to deal with our sinfulness, because it came with
the law which had to be upheld without grace or mercy.
Genesis 15:17-18 “When the sun set and it became dark, behold, there was a
smoking oven and a fiery torch that passed between these pieces. On that day
Adonai cut a covenant with Abram, saying, ‘I give this land to your seed, from the
river of Egypt to the great river, the Euphrates River:’ ” TLV
3
3.1
The New Covenant
A Crimson River flowing in this Life
After I was radically saved in 2005, I had a dream wherein I was chased by a
massive evil giant; about ten meters tall, clad in medieval metal armour from head to
toe. I turned and ran towards our river at our farm, but a friendly giant running in
front of me continued on the footpath through the forest. The evil giant caught up
with him and I head its shrieking cry of agony as he was being killed by the evil giant.
At the river, I was shocked to find blood flowing instead of water, but I jumped into it
out of fear of being butchered by the giant. I heard him coming through the forest,
crushing every tree and bush in his way until he stood at the water’s edge.
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He was taller than the trees, as he searched for me with a deep bellowing sound
coming from his chest. He saw me in the middle of the stream, because my head
was not submerged in the flowing blood. He looked down at his feet and saw the
blood soaked ground at the edge of the river, growled deeply and then stepped into
the blood with his metal shoe. Immediately he roared loudly as he fell like a log onto
the river of blood and died. I grabbed hold of his head and submerged it in the blood
and he vanished in front of my eyes.
I began to wade down the stream as I received knowledge that I must remain in this
river of blood and never come out again. After a long while I started missing walking
on the dry ground to enjoy the surrounding flora and I left the stream and walked
alongside its flow. I could see in the very far distant the crimson flow turns into a
clear sparkling water that reflects the sun so brightly that it blinds me from seeing
that which lies beyond it. Suddenly, an evil spirit in the form of a man’s head came
flying towards me from the opposite direction making a very high pitched annoying
screeching noise. Frightened, I ran towards the river, but could not find my way back
into it even though I could see it.
3.2
Saved by the Power of His Blood
After much prayer and fasting, the meaning of this dream became clearer to me as
my knowledge of the Word of God increased through studying it every day. Holy
Ghost gave me understanding that the covenant blood of Jesus Christ flows through
this present life like a river, a crimson flow from the side that was pierced which turns
into crystal clear living waters. This dream was an instruction to me that I am now
part of a covenant that Jesus sealed in His blood with God our Heavenly Father on
behalf of all mankind. By confessing my faith in Jesus Christ, I had been saved by
grace and entered into this divine blood covenant. To remain saved and enter
eternal salvation I must access the same grace and blood by forsaking all
wickedness and live righteously in this present earth and by perpetually washing my
robes white in His blood.
Titus 2:11-12 “For the grace of God has appeared, bringing salvation to all men,
training us to deny ungodliness and worldly desires and to live in a manner that is
self-controlled and righteous and godly in the present age.” TLV
Revelation 7:14-15 “Then he said to me, “These are the ones coming out of the
great tribulation. They have washed their robes and made them white in the blood of
the Lamb. For this reason, they are before the throne of God, and they serve Him
day and night in His Temple. The One seated on the throne will shelter them.”” TLV
This clearly depicts the type of repentant lives we ought to live as born again
followers of Christ Jesus. This river is only for our earthly, lives as there is no
mention of blood in heaven but springs of crystal clear living waters. The purpose of
the blood of Jesus is to keep us in God’s covenant whilst we are here on earth living
righteous lives, by grace. We however must be humble enough to come to the river
and submerge ourselves in His precious blood by confessing our sins and repenting
all the time. In doing this, we are assured that we shall drink of the living waters
when we come into His eternal presence in heaven. The great multitudes of people
who stand in God’s presence in Revelations 7:9-17 have not only overcome the
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great tribulation, but have kept themselves clean and pure by perpetually washing
their robes white in the blood of the Lamb.
3.3
Accessed through Humility and Repentance
The part of the dream wherein I waded happily in the crimson stream attests to the
two requisite traits that mankind must develop after conversion in order to attain
eternal salvation, a humble heart and a repentant spirit. Before we attain eternal
salvation, we must attain greatness here on earth by walking continuously with God
like the great men of God, Enoch and Noah.
Genesis 5:22-24 “Now Enoch walked with God continually for 300 years after he
fathered Methuselah, and he fathered sons and daughters. 23 So all of Enoch’s
days were 365 years. 24 And Enoch continually walked with God—then he was not
there, because God took him.” TLV
Genesis 6:9 “These are the genealogies of Noah. Noah was a righteous man. He
was blameless among his generation. Noah continually walked with God.” TLV
Since it is impossible for mankind to keep a covenant, how did these two men
maintain a righteous conscience for so many years here on earth? Jesus teaches us
in Mathew 20:25-28 that greatness can only be attained by developing and
maintaining a spirit of a humble servant. The Bible reveals to us that God in His
heavenly throne is surrounded by those who are humble in spirit and contrite at heart
(Isaiah 57:15, 66:1-2). It is therefore impossible to come near God or even walk with
Him unless you have developed a humble spirit within you.
David discovered this after committing heinous sins and did not repent until God
confronted him through Nathan the prophet. He realised that he would not have
committed the first offence of lusting after another man’s wife had he deferred the
tempting sight before him to God and sought strength to keep his flesh subdued.
Afterwards he pleaded with God not to expel him from His sight and not to remove
Holy Spirit from him, offering not an animal blood for atonement, but a contrite heart
and repentant spirit (Psalm 51:13-14, 18-19)
3.4 Our Towering Pride
The Bible warns us that God rejects the proud and gives grace to the humble
(James 4:6). God expects mankind to keep His covenant all their mortal lives, but
our pride and arrogance prevent us from walking continually with Him. Pride, the
adversary of humility, is the greatest of all sins, because it leads us to elevate
ourselves not only above others, but even above God himself. It is pride that led
Lucifer to stage an unsuccessful military coup against God in heaven (Isaiah 14:1214). It is pride that led Eve to believe the serpent that God is a liar (Genesis 3:3-6). It
is pride that led Cain to keep the best offering from God, to refuse His entreating to
repent and to slay his brother Abel (Genesis 5:3-9). The list continues throughout
the Bible.
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3.5 From Crimson into Crystal Clear Waters
John 19:34 “But one of the soldiers pierced His side with a spear, and immediately
blood and water came out.” TLV
Revelation 7:17 “For the Lamb in the midst of the throne shall shepherd them and
guide them to springs of living water, and God shall wipe away every tear from their
eyes.” TLV
The river I saw turned into sparkling crystal clear waters that reflected light so
brightly I couldn’t see beyond the start of this stream. I believe my view was
obstructed by the brilliance of the heavenly, which can only be accessed by
remaining in the crimson flow until my appointed time. The blood of Jesus is God’s
earthly providence to ensure that every humble believer and follower of Jesus Christ
ultimately take possession of His greatest promise ever, eternal life. If we fail to
remain in the crimson stream by living humble repentant lives, then we might miss
heaven’s streams of living waters. By refusing to continually confess and repent for
our sins, we effectively reject Jesus’ blood and therefore cannot, on our own, remain
in the covenant no matter what we do. We must wash our robes white in order to
come through and be led by Jesus to streams of crystal clear living waters in
heaven.
3.6 His Enduring Grace and Blood
At salvation we are washed and cleansed by the blood of Christ Jesus, the Lamb of
God, as we confess and repent for our life of sin and rebellion. Since we also
confess our faith in Jesus, we also find salvation and justification by grace. We also
have to remain in this blood always by living repentant lives since we still are fallible
beings by nature.
Ephesians 2:8 “ For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not
from yourselves—it is the gift of God.” TLV
Romans 5:9 “How much more then, having now been set right by His blood, shall
we be saved from God’s wrath through Him.” TLV
Grace for mankind was costly, it cost the blood of the Son of God who was
humiliated and killed on a tree for our salvation. This points a God who loves us so
much that He ultimately mitigates our capacity to rebel against Him through the life
and blood of His only begotten son, Jesus Christ. The crimson flow speaks to the
richness of God’s love and mercies for me and all mankind, which comes at no cost
to us, truly free. It speaks of His enduring grace.
4
CONCLUSION
4.1 Born into Sin and Grace
In His final act of mercy towards a proud, rebellious and sinful mankind, God sent
His word through and in His son Christ Jesus (John 1:14) to give us grace and truth.
He could have sent a legion of warring angels to obliterate mankind and repopulate
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the earth anew (Deuteronomy 9:14), but He chose mercy and grace, costly grace.
That is what the blood of the last covenant means to me, grace, grace, grace,
priceless grace.
I was born into this grace which mitigates the inherent sinful nature of all mankind. I
was not fully introduced to this truth and grace until I was a mature man married with
children, because of my obstinacy towards the gospel. God finally had to threaten
me with ruin before I literary took my entire family and drove to the nearest church on
a Tuesday evening to hand myself over to the Lord. His grace saved me, His blood
cleansed me and both continue their enduring ministry to me until I lay hold of that
greatest prize ever, eternal life with God, Christ Jesus and all the Saints of old that
are justified in heaven.
I must, however, not abuse His grace and be like Esau who cried so bitterly and
pleaded when the kingdom was taken from him and given to the one who would bear
its fruits, Jacob, who later became Israel.
Hebrews 12:14-17 “Pursue shalom with everyone, and the holiness without which
no one will see the Lord. 15 See to it that no one falls short of the grace of God;
and see to it that no bitter root springs up and causes trouble, and by it many be
defiled. 16 Also see to it that there is no immoral or godless person—like Esau, who
sold his birth right for one meal. 17 For you know that later, when he wanted to
inherit the blessing, he was rejected. He found no chance for repentance, though he
begged for it with tears.” TLV
Matthew 21:43 “Therefore I say to you, the kingdom of God will be taken away from
you and given to people producing its fruits.” TLV
To God be the glory from time indefinite to time indefinite!
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