Drug Free Powerlifter, CrossFit Athlete, Friend, Cheap Trick Fan, Former Track Athlete! An overall good person.
San Francisco
Joined April 2009
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drhermis retweeted
5️⃣2️⃣ IN 👏🏻 A 👏🏻ROW👏🏻
@NCCMensXCTF claims it’s 52nd straight CCIW title backed by nine All-CCIW runners and a sweep of the top-four places!
#WeAreNC
drhermis retweeted
Many thanks to everyone who has expressed concern for us.
To clear things up, we’ve decided to take some time off after decades of touring because we need a break.
Not for health reasons.
We’ll play our November shows and then take our first break in 50 years.
Thank you for all your support!
Cheap Trick
drhermis retweeted
💔🕯️ **THE ASSYRIAN ORPHANS WHO SURVIVED THE OTTOMAN GENOCIDE OF CHRISTIANS — BUT LOST THEIR WORLD**
**Adana, 1919–1921 | Present-day Turkey**
Look closely at this photograph.
These are Assyrian Christian orphans who survived the genocide of 1915, standing alongside the few caregivers who remained to protect them.
They are children who should have been playing, laughing, and growing up surrounded by the love of their families.
Instead, they stand before the camera carrying a sorrow no child should ever have to know. 🥀
Behind their silent faces lies a history of unimaginable suffering.
Where are their mothers?
Where are their fathers?
Where are the brothers and sisters who once held their hands?
Somewhere in the darkness of 1915, their world was torn apart.
**They survived the sword, but lost the arms that once held them.** 💔
Their tragedy was not isolated.
From **Diyarbakir to Mardin, from Midyat and Tur Abdin to Siirt, Hakkari, Şırnak, Mosul, and Urmia**, Assyrian Christian communities faced massacres, forced displacement, starvation, and the destruction of their ancestral homes.
The suffering extended beyond the Assyrians, as **Armenian, Maronite and Greek Christians also endured genocide and mass persecution**.
Families were separated.
Generations of history were shattered.
Many were forced to choose between abandoning their Christian faith and facing death.
This was **SEYFO — ܣܝܦܐ — the Year of the Sword.** ⚔️
Hundreds of thousands of Assyrian Christians perished during this period of persecution and genocide.
Those who survived carried their grief into exile, seeking refuge in Syria, Lebanon, and distant countries across the world.
The Assyrian Christian presence in places such as Adana diminished as families fled, leaving behind homes, churches, memories, and the graves of their ancestors.
And yet, the children in this photograph remind us of something that history can never erase.
**A people may be driven from their homeland, but their memory cannot be driven from existence.**
These children had names.
They had families.
They had dreams.
They had a language, a faith, and a heritage stretching back thousands of years.
They were not simply numbers in the pages of history.
**They were our children. Our ancestors. Our witnesses.** 🕯️
More than a century has passed, but their story still speaks to us.
We owe them more than tears.
We owe them remembrance.
We owe them truth.
We owe them the promise that their suffering will never be forgotten.
**Because forgetting their suffering would mean allowing their voices to disappear a second time.**
🕯️ **For the children who survived, for the families they lost, and for the generations who carried their stories into exile.**
**Their childhood was stolen. Their homeland was left behind. But their story must never be forgotten.** 💔
\#Seyfo #Sayfo #AssyrianGenocide #AssyrianHistory #Adana #1915 #Assyrians #Assyrian #Assyria #TurAbdin #Mardin #Diyarbakir #Midyat #Cilicia #ChristianGenocide #Ottoman #OttomanEmpire #AssyrianHeritage
drhermis retweeted
✝️ ATTACK ON ST. GEORGE ORTHODOX CHURCH
🇯🇴 KARAK, JORDAN | 23 OCTOBER 2026
🕯️ 7 Dead | 40 Wounded
The reported attack on St. George Orthodox Church highlights the importance of protecting Christian communities and defending religious freedom.
🛑 STOP ISLAMIST TERROR AGAINST CHRISTIANS!
✝️ Every Christian has the right to practice their faith freely, safely, and without fear of persecution.
🙏 May the victims rest in peace, and may the wounded recover.
#StopIslamistTerror #StopChristianPersecution #Christian #Assyrian #Syriac #StandWithChristians #Karak #Jordan 🇯🇴 #ReligiousFreedom #ProtectChristians #StGeorgeChurch 🕊️
drhermis retweeted
The helmet of Miltiades, the Athenian general principally credited with defeating the Persians at the battle of Marathon in 490 BC. Found in the temple of Zeus in Olympia. The inscription reads:
ΜΙΛΤΙΑΔΕΣ ΑΝΕ[Θ]ΕΚΕΝ [Τ]ΟΙ ΔΙ
-
Miltiades dedicated (this) to Zeus
drhermis retweeted
# ✝️🌏 ASSYRIAN CHRISTIAN MISSIONARIES BROUGHT CHRISTIANITY TO CHINA AND ASIA CENTURIES BEFORE EUROPEAN MISSIONS 🇨🇳
✨ **Long before European missionaries sailed to Asia…**
🌍 Long before European colonial empires existed…
✝️ And long before much of Europe became fully Christian…
**Assyrian Christian missionaries of the Church of the East had already carried the Gospel across the Silk Road into Persia, Central Asia, India, Mongolia, and China.**
📜 This is one of the most extraordinary — and most forgotten — chapters in world history.
🏛️ **FROM ANCIENT MESOPOTAMIA TO THE FAR EAST**
Emerging from Mesopotamia, the ancient homeland of the Assyrian people in modern Iraq and surrounding regions, the Church of the East became one of the greatest missionary movements of the ancient Christian world.
These Christians worshipped in **Syriac, a form of Aramaic closely related to the language spoken by Jesus Christ Himself.** ✝️
✨ Driven by faith, scholarship, and missionary zeal, Assyrian monks, priests, scholars, and merchants traveled thousands of kilometers through deserts, mountains, and dangerous trade routes to bring Christianity to the peoples of Asia.
🛤️ **CHRISTIANITY ALONG THE SILK ROAD**
By the 7th century, the Church of the East had established communities across vast regions of Asia, with its influence eventually reaching:
📍 Mesopotamia
📍 Persia (Iran)
📍 Central Asia
📍 India
📍 Tibetan regions
📍 Mongolia
📍 Turkic kingdoms of the Silk Road
📍 China under the Tang Dynasty 🇨🇳
**🇨🇳 635 AD — THE ARRIVAL OF CHRISTIANITY IN IMPERIAL CHINA**
In 635 AD, during the golden age of the Tang Empire, a Christian missionary of the Church of the East, known in Chinese records as **Alopen**, arrived in the imperial capital of Chang’an (modern Xi’an).
👑 Emperor Taizong welcomed the Christian mission and authorized the translation of Christian scriptures and the establishment of a Christian monastery.
Christianity in China became known as **Jingjiao (景教)** — *“The Luminous Religion”* or *“The Radiant Teaching.”*
✝️ Assyrian missionaries translated religious and theological texts into Chinese, engaging deeply with Chinese civilization, philosophy, and literature.
They communicated Christian teachings through concepts familiar to Buddhist and Daoist audiences while maintaining their Syriac Christian traditions.
📜 **THE XI’AN STELE — AN EXTRAORDINARY HISTORICAL WITNESS**
One of the greatest surviving witnesses to this remarkable history is the **Xi’an Stele, erected in 781 AD.**
Written in Chinese and Syriac, this extraordinary monument records:
✝️ The arrival of Christianity in China
👑 Imperial recognition and support
📖 The translation of Christian scriptures
⛪ The establishment of Christian monasteries
🌏 The spread of Christianity during the Tang Dynasty
**The stele provides undeniable historical evidence that Christianity reached China centuries before the major European Catholic and Protestant missionary movements.**
🛤️ **ASSYRIAN CHRISTIANITY ACROSS ASIA**
The influence of the Church of the East extended across major trading centers and cities, including:
📍 Samarkand
📍 Merv
📍 Kashgar
📍 Turfan
📍 Herat
📍 Nisibis
Christian communities flourished along trade routes connecting Mesopotamia with Central Asia and the Far East.
👑 **CHRISTIANITY IN THE MONGOL EMPIRE**
Assyrian and Syriac Christian traditions also reached the Mongol world.
Several Mongol peoples, including the **Keraites and Onguts**, developed strong traditions associated with the Church of the East.
Christian queens, generals, advisers, and influential families were present within Mongol imperial society.
🌏 At its greatest geographical extent, the Church of the East became one of the most widespread Christian churches in history, stretching from the Middle East across the vast Asian continent.
🕊️ **A MISSION BUILT THROUGH FAITH, KNOWLEDGE, AND CULTURAL EXCHANGE**
Unlike many later missionary movements associated with European colonial expansion, the early missions of the Church of the East spread largely through:
🛤️ Silk Road trade networks
📖 Scholarship and translation
⛪ Monasteries and religious communities
🤝 Cultural exchange
🎓 Education and theological learning
🌍 Adaptation to local languages and traditions
These missionaries carried their ancient Syriac Christian heritage across continents while engaging with the civilizations they encountered.
🕯️ **A FORGOTTEN LEGACY THAT SURVIVES**
Over the centuries, persecution, political upheaval, invasions, and the decline of important trade networks contributed to the disappearance of many ancient Christian communities across Asia.
Yet their remarkable legacy survives through:
📜 Ancient manuscripts
🏛️ Archaeological discoveries
⛪ Historic churches and monasteries
🪦 Christian gravestones and inscriptions
✝️ The continuing heritage of Assyrian and Syriac Christianity
**🌏 CHRISTIAN HISTORY WAS NEVER ONLY A EUROPEAN STORY**
It was also:
🏛️ **A Mesopotamian story**
🛤️ **A Silk Road story**
📜 **An Asian story**
✝️ **An Assyrian Christian story**
Among the great pioneers who carried Christianity across Asia were the missionaries of the Church of the East, whose Syriac Christian heritage remains an essential part of this extraordinary history.
**Their faith crossed deserts, mountains, kingdoms, languages, and civilizations — leaving a Christian legacy thousands of kilometers from their Mesopotamian homeland.** ✝️🌏
📸 **HISTORICAL IMAGE DESCRIPTION**
🪦 Assyrian Church of the East Christian gravestone from Yuan Dynasty China, dated to **1317 AD**.
Written in Syriac and Chinese, the monument commemorates a Christian woman named **Elisabeth** and reflects the remarkable fusion of Syriac Christian and Chinese artistic traditions under Mongol rule.
🏛️ Preserved in the **Yangzhou Museum, China**.
✝️🇨🇳 **A REMARKABLE TESTIMONY TO THE ANCIENT CHRISTIAN CONNECTION BETWEEN MESOPOTAMIA AND CHINA.**
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#Assyrian #Assyrians #Assyria #AssyrianHistory #ChurchOfTheEast #AssyrianChurchOfTheEast #ChristianHistory #SilkRoad #ChinaHistory #YuanDynasty #Jingjiao #XianStele #Syriac #Aramaic #AsianHistory #Mesopotamia #TangDynasty #MongolEmpire #HiddenHistory #AncientHistory #Christianity #MiddleEastHistory #AssyrianHeritage #AssyrianChristians #ChristianityInChina #SyriacChristianity
drhermis retweeted
Turks be like “Free Palestine”, but will deny the genocide of Armenians, Greeks and Assyrians by the Young Turks and Ottoman forces.
Their hypocrisy is disgusting
drhermis retweeted
Congratulations to our Assistant HC and Defensive Coordinator Shane Dierking (‘14) going into the North Central College Hall of Fame. Shane embodies what it means to be a Cardinal. No one better to lead our young men #RATS
drhermis retweeted
The Islamic regime in Iran has confiscated St Peter’s Evangelical Church in Tehran, founded in 1876 and described as the country’s oldest Protestant church, and evicted 27 Armenian and Assyrian Christians, around 20 families, from its compound.
The ten-acre property contained the historic church, two schools, residential homes and offices belonging to Christian institutions including the Bible Society and Council of Evangelical Churches of Iran.
Two UN experts say most of the families were low-income, long-term residents who were given just two weeks to leave, while church leaders were reportedly threatened with arrest if they refused to comply.
The experts warned that the seizure forms part of a “decades-long pattern” targeting Iran’s Christian community, particularly Persian-language Christian worship.
Iran once had around 50 Protestant churches offering services in Persian. The UN experts say effectively none do so today, while at least 79 Christians are currently detained or imprisoned in Iran, the vast majority converts.
drhermis retweeted
Congratulations to our Head Coach Brad Spencer on tying Walter Camp as the fastest Coach in NCAA History to reach 60 wins! #GoCards
drhermis retweeted
These churches no longer exist.
Azerbaijan destroyed them.
Second to ISIS who attacked > 90 Assyrian Christian sites is Azerbaijan's destruction of Christian heritage.
What they didn't destroy they are calling "Caucasian Albanian".
Why doesn't anyone talk about this?
drhermis retweeted
Of the four major surviving apostolic communions: Roman Catholic, Eastern Orthodox, Oriental Orthodox, and the Church of the East, I increasingly think two stand out for almost opposite reasons.
Roman Catholicism strikes me as the most intellectually honest about doctrinal development. Catholicism does not need to pretend that the Church of A.D. 2026 looks, speaks, worships, or formulates doctrine exactly as the Church of A.D. 200. It openly admits development. The claim is not that nothing changes, but that legitimate developments preserve the identity of the apostolic deposit while drawing out implications that were previously implicit. Whether one ultimately accepts Newman’s theory of development or not, at least Catholicism gives an explicit account of the obvious historical phenomenon: Christianity developed.
At the other end of the spectrum, the Church of the East fascinates me precisely because of how geographically and politically removed it was from many of the controversies that transformed Christianity inside the Roman Empire. It developed in the Persian sphere, outside Roman imperial Christianity, and consequently escaped much of the Caesar–Church interaction, imperial council politics, and later Byzantine/Latin rivalry that shaped the other great communions.
That does not mean the Church of the East experienced no development or political pressure; it certainly did. Nor does antiquity automatically equal truth. But as a kind of historical control group, it is enormously interesting. When an ancient Syriac Christian tradition that developed largely outside the Greco-Roman imperial ecclesiastical system independently preserves a belief or practice also found in the other apostolic churches, that strikes me as particularly powerful evidence that we may be looking at something genuinely primitive rather than a later Byzantine or Latin development.
So my tentative conclusion is almost paradoxical: Catholicism may give the most honest explanation of how Christianity developed, while the Church of the East may offer one of our best windows into what Christianity looked like when comparatively insulated from the political and theological machinery of the Roman world.
That doesn’t prove either communion correct. And I’m a layman, not a patristics scholar or professional church historian, so obviously I could be wrong. But the more I read the history, the more that is what it seems like to me.
drhermis retweeted
Assyrian Catholics celebrating The Holy Cross.
They are from the Syriac Catholic Church in Nineveh.
Biblical Nineveh.
From ISIS to IRGC militias, Nineveh is under occupation.
Many towns settled by occupiers who refuse to leave.
Iraq pays lip-service but does nothing.
drhermis retweeted
Congrats to @NCC_Athletics (D3) head coach Brad Spencer - with the Cardinals’ win over Wartburg today, his career record improves to 60-2, tying him with the legendary Walter Camp as the fastest coach to 60 wins in the history of college football. #BryantAwards
drhermis retweeted
A powerful sermon from a young Assyrian girl speaking in Aramaic on The Feast of The Holy Cross.
Incredible words from a child living in Iraq where Christians have been persecuted relentlessly.
In the language of Jesus, this young girl asks: Would we work as hard to uncover the cross deep within us as humanity did to uncover Christ's physical cross?
The Feast commemorates the day Saint Helena, Emperor Constantine's Mother, found the True Cross in Jerusalem.
"I ask you: Are we willing to uncover Christ beneath everything buried in our hearts?"
If Christ examined our hearts today, what would he find?
"A heart that forgives? A heart that bears with everyone and judges no one?"
"Or will he find a cross that is hanging on our necks, but far from the way we live our lives?"
And she ends with a very powerful statement.
"If Christ carried His cross for me all the way to the end, am I willing to carry my cross for Him?"
God bless her.
ܥܹܐܕܵܐ ܕܨܠܝܼܒ݂ܵܐ ܒܪܝܼܟ݂ܵܐ
drhermis retweeted
Christian History: When will this be taught in western schools?
In 1915, Armenian Christian women were forced to endure death marches at the hands of the Ottoman Turks.
The Ottomans took their clothing and sold off the articles for spare money.
The Christian women kept walking, with nothing to protect themselves from the sun.
Many died from exposure before ever reaching the destination camps.
By no means was this an isolated cruelty.
Christians must know their heritage.
H/T - @ImtiazMadmood
