Peter's Curse Article

PETER'S CURSE - MATTHEW 26:74
by Bryon Hake

Jesus was on trial before the whole Sanhedrin. Outside, in the courtyard of the high priest, Peter tried to blend into the crowd. Suddenly, he heard, "You also were with Jesus of Galilee." Peter looked up to see his accuser - a servant girl. At that moment, Peter had to make a choice: admit it, and risk possible persecution ignore it, and hope no one pursued it further deny it, and hope his lie would be believed run away! which would likely have the same result as an admission Peter chose to deny Jesus. Then, probably feeling nervous where he had been sitting, Peter walked out to the gateway. Another girl pointed to Peter, and said to those around her, "This man was with Jesus of Nazareth." Another choice. Another denial. "I don't know the man!"

But the crowd was unconvinced. Peter's Galilean accent aroused suspicions. Knee deep in lies and fumbling in fear, Peter called down curses on himself, exclaiming, "I don't know the man!" "Man"? Is that all you could admit Jesus was to you, Peter?

Peter, you had said to Jesus, "Thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God." (Matthew 16:16) And you had said to Jesus, "Even if I have to die with you, I will never disown you." (Matthew 26:35) Peter, you were there when Jesus told his disciples, "Do not be afraid of those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul. Rather, be afraid of the One who can destroy both soul and body in hell." (Matthew 10:28)

And you were there when Jesus told his disciples, "Whoever acknowledges me before men, I will also acknowledge him before my Father in heaven. But whoever disowns me before men, I will disown him before my Father in heaven." (Matthew 10:32-33) Peter, Peter, Peter. Deny, deny, deny. How could you fear man more than you fear God? How could you let your fear of man conquer your faith? (But, though I do not belittle your sin, I doubt I would have done better). But, Peter, Jesus knew you would deny Him. That did not come as a surprise to the Son of the Living God. And you were truly remorseful and repentant, and when Jesus rose from the dead, He appeared to you, restored you, and, after His ascension, sent His Holy Spirit upon you. You were effective once again, and did "even greater works" than you had done before. The forgiveness and restoration found in Christ became evident in you in a mighty way. The Card While a man is cursing and swearing, or calling down curses, or denying Christ, or fearing man, he most certainly loses some of his effectiveness in expanding the kingdom of God. On the card Peter's Curse from The Disciples expansion, this loss of effectiveness is represented by negating the hero's special ability, or the special ability on a fortress. Many heroes become much less useful when their special abilities are negated. Other heroes rely more on the special ability of a fortress than their own special ability (That is currently the case for the Peter hero at this point). Players will be happy to have a card with this many options. What hero or good fortress is muzzling your defense? Zebulun? The Garden Tomb? Zerubabel's Temple? Jerusalem Tower? Simply place Peter's Curse on that card, and watch it lose its ability to dissect your defense. Notice how the special ability is worded. It begins with a place ability with its potential targets listed. Immediately following that is a colon. Following the colon is the special ability that only works if the card is first placed as described preceding the colon. This wording arrangement appears on a few other cards in The Disciples and will probably continue in future sets. The fact that Peter's Curse can be activated on your artifact pile or played in battle by two different evil brigades makes it extra useful. You could play it during a battle against a "negate special abilities" hero, such as The Strong Angel, Captain of the Host, or Moses, or against a banding hero that led a chain of 7 heroes into battle, sending all the heroes back except the first hero. This lone curse card in The Disciples expansion has two brigade colors: gray and black. Those match the brigade colors of the Pharisees and Sadducees, who were meeting inside as Peter sat in the high priest's courtyard. Peter's Curse is not the only gray and black card in the set, though. Scribe is a gray/black evil character who may band to either a Pharisee or Sadducee, and has a couple other abilities which can be very useful in the right decks or against certain heroes (read: Nicodemus). Tenants Kill the Son is a useful gray/black battle winning enhancement for Pharisees and Sadducees. There is also a full multi-color evil territory class enhancement, but I'd hate to bring that to light at this point, since we don't want to spoil too many cards this soon.

There are a couple more meaningful gems in this card. The 3/3 stats remind us that Peter denied Jesus 3 times, just as Jesus had said. The second to last sentence in the special ability adds some timing strategy to when you use this card. Once you place this card on an opponent's card, then the next time you play a good dominant, you must discard Peter's Curse. This reminds us that when Jesus rose from the dead and appeared to His disciples, he forgave Peter and restored his usefulness, just as Jesus does for us when we repent and seek His forgiveness and restoration in faith. Peter's Curse 3/3 Gray/Black Curse SPECIAL ABILITY: Place on a Hero or good Fortress: Negate that card's special ability. When you play a good Dominant, discard this Curse. Cannot be negated. SCRIPTURE: Then began he to curse and to swear, saying, I know not the man. And immediately the cock crew. Matthew 26:74 ARTIST: Carl Bloch Card number: 43 of 115