The One Who'll Really 'have the last laugh' (at the culmination of a noteworthy 'generation' 's privileged and unique moment in history)

Though it's a well-worn cliche, and then some...it's no untruth to repeat the biblical declaration, one uttered by None Other than Jesus Christ Himself (in His famous 'Olivet'/Mount of Olives Endtime pronunciations) as recorded in various of the 'synoptic gospels', i.e. those of Matthew, Mark and Luke...

This generation will not pass away...till all these things be fulfilled.

What kind of things? Hey, that'd take a whole lotta time I simply don't have this evening, but suffice to say it doubtless includes any and all of the kinda stuff the Master'd presently been 'rattling off'(no disrespect intended, simply the most convenient phraseology to convey my point!)...

...to His blessed, chosen Twelve...

i.e. the likes of 'wars and rumours of wars'...'kingdoms rising against kingdoms'...'famines, plagues and pestilences'...'false prophets and Christs/Messiahs'...

...and ultimately a day and age in which 'brother (and no doubt sister) will betray brother (and no doubt sister), to death, parents will betray children and children [their] parents [to death]'...

...and [w]hen there will be great tribulation, such as never was since there was a nation...

...a special moment in time, in fact, in which this gospel of the kingdom [would] be preached unto the entire world...

...and then the end will [most surely - make no mistake about it] come...

So  those looking somewhat askance at present-day geopolitical developments across our globe, may well find somewhat cute a certain American President's seemingly inimitable ability to not only pull off one heckuva electoral upset in Presidential Election 2016 - for the inside story/scoop thereupon I can only suggest the intrepid reader 'visit' and spend quality time upon my 42-page 'insider' posted herein upon August the 22nd, 2016 - but at this stage looks seriously set to repeat his success in little over one year's time...'despite the odds' of such a thing occurring...

And whether in regards to that, or simply vis-a-vis 'the Donald's' seemingly endless ability to pull success 'out of the ashes of defeat' (to quote Henry Higgins' immortalized words to Eliza Doolittle in 'My Fair Lady') in all sorts of various and sundry arenas and situations...

guess what, folks? Yep, he'll not 'have the last laugh'...no sirree!

That privileged place/position has already - long since  - been taken up by One Who brooks no rivals ...the Almighty Himself, in point of fact...

For somewhere He has declared, in laying out the trajectory of His Second Advent to our troubled orb - "without sin, for salvation...to those eagerly awaiting Him"...

...and moreover regarding the conditions to accompany that blessed time, about which apparently the sacred Scriptures have more to say than about any other topic, that at that solemn time

the Lord Himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the [A]rchangel, and with the trump [sic] of God...

And elsewhere (a couple epistles back) the Apostle Paul, in likewise specifying the great and long-foretold return of Jesus the Christ for His own, declares:

Behold, I shew you a mystery; We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed. In a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trump (sic):

for the trumpet shall sound...

after which believers throughout the ages, whether dead or still alive to witness Jesus' Second Coming, will be whisked 'up together in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air'...

...and thus shall...ever be with the Lord...

Folks, do I happen to believe that 'it's just a coincidence' that ye good ole King James Bible happens to be the one and only version which still renders this particular passage in this oh so particular way?

Believe it or not, I don't...and nor should you...

And no, I'm not too childlike to happen to think that it's not so much a backhanded compliment at the tenure of President Donald J Trump as it is the Omniscient One's way of - oh so subtly - informing us all of the approximate time of His return to Planet Earth, whilst notifying/putting upon notice a certain Mr Trump as to

Who will ultimately have the very last laugh...

Nuff Said!

Anne Frank: True Heroine of Yesteryear...In her Memory after learning today she would've turned 90 sometime last week...

Coming Out (as a former left-winger): Part Two: Some info that might well amaze you - esp. if you're still of my former (political/ideological) persuasion...

Assuming you've already read part one - on my other blogsite, i.e.
http://davidedwinisms.blogspot.co.nz/ (or .com/) - and if you haven't, definitely do so prior to reading this (as it simply won't make proper sense otherwise)...it's the June 13th blogpost...

Having said all the foregoing (upon my other blogsite, in that aforementioned blogpost, that is)...

I still subscribe - as did/do many if not most of those aforementioned individuals, and vast swathes of those living in those many and various former communist nations, I've little doubt - to an essential 'egalitarian', 'left-of-centre' economic view/perspective of things...

...though ultimately I simply cannot get past an incredible, almost breathtaking point conceded by none other than the *co-author of communism/marxism, Karl Marx himself...

Going on the premise/theory/presupposition that when folk call/consider themselves 'left-wing' they are essentially adhering to/declaring their allegiance to the notion that the world's wealth/goods ought ideally be 'equally' distributed to/shared amongst all folk everywhere (as far as conceivably possible, anyhow) - or, as Marx himself either stated it or effectively characterized it, 'from each according to his (or her) means, to each according to his (or her) need'...

...and not to the rather messy and extremely unpleasant accretions (of totalitarian control etc) that oftentimes adhere to the pejoratively-used term/label 'communist' (and consequently to all those who themselves adhere to that view of the world/reality)...

...isn't it rather curious how/that Karl Marx - evidently a university dropout as well as anti-semitic (for those keeping score nowadays...i.e. for impartial souls who are keenly aware that indulging in el typical historical revisionism as is so much the rage these days just might occasionally throw up/ expose a few of one's own iconic 'untouchables')

- was only able to find/locate one historical instance whereby 'communism' had ever been shown to 'work'...

Citing the wonderful demonstration of mutual benevolence so powerfully on display in the Early (Christian) Church - and doubtless having in mind such potent examples/instances as those recorded in the Book of Acts (of the Apostles), to wit Acts 2: 44-45; and 4: 32-34-37, as illustrations of what he termed **'primitive communism'...

I personally find it more than just a little intriguing that - in Marx' own view - the one and only historical instance of (such) effectively conducted/successfully achieved socialism/communism is one whereby his theorem (if we accept for the sake of argument that it is truly an instance thereof)...

...came about, not by a top-down governmental edict or diktat, but spontaneously, from the grass-roots up...

...which just may go some way to explaining why onlookers throughout the then known world charged its proponents with having 'turned the world upside down'...

*As, of course - for those with historical memory - the Communist Manifesto was co-authored by Friedrich Engels.

**Whether due to its historical antiquity or (more likely) due to his belief that it represented a rather formative, as in 'inchoate', example of his own pet theorem (of marxism/communism).

What(ever) God has said/decreed/prophesied...That - most surely - will be done/come to pass...

Yes, unlike the rather fatalistic life motto of the late Doris Day (and/or especially her weekday American sitcom of the 1960s) - 'what(ever) will be, will be' - the word of the Eternal carries a 100% cast-iron guarantee of certain failsafe fulfilment...at the time foreseen and so decreed by that selfsame Omniscient and Omnipotent One...

Which unwise and reckless human beings ever seek to second-guess and even precipitate - see, for example, the present efforts and strivings of the current Republican Administration in Washington (D.C.), especially under the 'leadership' of the likes of John Bolton, incidentally a retread of the Bush Junior Administration, which - 'coincidentally' - itself came perilously close to a similar 'anticipation' of 'events grand and awesome' in the not so distant...

Which surely is not only supremely unwise, but criminally provocative...especially in view of what is potentially at stake in any escalation of longstanding and long-simmering Middle East tensions -already simmering off the burner well-nigh to boiling point, and clearly 'requiring' but one more unwise move(ment) to put them into overdrive and precipitative of the long-looked for 'war to end all wars' of Armageddon leading up to the long-foretold Second Coming of the Lord Jesus Christ...

Though I at least - self-styled and (I believe Spirit-) taught lay biblical scholar that I'd say I am - see no indication whatsoever of such a global World War 111 in those selfsame Scriptures, yet an almost as significant regional Middle East 'war to the finish'...involving the likes of Israel, anyhow - and arguably including 'everyone' from Iran to Turkey to Syria to Russia to China et al to the United States of America...and Libya ('Put') and Ethiopia ('Cush')...seems increasingly 'on the cards' of fate.

And unfortunately, the complete truth be told, if autonomous human beings are hell-bent on a particular course of action, are bloody-minded and determined enough to pursue their own misguided notions through to their ultimate endgame...

...sometimes the Almighty finally decides to desist - withdrawing His gracious, winsome Spirit - and leaves 'em to the fate they have deemed worthy of their efforts...

...when his longsuffering patience has at last finally run out...for good...

And, I hate to break the news to you, folks, but, judging by current 'presenting' conditions both at home and abroad, we're right upon the very cusp of just such a time...

...events (i.e. those surrounding the Second Coming of Jesus Christ to this world) that some, such as the eminent biblical scholar and radio teacher, Chuck Missler - and/or the likes of the Philadelphia Church of God and similar legitimate offshoots/successors of the Worldwide Church of God have 'guesstimated' take up over one-third or so of the entire Holy Bible... 

Yes, folks, we're standing upon the verge of just such momentous times, a day and time of which the Older Testament prophet-sage Daniel forewarned us two-and-a-half some millennia ago...

The writing's now well on the wall for those adhering to 'the faith once delivered unto the saints' - and in the 'free West', to boot...

Yes, as the Master Himself pointedly forewarned us...

When ye see the abomination of desolation standing in the holy place/standing where it ought not...

then - you know - or certainly ought to - precisely what to do...

Que Sera, Sera?: Paying Tribute - upon Doris Day's Death-Day - to a song whose tune and lyrics have ever and always been, somehow or other, a part of my life's journey

When I was just a little [boy]
I asked my Mother, what would I be...

...would I be [handsome!], would I be [well-to-do]...[?]

-and here's what she - didn't - say to me:

"Que sera, sera -whatever will be, will be
-the future's not ours to see...
que sera, sera;
what will be, will be."

And unfortunately - or perhaps luckily! (for Yours Truly)
the remainder never applied...

And aside from that, Ms Day's fatalistic maxim itself is distinctly unChristian -

there's no doubt whatsoever about it...

yet as someone who lived a life that was thoroughly 'out there',
ever and only in the glare of the all too public eye...
(from twelve years prior to my dear Mum's own birth -
in that selfsame land of America)...
...and whose private life evidently mirrored - or didn't -
her multi-variegated film/theatrical/'musical' career...

I can only feel for her, much as Elton John's classic hit
about 'Norma Jean' (or Marilyn Monroe), i.e. 'Candle in the Wind';
later reworked for another famous woman, Princess Diana Spencer,
c/o 'England's Rose', following her untimely, tragic death in 1997,

...speaks so very eloquently upon...

All God's Speed ('godspeed') to Aasiya Noreen...as she moves to safer shores

Evidently Mrs Noreen has at last managed to escape her homeland Pakistan,the land of her (ongoing, if now 'only' psychological) bondage/imprisonment, and is now heading for hopefully safer realms (according to BBC World News this very morn)...

...to meet up with and join her two daughters who've already sought refuge and residence in Canada...

One can only wish her all godspeed, and moreover that the good LORD deal - and in no uncertain terms - with and to all those nasty Pakistani people who've pledged to hunt her down there (for the so-called blasphemy she allegedly committed years ago, which saw her subsequently spend years in appalling conditions of confinement in Pakistan)...

As Derek Prince, the longtime radio Bible teacher, fortuitously expressed matters this very morning (in the DP Legacy Radio segment on NZ's Southern Star),

there are some things only suffering can do...it provides the soil [necessary] for...

and sometimes only those who've been through a specially difficult time [can] share [the] special bonding [thus created]...

'things' which 'the sweet psalmist of Israel', (King) David, himself wrote profusely about and graphically of in a number of psalms (poems/sacred songs/hymns) which were themselves prophetic 'forth-tellings' of the experience of his divinely-appointed 'seed', the Messiah or Anointed One Himself...

Give 'Em Bread and Circuses - Galore - and let 'em eat dirt!

Ooh - Ahhh...cootchy-coo...
                                             no, you didn't hear me wrong,
it's time to 'aah' and 'ooo'...

What could such a thing mean?
Folks, I'm glad you asked!

The Duch-ess of Suss-ex's

-only just this ver-y day...

given birth to a bonny wee boy!

Oh, let's all dance in the aisles,
clap our hands and jump for joy...

Why, all's well and good
within our world
once again...
We've no cause at all
for doom and gloom

But that's not all, folks...
not one little bit!
Oh, no sirree...
NZ's PM's just been seen
with - upon her ring finger -
guess what - an engagement ring!

Oh no, you didn't hear me wrong,
things're just exactly as I say
-I kid you not!
And, topping the latter,
I hear a wedding's on the way!

Oh, geeps and creepers
- 'holy molee!'
...what can we say...
oh what indeed?

So, joy to the world
-let the partying begin!
It's almost as if
the Saviour's come again!

It matters not, folks,
no, it really don't...
for 'all is right with our world',
and things're on the up and up...

So, all you cynics, nay-sayers et al,
- those who might be deemed
Misery Guts Inc(orporated) -
don't you fear, for
'a baby's born today'!

Look not upon...
the exponentially increasing
destruction
- on every hand -
of Planet Earth's
biodiversity, ecosystems,
flora and fauna
(150 species globally
each and every day)

Nor the ongoing upsurge,
the never-ending intensification
of flood and fire,
drought and famine,
plague and pestilence,
epidemic and pandemic...

Nor the Doomsday Clock's
inexorable movement
each and every single day
closer and closer
to deadest midnight...

...whether spawned and fed,
pollinated and fertilized,
by climate change
or nuclear war...
or simply pseudo-scientific
human 'ingenuity',
be that drones,
'A(rtificial)I(ntelligence)',
a sci-fi 'space war'
or 'good 'ole' clones...

Yes, the renewed
resurgence
-on every hand-
of all of these
-and so much more-
here and there
and seeming everywhere

tells one
in oh, no uncertain terms
whatsoever...

'It's time to party, folks...
and let's get to it!

But didn't one also say, as follows...

And in that day the Lord GOD
of hosts
Called for weeping and for
mourning,
For baldness and for girding
with sackcloth.
But instead, joy and gladness,
Slaying oxen and killing sheep,
Eating meat and drinking
wine:
"Let us eat and drink,
for tomorrow we die!"

Then it was revealed in my
hearing by the LORD of hosts,
"Surely for this iniquity there
will be no atonement for
you,
Even to your death,"
says the Lord GOD of hosts.

(Isaiah 22:12-14. Scripture taken from the New King James Version. (c) 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc. Used by permission. All rights reserved.)

Incidentally, I don't believe either the young royals (Prince Harry or Meghan) or, for that matter, Prime Minister of Aotearoa-New Zealand, Jacinda Ardern, can be blamed or held responsible personally for the media obsession with such matters...

...though, at the same time, it's a fine point as to whether or not they can be argued as having - however subtly - courted such media obsession (whether now or in times past)...
   

Changing 'G(ross)D(omestic)P(roduct)' to a Wellbeing Quotient? As an old Aussie 'cobber' would've commented: "Get Real!"

And how the heck would you imagine one can possibly measure such intangibles...as loneliness, misery - and all the rest...-no, I - seriously - mean: really?

Budget (Pre-)Delivery Postscript:

But having said all the above...

the current Labour-led Government is certainly *well-intentioned in what it's aiming to do...especially vis-a-vis the long-neglected area of mental health in God's Own, a field - psychoanalysis/therapy to be precise - my own long-deceased Dad not only spent his life in, but even stood for local council in regards to (on behalf of the then New Labour Party, later the Alliance, back in 1989 or thereabouts).

Yes, if it does indeed 'take up' 38 of the 40 recommendations of the mental health task force awhile back - implementing 22 and further investigating another 16 - then it surely can't be any bad thing, can it...

There's much more to commentate upon the topic, but suffice for now to leave you with the thoughts (on many such a matter) of 'me ole mate' John Tamihere, would-be mayor-to-be of Auckland City (alongside his well-chosen deputy mayoral candidate, one-time National Party minister and present-day city councillor Christine Fletcher)...

...who might upon this, as upon many another such matter, have simply said: "Less hu-i and more do-ey!" I.e. the ultimate proof of this particular 'pudding' will be - as per usual - in the eating thereof. As we all know, talk - however grand and hifalutin' even - is, in the final analysis, a rather cheap and easily obtained 'commodity'...it's what we eventually do to effect our fine words that ultimately counts.

*Though didn't some oft-quoted wag declare that the road to hell is paved with such?

Yes, it's all in the name, folks...or isn't!

Wednesday, 17th April 2019

As I listened in to the New York City-based 'Democracy Now' broadcast on our local Hills AM station this morning, was I shocked/dumbfounded/flabbergasted - or what! as I heard an all too familiar name being mentioned...

From now on let no-one trouble me...

-for I'm a high-flying member of the Trump Administration, no less?

No, indeed...though as I learnt to my 'shock, horror' first thing this morning, one of my seemingly endless number of American namesakes evidently is...

...and as Interior Secretary or some such is apparently up for investigation etc over some sort of audit/ethics type of congressional thingie...as per his 'right royal' boss himself ever is...

No, because as my spiritual compatriot and forefather, the great apostle Paul (formerly Saul, a member of the Sanhedrin, the highest court in the land of Israel - or rather Judah - the Jewish Supreme Court, in the days of Christ)...so eloquently yet abruptly put it:

...because I bear in my (own) body the marks of the Lord Jesus...

For as the Great Master Himself put it so clearly while on Earth, spiritual lineage/kinship trumps the mere earthly/human variety any day...

And a child of the King - a birthright of every twice-born individual - trumps every earthly kingship every time...

And as folk used to say, "No Messin' with the King's kids!"

A Real 'April Fool' Indeed...Yes, 'Some Mothers Do 'Ave 'Em'!

Who'd have ever thought...I'd be such a fool...

...to take you at face value...genuine, open-hearted, the 'real deal'...

But no, it wasn't to be...

or, rather -

'twas all and ever, only an empty charade, a fake and false facade...

to - instead - ultimately bait and entrap...

...this weary, naive 'soul'...



But one day...all too soon (for your liking),

yes, much, much sooner than you realise,

or rather, could imagine in your worst nightmare,

it'll all be over...

...and what'll you do then, eh?

-when the Judge of all the Earth

will return...

...and say: "Now what?"
"It's time to give an account...to Your Maker - and would-be Saviour...

Say, what did you do with My Son?"



And when He bids you depart...forever...

well, what'll you say then...

...I mean, really?

No, then it'll be - way - too late

by far...won't it... 

Friday March 15th, 2019: The Afternoon [Day] Aotearoa-New Zealand - Unwittingly - Lost Its Innocence...Rest In Peace, "God's Own"

Part One: Discipline (Chapter One: Problems and Pain): "Life is difficult." "Thus (Also) Spoke Zarathustra"...or in this instance M Scott Peck

In his (Scott Peck's) classic tome, that is, The Road Less Travelled. Thus and so he opens his book. And he follows this up immediately with the following...

This is a great truth, one of the greatest truths. It is a great truth because once we truly see this truth, we transcend it. Once we truly know that life is difficult - once we truly understand and accept it - then life is no longer difficult. Because once it is accepted, the fact that life is difficult no longer matters. 

Most do not fully see this truth that life is difficult. Instead they moan more or less incessantly, noisily or subtly, about the enormity of their problems, their burdens, and their difficulties as if life were generally easy, as if life should be easy. They voice their belief, noisily or subtly, that their difficulties represent a unique kind of affliction that should not be and that has been especially visited upon them, or else upon their families, their tribe, their class, their nation, their race or even their species, and not upon others. I know about this moaning because I have done my share.

Life is a series of problems. Do we want to moan about them or solve them?

Nuff said! (And N.B. that though the original words are all Peck's, the italicization and capitalization  - except for the single 'should' - is all mine; yes, I know exactly how he feels, and what he's on about...do I ever...)

Composer of the Majestic Vortex of 20th-Century Musical Whirligigs - 'The Windmills of Your Mind' - Michel Legrand has died: A Belated Adieu

Yes, "Au Revoir" to Michel Legrand for that sensational Academy Award-winning score in the 1968 film, 'The Thomas Crown Affair', who just died; 11/12 days ago, in fact. Legrand received his first Oscar for 'best original song' for composing the musical score to that classic song of songs...

Having only chanced to hear a reference to some artist (whose name I didn't manage to catch) a week or so ago (upon some national radio show) - majorly involved with this masterpiece of 20th Century music - it's taken me awhile (this very eve) to actually ascertain precisely who is/was responsible for what... Evidently while Michel Legrand composed the music, an associate of his (at that time), Eddy Marney, wrote the French words, and Alan and Marilyn Bergman wrote the equivalent English lyrics...for the song soon enough sung by Noel Harrison (who only died in 2012 or 2013 himself).

Later popularized - as a chart-topping hit, I've little doubt - by such disparate and well-known singers (and/or actors/actresses) as Dusty Springfield...Ed Ames...Val Doonican... Nana Mouskouri... Barbara Streisand...Dinah Shore... Petula Clark...Neil Diamond, not to mention Andy Williams...Jack Jones... Ray Conniff...John Rowles... Johnny Mathis...and New Zealand's very own Kiri Te Kanawa...and the group Sting...

'The Windmills of Your Mind' is really a quite unusual song, whose very twists and turns, zigzags, meanderings, curves and contortions, and roller-coaster crescendos, climaxes & ultimate unravellings - both verbally and musically - have ever made me feel (implicitly, intuitively, instinctively) as though I was on one of those schoolyard roundabouts (or a ferris wheel) unable to take control, or in a rapid-onset spell of dizziness; experiencing something as thrilling and exhilarating as it is simultaneously terrifying and literally almost mind-blowing. So all credit to Legrand and Marney for having the sheer creative genius for gifting us this unusual piece of musical and lyrical brilliance...

Some interesting tidbits of info I've since gleaned from *the two websites I accessed in composing this I'll now give as a series of bullet-points...for your perusal and due consideration... Michel Legrand...

*is of Armenian descent, though evidently lived lifelong in Paris.

*studied music from the age of 10/11 at the Paris(ian) Conservatory, winning a raft of prizes in a variety of musical instruments.

*was also awarded 'best original music score' (by the Australian Film Institute, 1991) for music in 'Dingo'...

*in 2018 had the asteroid '31201 Michellegrand' named in his honour...

*in 1989 released a solo vocal album, and staged his own oratorio, inspired by the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (as part of the bicentenary celebrations for the French Revolution).

*created a Christmas album, 'Noel!Noel!Noel!' for his then upcoming 80th birthday.

*remained active right up until his death, with further concerts scheduled for the upcoming spring.

To conclude, I'll likewise simply relate two items, a revealing anecdote from his childhood, and an - equally revealing - personal survey of his lifework from the vantage point of very late in his life...

Legrand, having been abandoned by his dad at age three and brought up by a struggling mum, 'found a consoling friend in the[ir] flat's battered piano and it quickly emerged that he had a gift.'

'He lived his last years as he had lived his earliest ones as a precocious music student in Paris - guided, as he said, by the "ambition...to live completely surrounded by music. My dream is not to miss out anything. That's why I've never settled on one musical discipline. I love playing, conducting, singing and writing, and in all styles. So I'll turn my hand to everything - not just a bit of everything. Quite the opposite, I do all these activities at once, seriously, sincerely and with deep commitment."

Hopefully something all of us can say, whenever we depart this life...for a life worth living is surely worth living well...

*Due acknowledgement/credit (for the various facts contained herein) to two websites:
en.wikipedia.org/wiki//Michel_Legrand; and https://www.theguardian.com/music/2019...

Belated Bicentennial Bouquet to an Oft-Ignored Prophet of Our Day and Age: Mary Shelley's Masterpiece 'Frankenstein' Birthed in 1818

The Subtle Deceptiveness of Cultural Christianity: Might We Too Be Among Its Innumerable Victims?

They say a 'good' counterfeit has to be a pretty reasonable likeness (of the thing counterfeited) to do its job properly. Stands to reason, don't you think, 'coz only a 'real deal' *fake/forgery will really fool anyone, i.e. be - at all - effective in its assigned task...

So, though (no matter how much in agreement/***'agreeance' with that self-evident concept you doubtless are) that may well appear an unlikely, even baffling, introduction to my new (titled) topic (about which I intend to run a series), let me for my first entry upon said subject now tie the two together, in the understanding that this ****initial post will only serve as an introductory one...

My general topic will be distinguishing the real from the sham variety in terms of the so-called 'Christianity' which does the rounds today - what I'll refer to as (a) *****'Clayton's Christianity'.

*Other synonyms provided by my handy lil **Roget's - 21st - Century Thesaurus for 'counterfeit' are: actor - bogus - bum - copy - deceit - deception - dummy - facsimile - fraud - gyp - hoax - humbug - imitation - imposture - junque - phony - pseudo - put-on - reproduction - sell - sham - simulacrum...-and let me add in my own latter-day example for good measure at no added cost: scam!

**Ed. The Princeton Language Institute (The Philip Lief Group), c/o Dell Publishing, 1993.

***Cited (even if it hasn't yet managed to grace the latest entries in world-renowned dictionaries) as I like the way it sounds, and it is used from time to time by other wordsmiths out and about...

****Let me quickly (if disappointingly for some) correct that: my 'initial posting' may well run on a bit, but, perhaps rather than make additional postings (within that particular subset of the whole discussion), I'll simply add numerous 'parts' to this introductory blogpost (as I've long done upon my alternative (davidedwinisms) blogite, and for all I know have occasionally upon this one as well)... .

Anyhow, that course of action seems especially appropriate to me since this is my 66th posting upon this particular blogsite...with all that that particular numerical configuration serves to signify...-as a *******'precursor', that is - just as '6', the 'number of man(kind)', itself prefigures that mysterious numeral of the ages, ********666 - the number of the biblical antichrist...

*****A 'New Zealanderism' in common currency/popular parlance over the past near half-century, i.e. the clayton's part, that is...used to signify what would be regarded as a poor substitute for the real thing. And so, in the best - and probably originating - example, a ******'clayton's beer' is simply not good enough for the tried and true connoisseur of the beverage...

******Understanding, moreover, that as a - virtual lifetime - teetotaller (or 'wowser'!), I have minimal experience in the subject, but it does serve as a useful, identifiable example (explaining what I'm on about)...

*******'Precursor', according to my ever trusty ole Chambers Concise Dictionary (Cambridge, 1988), means: 'a forerunner; a predecessor; an indication of the approach of an event (italics mine).'

********As made mention of in that most intriguing and mysterious biblical book, The Revelation  - incidentally 'of Jesus Christ', not (the beloved apostle) John, as oftentimes supposed...-and 13:18 to be precise, which *********itself has doubtless given credence to (biblical and occult) numerologists (alike) and much for them to make mischief with...

Part Two: Tying Everything Together: (January 13th)

Having now *pretty well already explained myself (above) through my innumerable footnotes (esp. ****/*****/ ******), I'll **henceforth proceed to highlight/signpost what is arguably the 'greatest' - as in single worst - illustration of such counterfeit (and essentially cultural) Christianity ever to curse our little orb...

...i.e. the biblical antichrist...

...which subject was admittedly, inadvertently triggered by the fact that this very blogpost is my 66th ever...but since that (number), conflated into the weird and wonderful 666, itself dovetails perfectly into such a discussion, hey - as the ole saying has it - 'if ya can't ****best 'em, (you oughta) join 'em!'

And hence we'll now examine the essential biblical characteristics of just such a counterfeit...of which the numerical figure 666 serves as one of many...

Just as the normal, usual characteristic(s) of a good - as in suitably effective - counterfeit is to bear a really close resemblance in any and every respect to the real thing, thus and so a worthwhile counterfeit essentially has to look, sound, 'feel' (and occasionally smell and taste) like the genuine article...

And so, the Ultimate 'spiritual'/religious counterfeit of the ages - the *****biblical Antichrist - will, ultimately, in the final analysis, when all is said and done, and just prior to the eventual 'wrapping-up' of the Great Controversy upon Planet Earth - come over to one and all as representing the Real Deal...i.e. Jesus Christ Himself.

Yes, sirree! And how will ******'he' bring this about? In brief, thumbnail sketch fashion, let me succinctly enumerate the ways...

To Be Continued Tomorrow (Jan. 14th) -and now the next day (15/1) too: Hold onto Yer Seats, Folks!

*And pretty well ***bamboozled everyone else!

**Or as some - many - illiterates these days might phrase it, 'going forward'...

***Or, as Roget's Thesaurus (above) provides suitable synonyms thereto, in addition to '[v] fool; cheat': 'baffle, befuddle, bilk, con, confound, confuse, deceive, defraud, delude, dupe, flimflam*, hoax, hoodwink*, hornswoggle*, mystify, perplex, puzzle, stump, swindle, trick.' And again, scam! (This last term - earlier a noun, now a verb - being again my own addition at no extra cost.)

Editor's Extra (Attached) Footnote thrown in for good measure...
If you've read thus far, you'll perhaps be surprised/taken aback/even astonished by the serendipitous fact that the meaning of 'bamboozle' seems to parallel that of 'fake/forgery' (at the very start of Part One)...i.e. signifying something serving the purposes of deceiving (and defrauding) someone. But whereas this can be done by deliberate design, let me hasten to reassure readers/viewers that in my case it is not at all intentional...though admittedly the result may well be the same - a tragedy in itself!

****Yes, another syntactical faux pas, yet oddly enough it's just as good as the usual...

*****In all three major monotheistic religions, incidentally - Christianity, Islam and Judaism.

******Referring here, of course, to the one who so impersonates the Son of God...i.e. 'the (great) dragon...that serpent of old, who is/called the Devil and Satan' no less (Revelation 12:9; 20:2.) But personally I much prefer how the idiosyncratic and iconoclastic H Scott Peck refers to 'him' (in terms of *******gender, that is)...

In his brilliantly incisive and perceptive People of the Lie: The Hope For Healing Human Evil, Peck says the following (though it's simply a paraphrase for now, the actual quote ********yet eluding me): that the devil doesn't even warrant, as in deserve, to be 'graced' with a gender, 'he' is such an 'it' - if you can grasp where Peck is coming from (i.e. he's not being - remotely - flattering!)...

*******Though I'm only too well aware that such a 'gendered' comment would these days inevitably land Peck into a heckuva lot of hot water, even 'deep doggy doo-doo' as one now dead former American President used to express matters.

********Now (i.e. Jan 14th), after much searching, I find that Peck makes a detailed consideration of this very matter (of gender, vis-a-vis not only the devil but God as well)...and indeed the entirety of said discussion is well worth re-quoting (esp. in this day and age of heightened 'snowflake generation' sensibilities), but copyright considerations and moral sensibilities - on my part - mean I'll firstly contact Peck's estate (dealing with his published materials) prior to sharing this, or any (quotable) part thereof, since I suppose if I myself ever get published - i.e. in proper print - I'd like others to treat my own copyright requests with an equal degree of respectful consideration...