Chapter Three of Talent For A Mission (© 2023 Deborah Lagarde) is posted in its entirety in this post since it is a short chapter and is based on the Gospel of Luke Chapter 15 Parable of the Prodigal Son that my The Prodigal Band Trilogy is based upon. Below is the entire Chapter Three of Talent For A Mission:
Using Gospel Parables to Aid Your Cause
I will now show how I used the ‘Parable of the Prodigal Son’ from Luke 15 to fashion The Prodigal Band Trilogy, dividing up the sections of the parable to fit each of the three trilogy novels: Battle of the Band, The Prophesied Band, The Prodigal Band.
Battle of the Band is the story of six talented rock musicians/singers who crave fame and fortune, and sex-drugs-rock n’ roll, who, each in his own way, wastes that talent, fame and fortune on ‘riotous living’ which brings dire consequences and leads to the possibility of complete soul destruction. This first novel in the trilogy is fashioned after Luke 15:11-14, stated below.
{15:11} And he (Christ) said, A certain man had two sons:
{15:12} And the younger of them said to [his] father, Father, give me the portion of goods that falleth [to me.] And he divided unto them [his] living.
{15:13} And not many days after the younger son gathered all together, and took his journey into a far country, and there wasted his substance with riotous living.
{15:14} And when he had spent all, there arose a mighty famine in that land; and he began to be in want.
The Prophesied Band then continues the story of ‘the want’—wanting to turn their debauched, wasted lives into something more meaningful: being fathers, being husbands, cleaning up their lives, finding meaning in songs they’d written and had no idea why they wrote them, traveling and vacations and trying to forget they’d lost loved ones in the process. And then when the forces of Good sense they are ready, these heavenly spirits impart to them their ‘mission of God.’ Thus this second novel is based on Luke 15: 14-19, below.
{15:14} And when he had spent all, there arose a mighty famine in that land; and he began to be in want.
{15:15} And he went and joined himself to a citizen of that country; and he sent him into his fields to feed swine.
{15:16} And he would fain have filled his belly with the husks that the swine did eat: and no man gave unto him.
{15:17} And when he came to himself, he said, How many hired servants of my father’s have bread enough and to spare, and I perish with hunger!
{15:18} I will arise and go to my father, and will say unto him, Father, I have sinned against heaven, and before thee,
{15:19} And am no more worthy to be called thy son: make me as one of thy hired servants.
That ‘citizen of that country’ is spiritual within the novel: an evil spirit trying to drag them off course; a good spirit trying to keep them on course so as to be ready for the ‘mission’; fiction secondary characters also guiding them to their choice, with the ‘country’ being the ‘promised land’ they’d be headed toward in the third novel, The Prodigal Band. And yet, the ‘hunger’ for spiritual healing would cause them to be ready for the ‘mission,’ which they’d be given at the end of The Prophesied Band. ‘Hired servants,’ indeed.
The Prodigal Band finishes the story. Yet, they still have doubts as to why God and Christ would choose such sinners, and whether they were worthy. From Luke 15: 18-32, below.
{15:18} I will arise and go to my father, and will say unto him, Father, I have sinned against heaven, and before thee,
{15:19} And am no more worthy to be called thy son: make me as one of thy hired servants.
{15:20} And he arose, and came to his father. But when he was yet a great way off, his father saw him, and had compassion, and ran, and fell on his neck, and kissed him.
{15:21} And the son said unto him, Father, I have sinned against heaven, and in thy sight, and am no more worthy to be called thy son.
{15:22} But the father said to his servants, Bring forth the best robe, and put [it] on him; and put a ring on his hand, and shoes on [his] feet:
{15:23} And bring hither the fatted calf, and kill [it;] and let us eat, and be merry:
{15:24} For this my son was dead, and is alive again; he was lost, and is found. And they began to be merry.
{15:25} Now his elder son was in the field: and as he came and drew nigh to the house, he heard musick and dancing.
{15:26} And he called one of the servants, and asked what these things meant.
{15:27} And he said unto him, Thy brother is come; and thy father hath killed the fatted calf, because he hath received him safe and sound.
{15:28} And he was angry, and would not go in: therefore came his father out, and intreated him.
{15:29} And he answering said to [his] father, Lo, these many years do I serve thee, neither transgressed I at any time thy commandment: and yet thou never gavest me a kid, that I might make merry with my friends:
{15:30} But as soon as this thy son was come, which hath devoured thy living with harlots, thou hast killed for him the fatted calf.
{15:31} And he said unto him, Son, thou art ever with me, and all that I have is thine.
{15:32} It was meet that we should make merry, and be glad: for this thy brother was dead, and is alive again; and was lost, and is found.
That ‘making merry’ happens when all six band members get over their guilt at such sinful lifestyles of which they had repented upon ‘accepting’ their Father and Savior. So who or what is the ‘elder son in the field’ that becomes angry because that ‘lost’ brother of his returns and is treated as if he’s royalty, and is jealous of it as he had never been treated as one who deserved the celebration and ‘fatted calf? Why, the ones who have been on missions of God from an early age or a young age, those who committed to Christ as teen or earlier, without all the hoopla being given to the ‘lost’ son; the ones who simply cannot believe that ‘devil worshiping rock stars’ and the like could ever truly accept Christ as Savior and think these ‘phony Christians’ are just in it for more ‘mammon.’ … One does not have to be ‘squeaky clean’ to accept Christ—anyone can accept Christ! But the choice must be of free will. And, as a fictional Scottish minister (within the novel) tells his flock in a snippet it is huge that such ‘former devil worshipers’ would repent the way they did, for their mission, rebuking the doubters, some of whom would eventually see the truth. After all, these doubters, already having accepted Christ for years, will get their ‘fatted calf’ upon being with Christ in the heavenly realm! So what if ‘former devil worshipers’ get the ‘red carpet treatment’ more quickly than they do?
Other parables play into the trilogy as well, especially the ‘Parable of the Laborers in the Vineyard,’ (Gospel of Matthew 20: 1-16) where, again, early workers for Christ complain when those new workers get paid the same ‘wage’ as they do! Because one of the most evil characters in the trilogy, on his death bed (within the novel in one of the final chapters of The Prodigal Band), accepts Christ! So this formerly evil man accepts Christ as Savior and tells the band and his own son, the band’s manager, that he has accepted Christ and why he accepted Christ on his death bed. So an evil man and six ‘devil worshiping rockers’ accept Christ at different points in their lives; does it really matter when as long as they accept Christ as their Savior? Nope! The wage—everlasting life with God and Christ—is the same! Who cares when they make their choice?
The next chapter goes into more detail using various snippets from the trilogy.
Chapter Four of Talent For A Mission is quite long as it includes key snippets from all three trilogy novels that go into further detail as to how these snippets correspond to the Parable of the Prodigal Son. In other words, there will be at least three parts to the Chapter Four postings.
Use the menu above to read trilogy snippets, purchase books, download the FREE PDFs of The Prodigal Band and The Murder Rule, and more. Cheers!
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