Gospel of Matthew – OmegaBooks

When Bad Events Lead to Good Outcomes: Snippets from The Prodigal Band Trilogy and The Murder Rule, Part Two

I said in the previous post that my next post in this new snippet series would be in mid-March, so, here it is, mid-March, after a ‘spring break’ camping trip with family. While during most of the trip I did hiking through forest-river areas, I did consider what could make up the second post—which is similar to the first post about an evil man who repents of his evil and accepts Christ as Lord and Savior in his death bed. Yet in this post, the ‘accepter’ so-to-speak is minutes or even seconds away from death by murder, and this event takes place within Part One of The Murder Rule. And did this victim, Denny Spradlin, a rock star and friendly rival with members of the prodigal band Sound Unltd, actually repent and accept Christ in such a short time before death took him, or is that how his band mate, Blake Fenmore, interpreted a statement the victim left in a metal strong box? Note: Both Denny and Blake are featured in Battle of the Band.

The snippet below (© copyright 2023 by Deborah Lagarde), from Chapter One of The Murder Rule (Part One), contains an email letter from Blake to ‘CalEdit’ of the alternative pop culture magazine, X-Zine, sent in 2005, asking X-Zine to investigate what Blake sees as the murder of his Wolfin band mate and best friend, Denny, in early 1996; Blake had originally told the media it was a suicide or drug overdose, but did so out of fear that if he revealed it was murder, he too would be ‘murder-ruled.’

This is Blake Fenmore, formerly of Wolfin, now living alone in the countryside in a rocky farmhouse, but I won’t say where, in England. I have let go of the guilt I felt about not saying what happened to my mate Denny Spradlin. Lloyd Denholm was right. Denny did not commit suicide by OD-ing on skuz or skank. He also did not OD on skuz or any other cocaine- or opioid-laced drug. So how do I know this? I will state what I know later in the letter, but Lloyd was right. Denny gave up his crystal nose spoon because he was giving up addiction to skuz and the other drugs as Lloyd had surmised. I knew this all along, but I could not admit this in public until I knew for sure how Denny died.

Denny had a large metal box he stored important documents within. I had originally opened it straight-away after he died as he had given me a key in case anything happened to him.

He told me he believed someone was going to hurt him. Why? He had said weeks before he died that he owed money and was in debt over an estate he had bought back then as well as another car he had bought and that he had not paid his driver in over a month due to the debt.

But then I found documents within the box, receipts, proving he paid the debts and had also paid the driver right before he died. So, since he no longer owed money, it was not the bank or outfit he owed money to that was out to hurt him.

Then I found in the box a note he left, scribbled quickly. He must have stuck the note in the box in desperation before he collapsed. Here is what the note said.

“A hooded man has forced poison up my nose, not skank or skuz. Pray for my soul. Denny.”

In other words, Denny knew he was going to die and wanted to let me know how it was done.

More proof Denny would not commit suicide: he had told a friend of his—I won’t say who this friend is—that he was giving this same friend his prized razor-blade earring because he had a better one. This is true. I found an almost exact match to the old earring in this metal box, but the new one was in a gift box within the metal box.

I do not know who did this act and killed Denny, but I think I know why.

Denny was giving up the life he had led and that I and so many others in our profession led. The party-party-do-what-you-want-no-consequences-lifestyle that was leaving him empty and without meaning. That was why he wanted back into the studio, for a life purpose again. But it seemed to him anyway that there were people of influence in the business that would not let him escape the emptiness he was trying to overcome. People that wanted to continue to control him and Wolfin as a whole, who wanted Denny to continue to be the front-man he had been, to keep fulfilling their agenda. Since Denny was trying to oppose their agenda, he felt these people were out to harm him. Denny was the one they had to ruin to punish Wolfin, since we had started to refuse to carry out their wicked agenda.

Denny had taken an oath, as had I, but not Art and Pete. That oath was to Andelusia, a secret society of wealthy entertainers such as Denny and I. Part of the oath we took was to live by what is called The Pleasure Rule. But there was only so much pleasure Denny could handle. The Pleasure Rule is a core concept of Andelusia which one had to give an oath to in order to make it big in present-day show biz. Andelusia though leaves one empty and without meaning and purpose, just pleasure-living high on drugs that one could easily OD on and die. It’s great for a while, but when one starts to grow up out of the party lifestyle, one realizes there is only so much pleasure one needs. One also needs meaning and purpose in life. It is my core belief someone in the Andelusia hierarchy punished Denny for giving up living by The Pleasure Rule, and killed Denny in the process. It would be my wish for X-Zine to aid me in the process of finding out who did it.

Signed, Blake Fenmore.

X-Zine did accept the assignment, and handed it over to pop culture pundit Lloyd Denholm, the narrator of The Prodigal Band as well as The Murder Rule, Parts One and Three. Denholm free-lanced for X-Zine, and Denholm was mentioned in the letter as having surmised that Denny had been murdered and had not died by suicide.

In the next and final snippet, from Chapter Thirteen of The Murder Rule (Part One), Denholm, in 2005, visits Fenmore, who had, in fear for his life, moved to a remote rural area near the Lake District in Cumbria in northwest England.

While it is not assured that Denny Spradlin actually did accept Christ—even though Blake considered that Denny did in fact do so—Blake, who is no longer in fear of his life, even if he stated he was in his letter to ‘CalEdit,’ did in fact get over his fear by doing the right thing, as he admits to Lloyd in his cottage. Note: Kemmy, a Sikh from Sri Lanka, was Denny’s personal assistant who hid the metal strong box from the killer.

And ‘someone I know’ had a similar outcome in 1997! Hmmmmm…. Only the fear was of a different kind of scenario ‘close to home.’

(A week later at Blake Fenmore’s country cottage near a lake)

“Glad you finally arrived,” Blake smiled as he nodded while shaking my hand, then ushered me into his stone cottage. “I reckon you visited Kemmy.”

“Yes, and what he told me was a shock.” I headed straight for a living room couch. “But I’ll get to that later.”

Blake stood amidst the room. “Brew? Whiskey? Tea? Water”?

“I’ll take water for now.”

“And I’ll drink a brew,” as he headed toward the wooden bar. “Because I’m gonna need one.” Laugh.

The last time I saw Blake was on television being interviewed over Denny’s death from ‘too much skank,’ that is, too much nasal ingestion of a wild American southwest desert plant, jimsonweed, that could be deadly in large amounts. Blake had said that it had to be suicide since Denny knew how dangerous skank could be in large amounts; I suspected that it had to be murder, since Denny had told me the morning of his death that he would never commit suicide; I also suspected Blake knew the truth, but was too afraid to admit it publicly.

But that was then and this is now.

“Let me guess,” I looked at Blake, sitting in a lounge chair directly opposite my position on the couch. “You told the press Denny committed suicide, but in truth you had always believed he was ‘murder-ruled’.”

Fenmore threw his head back in despair, and then snorted loudly. “He was.” Then hung his head in shame. “And I knew it all along, but was too bloody much of a coward to admit it to the media.”

I thought, Coward? No! Blake, had you admitted murder to the press, you would have been next on the ‘death list,’ and you know it! I understand why you said what you said.

“Look, Blake, had you told the media you thought Denny was murdered without knowing exactly who did it, you would have been hounded in any way possible for many months, without mercy. And you would have been living in fear for your own life—”

He stood up, shaking. “I did live in fear for my own life! Why do you think I moved all the way up here? They—”

“They? Who is ‘they’?”

Shouted at me. “You know bloody well who ‘they’ are! The ones who run ‘the Order’.”

“The ones who wrote ‘The Pleasure Rule,’ which, if you turn against this so-called ‘rule,’ they throw ‘the murder rule’ at you. Didn’t that Pleasure Rule manual claim the only way you can leave ‘the Order’ is by death?”

“That’s what scared me and Denny.” Slug of brew as he sat back down. “But we had to leave it. We were pretty much has-beens by then anyway, so we figured it wouldn’t matter to them if we left anyway. No video deal, right? But we wanted to get back to work and get some kind of meaning in our lives again, successful album and videos or not. We figured ‘the no video deal’ was the punishment for not continuing to serve ‘the Order.’ Yet, not a one of us actually thought the Pleasure Rule would become the murder rule.”

As I sipped more water I went into thought mode. You said the ones who run ‘the Order’ ordered Denny’s killing. Well, Swami Negran died in early 1996 right after he tried supposedly to kill two members of Sound Unltd by heart attacks, and two years before that, he killed Adam Bloodlove. So it had to be someone who Negran trusted at the time, associated with him here in Britain. Negran likely had a hand in the death but he too is dead now. So his second-in-command likely planned it. But who else?

“Likely, Swami Negran had something to do with it,” I responded. “He’s gone now, however, so he cannot be brought to justice—”

“I’m sure he has been! Justice, eh? He’s likely roasting in hell for eternity.” Laugh.

Has Blake gone Christian like the Super Six? “So, you now believe all that Bible stuff, ‘weeping and gnashing of teeth’ stuff?”

Snort. “That’s in the Matthew Gospel, right?”

“Matthew 8:12. Christ said the wicked would be cast into the ‘outer darkness,’ that is, hell, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth. And several other verses as well.”

Finished my water. “Blake, are you Christian now?”

Smile. “Yes, but I’m not some church-goer. I really do want to stay out of the limelight. I was such a mess I just wanted to, you know, confess my sins and repent and all. And I suspect Denny did as well like right before he died.” Moved forward. “He left me a note telling me someone had poisoned him, and for me to—he actually wrote this—pray for my soul.”

“Really?”

“Now why would he write that if he didn’t even think anything about praying? Like, he writes the note really fast—I don’t even know where he would have gotten the pen and paper, eh? So he writes the note and as he’s writing it he’s asking Jesus to forgive him or something, like, praying for forgiveness. Then he puts the note into the strong box I had the key to, and then dies. Like, he accepts Christ as Savior and then God’s happy he did, so then God takes him if you know what I mean.”

“Wow!”

“Well. That’s my take. I’ve had that idea in my head for years now. And then all the sinister events happening to Jack and Erik and them”—that is, Sound Unltd—“and I figure if they can go ahead and become Christians as well after all they went through, then why not me? Nothing bad has happened to them since 2001, right? And nothing bad has happened to me either.”

“Are you doing any missionary stuff?”

“Not yet. I want to get this murder of Denny solved before I do.”

Missionary stuff…which is one reason I created this website!

Use the menu above to purchase books, read about the books, download the FREE PDF The Prodigal Band, read various trilogy snippet posts, and more. Cheers!

Christian Authors: God Gave You a Talent—Use It! Or At Least Consider It a ‘New Year’s Resolution’

Welcome to 2022! Happy New Year!

There is a possibility that in the near future I will be publishing a ‘guide’ or ‘manual’—call it what you will—for Christian authors, called (maybe) Talent for a Mission, based somewhat on the Parable of the Talents in the Gospel of Matthew, Chapter 25, verses 14 through 30. Remember the one who received a talent but hid it? Well, guess what? The giver of the talent took the talent away from the one who wouldn’t use it!

In other words—Christian author or not—if you don’t use the talent God gave you, God will ‘take away’ that talent, which, in this case, is the talent of writing and being an author.

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Snippets of the Prodigal Band Trilogy Biblical Reference Series, Episode Seven: God, Not Satan and Not the Elites, Is In Control (and He Even Controls Satan)

The Biblical Reference Snippet Series within The Prodigal Band Trilogy continues with this possibly final post in the series (unless I can come with another one). I am including this because several parts of the three-books-in-one trilogy claim that God is in control, not any person who thinks he or she is in control of local or world events—the so-called ‘world controlling’ elites definitely think they are in control because of their money or power—and not the one who wants to be ‘like the Most High’ (Isaiah 14), Satan/Lucifer, either.

If Satan was in control, would Earth even exist with life on it? Because Satan loves death and destruction. If those Satan thinks he controls, the elites who think they control everything, were actually in control, then why has it taken them so long—thousands of years—to get control? Because Satan deceives them into believing they are in control, because Satan, the ‘Adversary,’ is the ultimate deceiver.

Biblical references show this from the point of view of God the Almighty (the Old Testament Book of Job Chapters One and Two), and His Son, Christ (Matthew Chapter Four).

In Job Chapter One, starting with verse 6, Satan ‘presented himself before’ God, and they converse, with Satan ‘ordering’ God to ‘put forth thine hand’ and ‘touch all that he (Job) hath, and he will curse thee (God) to thy face” (Job 1:11). But God tells Satan, ‘Behold, all that he hath is in thy (Satan’s) power; only upon himself (Job) put no forth thine hand. So Satan went forth from the presence of the Lord’ (Job 1:12). Sounds to me like God controlling Satan to me, as in the rest of the chapter Satan does all sorts of damage to Job’s resources and even children, but does not hurt Job, who in anguish still refuses to curse God, saying (to paraphrase verse 21), the Lord giveth and the Lord taketh away. And then comes Chapter Two, where, again, Satan wants to destroy Job and have Job curse God, but God refuses to allow it:

{2:3} And the LORD said unto Satan, Hast thou considered

my servant Job, that [there is] none like him in the earth, a

perfect and an upright man, one that feareth God, and

escheweth evil? and still he holdeth fast his integrity,

although thou movedst me against him, to destroy him

without cause. {2:4} And Satan answered the LORD, and

said, Skin for skin, yea, all that a man hath will he give for

his life. {2:5} But put forth thine hand now, and touch his

bone and his flesh, and he will curse thee to thy face. {2:6}

And the LORD said unto Satan, Behold, he [is] in thine

hand; but save his life.

So Satan brings upon Job ‘boils’ on his skin from head to toe, which Job deals with by scraping the boils among ashes. Job’s wife then enters the picture:

{2:9} Then said his wife unto him, Dost thou still retain

thine integrity? curse God, and die. {2:10} But he said unto

her, Thou speakest as one of the foolish women speaketh.

What? shall we receive good at the hand of God, and shall

we not receive evil? In all this did not Job sin with his lips.

So what is the point? One, Job, in great pain, still refused to ‘curse God and die’ though Satan ‘knew’ that Job would do such a thing (and did Satan use Job’s wife to try to convince Job to do so?). Two, did Satan take Job’s life after God told Satan not to take his life (when God told Satan to spare his life)? No, because God told Satan not to take his life. Further, why did Satan show up with the ‘sons of God’ (that is, the angels) in the first place? Likely, to ‘prove’ to God that he, Satan, was just as powerful as God and also to tempt God. But God was not tempted by Satan; he used Satan to make a point about Job, that Job would not give in to Satan’s desires. So, did Satan control God or did God control Satan? Did Satan kill Job? No, because God told Satan not to kill Job.

And speaking of controlling Satan, Christ, the Son of God and God made flesh, had a similar encounter with Satan in Matthew Chapter 4, right after John the Baptist baptizes Christ and then Christ gets into the ‘wilderness.’

{4:1} Then was Jesus led up of the Spirit into the

wilderness to be tempted of the devil. {4:2} And when he

had fasted forty days and forty nights, he was afterward an

hungred. {4:3} And when the tempter came to him, he said,

If thou be the Son of God, command that these stones be

made bread. {4:4} But he answered and said, It is written,

Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that

proceedeth out of the mouth of God. {4:5} Then the devil

taketh him up into the holy city, and setteth him on a

pinnacle of the temple, {4:6} And saith unto him, If thou be

the Son of God, cast thyself down: for it is written, He shall

give his angels charge concerning thee: and in [their] hands

they shall bear thee up, lest at any time thou dash thy foot

against a stone. {4:7} Jesus said unto him, It is written

again, Thou shalt not tempt the Lord thy God. {4:8} Again,

the devil taketh him up into an exceeding high mountain,

and sheweth him all the kingdoms of the world, and the

glory of them; {4:9} And saith unto him, All these things

will I give thee, if thou wilt fall down and worship me.

{4:10} Then saith Jesus unto him, Get thee hence, Satan:

for it is written, Thou shalt worship the Lord thy God, and

him only shalt thou serve. {4:11} Then the devil leaveth

him, and, behold, angels came and ministered unto him.

So, when Christ told Satan, to ‘get thee hence,’ Satan left Him. So, did Satan control Christ or did Christ control Satan? Then, in Matthew 16, Christ is telling His apostles that He is going to go to Jerusalem and be killed, and rise again on the third day (16:21). Then Peter begs Him not to do that (16:22). Then Christ tells Peter:

{16:23} But he

turned, and said unto Peter, Get thee behind me, Satan: thou

art an offence unto me: for thou savourest not the things that

be of God, but those that be of men.

Then in Luke 22:3—

{22:1} Now the feast of unleavened bread drew nigh,

which is called the Passover. {22:2} And the chief priests

and scribes sought how they might kill him [Christ]; for they feared

the people.

{22:3} Then entered Satan into Judas surnamed Iscariot,

being of the number of the twelve [apostles]. {22:4} And he went his

way, and communed with the chief priests and captains,

how he might betray him [Christ] unto them. {22:5} And they were

glad, and covenanted to give him money [thirty pieces of silver]. {22:6} And he

promised, and sought opportunity to betray him [Christ] unto them

in the absence of the multitude.

That is, Satan’s spirit can actually enter people. Since Judas Iscariot was the one apostle who betrayed Christ for ‘thirty pieces of silver,’ it makes sense that Satan’s entrance into Judas would aid this cause, which, as Christ had told Peter and the rest in Matthew 16, was going to happen anyway. So, did Satan enter Judas because Judas wanted Satan to enter Judas, or because Satan was doing God’s will so that Judas would betray Christ, so that Christ would become the ultimate sacrificial lamb? (Remember, we’re talking Passover time here.)

Continue reading “Snippets of the Prodigal Band Trilogy Biblical Reference Series, Episode Seven: God, Not Satan and Not the Elites, Is In Control (and He Even Controls Satan)”

Parable from Luke 15: Prodigal Son Meets The Prodigal Band (Part Four)

We have come to the end of this sub-set of episodes of Biblical References snippets within The Prodigal Band Trilogy where The Prodigal Band meets the Prodigal Son (from Luke Chapter 15). Part One is here; Part Two is here, and Part Three is here. This Part Four finishes this set and is based on the verses from Luke 15: 20 until the end of the parable. Having spent his inheritance on reprobate living, then having spent it all until there was nothing left, the prodigal son is forced to eek out an existence feeding pigs, wishing he was back home and not literally starving while his father’s servants have plenty to eat. So he decides to return to his father as a ‘hired’ servant. From Luke 15, the Parable of the Prodigal Son:

{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.

Continue reading “Parable from Luke 15: Prodigal Son Meets The Prodigal Band (Part Four)”

Snippets of The Prodigal Band Trilogy: Biblical References Series, Episode Three—“The Parable of the Laborers of the Vineyard”

Several New Testament Parables given by Christ to His Apostles influenced how and why I wrote the three novels in The Prodigal Band Trilogy. One of these is from the Gospel of Matthew, Chapter Twenty, verses 1 through 16. It is called “the Parable of the Laborers of the Vineyard.” It is cited below, from the copyright-free public domain King James Version of the Holy Bible, the PDF version.

To sum up the message: The “householder” (God) “hires” “laborers” (missionaries) to reap new fruit (believers on Christ) within the vineyard (the world), beginning with those hired early in the morning (that is, early in the life of the “laborer”; children, teens or those in their twenties), then hired mid-day (“laborers” in their thirties), then later (“laborers” in their forties or fifties), then later (sixties and seventies) then the “eleventh hour” (those on their death beds or close to it…I actually know a couple of folks who accepted Christ as their Savior days or even hours before they died or ‘passed on’!). I myself, while I (with one exceptional time period I described in an earlier snippet) believed in God and Christ, never fully committed to God and Christ until I witnessed a miraculous event while in my mid-forties. The “laborers” in question are those who not only accept Christ but tell the world about why they should consider accepting Christ as well (and EVERY Christian author, fiction or non-fiction, needs to partake in this however God guides them!). That is, these “laborers” are on their “mission of God,” an expression I use often in the trilogy. The final verse, 16, says the last (to accept Christ) will be first (as they will die shortly) and the first shall be last (as they have a full life ahead of them, God willing), and that “many are called but few are chosen.” And among these “few” there just might be those that prior to accepting Christ led extremely evil lives! And the “few” that are “chosen” are “chosen” for a reason; for one thing, among these “few” that are chosen are those that “choose” to be “chosen.” God is calling the entire world, basically, but only few will choose this “calling.” The “payment” of course, is eternity with God in Heaven. And it doesn’t matter to God at what point in the lives of the “laborers” they do become workers for God, and it shouldn’t matter to one who works his or her entire life for God gets the same reward as one who works for God at the end of his or her life—so it shouldn’t matter to anyone working for God, either. Below is the parable.

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Snippets of The Prodigal Band Trilogy: Biblical References Series, Episode One—“The Outer Darkness, Where There Will Be Weeping and Gnashing of Teeth.”

Of all the Bible verses spoken by Jesus Christ Himself I have been aware of for many years, this and other verses in Matthew and Luke speaking of “the outer darkness, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth” has stuck with me for many, many years. I figured the “outer darkness” referred to Hell and this “weeping” by those who were in Hell made sense. Who wanted to die and go to Hell? It was the “gnashing of teeth” part I had no idea about.

The word “gnashing” in the dictionary means this: to bite or chew by grinding the teeth together, striking the teeth together by grinding.

A similar word I used often in The Prodigal Band Trilogy, “gnaw,” has this meaning: to bite, chew on, or erode with the teeth. The word “gnaw” usually refers to rodents chewing or “gnawing” on wood, nuts, plants, or whatever rodents gnaw on for food or shelter, prominently with large and long upper front teeth. I use “gnaw” mostly referencing the devil character, Corion, as well as his Demons, warning his evil minions to do what he asks, “…or I will gnaw your bones forever.” In Hell, or the Abyss in which he resides (on God’s or The Creator’s orders), which is where Corion’s evil minions will find themselves after judgment.

Note: Since those who do the will of the devil character will find themselves in Hell anyway unless they repent of their evil, and Corion would gnaw on them anyway, why is Corion even threatening these folks if they do not do his will? Because these folks worship Corion and believe this evil devil is in fact god! So they force themselves to do these evil deeds not realizing he is only deceiving them. Corion, the Satan of this trilogy, is in fact the father of lies and deception within the trilogy.

This post is on the “gnashing of teeth” reference; the “gnawing” on bones forever reference will appear next week. But the themes and context are similar though the words are somewhat different. Gnaw and gnawing are used once each in the Bible, in the Old Testament Book of Zephaniah and the New Testament Book of Revelation.

Continue reading “Snippets of The Prodigal Band Trilogy: Biblical References Series, Episode One—“The Outer Darkness, Where There Will Be Weeping and Gnashing of Teeth.””