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

In Part One of this episode, here, the Prodigal Band mirrors the beginnings of the Prodigal Son within the Gospel of Luke Chapter 15, where the prodigal son is given his inheritance and then proceeds to waste the fortune given to him on ‘riotous living,’ which, if one ever read from the celebrity tabloids and popular culture magazines of the 60s through the 90s, mirrored the lifestyles of the most famous and notorious rock stars. Some of these rockers, however, would regret their wasted—and I mean wasted!—drug addictions and such, including the so-called ’27 Club’ of rockers who died or suicided (or, some say, were murdered) legends such as Jimi Hendrix, Jim Morrison, Janice Joplin, Brian Jones, and others of whatever age, such as Kurt Cobain, Chris Cornell and Chester Bennington and more. And let’s not forget the recently passed Eddie Van Halen, who had serious health issues likely brought about by his ‘rock star lifestyle’.

Luke 15: 14: “And when he had spent all, there arose a mighty famine in the land; and he began to be in want.”

The next two verses say that the prodigal son “joined” himself to a citizen of that country he was in, and was to feed swine in the fields; in the meantime, he craved being about to eat those corn husks he fed as he was given virtually nothing in return.

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 in hunger!”

The ‘famine’ referenced in verse 14 is spiritual as well as physical but certainly not financial, as the members of the prodigal band are all filthy rich. They have ‘spent’ all of their true actual beings, especially spiritual, on the ‘riotous living’ in verse 13 as stated in part one. They were wasted in every way they could think. Chapter Seven of Battle of the Band features several instances of their ‘wasted’ selves: singer Erik, not being able to get near his baby son, turns to alcoholism; guitarist Jack, in anger over hurting his woman who was pregnant but didn’t let him know that until the 1993 tour was over, turned to drug addiction, as did bassist Keith, who lost his wife over infidelity; drummer Tom lost his lover to another hated man; guitarist Mick was poisoned by a drug laced with poison, blamed on his partner but committed by his ‘friend’ Swami Negran as punishment for not fulfilling their ‘soul-selling oath’ to the satanic figure Corion; synthist Bry suddenly hurt his back on a short vacation that would bring about unintended consequences later. So yes, they were certainly in want!

The next two verses about going to another country and working for someone there feeding pigs and going hungry over it doesn’t really play out in the novel, unless one considers the ‘citizen’ they are ‘working’ for is an evil satanic agenda of debauching the youth as they had been ‘assigned’ to carry out. And they do their best to carry this evil agenda to fruition to the point where they are anything but economically ‘hungry,’ so that this ‘hunger’ is a spiritual one that is having its negative consequences in more ways than one. And no band members feels this hunger more than its front man, singer Erik. In Chapter Nine of Battle of the Band, his wife Ger ‘betrays’ him by being with her personal assistant for sex as well as ‘exercise,’ for she has convinced herself that she is ‘fat’ because the tabloids say she is, which also leads to her serious bout with bulimia (referenced here) that she hid from her man. Angry over it, Erik leaves her and continues his self-pity over it even when she tries to apologize, which he will not accept—and then gets plastered with booze that evening, leading to him (as well as his ‘bro’ bassist Keith) winding up with mild heart attacks in a hospital, having added Bry’s back medication to their drunkenness. And their wanting to end their spiritual ‘hunger’ in the process.

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

Folks, this trilogy is called The Prodigal Band Trilogy for a reason! And the reason is this: the parable within the Gospels spoken to the Apostles by Christ Himself that gave the most inspiration to this trilogy was the Parable of the Prodigal (Lost) Son within the Gospel of Luke Chapter 15. The parable is below, and has been during my entire life one of my favorite parables. My other two favorite parables have also been referenced in my Biblical References Snippet posts—the Parable of the Laborers in the Vineyard and the Parable of the Talents. All three work together to impart my mission message, but it made more sense to me, what with my trilogy about a rock band that gains fame and fortune but loses their ‘souls’ so to speak, to call this the Prodigal Band Trilogy, where the ‘prodigal band’ meets (spiritually) the ‘prodigal son.’

Before I go on, let me explain the meanings of prodigal and prodigy. The ‘prodigal son’ is ‘lost’ because of wasteful extravagance. He is wasting his ‘inheritance’ (or, in the case of my prodigal band members) or ‘talents.’ Three of the band members, singer Erik, bassist Keith, and keyboard synthist Bry, are also child prodigies, possessing ‘extraordinary talent’ at singing and music playing as children through inheritance from ancestors. Instead of throwing their given talents into classical music or opera singing where they could make good incomes, they instead choose rock stardom, as they could then acquire extravagant fame and especially fortune. And we all know the lifestyles of rock stars, right? Sex, drugs, and rock and roll…

Below is the parable from Luke 15 (copyright-free King James Version):

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Snippets of The Prodigal Band Trilogy Biblical References Series: Episode Five—If a prostitute, a tax collector, a synagogue ruler, a Pharisee, a Roman Centurion, and some likely wealthy ship owners can accept Christ as Savior…Can supposed “Devil Worshipers”?

I have watched many YouTube videos created by supposed Christian preachers claiming that many entertainers that claim to believe on Christ are faking their beliefs. I will not post links to these videos because they are readily available to anyone who might follow rockers and rappers and singers and actors and athletes and other wealthy celebrities who claim to have converted to Christianity or were born that way.

Now some of these celebrities may be faking it, but some videos imply all of these celebrities are faking it. (Note: these folks never seem to think of the possibility that some celebrities that are supposed Satanists might also be faking it! But anyway….).

To just flat out say all these celebrities are phony Christians, however, with no verbal proof from the celebrity that they are faking it, is wrong. Folks who call themselves Christians shouldn’t be ‘making stuff up’ either! And this snippet post is a response to this rumor-mongering, which these folks ought to know Christ abhors.

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Snippets of The Prodigal Band Trilogy: Biblical References Series, Episode Four: “Born Again”

The Gospel of John Chapter Three makes clear what Christ meant by “being born again”—that is, not physically, but spiritually. I need to make this clear because many folks take this whole “born again” theme as similar to Hinduist “reincarnation” or that Christianity practices a “murder” of sorts in order to be “born again.” After all, those who hate Christianity are going to make whatever excuses they can to claim it supports the notion of “murder” in order to be “born again,” using the fact that Christ Himself was crucified so that He could shed His own blood for the sake of taking on the sins of the world…He died so all believers could be born again, which some claim means Christians support murder! Seriously. I watched a video that actually made that claim, and it was not an atheist who made the video! (I have no idea what this person’s religion is….as for me, I do Christ, not religion, the hand, not the glove, and I let him know that in the comment section!)

But one does know Christ arose from the dead, soooooo…. Was He too “born again”?

Anyway…. John Chapter Three, when Christ is speaking to the Pharisee Nicodemus, tells him that ‘ye must be born again,’ to which Nicodemus answers how he’s supposed to do that since he is already old. Christ tells him it is a spiritual rebirth. It is not a matter of physical rebirth, or Hinduistic reincarnation.

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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 Two—Gnawing of “Bones Forever.”

I had originally called this post “Episode One.” Sorry about that, it is Episode Two.

The previous Biblical Reference post here about “weeping and gnashing of teeth” was used to point out that the evil satanic character Corion would mete out retribution onto those he commanded if they did not carry out his will. But Corion never says anything about ‘gnashing’ of teeth on the bones of those wayward minions—he uses the term “gnaw” and “gnawing.” While both ‘gnashing’ and ‘gnawing’ mean pretty much the same thing—teeth scraping on bones or whatever—I used the term ‘gnaw’ because it is more commonly used. Everyone knows about the gnawing of rodents on wood, on nuts, on gardens, on leftover food such as dog or cat food; gnawing is why rodents have those sharp fanged front teeth that they have.

There are only two references to ‘gnaw’ or ‘gnawing’ used in the Bible; I learned this by using Strong’s Concordance, which defines both in a similar way as it defines ‘gnashing,’ which is only found in the New Testament referring to Christ’s “weeping and gnashing of teeth” quotes in Matthew and Luke Gospel verses. But both ‘gnaw’ in Zephaniah 3:3 and ‘gnawing’ in Revelation 16:10 make the same connotations, except that while in Zephaniah the ‘gnaw’ is on bone, in Revelation the ‘gnawing’ is on the tongue ‘for pain.’ Zephaniah’s ‘gnaw’ on bone refers to evil leaders within Jerusalem that “are evening wolves; they gnaw not the bones till the morrow.” (KJV) One could compare the evil Corion to these evil leaders in Jerusalem. So one could say that Corion’s ‘gnaw on bones forever’ has the same connotation as Zephaniah’s use of the word. However, in Revelation 16:10, the gnawing is on the “tongues for pain” and the ones doing the ‘gnawing on their tongues for pain’ are likely those who refused to repent of their deeds in the Revelation time-frame, which could mean either Corion’s minions had their tongues gnawed on by Corion or the evil minions gnawed on their own tongues. In The Prodigal Band Trilogy, the connotation is that Corion or his Demons did the ‘gnawing,’ but not one tongues, but bones. Forever.

The term ‘gnaw on bones forever’ is used several times in all three novels that make up the trilogy, and all refer to Corion’s gnawing on bones of either wayward minions or on the forces of Good, such as the angels called The Tooters who work for The Creator, God.

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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.

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The Prodigal Band Trilogy Original Deleted Scenes, Part Seven

Welcome to the next episode in the ‘Deleted Scenes’ series of sections of the original trilogy novels that were not included in the three-books-in-one The Prodigal Band Trilogy. It has been a while since I have posted in this series as loved ones had come out for a visit. So here goes.

In this episode which gives more detail to a sinister event that happened on top of the burning of the band’s jet as it landed at a London Airport for an important meeting that never happened–it was a ruse to get the band to London so that even more nefarious events could happen, but didn’t (in Chapters Eleven, Twelve, and Thirteen)–the forces of evil tried another nefarious event to get even with the prodigal band for not toeing the evil line anymore, but instead siding with Good. The Evil couldn’t burn them in the jet, so instead it chose to burn them at home, so to speak.

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My Interview Hosted by Esther Rabbit

Several months ago when the Corona Virus event began I had posted in a Goodreads comment on the Author-Reader Forum regarding ways authors could advertise their books for free, saying to post links to your book site on websites that would attract possible readers of the novels the author writes. Esther Rabbit, who is an author, mentor to indie authors, interviews authors of all kinds of novels and non-fiction books, and promotes indie author books on her Esther Rabbit site, asked me to choose seven interview questions from her site and answer the questions for an online-interview.

Here is the link to the interview. Enjoy!

Questions include how I came up with the books in the Prodigal Band Trilogy, the publishing history, the inspiration, as well as (to use author-speak) the ‘plotter vs. pantser’ issue…I am both, especially pantser. So that makes me a ‘plantser’!

When you go to the site you’ll see that funny-looking ‘old lady’ at the beginning…that’s me. I sent in a portion of a picture taken on my son’s cell phone. I do not have a cell phone and do not want one. I do not like being tracked and traced if you know what I mean–I am a very private person. And because I have no cell phone I have very few photos of myself, and I am 67 years old, that’s the best of the most recent photos I had access to. Believe me, I was not prepared for my son’s decision to take that photo! Hopefully that goofy looking lady in the picture does not discourage folks from reading the interview!

Thanks, Esther! Blessings!

Note: Esther also has a YouTube author-mentor channel and Goodreads channel as well.

The Prodigal Band Trilogy Deleted Scenes, Part Six

Episode Six is similar to Episode Three, where singer Erik’s girl and future wife Ger is conversing with the bassist Keith’s wife Jarris by a swimming pool at the home of a movie producer; they are starring in a ‘zany’ comedy.

This particular episode however is more satirical—knowing how hypocritical Hollywood-type celebrities can be, claiming they care about endangered wildlife while wearing fur coats of endangered animals or wearing leather clothes of animals they claim to care about, I just can’t help pointing out this hypocrisy!

In Episode Six, Ger and Mo, the estranged wife of synthist Bry, get together within her room at a fancy palatial estate next to an Ashram of New Age cult leader Cole Blessing, whom had just ‘cured’ Ger of esophagus cancer. After the cure, Ger, who is brunette, Erik and their children moved to a fancy estate in ‘LA Hills.’ Note: Bry is also at the bash to try to win her back. The ‘bash’ in question is a gala to help fund Blessing’s New Age cult, the Church of the Circle of Unity founded by the evil Swami Negran, and his Ashram.

Ger arrived at Mo’s room right after Blessing left the room—to perform a satanic ritual in the basement cavern of the palace, which Blessing did not know drummer Tom and his lover Princess Tina had witnessed outside the cavern through a small door window. The Red Crystal of Corion used by the late Swami Negran was essential to the ritual. This gala and ritual event takes place in late May, 2000. From Chapter Eight of the original The Prophesied Band:

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