Ch.2: ”Atheist-2-Believer in 1 Second Flat”

By admin On December 8th, 2012

 

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Click on credit links below each pic, for licensing names/details/tags/etc.. Most pics cropped/reduced in size

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CHAPTER 2:

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“ATHEIST-2-BELIEVER… 

IN 1-SECOND-FLAT!”   

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December 1979, 2 am.

(Six months later, after the Grand Canyon trip)

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The_Scream Wikipedia public domain by edvard munch c.1893

(Music and singing)…

“…..How long… has this been goin on?”

“Please tell me, how long… has this been goin on?”

“HOW LONG !!?”

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The song suddenly ends. A few hands clap. Very few hands!

https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Keane1.jpg.

The singer says “goodnight”, gets her coat and leaves. A hand turns off the electric piano, and then turns off the various amplifiers. A lone figure gets up from his keyboard and grabs his coat. Walks across the dance-floor, straight to the exit. The bartender looks up from cleaning his station, nods a half-smile and says “goodnight”.

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Outside in the dark parking lot, the piano player, little doubt, lights up a cigarette, looks around at the mostly empty parking lot, and shakes his head. Takes another drag, then walks over, and gets into a metallic-black car.  In a moment, the sports-car pulls out… into the street called South 6th. Driving its way down the dark road…speeding off into what lies just ahead.

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In a few minutes, this same car rolls onto a driveway on the other side of town…at 800 Hillside. The garage door slowly rises. The little black RX-7  rolls into its place. After shutting down the engine, the piano player gets out, stepping through the door, into a galley-style kitchen. He sees he’s alone. He thinks of pouring himself a bourbon and 7-Up, but decides instead to go straight to bed. Probably pauses for a moment to look down at the city lights below. “What a lousy night at the club!”, he perhaps mutters, “Wish it coulda been like last week!” After another moment he turns toward his room. Entering, he throws his clothes to the side, and climbs into bed. Little does he know what (or who) is waiting for him inside this room. Little does he realize that in a few seconds, his life will never be the same!

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You see, this young man is about to be thrust into Hell!

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And he doesn’t even believe there’s a Heaven!

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Keane1 – Yamaha Electric Grand – courtesy Wikipedia & Yummifruitbat – Picture of unknown person and not of Chuck

The Scream Wikipedia public domain by edvard munch c.1893

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https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Polyptyque_de_la_Vanit%C3%A9_terrestre_et_de_la_R%C3%A9demption_c%C3%A9leste-Hans_Memling_mg_9960.jpgNO HELL BELOW US?…

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Oh! You don’t believe there’s a Hell, either?

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And you scoff at the notion that Hell could possibly extend even to the here-and-now, on Planet Earth?

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Well, I’m the guy in this story. At least, I was him! And I’ve got to tell his story. And I can personally testify that there is a Hell! And this story may prove to you that Hell indeed exists…right here…and right now!

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Or…or it may only prove to you to be “Just a lot of nonsense!”

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And no one’s gonna blame you for thinking that!

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But just read for yourself, and judge for yourself. 

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Devil and Hell’s Torment – Polyptyque de la Vanité terrestre et de la Rédemption céleste-Hans Memling – cropped photo by this website – Photo by Rama for Wikimedia – Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 2.0 France license

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MY JUDGMENT DAY…

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Scripture says…“If any man worship the beast and his image, and receive his mark in his forehead, or in his hand… he shall be tormented with fire and brimstone… And the smoke of their torment ascends up for ever and ever: and they have no rest day nor night…”  Revelation 14:9, 10

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I had never read this passage. And I knew almost nothing about the Bible!

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Oh yes, I went to church as a little boy. But that was a long, long time ago. And secular public schooling pretty much wiped away my belief in “all that nonsense!” After all, those stories about a guy being swallowed by a fish. And some dude in a lion’s den, etc.… “Come on! Please! Don’t give me those fairy-tales!”

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THE EXORCIST…

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But as far as Bible prophecy, I hardly even knew it existed! The church I attended as a boy didn’t talk http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Exorcist_ver2.jpgabout those things. At least I never heard it spoken there. And now I was almost 30. I laughed at all such “superstition”!

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To prove this point, I recall a few years earlier than this fateful night, while watching Johnny Carson recount how terrifying a certain new movie was, a movie called “The Exorcist”. I marveled at how Johnny talked about the movie as if it was real. “Come-on Johnny! You don’t really believe that stuff!?!”, I thought.

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And so, I decided to see that so-called “terrifying movie”, “The Exorcist”, a few weeks later. And just as I suspected. It didn’t scare me in the slightest! It was all a lot of ridiculous fantasy!

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Template:Non-free_use_rationale_poster.

Yeah, a whole lot of superstitious gobbledygook! Just like that other movie I saw a few years after the Exorcist, “Dawn of the Dead! What a joke!”. A story of a time just after some cataclysmic event, in which so many people die, that there is no more room in Hell.

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This concept was, no doubt, a theme based on the following Bible verse… “Therefore…saith the LORD, that it shall no more be called Tophet, nor the valley of the son of Hinnom (Gehenna), but the valley of slaughter: for they shall bury in Tophet, till there be no place.” Jeremiah 7:32. 

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Yeah, the world was teeming with half-dead zombies, roaming the Earth, looking for a “good meal”. As far as I was concerned, you could file ’em both under the same category… “REDICULOUS NONSENSE!”

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Exorcist ver2 – wikipedia – fair-use-rationale – see details of Fair-Use Rationale by clicking here 

Dawn of the dead – Wikipedia – Fair-Use-Rationale – see details by clicking on this link

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“THIS NIGHT…THY SOUL SHALL BE REQUIRED”…

Luke 12:20

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Of course, just because I didn’t believe in all this religious stuff, didn’t mean that it wasn’t true (the existence of Hell, that is). And just because I didn’t think there was a God, didn’t excuse me from Judgment Day. I was like that rich fool in the Bible who was busy building his little empire. This young, proud, arrogant, rich fool thought to himself… “Eat, drink and be merry. for I have enough goods stored up to last for many years.” (Luke 12:19). And just like that foolish man in that Bible story, little did I know that this very night, my soul would be required of me!

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To read this parable, just click here… “Parable of the Rich Fool…

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“SINNERMAN, WHERE YA GONNA RUN TO…ALL ON THAT DAY?”…

(Lyrics from the African-American traditional song, “Sinnerman”)

. Dore_TheVisionOfDeath creationism.org public domain

My number had come up!

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My arrogant unbelief was just about to receive a fatal blow!

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And my blissful ignorance was about to implode!

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I was going to get the ultimate rude awakening!

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The Armies of Hell were about to make a stop at my front door. And the Death Angel was riding furiously down the clouds from Heaven with sickle in hand…right towards my house!

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And I was just about to get thrown into the midst of a spiritual battlefield that I didn’t even believe existed!

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It was now my “Armageddon”. And I was totally unprepared for the firestorm which was about to burst down upon me! Yeah, I was that SINNERMAN in that old song, “Sinnerman, Where Ya Gonna Run To?”.

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And there was nowhere I could run to! And there was certainly no place I could hide! 

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“Death Angel” courtesy www.creationism.org see Dore’ Art Gallery.

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ON THE ROAD TO ‘DAMNING-US’…

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Well, back to my story.

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So I (the piano player) went to my bedroom, still not suspecting anything abnormal. But then, just as I laid down in bed, my body began to tremble…uncontrollably! I immediately sensed I wasn’t alone! And I knew there was an unseen entity in my room! The following Bible verse pretty much describes the situation…

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“Fear came upon me, and trembling,

which made all my bones to shake.

Then a spirit passed before my face;

the hair of my flesh stood up:

It stood still, but I could not discern the form thereof

there was silence…”

Job 4:14-16

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This above passage from the Bible pretty much fits what I was going through. But I didn’t know a thing about the Bible back then.

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But I could sense he was hovering above the bedroom door and just below the tall cathedral ceiling. And I also knew I was to ask him questions.

http://thebiblerevival.com/clipart/1901/acts22.jpg.

Looking back on all this, I now realize this was the antithesis of the Apostle Paul, getting his call from Jesus to become a Believer while he was on the road to Damascus (Acts Ch. 9).

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Paul got his call from Jesus. I, on the other hand, was getting a call from the forces of darkness. There was no bright light shining down on me from Heaven, like Paul experienced! There was only dark, cryptic silence! Paul was on the “road to Damascus”. But I was on the “road to Damnation“! And yet, in spite of my mirror-opposite circumstance from Paul, I nevertheless was supposed to ask this invisible intruder the very same question that Paul asked Jesus, “What do you want me to do?”…

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“What do you want me to do?” I uttered to this unseen spirit, in a terror-stricken voice. But there was no response.

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“Do you want me to go for a drive?” (Nothing! My body still trembling.)

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“Do you want me to get a drink?” (I didn’t know what to ask this spirit…in sheer terror, I was merely trying to ask something innocuous. I was totally horrified!)

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“Do you want me to go to the bathroom?” As you can imagine, I had to go badly. My body stopped trembling, so I took this to indicate “yes”. So after going, I returned to my room, and the trembling returned.

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Do you want me to turn on my video recorder?”… My body got completely calm, and I realized that’s what he wanted me to do.

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That’s it!”

http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:JVC-HR3300EG.jpg

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So I got up and began to rewind the recorder, not knowing what it was he wanted me to see. I had set the recorder to record the Johnny Carson Show earlier that night, before I left for the club. (I did this so I could watch it after I got home.) After a few minutes of rewinding, I sensed that he wanted me to stop it. So I did. I then turned on my TV, and sat back down on my bed to watch whatever he wanted me to watch.

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Paul Converted – www.thebiblerevival.com

early model JVC wikimedia creative commons license

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ENTER THE JOKER…

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The playback began, and it was in the middle of the Carson Show. A very popular comedianhttp://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:MI_AND_L'AU_-_GOOD_MORNING_JOKERS_-_2009.jpg was just walking on as Carson’s special guest. This was the same comedian I spoke of in Chapter 1. This comedian was the main reason I had preset my recorder that evening. I thought he was absolutely the funniest comedian I’d ever seen and heard! And millions of young Americans felt the exact same way. So I didn’t want to miss him. And that’s why I recorded him.

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But nothing was funny right now at this moment. Still I watched, not having a clue about what I was going to see.

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MI AND L’AU – GOOD MORNING JOKERS – 2009 By Mathieu Linotte share-alike license wikimedia

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BURNING THE ROOT OF MANKIND…GINSENG !?!…

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The comedian sits down and after some introductions, he pulls out a hand-rolled cigarette, as if it’s a joint of Marijuana. Carson looks surprised. The comedian tells him that it’s a joint made of Ginseng. ThGinseng_in_Korea de.wikipedia.org-wiki-Benutzer-Richardfabi share-alike licensee audience laughs, because ginseng, obviously, is normally taken as a healthy tea product and not smoked as a hallucinogen! Next the comedian pulls out of his coat a small ginseng herb. He shows the root to Johnny. He points out to Johnny that the ginseng root is shaped like a man’s body.

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(The English word ginseng derives from the Chinese term rénshēn (simplified: 人参; traditional: 人蔘), literally “man root” (referring to the root’s characteristic forked shape, resembling the legs of a man) Information courtesy Wikipedia.)

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Now I’m sitting there watching all this in horror and amazement, asking myself, “What in the world does this have to do with me!?!” Still I continued to watch…my body in icy-cold terror!

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SPECIAL MESSENGER

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Next, the comedian lights this ginseng joint and takes an enormous drag, and holds it in, as if he’s smoking Marijuana. He then offers Johnny some, and finally convinces Carson to take it. The audience is still laughing. As this “gag” is going on, the comedian is completely deadpan serious. As a matter of fact, the comedian seems as though he knows something no one else knows. Like he knows a big secret! At least, this is how he came off, to my thinking!

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To me it looked like he was trying to get a message across to the viewers. He begins to tell Carson that everyone has to try some ginseng. Or at least that’s the impression I got out of all this. I began to understand why this unseen being wanted me to watch this segment of the Carson Show.

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Photo of Ginseng courtesy of  Wikipedia and “Share-alike” License by Richardfabi, click here for link

Lightmatter burningman by Aaron Logan for wikimedia share-alike license

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NUCLEAR HOLOCAUST?…

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When this scene ended, the Invisible One urged me to turn the TV off. As I thought about all this, I now understood this ginseng episode. It came into my mind that this comedian was some specially appointed messenger. God probably chose him! And God had him come on the Carson show to give this “special message”! And the comedian knew all about these things!

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https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Nuclear_Blast_Animation_Blinding_Light.gif

And this was the message: The ginseng root symbolized Mankind. “The burning of the Ginseng cigarette symbolized the destruction of Mankind”.

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That’s it! “The world is going to end!!!”, I thought to myself. “And only those who smoke the ginseng root will be saved!” And this comedian was showing people like me, just what needs to be done before the world ends…in some fiery nuclear holocaust!

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SMOKE THE GINSENG

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And maybe I too had been chosen as a representative in my little community to get as many people as possible in my town, to smoke this man-shaped ginseng root. And of course, whoever would smoke the ginseng would be saved. This was some sort of orchestrated effort by these unseen spirits to save people of the world.

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PLEASE, PLEASE, DON’T LEAVE!

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Now I have to say something right now. I know how crazy this sounds. But when going through this, it didn’t seem crazy at all! It actually made perfect sense at the time. And this story might start to make more sense to you if you will just stay with it.

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Creative Commons CC0 1.0 Universal Public Domain Dedication

Lightmatter burningman by Aaron Logan for wikimedia share-alike license

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NIGHT OF TERROR…

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After this, I began to tremble once again. I realized that I needed to ask more questions to this spirit.

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“What should I do?” No response. Body still trembling.

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“Should I go downstairs… and listen to his new album?” My body got calm once again. “That’s it!” That’s what I was to do! And so I suppose I got my clothes back on at this point. I went downstairs, and found a brand-new record album by this same comedian, that I had just purchased a day or so earlier.

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COMEDY ISN’T PRETTY

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The cover of this record album was of the comedian’s face. His face was made up like a woman with heavy lipstick and woman’s wig, etc. He had a bored look, a sort of smug expression on his face… and had his lips puckered. The name of the album was “Comedy Is Not Pretty”. I agree. His morbid impression of a woman wasn’t pretty! But more than this, his pose looked like a sick joke! Like he was mocking the people of the world!

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THE CLOWN

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On the back cover of this album was a picture of a clown with a surprised look on his face, an expression of shock (the sketch on left is mine). And there appeared to be little dots on the picture, which seemed to me, to be target-points. This seemed to indicate that this clown symbolized Mankind. In other words, Mankind was the target of this soon-coming nuclear holocaust. “This makes perfect sense!” I thought to myself. “Mankind is like that surprised clown, as we become the target of a soon-coming nuclear war that will bring… Doomsday! It’s gonna take us all by surprise!” I leaned my head back, “Yes, that’s it!…Doomsday!”

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Clown sketch on left is mine and is much different than the original.

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FOLD-OUT

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I removed the clear plastic, and opened the double-jacket. Inside was a large picture of this comedian onstage wearing his famous white suit. He was standing on stage with a microphone, obviously performing before an audience. His white suit glowed with a bright pink hue from the stage lights. This picture just seemed to be the antithesis of the clown picture. The comedian appeared to be angelic looking, with this pinkish aura glowing around him. His infamous clip-on bunny ears and his pink suit reminded me of Easter. And of course, Easter brought to mind “resurrection” and Christianity.

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THE SAVED…AND THE DAMNED

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So with these two contrasting figures; the sinister-looking clown in shock, and the angelic stand-up comic, it seemed that this was the picture of the two classes of humans living in these last moments of Earth’s history: the damned…and the saved.

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Upon opening this new record album, I carefully placed it on the turn-table. But what message did this comedian have in store? Rather, what message did this unseen being have to give through this comedian? What would I hear on this comedy album? I sat down in a chair and listened…

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“SPACE ARK”…

.9.7.11 arc to heaven

This routine was about a giant space ark that took thousands of people to another planet, because planet Earth was destroyed. Of course this made sense, because it seemed to correlate with what the comedian was saying on the Carson Show. (This Space-ark was a comedy gag, and would normally have been funny to me.)

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https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Disapprove.jpg“DROP-THUMB MELODY”…

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This was simply a serious banjo instrumental. But the name, Drop-Thumb Melody”, was the real focus. It was as if this song was some gruesome musical tribute to whoever pushes the button that starts the soon-coming nuclear holocaust. I listened in horror. “Oh God! We’re in big trouble! God is giving the world, the big ‘Thumbs Down’!!!”

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Thumbs down – cropped image – Wikimedia – Creative Commons 2.0 License

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“HOSTAGES”…

.ark-turus

There was another bit about hostages. I can only guess at this point that I must have put this routine together with the “Space-Ark”. Hostages being those who were to be damned.

.Iran hostages wikipedia public domain

There were other routines on this album, but I don’t remember how much I got out of them. But these few I’ve mentioned were the most poignant. There may have been one or two other gags that fit what I was being “enlightened” about. But these few were enough to scare the “livin’ wits outta me”!

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Iran hostages wikipedia public domain

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“ATHEIST MEETS GOD”…

.The Real Accusing Finger -www.signsofheaven.org-copyright 2011

This next routine was about an atheist who dies, and finds himself face-to-face with God. Obviously, the atheist was standing on Judgment Day. The atheist exclaims to God, “I thought all those stories about God existing, were just a lot of  B#!%$&T!!’  Whoops! Excuse me, God!” And the routine continues with the atheist making other such blunders before a holy God.

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“CRUEL SHOES”…

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There was another routine about “trying on new shoes at a shoe store”. The salesman only has one pair of shoes left in the store, ”The Cruel Shoes”! These shoes are Italian cuts. But also they have razor blades, and other impossible angles and turns making them extremely painful to wear. The customer goes crawling out the door with bleeding feet. (This story took on a greater significance later on. I’ll explain later.)

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FALLING ANGEL…

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After this I went back to my bedroom. As I was lying in bed, my eyes began to play tricks on me.http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Paradise_Lost_12.jpg This is what happened:

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As I was laying there, my eyes kind of went crossed…enough so that a certain light from the city below began to look almost like a tiny dancing, or twirling something-or-other. At that moment, I thought it appeared like a little “Tinker Bell”, or perhaps a tiny angel. I’m not exactly sure what thoughts passed through my mind regarding this phenomenon. Anyway, somehow this unseen spirit caused my eyes to cross in such a way, that this little figurine of light slowly danced or twirled it’s way down, and eventually to the floor. Or perhaps this thing was very slowly falling down the window almost to the floor. Now that I think of it, as I’m writing this, I guess maybe it kind-of looked like an angel falling and twirling down from heaven…down, down, down to Earth.

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Other than this, I can’t recall how I spent the rest of the night. But one thing for sure; I didn’t get any sleep that night!

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Lucifer Fallen – Gustave Dore – Wikipedia – US Public Domain

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Judgment Day license plate www.devouringfire.com

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To go to the next chapter, just click here …

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Ch. 3: Where Ya Gonna Run To,

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All On That Day?”…   

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The 2nd day. What happens when comedy comes back to bite you?

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