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ALLEGORIES,
APOLOGUES AND ACRONYMS
Imagery with
Verse for Christ the Lord
Rev. Dr. Robert E. DONALDSON
Published by World Wide Web
Witness Inc.
July 2003
Extended and set in two volumes,
2005
and Updated 2006
©
ISBN 0-9750778-7-2
now refers to Volume 1
For Volume 2,
ISBN 0 9757385 6 9
PREFACE
It appears that the
many allegories, apologues, acronyms, pictures in words, plays in scenes, animal
speakers, dialogues and presentations for the imagination hitherto presented on
this site, might be put together
in one book, allowing comparison and if desired, continual reading in one bloc,
rather than through various labours, to and fro with seekings in this and
that chapter or work. Hence there is now presented this compendium, yes with
some small additions, not entirely insignificant, but still in the very stream
of the originals.
Hosea 12:10 tells
us that the Lord used many images, indeed that He multiplied imagery in speaking
to Israel, and it may be that imaginative presentations may be helpful in this
generation also. Its sudden desire for wizardry and bizarre ‘spiritual’
personages, as works of fiction, appears to be so strong, that it is almost like a
reaction to the trend to make man if not mechanical, then at least programmatic,
an absurd pretension (cf. Marvels of Predestination … Ch. 7,
Endnote 1), as usual making the exception of the programmatic farce,
the theorist, himself miraculously delivered, in order to be the escapee
who tells us what we essentially are, without being one of them himself, in the
quite delicious freedom with which he is able to SAY SO! Certainly, THIS sort of
escape long preceded the current fame for other exotic works of fiction!
Escape ? Where will
they go ? What is the special appeal, now so gripping much of the cultivated
world, the source of the zest for wizardry, for living in novels in 'spiritual'
realms of great oddity ? It is a mental walk into adventures which SEEM to
satisfy their strong need for a spiritual
world, or at least a non-programmatic one, and a non-mechanical one (moving from the one
which used to be in vogue when man began to see big possibilities in the
mechanical, as now in the electronic, both with gross omissions, felt rather
than realised by many, who hence seek escape).
Knowing that he is
more than these economic and philosophic midgets imply or suggest, but scarcely
daring to confront the cultural gods of heathenism which are pushing such
simplistic reductionisms (cf. It Bubbles …
Ch. 9), the modern cultural man waits with glee for the new imaginary characters
which, being absurd, are most pleasant, desirable and attractive to him. That
is, they do not fit in his world and that is WHY he likes them.
On the other hand,
they DO fit into something at least of the amplitude which he senses in his own
private and inner world, and in his occasional ventures into any sort of actual
thought about his origins and destiny, with a scope which is not pre-cramped into camps and
controls, clamps and strictures, so that they beckon. It is, after all, a bit like Hoyle's ghostly
presence beckoning (cf. Repent or Perish
Ch. 5 as linked, Secular Myths
... Ch. 7, esp.
*1) the world to more of the intelligence which Hoyle, better
than many (SMR pp. 209ff.,
224ff.,
252Aff.), saw incontrovertibly to be active in the manufacture of our own, and
indeed in His other manufactures.
Beckons ? WHAT beckons! HOW is it beckoning ?
Alas, the actual beckoning back is to Christ, the ONLY rock there ever was or
will be for sinning man (II Samuel 22:32ff., Psalm 61:1-3 cf. SMR pp.
98ff.). As to that, it is by the many,
not desired, but rather sought is the spiritual uplift to mere clouds of
insignificant vapour (as in Ezekiel 13:6-9), which leads to sudden downdrafts,
occasioning tragedy, now for the individual, now the nation, not the race and
its whole world.
Imaginary
spiritual things ? They are cheap to buy, and dear to possess!
So long as it does
not mean ANYONE in particular (no LORD but paganism, the contemporary Baals), or
any COMMAND in particular (the current desire to escape from all that when not
‘in the office’), or any TRUTH, which can cramp rebellion as little else: so
long as all this is so, then the new imaginative escape hatch, or ejection seat
seems eminently to be desired by many, for it
brings a certain relief. It puts together
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both imagination
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often culturally
disallowed from roving freely, especially
since it is 'directed' to be in contravention of scientific method,
in the service many of the pseudo-scientific nature ‘gods’ of our day
(a form of naturalistic fundamentalism)
(cf. News 57, TMR Chs.
1, 8, A
Spiritual Potpourri Chs. 1-9,
Wake Up World! … Chs. 4 -
5,
Secular Myths … Chs. 7 -
8,
Earth Spasm … Chs. 1,
7 )
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and unrealism, especially
surrealism:
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so that a day out
can be enjoyed by all, rather like an office treat for the Staff.
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This being so, it
is the more worthwhile to present imaginary ways and characters, with the
liberty of the unreal: but pointing to the solidity of the historical realities and divine
directives, revealed, verified and perennially attested, in the interests of the real.
This is done, so that as with Israel of old (Hosea 12:10), the exploratory
journey may bring people back to the home so many lack, in God. This can help by
using the pent-up desire to find something, to discover what is the source of
everything, but especially of man, who is like a long lost child, in the jungles
of New Guinea, something like the Japanese soldier who decades after the war was
over, was still in jungle hiding.
It is good to be
lost to, absent from the current obscure and obscurantist realm of cultural commands, and to
think a while, and seek, and not in vain; for God is never sought in vain. The
commanding presence of Christ is not absent, even if the approach is unexpected;
and the resolution of the personal, social and national problems of this world
is not so far off, that the flying of the kite of imagination may not bring
it to the attention of those who, with noses so long to the cultural grindstone,
have forgotten there was a sky – a REAL ONE – at all.
Minds swallowed
up in the unsavoury interstices of the intellectual pit, moral quagmire and
spiritual graveyard which man is making of his own spirit, life and world, need
release, not so much into mere imagination, far less into quasi-'spiritual'
episodes that are relief to the psyche but neither food for truth nor stimulus
to it. Rather more deftly is it directed into the reality of the call to and the company of their God,
a thing to search, to desire, to seek; for in
masses man has "forgotten the God who
fathered you", and
"scornfully esteemed the Rock of his
salvation". If the natural heart is
not attracted to this, yet the very display of wonders outside the route march
of unrealism, in more leisurely mode, may find light dawn where darkness bred.
The story is not new; Israel has
given a perspective rather freely over the last 3500 years.
Israel presented
from God to mankind, the
books of His coming, the Messiah for man, the date when He would die (Highway of Holiness
Ch. 4), the locale, His works (SMR Appendix C),
the atonement itself to be completed at the date specified (Isaiah 50-55, Questions and Answers
Ch. 2, TMR
Ch. 3, Barbs, Arrows and
Balms
17, 20): yes, and it even attested
prophetically, its own rejection of Him in advance (Isaiah 49:7).
Then, it forsook Him (nationally and
politically). What had been foretold, it did, in the most poignant chapter of
all human history!
The Gentiles have in large measure now followed suit, equally with
a staggering insouciance and disregard, and even
copied the concept of having "new gods,
new arrivals" in multitudes, distorting,
ignoring, annihilating, rebuilding, as did Israel, with a result rather well
known.
If God, as He
foretold (Deuteronomy 32, Micah 7, Ezekiel 36ff., SMR
Appendix A), has duly brought back Israel (cf.
SMR Chs. 8 - 9)
to His land as He appointed,
He has also brought forward the only covenant of salvation He is prepared to
offer the world, one sealed in the blood of His incarnate Son. Once Israel
suffered appallingly for their rejection of this One so marvellously come, so
adequate, compassionate and empowered for all good; now it is the Gentile
nations' turn! They too ignore what He has SAID!
Neither is
necessary; but both have duly come. The one would not listen; now the other (cf.
Romans 11). This cultural revolt is not any more necessary, as a place to be, a
'struggle' to follow, than is al Qaeda, and its eventual payments will be quite
as great as will be the lot of that organisation. It is all one: revolt against
the living God (cf. More Marvels... Ch. 4).
It is time to think again, to
repent; and it is time to liberate imagination from its cultural chores and
revisit truth, reality and rationality, and to follow it, find the Lord whose
profile of presentation is the most manifest of anything on this earth, and
finding His salvation in Christ, wallow no more in the wounded earth, its sores
and its sorties against the freedom of the Lord, that liberty which He has
prepared for His children. It is necessary to trust Him, receive His diagnosis
and cure, and thus filled with love toward God, show it in life as the sunshine
shows the rainbow on the clouds, showering light in beauty, like some aerial
gardens, set in the heavens, where man does not soil or spoil.
But what is it like ?
Imagination released from the
clamps and rigors of unrealism, irrationality, secular myths into the wonderful
uplift of actuality, no hold barred, all things unchallengeable, sure,
unaltered, is like using an aeroplane for a long desert trip, to reach one's
destination, instead of chugging alone laboriously on changing sands, bogs and
heats of the unsparing day. Liberation into reality is glorious; but finding
that it is personal, powerful, presidential, in the very presence of the Creator and Judge, who is
likewise the Saviour requiring neither cost to pay nor work to perform: this, it is
better than any imagination. It involves cost, not to obtain, but to the one
obtaining it, His, nor ours, like a mother with child.
You do not need to create it: that
way is all prepared to the tiniest detail of the program. You do, however, need
to care for it. If you know God, it is authentic, and it involves a change of
heart which will see the end of your former aims and actuations, motivations and
desire; but when God is involved, relative to oneself, what is that! Further,
when He gives back life, recreated, being its original Creator, and that in His
own image (Colossians 3:10, Philippians 3:20-21), imagination can soar. It has no limits, but the God
who made it, and it looks forward to the day when
"we shall know as we are known"
(I Corinthians 13), as the very acme of the wonders already wrought.
CONTENTS
Literary Variations
Volume I
I
Some OVERVIEWS
1
Grace
in Gardening and the
Flower Bower -
A
Theological, Horticultural, Arboreal Encounter,
filled with acronyms you
may not have met before
This is
ACRONYM PARK!
... from The Biblical Workman Ch. 8
2
The Observation
Post Allegory ... from Galloping Events Ch. 6
3
Conversation
between Two Computers- an allegorical dialogue, probing into much ...
from SMR. (Another dialogue ? this one, The Logic and Language Dialogue ? see SMR pp.
3ff.. )
4 On the other hand,
Architecture ?
... from SMR
5
Creation
of Eyes - Blank verse on (in logical context) ... from A Spiritual
Potpourri, in Ch. 7
6
The Magpie, the
Termite and the Truth - a trio talks - truth is not available for invention:
it is there ... from Stepping Out for Christ Ch. 9
7
Easter Alert- Versified
Journey below and above ... from Barbs, Arrows and Balms 8
8.
Realising
the Release of Rest (an
ancient theme in a renewed stream) ...
from Biblical Blessings Appendix 1
2
SOME INTERVIEWS and
PROCEDURES
9
Laughing Children - delightful kids, so spiritually alert ...
relayed from The Kingdom
of Heaven, Ch. 8
10-16
Action
and Allegories ...
a group, from TMR Ch. 4
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1. The Fast Track and the Established
Track |
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2. Knowing Nothing of the King
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3. Words
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4. The Ice People
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5. The Visionaries of Light
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6. Sunlight
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7. The Lame Man and the Children
... from TMR |
17 Method in Christian Apologetics - Versified ...
from A
Spiritual Potpourri: use *18 plus *19 and *20
(1)
(2)
this seen in its broader setting
(3) and in its larger scope
(this chapter slightly updated for this purpose).
3
FACT and FICTION WITHOUT
FRICTION
BECAUSE OF TRUTH
(and don't forget to pack
Jerusalem for the trip)
18
The Eagle, the
Willy Wagtail and the Nightingale - the wagtail spreads his tail: on the
Return of Christ ... from Little Things Ch. 6
This is a series, the above being Part I:
19
Part II: The Mosaic
- A Matter of Method, giving 20 ways the pieces fit together in that floor of
understanding, the return of Israel and its whole history, and the earth's! ...
from Little Things Ch. 9
20
Part III: Mosaic
of Fields - Moving Aloft and Looking Down ...
from Little
Things Ch. 10
21
Part IV: Flight to
Freedom - or From It ? ...
from Pall of Smoke, and Diamond of
Joy, Ch. 3
22 Israel in the Middle East
2 sets of
TWO
CHOIRS of
assonantial alliteration
singing of the significance of things ,,, from
It Bubbles, It Howls, He Calls Ch. 7 (cont.)
23
The Galloping
Allegory Share in the
author's boyhood horse experience, in horse life, in the
perils of too much galloping, and that, not only on horses. Direction of flow
... is important, even when the wind is in your hair, and the trees flit past.
Sometimes the posture must change! ... from Galloping Events Ch. 5
24
Calvary and
Auschwitz, verse on the
comparison and the chasm ... from
Biblical Blessings, Appendix I
25
The Witness of the
Worm - an enlightening conversation with the lowly: professorial worm and
friends have much to divulge on creation and life ...
from
Stepping Out for Christ, Ch. 10
4
FROM TOP TO BOTTOM
26
Aviary of Idolatry ...
from Barbs, Arrows and Balms, Appendix IV
27
From Rock Bottom to
Celestial Light - A Practical Conversation in a Submarine ...
from Acme, Alpha and Omega: Jesus Christ Ch. 11
28
Dialogue at the Lake
- the lake, the rose and the lily - with the lost soul: principles,
power, purpose and person ... from Stepping Out for Christ,
Ch. 8
29
Strategic
Conversation in Hell ... from Cascade of Truth, Torrent of
Mercy, Ch. 5
30
THE NIGHT OF THE
LITTLE BITES
ANT ANTICS AND LICE LORE ... from
The Pitter-Patter of Prophetic Feet, Ch. 9
31
Aeronautical
Allegory - has a lot to say without saying much: aeronautics can be like
that
... from The Kingdom of Heaven... Appendix Section I
32
The Worth of Surf
- An Allegorical Excursion into Tubes ... from Wake Up World!...
Epilogue
33
Oceanic
Parable- The Predicament of the
Mouse ... from TMR, Ch. 3
34
Flight to hell ?
Destination hell ... and the passenger who got off, and those who did not!
... from The Frantic Millenium, Ch. 11
5
FRIENDLY ANIMALS
The process of
salvation, the basis of it and the result
35
The Hunter, the Fox
and the Lamb - an allegory on the meaning of meekness, and of creation
... from Little Things, Ch. 7
36
The Squirrel, the Badger and the Peacock - Victory in various senses, some
of which require spiritual sensors ... from Victory, Ch. 10
See also 18 and
25 above, which are in this category as well. As a late entry from 2004, the
consortium of the Bull-Ant, the Butterfly and the
Porcupine might be consulted.
Volume
II
6
SYMBOLS AND SIGNIFICATIONS
37 Dramatic Verse:
Wars, Words, Works ...
from Red Alert
Ch. 10
38
Snorkelling ? It seems so
natural. And you can look at the depths! ... from TMR Ch. 8,
Epilogue
39
On
Great Burials - the dead lie strewn like Autumn leaves on the philosophic
pages of history
Suppression orders are the order of the day, as it turns to night...
from SMR Ch. 4
40
The
Vessel
of Christ and the
Phantom Flotilla
of the Heady Opposition: Nautical Allegory ...
Repent or Perish Ch. 5.
41
Dreamings
and
Musings with a certain Bureaucratic Air:
from Lord of Life Ch.
3, Barbs 18, Aspiration to Ascend ,
Divine Agenda Ch. 7
42
The Wonder and
the Witch - Who has bewitched you? asks Paul, and not without
reason! from A Spiritual Potpourri Ch. 13
43
The Trendy Ecumenical
Museum - a prelude to the above ? A DIFFERENT sort of museum ...
from Stepping Out for Christ Ch. 1
44 Drama -
Blood Sport
- the illiberalism of liberalism, with the young, and its exposure in
drama after the style of Shakespeare's Julius Caesar ... from TMR
Ch 10, Section 3
7
THE JOURNEYS
by air, by imagination and by acronym
45
The
Flight, a journey not to be forgotten with strange, but occasionally sound
passengers.
... from A Spiritual Potpourri 17
46
Evangelical, Scientific and Secular Acronyms ...
from The Frantic Millenium Ch. 3
47
Intertwining Acronyms and Images
acronymic activities
or
work-out with acronyms
or
losing spiritual weight
for athletic purposes
with which we add
pictorial compilations,
to stir the imagination and
oil the spirit -
both to aid memory and activate
faith ... from Joyful
Jottings 20
48 Failing
Grades for Grads ... from A Spiritual Potpourri first part
49-50 The Hu of Humanity has ... hiccoughs in hus
soul
51 The Religious
Service of Naturalism, priests and all
52 Necrosis from
Naturalism ... Free among the dead, in acronym and verse:
the obtuse publisher and the gyrations of the gorbie feature, including the
woeful worship service
53 What is Worse than Confusing Prose with Verse
?
Genesis 1
has all the poetry of a science laboratory book, of a family tree, of a
situational survey. Being negative about the positive confusion ...
54
Verse on the Christian Life, from
Barbs, Arrows and Balms 21
55 Assembling
Thoughts with Acronym - from SMR, followed by
the tireless testimony of truth
56 Aspiring by
Acronyms ... from Beauty of Holiness Ch. 9
57
Conversations with Mr
Nothing and Mr Moron
58
Conversation of Father with Children in Fairy Story Time
(much about 'nothing' :the ludicrous misuse of the thought and term is exposed
by ... children, first)
59
AIRCRAFT ALLEGORY… from Let God be God! Ch. 6
Now, as one born out of due time, and in fact
retrospectively added from January 2005, is a further allegory: the Mountain of
Separation
60 The Mountain of Separation
This present work ramifies, and constitutes some 860 pages, or
nearly 350,000 words drawn from various parts of the preceding works,
with very little change - though occasional addition: being largely selection
set together with the initial conspectus
provided in the Preface. However, just as the groupings are significant, so the
progression is deliberate.
Further, we now have:
61 Pastoral Symphony
WHY AND WHY NOT!
62 Micah and Majesty
that is not his own
63 The
Kaleidoscope which Insisted on Being Opera Glasses
64 The Nano-Fragment Stores
His Story
SEE
ALSO THE SEPARATE VOLUME OF ALLEGORY: LITTLE ANGEL
With this, comes its SEQUEL:
Journey to God or
Fantasy's Flight to the Infernal
This provides you in all with four
volumes in this field of symbol, imagery and literary
variation.