A Tale of Three Kings by Gene Edwards (Book Review)

A Tale of Three Kings
by
Gene Edwards

On page 59 of A Tale of Three Kings [i] by Gene Edwards, the author observes:

THERE IS no kingdom without Dischord.

Even God had His critics in heaven, you know.

I

Mr Edwards provides us with a challenging Treatise that examines the relationships of three kings from the Tanakh (Old Testament), the three kings being Saul, David and David’s son Absalom.

Most certainly, God has his critics.

But reading the next sentence, then one presumes the critics are the chief protagonist: Satan, or the devil, or Lucifer Fallen, each is - we are told elsewhere - one and the same, and of course, that fallen kingdom comprising, as various sacred texts record, and the one-third host that fell with him.’

II

But this, surely, is conjecture by humankind, relying upon texts that humankind has written, then storified, and then come to accept as divine revelation.

Nevertheless, I commend this work by Gene Edwards. It stimulates deep introspection. It causes the reader to not only examine oneself but to also, as here, think outside the box.

And this is one of the most important dimensions.

III

When we think outside the box we are less likely to fall into the trap of the frightful scenes filmed in the Oval office this year, with “laying on of Hands”, declarations that a man is “The Chosen One, Chosen by God, God’s Anointed” and so on.

In 1933, a man believed he was the chosen one, and even saw himself as messianic.

And to stir the emotions still more, the Nuremberg Rallies filmed by Leni Riefenstahl, her expertise captured the shadow of the Junkers JU 52 passing over the marching thousands below … it was, as the commentator put it,

like one coming out of the clouds from on high, the messiah,
the chosen one.

For the first time, aviation had been put to such spectacular out-of-this-world usage.

We know the rest.

IV

My whole life, I’ve presumed that the German noun Heil meant, in English, simply hail - simply put ‘to praise; or to ‘salute’.

Heil is also rendered in English as ‘salvation’. That pulled me up short.

Those terrifying rallies and that odious phrase „Sieg heil“ meant one thing every time ~ salvation. You are my salvation. You are our salvation. You are the chosen one. When said between individuals, one is saying Hitler is our salvation with the pungent reply in effect, Hitler is indeed my salvation.

V

In January 2021, a bunch of so-called Christians ‘laid hands’ on the shoulders of the 45th! That peculiar bod, otherwise known as the quiff, or the wandering middle finger. They, too, proclaimed that their god had revealed to them all that this old man bereft of any ability to lead except on a TV show set, that he was their chosen one.

Strange isn’t it? The quiff loves to make his entrance out of stage mist and rolling drums and fanfare. We’ve found out from his first wife that his favourite book, too, is Mein Kampf.

Words are powerful. They are meant to be. What we say, how we say it, and who we say them to, is akin to opening our secret Pandora's Box to everyone on the receiving end.

29 April 2023
All Rights Reserved

LIVERPOOL

© Kenneth Thomas Webb 2023

[i] Published in 1980 under Copyright © MCMLXXX by Gene Edwards, ‘Christian Books Publishers of California’.

Written 30 November 2021 as Blind Faith in A Thousand Dimensions.