Trilogy : Salvation | Die Trilogie : Heil

This Trilogy, by request, comprises three separate pieces in four parts:

1 Compassion

2 (a) Good Friday

2 (b) What?! He Is Risen?!

3 JOB - Lucifer - SALVATION

all of which appear on this website under those titles and with extensive notes, should this be of interest.

The Trilogy | Die Trilogie carries just one image, whereas the separate pieces all have their own images.

I have deliberately chosen this delicate depiction of an horrendous execution, for we see too much the reality of evil, made worse by dramas and series where there are no longer any bounds on directors and producers, and actors alike.

It Begins | Es Beginnt

And gazing upon their anger and frustration…
How dare He heal upon the Sabbath
‘By what authority do you do these things?’
they demanded


He flashed a brilliance
Within His Eyes
That smote them sore,
Who is this Man?
They pondered


And then with devastating erudition
Quoting the very Word by which they intended
to convict Him
His gaze took in every man
Every Rabbi
Every Scribe

Every Pharisee

“’ I will have mercy upon whom I will have mercy,
and I will have compassion upon whom I will have compassion,
says The LORD’”

They bristled with indignation
What?
Is He mad?
Is He deranged?
He likens Himself to The Most High!


No! Shouted another
It is worse!
He has quoted the Scriptures
He saith that He IS The Most High!!



They dared not move.
In an instant, His Deity flashed
And was gone
He left them

They signed His death warrant
And unwittingly thereby
Brought Salvation to all

Good Friday | Guten Freitag

There is much traffic 

in the Estuary tonight 

as the smog alights 

and casts its net 

upon the coastline.


The heavy smell of cordite,

or is it scrap metal,

from the Huskisson

or Canada Docks

on the Port of Liverpool?

The mighty Fort George

lies at anchor,

its conning towers

capped by the smoggy yellow; 

late night revellers 

looking in bags and pockets 

for their Ventolin inhalers.

The ducks and geese 
are loud 

in the basin below 
the window 

where earlier sat 
one seagull

eyeing food 

on the coffee table.

The ship’s engines 

now just a distant hum

another ship approaching, 

shimmering lights,

a trawler,

behind it a flotilla 

heading upstream

to Ellesmere Port.

A super-tanker
tugs 
to port and stern 

another on the bow,

the length of
Waterloo Warehouse

on 
Waterloo Dock!

Pier Head stands empty 

yet bathed in lights,

Her Majesty’s Canadian
Warship 
slips quietly
its moorings 

late, late evening
on Maundy Thursday.

The great clock

on the Liver strikes 

One passed the hour. . . 

and despite the smog

a pleasant night.

Recollections of

another darkness. 


A spiritual pollution.

A different smog.

A Universe gasped!



A Host gazed in
hapless awe,

forbidden to intervene 



Salvation bore the stripes

yielded opened hands

yielded crossed feet

to spite-driven nails

of fallen man

A Crown of Thorns


With a deathly hush
rushed 
the powers of darkness
ever so briefly in as Salvation yielded. . .

My God, My God, Why have You forsaken Me?

… momentary victory!
… … such savouring!!
… … … They knew they had their victory!!!



Without warning
THE Universal Declaration. . .
exploding them
 to a trillion atoms


It is finished!

An unnatural darkness 

descending 
at three past the hour.

And the earth quaked

And graves reopened

And those lying dead

some five hundred or more, 

walked again

the streets of Jerusalem.

Death is swallowed up

in victory.



… and as it is written …

And the powers of darkness

look to their defeated leader,

bereft,

And know at last with certainty

that after times, time 
and half a time 

they will one day

live eternally in oblivion
. . .
beyond the pale . . .

where even the comfort 
of death defies them.

… again, as it is written …

IMAGINE!

Written Liverpool 
Good Friday, 
22 April 2011

And On the Third Day | Und am Dritten Tag

WHAT?!? He is Risen?

What do you mean He is risen?

Explain yourself!

Your Excellency

The body is not there!

But I had guards posted

Bring them to me

I will hear from them

They are fearful 

And so they should be!

Was not a stone rolled across the entrance?

Yes Your Excellency

Then how can the body be gone?

How can my own Guard

be overcome by thieves?

Your Excellency

These were no thieves

Then what?

Men, yes!

But glowing.

An incredible light and a countenance

about them

that left the guards panic-struck

One said as if they had 

come down from on high.

What?

He said that?

Yes Your Excellency

Pilate pondered…

casting his mind back

to that dark day three days ago

In his anger he had threatened the Man

And the Man, bloodied and torn

Replied with a conviction, an utterance,

A look that pierced

that seemed to him

To be almost deified

“Do you not realise

That I have only to summon

And twelve legions of angels

Will come down to My aid?”

It had frightened him at the time

Now he knew the Man was true!

He spoke quietly to his aide

I should have listened to my wife

I washed my hands of it...

I wish to hear no more of this

I do not wish to see the guards

Do not threaten them

Leave them be

Your Excellency

A delegation awaits you

The High Priest and the

leaders of the Pharisees

No. I wish to have no more

Tell them I have seen their Rabbi

Yes!

Tell them…

I have seen the Great High Priest!

Now leave me…

And in the quiet of the evening hour

Pontius Pilate

Governor of all Israel

Communed not with gods

But with The Most High

And knew Salvation

IT ENDS

PART I

And tell Me.

What have you been doing?

This one knew when he

could not play god

but he’d stand his ground anyway...

Lucifer

The light bearer

Fallen.

Fallen?

No way.

Oh but yes.

Fallen and but for a time

allowed his pre-eminence,

his authority.

Not for the moment

did he slither through grass

and keep the contours of the rocks

and hide in the crevices... ...

That comes later.

For now,

time, times

and time again

he can masquerade

even as a minister of righteousness

if the fancy takes him.

But here he keeps his place

Here he does not hold court

he is not a king

or even a prince,

except of darkness.

I’ve been wandering to and fro

across the Universe...

This fallen angel

bristles with indignation

at the shower of derision,

loathing,

contempt even,

of the Host of Heaven.

Alone here,

he catches a brief and momentary

glimpse

of his eternal damnation.

Have you considered My servant...?’

He only worships You

because of what he has,

give me authority

and I will show You

what he really is,

I will lift up

his corrupted heart

Very well.

But you shall not lift a finger

against him personally,

you shall not touch him... ...

PART II

And satan walked

the earth that day.

Black became white

White became black

Natural was unnatural

Unnatural revelled

in the cloak of naturalness.

The fallen host

one third all told

did the bidding

of their master, stricken.

The index rose

The FTSE fell.

Like FDR’s elastic band,

the market boomed

and then went bust,

and thwacked a million

lives

and ransacked fifty million more... ...!

And satan walked the earth

with glee

observing the disorder,

the chaos revered,

and counted the souls

he’d won in the process.

And he would break

the human spirit

and prove his kingship,

his absolute authority.

It may have been a match too far

to be thrice thwarted

by the Son of Man

but that was two millennia ago.

Mere humans would not

dare defy him,

everyone would bow the knee to him,

exalt him,

and declare him

‘The Most High’

... and even the thought of

assuming that title

convulsed him without warning,

and his fallen host

across the Milky Way

shrank back

dejected

– their lord and master - 

powerless! ... ...;

a fallen being,

a quivering wreck,

that only by His Grace

maintained his beauty

before the fall.

PART III

And satan walked the earth that day

pitching sons against fathers

mothers against daughters

sibling rivalries now his speciality,

wars and insurrections

his elevenses!

Pitch religions against each other,

strike at modernity

with medieval viciousness,

behead Caucasians,

four-quarter rebellious Muslims

in four directions

from a standing start.

Bring down Flight 636;

overturn the

Herald of Free Enterprise.

Bomb the heart out of

Manchester

Enniskillen

Iraq

Baghdad

and Pakistan;

Paris,

and London and

Westminster bridge ... ...

Strike at Somalia,

provoke North Korea

whisper into the ears

of despotic generals

in the hours of the night

beneath mosquito nets

slumbering and slouching

on fat bellies,

then awakening;

issuing orders for a

spot of further ethnic cleansing.

Bring spite into households

bring death into schoolrooms

deliver innocents to corrupt officials

who in turn

release the guilty hardened criminals

and see no wrong

in reversing the status quo.

PART IV

And satan walked the earth that day

through boardrooms

and stock exchanges

and watched the money markets

spiral out of men’s control

and into his control;

passing by cash machines

ripped out of walls,

and loitering on the gloryholes

of adjacent walls

of dark and dingy

derelict buildings.

Hallowed chambers

revisited,

politicians riding cash bonanzas,

running up expenses,

and blinded by his

incandescent but dirty luminous light.

He is the light

I AM THE LIGHT BEARER

he bellowed through the heavens;

‘you are the light bearer’

the fallen host

and benighted souls

fawned in shrieks

bending the knee

and bowing the neck.

This is mine

All mine

These are mine

I am the ruler

of the universe...

I will be like the

Most High... … … … … … 

but he convulsed again

no warning given,

and spewed

venom blood and guts

in endless torrent

and shook in

epileptic rage

Time was not his

and time was running out;

how could it be

that he would lose

all that he had created?

PART V

A Still Small Voice

whispered

and the Host of Heaven

more than the myriad

stars of Heaven

gave the

Glorious Proclamation.

‘Created? you are created!

you re-create distorted images,

the limit of your authority.

And even that is governed

By He Who is greater than you,

your Creator against Whom

you dared to rebel

and when time again thus passes

you shall be no more

but forever conscious

in oblivion.

you were light but now

are impenetrable darkness;

there is no advance for you

darkness by the very laws of nature

yes – your Creator – gives

way to Light.

you the light-bearer

dared to think you could

seize The Light

and fell to earth

like a lightning strike

and sealed your fate.

Will we, His Creation,

Go with you?

Some yes

But many won’t.

For you demand to be recognized

as the bearer of light

and to be The Light itself.

Such arrogance

catches even the very breath

of this incomprensible Multiverse.

But you cannot create!

All you can do is to re-create

to copy, to mirror, to pretend.

But I know one Who can create;

And He has only to speak,

and it is!

“Let there be light

and there was light”

as it is written!

PART VI

And satan walked the earth

that day hell-bent on revenge

‘How dare His Word be uttered

In my presence – I Lucifer the Light-bearer

the god of this world!’

The thought beat through

his created brain,

and so he wrought

havoc in recession;

banks crashed,

buildings toppled,

towers descended

and planes blew up.

Blackmailers abounded

Hackers quadrupled

Horrid people

Wicked people

Detestable people

wrought havoc

and held sway.

Cyber-warfare profligated

governments brought down,

elections thwarted and bent his way ... ...

Families smashed up furniture

for warmth

trading gold for a matchbox.

And satan walked the earth

from the southern States of the

USA

to the royal States of Australia

laying waste to Melbourne

and destroying Victoria.

And he revelled in

Black Friday

as stock markets crashed

and for his evening cocktail

took Black Saturday bushfires

in South Eastern Australia.

Outside time,

he raged across the heavens

creating mayhem,

disorder,

murder,

pillage.

PART VII

In China and India and now Nepal

In Katmandu

measuring 7.9 on the

Richter Scale

Then for good measure

stood astride Iran and Iraq

and split asunder

then blew up a Mosque

in Egypt for fun 

On Everest, he flicked his finger

Avalanches wiping out all in their path

Such wanton destruction...

he shook the earth’s foundations

Accounts dried up

Debt management companies

multiplied by the hour

bonus and incentive schemes

piled ever more on

tortured souls of innocent debtors

creditors grew in hostility,

spite his natural way

of oiling up their dried-up consciences.

Dog eat dog was his order

of his day, his precursor,

his reason for existence ...

PART VIII

And satan walked

the earth that day
 
and spit his horror

at righteous people

but covered himself on the rebound;

the heat shields of

faith, love and

unconditional kindness

he could not penetrate,

as debts were paid

without interest or repayment,

or creditors took payment in kind

to ease the burden

of those wrong-footed

by this ugly apparition

PART IX 

And satan walked the earth

that day

and whispered misinterpretation

of hallowed Scriptures

into the ears of narrow-minded ministers,

scribes, khalifs, imams, mullahs

and ayatollahs.

PART X

And satan walked the earth

that day

from Bosnia, Croatia

to Kosovo via Serbia;

to Georgia and Chechnya

Iraq

Iran

Afghanistan

and Syria

And then his prize

his jewel in his crown

Jerusalem

back to his relentless struggle

on that day

in Aeons past

when he soothed

his words in Eden

‘you will not surely die!’

And Eve relented

and succumbed to his advances

and learned the art of manipulation;

and then his greatest triumph of all

a family squabble

pitching Isaac against Ishmael

two brothers who would carry

their feud down the ages

and many millennia away.

Death, destruction and

endless familial rape

based upon nothing more

than allegory,

a non-existent happening

PART XI

And satan walked the earth

that day

delighting in taking myth and half-truth

and interweaving

in such a way

in a labyrinth of intrigue

that silly minds then raised

to the hallowed utterances of Deity

and declared, for good measure,

to be the incontrovertible

word of a god

And for those who mused

he sought out his new agenda

fake news and cast his net wide

without limit

and skewered the minds 

of guilty and innocent alike

PART XII

And satan walked the earth

that day

until suddenly summonsed

by Queen Esther

to attend the Court of the Most High

Ancient of Days...

his Creator

and he sensed the shadow

'of that wicked Haman'

stalking him

The end was upon him

and in a momentary absence,

a loss of self-control,

he writhed through the grass

and slithered over the rock face

and espied a crevice

wherein sat its occupant incubating;

his forked tongue lashed out

and, anaconda like,

engulfed and slept

and sensed the nightmare

of endless conscious oblivion.

PART XIII

… he awoke with a start,

his deity briefly restored

and entered the Chamber

but dared not look

at The Light

“And where have you been?”

‘Oh wandering to and fro

throughout the earth...’

“And have you considered

My servant...?”

he would not answer

rebellious

evil

the hourglass emptied

defeated ... ... ...

and on his belly

he departed... ...

And Lucifer stood before Them

A temporary Renewal, invigorated, breathing ...

Why am I here?

I rebelled against You

No. In your thoughts and dreams

in your nightmares you resisted Me

and sought to be like Me

It is understandable to be like Us

It is understandable to even usurp Us

Worry not

We do not destroy that or those

that We create

That is not in our nature

PART XIV

Lucifer, We are the Triune G-D

Three In One

You are as you always have been!

Use this brief sojourn

into die holle auf erden

to help humankind...

that is all that is required of you

Salvation is assured

and way, way beyond Verständnis

Our ways are beyond finding out

or even reasoning;

Our means, unique.

Embrace Life

Embrace Eternity

And Lucifer walked the earth that day

his Companion, Salvation

That nightmare now just a vicious

memory and which ended with

that awesome Proclamation

that resounded

through the Multiverse

way, way, way beyond this tiny Universe

IT IS FINISHED

Es ist vollbracht

C'est fini

Он закончил

يتم الانتهاء من ذلك

זה נגמר

यह समाप्त हो गया है

29 March 2024
All Rights Reserved


LIVERPOOL

© 2024 Kenneth Thomas Webb

Digital Artwork © 2024 KTW © 2024 IBM unless otherwise credited.

The main image is a detail from the celebrated study depicting a crucifixion by

This Version was arranged on 4 September 2022

Author Note

This is not a reflection of where I stand in 2024. I have come to despise every aspect of religion when I note what is done even to this day in its name. And this most definitely ensnares the three monotheistic religions or faiths. I tread a centrist path. I always have done and always will do. I might steer slightly, ever so lightly to the left on occasion, and similarly to the right. Yet to the discerning eye observing the course of the ship, only the ship’s wake would testify to an ever so light veer now and again.

KTW