This series is written in honor of Adam. Although he was abused by the monster, the king, his men and the investigators, Adam stood his ground and behaved more like the Son of the Heavenly King than the king of Wonderland. May you have His peace.
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Alice awoke, tired and scarred from the battle, yet determined to take a final walk through a country that once held such promise. However, the walk needed to occur in a covert fashion due to treaties that stated she would never reveal the location of the kingdom. And so, the king's committee is finished with their work. Although everything in Wonderland is most wonderful, the merry men decided to go the extra step and make it wonderlicious! Many of the teenage denizens of this country have left, scattering far and wide in search of higher education.
As this diaspora occurred, the merry men brought in experts from other countries to teach the citizens how to spot monsters. The young men had left for their learning so few were around when invited to meet the experts. Perhaps this was planned or perhaps, it was arranged to occur when it would be convenient for the rulers. Thankfully, many boys had taken advantage of an offer for meetings with doctors to help them deal with their emotional and spiritual pain. Kinda funny….counseling paid for and offered only after the terribly 'toned' letter was received. As one mother of a young man said, sadly, "Too little, too late." Maybe, just maybe, others will be helped by these meetings.
Methinks this king and his compadres will be more circumspect in the future of dealing with sickos. Perhaps they have learned that even kings in training, endowed with 'authority' can be depraved. Recently, a talk was given by one of the Knights of the Round Table. He pontificated about how many allied kingdoms have a king that rules by fiat. However, he preened, Wonderland is ruled by a king who is a servant. How strange! Just two years ago the king told Alice that he is the 'man in charge' and that the merry men exist merely to carry out his directives. He claimed the merry men had only disagreed with him twice in 28 years! (In fact, as you will see in the next paragraph, the merry men are given swimming lessons so they can learn how to take a dive for the king). It seems the Mad Hatter is waving his wand frequently around the kingdom these days.
"Incoming", yells Alice.
The King of Wonderland had told a writer of the infamous letter and others that he did not return when the monster was discovered because he was on sabbatical (read cruise). He claimed to have an agreement that he did not have to return "even if the kingdom was burning down". Such love, thoughtfulness and concern for his people, eh? The report was finished, and a recommendation was made that king and his men must return to a kingdom that is burning or under attack; when, suddenly, magically, someone remembered something! "We told the king not to come back", said one of the merry men. “ We all just remembered and need to amend the report”.
Guess group amnesia is a problem in that country! Wonder if the merry men finally realized how gosh darned narcissistic that kingly statement sounded and became fearful that one or two subjects of Wonderland might be miffed. Once again the Mad Hatter waved his magic wand. Nope, it wasn't the king who didn't want to come back. He was told to stay and drink another virgin Mai Tai while the locals struggled through without him. Problem solved in the world of cognitive dissonance.
"Incoming", screamed Alice. So, the report makes it clear that Tweedle Dee and Tweedle Dum have very poor recollections of being told that the monster liked to play strip poker with the boys at a church camp. So, golly gee whiz, they probably were not told in such a fashion that they would remember it. Well, maybe they should have told the citizens that the monster was put on leave for taking boys to obscene movies. Also, they probably shouldn't have allowed him to come back and play with the boys for another 5 months after said “sick leave”. Naughty, naughty.
BUT……They refused to put in the report that they heard a recorded confession by one of the Tweedles in which he said he seemed to remember that someone might have told him that the Sicko was playing a game of "flashing the merchandise" during the camp one year prior to the arrest.
DID YOU ALL READ THAT??????????????????????????????????
When one of the letter writers called to ask about the confession, the Cheshire Cat became highly agitated and claimed he did not hear the Tweedle say that during the meeting. No way, no how, no siree!!! But there seemed to be a little problem… There is a rule in Wonderland that one person in a room can record the conversation without telling the others. Dadgum law! Said confession was played for various merry men, and a transcript of the confession was made available. In one such meeting, the recording was met with blank stares and mutterings about this conversation being a contradiction, and therefore, not 'important'! No way that was going in the report!!! And so, it didn't!
No matter what spin these confused individuals put on it, the confession occurred and copies have been made and distributed. MERRY MEN (AND ONE LADY) YOU SHOULD BE ASHAMED OF YOURSELVES! THIS CONFESSION CORROBORATES THE REPORT OF A YOUNG MAN WHO WAS MADE TO FEEL LIKE HE WAS THE CRAZY ONE. HOW DARE YOU NOT TELL HIM YOU ARE SORRY! HOW DARE YOU NOT REPORT THIS TO THE CITIZENS! Oh yeah, that's right… Since caps are being used, you can duly ignore this tirade since the 'tone' is wrong. Alice is furious.
These individuals abused Adam when they interviewed him, blaming him for not telling his folks of the inappropriate conduct in a timely fashion. Yes, even a sensitive attorney was present and did not stop this line of questioning. Shame, shame! These 'independents' did soooo well. The king, the kinglets, and the kingdom are wonderlicious! However, sin remains and will grow deeper through the years. Suddenly, a scared citizen ran up to Alice and handed her a recording. Alice hid it in her combat helmet. Said recording will be in Alice's possession (along with other FOW) for the rest of her journey. She will be happy to play the recording for any member of Wonderland who contacts her. The Mad Hatter is alive and well in Wonderland. He waves his wand and suddenly even confessions are unimportant. So life settles back to abnormal in the kingdom of Wonderland.
Alice decides it's time to go.
What has she learned from her journey? The lessons are many.
- Kings are sinners and want to pretend that they are really kings.
- The merry men protect the king.
– Kings in training are given the benefit of the doubt whenever conflict arises, and teenage boys are thrown out the window!
- Other kings in other lands give more honor to kings than to the citizens, in direct contradiction to the actions of the Great King.
– The king and his position are to be protected above God's truth.
- The citizens who expose sin and dysfunction are to be attacked, lied about, and called names.
- Unity is a pretense to attack those who don't toe the line.
– The king and his men are vindictive. - The teachers of kings are contributing to the dysfunction.
- Wonderland is abusive.
Finally, Alice has learned that great pain and anguish, acquired while seeking the truth, are definitely worth it. She would rather live on the edge than sit back and close her eyes in order to avoid confronting evil. She is wounded… To paraphrase Rich Mullins, "There are blisters on her heart."
The Great King has given her a mission to expose hypocrisy in the evangelical church. He allowed her the honor of experiencing what many of her brothers and sisters have experienced in such churches. And so begins the journey of the Fellowship of the Wounded. Alice thanks God every day that she has seen a great truth.
That truth has opened the door to friendships with Deb and other like-minded warriors: D+D, Tom, Ralph, Lydia, JunkSTer, Lise, and others. It is only now that Alice sees the providence of God in sending her to Wonderland. This blog is fired by that experience.