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Enjoy this excerpt from The Gospels According To Reverend Ike about why and how we can share the wealth. If you like what you read there are lots more good ideas where these came from in Gospels and the other Message books. Read the first book here, on line in EcoFiction and get the other online at Amazon Kindle, BN.com, Books on Board.com available to download as an ebook.

******** A slice of advice from the book. Have fun with it...

"You're not so bad at reassuring people." Alberta tells Ike, when he comes to see her at the Music Store. "But, after all, that's what ministers are supposed to do."

"They are? I didn't know that." Ike admits. "I was a terrible minister. I doubt I ever reassured anyone, ever."

"Don't be so sure." Alberta shares. "Anyone can be reassuring. I think Sissy Van Cleef proves that."

"Creations Crackers!" Ike exclaims. "She's the last person on Earth I would expect to do anything positive for anyone."

Alberta and Ike speak of the socialite, drug addict and jet setter, Sissy Van Cleef, whose anorexic exploits are the talk of the rich and famous, as well as a frequent subject of juicy scandals for the general public. Star Gossip has done numerous issues on Sissy's exploits. Many follow her adventures in excess, conducted across six continents (she does nothing in Antarctica) and all time zones. Sissy is seen at wild parties and wilder 'happenings' around the globe. Her name is synonymous with extravagance and reckless abandon and is often associated with wrecking abandon.

"What's Sissy done now?" Ike asks.

"She's still helping with transformations." Alberta explains. "That hasn't changed."

"Transformations? The woman was stoned out of her mind every minute of her waking and sleeping life and was known to do anything on a dare." Ike responds. "She and her friends came into my first church and kicked shit out of the place. I can't imagine anyone less reassuring than Sissy."

"You have to admire her honesty, though." Alberta points out. "She was overt about her plundering and pillaging- two things the very rich have done on the Q.T. for generations. Most of the time Sissy did it to her own, instead of for her own, but all she did was done before the eyes of the world."

"I guess you're right." Ike concedes. "Before The Message, most rich people either hid their exploitations or tried to make their destruction of the Planet look like a virtue. They had most citizens believing that what they did to the land, water and air did the world a big favor. Heck, some of them even believed that themselves."

"Sissy never was that kind of hypocrite." Alberta reminds Ike. "Rich people were the ones she harmed most. She used to tear up their houses, cars, yachts and villas. She even launched attacks against their collections of stuff in museums and trashed institutions they supported; their opera houses and symphony halls."

"But why attack my church?" Ike responds. "We were far from well-off and she destroyed the place."

"She probably thought you needed a change of some kind," Alberta surmised, "but it's hard to say. Sissy would be the first to admit she was so blasted most of the time, she had no idea what she was doing."

"A real force of human nature." Ike agrees. "My church looked like a wrecking crew had been through it. You think that may have been part of some plan she had?"

Then Ike recalls the message Sissy left him, written in red spray paint across the wall behind the altar. It read: 'Here's your chance to remake yourself with love - Sissy'.

"The settlement we got from her attorneys did allow us to build the Tower of Salvation." Ike admits.

"She was an equal opportunity destroyer." Alberta shares.

"It worked for me." Ike concedes. "I took the money from that disaster zone and began my broadcast career. In ten years, I had the ears of the world listening. Too bad I filled them with such a lot of nonsense."

"Those ears also heard what you said after The Message. They still hear The Tiger Preservation Project broadcasts from the Tower you built. All to the good." Alberta reassures Ike.

He is beginning to see the socialite's destructive capabilities in a whole new light.

"Is Sissy still in the transformation business?"

"In a way." Alberta shares. "Let me tell you what happened when she read the Gospels for the first time. That happened right here in Mobile…"

*********

Sissy Van Cleef is so stoned the night she and her friends destroy the ante-bellum plantation home of Senator Sterlin Sommes, she wanders the streets of Mobile for hours. She is totally oblivious to the fact that she wears only one shoe and that she still carries a large piece of the chandelier she held, before it broke and hurled her to the floor. Her left ankle is sprained and Sissy has a bad gash over one eye, though profuse bleeding has stopped. She cannot find her limo and has lost contact with those who usually accompany her partying and parting the rich and famous from their prized and valuable possessions.

How did the woman and her cohorts get away with such willful destruction? Rich people usually guard their personal treasures with the lives of others, never risking their own, of course. They have police and, at times, the US military, to make sure no harm comes to anything they own. Yet, Sissy and her group are never prosecuted. In fact, they are invited, again and again, to the parties and palaces of the rich, to destroy whatever they find.

"It's fashionable to have Sissy and her group decimate what you own." Mobile's former Chief of Police, Reid McCullers Benson, explains to Reed Stoma, the new head of the Mobile Police department. "Rich folks consider it an insult if she doesn't break their place up. They put their good stuff out for her, so other people won't think they're peasants."

"That's pretty crazy." the young policeman observes. "When most people have so little, wrecking so much seems a crime."

"We never could get anyone in Mobile to press charges against her." Reid tells his new replacement. "It is the same all over the Planet. The rich are afraid she'll behave herself, the next time she comes over, and they'll be disgraced in front of their wealthy friends."

"But, why would anyone want to find her if she's gone missing?" Reed asks, as the lawmen study her missing person report. "The woman sounds like a pure pain in the ass to me."

Sissy's family and friends have not seen her since the night of the Sommes' bash. Her disappearance is reported to the Mobile Police Department and it is up to the new Police Chief, to track Sissy down.

"Good or bad, the rich expect us to look out for their own." Reid advises.

Fortunately, Sissy has found safe harbor. While the Mobile Police circulate photos of the lost socialite, she is reading the Gospels of The Abiding Light at the Little Sisters of Perpetual Motion Strip Club and Shelter. The Little Sisters gave her a place to crash. At the time of her arrival, Sissy is dazed and unable to remember who she is or where she comes from. Her dress is in tatters, she has no ID and she looks like hell.

Sissy bears no resemblance to the photo of the glamorous, finely groomed beauty the Sisters are shown by the police, when they search at the Shelter. The only similarity between the young woman at the Shelter and the photo they are shown is the glazed 'no one's home' look of Sissy's drugged eyes, when she first comes in. Every wino and drug addict, and many abused women, have that same look when they enter the Shelter, so no one makes the connection between their emaciated waif and the missing heiress.

After a couple of days sleeping it off, Sissy's eyes look very different. She has not seen a drug for 48 hours when her eyes alight on a particular Gospel that changes her view of the world. The Gospel that helps Sissy to refocus reads:

"The Story of The Raindrop" -

As told to Merriweather Jenkins, Water Man.

I am the drop of water and I remove all obstacles. I may seem small and powerless, but it is my nature to penetrate into the smallest place, to erode away what might conceal and to bring the truth to light.

I flow according to the dictates of all the forces around me, the pull of the Earth, the force of the wind, the contours of the land, the heat of sun. All influence me, but my persistence changes everything I touch. My change is gentle and in accord with all the other forces of Nature. In this way, what was hidden is revealed, what was parched is slaked, what is barren is made fertile. The transformation comes not just from me but also from that which is transformed by me.

I do not maintain an obstinate attitude, but flow with forces of Creation. In this way, I work on the illusions that must be washed away. To do this, I do not push aside the unjust with tidal waves of retribution and destruction. That power is for other than I, the tiny drop. It is not by might that I sweep away what is unclear. Instead, I penetrate to the heart of All; drop by drop, by drop, to expose truth. This gently brings the heart of All to Light.

The drop, in its perfect wholeness, is a lens that shows the true colors of each Nature. When the Light moves through me and is broken into the rainbow, it reflects the reality of each part of Creation. Distortion of this truth leads to delusion. Such distortion renders the view unclear. By seeing through my lens, that is a focus of kindness, there is no distortion from anger or fear. The reality of All is revealed. I must maintain this attitude in order to best transmute the Light. It is only when my form is correct that the Truth, the Rainbow of Life, shows itself in its full splendor. It is this full spectrum, of each tone and color of the Light of Creation, which you perceive as your material world.

The power of a tidal wave does not show you this diversity. It is only I, the tiny drop of water, which has such ability. -

As told by West, The Transforming Warrior, Direction of the Future - Water."

"Now that's what I call trickle down economics." Sissy sobs to Cherry Tupello, the Prioress of the Sisters of Perpetual Motion Strip Club and Shelter.

Perfect, round tears drop from her eyes as she speaks.

"No use crying over spilt opportunities. Learn from your mistakes and do different." Cherry suggests.

********

"Sissy is quite capable of organizing people any way she chooses." Alberta points out to Ike, as they discuss the story of the young socialite. "If she could get wealthy and influential people to let her destroy all they hold dear, getting regular folks motivated and involved was a snap for Sissy."

"So what did she do?" Ike asks Alberta.

"Once her focus changed, Sissy looked around and began to appreciate the gifts and skills possessed by the inhabitants of the Sisters of the Perpetual Motion Shelter. These were people who were the new arrivals in town, such as herself, who had no other place to stay."

"Homeless people?" Ike asks. "Sissy's family has at least seventeen homes, in various, important urban centers around the world. It's hard to imagine her as someone with no place to go."

"Not homeless," Alberta explains. "not yet part of a Neighborhood. There's a big difference."

Alberta tells Ike how all once-homeless citizens of Mobile are made welcome in the city's Neighborhoods. They are needed to work on building Neighborhood housing units and to help with local food production. Many of those who were homeless and dispossessed, before The Message, had been agricultural workers. They are badly needed as Neighborhood food production advisors and are highly valued members of any community.

"The people Sissy meets at the Shelter are not homeless." Alberta explains. "Some are Holy Roamers, on their way to a Zone of the Human Spirit, or Wanderers like yourself, who move between Urban Centers. Sometimes these visitors have friends or family to stay with, sometimes places, like the Sisters of the Perpetual Motion Shelter, take them in. The Mobile Urban Center has to find a way to feed them all. Sissy's new focus helped."

"Sissy helped feed people?" Ike asks, hard pressed to believe his ears. "I can't imagine that young woman involved in anything as practical as food production."

"Sissy may be impractical but the people around her are not." Alberta explains. "She is smart enough to see that they get the supplies and equipment they need for their projects. Now, Shelter crews develop and maintain the street orchards and high-rise food production systems in downtown Mobile. They farm on public lands, like business district parking lots and rooftops and are raising enough to feed visitors and new arrivals coming to settle in Mobile."

"I think I saw a group planting peach trees down the middle of Main Street, when I first came into town." Ike recalls. "That one of the Shelter groups?"

"Sure is." Alberta shares. "These days, very little space is wasted in this city. We've got window boxes on the sides of parking garages and tall buildings, and all manner of ways to get water to places that have growth potential. Sissy is rich enough to buy her crew the tools, seeds and other equipment they need, to do that work. She's even smart enough to let them figure out the best ways to get it done. As a result, our Urban Center is getting greener by the day."

"What did Sissy get out of the deal?" Ike asks, unable to believe any one that rich could also be that selfless.

"She learned that people know what's needed to make positive change." Alberta shares. "She also learned what help is needed, from people like her, to make change happen. She's been sober and she's been helping, ever since."

"What does her family think of Sissy's transformation?" Ike wonders. "The Van Cleefs are one of the wealthiest families on Earth, if one counts money, property, and a controlling interest in almost everything, as wealth. They were never ones to give a thing away without a fight."

"Sissy showed her sister, Lu Ellen, the Gospels. Then the sisters got the rest of the family on board the positive change band wagon." Alberta informs Ike.

"Lu Ellen? Lu Ellen? " Ike asks, searching his memory for his recollections of the oldest Van Cleef daughter. "Isn't she the one who's a super-model?"

"Super-model and recovering heroin addict." Alberta clarifies. "She once used dope to keep herself fashionably thin and was always on the cover of one magazine or another, celebrating the lifestyle of the rich and emaciated."

"What an example for us all." Ike notes sarcastically. "Did she propose to help the world by eating a full meal?"

"No, by making sure that others do." Alberta replies. "Lu Ellen now heads up the Van Cleef Foundation, a project that identifies human populations in need of emergency food resources. Then the foundation sees to it they get food and that they develop reliable means of food production, to keep them eating, year in and year out."

"How would any Van Cleef know ways to help a starving person? They may see people like Lu Ellen, in the media, but not people who look like her because they have no food. Poor folks are the last people they'll ever meet."

"Lu Ellen bridged that knowledge gap." Alberta explains. "She took a look at the spots where her family made its biggest profits, before The Message. In each place she found people being exploited out of existence."

"OK, so maybe the sisters changed, but how did they ever get their family to mend its ways? The Van Cleefs have been pillagers and plunderers for at least four generations."

"Sissy and Lu Ellen paid a visit to the Van Cleef Building, the day its Board of Directors met for their Annual Shareholders meeting. I can tell you, a transformative time is had by all."

"Did the Gospels have anything to do with that?"

"They helped," Alberta answers. "but you have to realize the sisters were dealing with the richest people on Earth - folks with no motivation, at all, to change a thing about how they live, or how they do business. Sissy and Lu Ellen knew it would take a little more than the Gospels to change that status quo. Listen to this."

********

The Van Cleef Tower is a modern building of glass and steel, shaped like a gigantic ballpoint pen. The structure is topped by a spherical penthouse boardroom, resembling a gigantic ballpoint on the tip of the pen that is the rest of the building. Ballpoint pens are the foundation of the Van Cleef financial empire, having been invented by Archibald Van Cleef in 1892. His invention enabled him to sell a writing tool to almost everyone in the USA. Archie made a tiny profit on each pen but he sold a lot of pens, even in 1892.

From those humble beginnings, the Van Cleefs branch out until they own a little bit of almost every new invention and popular innovation developed in the Twentieth Century. Each successive generation of Van Cleefs buys up more of the same until, by the Twenty-first Century, they own a lot of almost everything worth owning. They, along with a select group of others like them, have a controlling interest in most of the world's means of production and most of the world's finances. The Van Cleefs no longer need to sell a lot of pens. They now buy and sell almost everything else, including governments.

"I'm surprised no one thought of this before." Sissy remarks to Lu Ellen, as the sisters ride the elevator down to the basement of the Van Cleef Building. They go there to get to the air conditioning and air purification systems, the only means by which air circulates to the rest of the building.

"People up in the Board Room, are completely dependent on this ventilation for their air." Sissy marvels. "We can write our own ticket with this set-up and no guards in here to stop us."

"The security guards left right after we came in. They put their whole team outside, so no one overhears the Board wheeling and dealing." Lu Ellen laughs. "Weird, how we can't imagine one of our own doing us harm. With your history, how could they be so complacent? You'd think they'd know better."

"We're not here to harm anybody." Sissy reminds Lu Ellen. "We only want to make clear to them what they do to the rest of the world."

"So, let's do this thing." Lu Ellen agrees, as she shuts down the power to the penthouse elevator. "They're sealed in that room, with no windows that open and no way out but this elevator. Until our mission is accomplished, no one leaves."

"Lu Ellen, turn on the PA system, so we can talk to them." Sissy instructs.

"Testing... Testing... I hope ya'll are getting this message." is the first thing the group in the Board Room hear. The room is a soundproof area, behind unbreakable glass windows, so Sissy comes in clear as a bell from speakers concealed in the walls. She sounds like an invisible ghost, addressing the shareholders.

"That's Sissy!" Amanda Van Cleef exclaims.

So used to getting calls from her daughter, after the wayward child's misadventures, she can recognize Sissy's voice anytime, anywhere, no matter what shape her daughter is in, even if she is in no visible shape at all. A hum of concern spreads through the room, as people realize the notable shit kicker, Sissy Van Cleef, is addressing them. Sissy is bad enough when they see her in action, but out of sight she really has them worried.

"She can't get in here, can she?" Kartell Tunbridge asks, looking for a convenient exit. He still has nightmares about what Sissy did to his home in the Hamptons, the last time she visited.

"My girls are both supposed to be in here." their father, Roi Van Cleef, points out. "They are shareholders."

"Elevator's locked. Nobody gets in or out of the boardroom." Lu Ellen responds to their voiced concerns. The sisters watch the group on the building surveillance system video monitors and know all that is said and done in the room.

"Who else is with you, Sissy?" Amanda Van Cleef asks, not recognizing Lu Ellen's voice. Almost everyone in the world knows what the super-model looks like but few have ever heard Lu Ellen speak.

"Sissy and Lu Ellen Van Cleef here." Lu Ellen informs the group. "We have a story to tell you. It's one of the Gospels of the Abiding Light."

"How entertaining!" Amanda shrills. "So nice of you girls to lighten up our meeting."

This little touch of family togetherness, by the Van Cleef sisters, is an unexpected surprise.

The Gospels are as popular with rich people as they are with everyone else, so the shareholders sit back and wait to be pleasantly entertained.

"And while we are reading this Gospel, we're sucking all the air out of your part of the building. " Lu Ellen informs them. "Just the way you suck the life out of every place you do business."

It takes a few moments for Lu Ellen's message to register, then for meeting attendees to verify that the windows of the room do not open, that the elevator doors will not budge and that it appears they are going to die. Roi Van Cleef, the family patriarch and builder of the Van Cleef Building, advises the group that the Board Room is, indeed, supplied its air through a pressure-controlled air circulation system. He confirms that the system is equipped with a vacuum function, to suck out and then purify the air, removing any harmful germs that might otherwise stick around within its closed confines.

"This is supposed to be the latest in healthy building design." Roi apologizes to his shareholders. "Leave it to Sissy, to turn the place into a lethal weapon."

To give credit where it is due, the plan was Lu Ellen's idea. She is inspired by the emaciated environments leave behind, everywhere Van Cleefs do their business. It is, however, the presence of Sissy that strikes fear into the hearts of the fabulously wealthy. In their eyes, Lu Ellen is a lightweight but they know that Sissy can do.

The sisters give the group a few minutes to panic, before reminding them that the more they exert themselves the faster they use up their available oxygen. This gets everyone back to his or her seat, and so quite that the faint hiss of air leaving the room can be heard, as Sissy begins to read the Gospel.

"Look to The Light -

Arrogance, and your belief in false brilliance, can mislead you to desire luxury or seek the recognition of others. This unguided light, from your possessions and your fame, illuminates only false appearance. Do not concern yourself with the forms such things take. You must see past all that you gather around you, in your hope that possessions will make you invincible.

You are not your corporations. You are not your conglomerates. Instead, you are something much more enduring. You are part of the Eternal Fire. Discard the illusion of false power and you travel the path to true power. Accept this power and its Grace, working through you, to overcome all darkness and illusion. Allow this light to guide you, and shine from you."

By the time Sissy finishes reading this brief statement, most of the stale air has gone from the room, while the pressure control returns, clean, breathable air to the chamber. This air, however, is hyper-oxygenated, a feature built into the ventilation system. Roi was once advised that oxygen-saturated air prolongs the life and health of those breathing it, so he had that special system installed in his corporate offices the next day. Meeting attendees are so anxious, most are breathing like long-distance runners and begin to get light-headed, faint from excess oxygen intake. All mistakenly think they are dying.

Lu Ellen takes a turn to read:

"False power may be momentarily satisfying, but genuine power lasts. It is from a different source. This inner power is your own, internal principle of humility, simplicity, equanimity and acceptance. It is the light in every cell that lives, with the power of knowledge and understanding. It is how being works. It is how the world around you works best. When you follow this Light, you are filled with Grace and its Illumination removes all barriers to your own, true and invincible power. You are no longer afraid.

. -At Told By East, The Ascending Light, The Healing Physician."

About the time Lu Ellen finishes her recitation, each shareholder feels his or her brain light up like a firecracker. Each closes their eyes, but sees no darkness. Instead, there is the shining of an inner light, right before each one of them faints.

Once they stop hyperventilating, it takes only a few minutes for the group to return to consciousness. When they do, the sight of the two Van Cleef sisters, smiling down on them like the Saving Graces, Love and Compassion, greets them. The after-effects of the hyper-rich oxygen environment linger for a while, enabling each to see the world in glowing Beauty, a miracle of Creation in its truest form.

"I used to see things this way, when I was a kid!" Roi Van Cleef exclaims. "I was so happy then. I had enough of everything and I could do whatever I wanted."

"You still have enough of everything." Lu Ellen assures her father. "You will always have more than enough. There is no need to stop anyone else from the same kind of satisfaction."

Then Lu Ellen enlightens her audience about the needs of many of the world's people. She explains how most humans do not have what they needed to sustain life, because the people in the Boardroom of the Van Cleef Building are wealthy enough to buy and sell continents, and do so. Her speech is news to the Shareholders, who have no idea what they do to others, when they hold so much wealth themselves. They are never anyplace near people in need. They do not have time to pay attention too much else but their money and belongings.

"You thought you were starved for air but your real problem was you had too much." Sissy explains to the group. "The same goes for your money. The more you get, the more you worry about what to do with it and the less you are able to pay attention to anything else. The greater your wealth, the more time you spend tending to it, whether you want to or not."

"But what can we do?" Roi Van Cleef asks. "Have you ever tried to get rid of a fortune? It's impossible."

"And how can we ever hope to know to what the world needs?" Kartell Tunbridge asks. "We barely have time for other rich folks, like ourselves, let alone anyone not rich."

Sissy and Lu Ellen look at each other and smile. They have come up with a plan to help redistribute some of the world's wealth. They think it just might work to turn things around in important ways and are about to make the wealthy of the world an offer they cannot refuse.

********

"So that's how the Bank of The Abiding Light came into existence." Alberta explains to Ike. "Each of those billionaires took a part of their fortune to give interest-free loans to fund projects that help heal the Earth."

"They sure didn't need to make any more money with their money." Ike acknowledges,

"None of them and none of their children's, children's, children's, children could ever spend all their wealth, even if they never made another penny, so what did they have to lose by making a loan at no interest?" Alberta points out.

"Only their fear." Ike admits. "I know rich folks and I know their biggest fear is that, one day, the whole shooting match will explode and blast them out of existence."

"Money from the super-wealthy is being used for planet-saving projects that help both rich and poor." Alberta notes. "Who has time to foment violent revolution against a privileged minority, these days?"

"On the way here, I saw solar power grids on the rooftops of a whole Neighborhood. Was that financed with an Abiding Light Bank Loan? " Ike asks.

Alberta nods her head in the affirmative. "Neighborhood 6, District 12." she explains. "Their soil was terrible and there was a minimum amount of flat roof area to start rooftop gardens. They decided to harvest sun power, instead of food, and sell electricity to other Neighborhoods in trade for food."

"So, the Abiding Light Bank gave them the money for their setup?" Ike muses.

"Not gave them, loaned them. People pay the money back," Alberta reminds Ike "but their payments are very low and they pay no interest. The loan is repaid in ways the borrowers can well afford."

"What other projects are financed by the Bank?" Ike asks, curious to know what the fabulously wealthy are doing with their spare change these days.

"Honey production in Neighborhood 5, District 3." Alberta answers. "A small factory for building portable water purification systems, in Neighborhood 6, District 12. A compost-generating, garbage-processing and reuse-recycling Center in District 11, among others."

"And that's just in one city." Ike marvels. "Think of projects, like those, around the world."

"The Bank is opening offices on every continent. All will help make the world a better place." Alberta points out. "No one loses here, especially the wealthy."

"Now, all they need worry about is their fortune." Ike points out.

"Some of them don't want to worry about their money anymore, either. They've turned all their assets over to the Bank of the Abiding Light and are on a permanent vacation from making more money." Alberta shares.

"I got to get out and see some of these changes. I'm going to get me a room at the Shelter of Perpetual Motion and take a look around town." Ike tells Alberta.

"Good idea." Alberta agrees. "By the way, if you see my mother, ask her to give me a call."

Idea Swap - Ask the Earth Neighborhood Resident Wise Guy What He Thinks..

Freemont is from Tiger Country and draws on the wisdom of countless generations of citizens who lived in a place without wrecking it, for just about as long as human folks have walked upright. Contact us with your questions for Freemont.

Freemont has important parts to play in all The Message books and you will enjoy a story about him in Mobile Tales called "Freemont and The Tomato Millionaires".