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Show Acting Alone pa g e 93 real-life councillor upon whose adventures this parable was based, Judas among the Twelve, was probably going to pass away before he had an opportunity to pose any serious challenge to good Councillor Ezra's bid for power when, and if, the Lord saw fit to call home the cancer-soaked body of the current Prophet-Seer-Revelator. A measure of the potency of the Councillor-of-the- Parable's evil eyes could be taken by considering the rumor and disinformation mill he and his factions commanded. Among countless other rumors of greater or lesser degrees of improbability, one which had even penetrated the Elder's own ranks to a slight extent maintained that the Council of the Twelve had now officially styled Elder Cicerone an insane renegade, a danger to the church, and, with good Councillor Ezra's blessing, were even today working toward his permanent re-retirement. But, like all evil men, the Councillor-of-the-Parable provided the seed of his own downfall in his own lack of self-restraint: that detail of Councillor Ezra's giving his approval and blessing to the Elder's undoing was the single preposterous touch that sent the whole vicious lie crumpling into a ludicrous pile.) And yet (continued the parable), his evil eyes notwithstanding, this councillor ultimately did achieve the Double-Pronged Earthly and Unearthly Good and won the contest, almost in spite of himself. On either side of his blood-running pipeline there were now whole communities of Christ's stewards; a double strip of good zealous new converts crossed Canada; a pipeline of Christly life and Christian salvation. For the widows and orphans had turned to Christ in their adversity, and had learned to cleave to one another and to the land upon which they'd suffered their greatest losses. |