It has been said if a lie is to believed it must be a big one
Now certain reports have suggested to Coco that not many of you are likely to read this post through as it is too long, nevertheless it shall be long. Sometimes a short rebuke is both necessary and effective, but in reasoning and critique a longer reply may be required. Another reason for you not wanting to read it through might be that it is far too convoluted, perhaps, some would say, dense or even turgid, but whatever your reason might be Coco hopes that you will be able to overcome any such propensity and continue to plough a furrow through it such as shall not be erased at least not before the late rains have come.
Paul was not afraid to use words spoken by those with whom he would not be in full agreement when they spoke the truth: so in Athens ‘in him we live and move and have our being’, as well as possibly a more famous extract from a Cretan poet there and elsewhere, are used by him to great effect. In our day however when you quote someone who happens to belong to a proscribed group you risk the most severe of opprobria, not to mention discipline, that our society can, if it believes in discipline, find. Coco says this because Coco intends to quote from one who comes in for even greater censure than the one who said something like: When a great opportunity arises, do not play with trifles.
It was this man, whom Coco shall not name but who will be well known to you, and to whom Coco is very happy to attribute the words Coco shall use should you wish to ask, but will not do so here in order to avoid the risk that this post shall be heard in Moscow or Peking having so been reported by the automated trawlers to those who think they have authority over us and what we post here and yet to the real authorities are unwilling to accept any responsibility for what we post; but that subject is really outside the scope of what Coco wishes to say here, and consequent to their audit result in a potential redaction of this post.
So to move on, it makes good business sense, some would say, that you go where the big money is. So on the eve of battle you might expect to hear: when there is an opportunity to make money out of [repeatedly] providing a vaccine to everyone on the planet, why go after (play) with something that will only benefit one in 1,000, unless the profit out of that trifle is at least 1,000 times greater than the profit to be made out of each dose of the vaccine?
Or perhaps the authorities might say: when there is an otherwise greater and more significant opportunity to exercise control over our people (they do not like to remember that at least in the West it is the other way round, they are our governors) why go after anything less? They see that there are some social benefits, although also significant costs, in social order. They forget though that a former Dutch prime minister who having done the historical analysis over a hundred years ago, concluded that the best solution to social deprivation and vice would be for the government to promote the preaching of the evangelical Christian gospel such was the evidence from the previous two hundred years of the turn around and improvement that there had been where that gospel had touched the hearts and lives of men and women. Coco is again in danger of drifting, rambling some might say, outside the scope of what Coco came here to say.
Now, if you have read Coco carefully you will note that Coco has not actually said or accused anybody of doing something or saying something which they have not said, but let Coco ask a question, based upon a remark of one who was probably knew and was known by the one who said: in the face of a great opportunity do not play with trifles, unlike Drake who when faced with the Armada continued his game of bowls, or Belshazzar who partied into the night when the Medes and Persians were at his gates.
Before Coco does so, just a brief reminder of our mortality. Before the beginning of the 20th Century our mortality rates were around 20 per mille. Coco shall not argue over whether they were as low as 17 or as high as 25. Using a five year average by 1970 they had fallen to around 12 per mille and continued to fall until about six years ago hitting a low just above 8.5 per mille. It is currently at something just under 9.5 per mille. The rates for other countries may differ, and the rates Coco has provided may differ from other sources, but the differences are not so significant as require an explanation here. Coco understands there is some kind of correlation between mortality rates and life expectancy, but it is a complex relationship, in physical terms a three body problem, so Coco must leave that to the experts in that field. Whilst reading into this matter (researching would be too strong a term) Coco was astonished to find that some work had been done on the correlation of wealth production and life expectancy. If they are right perhaps the owners of this forum might be expected to outlive Methuselah. However, causation cannot be proven, for the numbers do not determine the date of Coco’s death, rather it is the deaths of all who have gone before us which determine these numbers. Ours will only affect numbers which we shall never know.
Now in the light of what was truthfully said: if you are going to tell a lie make sure it is a big one, what conclusion might you reach over whether, if they are lies, what Coco has suggested might have been said or whether, if they are lies, what was actually said by the authorities, whether they are governing authorities or scientific authorities, which Coco has not reported here, about the current infection is the bigger lie?
In accordance with good examination practice (should we ever see them again), you are required, please, to set out your reasons in no more than the number of words that Coco has taken to reach the next following full stop.
Finally, one of the sources of the data requires Coco to state: Office for National Statistics various years, Data obtained through the Human Mortality Database, www.mortality.org on 17 November 2020
☺ With apologies in advance for errors of syntax, orthography and grammar which may be found embedded in this document whether arising from oversight, incorrect application of language packs or generally any other misadventure; and in general for any offence given inadvertently or inappropriately or both taken or not taken by those whose sensibilities, whether grammatical, orthographical, moral or simply personable, have been offended whether, not or if you have not incorrectly misunderstood the content, intent, meaning and purpose of this article, and to those whose copyrights may have been inadvertently or wantonly infringed, but never as to cause damage the copy holder’s rights, and, if you have managed to read this far, for any errors or omissions whether wilful, unintended, innocent or deliberate in the content of this polemic, and with thanks to you who have made it thus far for your patience.
A man is ‘called out’ for posting a workout referencing a film ’12 years a slave’ . What are we supposed to do? What is wrong with using such simile? ‘I’m working like a slave’ is not an uncommon phrase. Are we to be banned from using it anymore? Surely it both celebrates the capacity of a slave to work hard and at the same time recognises that a man should not have either to work as a slave or be a slave. What are we to say instead? I’m running like a winger? I’m spinning like a jet engine? Or ballet dancer? They don’t have quite the same impact, do they? And the impact that I’m working like a slave has is derived from the very thing that slavery is.
Slavery is a fact, not just of history, but of our present world. Slave traders were often rich men, and were not just white skinned. Where are the slave routes today? They may not be crossing the Atlantic but they still cross other seas. Who are the traders? Where do they live? What colour, as if it mattered, are their skins?
Our trainer came up with a bright, witty and memorable tag line for his routine. Why condemn it and him? Surely we should celebrate those who in this way expose the hardships of slavery. Perhaps he should have used the proverb slightly amended: I’m working-out like a slave.
But yet still remember: I love, I love my master, I will not go out free, for he is my redeemer, he paid the price for me. In his kingdom there is no distinction between native born and the stranger, there is one law for all: Greek, barbarian and Scythian…which I think includes even the English Irish Scots and Welsh not to mention the rest of the world, slave and free, and one day people from every tribe, tongue and nation shall eat at the table of the Lord, Jesus Christ. Come to him and live. Become his slave and discover that only in his service is their* true freedom.
* I have just noticed it that some grammaticasters may be annoyed by the spelling of ‘their’, but surely it is correct. I leave the reader to discover why that is so.
Whilst Coco does not agree entirely with our well-intentioned trainer’s conclusion: ‘Unfortunately I can’t rewind time and take it back – it’s my mistake and it’s a big one. I made a poor judgement in a post and I’ve apologised. I don’t know what else I can do‘, Coco also understands that there really is nothing else he can do. When a person wants to find a reason to be offended, they will not accept your apology, neither will they be persuaded by any argument that they have no cause to be offended. It behoves however those who have been offended not to themselves cause offence by insults. Let not the pot call the kettle black.
The only mistake he made was to forget that there are those in this world who enjoy taking offence at someone else’s expense and are constantly on the lookout for the opportunity to do so.
It is spring in Paris. Ooops, Coco’s mistake, of course it is not, unless there has been a strong deflection of the geocentric axis of which we have been unaware until now. Still, it was a mistake and as much a mistake as Coco’s attempt to draw a snow scene. Pooh had also come to understand this, that pencils were rarely inclined to go where you would prefer to go, but would find their own way to where you would not.
It was towards the beginning of the covidavian pandemic around Easter 2020 that the penguins of the isolated Prince Edward territory had implemented for the protection of their fragile avian society a new social distancing policy.
In recent days as spring approached the rising of the sun shed a new light upon the devastating impact of the influence of the pandemic….
Earlier this year… [Boko Haram] released a video of a masked Muslim child holding a pistol behind a bound and kneeling…
Coco does not necessarily endorse or agree with any views or theological statements, except insofar as they are in accordance with the Word of God, which belong solely to the authors thereof, expressed in any of the content of the embedded web page, nor is Coco responsible for the content of external Internet sites. The content of such sites may be changed by the owners or maliciously by hackers, and may no longer display the material for which the link was original provided. Secondly, the iframe below has limited functionality and you may prefer to read the page on a new tab as it was intended to be read by the authors thereof. If so, please use the link adjacent to the image above.
At last an acknowledgement on the BBC that the Atlantic slave trade was not solely the responsibility of Europeans, but that Africans themselves provisioned it, that the slave trade itself was already in existence when we arrived and that it survived until the second world war despite our attempts to suppress it. You may notice however that the article reads more like the speech of Mark Anthony than an apology for any part played in the trade.
If it is true that the Nigerian ancestors who “sold slaves…should not be judged by today’s standards or values” why should Colston, Rhodes and Baden-Powell be so judged?
Now, and Coco’s comments are not in Mark Anthony tone, do not think that he is suggesting that the involvement of the African justified or excused our actions, but as it also tells us in this article the eradication of slavery was quite difficult as cultural and social attitudes had to be changed. That battle took place for us towards the end of the 18th century and by the early nineteenth had been largely won by the dedicated perseverance of Christian and other members of our society. The battle must continue today as men will continue to drift from the ethos which teaches that we are all created equal and must all stand as equals before the living God for judgement, as Paul reminded the masters of Colossae, a city in the Roman empire where slavery was commonly practised, Masters, treat your slaves justly and fairly, knowing that you too have a Master in heaven.
There are other resources available on the African slave trade, this is one on YouTube (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AQETbqyKHng) which has been available for many years. It speaks of the greater suffering of the African slave in the non-Atlantic slave trade, and suggests why it is that the evidence of the Atlantic trade is clearly visible today whereas the evidence for the other trade has been obscured.
Facebook seem to think that the post referenced here was in some way offensive for Coco, for one, can no longer access it. Perhaps it really was to logicians, but Coco thought the argument had some merit, albeit small and inappropriately aligned, but to say offensive? To whom? Coco suspects this appropriately misaligned commentary will also be deemed offensive.
Carrots are vegetables, and
Black lives matter.
The two sentences are not comparable. One is a statement about the properties of carrots or an example of what the property vegetable is, the other is a political statement, the result of the condensation of a political manifesto or agenda into three words.
Of course additional words are required in order to explain what the political statement means. Should the first word be All, Most or Some? Does Black include brown, tan, olive, red, yellow – should Coco go on? If black only means black Coco understands, but if it means more than black why would it not also include pink? What does Matter mean? ‘Has value’ is probably what is implied.
… almost finished, two more points which are perhaps the most controversial. Is ‘Black lives matter’ true in the logical sense of true? I would suggest that those who hold this doctrine believe it is not true. They declare a contradiction. They use the slogan only because black lives do not matter and so declare an untruth.
Now please do not understand Coco, that was the penultimate point. The last point to make here is that the slogan lacks a reference point. In most cases where someone declares ‘It matters’ There is a preceding context which makes clear the meaning and to whom ‘it’ matters. ‘It matters to the customer, the boss, usw. ‘It’ is the Zanies’s hook and belt without which he cannot do his work. It matters to him, but not to Coco who would have no idea how to use it anyway. So this is the final point, to whom do the black lives matter to which this slogan refers? As Coco has said, there would be no need to say this if it were true, but it is not; black lives apparently do not matter to some. Who are the some to whom they do not matter? Coco leaves you, dear reader, to answer that question.
But let Coco affirm, just as carrots are a vegetable, Coco can use this slogan in a different way than intended: Black lives matter to God who made all men in his image, and because he has made us in his image men of all shades should treat every other man with the full respect that they expect for themselves. If you prefer to believe Darwin’s disciples rather than God then it is clear that you have no grounds on which to rest your case and claim that black lives matter any more than covid-19 virus lives matter. Sadly, we have not obeyed the commandments of God, we treat him with contempt; is it then a surprise to you than we treat other men badly? But God is not willing that we should perish, but gave his only Son to die on a Roman cross for our sins that we might be reconciled to him. Believe this and you shall live, and in Christ there is neither slave nor free, Jew nor Gentile, Greek nor Barbarian nor even Scythians we are a new one nation in him.
☺
With apologies in advance for errors of syntax, orthography and grammar which may be found embedded in this document whether arising from oversight, incorrect application of language packs or generally any other misadventure; and in general for any offence given inadvertently or inappropriately or both taken or not taken by those whose sensibilities, whether grammatical, orthographical, moral or simply personable, have been offended whether, not or if you have not incorrectly misunderstood the content, intent, meaning and purpose of this article, and to those whose copyrights may have been inadvertently or wantonly infringed, but never as to cause damage the copy holder’s rights, and, if you have managed to read this far, for any errors or omissions whether wilful, unintended, innocent or deliberate in the content of this polemic, and with thanks to you who have made it thus far for your patience.
Coco has been clearing out for shredding old files which have lain in loft space for twenty years….not much changes apart from the writing technology. The attached picture is a scan of the opening paragraph of a letter sent to him in the ember months of, Coco thinks, 1987 but it may have been ’86 or ’88.
It was written using a typewriter as you will be able to tell by the imperfections in the corrected letter i printed in white ink. Who remembers those typewriters?
Coco does not remember the reason for that lock down, and shall not tell on the two who broke it. It will now take East German technology to put the document back together. If you recall what caused the lock down and for how long it lasted, do, please, provide an extended discourse on the matter in this forum.
I have not seen it, why would I want to? When a unique opportunity presents itself, we should not play with trifles. The BBC article refers to a film clip which has apparently been doctored, a term which is strangely used, but regardless:
Goebbels was incensed by the Lambeth Valk; would YouTube or Facebook have banned it in the face of dogged (careful with that word) complaints by the elected government of our Saxon cousins? Should YouTube even now ban it? It is clearly a ‘deep fakes’ video that has been edited, using then readily available technology, to realistically portray something very different. Charles Ridley should have referred to his employer as the British Ministry of Misinformation. The article tries to say that context matters ‘Simple matters of context make those arguments fall away’ but does it really?
Exeter University sacked an employee because he used words similar to the ones that answered my opening question on the grounds that this was a quotation from Rommel. Context matters. Rommel echoed these thoughts in the desert of northern Africa. Exeter University used them in promotional material. Whether the words were true or not did not seem to come into play. Neither did the context matter, the same words said in the heat of battle convey a different urgency than when read in the cool context of potential students’ studies. The irony of the Exeter situation is deepened of course in that Rommel was not actually quoted. What we read are the words of a translator not Rommel’s words. I do not dispute that the translation is accurate merely point out that the words were not Rommel’s. Perhaps the editor of the material would have done better, and been safer, to have produced his own translation and left it unattributed.
Secondly, there are other areas where mockery may be seen to be prejudicial to what would otherwise be good. There is much debate today about the mmGm vaccine. The smallpox vaccine was in for far worse treatement when it was introduced over two hundred years ago. Given what we could do eighty years ago, James Gillray may have marvelled at what he could have produced today in place of what we would now see as an amusing caricature of the vaccine based on cowpox. Would we permit such a video to reside in the pages of YouTube or FaceBook? But we do, except it is to be found on NetFlix where it is called family entertainment or perhaps better horror movies.
We must admit that fake news can be dangerous. It was, with hindsight an inopportune time, but perhaps some of you actually heard the 1938 announcement about the invasion from Mars, or at least know someone who did. What were the consequences of that piece of ‘fake’ information? More seriously, and I doubt that any of us could claim to know an eyewitness to another event but eyewitnessed it was, a group of individuals met Joshua (Joshua 9) about 3200 years ago with fake news, the consequences of which would be felt for many hundreds of years and be very severe for Israel. The Gibeonites were permitted to remain in Canaan. Fake news has been around for a long time, it is not new, just presented in different ways.
Fake news can be both dangerous and amusing. What are the warning words of the slapstick comedy? Don’t try this at home, it has been staged. In the words of another man who must not be quoted: Sie müssen sich hüten.
Would that we had the man of the stature and skill of Gillray to doctor the first mentioned video, perhaps then it would be worth watching.
The Cow Pock. James Gillray
Crushing into a small, crowded room out of a small pox infested London, the Cockneys submitting themselves to the quacks, yielding to the bovine infusion, awaited the inevitable apocalyptic extrusions.
Coco thought he would offer two different perspectives on the day which we call Good Friday. Please grant him an indulgence for this first one. The second perspective has been inspired by events at the focus of the Sinospheric regions. He shall come to that shortly.
They knew it was not just to be a normal day, but a mood of gloom had spread over the hosts of angels which was, if it could be, even deeper than the gloom which rested upon the earth1. They thought it would never end. Gabriel was in his office, he really did not know what to do. They saw what was going on, but did not understand it at all. They knew it was very serious, they had heard someone say in Egypt2: the gods must be very angry about something. He looked at the throne. He could not approach it, God was clearly angry, very angry. Gabriel had never seen this sort of anger before.
Just a twenty four hours earlier they had had instructions to prepare and twelve thousand angels had spent several hours polishing their armour and sharpening their swords, for it was not known whether they would be called upon or not3. But the call to arms did not come. What had happened? One of their number had been sent to a garden, but had not returned with a message to send more4. They were in limbo (not that there is a limbo of course, but you understand Coco’s meaning).
They knew of course what was happening on earth. They had seen it before the thick darkness fell. Three men had been taken to a hill to be crucified, and one of them was their lord, the other two were thieves. Why had they not been sent to rescue him? They had not been short in their preparation. But now the darkness had fallen, they could not see through it, this was the kind of darkness that they had never seen before. Even though they knew that when light shines in the darkness the darkness cannot overcome it5, this darkness seemed to be even darker than that and had all the appearance of being able to prevail.
Just when Gabriel thought it could not get any worse, a large shipment of cloth arrived. Gabriel was not unused to this, red, blue and gold cloth6 were not uncommon as they were used for the priestly garments, but this was different. It was fine white linen. Gabriel could not think of a use for it (He should have remembered what one of his co-workers had done when Joshua appeared before the throne7). Where was he going to store it? He had no idea, and even if he did none of the others had at that time any motivation to be able to do anything. Then a note came giving instructions on what to do with it. They were to make garments out of it, and quickly as one set would be needed within the next hour.
Gabriel was almost at his wits end. How could he do this? No-one had a heart to work, and he had no pattern to use, and even if he did, he did not know what size would be required. Just as he was pondering this, there was a knock on his office door and an angel burst in.
“Gabriel,” he said, “something big is happening. There is an enormous commotion over by the gate, and we cannot control it. The gates, you know they are normally quite sedentary, but they are moving, not only that they are lifting up the doors. Another group of angels is singing8 to them: ‘Lift up your heads, O you gates! Be lifted up you everlasting doors.’ What was going on? Can you tell us?“
Then Gabriel remembered the words of David in Psalm 249, and asked: “Has the darkness gone?” The message quickly went out to the others, they all looked. “Yes!” they shouted back, “The darkness on the earth has gone.” “Then we had better get ready quickly, the King is coming back. David spoke about it9: ‘Lift up your heads, O you gates, be lifted up you everlasting doors and the King of Glory shall come in.’ Quickly, everyone go to your posts! We must welcome our lord, he is coming home.” Then another angel shouted out: “I heard him cry out: ‘It is finished‘10, just before the darkness went.”
Gabriel went to the gates, they had now stopped moving. They were ready, they had lifted up their heads and lifted up the doors, and were waiting.
Then a man appeared, it was one of the two thieves who had been crucified that day. ‘What is he doing here?11‘ they thought. He was filthy, he looked as if he had been running around the street all night and was very much the worse for wear, he needed a good wash and new clothes. They were aghast. An angel stepped forward to bar the way12 of the man. The thief gave him a slip of paper, which was passed to another angel to give to Gabriel. It simply said, ‘Put clean clothes of fine linen on him.’ Gabriel then remembered what the prophet Zechariah had said13 and understood why the fine white linen had arrived. In the earlier commotion he had forgotten about the linen and the instructions, and was about to be embarrassed by the lack of a fine linen tunic, when another angel stepped forward and placed one in his hands. One of the deputies had seen the instructions which Gabriel had left behind and several of the angels had already started work. This was the first item, which had only been sent over as a sample for approval. Gabriel went over to the thief and placed the fine linen tunic on him, at which point the old clothes and all of the filth was washed away.
A second man then walked through the gates, he too was bruised, battered, covered in his own blood, with fresh wounds in his hands, feet and side14, but he was glorious in appearance15. The angels fell on their faces and worshipped him as he walked over to the former thief, and said to him: “I told you, today! Come, let me show you to your room and then let us go to the Father16, 17 & 18. Then I must leave you, for I have more work to do.“
Coco Spring 2019
Of course this is an entirely fantastic (lit.) story, but Coco hopes to have given you enough references to see it is not entirely implausible. Perhaps the biggest error here is that Coco has attributed human limitations to the angels, but as Coco does not know any angels yet, he does not know what the limitations are that should be placed upon them, though we can see some of them in God’s word, so he hopes you will be indulgent towards him.
The real point here is that two men were crucified with Jesus19. One of them said to the other one: “We deserve to be here, but [Jesus] does not.” Then he bowed the knee (not that when you are nailed to a cross you can do that literally, but he did so in the way that matters – he submitted his heart and mind to the Lord) to Jesus and said: “Lord, remember me, when you come into your kingdom.” Jesus replied: “Today, you will be with me in paradise.”
The other thief continued to blaspheme and was lost.
There are only two possible endings, a good one and a bad one. One thief knew that Jesus was the Christ, but did nothing with it. The other thief appeared to know but a little about Jesus, but he took what he did know and went to Jesus with it. Take what you know about him to him, and ask him to show you what you do not know, and get to know him as Saviour and Lord.
Please bear with me. There have been many cæsars who have not cared for the king of kings. It was on a day like today that the representative of one such cæsar asked a man: ‘Are you a king then?‘ Only to be told that though he was a king, his kingdom is not of this world. And so, we may understand, that if his kingdom is not of this world then it is no threat to the kings of this world. Indeed, where his subjects live in another kingdom they bring great benefit to that kingdom. ‘What am I to do with these Christians?‘ Pliny wrote to Cæsar20, ‘They don’t do any harm, indeed they do good to everyone in the city‘ (I paraphrase Pliny). Now you must remember that these cæsars were originally a bit like the chairman of the senate, it took a little while for them to attain a godlike status in the empire.
But the kings of the earth cannot bear to think that they have a rival. The meetings of the subjects of the king of kings are treated as politically subversive, seeking to overturn the established social order, without actually considering that the king himself taught that his subjects are like the yeast which fills the whole of the dough and makes the bread bread21. In practice they were to be subject to the earthly kings22 & 23 and indeed to pray for them24.
So, these cæsars required men to come into line. They demanded from men what was not fitting or proper either for men to give to them or for men to receive. They wanted to be worshipped as gods themselves. All you had to do was say ‘Cæsar is lord‘ and burn a little incense. This has continued to this day. It is still within living memory that one king gave up his claim to divinity, but this view that cæsars have of themselves seems to have made a resurgence in other places.
This resurgence however has made for some interesting apposition. If anyone was going to report on this it had to be an Australian source25, who would get there first after the original post.
In the photograph we see a picture of a cross on a hill flanked by the photographs of two gentlemen the heads and shoulders of whom are placed, perhaps auspiciously, at the same level as the head and shoulders of the one who would have been on the empty cross. It is strangely reminiscent of another occasion when an empty cross (I presume that because Jesus was already dead, he was taken down before the two thieves were taken down) was flanked by two other men: ὅπου αὐτὸν ἐσταύρωσαν, καὶ μετ᾿ αὐτοῦ ἄλλους δύο ἐντεῦθεν καὶ ἐντεῦθεν, μέσον δὲ τὸν Ἰησοῦν26. For those who like Coco cannot read Greek this is broadly understood to read: In that place him they crucified, and with him others two side and side, in the middle Jesus. We read that both of these two men mocked and blasphemed Jesus, as did most of the crowd who were gathered there to watch27, but as time went on28 one of the thieves saw something that the other did not. As the first railed at Jesus, saying: “Are you not the Christ? Save yourself and us!” the second replied to him: “Don’t you fear God, since you are under the same condemnation? We are getting what we deserve for what we did, but this man has done nothing wrong.” Then this second one turned to Jesus and said to him: “Lord, remember me, when you come into your kingdom.”
One of the two men had suggested that revolution does not come in quietly like a well-beloved, courteous and welcome friend, but it is troublesome and harsh. The other seems to show the same sort of concern that the recipient of Pliny’s letter showed. He did not want any subversion of the current social order, and people who thought in a different way were perceived to be such a threat. It is strange that the cæsars of this world are all pretty much the same. Can they not learn from history? The history of the Roman Cæsars shows that they cannot overcome the kingdom which is not of this world. Eventually one of their number joined that kingdom and the persecutions ceased. Coco shall make no further comment here on the consequences of that capitulation.
Let us come back to the present, do you remember the promise Jesus made to the second thief? ‘I tell you the truth, today you will be with me in Paradise.’ he said.
Only one of the men flanking the cross of Jesus joined the kingdom which is not of this world. Only one of the thieves entered Paradise. Only one of the men flanking the empty cross in our picture is alive today. Only one of them can join the kingdom. Only one can enter Paradise. Will he do so?
‘Therefore I urge first of all that that supplications, prayers, intercessions and giving of thanks be made…for kings and all who are in authority‘29… Paul, a servant of the king in his first letter to Timothy.
If you don’t want the name, give the money back – isn’t it as easy as that?
Charities are minded to understand that if the source of the funds offered to them is questionable, they should refuse the offer.
And, as a tax professional, Coco would welcome the opportunity to refresh his estate duty knowledge as it is tracked how the Codrington Library building and contents would have passed through all of the generations of his family, and calculate the amount of estate duty due on each death, and he would also assume IHT, would now become payable – a very welcome windfall to be sure.
