Post by Anthony Bailey on May 4, 2013 0:11:00 GMT -4
"The evidence is clearly in favor of Jesus as Lord. However, some people reject the clear evidence because of the moral implications involved. There needs to be a moral honesty in the above considerations of Jesus either as a liar, lunatic, or Lord and God." – C.S. Lewis
{{The scene opens to the inside of Bailey’s childhood home located in the affluent Westchase suburban community of Tampa, FL. It had been some weeks since Bailey last visited his mother Tracy, so he wanted to spend some time with her before he set out to Brazil again for the weekend. One of Tracy’s favorite pastimes was watching old home movies so Anthony already knew what he was in store for. Bailey knew how nostalgic his mother was of the days gone by, especially since he was the only child and had grown up to become one of pro wrestling’s newest and most recognizable faces.}}
{{Tracy had recovered a video, which her son had almost forgotten about from Bailey’s sophomore year at Calvary Christian High School. The year was 2005 and the film The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe had just been released and the school wanted to pay homage to C.S. Lewis, the author of the epic children’s fantasy series, and his contribution to literature. Bailey had given a short monologue about the life of Lewis alongside a few of his classmates. Tracy is seated on the couch in the family room as Anthony is off camera in the kitchen preparing some popcorn.}}[/color]
Anthony Bailey: It’s almost done mom...
Tracy Bailey: Okay dear, no rush. The video is already in and ready to go.
{{Cabinets can be heard repeatedly opening and closing.}}[/color]
Anthony Bailey: Would you happen to know where the butter is? I know it’s around here somewhere.
Tracy Bailey: Yes, check to the right of the microwave.
{{Another cabinet swings open.}}[/color]
Anthony Bailey: Cool, I found it.
{{Bailey continues to fiddle around in the kitchen as the microwave beeps signaling that the popcorn is done.}}[/color]
Want anything to drink?
Tracy Bailey: No, I’m good for now. Thanks though.
{{Moments later Bailey, holding a bowl of popcorn in one hand and a bottle of water in the other, slowly walks into the family room. Wearing a plain black T-shirt and white basketball shorts, he hands the bowl to his mother and has a seat on the couch next to her. Looking up at the TV screen, Bailey speaks up as Tracy unpauses the video. He is amazed at the sight of his baby face from about seven years ago.}}[/color]
Anthony Bailey: Oh my goodness! I almost forgot about that night.
Tracy Bailey: Not me. I loved how the school decided to honor Lewis.
Anthony Bailey: Yeah that was pretty awesome. Didn’t you drop off Rob and I at the movies to see the The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe when it first came out?
Rob was Anthony’s childhood friend from Tampa. Rob also now lives in St. Augustine and has even appeared on camera during a few of Bailey’s APW promos, but the two rarely keep in touch the way they used to. Allegedly, Rob keeps his distance because he felt like Jair Hopkins “replaced” him.
{{Tracy ponders for a moment.}}[/color]
Tracy Bailey: Hmm, I think I did. Was it raining hard that night?
Anthony Bailey: It might have been. I’m not really sure.
Tracy Bailey: Oh okay…
{{Bailey takes a sip of his water and redirects his attention back to the screen.}}[/color]
Anthony Bailey: I’m just surprised that you still have this.
{{Tracy smiles at her son after chewing and swallowing some popcorn.}}[/color]
Tracy Bailey: Why? I’m not.
Anthony Bailey: Of course not. I don’t think there was a night or event that went by that wasn’t recorded. I think you might have my whole life documented.
Tracy Bailey: Probably not your entire life, but at least seventy or seventy-five percent of it.
{{Both mother and son share a laugh.}}[/color]
Anthony Bailey: As long as Jason Kash doesn’t get his hands on that stuff, I’m good. He might try to sell it to Jerry Sandusky or something.
{{Bailey’s eyes widen.}}[/color]
Oh my gosh. Look at how nervous I was.
Tracy Bailey: Yeah I can hear it your voice but you did a great job that night.
Anthony Bailey: Ladies and gentlemen, I introduce to you Tracy Bailey also known as the biased mother applauding the lackluster monologue of her only child.
{{Tracy playfully socks him in the shoulder, spilling a few popcorn kernels onto the couch in the process.}}[/color]
Tracy Bailey: Oh stop it, that’s not true. Don’t you remember all of the applause you and your friends received afterwards? That part is coming up in a few minutes.
Anthony Bailey: I mean I guess we did alright. I know for a fact though that by senior year my public speaking had improved by leaps and bounds.
Tracy Bailey: Compared to this? Absolutely.
Anthony Bailey: And look at me now…I’m speaking before thousands of people almost on a weekly basis. Who would’ve ever thought huh?
Tracy Bailey: I knew for a fact since the day you were born that you would grow up to become something truly special.
This time Bailey didn’t kid around with his mother or label her statement as biased. He couldn’t deny the fact that his entire life was built on genuine encouragement from her to succeed in life. This was the fuel that sustained him during the times of doubt and turmoil.
Anthony Bailey: Thank you mom, I appreciate that. I really do.
{{Bailey, who is already sitting pretty close to her, leans in to give her a hug.}}[/color]
Tracy Bailey: No problem my dear. It is a pleasure to have the opportunity of calling you my son...
{{Bailey grins.}}[/color]
Speaking of which, would my dear son mind making me a cup of tea? All of this salt is starting to get to me.
Usually Bailey himself was the one that was pretty good at reeling the other person in just to catch them off guard, but as you can see, he had to pick it up from somewhere...or someone.
Anthony Bailey: That buttering me up was almost believable. I definitely didn’t see that coming.
Tracy Bailey: There, that should teach you to not to leave the country and go to such an exquisite place like Brazil without extending the invite to Momma Bailey…
{{They both laugh one last time as Bailey rises up from the couch and walks towards the kitchen at his mother’s request. Tracy grabs the remote beside her and raises the volume a little bit on the television, so that Bailey’s adolescent voice can be heard more clearly.}}[/color]
Anthony Bailey on the TV Screen: …Lewis was also famous for what we know as his Trilemma Argument. This argument was intended to prove the divinity of Jesus from an apologetic standpoint. It is also often summarized as the “Liar, Lunatic, Lord" or as the "Mad, Bad, God" arguments. Lewis maintained that no simple good moral teacher, as Jesus is often referred to, could make the grand claims that he made and still be labeled as “good.” This trilemma has influenced modern day Christian apologetics and figures such as the late President Reagan and Bono of U2 have also utilized the popular phrase.
{{The scene slowly fades out and shifts to Bailey standing on the back patio of his mother’s home, the very same place that was the safe haven for eighteen years of his life. Tracy is nowhere in sight and much of the activity that was occurring earlier has slowed down. Bailey, now wearing a hoodie over his outfit since Florida cannot make up its mind about the spring season, exhales and faces directly towards the camera. He begins to speak.}}[/color]
Anthony Bailey: Watching that home movie with mom a little while ago put my upcoming match on Asylum this weekend in Sao Paulo in perspective. I am faced with a similar dilemma that the late C.S. Lewis was also faced with during his lifetime. Who would’ve ever thought that a kid from Tampa would have so much in common with a famous English novelist that lived and died before I was ever conceived? While I should have been focused on enjoying the company of my mother and not allowing my mind to wander elsewhere, I realized that Michael Lively is either a liar or lunatic. Perhaps both, but a deity? A deity he is not. One day his psyche will depart from this earth just as mine will; but in his case, there will be no resurrection on the third day and no eventual ascension to the third Heaven. Some Jesus you are huh Lively? Your entire being just shouts “fraud” from the rooftop. One chop of your jugular or one strike in your temple will disprove all of the claims that you have built your entire career on.
It’s amazing how your lying nature fits you to the tee, so associating yourself with people like Kash and Reaver make sense. And your lunacy has been made evident from the assumption of you thinking that your encounter inside of that ring with me on Asylum in Sao Paulo will be one with ease. After all, what is a goody two shoes really capable of? He couldn’t possibly afflict any palpable harm could he? It’s so ironic how Kash was the provision of your “run down” on how to handle me when he has yet to handle me himself. He can gloat all he wants over his tag team defeat with Reaver over Hopkins and I a few weeks ago, but the fact of the matter is he considered himself an expert on a topic that he knows absolutely nothing about.
Each one of you from Child’s Play lack the expertise in many areas of life that would be too draining for me to thoroughly dissect for the masses. Sounds like the perfect Presidential candidate to me eh? Maybe my old buddy Michael Callahan could join the fold and bring you guys some credibility in the political realm.
{{Bailey chuckles at his own slightly off topic remark.}}[/color]
But then again, Callahan is merely your duly elected representative. You Lively…you are “Jesus” and don’t need the help of anyone, am I correct? Jesus suffered for the sins of the world while you will suffer and be held accountable for your own actions inside of that ring. Aligning yourself with Kash was your first blunder and then referring to me as a world class vagina? You have crossed any and every line that could ever be drawn. You can disregard my past accolades if you’d like, I won’t hold that against you. But May 5th has yet to come and standing face to face with me, The Promise, cannot be disregarded. You can attempt to call down your legions of angels but that will be unsuccessful. It’s only me and you Lively.
Jesus saved the world but yet you can’t even save yourself and the APW fans in Brazil and the fans watching at home this Sunday night will witness that. But the empathetic side of me can kind of understand why you are the way you are though. Defying the odds and coming from a family of illegal means, you made something of yourself by the standards of the American Dream. You didn’t follow the same dark path of your old man because the grass looked greener on the other side, you watered and cultivated the grass where you were already at and brought forth an illustrious wrestling career out of it. That I can commend because I was able to do the same thing. I had a dream and I made it a reality.
But what I don’t condone is your blasphemous posture towards what many people see as sacred. Some championship titles and notoriety over the years have really bamboozled you into thinking that you are the Son of God and that you are coming to redeem the world of professional wrestling? You can’t redeem something that you are aiding in the depravity of. The problem of this business is people like you. You’re speaking of eternal life but all the while you are the one traveling on the autobahn to hell with Jason Kash riding shotgun. You’re the pipeline of evil Lively but you falsely mask it as good. False messiahs have deceived many before but as of Sunday, your deception will be fully unveiled.
Bailey’s evangelical Christian upbringing made his reactions to Lively a bit more severe than normal. And the fact that Bailey’s arch enemy Jason Kash was Lively’s right hand man didn’t help the matter.
You will not deceive the nations as long as I am alive and breathing. The path that you are headed on is a path of destruction and only a liar and a lunatic would say otherwise. Liars are so duped that they begin to believe their own utterances. Lunatics are insane and reckless like a city that’s without walls. It was obvious during the six man tag match between Dying Breed and Foul Play that your walls aren’t as reinforced as you think they are. The illusion of you being invincible was quickly toppled at the hands of Dying Breed and I am planning on a repeat during our match. I’m well aware of the toil and sweat that is needed to do so, but I’m ready and willing to do what I have to do to prove that false messiahs have no place in this world.
Having Hopkins and Williams banned from ringside mean absolutely nothing to me. They are my brothers for life and nothing could change that but I am skilled enough to get the job done solo. At Mayhem I will need to fulfill the task against Kash by myself and at Asylum, it’s the same deal. I was going to play the humility role and simply hope for the best in the outcome against the much more experienced Lively, but when he came out the gate swinging and slandering my name, I also had to come out swinging. Jesus said that the meek will inherit the earth but this entire month, especially during my encounters with Foul Play, meekness will be laid aside for the greater good.
The greater good of forcefully making Michael Lively realize that his mother was not a virgin and that three wise men didn’t bring him any gifts when he was born. You are a mere man, a man who rises in the morning and lies down at nighttime. A man who puts on one pants leg at a time. A man, like your buddy Kash, who will fall victim to The Promise because he underestimated him and assumed that he had him all figured out. I have no clue why I am telling the “omniscient” Michael Lively this but let it be known that I am Anthony Bailey…APW’s only Promise…the only Promise that can't be broken, especially by you and your band of misfits Foul Play. Until Sao Paulo…
{{The scene slowly fades to black.}}[/color]
{{The scene opens to the inside of Bailey’s childhood home located in the affluent Westchase suburban community of Tampa, FL. It had been some weeks since Bailey last visited his mother Tracy, so he wanted to spend some time with her before he set out to Brazil again for the weekend. One of Tracy’s favorite pastimes was watching old home movies so Anthony already knew what he was in store for. Bailey knew how nostalgic his mother was of the days gone by, especially since he was the only child and had grown up to become one of pro wrestling’s newest and most recognizable faces.}}
{{Tracy had recovered a video, which her son had almost forgotten about from Bailey’s sophomore year at Calvary Christian High School. The year was 2005 and the film The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe had just been released and the school wanted to pay homage to C.S. Lewis, the author of the epic children’s fantasy series, and his contribution to literature. Bailey had given a short monologue about the life of Lewis alongside a few of his classmates. Tracy is seated on the couch in the family room as Anthony is off camera in the kitchen preparing some popcorn.}}[/color]
Anthony Bailey: It’s almost done mom...
Tracy Bailey: Okay dear, no rush. The video is already in and ready to go.
{{Cabinets can be heard repeatedly opening and closing.}}[/color]
Anthony Bailey: Would you happen to know where the butter is? I know it’s around here somewhere.
Tracy Bailey: Yes, check to the right of the microwave.
{{Another cabinet swings open.}}[/color]
Anthony Bailey: Cool, I found it.
{{Bailey continues to fiddle around in the kitchen as the microwave beeps signaling that the popcorn is done.}}[/color]
Want anything to drink?
Tracy Bailey: No, I’m good for now. Thanks though.
{{Moments later Bailey, holding a bowl of popcorn in one hand and a bottle of water in the other, slowly walks into the family room. Wearing a plain black T-shirt and white basketball shorts, he hands the bowl to his mother and has a seat on the couch next to her. Looking up at the TV screen, Bailey speaks up as Tracy unpauses the video. He is amazed at the sight of his baby face from about seven years ago.}}[/color]
Anthony Bailey: Oh my goodness! I almost forgot about that night.
Tracy Bailey: Not me. I loved how the school decided to honor Lewis.
Anthony Bailey: Yeah that was pretty awesome. Didn’t you drop off Rob and I at the movies to see the The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe when it first came out?
Rob was Anthony’s childhood friend from Tampa. Rob also now lives in St. Augustine and has even appeared on camera during a few of Bailey’s APW promos, but the two rarely keep in touch the way they used to. Allegedly, Rob keeps his distance because he felt like Jair Hopkins “replaced” him.
{{Tracy ponders for a moment.}}[/color]
Tracy Bailey: Hmm, I think I did. Was it raining hard that night?
Anthony Bailey: It might have been. I’m not really sure.
Tracy Bailey: Oh okay…
{{Bailey takes a sip of his water and redirects his attention back to the screen.}}[/color]
Anthony Bailey: I’m just surprised that you still have this.
{{Tracy smiles at her son after chewing and swallowing some popcorn.}}[/color]
Tracy Bailey: Why? I’m not.
Anthony Bailey: Of course not. I don’t think there was a night or event that went by that wasn’t recorded. I think you might have my whole life documented.
Tracy Bailey: Probably not your entire life, but at least seventy or seventy-five percent of it.
{{Both mother and son share a laugh.}}[/color]
Anthony Bailey: As long as Jason Kash doesn’t get his hands on that stuff, I’m good. He might try to sell it to Jerry Sandusky or something.
{{Bailey’s eyes widen.}}[/color]
Oh my gosh. Look at how nervous I was.
Tracy Bailey: Yeah I can hear it your voice but you did a great job that night.
Anthony Bailey: Ladies and gentlemen, I introduce to you Tracy Bailey also known as the biased mother applauding the lackluster monologue of her only child.
{{Tracy playfully socks him in the shoulder, spilling a few popcorn kernels onto the couch in the process.}}[/color]
Tracy Bailey: Oh stop it, that’s not true. Don’t you remember all of the applause you and your friends received afterwards? That part is coming up in a few minutes.
Anthony Bailey: I mean I guess we did alright. I know for a fact though that by senior year my public speaking had improved by leaps and bounds.
Tracy Bailey: Compared to this? Absolutely.
Anthony Bailey: And look at me now…I’m speaking before thousands of people almost on a weekly basis. Who would’ve ever thought huh?
Tracy Bailey: I knew for a fact since the day you were born that you would grow up to become something truly special.
This time Bailey didn’t kid around with his mother or label her statement as biased. He couldn’t deny the fact that his entire life was built on genuine encouragement from her to succeed in life. This was the fuel that sustained him during the times of doubt and turmoil.
Anthony Bailey: Thank you mom, I appreciate that. I really do.
{{Bailey, who is already sitting pretty close to her, leans in to give her a hug.}}[/color]
Tracy Bailey: No problem my dear. It is a pleasure to have the opportunity of calling you my son...
{{Bailey grins.}}[/color]
Speaking of which, would my dear son mind making me a cup of tea? All of this salt is starting to get to me.
Usually Bailey himself was the one that was pretty good at reeling the other person in just to catch them off guard, but as you can see, he had to pick it up from somewhere...or someone.
Anthony Bailey: That buttering me up was almost believable. I definitely didn’t see that coming.
Tracy Bailey: There, that should teach you to not to leave the country and go to such an exquisite place like Brazil without extending the invite to Momma Bailey…
{{They both laugh one last time as Bailey rises up from the couch and walks towards the kitchen at his mother’s request. Tracy grabs the remote beside her and raises the volume a little bit on the television, so that Bailey’s adolescent voice can be heard more clearly.}}[/color]
Anthony Bailey on the TV Screen: …Lewis was also famous for what we know as his Trilemma Argument. This argument was intended to prove the divinity of Jesus from an apologetic standpoint. It is also often summarized as the “Liar, Lunatic, Lord" or as the "Mad, Bad, God" arguments. Lewis maintained that no simple good moral teacher, as Jesus is often referred to, could make the grand claims that he made and still be labeled as “good.” This trilemma has influenced modern day Christian apologetics and figures such as the late President Reagan and Bono of U2 have also utilized the popular phrase.
{{The scene slowly fades out and shifts to Bailey standing on the back patio of his mother’s home, the very same place that was the safe haven for eighteen years of his life. Tracy is nowhere in sight and much of the activity that was occurring earlier has slowed down. Bailey, now wearing a hoodie over his outfit since Florida cannot make up its mind about the spring season, exhales and faces directly towards the camera. He begins to speak.}}[/color]
Anthony Bailey: Watching that home movie with mom a little while ago put my upcoming match on Asylum this weekend in Sao Paulo in perspective. I am faced with a similar dilemma that the late C.S. Lewis was also faced with during his lifetime. Who would’ve ever thought that a kid from Tampa would have so much in common with a famous English novelist that lived and died before I was ever conceived? While I should have been focused on enjoying the company of my mother and not allowing my mind to wander elsewhere, I realized that Michael Lively is either a liar or lunatic. Perhaps both, but a deity? A deity he is not. One day his psyche will depart from this earth just as mine will; but in his case, there will be no resurrection on the third day and no eventual ascension to the third Heaven. Some Jesus you are huh Lively? Your entire being just shouts “fraud” from the rooftop. One chop of your jugular or one strike in your temple will disprove all of the claims that you have built your entire career on.
It’s amazing how your lying nature fits you to the tee, so associating yourself with people like Kash and Reaver make sense. And your lunacy has been made evident from the assumption of you thinking that your encounter inside of that ring with me on Asylum in Sao Paulo will be one with ease. After all, what is a goody two shoes really capable of? He couldn’t possibly afflict any palpable harm could he? It’s so ironic how Kash was the provision of your “run down” on how to handle me when he has yet to handle me himself. He can gloat all he wants over his tag team defeat with Reaver over Hopkins and I a few weeks ago, but the fact of the matter is he considered himself an expert on a topic that he knows absolutely nothing about.
Each one of you from Child’s Play lack the expertise in many areas of life that would be too draining for me to thoroughly dissect for the masses. Sounds like the perfect Presidential candidate to me eh? Maybe my old buddy Michael Callahan could join the fold and bring you guys some credibility in the political realm.
{{Bailey chuckles at his own slightly off topic remark.}}[/color]
But then again, Callahan is merely your duly elected representative. You Lively…you are “Jesus” and don’t need the help of anyone, am I correct? Jesus suffered for the sins of the world while you will suffer and be held accountable for your own actions inside of that ring. Aligning yourself with Kash was your first blunder and then referring to me as a world class vagina? You have crossed any and every line that could ever be drawn. You can disregard my past accolades if you’d like, I won’t hold that against you. But May 5th has yet to come and standing face to face with me, The Promise, cannot be disregarded. You can attempt to call down your legions of angels but that will be unsuccessful. It’s only me and you Lively.
Jesus saved the world but yet you can’t even save yourself and the APW fans in Brazil and the fans watching at home this Sunday night will witness that. But the empathetic side of me can kind of understand why you are the way you are though. Defying the odds and coming from a family of illegal means, you made something of yourself by the standards of the American Dream. You didn’t follow the same dark path of your old man because the grass looked greener on the other side, you watered and cultivated the grass where you were already at and brought forth an illustrious wrestling career out of it. That I can commend because I was able to do the same thing. I had a dream and I made it a reality.
But what I don’t condone is your blasphemous posture towards what many people see as sacred. Some championship titles and notoriety over the years have really bamboozled you into thinking that you are the Son of God and that you are coming to redeem the world of professional wrestling? You can’t redeem something that you are aiding in the depravity of. The problem of this business is people like you. You’re speaking of eternal life but all the while you are the one traveling on the autobahn to hell with Jason Kash riding shotgun. You’re the pipeline of evil Lively but you falsely mask it as good. False messiahs have deceived many before but as of Sunday, your deception will be fully unveiled.
Bailey’s evangelical Christian upbringing made his reactions to Lively a bit more severe than normal. And the fact that Bailey’s arch enemy Jason Kash was Lively’s right hand man didn’t help the matter.
You will not deceive the nations as long as I am alive and breathing. The path that you are headed on is a path of destruction and only a liar and a lunatic would say otherwise. Liars are so duped that they begin to believe their own utterances. Lunatics are insane and reckless like a city that’s without walls. It was obvious during the six man tag match between Dying Breed and Foul Play that your walls aren’t as reinforced as you think they are. The illusion of you being invincible was quickly toppled at the hands of Dying Breed and I am planning on a repeat during our match. I’m well aware of the toil and sweat that is needed to do so, but I’m ready and willing to do what I have to do to prove that false messiahs have no place in this world.
Having Hopkins and Williams banned from ringside mean absolutely nothing to me. They are my brothers for life and nothing could change that but I am skilled enough to get the job done solo. At Mayhem I will need to fulfill the task against Kash by myself and at Asylum, it’s the same deal. I was going to play the humility role and simply hope for the best in the outcome against the much more experienced Lively, but when he came out the gate swinging and slandering my name, I also had to come out swinging. Jesus said that the meek will inherit the earth but this entire month, especially during my encounters with Foul Play, meekness will be laid aside for the greater good.
The greater good of forcefully making Michael Lively realize that his mother was not a virgin and that three wise men didn’t bring him any gifts when he was born. You are a mere man, a man who rises in the morning and lies down at nighttime. A man who puts on one pants leg at a time. A man, like your buddy Kash, who will fall victim to The Promise because he underestimated him and assumed that he had him all figured out. I have no clue why I am telling the “omniscient” Michael Lively this but let it be known that I am Anthony Bailey…APW’s only Promise…the only Promise that can't be broken, especially by you and your band of misfits Foul Play. Until Sao Paulo…
{{The scene slowly fades to black.}}[/color]
