There is no escaping influence.

All human beings affect those around them, sway them, shape them,

sand edges, provoke, inspire. You may not want the power, but you cannot surrender it.

This is a story about leadership, about stewarding the inevitability of osmotic impact.

It's a story about repentance and forgiveness and the tragic beauty of impermanent faith.

And it's a story about what happens when someone who's chosen to leave God changes their mind.

I'm Justin Gerhardt.

Welcome to Holy Ghost Stories.

Music I'm going to Mount Zion thunders.

The hooves of two dozen horses drumming the earth, equine eyes wild as their riders urge them out beyond the walls of Jerusalem,

north, threading the hills of Benjamin, west toward the coastal plain beside the sea,

east into the verdant trench that channels the Jordan River, south toward the desert canyons carved from the very bones of the earth.

Each mount carries a satchel bearing the word of the king, fresh ink, unwoven papyrus,

calling the elders of Judah to a gathering that will change the course of history.

Stem the tide of a war between Israel and him.

That is the hope.

In the palace, perhaps, the royal secretary, Chafan, looks to King Josiah.

Will they come, my lord?

Josiah, face grave and showing more than his 26 years, looks out the window at the billowing dust cloud left by his messengers.

The question is not, will they come, Sheffan, but what will happen when they do?

Soon the temple courtyard swells with the presence of Judah's clan leaders and statesmen,

the governors of districts, the priests, the Levites, and the citizens of Jerusalem, old, young, and everything in between.

...