No one likes a parasite. Bloodsucker, leech, these are not terms of endearment.

And yet, no one can deny that proximity to the right entity can be quite valuable,

salvific even, when the hanger-on cannot provide what they need for themselves.

This is a story about consequences and grace.

It's a story about choosing the voices to which we give ear and how that choice shapes everything. And it's a story about a God known to meet out

merciful punishment and punishing mercy,

a God who loves enough to speak and cares deeply whether we listen.

I'm Justin Gerhardt.

Welcome to Holy Ghost Stories.

Music to Holy Ghost stories. The man of God lies in the road, his body twisted unnaturally.

One eye staring blankly into the distance, the other eye gone.

The dark abyss of his eye socket begins a gaping red canyon carved across his cheek, running down to his jaw.

The topography of his abdomen, too, has been altered. A snarl of lacerations mimic and miniature the hills and valleys surrounding this road between Judah and Bethel.

Blood pools on the soil, out of place, and useless.

His chest does not rise or fall.

Standing over the man of God, a donkey.

It breathes slowly.

The skin of its shoulder twitches every so often,

disrupting hungry flies.

Standing beside the donkey, a lion. Deep tired breaths and a gradually calming

heartbeat. Crimson stains its paws and the light fur around its lips. The giant cat does not touch the donkey,

nor does it touch the mangled body. King Jeroboam stands beside the great stone altar of Bethel and raises his hands in worship.

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