CUT AND RUN . . .

Of Politicos, Pop Stars, and Prophets

 

By

Doug Krieger 

 

 

 

How and why the Democrats decided to implode is anyone’s guess.  Never has a party with so much momentum going into an election (2006 November) been able to self-destruct so quickly—and with spectacular fanfare and squander (2006, June)! 

 

As a government teacher in high school, it has been my frequent observation to witness a student quietly sitting at a desk, apparently of sound mind and body, suddenly IMPLODE—i.e., a loud crash is heard and somehow the kid is sprawled all over the floor, and so are papers, desk, books, and anything else nearby—it’s almost as weird as spontaneous combustion!   

 

This phenomenon occasionally happens—I don’t know why—but it does.  Normally, the lower grades experience SPONTANEOUS IMPLOSION more than its embarrassment in the upper grades; however, be it duly noted, juniors and seniors are just as much at risk, especially around the Junior-Senior Prom!

 

 

POLITICAL JUJITSU

 

Taking ones’ weakness and making it your strength is precisely Karl Rove’s strategy.  Unleashing the Rover has resulted in the Republicans making a 180° turn around:  From running away from the President’s war policy to beating the drums of conquest.  First Abu Musab al-Zarqawi is annihilated, scores of declassified documents confirm WMD’s were wasting away in Iraq PRIOR to the US invasion, and the nation is outraged over the beheading of American soldiers—hey, it’s time to jump on the War Machine and giddyup! 

 

That didn’t stop Kerry’s stupidity as his gunboat took a direct 86 to 13 hit in the Senate—yep, Kerry’s gone on record alright, as the most out-of-touch Senator to countenance the Senate since Joe McCarthy.

 

Senators Hillary Clinton and John Kerry now represent the party disparity trying to find a common policy of bringing the troops home with some absolute or graduated form of “cut and run” – how clever of the newly revived Karl Rove to articulate the debate (thank you Eleanor Clift) and have the Dems. implode in attempting to counter his clever, little ploys—not even Tim Russert can get a hold of this “thing” the Dems. have managed to inflict upon themselves!  And, imagine, the bespectacled Mr. Peepers vs. the botaxed Senator Suave—no contest here, right?  Think again.

 

Senator Kerry’s blandishments—“lie and die Republican policy”—are falling on deaf ears . . . you see, headin’ out of Dodge in a gunboat is NOT an option nor an exit strategy—no matter how insanely tempting it sounds!

 

Americans always SAY they root for the underdog—but they love a winner.  Therefore, the Michigan Senator Levin’s proposal (a botaxical rendition of Kerry’s makeup, utterly unaware of what’s happening on the Iraqi surface) was likewise rejected—though by a smaller margin (60 to 39).

 

Yes, leadership – decisive, visionary, inspirational, strategic (regardless how it’s pronounced), tactical genius, focused, persuasive, likeable, direct and straightforward (sort of ethical), open to feedback (or gives the appearance of feedback), open to new ideas, and most of all, committed to the American dream and the common good – so, who’s winning the hearts and minds of Americana when it comes to these leadership ideals? 

 

So the Texas swagger gets to you now and again—now that would be terrorists (sorry they’re black) are being caught and a gazillion bank accounts are being tapped—why, it’s better to have six guys entrapped, jailed, and awaiting trial than to have the Sears Tower blown to bits, or New York’s subway gassed.  Seems like each week a major terrorist bust or disclosure of how good Homeland Security is working comes forth, or for that matter how well the Canadians are securing our northern exposure.

 

So, how refreshing to hear the Republican leadership exult:  Surrender is not a solution in Iraq (Senator Frist).  One thing about the American electorate—they’re normally impressed with the last guy who’s doing most of the talking—and it’s Bush’s month for sure on that score—even TIME Magazine has to admit he’s winning the war on terror on the home front (Why Bush is (Still) Winning the War at Home, Joe Klein, Time Magazine, June 21, 2006).

 

In point of fact Klein’s piece in the drive by media TM article is very telling—given its source:

 

“‘I was up there in the cockpit of that airplane coming into Baghdad,’ the President told the press corps assembled on the White House lawn after his dash into and out of the war zone last week. ‘It was an unbelievable, unbelievable feeling.’ In fact, George W. Bush's body language—let’s call it the full jaunty—was reminiscent of his last, infamous cockpit trip, onto the deck of the U.S.S. Abraham Lincoln in May 2003 to announce the ‘end’ of major combat operations in Iraq, beneath a mission accomplished sign. His public language is more cautious than it used to be, but he seemed downright frothy in a private session with the congressional leadership after his press conference.

 

“He called the new Iraqi Defense Minister an ‘interesting cat’ and Abu Mousab al-Zarqawi, the deceased al-Qaeda leader, ‘a dangerous dude.’ Bush had reason, finally, to strut. The al-Zarqawi raid had netted valuable intelligence data that were enabling U.S. and Iraqi forces to roll up al-Qaeda cells—the best haul since the capture of Saddam Hussein, which made it possible for U.S. forces to disable much of the dictator’s inner circle in early 2004. What’s more, the first elected Iraqi government was finally fully in place. Back home, Karl Rove was officially unindicted in the CIA leak case, and the Democrats were busy being Democrats—divided, defensive and confused about the war, with Bush’s favorite punching bag, Senator John Kerry, leading the charge.”

 

 

A BUNCH OF SONGS

 

Meanwhile, America’s intelligentsia sings out against Bush and his war . . .

 

          “We are threatened as Americans because of the way our president carries himself . . . he’s the biggest threat in the world” . . . Rap Mogul Russell Simmons

 

          “Living With War” – “Let’s Impeach the President” – Songs of Neil Young

 

          “World Wide Suicide” – Eddie Vedder, Pearl Jam

 

          “Not Ready To Make Nice” – lead-off single from Taking the Long Way by Natalie Maines …. Remember, the Dixie Chicks “ashamed the President of the United States is from Texas.”

 

          Bruce Springsteen:  “How Can a Poor Man Stand Such Times and Live?” – “President Bystander”

 

          Flaming Lips (Bohemian artists):  “Haven’t Got A Clue” – “Every time you state your case, the more I want to punch your face.”

         

          Indio Girls (Pink):  “You’ve come a long way from whiskey and cocaine”

 

          James McMurtry:  “We Can’t Make It Here” – “Pick a Bigger Weapon” – “Head (of State)” “BabyLet’sHaveABabyBeforeBushDoSomethingCrazy”

 

This list is growing . . . but the sounds thereof are hollow – rock historian Dave Marsh sums up today’s anti-war songfests to Viet Nam’s:  “With Viet Nam, you had a movement . . . now you don’t have a movement . . . you have a President with low approval ratings, and a bunch of songs.”

 

From politics to pop – the sounds of cut and run just sound flat . . . but what of the sounds of silence heard from CUT AND RUN CHRISTIANITY?   Is there such a phenomenon about these days, just as the worlds of government and glitz gyrate about the endless wars and rumors of wars—what of those who claim wisdom from on High . . . insight into the “signs of the times?”

 

Politicians, pop artists, and the pious all have something in common—most are playing to the audience; the pious—to your surprise—acclaim they are playing to the biggest audience in the universe.  Most, if not all, have an overweening sense of their own propriety—come on now, we all do, but these folks, especially the visible and outspoken, are leadin’ the pack. 

 

 

 

Now, there’s nothing adverse to this socio-political/cultural/religious complexion—the parallels, sights, sounds, and expressions can be, and many times are, far more similar than dissimilar.  To say that pop culturists (that includes all entertainers, including sports) are not afflicted by the bane of politics or that politicians relish the limelight and their moments of fame, or that Christianity can’t put on a glitzy performance (witness the pomp and circumstance of Pope John Paul II’s extravaganza of a funeral) or, for that matter, that Episcopalians are overwhelmed by political infighting these days—well, folks, welcome to the multi-cultural world where all strata of society tend to blend, yet surprisingly maintain a façade of distinction.

 

 

WHAT IS CUT-AND-RUN CHRISTIANITY?

 

Actually, politicians resigning or driven from office often use the phrase “I’m going to spend more time with my family”—an exiting strategy well utilized when departing the hallowed halls of government (somehow writing a book is usually involved, or making a movie—normally on the environment).

 

And, once a performer hits the skids, they normally are trotted out for bit parts now and again or head for the Vegas circuit—obscured from the paparazzi that once haunted them (or they do commercials selling fertilizers, perfumes, real estate, hamburger gadgets, weight-loss products, and the like)—sort of in the limelight, but everyone knows otherwise or they get involved raising awareness about something, while living in their mansions.

 

The pious, however, oft find a convent or monastery-style life or a remote hideaway excluded from the world—the noxious fumes of Babylon.  Separation from Babylon’s “sins and plagues” has been a quest for pietists and preachers of gloom and doom for centuries. 

 

Sometimes the fate of these isolationists, forever limelighters, separatists, escape artists, and insatiable egoists end their walk of fame in shame and even cataclysmic tragedy.  Some of their calamities are more renown than the high marks of their careers—others simply fade into oblivion until you read or see their last moments as their obituaries are printed or shown on TV, or their histories are read in some obscure text; yet, some go out in a blaze of glory and a flash of light.

 

Such is the ebb and flow of the politician, pop star, and the preacher . . . our focus, however, in these journals, is that of the preacher—and in particular, the examination of cut-and-run Christianity (a most peculiar descript), because its ramifications in these culminating days of history presents the greatest enigma and challenge of all—for if the prophet does not sound the alarm nor rally the masses to a greater hope, and the task is left to the exclusive purview of the politico or the pop star—well then, this author affirms, our God has become the God Who not only hides Himself, but the God Who cares less what concerns his creatures and creation . . . this is NOT the God of Revelation and Authority disclosed in Holy Writ!

 

 

THE PROPHETS

 

And, for that matter, why is it so often—far too often—that the heralds of inequity and injustice find themselves on rag sheets, fringe political engagements, and, of course, peripheral religious phenomenon . . . as if the sub-cultural have a corner on alerting the populace to repressive behavior and hypocrisies which abound throughout this earthly clod?

 

Yet, those with a prophetic calling and obligation far too often—like Jonah of old—would just as well see Babylon’s (or Nineveh’s) destruction rather than her repentance!  So . . . it’s off to Slabovia or the deep recesses of obscurity—wherever it’s hard to get to or out of—so God can judge the vile things of civilization without prophetic protests being heard in the “Street of the Great City” (Revelation 11:8).

 

Besides, hasn’t He set in motion His judgments?  Has not the Apocalypse been long foretold—do we have little or any control of earth’s destiny?  Isn’t it a shameless sham to venture into the divine calculation in an attempt to alter the Almighty’s signet designs upon humankind?  And why, oh why, does the Revelation leave the script of the Seven Thunders—those unfurling rubles of God’s final judgments—not to the pen of the scribe for earthlings to exegete and ascribe profound commentary, but verily bequeathing them to the same audacious lot which has disgusted those same inhabitants of the earth throughout recorded history:  The Prophets?

 

The Hebrews salient gift to humanity does not semblance the refinement of Greek philosophers; the justice of Rome’s legal contribution; the depth of Orthodoxy’s design and poetry; the didactic wisdom of China’s Teachers nor the depth of India’s Holy Men; indeed, the warriors of Germania, the traders amongst of Phoenicians, the builders of Egypt, the fine artistries of Italy, the organization and industry of the Northern Europeans—all the garnishments of civilization . . . no, this oft disgusting contribution with its prattling and rancorous verbiage—with its frequent and ominous condemnatory language, occasionally (but rarely) laced from time to time with comforting resolution—presents the populous with a most unique figure . . . strutting and striving upon his descending landscape . . . appearing

 

 

 

but for a little while, then vanishing away, leaving others to pick up the pieces!  These be the prophets of Moses, Jeremiah, Jonah, Ezekiel, Daniel, Paul, Peter, John—and scores of others named among the Hebrews—who warn, cajole, admonish, exhort, revile, and, in general, receive the ire of the earthly learned and wise, because these preposterous pundits lay claim to the outlandish prospect:  They speak on God’s behalf and are commissioned to call the masses to repentance?

 

Unlike the politician whose art is compromise . . . the entertainer whose milieu is to amuse . . . the true prophet refuses to bend and has no intention of winning popularity contests through brainless excitements . . . their chief ambition is to get out the message, no matter what the cost—and the devil be damned regardless who’s offended!

 

 

TARRY IN JERUSALEM UNTIL . . .

 

The last words of Jesus in Luke’s gospel were:  “Behold, I send the Promise of My Father upon you; but tarry in the city of Jerusalem until you are endued (clothed) with power from on high” (Luke 24:49).

 

Now, this disclosure seems fairly benign, and if all we had were Luke’s impressions, we’d conclude that the disciples epitomized resolute courage under fire from the ascension onward . . . “And they worshiped Him, and returned to Jerusalem with great joy, and were continually in the temple praising and blessing God.  Amen” (Luke 24:52-53)—thus ends Luke’s gospel.

 

Somewhere along the way—between the resurrection and Luke 24:49—the little band of brothers, along with a few others were in “cut and run” mode, takin’ care of business; namely, surviving and thriving in any place but Jerusalem!

 

You see, things were, shall we say, a bit HOT in “Jerusalem, which killest the prophets” (Luke 13:34).  So the best thing to do prior to getting clothed with power from on high would be to head for friendly turf in Galilee, do a little fishing, and feed our faces—let alone losing our faces by staying in, of all places, Jerusalem!

 

This is the kind of stuff where it’s “easy for you to say” but if you had been in Peter’s sandals, facing the fury of Rome and the religious pomposity of Israel’s pious, you’d have headed out of Dodge with “I think I better get back into fishing for a living and spend more time with my family or something . . . this testifying to the uttermost parts of the earth business isn’t all that practical anyway nor is waitin’ for the power, ‘sides, we’ve had a good run of it, time to regroup, stabilize, and get real here.  Doesn’t matter much anyway . . . Jesus is coming back (right?) and we’ll leave the details to Him—see yawl later!”

 

The same goes for Moses, Jonah, Elijah, Daniel and nigh all the prophets—YES! PROPHETS FOR HIRE—the following perks await you (parenthetical reflections mine):

 

“Quenched the violence of fire, escaped the edge of the sword, out of weakness were made strong, became valiant in battle, turned to flight the armies of the aliens (so far so good—I think I could join this group) . . . others were tortured, not accepting deliverance, that they might obtain a better resurrection, still others had trial of mockings and scourgings, yes, and of chains and imprisonment . . . they were stoned, they were sawn in two (poor Isaiah), were tempted, were slain with the sword.  They wandered about in sheepskins and goatskins, being destitute, afflicted, tormented (not good at this point—better go fishing) . . . of whom the world was not worthy (no kidding) . . . they wandered in deserts and mountains, in dens and caves of the earth . . . and all these, having obtained a good testimony through faith, did NOT receive the promise (discouraging, isn’t it?) God having provided something better for us, that they should not be made perfect apart from us” (Hebrews 11, assorted verses).

 

Don’t think for one moment that “something better for us” excludes the aforementioned job description—please read the Tribulation Network’s full rendering of Foxe’s Book of Martyrs!  The same faith they “endured” is the same faith we’ll endure.  Not convinced, see our links to Voice of the Martyrs and know full-well, the supremacy of faith’s prize is oft the ultimate wage so earned!

 

 

FLEE JEZEBEL – FLEE BABYLON?

 

“And Ahab told Jezebel all that Elijah had done, and withal how he had slain all the prophets with the sword.  Then Jezebel sent a messenger unto Elijah, saying, So let the gods do to me, and more also, if I make not thy life as the life of one of them by tomorrow about this time.  And when he saw that, he arose, and went for his life, and came to Beersheba, which belongeth to Judah, and left his servant there.  But he himself went a day’s journey into the wilderness, and came and sat down under a juniper tree:  and he requested for himself that he might die; and said, It is enough; now, O LORD, take away my life, for I am not better than my fathers” (I Kings 19:1-5).

 

Persuaded that all prophets have a penchant for passionate displays of angst—manifested after Herculean fetes of prophetic prowess—it does us all

 

 

 

to follow their race, like Elijah of yore, whose cut and run is mapped in the graphic herein . . . a trail of tears, trauma, and timidity . . . woe is Elijah, for he, like those spectacular endeavors witnessed, recorded, and rehearsed by millions since, represents us all after the Almighty’s triumph over the priests of Baal.  Yet, how could such holy confirmation be followed by such human condescension?  Bravado and ballyhoo now give way to bellyaching and blight.

 

You think . . . how could such a divine manifestation so completely overwhelming in its public significance be accompanied by a flight from the presence of a woman like Jezebel?

No other figure in Scripture, aside from the Image of Nebuchadnezzar, epitomizes the confusion, mixture, and rank apostasy of this figure:  JEZEBEL. 

 

She stands for far more than a mixture of religion and politics—for she encapsulates all of the Satanic image of the King of Tyre and his quest for supremacy through commercial exploitation.  She is the HEGEMON OF ANTIQUITY—for behind her is the strength and deception of commercial Babylon . . . the ultimate Cannanitish Contradiction of all that the religion of Yahweh bespeaks.

 

And, what deception embodies the epistemology of her very name:  CHASTE!  (Strong’s 348).  Her adulteries are legendary—her fornications ubiquitous!  The Canaanite gods of fertility—the multiplicity of Baals and Ashtarothic goddesses wherein trade and tryst are taught in the temple have become the DOCTRINE of that woman, Jezebel!  This filthy murderess who traffics in the bodies and souls of men—for her hands drip with the blood of righteous Naboth the Jezreelite (I Kings 21)—reappears in her final manifestations . . . in the Apocalypse of John the Revelator as the great infiltrator of the Church’s realm, to contaminate and seduce her sons and daughters to commit all manner of fornication—the apex of apostasy has been achieved, and all Christendom bears historic and prophetic witness to this superlative seductress; the Serpent has come forth from garden and sea to bewitch,  baffle, and besmirch the sons and daughters of God.

 

“Nevertheless I have a few things against you, because you allow that woman Jezebel, who calls herself a prophetess, to teach and seduce My servants to commit sexual immorality and eat things sacrificed to idols (for that is precisely what Jezebel is all about) . . . and I gave her time to repent of her sexual immorality, and she did not repent.  Indeed I will cast her into a sickbed, and those who commit adultery with her into great tribulation, unless they repent of their deeds.  I will kill her children with death, and all the churches shall know that I am He who searches the minds and hearts.  And I will give to each one of you according to your works . . . now to you I say, and to the rest in Thyatira, as many as do not have this DOCTRINE, who have not known the DEPTHS OF SATAN, as they say, I will put on you no other burden” (Revelation 2:20-24).

 

 

WHAT ARE YOU DOING HERE, ELIJAH?

 

“So he (Elijah) arose, and ate and drank; and he went in the strength of that food forty days and forty nights as far as Horeb, the mountain of God.  And there he went into a cave, and spent the night in that place; and behold, the word of the Lord came to him, and He said to him, ‘WHAT ARE YOU DOING HERE, ELIJAH?’  So he said, ‘I have been very zealous for the Lord God of hosts; for the children of Israel have forsaken Your covenant, torn down Your altars, and killed Your prophets with the sword.  I alone am left; and they seek to take my life.’” (I Kings 19:8-9)

 

And again . . .

 

“So it was, when Elijah heard it (the still small voice), that he wrapped his face in his (prophetic) mantle and went out and stood in the entrance of the cave.  Suddenly a voice came to him, and said, ‘WHAT ARE YOU DOING HERE, ELIJAH?” (I Kings 19:13).

  

Running from Jezebel—and her ultimate manifestation, MYSTERY BABYLON THE GREAT, THE MOTHER OF HARLOTS AND OF THE ABOMINATIONS OF THE EARTH (Revelation 175)—is not a far-fetched manipulation of Scriptural metaphor. 

 

Jezebel fits her description all too well:

 

 

“I saw a woman sitting on a scarlet beast which was full of names of blasphemy, having seven heads and ten horns.  The Woman was arrayed in purple (the very purple perfected by Jezebel’s Canaanite progenitors from mollusks on the shores of the Mediterranean near ancient Tyre and reserved for royalty) and scarlet, and adorned with gold and precious stones and pearls, having in her hand a golden cup full of abominations and the filthiness of her fornication.  And on her forehead a name was written:  MYSTERY, BABYLON THE GREAT, THE MOTHER OF HARLOTS AND OF THE ABOMINATIONS OF THE EARTH.  I saw the woman, drunk with the blood of the saints and with the blood of the martyrs of Jesus.  And when I saw her, I marveled with great amazement (lit., I was flabbergasted)” (Revelation 17:3-6).

 

A definitive essay on Jezebel’s identification with the Mother of Harlots, Babylon the Great, this is not—I will simply state that the Scriptures leave little interpretive doubt of such hermeneutic.  Furthermore, little doubt abides to equate Elijah’s excursions—fleeing from Jezebel-Mother of Harlots-Babylon the Great—to seeking physical refuge brought about by apostate predilections, fraught with fear, and a sense of total isolation (“only I am left”), leading to utter despair.  None of this can be brushed aside as a simple attempt to stretch Scripture to fit this commentary.

 

“What are you doing here, Elijah?” – What are you doing here, Robert, Peter, Joyce, Amber, Cynthia, Jose, Stephen, Geoff, Hermilla, Roberto, Hans, Kevin, etc., etc., etc.?  Why are you running?  “The LORD GOD of Elijah” (II Kings 2:14) is still the God who cries out:  WHAT ARE YOU DOING HERE?

 

No doubt Elijah’s God, who brought down fire to consume the entire offering in front of the priests and priestesses of Baal and Ashtaroth, could just have easily liquidated Jezebel, Ahab and the lot of their apostate filth with the breath of His nostrils.  But He didn’t—instead His still, small voice beckoned Elijah—to realize the impoverishment of his displacement in the Cave of Horeb and arise; it’s time to face off with THE WOMAN WHO RIDES THE BEAST!

 

Christian – saint – prophet – preacher – the “flee Babylon” of Revelation 18:4 cannot obfuscate the task of Elijah, the prophetic voice of the prophet must be heard first!  It’s time the Elijahs of the Body of Messiah—all 7,000 of them who have NOT bowed their knee to Baal—come OUT OF THEIR CAVES, and tell the compromiser and apostate-inflicted King Ahab, along with this MOTHER OF HARLOTS, Queen Jezebel:  Judgment cometh!

 

King Ahab and Queen Jezebel were NOT judged by the Almighty until AFTER the prophetic witness given by Elijah—IN THAT ORDER, and not before.  Yes, seemingly, there were major demonstrations of the “power from on high” – the “clothing” was evident before the priests of Baal . . . but this God of “signs and wonders” is not “into” the spectacular extravaganza of religious expression.

 

No, God will allow his servants, the prophets, to give into their worst fears and foibles; their despair and destitution . . . until the extravagant sounds of cyclonic wind, raging fire, and bombastic earthquake are silenced by His still small voice:  WHAT ARE YOU DOING HERE?

 

Fleeing the face of the Mother of Harlots is NOT the prophetic calling of today’s Church . . . may the Lord come to us in our utter despair, until it is said of us:  THE LORD GOD OF ELIJAH!

 

Prophets—it’s time we come out of our caves, fears, and woe-is-me . . . you’re not alone . . . our voices can and must be heard—for the “SPIRIT OF ELIJAH” shall be upon His Two Witnesses in the Latter Days:

 

 

“I will give power to my two witnesses, and they will prophesy one thousand two hundred and sixty days, clothed in sackcloth . . . these are the two olive trees and the two lampstands standing before the God of the earth.  And if anyone wants to harm them, fire proceeds from their mouth and devours their enemies.  And if anyone wants to harm them, he must be killed in this manner.  These have power to shut heaven, so that no rain falls in the days of their prophecy (Elijah, the prophet) and they have power over waters to turn them to blood (Moses, the prophet), and to strike the earth with all plagues, as often as they desire.  When they finish their testimony, the beast that ascends out of the bottomless pit will make war against them, overcome them, and kill them.  And their dead bodies will lie in the street of the great city . . . now after the three-and-a-half days the breath of life from God entered them, and they stood on their feet, and great fear fell on those who saw them.  And they heard a loud voice from heaven saying to them, ‘Come up here.’ (Just as Elijah ascended in the fiery chariot, II Kings 2:11) . . . and they ascended to heaven in a cloud, and their enemies saw them” (Revelation 11:3-5a, 11-12).

 

 

No, we will not—we must not—flee before testimony is given; before “the testimony of Jesus . . . the spirit of prophecy” is heard in the “Street of the Great City.”

 

Whatever Elijah SAW in Jezebel that frightfully drove him to the cave of Horeb, we may never know; however, peering into the “cup full of the abominations of the earth” would be enough to drive us all to any number of caves.  Some of us would need a huge map to plot our exit routes!

 

But He's calling us to speak out in the very midst of Babylon (as did Daniel the Prophet)—right into the face of Jezebel—will terminate our travel schedules, curtail our tepid tour of exotic caves.

 

Don’t plan on being ready—don’t expect some elaborate miracle to eject you out of your cave, Galilean shore . . . you won’t recognize Him; as John said to Peter on the fishing expedition in Galilee:  “It is the Lord!” (John 21:7)

 

He’ll just show up with some barbequed fish and bread—it’s time for a little talk with Jesus over breakfast:  “Peter . . . do you love Me? . . . Feed My sheep” and “follow Me” (John 21) . . . “This is the disciple who testifies (prophesies) of these things, and wrote these things; and we know that his testimony (his prophetic witness) is true” (John 21:24).