The Knee-Jerk Effect

Southern Baptists are guilty of the knee-jerk effect. I single out Southern Baptists only because I am one, but the same is also true for many of our conservative friends sitting in churches of other denominations. I use the phrase "knee-jerk effect" to mean the overexaggerated and often harmful response of conservative evangelical Christians to biblical issues and interpretations to which they disagree. The concern of the knee-jerk effect is that we become so determined to not hold to a particular interpretation or be associated with a specific group who does that we alienate ourselves from the possibility of understanding solid truth which could be extracted from the issue or interpretation in question. The easiest way to define is to cite examples.

One of the most classic examples of the knee-jerk effect is the varied interpretations of Matthew 16:18. The text reads, "And I tell you that you are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church, and the gates of Hades will not overcome it." This text is, of course, crucial to the Roman Catholic Church. Primarily on the basis of this verse and historic tradition concerning the life and death of Peter, the Roman Catholic Church understands Peter to be the first bishop of Rome and thereby lays the foundation for the papacy and the Catholic understanding of apostolic succession. The knee-jerk effect comes into play when conservative protestant Christians ignore all potential interpretations of this verse because of a innate fear of seeming to be "too Catholic." Because of this fear, most Southern Baptists sitting in the pews of our good churches would argue that when Christ says that the church will be built on this "rock," the "rock" he refers to is the confession that Peter had just made concerning Jesus being the Christ. I am not suggesting that such an interpretation is wrong. But surely a more natural reading is that Jesus is, in fact, referring to Peter, one that is confirmed by the rest of Scripture. This is the knee-jerk effect in full form. It is possible to hold to this interpretation (as I do) without necessarily holding that this reflects the foundation of the papacy or apostolic succession as the Catholic Church holds. But we are reticent to do so.

Staying with the Catholic Church for a moment, the person Mary also lies in the realm of the knee-jerk effect. Bring up Mary in a SBC Sunday School class and count the seconds until we hear how she has been misinterpreted all these years and is not what the Catholic Church has made her out to be. Fair enough if one holds that view. But goodness, we don't talk enough about Mary. The one who is "highly favored" among women, the one who God, over the course of time and space, specifically choose to carry His Son. The only person who was there at the beginning and end of Jesus' life. The knee-jerk effect is so concerned about the veneration of Mary from other places that we tend to forget her altogether. It should not be. Mary is unquestionably one of the great heroes of the bible, and yet her name never shows up on the list.

What about the Holy Spirit and importance of Pentecost? It would be such a great topic to fully explore and engage, but unfortunately our pentecostal and charismatic friends have elicited from most of us the knee-jerk effect. To speak of Pentecost, the most important event in the NT save for the resurrection of Christ, is treading on dangerous ground because the discussion of tongues, baptism in the HS, faith healing, and all the other gifts of the HS are close by, and we don't want to be associated with those things. So, it is best left "unsolved" for now. (I just quoted a movie there and maybe 2 people will get it). We really should be thankful for the pentecostal movement for bringing the HS back to a prominent role in our thinking. Where the pentecostal and charismatic movements have failed in focusing mostly on the gifts, the "functional" aspects of the HS, other evangelical Christians have failed even greater in that we don't fully consider any aspect of the Spirit because of the knee-jerk effect. What about the empowerment for witness, for service, for salvation, and for holiness? Wow.

Finally, let me conclude by saying that experiencing the knee-jerk effect is not a complete loss. It means that we have deep rooted convictions about some things. The call for us as conservative Christians is to remain solid on our understanding of Scripture without turning a blind eye to important issues only because of historic interpretations or a fear of being identified with other groups who hold even more varied positions. In your own life, become aware of which issues prompt the knee-jerk effect. We all have them. Some are more legitimate than others. All should be examined.

My Christmas Post

Are the Christmas accounts in the gospels in conflict? Did Mary and Joseph first live in Nazareth as Luke seems to indicate or were they already in Bethlehem as Matthew seems to indicate? If they lived in Nazareth, why did Mary go with Joseph to Bethlehem if only the male was required to be present for the purpose of the census? What is the deal with the star, was it really a star, a comet, or some kind of pillar of fire, similar to the OT exodus accounts. The simple fact is that the Gospels just aren't clear on many things that we might find interesting concerning the birth of Jesus.

Unfortunately, we tend to think that a Savior, who is Christ the Lord, being born in human flesh is not interesting enough.

I just recently saw a few minutes of a documentary, one of a million that seem to surface during Christmas and Easter, concerning the "lost years of Jesus." The documentary was asking the question, why didn't the gospel writers include more information about what Jesus was like and what he was doing as a kid. Most of these kinds of shows highlight the missing details of the bible and probe the question, do we really know the whole truth? These kinds of questions can be interesting and perhaps even helpful when piecing together the story of Jesus, but there is no great mystery here. Despite how curious we might be as to why Mary went with Joseph or the details of the structure of the star of Bethlehem, the gospel writers did not see the necessity of including those kinds of details into their account. Under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, the writers of the gospels were telling a single story; a Savior has been born! Sin has lost its power, death has lost its sting. To get overly bogged down with the missing details of the narrative that were purposely not included leads to a lessened emphasis on the wonder of God in human flesh and the victory over sin. Detailed study and greater understanding is, of course, a welcomed exercise in our faith and need not be neglected, but at the end of the day we must return to what the authors found most important, Jesus born to save a dying world. If tomorrow we could magically have all the answers to the missing links in the gospel narrative, how wonderful that would be! And it wouldn't change a thing. Even after our new found knowledge, all that will still matter, from now to the end of the ages, is that Christ has come to save.

So, enjoy the simplicity of Christmas day. Don't get too bogged down in the details of your life that the power of Christ and the love of God is forgotten. Christmas day is here. Hope is here!

"True Love Waits" and Persistent Bible Doctrine

In February I will be teaching 4 weeks of a "True Love Waits" emphasis, the popular youth ministry abstinence campaign. The purpose of this post is to point out how this can work and how this can fail.

A few years ago I was serving as youth minister and a warm hearted layperson approached me with a genuine concern about one of the teenagers. She had learned that this particular teenager had started dating a young man who apparently had a reputation for pressuring his girlfriends into sexual relationships. In the course of the conversation, my church friend suggested I "start teaching True Love Waits immediately to keep anything from happening."

One of the great problems with many youth ministry models among our local churches (and overall church ministry models) is the implementation of an agenda based curriculum that has no foundation on which to rest. Building up radically transformed Christian teenagers who are spiritually and morally distinct relies on the foundation of consistent, weekly, engaging Bible study that has some depth about it. It is essential that this become the ever-present reality for youth ministry. A no-brainer you might think? I wish. The quick-fix mentality coupled with the latest popular book or program is on what most our models are based. These are not bad things, but should never be considered as stand alone curriculum that is expected to grow our people in faith and love. Currently, the hype is all about Lucado's "3:16: The Numbers of Hope." Formerly, it has been "Experiencing God" or "The Purpose Driven Church." For youth ministry specifically, "True Love Waits" or "Nooma." Should churches abandon these books and studies and view them as pointless? No. But our passion must be for the Bible. We need teachers who love the Bible, who love the truth it teaches, who get excited about sharing and teaching life altering realities that produce genuine, saving faith. This is what should be persistent in our churches. Then, when a "3:16" comes along, it serves as a nice supplement to what our strong foundation has already been teaching. In fact, ultimately these studies and programs should point us back to the Bible instead of becoming a bible for us.

So, will "True Love Waits" be an effective program of study in February? I am prayerful that the foundation which is being laid in our youth ministry will enable our teenagers to be open to the message of True Love Waits, and in turn, point them back to Scripture for increasing faith and trust in God. In Ronald Sider's "The Scandal of the Evangelical Conscience: Why Are Christians Living Just Like the Rest of the World?", the importance of solid, ongoing biblical theology and doctrine as the foundation for all else is highlighted. Sider says,

"The findings on the different behavior of Christians with a biblical worldview underline the importance of theology. Biblical orthodoxy does matter. One important way to end the scandal of contemporary Christian behavior is to work and pray fervently for the growth of orthodox theological belief in our churches."

The call for 21st century youth ministry is a withdrawal from entertainment centered ministry to a biblical centered ministry. Thankfully, it seems that more and more youth pastors are getting the picture. There is much work to be done.

The James Bond Gunbarrel Sequence

What follows is an extraordinarily long and over-analytical essay concerning the James Bond Gunbarrel Sequence. I apologize for the Lair readers who were hopeful of something edifying today - it isn't going to happen with this post. Nevertheless, this has been a fascination and kind of weird obsession of mine for a very long time, and since I have never written about it, I thought the time was right.

First things first. You might be asking yourself, "what is the James Bond Gunbarrel Sequence?" Well, the James Bong Gunbarrel Sequence (JBGS) is the traditional opening to every official James Bond movie (with the exception being the recent Casino Royale). The JBGS typically begins with a white dot scrolling across the screen, left to right, leaving a short trail of dots that quickly turn black shortly after they appear. On reaching the right edge of the frame, the dot becomes a gunman's view-to-a-kill, down a gun barrel, its rifling a distinctive spiral. This distinctive spiral varies from film to film. The gun barrel is seen from inside — directly observing James Bond walking, right to left, against a white background. Bond, after taking a few steps, quickly turns to his left and shoots the gunman. From above, the scene reddens with the gunman's spilling blood. The gun barrel dissolves to a white dot, roving side to side (though in older films this happens more randomly), most commonly settling in the screen's lower-right corner. The circle then expands to fill the screen, exposing the film's first scene, which may be an unrelated "teaser" or may directly bear on the film's main plotline.

My first James Bond experience was "The Spy Who Loved Me" starring Roger Moore. It was the first film to introduce the now famous character of "Jaws", a villain I was scared of in my childhood and would call him by the name "Steel Teeth." (I still call him that). I can remember so clearly the first time I saw the JBGS. It is one of those strange memories that is burned into my mind, I remember it like it was yesterday. We all have those random things that we remember so vividly, and this is one of them for me. I pressed rewind at least 20 times on our 1985 VCR to watch Roger Moore walk across the screen, turn, and shoot. The house we were living in at the time had a narrow hall that ran from the front door to the kitchen. I can remember repeatedly walking that hall, humming the James Bond theme music to myself, and turning to shoot at the precise moment, trying my very best to imitate Roger Moore. To this day, I am happy to say, I still find myself humming the theme song if I am walking a straight line down a narrow hall of some sort. Needless to say, this simple 15 second intro to a movie has stuck with me in a very serious way.

As the years went on, and with the power of the internet, I soon discovered some neat trivia concerning the JBGS. First, I discovered that I was not alone in maintaining a sort of obsession for the sequence. But I also learned some other neat facts.

First, the sequence has been filmed 8 different times, with the breakdown being as follows:
1. A guy named Bob Simmons, who was Sean Connery's stunt double, performed the original JBGS. The filmmakers apparently did not know how cool this was going to be, so they didn't even think to use Connery in the sequence. So, if you watch Dr. No, From Russia With Love, or Goldfinger, the first three James Bond films, it is not Sean Connery walking across the floor during the sequence, but his stunt double, Bob Simmons.
2. When the filmmakers switched the film aspect to Panavision, a new sequence had to be shot. This time they of course used Sean Connery. So, in Thunderball, You Only Live Twice, and Diamonds Are Forever, you are seeing the real Sean Connery in the sequence.
3. Next came George Lazenby for his one JBGS in "On Her Majesty's Secret Service."
4. Roger Moore is the only Bond to film two different sequences. His original sequence was used in Live and Let Die and The Man With The Golden Gun.
5. Roger Moore's second sequence, because of another change in film aspect, was used in The Spy Who Loved Me through A View To A Kill.
6. Timothy Dalton's sequence was used in his two films, The Living Daylights and Licence to Kill.
7. Pierce Brosnan is next, whose sequence was used in all his films, from Goldeneye to Die Another Die. It was Brosnan's sequence that first brought about a computer generated gunbarrel.
8. Finally, the newest Bond, Daniel Craig, shot his unusual sequence in Casino Royale.

The music is, of course, a major contributing factor to the quality of the JBGS. Most people do not know, but the James Bond Theme is re-scored for every film, so there is never a time where the same music is used for the sequence. In other words, every sequence has different music behind it, even though most sequences (but not all) use the James Bond Theme. For me, the music is a huge part of the success of a JBGS, and I will discuss that more below.

Finally, and most importantly, is the manner in which the actor walks, turns, and fires. It seems simple, but it is actually not as easy to do as you might think (believe me, I have 22 years of practice). The point is to remain cool, classy, with a bold, confident walk, and yet turn with stability and fire.

So, with these elements in mind, here are The Beast's rankings for the actors who performed a sequence. I will start from worst and work toward the best. One thing to keep in mind is that I am not ranking Daniel Craig's version for two reasons: 1) he did not walk and shoot, his was incorporated into the teaser scene. 2)I do not have a DVD of Casino Royale, so I have not been able to watch the sequence a million times like I have with all the rest.

The Beast's Rankings, from worst to best, of the JBGS.

7. Bob Simmons. Despite the fact that he was never a Bond, which is a major problem, he looks like a goof. As he is walking, he seems to almost trip right before he turns (again, this is easy to do. It is not near as easy as it looks to walk, turn and shoot. My hunch is that the filmmakers just did not really care about putting too much effort into the original and did a "first take" kind of shot.) When Simmons does turn and shoot, he actually does a weird "hop" kind of thing that just looks ridiculous. There is really no redeeming value to Simmon's sequence except that it was the original.

6. George Lazenby. I actually like "On Her Majesty's Secret Service" and Lazenby's stock is rising the last couple of years. But, his sequence doesn't quite come through. He is the only actor to go down on one knee as he fires, and it just doesn't work. However, I like Lazenby's walk. It is stronger than Connery's, so this was a tough decision on who was #6.

5. Sean Connery. As Connery begins walking, it appears that he looks down momentarily, as if to make sure his shoes are tied. It is not too distracting, yet it takes away from the cohesiveness of the sequence. The main thing that makes Connery's sequence weak is that he loses his balance as he turns. Even when the picture freezes, he is still trying to regain his balance. Also, he does a super weird thing with his left as he fires. It looks like his left hand just started spazzing all of a sudden. But, seeing how this is Sean Connery, it still rocks pretty hard.

4. Pierce Brosnan. Two Words - Tuxedo Jacket! As Brosnan walks and fires, his jacket is swaying all over the place. Even as the picture freezes, the back end of his jacket is still moving. It really distracts from what would other wise be a pretty solid gunbarrel. His walk is good and I don't have a big problem with his turn, but this one is bit too loosey goosey for me. Goldeneye's sequence music is super electronic sounding, which is kind of annoying.

3. Roger Moore's First Sequence. The sequence used in Live and Let Die and The Man with the Golden Gun is good, but not great. Moore supports his shooting arm by placing his left hand on his right arm about 6 inches from his hand. He is a bit off balance as he shoots. Still a great walk. See my detailed info on Moore's second sequence below.

2. Timothy Dalton. He is my least favorite Bond, but he has a solid sequence. A good, firm walk with a determined turn and shoot method. The Living Daylights is the better of the two because the music is completely changed in Licence to Kill and I don't think it works.

1. Roger Moore's second sequence (The Spy Who Loved Me - A View To A Kill). By far, the strongest sequence. Despite who your favorite Bond is (most people would say Connery), it is just hard to debate that Moore's sequence is not the strongest of the lot. Putting the gunbarrel sequence aside for a moment, I have been trying to emulate Moore's walk for years. He just has a killer walk. Everything about this sequence is perfect, including the best turn and shoot method. Moore, like his original sequence, uses his left hand for support, but instead of the awkward hand placement up his arm, he this time brings his left hand to the gun itself, making for a solid shooting. There is zero balance loss with this turn and shoot. Out of Moore's films that use his second sequence, the best is For Your Eyes Only. This is the best gunbarrel sequence of all the Bond films. The reason? Bill Conti's score. Unbelievable. I have always loved the score for FYEO and I researched who scored the movie. This guy's name was Bill Conti, and I thought his named seemed familiar. Sure enough, he also scored the super famous "Gonna Fly Now", the theme music to the original Rocky. I get the same feeling whenever I listen to Conti's Bond Theme or Gonna Fly Now, I want to jump out of my chair and do something productive! What makes FYEO Bond theme so great is that it departs slightly from the typically orchestration and uses a more bold approach to the theme while still retaining the classical nature (is that a super cool cowbell I hear in the Theme?) Christopher Walken would love this theme (who ironically starred in A View To A Kill with Moore). My mom also would enjoy knowing that Conti scored the theme for Falcon Crest and Dynasty. He was nominated for an Academy Award for his Bond Theme.

So, there you have it folks. More than you ever wanted to know about the James Bond Gunbarrel Sequence. Now, watch the video below of Roger Moore performing the best sequence of all the films, For Your Eyes Only.

RexandtheBeast.com Update

The launch of RexandtheBeast.com has been a tremendous success. Within a couple days of the site's launch, we were placed on the main page of Screamscape.com, the world's largest and most comprehensive theme park news site. That link alone has driven 600 unique visitors to our site in a matter of 2 days.

The website now offers official RexandtheBeast.com merchandise, which you can check out and purchase by clicking here.

So, if you love theme parks, bookmark RexandtheBeast.com and keep up with our journeys across the theme park world!

Willow Creek Model Shows Failing Results

Willow Creek Community Church in Chicago, one of the more famous "mega-churches" in the country, has released a staggering statement concerning the effectiveness of their "seeker-sensitive" movement. In a nutshell, this church growth model tends to de-emphasize personal bible study, doctrine, and expository preaching and place a greater emphasis on "felt-needs" programs, marketing, and innovation. At some level, the church growth model has worked. Willow Creek is the second largest church in America (right behind Joel Olsteen's Lakewood Church), so they have seen a great influx of people over the last 15 years. If success is based on sheer numbers, as so many of our churches across the country believe, then the Willow Creek model should be implemented immediately. If we are seeking true, growing, maturing disciples in Christ, however, then we have a problem.

Bill Hybels, pastor of Willow Creek Community Church and strong supporter of the seeker-sensitive model has had a change of heart. Hybels has said:

"Some of the stuff that we have put millions of dollars into thinking it would really help our people grow and develop spiritually, when the data actually came back it wasn't helping people that much. Other things that we didn't put that much money into and didn't put much staff against is stuff our people are crying out for...We made a mistake. What we should have done when people crossed the line of faith and become Christians, we should have started telling people and teaching people that they have to take responsibility to become 'self feeders.' We should have gotten people, taught people, how to read their Bible between services, how to do the spiritual practices much more aggressively on their own."

Wow. What an amazing statement, to be the 2nd largest church in America and confess to making a mistake. I appreciate Bill Hybels' statement, one that must be very difficult to make peace with. Nevertheless, it seems that he genuinely has the spiritual health of his people in mind.

We need to pay attention to this. Not so we can point, sneer, and say "I told you so," but so we can learn along with Bill Hybels. He speaks of teaching people to read their bible between services. Do you know what that means? It means we have to take our bible to church. He speaks of teaching people to take responsibility for their own study and relationship with God. How many of us are faithful to do family worship in our homes? To pay attention to the personal spiritual disciplines? I am hopeful that this turn in attitude from the leadership of such an influential church will in turn prompt churches across the country to put structures in place that will bring about not mere numeric growth, but sincere growth in faith.

Christmas, Christians, and Consumerism

We all know that Christmas is dominated by a consumer, commercial mind-set. Charlie Brown was dealing with this issue 43 years ago (and every year since in fact!). How are Christians to deal with the potential addiction to consumerism during the Christmas season? This question was emailed to me by a strong leader in my church, so that is the topic for this Lair post.

First, Christians should not make the mistake of identifying with a proof-text agenda. Reading Matthew 6:9, "do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth", can easily be a battle cry against any kind of consumerism during Christmas or planning ahead for financial stability. Such a reading fails to consider the entire canon of Scripture where the emphasis rests on what motivates us in life rather than an outright prohibition against anything that could be construed as materialistic. In fact, Christ goes on to say that "where your treasure is, there will your heart be also." This is why John Piper likes to add the word "treasure" to the common evangelical phrase of "ask Jesus to be your Lord and Savior." Piper prefers "your treasure."

Second, Christians need to realize that an addiction to consumerism is a result of a fallen humanity. This isn't simply a Christmas struggle. Year round we are tempted with the desire to have more, granted, this is heightened during the holidays. The human tendency to want more is grounded in the motive of original sin itself. How did the serpent convince Eve to take and eat the fruit? He convinced her that she could have more. Therefore, this problem, like all other sin that plaques humanity, is only conquered by the power of Christ who has defeated sin on the cross. The pattern should, I hope, be familiar for us. Recognition, repentance, and dependence. We recognize the issue of sin in our lives, we repent (turn), and depend on God to deliver us from the tempter.

Finally, it's fun to buy stuff at Christmas! For me, the desire to buy during Christmas is typically driven by the joy I receive of giving the gift to a loved one and watching them open it. So, we should not be about the business of completely killing the desire to purchase and give. Rather, we need to be sensible and ask ourselves, "where is my treasure?" If we find it to be anything other than Christ and him crucified, then it's time for a heart to heart with God. Trust me, he will listen.

CHAOS Cafe Officially Opens

The Graefenburg Baptist Church student ministry has completed the first phase in an on going building and renovation process for meeting space. In what was a pretty pathetic area for teenagers to meet, a narrow side room in a church office basement, has become a welcoming environment complete with a full service cafe, simul-cast televisions located throughout the cafe, pool table, ping pong, foos ball, X-Box gaming center, cafe tables, electronic darts, and various places to sit and hang out. I am thrilled with the finished result and am thankful for the many dedicated church members who latched on to the vision and helped make it possible. Now, on to phase two - the building from the ground up and a new student worship facility!

Check out a few pictures below of our opening day celebration in the cafe on December 2nd.

A Meaningful Advent Devotion from a Former Professor

I studied religion and biblical languages at the School of Religion at Belmont University. Four professors there had the greatest influence on me, Dr. Michael Ruffin, Dr. Robert Byrd, Dr. Ben Curtis, and Dr. Marty Bell. All but Dr. Ruffin continue to teach at Belmont, and as you know, I reference Dr. Ruffin's blog here at the Lair and he is now a pastor in Augusta, GA.

I have blogged before about my education at Belmont and how thankful I am for my time there. I received in the mail yesterday an Advent Devotional Book written by the faculty (and some students) in the School of Religion. As I read through the various entries, I was unsurprised that each day's devotional was solid, well written, and helpful. Then, I read these words from Dr. Marty Bell's devotional contribution. While standing in my kitchen unpacking groceries, I was moved to stop reading and thank God. Here is what he wrote:

"In the great game of life, we are prone to make two mistakes: we keep expecting unconditional love from human relationships and we keep expecting conditional love from God. That is a recipe for disappoint and fear. If we allow God's love to get a hold of us, we come to see that God loves us, and there is not a thing in this world we can do about that. In the end, human love is always conditional, but God's love is always unconditional."

The Beast Honors: Evel Knievel

Robert Craig "Evel" Knievel, the greatest daredevil of all time, has died.

My first real interaction with Evel Knievel came in 1989 when I was 13 years old. On our cable in Kingsport, TN was a new thing called "Pay Per View." Robbie Knievel, Evel's son, was going to attempt the famous jump at Caesars Palace that made his father a superstar. Of course, Evel became a superstar at Caesars because he missed the jump, and the resulting crash remains the "best" of all time. Robbie went on to successfully make the jump, but an hour before he jumped, the "pay per view" channel aired a documentary of Evel's previous jumps with Evel himself documenting all his victories and defeats. I was in awe.

Evel was speaking in a dramatic yet calm voice about all the craziness he endured during his days of jumping. He has some truly classic lines over the years as several documentaries have been made about his career. Among my favorites are:

"I knew I was going to die, but I had to do it for the fans."
"I was over at Snake River the other day and I didn't see a big line of daredevils waiting to jump the canyon."
"As they counted down from 10, I closed my eyes and said, Lord, here I come."

There are many great motorcycle jumpers today, including Evel's son Robbie. All of Evel's records have been broken. Nevertheless, Evel will always go down as the greatest. There are multiple reasons why this is true, but the most significant is that he, for all practical purposes, invented the sport. This is why Hulk Hogan will always be the greatest wrestler. He was far from the best technically, but he is clearly the best. Evel did not use computers and analysts to judge the speed and direction of the wind. He did not even have a speedometer on his bicycles. He just went by feel and jumped. That is why people will be watching his jumps for years and years to come. And this is not to downplay his ability on a motorcycle. In his day, he was probably the best rider in the world.

I was most happy to read this from the official Evel Knievel website:

"And lastly, most important to him above all was his new-found faith in Jesus Christ. Just as he always took great care in surrounding himself with the best people he could depend upon to help him make his jumps during his motorcycle career, Knievel found his greatest friend of all in preparation for his final leap from life. He was profoundly happy that he gave his life to God, who comforted him and gave him the strength he needed to make it through the end."

And so, The Beast says farewell!

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