The Master Plan: Revised Conversation Version

By Neet Stone Adeeko

The Master Plan is written as a lightly-narrated and partially-illustrated passion play. Characters and events are compatible with the Bible and history, while minor descriptive detail is added and some times are overlapping. Along with the genuinely historical Samuel Ajayi Crowther, the reader of the book becomes a prom

• Language: English
• Publisher: Rustik Haws LLC
• Release date: Jul 27, 2020
• ISBN: 9781649341303

Neet Stone Adeeko

Neet Stone Adeeko enjoys writing and telling stories for her grandchildren. An alumnus of both Texas Southern University and Benedictine College, she is a certified public school teacher whose Master's degree reflects a major in Education and English with minors in Spanish, and Religious Studies. She holds teaching endorsements in English as a Second Language and in Teaching the Gifted and Talented. She has taught non-English speaking first graders to read fluently (20 years); has strengthened the English of middle schoolers through Science and Social Studies (4 years); and has taught both Adult Basic Education, General Education Diploma preparation, and College English classes for Harris County Department of Education, Houston Community College, and LeTourneau University (14 years). With equal passion, she has served as State Director of New Day Children's Church and written a regular column for The Christian Faith Trumpet newspaper. Adeeko and her geologist husband Michael lived happily in Nigeria (Lagos and Port Harcourt) for ten years and now live in Houston, Texas. A major focus of their daily lives, their four adult children and nine grandchildren live in both Texas and California.

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The Master Plan by Neet Stone Adeeko

This is a work of fiction. All names of characters, places, and events are products of the author’s imagination. Any resemblance to real persons, living or dead, is purely coincidental.

Copyright © 2020 by Neet Stone Adeeko

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced, transmitted, or distributed in any form by any means, including, but not limited to, recording, photocopying, or taking screenshots of parts of the book, without prior written permission from the author or the publisher. Brief quotations for noncommercial purposes, such as book reviews, permitted by Fair Use of the U.S. Copyright Law, are allowed without written permissions, as long as such quotations do not cause damage to the book’s commercial value. For permissions, write to the publisher, whose address is stated below.

ISBN: 978-1-64934-074-0 (Paperback)

ISBN: 978-1-64934-075-7 (Hardback)

ISBN: 978-1-64934-130-3 (eBook)

Printed in the United States of America.

Rustik Haws LLC

100 S. Ashley Drive, Suite 600

Tampa, FL 33602

https://www.rustikhaws.com/

For my life shapers

Michael O. Adeeko and Howard and Juanita Stone and Papa Reverend Emmanuel Adedoyin Fowode

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

I would like to recognize the invaluable input of my parents, Howard Lee Stone and Juanita Shellman Stone, for the respect for sacred scripture they have invested in me throughout my childhood. Through them I have developed a lifelong love for studying the Bible and a joyful relationship to God.

Preface

I was enjoying a teachers’ in-service course called the New Jersey Writing Project when I was inspired to write The Master Plan as a part of the course requirement. I was cautioned to write from subject matter that I was passionately interested in, and just for the sheer pleasure of it, I began writing the story in multiple genres. With this strong momentum filling me, I never once felt the emptiness of writers’ block. Instead, I sensed that the book was almost writing itself, and the genres, furthermore, were practically suggesting themselves for presentation on center stage. I did not realize that my class product had become the gospel until it was nearly completed.

As the manuscript flowed, both CROWTHER and the READER demanded to control the book, and I was excited to see that they had done that almost on their own before I had even noticed.

I think God approves of the book. He did the casting. He has always wanted us to recognize the children as a part of TODAY’S CHURCH, not just TOMORROW’S. And so it was right that the children came to encourage Peter. The underprivileged and the outcasts also are included in the infrastructure of the Plan, as Jesus has always stood for a classless brotherhood. The Messiah is recognized by the First Chosen, and we all know that that pleases God. He will bless those of us who bless them while some of them are still in waiting. Peter emerges from the circles of weakness into mature commitment and stability and wonderfully into the keeping of the New Commandment and Love. And the READER lights up as one of those whom the Christ has been seeking for the Father.

I must still read slowly whenever I review the Proofs of God’s god-ness. When I consider WHO HE IS and WHAT HE DOES, WHY HE HAS DONE IT, and HOW HE PAID THE BILL for me, I pause. I seriously pause in amazement. I cannot scan this document when I review it; I have to ponder each line, because it is too profound. Surely I am a part of many characters in this book. Like the READER, I claim my right to enter into the manuscript. I slip into the script holding the hand of the READER as we together commit our lives ever more deeply to JESUS in the new and better covenant.

PLAYBILL

The Neet Stone Adeeko Players

Present

The Master Plan

Who’s Who:

Annas Anchorman Barabbas Bartimaeus Caiaphas Child Jesus Church Bride Cornelius Crowther Deaf Man Elizabeth Eutychus Gabriel Groundskeeper Happy Woman Heavy Man Servant Isaiah Jailer Jairus Jairus’ Daughter Julia Jehovah Jesus Joash John Joseph HOM Joseph of Arimathea Josiah Judas Lady Claudia Lunch Boy Lydia Malchus Mama Malchus Mama Priscilla Mary MOJ Mary MM Matthew Miriam Mob Spokesman Narrator Nicodemus Old Benjamin Papa Malchus Peter Pilate Priscilla Reader Sanhedrin Rabbis Satan Ship Jumpers Tamara Thin Woman Servant Thomas Woman at Well

Table of Contents

Coffee with Jehovah

Rendezvous with Jesus

Crowther Meets Reader

Briefing of Characters

What If?

Crowther Appeals to Caiaphas Again

Sanhedrin Doldrums Rap

What Manner of Man Was That?

Woman Talk

Proof of God’s Authority

Man’s Penalty for Sin

The Unchosen Trial Witnesses

The Case of the Sanhedrin v. Jesus Christ of Nazareth

Dear Counselor Newspaper Advice Column

The Jesus Kids

Three Circles and a Rooster

Reader and Groundskeeper

Mary MOJ and Caiaphas

Jesus’ Flesh Wars Against His Spirit

Mary MOJ and Jesus

Jesus and Satan

Crowther and Cornelius

Hearing Comes before Faith

House Prayer Meeting

Homework Time with Peter’s Son Matthew and Peter’s Wife Priscilla

Malchus, Papa Malchus, and Jesus

Doubting Thomas

Bartimaeus Interrogated by Pilate

Jesus and the Jailer

Jesus Comes Before Governor Pilate

Archangels Whispering

Between the Scourging and the Cross

Jehovah and the Archangel Michael at the Eyepiece

Jairus’ Daughter Julia’s Morning Prayer

Becoming Peter

Last Will and Testament of Rabbi Yeshua Messiah, aka Jesus Christ of Nazareth

Goodbye, Dad

Goodbye, Son

Who Gets the Cloak?

Official Receipt for the Blood

Mary MOJ’s Head Cover Again

Three Men Gazing

Where’s That Light Coming From?

A Second Gazing

The Jerusalem Herald: Jesus Breaks Time and Light Barriers

Tongues of Fire at Pentecost

Satan Accuses Reader

The Saved Position on Condition

Birth Announcement: Acts 2 New Testament Church

What Dying’s All About

Jesus and Barabbas

Barabbas’ Oriki to Christ’s Authority

OBITUARY: JESUS CHRIST

OBITUARY: RIGHT-HAND THIEF

OBITUARY: LEFT-HAND THIEF

The Jerusalem Herald: Acts of God at Crucifixion Today

The Jerusalem Herald: Jesus, the Lamb of God?

NEWS Report

Now I Sing the Music

But What About Us, Lord?

The Record

Proclamation of Believer’s Commitment

Iron Filings for the Magnet

Another Vesture Soaked in Blood

Jesus Escorts His Church Bride

The Church Bride’s Diary

Wedding Invitation

Epilogue

Ajayi Crowther’s Dictionary for Reader

Study Guide: by Chapter Segment

Study Guide: Whole Book

About the Author

Coffee with Jehovah

Narrator: Eternity was just made for somebody like Crowther. It was better than whatever he had wished it to be. He had always guessed he wouldn’t be able to compare it to any of the West African cities he’d ever lived in. And now on any given day he could visit Earth any time he had - or even had not - lived in. He could gain perspective and wisdom from anyone he wished to talk to – from whenever and wherever. And he had a closeness to Jehovah that people down on earth would die for. This abundant life thing was just so much more satisfying than anything imaginable. He walked slowly through the long hall to the Throne Room to take a long lingering look at the Master’s wall pictures and wondered what intriguing story He was going to embark upon this time.

Crowther: I’m here, Sir. Samuel Crowther.

Jehovah: Samuel Ah-jah-ee Crowther, that is, with your Yoruba name.

Crowther: That’s how people say it, Sir.

Jehovah: Well, come on in, Samuel Ajayi Crowther. Help yourself to a cup of fresh coffee. The smell tells you it’s good. Glad to see you’ve been enjoying yourself here. Now, let Me get to the point right away. I invited you over because I’d like you to go on a mission. No, don’t sit down yet. First, come over here and lie down so you can look down through this eyehole in the floor. You see those people? Those are special people down there; they don’t have their glorified bodies yet, but do you recognize them?

Narrator: The visitor lies on the floor as he is asked. Jehovah moves over for him.

Crowther: Oh, I can tell who they are. The one in the light blue headpiece is Mary, mother of Jesus, the one we call Mary, MOJ. Sure was a special headpiece, wasn’t it? And the lady behind her is Mary Magdalene, or Mary, MM; the one in green is Martha; and the one in light purple is Lydia. But – WAIT! Jehovah, on that hill! That’s JESUS! On the cross, hanging there alive and wriggling! I SEE him, Jehovah! His whole body is raw and torn, like hamburger! Come put your eye back on this eyepiece! I can’t stand to look. I can’t watch. I can’t watch, Jehovah!

Jehovah: I hurt, too, Crowther. You can see I’ve been crying. I spared Abraham and Isaac this very thing, but I didn’t spare Myself. My Son Jesus is a magnet Who draws weak people to Me. He’s strong, and He does whatever I ask him to. But the man part of him needed encouraging at the dangerous time we’re looking at. I was inside him, still am, yes, but the man of him was hurting. See how that soldier is swinging that metal scourge into his back! You see the spikes in that ball? This is painful for Me to remember. His body is my body, and his body is your body, too. We feel his death when we share in his life, don’t we?

Crowther: It hurts to keep watching, Jehovah. I can’t … Jehovah, look! That’s me! I see myself there! With those four ladies we just saw. That’s me at the cross, kneeling and weeping!

Jehovah: It sure is. Let me sharpen this focus. Jerusalem, 30 BCE; yes, that’s it. Time of his crucifixion. And that really is you, my friend, if you can please try to look again. The man in white.

Crowther: But I hadn’t been born yet! How can we be looking at this?

Jehovah: You’ve seen me mix times; you’ve seen that before. What are years to Me up here? Aren’t we in eternity, son? Remember how I had the Lamb slain before the foundation of the world? You know I see the end from the beginning.

Crowther: But Jehovah! (Crowther slaps his forehead.) Is this true what I’m seeing? Can that really be me I saw down there? I didn’t know You turn time both backward and forward, whenever You like!

Jehovah: I can, and I do, with this very eyepiece. I call the future prophecy. Sometimes I have to fix things quickly before they get way too messed up.

Crowther: Can any of this prophecy be adjusted?

Jehovah (rubbing the temples of his head): Only certain parts of it can be changed. Through repentance. And through prayer. Only certain parts. Now I sent for you, Crowther, to ask whether you’d be willing to go back to Earth to help somebody get to that repentance condition.

Crowther: How would that work?

Jehovah: Some of them have very strong-spirit iron filings in them to attract them to my magnet’s Pull. Those have been born again. Some others have weak spiritual iron filings and have to be strengthened and encouraged more. And sadly, some have-iron filings that are just dead. Totally lost all their charge. But I’m asking if you’d be willing to go back down to Earth to strengthen the weak ones who still have a little charge left in them with some guided companionship. I want to document this unique time; I want a certain cloth; and I want the name of someone named Reader to be lit up in my Records Book. You want to help Me?

Crowther (twisting his mouth to the left): Do I have a choice? Who’s Reader?

Jehovah: Here, let me pour you another cup. It’s good coffee, isn’t it? Yes, you have a choice. Now, this Reader guy’s someone super special to Me. And I can see that you’ve already chosen. I can hear your thinking.

Crowther: All right. I try to keep my thinking clear because I know You’re always listening in. What do you want me to do?

Jehovah: I want you to meet Reader, befriend him, and awaken his spirit man to Me. His name’s already in my Book, but it’s not lit up yet. He doesn’t know Me yet. Just knows a little about Me.

Crowther: How’m I supposed to awaken his ‘spirit man’, Jehovah? What’s that all about?

Jehovah: I want you to be close to him. And I’m going to give both of you the power to listen in on people’s conversations and thoughts. Kind of like the way I listen in. That’ll be your open door. Your job will be to let him listen to certain conversations and thoughts from selected people. His job will be to listen and surrender. He might rage and rebel, but rebellion isn’t a positive alternative. Rebellion doesn’t rescue you, and it offers no reward because the Master Plan is still in position. So, can you do your part?

Crowther: Look, Jehovah, I don’t even know this Reader guy! How’m I supposed to meet him? Is he already in Jerusalem? How’m I supposed to get to Jerusalem from up here in heaven? And how’m I supposed to get to 30 BC when I wasn’t even born yet?

Jehovah: Oh, that’s easy…too easy! I’ll simply inject both you and Reader into 30 BC Jerusalem!

Crowther: You’re going to inject us into 30 BC Jerusalem, You say.

Jehovah: Yes. I can put you there. No problem.

Crowther: So I’ll be like Bob Marley and Dickens’ Ghosts of Christmases Past, Present, and Future! You know, going back and forward in time and even mixing the times and the people up! Well, what am I going to tell this Reader is the reason for our going back in time and place? Why should he agree to go? I mean…

Jehovah: Tell him I want him to find the whatever-you-want-to-call-it, -the cloak, the sash, the veil- you know, that colorful thing that Jesus always wore, the thing that got torn in two at Calvary. It’s the truth that I want it very badly. It was the icon of the Mosaic Law that simply covered sin without actually removing it. Couldn’t bring eternal life; just postponed final judgment for a year. But I want that cloak back here in heaven for myself. It carries curses for people who are not perfect. I wouldn’t mind having that set of keys Jesus brought back from hell, either – you know, the keys that unlock Satan’s death prison. Just in case you happen to find them …

Crowther: You’re making a book? Like a book, I mean?

Jehovah: Yes. The problem is, somebody’s trying to mess up the storyline.

Crowther: Why? Who?

Jehovah: Satan’s mad at Me for kicking him out of heaven. He wants to spite Me by keeping my people guilty and locked up in hell under a broken Law, but I’m just not having it; I’m not going to sit idly by and let that happen. Can you imagine? A mere character in my book, daring to challenge Me, the Author and Finisher? No! I’ll defeat him and end the whole story just the way I wrote it.

Crowther: Won’t it be dangerous going to Jerusalem at 30 BC? Wasn’t Jerusalem under Roman domination then? Couldn’t I get killed or something?

Narrator: Jehovah is silent for a long while, seeming to look at something far off in the distance.

Jehovah: You can’t die a second time, Crowther. And you can make your physical body invisible whenever you choose, for safety’s sake. Same thing for Reader. I know Satan will be busy opposing you through the weak magnet people, and some serious events will be happening all around you. You may even be witness to my Son’s torture and death. But just remember, I will never leave you. I will keep you strong, and you will win this battle in the end.

Narrator: Crowther sets his coffee down and holds his head with both hands.

Crowther: I wish you were going with me, Sir. This is such an unusual kind of a project. Unpredictable.

Jehovah: Oh, I’ll be there even before you and Reader arrive. You can find Me inside Jesus’ body. Just imagine. As the Writer, I actually have to become a character inside my own book to try to save the ending! The Writer has to enter alive inside his own plot! Together with you and Reader, Crowther, I’ll live inside the story I write.

Crowther: Who’s the narrator in this book or play or film, or whatever it is?

Jehovah: You’ll find out. Now, you couldn’t be a good griot without a story to tell, could you? But you tell some, and somebody else’ll tell some. I’m going to give both you and Reader the power to teleport invisibly so Reader can be moved by listening in on what people are thinking.

Crowther: Like hacking into their thinking? That would be a pretty special power, Jehovah! But how do we hack into people’s thinking? And how do I bring their conversations back to you?

Jehovah: I’ll equip you with technology – internet, smart phones, iPads, Blu-Ray, 5G, GPS – whatever you need, and I’ll give you the knowledge to use them. I’ll even give you some special powers. You’ll both be able to teleport and to become invisible at will. Somewhat like Jesus did after He was resurrected. That’s going to be a much more technologically advanced time than the time you lived in on earth. It’s going to be especially more advanced than the time of the people you’re both going to live with. I’ll equip you with technology -

Crowther: Will they have access to our technology, Sir?

Jehovah: Try to realize you’ll be the only ones back there who have smart phones and computers. The most significant time/place that ever was. They won’t have electricity or Wi-Fi where you’re going. But I can tell you, all of your electronic devices will work by my power.

Crowther: Sir?

Jehovah: I’m the One Who made the electricity work, remember. I can just as easily make the devices work without any electrical grids or wires or clouds if I want to. Trust Me. I’ll be your power supply. In fact, letting you listen in on what people are saying and thinking takes a new power that people haven’t even discovered yet!

Crowther: Sounds exciting. Is this story plot going to be the same as it was originally?

Jehovah: Some of the story has already been written indelibly. But the characters can be fleshed out. That is, you’ll see more of their personalities than what was written. And repentance and prayer can change whatever parts that haven’t been written into the Master Plan.

Crowther: I hope there’s no possibility of my losing my salvation?

Jehovah: No. Your salvation here is already protected.

Crowther (wiping his brow) Yes, You are the Lord. Most high.

Jehovah: Your experience as a Bible translator, dictionary writer, expeditionist, and missionary makes you a great fit for such a demanding job. Could you put together a short spiritual dictionary for Reader? Also, I’ll want you to give some prepared documents to your new friend Reader and even to some others at appropriate times. Here; you can take these with you.

Crowther: Thanks. Now, how can I say this? Won’t the Jews protest that they don’t socialize with Gentiles? I’ll be Black again. Even up till now, people on earth still try to put slave-like limitations on Black people. Will they think I’m inferior to them? Have you thoroughly considered all this, Jehovah?

Jehovah: I have. I have. But I love choosing qualified workers whom the world doesn’t see as good fits. Remember, I chose Rahab the harlot to be the grandmother of Jesus. And I also chose Ruth, a former pagan Moabite, to be one of his ancestral grandmothers.

Crowther: I remember. Now, has this Reader person agreed to go back in time?

Jehovah: Yes. He’s already waiting for you right now. You’ll enter Jerusalem about the same time. Here; you might want to take this paper with you. It’s got names on it that’ll help you get started finding hearts conditioned for the Record. Now if you can please get your shoes on, we can go. The story’s already in progress.

Crowther: Where shall I put my cup?

Rendezvous with Jesus

Crowther: Jesus! You teleported faster than I did! You beat me here!

Jesus (chuckling): Crowther! Glad you made it safely! I’m always here; you know, I’m everywhere. I