ELEVEN
In any argument the one feeling the most emotion is the one most likely to be in the wrong.
Julius Mann, Thoughts, vol. 3, ch. 11
From the moment he woke up until he sat behind the wheel of his car in the early afternoon, Roy told himself to not go through with it. But he knew he had given his word, and if there was anything he resented more, it was to let people down. And on this occasion it would be Blair Laraine that he would be letting down. Of all people, not her.
As he turned on the ignition, slipped into reverse and backed down the driveway, he tried to encourage himself by thinking how nice it would be to finally see Blair in person. Those sparkling eyes and soothing smile would make him feel relaxed and at home.
He was surprised to find himself driving erratically. He had gone much too fast and swerved close to the edge when turning corners. Roy prided himself on being an example of law-abiding driving. Now he was acting like the worst example. When he stopped among heavy traffic at some lights he took a few deep breaths. He put his hand on his chest to try to calm his racing heart.
He thought he had calmed himself down after the events of the previous night. He spent the morning relaxed; reading and studying in his den, as was normal. With the book from Lenny, he went over the main doctrinal points of the rapture idea. His only semblance of life was in disagreeing with the book. But even then he did not get angry over what he perceived to be erroneous theology, as he would have done a couple of weeks before.
Once free from the lights, he pulled over to the side of the road and took a few minutes to relax. It encouraged him to conclude that it was just the thought of meeting Blair and being on TCS. Roy knew a series of calming techniques, all learned in seminary for preparing to speak before an audience. He went through them as he sat in the car. In the end he only felt drained of confidence. The clock in his car told him he only had five minutes to reach the studio. He rejoined the traffic and went as fast as he could without defying any road rules to get to the studio at two-thirty. He parked smoothly and was out in a few seconds. He was going to act confident even if he did not feel confident. He carried the rapture book in the inside pocket of his jacket in case he needed it to clarify a point.
There were countless people ready and waiting for him, all acting as if their sole occupation was to direct guests such as himself. He was shown through a labyrinth of hallways and doors, all full of busy people, until he came to a room with chairs facing a long mirror; the make-up room. The artist said nothing as she quickly touched up Roy’s face and hair. He had barely made himself comfortable when he was asked to go through to the main studio.
After passing all kinds of television equipment, none of which he had ever seen before, he found himself standing in front of the studio set. It seemed ridiculously small, but the more Roy looked at it the more he came to terms with it. This was where Blair Laraine conducted her interviews. It hardly seemed real. He looked at her chair. That was where she sits. He looked at the three guest chairs. One of them was for him. A busy man with a microphone and headset rushed up and pointed at the third chair, the furthest from Blair’s. He gestured to Roy to sit there. A small microphone was then attached under his jacket collar. The man was so good that he was finished in seconds. Then Roy saw his first familiar face.
Angela Arnold was coming toward him, careful to make her way under cords and around cameras, while reading from her clipboard. With a warm smile she introduced herself like they had never met, and asked for some background information.
“I am a minister from the Church of the Kingdom of God, which was founded in 1674 by Julius Mann,” Roy said as he looked up at her from his seat. He was fixed to the chair, not wanting to move now that the microphone was attached. “This was the first Protestant church to gain admission to the island formally under Judait control.”
“And what’s your specialist knowledge?”
“I come from a conservative mainline established church denomination, and I can represent and give you the views of those who hold to established conservative Christian theology.”
“If there’s any left,” she said, more to herself.
“Yes, there are those who are still with us.”
“Really? How many?” she asked with her head tilted as if she was expecting to hear an exaggeration.
“I am doing all I can to find them, or at least what happened to them.”
“So how many have you found?”
“Seven, counting the children.”
“As many as that,” she said as she read her clipboard. “It says here you want to defend the rapture idea held by fundamentalists.”
“I will do so if it comes to that.”
“You believe this idea?”
“Not so much as to entirely believe it, no. But I’m keeping my options open. My church’s policy toward those who cannot represent themselves is to stand in their place. And I know those who do hold to the rapture doctrine, so I intend speaking for them, if necessary.”
She gave a dismissive sigh and walked off, consulting her clipboard again.
She was meant to be impressed. I represent an honourable church. Why didn’t she accept that?
Roy took some deep breaths, feeling drained over what felt like a confrontation. He realised he was still far too nervous for what he was about to do. He went through his relaxation exercises as another man sat in the chair nearest Roy’s, ignoring Roy. He was well tanned and had flowing blond hair that draped on the shoulders of his expensive suit. Roy reached his hand out over the empty chair between them and introduced himself.
“I know who you are,” said the man, showing no sign that he wanted to shake his hand.
Roy realised the man had something against him, and he took back his hand. He glanced around the room, embarrassed that someone may have seen it; he could not be sure, due to the bright lights. He told himself that at least he had a friend in Blair. He knew she was nice. She was always kind to newcomers. She would not have brushed him aside so rudely.
Then Blair herself entered, surrounded by assistants, including Angela Arnold. One woman showed her skill in walking sideways while touching up Blair’s make-up. When Roy saw Blair he became more nervous.
This is it, Roy. You’re in the same room as Blair Laraine.
Someone unseen by Roy announced over a speaker that it was time to start. Blair sat in her chair, and at once looked like the familiar picture Roy saw on his TCS. Both Blair and the new man still had people surrounding them, attaching microphones, fussing over how they looked, and briefing them. Roy felt ignored and out of place. He tried to catch Blair’s eye, to let her know he was confident and pleased to be there, although neither was true.
Someone called out a final warning and as one the hangers-on moved away, leaving the three alone but still the centre of attention. Roy felt a rush of sweat and suddenly did not want to meet Blair’s eye. She talked to the stage manager and Roy kept his eyes on the new man, wondering who he was. Roy was surprised when she started talking to a camera. He saw or heard no sign and it caught him off guard. He told himself to concentrate and pay attention. This was his big moment.
“Welcome back to the show,” said Blair, “where we will be continuing what I still find a captivating discussion, and one which persists in dominating our minds and concerns. We are now into day ten of this crisis, and while we are all trying to return to some semblance of normality, major questions still remain unanswered. Well, with me in the studio this afternoon are two more specialists who will attempt to give us hope in finding answers to those questions. Doctor James St Angelo and Reverend Roy Hoyle. Welcome to you both.”
James nodded and Roy followed him with a smile. He could see a monitor in front of the set and he briefly saw himself in a wide shot before they cut back to Blair.
“If I may address you first, Dr St Angelo?”
“Please do, Blair,” he said warmly.
“The government sociologists are now mooring the possibility that these
missing people have gone off and hidden themselves in some way, even some kind of mass suicide; perhaps psychically induced, as had been suggested by leading analysts. As associate professor of religion at Wilbur University, how would you react to such suggestions?”
“Yes, thank you, Blair. I would hold more to such a theory than anything else I have heard over the past ten days. It certainly explains every facet of the crisis, which should be the first stage in obtaining the truth.”
“But could thousands of people—the last report is over 87,000—could they really secretly kill themselves, without detection, without leaving a trace? How is this possible?”
“Yes, it is certainly a staggering proposition, Blair, I agree with you. But as I say, it is one I would hold to more than any other I have heard over the past ten days. Although please don’t discount the possibility that these people had help.”
“Help from what quarter?”
“Why, from their loved ones. From the people who knew them, who were close to them. Why, the very people who reported them missing.”
Roy wanted to speak up and refute the idea, but he found he lacked the confidence to do so, and he knew it would not be polite. He decided to hold his peace until Blair gave him his chance. That would be polite and orderly, which she would expect from him.
“What are you suggesting?” Blair asked St Angelo with a frown. “The missing people were murdered by those who now survive? Are you suggesting a conspiracy, but surely not one on such a large scale?”
“Not at all, no. Please don’t mistake my hypothesis for some conspiracy theory. I am simply suggesting the same inclination to mass suicide was also engaged in the minds of those not counted for removal. Those who now survive may have actually been involved in helping this mass suicide, but they now have no idea about it, because, primarily, the work had been completed and it has therefore entirely disappeared from their collective subconscious.”
“So, you hold to the idea of the global-consciousness guiding the minds of millions? Whether it is called EarthMother, or WorldMind, or other names given for what is understood to be the same power, the same force that guides us all?”
“Yes, and as far as I can see, there is no other theory which fully supports all the known facts. As far as I can see, it is the only one which can fully explain what we have reconstructed to have happened over that Saturday night and early Sunday morning. The WorldMind is so very powerful that no single person can imagine to what extent it controls our lives. That it does control our lives is irrefutable, and that it is capable of inducing such a subconscious response is also, in my opinion, irrefutable.”
“Thank you, Dr St Angelo. We may discuss the future consequences of such subconscious control a little later in our show. But let me now introduce my other guest for this hour, who may offer us another hypothesis. Reverend Roy Hoyle of the Church of the Kingdom of God. Welcome.”
“Thank you, Blair,” Roy said with what sounded like confidence, apparently eager for his chance to speak. He looked her straight in the eye with a warm smile. He could see she took an instant liking to him.
“You explanation for the crisis is different from all we have heard, I believe. You support the Christian fundamentalists’ ‘rapture doctrine’. Is that right, and do you believe it is what happened?”
“Personally, I have yet to make up my mind, but—”
“Do you believe it or don’t you? St Angelo fired at him.
Roy was startled that Blair let him interrupt in such an aggressive manner and did not appear concerned.
“As I was saying, I am yet to make up my mind, as all the facts about the crisis have yet to be released. But I would say the points laid down by such a doctrine agree, with no difficulty at all, with what we have witnessed.”
“So, you do believe it?” asked Blair.
“Myself, not entirely, no. But I do know those who hold to it, yes.”
“Who?” St Angelo said with a derisive laugh. “The man in the moon? Come on, Blair; you are insulting my qualifications by hosting me along with such an ill-informed novice.”
“Tell me, Reverend Hoyle,” said Blair, ignoring St Angelo, “why do you give time to such an error-ridden teaching when you yourself knows it holds no water?”
“I did not say it holds no water,” said Roy.
“Well, you don’t believe it, do you?”
“I meant nothing more than there are certain parts I am yet to make up my mind about, and since I know those who hold to it, I am quite prepared to speak for them. For now, let me say that my personal opinion is to be interested that it may be correct.”
“You want to speak for them?” St Angelo said with suppressed laughter. “Who are they? Give us some names. Do they really exist?”
“And I object to your tone, sir,” Roy said to St Angelo. “I represent the Church of the Kingdom of God. We have been an established church on this island since 1860. We have a recorded history dating back to 1674. We rest out theology on the comprehensive writings of Julius Mann.”
“I know you do,” said St Angelo,” which makes you all the more amusing. Blair, Julius Mann, in all his copious works, made no mention of the rapture, and very little fundamentalist ideas. No scholar I know regards Mann as holding any time for Premillennialists, and was actually the staunchest of Amillennialists. Reverend Roy Hoyle has stepped out of his bounds of authority and is thus in no position to give a qualified opinion.”
“Could you explain these religious terms for our audience?” Blair asked St Angelo.
“Of course. The Amillennialists represent the fount and essence of scholarly learning and say the mystical kingdom of God began in the times of Christ and is here now, in the present age. It is the Church Age, if you will. The church represented by Reverend Hoyle also holds to this doctrine, as is clear by their name, the Kingdomites. The Premillennialists, on the other hand, believe and predict a future time of peace and happiness, interpreting various spurious and obscure apocalyptic symbolism found in the Bible as forecasting future events, the rapture scenario being one of them. You see, Blair, for your guest Reverend Hoyle to support such futurist notions make him void as a spokesman for the Church of the Kingdom of God and everything it was founded on by the brilliant Julius Mann. I must admit, at times I enjoy reading some of Mann’s works; it is thoroughly spiritual and well worth the exercise.”
Roy was shaking and desperately trying to hide it. He had no idea how to answer St Angelo. He knew what he said was right, that he himself would have been only too happy to agree, had it not been said in such an abrasive manner, and without the background of tragedy and crisis.
“Is this true about your church opposing the rapture idea?” Blair asked Roy. She now had a glare in her eyes, as if Roy’s presence was not right for her show and she wanted him to leave. The spare chair between them made him feel ostracised, with the two of them opposing and outnumbering him.
Roy tried to smile, to ignore St Angelo and concentrate on Blair. She was the one he had wanted to meet, the one always friendly on his TCS. He had expected her other guests to take the opposite side to his; they always staged it like that. But not Blair too. Surely she would see his point of view, if he had a chance to express it.
“As I said, I want to present this scenario of the rapture because I know of those who believe this is what has happened.”
“Tell us what happened, then,” Blair said with her head slightly tilted and eyes upward. Roy saw on the monitor that the camera was not on her when she did that, but remained fixed on him. A close up. He disguised a swallow and recalled what he learned from the end-times book.
Be professional, he told himself.
“I would be delighted, Blair. The rapture is basically the promise of the removal of Christians from the Earth for a period of at least seven years, during which the world goes through what is called the Great Tribulation. It is primarily based on St Paul’s prophecy in First Thessalonians chapter four, verse seventeen, in which he says
those Christians who are alive at that time will not die but will be changed in bodies fitting for heaven. He uses the Greek word harpazo to describe the actual event, which is where we get the word rapture. Harpazo is used in the New Testament thirteen times, notably Acts twenty-two ten, when the soldiers forcibly rescued St Paul from the midst of an angry crowd. The writer of the obscure Epistle of Jude uses harpazo to mean snatching something out of fire. Each time, harpazo means a seizing, or a snatching away, with a hint of violence. So the rapture is a sudden snatching away, in the twinkling of an eye, so to speak. The rapture doctrine is simply expressing the belief that this will happen before the world comes under the time of God’s wrath, which is called the Great Tribulation.”
“So you believe we are now in this time of God’s wrath, this Great Tribulation?” asked Blair.
“Yes, according to the theology of the rapture doctrine,” said Roy.
“What exactly is meant to happen during this time which I suppose is not very pleasant?”
“Well, various disasters and catastrophes on the Earth, all part of God’s judgement.”
“And these things are going to on right now, are they?”
“No, they haven’t started yet. But they will, if the rapture has indeed happened, and I emphasise the ‘if’.”
“So when will they start, if the rapture has happened?”
“Any time during the next seven years. It all gets worse as we approach the end of the seven year period.”
“So if I can do my mathematics without a calculator, that takes us to the year 2033. What can we expect to happen in 2033?”
“Well, the Great Tribulation will cumulate in Armageddon and—“
“It’s the end of the world, Blair!” St Angelo said mockingly.
“And then the world witnesses the Second Coming of Jesus Christ,” Roy said with defiance.
“If I remember my Bible School teacher saying to me,” Blair said with one of her whimsical expressions that delighted her fans, “it says somewhere in the Bible that no one will know the day or the hour of the Second Coming of Christ. Is that not right?”
Roy expected such an objection; one he did not read anything about in the book. He would have asked it himself. He was forced to answer from his own background and hope it agreed with the rapture theology.
“Yes, it is right, but I didn’t say the exact day when Christ’s Second Coming will be. I just said the general time, which would be sometime around 2033. I don’t think we can know the date any closer than that.”
“Come on,” St Angelo said with a confident sneer, “all these rapture-believers date-set, and they all get it wrong. In the last fifty years there have been no less than twenty-six dates given as the day of the rapture and the end of the world. And here we have another. Set your clocks, folks; get ready for the year 2033!”
“All right, so it we get back to what you are suggesting,” Blair said to Roy, ignoring St Angelo but not appearing annoyed with his impatience, “this rapture that you think might have happened, is when certain people—Christians—are taken to heaven. Is that right?”
“Yes, that’s right,” said Roy, relieved at her question, hoping she was starting to warm to him.
“And this explains the whereabouts of the 87,000 missing people?”
“Yes.”
“They have gone to heaven for seven years to escape God’s wrath?”
“Yes; God has removed them from the Earth for the time of the Great Tribulation.”
“And it says that somewhere in the Bible?”
“Well, not in so many words, but it is there, if you know where to look.”
“What I find hard to figure, Reverend Hoyle, if this rapture thing is in the Bible, then why is there so much confusion over it? We’ve had representatives from the Christian community on this show, and not one had said this rapture thing, this escape to heaven, is in the Bible. Why is that?”
“As I say,” said Roy, worried, “you have to know where to look.”
“All right; where shall we look?”
“First Thessalonians, I believe.”
“It says it there?”
“And other places. Revelation. First Corinthians.” Roy tried to think, his mind blank. Say something! “It’s in the Gospel of St John, too.” The rapture book felt heavy in this jacket pocket, but he knew he could not get it out and quote from it. He knew it would make him look like a complete novice.
“In all those places it says Christians will go to heaven for seven years to escape God’s wrath?”
“Yes,” Roy said unconvincingly.
“Come on, Reverend Hoyle,” St Angelo said with a sigh. “Daniel chapter nine; the seventieth week. You know that.”
Roy looked at him without response as he struggled to recall the prophecy concerning seventy sets of seven years called “weeks”. He did not know how it related to Blair’s question. He recalled something about it in the book, but only a passing reference. Think, Roy, think!
“Explain that to us,” Blair said to St Angelo.
“Premillennialists believe that the prophecy in the Hebrew Bible book of Daniel, speaking of a period of 463 years,” St Angelo begun with relish, “was fulfilled with the crucifixion of Jesus Christ, which ended the first set sixty-nine set of seven years. They believe there is still one set to go; seven more years. And on that flimsy evidence they hang their entire doctrine of a rapture seven years before the Second Coming of Christ.”
“There must be more evidence?” Blair asked St Angelo.
“No, that’s all there is. This is their logic: The Church wasn’t here for the first sixty-nine set of seven years—that lasted from the fifth century BCE to the first century CE, the pre-Christian era—so then they won’t be here for the seventieth either, which has presumably started as of last Sunday-week.”
Blair laughed. “Surely you’re joking?”
“Trust me, I’m not.”
“How could that convince anyone?”
“Or inspire them to build doctrines on it?” St Angelo asked as a lead-in to what else he had to say. “I didn’t make that up, nor am I exaggerating their argument, please believe me. They really do teach that. Not only that, they also circulate outrageous misquotes from the Church Fathers, making them support their peculiar ideas. I may not believe or follow this teaching, but I’ve done more serious study on it than most of those who do. You should be ashamed of yourself, Reverend Hoyle, for trying to defend anyone who holds to it. They don’t know anything about church history, or the few Fathers who said anything about the Second Coming of Christ. They are obviously not satisfied with distorting solely the Bible, they must distort all of primitive Christianity’s thought. Please tell Blair and everyone, Reverend Hoyle, the unique way rapturists argue their point from Revelation.”
Roy knew he was right, that they said the rapture is not found in Revelation, except for once obscure verse that Roy thought was stretching it too far.
“It says in Revelation three-ten,” Roy answered, “God will keep Christians safe from the hour of trouble. This is held to be a secret promise of removal from the Earth for the time of the Great Tribulation.”
“For seven years?’ asked Blair.
“Come on, Reverend,” St Angelo said as Roy could not find an answer, “the ‘ekklesia’ argument.”
Like anyone who had been through seminary, Roy knew the Greek word for “church”, but he could not think of what St Angelo was getting at. He vaguely remembered something about it in the book, but his mind felt slow, as if he was too unsettled to think clearly. He let St Angelo continue, hoping he would be able to offer refutation. After all, Roy knew St Angelo could not match his own seminary training.
“Revelation four-one is also taken as symbolic of the rapture,” St Angelo said to Blair and the cameras, ignoring Roy. “After this I looked and behold,” he said with a dramatic play to his voice, “a door was opened in Heaven, and the first voice which I heard was as it were of a trumpet talking with
me, which said, Come up hither, and I will shew thee things which must be hereafter.”
Roy cringed as St Angelo perfectly recited the old King James Version. He knew he should have done that, but he had seldom read Revelation, let alone memorised it.
“That’s where,” said St Angelo, “they use their devastating argument that the church goes to Heaven during chapters four through eighteen of Revelation. And do you know what the proof is for this? One word: ekklesia.”
“Which means …?” asked Blair.
“The Greek word for ‘church’,” said St Angelo. “No, really; that’s one of their biggest arguments, that because ‘ekklesia’ is not mentioned after Revelation chapter four, that means the church is in Heaven during those chapters, taken away from the Earth.”
“There’s nothing wrong with that,” said Roy, and then he wished he could have taken his words back.
“‘Ekklesia’ is mentioned nine times in Revelation’s first three chapters,” St Angelo said with increasing glee. “And you ask: Why is it mentioned nine times in those first three chapters, James? Because John the Seer wrote seven letters to seven churches. And each time he started off a letter he wrote to the church of Ephesus, or Smyrna, or Philadelphia, or whatever. That’s why church is mentioned in Revelation chapters one through three. And you ask: Surely, then, this word, if it carries the importance given to it by rapturists, must be mentioned after chapters nineteen and twenty, which I set after the Second Coming of Christ? The answer is no! The word ‘ekklesia’ is not mentioned at all, not even in chapter twenty-one that talks about a new Heaven and new Earth, so if they are going to be consistent, they should say the church will not be there either. More than that, ‘ekklesia’ is not used in the original Gospel of Mark; which means, by their interpretations, if they use their same argument, the church was not actually founded by Christ! But, of course, no fundamentalist would ever say that.”
“Do you really want to support this rapture idea, Reverend Hoyle?” Blair asked. “It seems to me it is quite preposterous. I mean, do you have any real evidence at all? If so, I’d like to hear it.”
Roy looked at her and wished he could give her and St Angelo a brilliant counter-argument that left them speechless and willing to concede that it is all true. But as he searched through what he knew he saw he had nothing even approaching that. Even if he could remember something, he doubted if he could outtalk St Angelo.
“The evidence that speaks the strongest, Blair,” Roy said with all the courage he could muster, “is the thousands of people currently unaccounted for. From the reports we have available to us, I see nothing that tells me the rapture has not actually happened.”
“How about,” St Angelo said to him, “the doctrine of EarthMother implanting thoughts into the simple minds of fundamentalists to encourage them to suicide en masse and in secret, with such perfection that it leaves the authorities dumbfounded?”
“No, I don’t believe such a thing is possible,” said Roy.
“Don’t believe, or won’t believe?”
Roy felt no reason to answer that.
“You know, I have my doubts too,” St Angelo said with a frown that was obviously nothing more than pretence. “Surely you would also qualify as a simple-minded person.”
“Now, that’s quite uncalled-for!” Roy said with more emotion than he had ever displayed in public. He was losing control of his greatest asset, the calm temperament that he had spent years perfecting in seminary. “I have already said I am a minister of the respected Church of the Kingdom of God. Priestly ordination involves thousands of hours of training over a fifteen-year period, including five years at Chichester, England; our headquarters, learning under our best professors. I have read through all of Mann’s works several times, and made three award-winning essays based on them. I resent, sir, you defaming me with such terms.”
“I’m sorry, Reverend,” said St Angelo. “Of course, your rapture hypothesis is so convincing that I must throw out my advanced learning in all world faiths. So tell me, then: Why have you missed out?”
“What do you mean? Missed out from what?”
“In case you haven’t noticed, Reverend Hoyle, you and your friends have missed the rapture. Being a minister of a respected church, with your fifteen-year ordination process, and your award-winning essays, I would have thought that notable enough to be included in God’s great escape plan to Heaven. But no, you are still here with us, presumably to accompany us on our terrible journey through the upcoming Great Tribulation. But why is that? Doing something you shouldn’t have, were you? A little secret sin there?”
“Of course not,” said Roy. He felt his face redden and he desperately tried to calm himself down.
“Let me tell you the truth regarding this matter,” St Angelo said to the nearest camera. “The rapture idea is so messy that no one really knows why they believe it or where it came from. I believe the modern rapture doctrine can be traced back to one Emmanuel Lacunza, a Judait priest, who in 1812 wrote a mysterious mystical book called ‘The Coming Messiah in Glory and Majesty’. Lacunza was actually building on the work of another Judait before him, one Francisco Ribera, who wrote a bizarre commentary on the Apocalypse. Since then, it was popularised by Brethren theologian John Darby of the early nineteenth century, who read Lacunza’s work and was captivated by it, and used it in his own peculiar view on religious history. And since him, others have supplemented Darby’s ideas, but throwing out whatever they don’t happen to like and adding in whatever they do. The result in so confusing I’m sure no one can really know who knows what. Some contend that this mythical flight to Heaven happens seven years before Christ returns, some three-and-a-half years before, some one or two years before, some a couple of months, some a couple of weeks, some at the same time, some after. I ask you: Are these people confused or what?”
Roy felt like a heavy weight was pressing down on him. He had nothing to answer St Angelo; he was out of his depth. There was nothing he wanted more than to get out of that chair, to get off the set, to get home. What he would do after that he had no idea.
When the show finally ended, after Blair successfully changed the subject and concentrated more on St Angelo’s own theory, Roy spoke to no one as he hurried out of the studio and to the safety of his own car.