We are entering into the bloodiest season in the history of the world. Those who take the mark of the beast will suffer affliction at the hand of God. Those who refuse it will be martyred for his blessed cause. Never has the choice been so stark, so plain.
God himself gave name to this three-and-a-half-year period. Matthew 24:21-22 records Jesus saying, “For then there will be great tribulation, such as has not been since the beginning of the world until this time, no, nor ever shall be. And unless those days were shortened, no flesh would be saved; but for the elect’s [that’s you and me, believer] sake those days will be shortened.”
In all God’s dealings with mankind, this is the shortest period on record, and yet more Scripture is devoted to it than any other period except the life of Christ. While the Hebrew prophets referred to this as a time of “vengeance of our God” for the slaughter of the prophets and saints over the centuries, it is also a time of mercy. God goes to extreme measures to compress the decision-making time for men and women before the coming of Christ to set up his earthly kingdom.
Despite that this is clearly the most awful time in history, I still say it is also a merciful act of God to give as many souls as possible an opportunity to put their faith in Christ. Oh, people, we are the army of God with a massive job to do in a short time. May we do it with willingness and eagerness, and the courage that comes only from him. There are countless lost souls in need of saving, and we have the truth.
It may be hard to recognize God’s mercy when his wrath is also intensifying. Woe to those who believe the lie that God is only “love.” Yes, he is love. And his gift of Jesus as the sacrifice for our sin is the greatest evidence of this. But the Bible also says God is “holy, holy, holy.” He is righteous and a God of justice, and it is not in his nature to allow sin to go unpunished or unpaid for.
We are engaged in a great worldwide battle with Satan himself for the souls of men and women. Do not think that I lightly advance to the front lines with this truth, not understanding the power of the evil one. But I have placed my faith and trust in the God who sits high above the heavens, in the God who is above all other gods, and among whom there is none like him.
Scripture is clear that you can test both prophet and prophecy. I make no claim of being a prophet, but I believe the prophecies. If they are not true and don’t come to pass, then I am a liar and the Bible is bogus, and we are all utterly without hope. But if the Bible is true, next on the agenda is the ceremonial desecration of the temple in Jerusalem by Antichrist himself. This is a prediction made by Daniel, Jesus, Paul, and John.
My brothers and sisters of Jewish blood, which I proudly share, will cringe to know that this desecration shall include the sacrificing of a pig on the sacred altar. It also includes blasphemy against God, profanity, derogatory statements about God and Messiah, and a denial of his resurrection.
If you are Jewish and have not yet been persuaded that Jesus the Christ of Nazareth is Messiah and you have been deceived by the lies of Nicolae Carpathia, perhaps your mind will be changed when he breaks his covenant with Israel and withdraws his guarantee of her safety.
But he shows no favoritism. Besides reviling the Jews, he will slaughter believers in Jesus.
If this does not happen, label me a heretic or mad and look elsewhere than the Holy Scriptures for hope.
Thank you for your patience and for the blessed privilege of communicating with you again. Let me leave you on a note of hope. My next message will concern the difference between the Book of Life and the Lamb’s Book of Life, and what those mean to you and me. Until then, you may rest assured that if you are a believer and have placed your hope and trust in the work of Jesus Christ alone for the forgiveness of sins and for life everlasting, your name is in the Lamb’s Book of Life.
And it can never be erased.
Until we meet again, I bless you in the name of Jesus. May he bless you and keep you and make his face to shine upon you, and give you peace.
When Buck looked up from reading, his eyes moist, he was surprised to see that Tsion had slipped out without his knowledge. Despite the length of the rabbi’s message, Buck knew that if the rest of the constituency was as thirsty for the truth as he was, they would welcome it and hang on every word. And a difference between the Book of Life and the Lamb’s Book of Life? He had never heard of such a thing and couldn’t wait to learn more.
He stood and stretched, the pages still in his hand. As he left he saw a note on the door. “Cameron, I welcome any suggestions. If you think it acceptable, feel free to hit Enter to post it on the Web site.”
It may have seemed a small thing, a utilitarian task. But to Buck it was a monumental honor. He hurried to Tsion’s computer, brushed the cordless mouse to clear the screen saver, and with great relish hit the key that broadcast Tsion’s words to a global audience.
Rayford offered to give Albie a break and pilot the fighter back to Palwaukee. His friend had done the bulk of the “flying and the lying,” as they called it, and both could be grueling. Deceiving the enemy was tightrope work, and until David Hassid was able to get Rayford a phony rank, ID, and uniform, Albie was always in the hot seat.
It worked out best this way, though, because Hattie would have worn Rayford out during the flight, had he been free to listen. He heard most of it anyway, of course, but he was glad for the busyness of flying so he didn’t have to maintain eye contact and match her energy.
He was thrilled beyond words for her and couldn’t wait to see the faces of the rest of the Tribulation Force later that evening. More than that, he was happy for the whole Force. More than once, he, and he knew the others too, had given up hope for Hattie.
Albie was too new a believer to counsel her much, but she asked him to tell her again and again about the hunger for the Bible God had seemed to plant in his heart. “I don’t know if that’s what I have yet,” she said, “but I’m sure curious. Do you have a Bible I can read?”
Rayford’s was packed away somewhere at the safe house, and Albie said he did not have one. But then he remembered. “I have one on my hard drive!”
“Oh, good,” she said, until he fired it up and she discovered it was in his native language. “Now my understanding that would be a miracle!” He tried his decoding conversion software on it, but it didn’t support his language.
“Something to look forward to this evening,” he said.
“Among other things. You know, Albie, I owe a lot of those people some serious apologies.”
“Yes?”
“Oh, yes. I’ll hardly know where to begin. If you only knew.”
“There was a time,” he said, “when I would have been most curious. Captain Steele can attest that there is something in the black marketer akin to a pathological gossip. We are quiet and do not say much, but oh, how we love to listen. But do you know, I would rather not hear of the offenses you may have committed against those who love you so much.”
“I don’t care to talk about them either.”
“You can hope that your new brothers and sisters won’t either. A wise man once counseled me that apologies must be specific, but now that I am a believer, I am not sure I agree. If your friends know that you are sorry, deeply remorseful, and that you mean it when you apologize, I expect they will forgive you.”
“Without making me rehash everything so they’ll know I know what I did?”
Albie cocked his head and appeared to be thinking. “That doesn’t sound like a born-again response, as Dr. Ben-Judah would call it. Does it?”
She shook her head. “That would be like rubbing it in.”
Rayford’s phone rang. The area code was Colorado. “Yeah,” he said.
“Ah, Mr. Berry?” It was the unmistakable voice of Steve Plank.
“That’s me.”
“Are you maintaining my anonymity with the dear departed?”
“I am indeed, Mr. Stephens. I’m assuming we’re on a secure connection?”
“Absolutely.”
&nb
sp; “Then I am happy to tell you that she has come back from the dead, both physically and spiritually.”
Silence.
“Did you catch that, Pinkerton?”
“I’m speechless, and that’s new for me. Are you serious?”
“Roger.”
“Wow! Better still keep my confidence, but pass along my best and a big welcome to the family.”
“Will do.”
“I have good news for you too. I reported to the brass the unfortunate incident in the detention area, and they said to just dispose of the body and send in the paperwork. I asked ’em where I was supposed to do that—with the body, I mean—and they said they’d just as soon not know. I guess there’s more’n enough corpses to deal with everywhere so we luck out on this one.”
“You know the irony, don’t you, Pink?”
“Tell me.”
“The GC pretended she was dead once too.”
“I remember that. She must be the woman with nine lives.”
“Well, three anyway. And now she has all she needs.”
“Amen and roger that. Keep in touch.”
When they arrived within airspace of Kankakee, Albie got on the radio to talk to the tower. He identified himself as Commander Elbaz and asked permission to load a body into his chopper for “proper disposition.”
“We have no extra personnel to help with that, Commander.”
“Just as well. We’re not totally sure of the cause of death or any potential contagions.”
“It’s you and Mr. Berry and the deceased?”
“Roger, and the paperwork has been filed with International.”
“Consider yourselves processed. Oh, stand by, Commander. I’ve been reminded that a shipment has arrived for you from New Babylon.”
“A shipment?”
“It’s stamped Confidential and Top Secret. About half a skid. I’d say two hundred pounds.”
“Can it be delivered to the chopper?”
“We’ll see what we can do. If we’ve got a free man and a forklift, what say we load her for ya?”
“Obliged.”
Half an hour later, as Rayford and Albie carried Hattie to the chopper under a sheet, she whispered, “Anyone around?”
“No, but hush,” Rayford said.
“I need a new identity. This is really getting old.”
“Shut up or I drop you,” Albie said.
“You wouldn’t.”
He pretended to let his end slip, and she cried out. “You two are gonna get us busted,” Rayford said.
Once she was loaded, Rayford told her to stay out of sight until they were airborne. He got behind the controls again because he knew the way and Albie had not performed a landing inside a bombed-out skyscraper before.
Before Rayford lifted off, Albie turned and reached over the hidden Hattie and began unfastening the skid and boxes until he found a gross of black spray paint cans. The snapping of plastic fasteners and wrap made Hattie ask, “What in the world are you doing?”
“Just clearing the trapdoor so Rayford can eject you if you don’t behave.”
A full day had passed in New Babylon, and David felt well enough to leave the hospital. Hannah came to change his dressing. “How are we doing?” she asked, peering into his eyes.
“Nurses all use the collective we, don’t they?”
“We’re trained in it.”
“Physically I feel a hundred percent better.”
“You’ll still have to take it easy.”
“I’ve got a desk job, Hannah.”
“You also have a ton of stuff to do fast. Pace yourself.”
“I don’t feel like doing it anyway.”
“Do it for Annie.”
“Touché.”
With his new bandage in place, she put her hands gently over his ears. “I wasn’t trying to be mean, David. I mean it. I know your heart is broken. But if you wait for that pain to go away before doing what you have to do, it’ll be time to get out of here.”
He nodded miserably.
“You’re going to be OK, David,” she said. “That sounds trite now, but just knowing you a little makes me certain.”
He wasn’t so sure, but she was trying to help.
“I’ve been thinking,” she added.
Uh-oh. “Glad somebody’s up to that.”
“I knew I wanted to be a nurse when I was a veterinarian’s aide in high school.”
He raised his eyebrows. “I’m expecting some joke about me as a patient.”
“No jokes. It’s just that one of the things our office offered was the injection of biochips into pets so they could always be found and identified.”
“Yeah?”
“Isn’t that what you said the GC is going to do to everybody?”
He nodded.
“And I’m sort of an expert in that, and now you know it.”
“Guess I’m still too medicated, Hannah. Spell it out for me.”
“Aren’t they going to need to train people in how to do this and send experts here and there to supervise it?”
He shrugged. “Probably, sure. What? It looks like a plum job, a way to see the world? You want a letter of recommendation?”
She sighed. “If you weren’t hurting, I’d smack you. Give me some credit. You think I’d want to teach people how to apply the mark of the beast? Or that I’d want to watch while they do it? I’m looking for a way we can all get out of here without making it obvious why we left. You want to be among Carpathia’s top ten most wanted?”
“No.”
“No, so you get in there with Viv Ivins and offer the services of your pilots and even a nurse you know who has some background in this stuff. Get us sent somewhere to get the ball rolling, whatever. You’re the one with the creativity. I’m just shooting wild here.”
“No, keep going. I’m sorry. I’m listening now.”
“You get us all on the same plane, maybe a big expensive one, because the bigger the lie, the more people want to believe it. Crash it somewhere, like the middle of an ocean, where it would be more trouble than it’s worth to confirm we’re all dead. We hook up with the rest of your friends, but we’re not constantly looking over our shoulders for GC.”
“I like it.”
“You’re not just saying that?”
“I wouldn’t. It’s a stroke of genius.”
“Well, it’s a thought.”
“A great thought. Let me run it past Mac and Abdullah. They’re good at finding holes in schemes and—”
“I already did. They liked it too.”
“Anything left for me, or can you keep everybody in the palace healthy and stitched up and do my job too?”
She bit her lip. “I was just trying to help.”
“And you did.”
“But we both know I can’t do your job. Nobody can. So I mean it when I say you have to channel your grief into productivity and do it for Annie. It’s the only way to make any sense out of this. Mac tells me the Tribulation Force sees you as second in importance only to Dr. Ben-Judah.”
“Oh, come on.”
“David! Think about it. Look what you’ve done here. It doesn’t have to fizzle when we all leave if you can figure a way to keep it going from anywhere.”
When Buck’s phone rang, he assumed it would be Rayford, telling him he and Albie and Hattie were close. But it was Mac McCullum.
“Hey, Mac!” he said, holding up a hand to quiet the others. Buck had to sit when he heard the news. “Oh, no. No. That’s awful. . . . Oh, man . . . how’s he doing? . . . Tell him we’re with him, will you?” Buck’s face contorted and he couldn’t control his tears. “Thanks for letting us know, Mac.”
Chloe rushed to him. “What, Buck? What’s happened?”
CHAPTER 10
“Excuse me, Rayford,” Hattie said, a hand on each of his shoulders as he directed the chopper over Chicago toward the Strong Building. Albie was dozing.
Rayford slipped off one headphone so he could hear he
r, and she let her hands slip to the top of his chair. “I’m worried about how I’m going to be received.”
“Are you joking? I can think of three who will be overjoyed.”
“I’ve been terrible to them.”
“That was before.”
“But I should apologize. I don’t even know where to begin with you. Planting that stuff about Amanda. Making you all wonder about her.”
“But you admitted that, Hattie.”
“I don’t remember apologizing for it. That seems so weak compared to what I did.”
“I won’t say it wasn’t an awful time for me,” he said. “But let’s put it behind us.”
“You can do that?”
“Not by myself.”
“Chloe really lost patience with me.”
“With me too, Hattie. And I deserved it.”
“She forgave you?”
“Of course. Love endures all.”
Hattie fell silent, but Rayford felt the pressure of her hands on the back of his chair. “Love endures all,” she said, as if mulling it over.
“That’s from the Bible, you know. First Corinthians 13.”
“I didn’t know,” she said. “But I hope to learn fast.”
“Want another one? I’m doing this from memory, but there’s a verse in the New Testament—more than one, I think—that quotes Jesus. He basically says that if we forgive others, God will forgive us, but if we don’t forgive others, neither will God forgive us.”
Hattie laughed. “That puts us over a barrel, doesn’t it? Like we don’t have a choice.”
“Pretty much.”
“You think I should find that verse and memorize it so I can quote it to them when I get there? Tell them they’d better forgive me, if they know what’s good for them?”
Rayford turned and raised an eyebrow at her.
“I’m kidding,” she said. “But, um, you think they all know that verse?”
“You can bet Tsion does. Probably in a dozen languages.”
She sat quiet awhile. Rayford pointed out the Strong Building in the distance and rapped lightly on Albie’s knee with his knuckles. “You might want to be awake for this, friend.”