Could he do it? After all these years of denying God, could he call on Adonai and ask for His help?
As he thought of this, he felt himself slide from the chair, onto his knees. As he sagged to the floor, he raised himself up, turned to the chair and leaned his elbows on it.
“Adonai,” Meyer stuttered, then stopped. What was it Elijah had said, that he had to acknowledge Adonai? What was that prayer, it had been so long.
Then, with his eyes closed and the tears streaming down his cheeks Meyer prayed, “Hear, O Israel: the LORD our God, the LORD is one.” He just stayed there, not moving, repeating the prayer over and over.
Then he heard his wife stirring again. He was afraid to move from the prayer stance until he heard her mumble, “Meyer.”
Chapter 90
11:30 AM Monday Prime Minister David Ben Bernstein’s office, Jerusalem, Israel
Carla had come through. He had an early lunch brought in and they had the Director for National Construction Projects, George Finkel, and the Rabbi Cohan of the Temple Institute. Michael and several other committee members were also in attendance.
They had all brought several people with them. Finkel brought four people who were, as he said, architects. Rabbi Cohan brought three others with him. He said they were the designers and interpreters of the Bible regarding the Temple, and another was a financier.
Rabbi Benjamin Hagen was there and David had invited Shlomo. Michael had members of various committees with him. By final count, around twenty people, including the head the Israeli Department of Antiquities, Mark Lebowitz, were crowded into the conference room.
After he felt everyone had had their fill of food, the Prime Minister sat down at the head of the conference table and said, “If we can, let’s get down to business.” Then ten people started talking all at once. He held up his hands and said over the noise, “One at a time please, one at a time.” Then he pointed to Rabbi Cohen and said, “We will start with you.”
“Thank you, Prime Minister. As you know, David, we have for a very long time petitioned to rebuild the Temple. We have all the plans, and have selected and located the materials needed. We also have something you may not know about. We have worldwide donors who may well pay for the entire project.” He beamed as he said this.
There was a smattering of applause especially from Michael’s group.
Mark Lebowitz then asked, “According to our earlier conversation David, Elijah knows of a chamber where certain things have been hidden since the Diasporas?”
“Yes, that is what he said. As of now, your department has the government’s blessing to go and work with Elijah. Find out what he needs in equipment and manpower and get it for him.”
“Who will be in charge of the project of digging for the artifacts’?”
“Probably Elijah, Mark.”
“Oh.”
“Well he knows where it is. We do not. So I would assume he would direct you to the chamber he claims is there. He asked for your department so that the items are not harmed and are removed carefully.”
“He claims the Ark of the Covenant is there, David?”
“Yes, he does.”
“Wow, what a find for the world this will be!”
“Yes, it will.”
Carla stuck her head in through the door interrupting them. She was in a panic.
“Prime Minister, you need to turn the TV to the Aljazeera cable channel! It appears that there is a crisis in Iran.”
There were several satellite channels for Aljazeera depending on language. There was even one for Hebrew. He turned the unit on and punched in the correct channel.
The announcer was saying, “The northern border of Iran near Azerbaijan and Turkey near Tabriz is being overrun by locusts. They seem to have originated near the northern border, and as you can see from the images from Tabriz, they are a huge cloud of insects, that as best we can guesstimate, is almost fifty to sixty miles wide. According to local area residents this started at daylight this morning.”
Everyone’s mouths were wide open. Most remembered Elijah’s prophecy from the American broadcast.
After a few minutes of absorbing the news cast, David turned down the sound, with the image still up. He looked to Rabbi Benjamin Hagen and asked, “Do we have a Prophet?”
Ben hesitated; wringing his hands, for David knew he never expected Elijah to come through. Reluctantly he replied, “Yes David, he has passed the test.” He then turned back to the TV, not seeming to be able to take his eyes off the images on the TV. He repeated again, “passed the test.”
This was going to be a long day, David thought. After a few moments, he explained to those who had not been present for the other meetings what Benjamin’s comment meant. He explained about the test Rabbi Benjamin Hagen had devised. He went on to say that since both of the Chief Rabbinates agreed that Elijah was who he said he is, they would now have to figure out how to govern Israel with a prophet present.
He then brought the conversation back to their original reasons for being there. Gradually, the participants started paying attention. It took about two hours before they had a plan of sorts put together.
The archeologists were going to go meet with Elijah along with the construction personnel. The archeologists were also going to work with the Temple designers as well as the Rabbis of Israel.
Rabbi Benjamin Hagan was going to find, if he could, twenty people from the Levi tribe, as Elijah had requested. He would select them and take them to Elijah.
They agreed that they would set up a military field kitchen and light the Mount like a stadium. They would also be setting up shelter for Elijah in the event that he wanted to stay. Shlomo said he would arrange all that through the military.
The Wailing Wall would be closed for the time being. They all agreed that the first thing was to clear the Mount of the debris. This would allow Elijah to work with the archeologists to excavate the area without a mess around them.
About that time, David heard a commotion in the outer office and heard Carla scream, “You can’t go in there!” The door burst open and Meyer Branlin came in shouting, “David, David, you won’t believe it!”
He finally looked around and said, “Oh, I didn’t know you had guests, nevertheless,” he piped up again, “my wife and son David…they are well, and the doctors said it was a miracle. They are OK, like nothing was ever wrong!”
“How did this happen, Meyer?” David asked.
“I did what Elijah said to do, pray.”
“What prayer Meyer? Did you pray?”
He shouted out the prayer, “Hear, O Israel: The LORD our God, the LORD is one. He healed them! Where is Elijah? I need to tell him.” He looked around the room and said, “He’s not here.”
“No, he is at the Temple Mount, Meyer.”
“Great!” Meyer said then started for the door. Suddenly he stopped. He turned back towards the Prime Minister and said, “David, we need to talk. There are things you need to know.”
“About what, Meyer?” David asked.
“Waldger!”
With that, he bolted out the door.
Well, he seemed to have had a change of heart, David figured. He wondered what Meyer knew about Waldger that was so important.
Chapter 91
4:00 AM Monday, John Roddenburg’s temporary home in Kansas City
He was dreaming. There was a bell, which kept going off and then stopping. Then it was ringing again. This time he opened his eyes, exiting his dream. He then realized it was the telephone. He reached over to the nightstand and picked up the receiver as he tried to clear his head.
As he put the phone to his ear, he heard Don’s voice.
“John, sorry so early, but Hurricane Alex is about to make landfall and the outer bands are raising havoc in the area. I already got hold of Chester. He is on his way to the studio.”
John was still barely awake, as he replied, “Ok Don, let me h
ave a shower and get dressed. Give me half an hour then send the car.”
“It is on its way.”
Chapter 92
4:45 AM Monday Bear News Studios, Special Morning Broadcast from Kansas City, Missouri
John arrived at the studio, which was in chaos. As soon as Don saw him, he said, “We have less than fifteen minutes to begin coverage of Hurricane Alex. In addition, John, while you were sleeping, Elijah went back to the Temple. You can watch the footage from the local TV station in Jerusalem and decide how to cover this.”
“Let’s see…oh yes, the airlines are shut down and international travel has stopped. Our affiliates around the world are on hand to start early reporting.” He stopped.
“There’s more isn’t there, Don?” John asked, knowing that it was Monday, and as Enoch had said on Saturday, all hell would break loose today.
“Yes. Aljazeera has released footage of a band of locusts in a black cloud that started in on Northern Iran this morning. They say its fifty-sixty miles long and is consuming everything in its path. They also said that the locusts are not crossing the border. It is contained in Iran only.”
“So, Elijah’s prophecy came to pass. Is this what you are saying?”
“Yes, that is correct.”
“Do we have anyone in Houston?”
“Yes. The military gave in and allowed two camera operators and one reporter for both The Network and us, along with a pool of reporters for other news outlets. They are all in a compound near downtown, Houston. Therefore, we can go live there. However it is still dark and sunrise is at 6:08 AM, Houston time.”
Chester came over and said, “The National Hurricane Center has confirmed landfall in about ten minutes. It’s a category four all right, with sustained winds of one hundred and forty-eight miles per hour.”
John thought about what Chester just said. He then began prioritizing as to how to sequence all this news. He felt that the hurricane was a priority so he said, “We will start with the announcement that Alex is coming ashore. We will then cut to you, Chester, and you can go over the latest satellite imagery and data from the National Hurricane Center. We will then cut to uh…who is there, Don?” John asked.
“Betty Schmitt.’”
“Thanks Don, I am still waking up. OK everyone we have a plan. Oh, one more thing; do we have footage of the Caribbean destruction caused by Alex and Bosner?”
“Yes,” Don replied.
“Good, we can put that in too.”
John hesitated as he had another thought. He said to Don, “What about the Pope’s funeral and the convening Conclave? Are the airline shutdowns going to affect the American cardinals’ travel to Rome, do we know yet?”
“No, we don’t know,” Don replied. “That is a good point. I will have someone check on it and get back to you.”
“There is one other item I just thought of on this same subject. Concerning the Jews who want to return to Israel from America, will this forced airline shutdown of international flights prevent them from migrating? Is this the government’s intent?
Don thought about this for a moment then said, “Yes, I am sure that is true. They don’t want them to migrate. Maybe we can get the Rabbi who said his entire congregation was going back on the show. We can find out if they have alternative plans now.”
“Good idea, Don,” John said as he turned away shaking his head. He knew it was going to be a very long day. He headed to makeup. There were only five minutes to go until show time; two-hours early today.
Chapter 93
2:30 PM Monday Tehran, Iran Supreme Leader’s Palace
Minister Hafez Sohrab Minister of Agricultural Jihad, President Mauvad Shasahvar, and Ayatollah Shahin Moneim, were in the conference room and looking at the images of the swarm of locusts being displayed on the Aljazeera cable network.
Hafez had been summoned immediately to the offices, and like others in the Iranian government, he knew that a summons to the President’s offices was not a good thing, when not planned.
The President asked him, “If I remember in history, in 1915, Palestine had an infestation similar to this. Do you know about the situation that I am speaking of, Hafez?”
“Yes, I do. We studied it in college when I was at the American University. It was in an agricultural disaster studies class I took.”
“Do you remember the result of what they did to combat this plague?
“Yes, I do. At first, many people believed that prayer and petition were required to end the plague. They viewed the plague of locusts as punishment from God.”
“And what did they do then?”
“The religious leaders at the time declared a time of prayer for a full day or, ‘Taanit Tzibbur,’ as it was called.”
“What was the result of their prayers?”
“Initially, it seemed to have worked. The locusts left, but afterwards they had to collect the eggs and destroy them.”
“What else did they do?”
“They used smokers and insecticides to try to control the infestation. However, in spite of the prayers, egg collecting and spraying, the locusts came back. It was several months of fighting the locust plague. Eventually, they were eradicated; but unfortunately, many died due to diseases carried by the locust.”
“Hafez,” Ayatollah Shahin Moneim asked, “Can we stop them?”
“We can use airplanes or what we call crop dusters in the affected areas to spray insecticides. This will kill some, but most likely not all.”
“But it will at least put a dent in it, correct?”
“Yes, it will help.”
Ayatollah Shahin Moneim thought a moment and then said to the President, “I want you to start spraying everywhere. I will then go on the airwaves and declare a day of prayer in the streets to Allah to stop this plague.”
President Shasahvar then said, “The news media is referring to Elijah as the cause. Do we want to address this?”
Shahin thought about this for a moment. No one spoke for they all knew what the other was thinking. Elijah was a notable man of Allah in the Qur’an.
After a few moments, Shahin said, “I think we need to send an emissary to Elijah and see if we can reason with him. But then, it may well be too late.”
“Do we have anyone who could go talk to him in Israel?” the Ayatollah asked.
“Maybe through the Palestinians. We have some contacts who are able to travel freely in Israel.”
“OK, I will agree to this.”
He turned to Hafez and said, “Use whatever you can to battle these pests.” He then turned to Shasahvar, “I will declare a day of prayer. Please make the arrangements immediately for a press conference.”
Chapter 94
5:00 AM Monday Bear News Special Morning Broadcast from Kansas City, Missouri
The special breaking news alert logo was on the monitor and the announcer said, “This is a special report from Bear News in Kansas City, Missouri with John Roddenburg.”
The camera cut to John at the anchor desk. He began by stating, “At 5:00 AM Central Standard Time Hurricane Alex came ashore in Houston, Texas, packing sustained winds of a hundred and forty- eight miles per hour. I might remind our viewers that this is the exact prediction made by Enoch in our New York Studios last week.”
He hesitated, for he was not used to making these kinds of statements. He usually just reported the news. However, he composed himself and continued. “We have our meteorologist, Chester Nichols, with us here, who will bring us up to date on the storm. Chester.”
“Thank you, John.” Chester was standing by the monitor displaying an animated satellite picture of Hurricane Alex.
“As you can see from the satellite picture we just received from the national Hurricane Center, Alex stretches from South Padre Island south past Lake Charles in Louisiana and covers the entire Gulf. Moreover, if you look to what is in the east more towards the Caribbean you can see Bo
sner right behind it. Currently, as John stated earlier, the winds are steady at one hundred and forty-eight miles per hour. The rain is falling at the rate of four inches an hour. Storm surge, according to the National Hurricane Service is expected to exceed forty-five feet. This will now be a new record for a storm surge topping Bay St. Louis, which was forty-three feet in 2005.”
John then asked Chester, “With this being a category four, which we know is a major hurricane, what type of damage are we looking at?”
“According to the ‘Saffir-Simpson Hurricane Wind Scale a category four will cause severe damage to buildings with the loss of most of the roof structure and some exterior walls. Many trees will be snapped, uprooted and power poles downed. Fallen trees and power poles will isolate residential areas. In addition, power outages will last weeks to possibly months. Most of the area will be uninhabitable for an extended period. This also does not take into account the storm surges or the flooding that are likely to occur.”
“Chester, are the winds and rain moving south or north of Houston.”
“This is the problem with this hurricane, John, for normally I would easily give you an answer. However, right now, the outer bands though not producing one hundred and forty-eight miles per hour winds are still clocking at about a hundred and ten in Corpus Christi, which is about two hundred and nine miles away from the center. This means this hurricane is causing severe damage to land for about four hundred miles along the coast of Texas.”
“That sounds bad, Chester, very bad. Let’s see what our on the spot reporters have to say. We are going live to Houston where our correspondent, Betty Schmitt is.”