CHAPTER 9

Buck awoke at dawn and made the rounds, checking on everyone. He smiled at Zeke’s domain and was grateful it was private. Zeke had worked until after midnight arranging his area, getting his computer and other equipment set up. Zeke snored loudly, but when Buck peeked in, he found Zeke on the floor next to his bed. Each to his own.

Leah’s door was shut and locked. She had been up late on a call from Ming Toy, who had returned to Buffer frantic about her parents’ staying in New Babylon until her brother could find a position with the GC.

Chloe had been on her computer until after Kenny was in bed, coordinating the international co-op. She urged the tens of thousands of members to watch for Tsion’s next missive, wherein he planned to discuss the importance of their readiness when the buying/selling edict would go into effect. He would also be asking volunteer pilots and drivers to bring small planes and vehicles into Israel for a secret mission.

The only other two Trib Force members were awake and working. Chaim was hunched over a stack of books, several of them open, assigned by Tsion. He looked up with twinkling eyes when Buck poked his head in. Buck seemed to understand his constricted speech better than the others.

“Miss Rose, the redhead,” Chaim said.

“Leah.”

“Yes, she is a trained nurse, you know.”

Buck nodded.

“She tells me she can remove the wires when I am ready. Well, I am more than ready. A man my age cannot lose this much weight this fast. And I want to be able to speak clearly!”

“How is everything else?”

“On my body, you mean? I am an old man. I’ve survived a plane crash. I should complain? Cameron, this building is a gift from God! What a luxury! If we have to live in exile, this is where to live. And what young Tsion has given me to read, well . . . I call him young because he was once my student, but you knew that. There are times, Cameron, when the Scriptures are like an ugly mirror to me, showing me again and again my bankrupt soul. But then I rejoice at the redemption, my redemption! The story of God, the history of his people, it is all coming alive to me before my eyes.”

“Did you remember to eat?”

“I don’t eat. I drink. Agh! But yes, thank you for asking. I am now drinking in the truth of God.”

“Carry on.”

“Oh, I will! Tsion was looking for you, by the way. Did he find you?”

“No. I’m on my way to him now.”

Buck moved up a floor and found Dr. Ben-Judah with his fingers flying over the computer keyboard. He didn’t want to disturb him, but the rabbi must have heard him. Without looking up or slowing, he said, “Cameron, is that you? So much to do. I shall be busy all the day, I fear. Dark as the days are, my joy is complete. Prophecy comes alive by the minute. Did you see what Master Zeke did for me? A precious lad!”

Buck looked again. Tsion had not only a main computer but also two laptops networked to it on each side. “No more switching back and forth between programs,” Tsion sang out. “Bibles on one, commentaries on the other. And I am writing to my people in the middle!”

“Glad to get back to it?”

“You cannot imagine.”

“Don’t let me slow you.”

“No, no! Come in, Cameron. I need you.” He finally stopped and hit the Print command. Pages began piling in the printer output tray. Tsion swiveled in his chair. “Sit, please! You must be my first reader today.”

“I’d be honored, but—”

“First, tell me. What news from our brothers and sisters in the field?”

“We know little. We haven’t heard from David Hassid, except secondhand through Rayford, since the Carpathia resurrection.”

“And what did you hear then?”

“Only that Ray and Albie had trouble raising him. They needed him to pave the way for a scheme they were pulling, trying to get Hattie Durham back from the GC. At the last minute he must have gotten their messages, because the stuff came through and the mission was accomplished.”

Tsion nodded, pursing his lips. “Praise the Lord,” he said quietly. “She is coming back to us then?”

“Tonight. We expect Ray and Albie and Hattie after dark.”

“I will pray for their safety. And we must continue to pray for her, of course. God has given me such a weight of care for that woman.”

Buck shook his head. “Me too, Tsion. But if ever there seemed a lost cause . . .”

“Lost cause? Cameron, Cameron! You and I were lost causes! All of us were. Who was a less likely candidate than Chaim? We pleaded and pleaded with him, but who would have believed he would eventually come into the kingdom? Certainly not I. Don’t give up on Miss Durham.”

“Oh, I haven’t.”

“With God, all things are possible. Have you taken a close look at this young man you brought home last night?”

“Zeke? Oh, yeah.”

“Clearly this was not a churchgoing boy. He is so delightful, so bright! Shy, bashful, uneducated. Almost illiterate. But what a sweet, gentle spirit! What a servant’s heart! And, oh, what a mind! It would take him the next three and a half years to read one of the many books Chaim will finish by tomorrow, and yet he has proclivities for this technical stuff that I could not learn in a lifetime.”

Buck smacked his palms on his thighs and began to rise. “Don’t let me keep you.”

“Oh, you’re not! My mouth is keeping me from it. If you are not too busy today, I could use your help.”

Buck sat back down, and Tsion handed him a sheaf of papers from the printer. “I have many pages to go, but I need a first impression. I will not transmit these until I know they are right.”

“They are always right, Tsion. But I’d love to get the first look at them.”

“Then begin! I will try to stay ahead of you. And if I start talking again, feel free to become parental with me.”

That’ll be the day, Buck thought. He tapped the papers even and settled back to read. Every so often Tsion printed out the next several pages, and Buck idly pulled them from the printer as he read, sitting, standing, pacing. All the while he thanked God for the gift of Tsion Ben-Judah and his incredible mind.

To: The beloved tribulation saints scattered to the four corners of the earth, believers in the one true Jehovah God and his matchless Son, Jesus the Christ, our Savior and Lord

From: Your servant, Tsion Ben-Judah, blessed by the Lord with the responsibility and unspeakable privilege of teaching you, under the authority of his Holy Spirit, from the Bible, the very Word of God

Re: The dawn of the Great Tribulation

My dear brothers and sisters in Christ,

As is so often true when I sit to write to you, I come in both joy and sorrow, with delight but also soberness of spirit. Forgive me for the delay since last I communicated with you, and thank you each and every one for the expressions of concern for my welfare. My comrades and I are safe and sound and praising the Lord for a new base of operations. And I always want to remember to also thank God for the miracle of technology that allows me to write to you all over the world.

Though I have met few of you personally and look forward to that one day, either in the millennial kingdom or in heaven, I feel deeply that family bonds have been created by our regularly sharing the deep riches of Scripture through this medium. Thank you for your continued prayers that I will remain faithful and true to my calling and healthy enough to continue for as long as the Father himself gives me breath.

I ask that all of you who have volunteered to translate these words into languages not supported by the built-in conversion programs begin to do that immediately. As I have been unable to write to you for several days, I anticipate that this will be a longer than usual communiqué. Also, as always, in those areas where computers or power sources are scarce and this message is reproduced as hard copy, I ask that those responsible feel free to do so free of charge with no credit necessary, but that every word be printed as it appears here.

Glory to God for news that we have long since passed the one-billion mark in readership. We know that there are many more brothers and sisters in the faith who are without computers or the ability to read these words. And while the current world system would, and does, deny these figures, we believe them to be true. Hundreds of thousands join us every day, and we pray you will tell more and more about our family.

We have been through so much together. I say this without boasting but with glory to God Almighty: As I have endeavored to rightly divide the Word of Truth to you, God has proven himself the author over and over. For centuries scholars have puzzled over the mysterious prophetic passages in the Bible, and at one time I was one of those puzzled ones. The language seemed obscure, the message deep and elusive, the meanings apparently figurative and symbolic. Yet when I began an incisive and thorough examination of these passages with an open mind and heart, it was as if God revealed something to me that freed my intellect.

I had discovered, strictly from an academic approach, that nearly 30 percent of the Bible (Old and New Testaments together) consisted of prophetic passages. I could not understand why God would include these if he intended them to be other than understandable to his children.

While the messianic prophecies were fairly straightforward and, indeed, led me to believe in Jesus as their unique fulfillment, I prayed earnestly that God would reveal to me the key to the rest of the predictive passages. This he did in a most understated way. He simply impressed upon me to take the words as literally as I took any others from the Bible, unless the context and the wording itself indicated otherwise.

In other words, I had always taken at its word a passage such as, “Love your neighbor as yourself,” or “Do unto others as you would have them do unto you.” Why then, could I not take just as straightforwardly a verse which said that John the Revelator saw a pale horse? Yes, I understood that the horse stood for something. And yet, the Bible said that John saw it. I took that literally, along with all the other prophetic statements (unless they used phrases such as “like unto” or others that made it clear they were symbolic).

My dear friends, the Scriptures opened to me in a way I never dreamed possible. That is how I knew the great Seal Judgments and Trumpet Judgments were coming, how I was able to interpret what form they might take, and even in what sequence they would occur.

That is how I know that the Bowl Judgments are yet to come, and that they will be exponentially worse than all those that came before. That is how I knew that these plagues and trials were more than just judgments on an unholy and unbelieving world. That is how I knew that this whole period of history is also one more evidence of the long-suffering, loving-kindness, and mercy of God himself.

Believers, we have turned a corner. Skeptics—and I know many of you drop in here now and then to see what we zealots are up to—we have passed the point of gentility. Up to now, while I have been forthright about the Scriptures, I have been somewhat circumspect about the current rulers of this world.

No more. As every prophecy in the Bible has so far come to pass, as the leader of this world has preached peace while wielding a sword, as he died by the sword and was resurrected as the Scriptures foretold, and as his right-hand man has been imbued with similar evil power, there can be no more doubt:

Nicolae Carpathia, the so-called Excellency and Supreme Potentate of the Global Community, is both anti-Christian and Antichrist himself. And the Bible says the resurrected Antichrist is literally indwelt by Satan himself. Leon Fortunato, who had an image of Antichrist erected and now forces one and all to worship it or face their own peril, is Antichrist’s false prophet. As the Bible predicted, he has power to give utterance to the image and to call down fire from heaven to destroy those who refuse to worship it.

What’s next? Consider this clear prophetic passage in Revelation 13:11-18: “Then I saw another beast coming up out of the earth, and he had two horns like a lamb and spoke like a dragon. And he exercises all the authority of the first beast in his presence, and causes the earth and those who dwell in it to worship the first beast, whose deadly wound was healed. He performs great signs, so that he even makes fire come down from heaven on the earth in the sight of men. And he deceives those who dwell on the earth by those signs which he was granted to do in the sight of the beast, telling those who dwell on the earth to make an image to the beast who was wounded by the sword and lived. He was granted power to give breath to the image of the beast, that the image of the beast should both speak and cause as many as would not worship the image of the beast to be killed. He causes all, both small and great, rich and poor, free and slave, to receive a mark on their right hand or on their foreheads, and that no one may buy or sell except one who has the mark or the name of the beast, or the number of his name.

“Here is wisdom. Let him who has understanding calculate the number of the beast, for it is the number of a man: His number is 666.”

It won’t be long before everyone will be forced to bow the knee to Carpathia or his image, to bear his name or number on their forehead or right hand, or face the consequences.

Those consequences? Those of us without what the Bible calls the mark of the beast will not be allowed to legally buy or sell. If we publicly refuse to accept the mark of the beast, we will be beheaded. While it is the greatest desire of my life to live to see the Glorious Appearing of my Lord and Savior Jesus the Christ at the end of the Great Tribulation (a few days short of three and a half years from now), what greater cause could there ever be for which to give one’s life?

Many, millions of us, will be required to do just that. While it conjures in us age-old self-preservation instincts and we worry that at that hour we will be found lacking courage, loyalty, and faithfulness, let me reassure you. The God who calls you to the ultimate sacrifice will also give you the power to endure it. No one can receive the mark of the beast by accident. It is a once-and-for-all decision that will forever condemn you to eternity without God.

While many will be called to live in secret, to support one another through private markets, some will find themselves caught, singled out, dragged into a public beheading, to which the only antidote is a rejection of Christ and a taking of the mark of the beast.

If you are already a believer, you will not be able to turn your back on Christ, praise God. If you are undecided and don’t want to follow the crowd, what will you do when faced with the mark or the loss of your head? I plead with you today to believe, to receive Christ, to envelop yourself with protection from on high.

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.”

“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?”