CHAPTER 19
The instantaneous drying up of the Euphrates proved good news to only the kings of the East, who transported their weapons directly into Israel across dry land. The rest of the Fertile Crescent was no longer fertile. Irrigation dried up, hydroelectric plants shut down, factories closed. In short, everything that depended on the massive power of the great river was immediately diagnosed as terminal.
Chang’s prediction of GCNN’s carrying accounts of reporters standing in the middle of the dry riverbed proved accurate. But all the fancy pronouncements and isn’t-it-something-that-I’m-standing-here-where-yesterday-I-would-have-been-a-hundred-feet-below-the-surface did not amuse millions who depended upon the Euphrates for their very existence.
It didn’t surprise Buck that Tsion proved to be right. When Rayford lowered the chopper into a clearing at the Temple Mount, hundreds of angry people scattered, raising their fists at him.
Buck grabbed his bag and tucked his Uzi behind his back and under his jacket. He leaped from the chopper and scampered to safety in underbrush near the Wall. He looked back to see Tsion doing the same and was amazed at the agility of this newly trained guerilla.
They knelt, catching their breath and watching Rayford lift off. The chopper whirling out of sight took the attention off them. Buck looked around. “This is where I saw the two witnesses taken into heaven three and a half years ago,” he said.
That old curiosity was back. Rayford couldn’t shake it. No way he could be this close to Armageddon—he guessed less than seventy miles—and not do a flyover. It was crazy, he knew. He might find himself in an air traffic jam. But the possibility of seeing an aerial view of what he had been hearing and reading and praying about drew him like an undertow. And if the result was that he plunged into the abyss like a rafter over the falls, it was worth the risk.
“Cameron, look,” Tsion said. “Look at all the unmarked men! They proudly parade around, beaming at each other, as if defying the GC.”
Global Community Peacekeeping and Morale Monitor forces were nowhere to be seen, of course. But war was in the air. For all the posturing of the devout Jews at the Temple Mount, it was clear that terror pervaded the place. These people knew where the GC were, and they knew they would soon be Carpathia’s targets.
“The old men are at the Wall,” Tsion said, “praying fervently and openly as they have not been able to do for so long. How my heart breaks for them. The young men are talking, planning, looking for arms. They are determined to defend this city, as I am.”
“But the city is to fall, Tsion,” Buck said. “You’ve said so yourself.”
“Only temporarily, and the more of these people we can keep alive, the more can come into the kingdom. That is all I care about.”
Mac was still not sure what to make of Otto Weser. He was a good man, no doubt, but he was amateur in his thinking. He may have been a successful timber businessman in Germany, but Mac would not want to have served under him in combat.
“But don’t you see, Mr. McCullum,” Otto was saying, “if we are already on the ground at the palace airstrip when the supernatural announcement comes, we’ll be that much more ready to quickly get people on board and out of there.”
“And what if we never hear that announcement, or people can’t get to the airstrip? There we sit with the city coming down around us.”
“But will we not be protected as believers?”
“Think, man! If believers were protected, why would God be calling his own people out of there before he levels the place?”
“I want to wait no longer, Cameron. I’m going to the Wall, and I will simply begin preaching.”
“But what if—”
“There is no more time to think things through,” Tsion said. “We are here for one purpose, and I am going to do it. Now are you going to cover me? Go with me? What?”
“I’ll go with you. No one will give me a second glance, once you open your mouth.”
Tsion pressed a yarmulke onto his head and handed one to Buck. “No sense getting stoned for a technicality,” Tsion said. “We are going to a holy place.”
They stuffed their bags between a tree and a black wrought-iron fence. Wearing loose-fitting, canvas-type clothing and jackets, Uzis at their sides, they crawled out of the bushes and jogged toward the Wall.
“Hey, old man, two hundred Nicks for that gat!”
“I’ll go three hundred!” someone else said.
“The weapon is not for sale!” Tsion hollered. “Come hear what I have to offer!”
The area before the Wailing Wall was crowded with people in traditional garb, eager to push their prayers into the cracks between the stones. Many began praying even before they got close. The place would have been deserted the day before. And anyone caught in re religious clothing, even with the mark of Carpathia, would have been sent to a concentration camp or executed.
As soon as Buck and Tsion began to shoulder their way toward the Wall, men glared at them and grumbled. Tsion did not hesitate. He bellowed, “Men of Israel, hear me! I am one of you! I come with news!”
It was clear people thought it was news of the impending attack, as they immediately began gathering. Tsion climbed a short precipice, where he could better be seen and heard.
“We will fight to the death!” someone shouted.
“I know you will, and so will I!” Tsion said. “You see me with my head covered and no mark on my forehead or hand.”
The men cheered.
“Many of us will die in this conflict,” Tsion continued. “I am willing to give my life for Jerusalem!”
“So are we!” many shouted in unison.
“We need arms!”
“We need information!”
“What you need,” Tsion boomed, “is Messiah!”
The men cheered and many laughed. Others murmured. This was plainly not what they expected to hear.
“Many of you know me! I am Tsion Ben-Judah. I became persona non grata when I broadcast my findings after being commissioned to study the prophecies concerning Messiah.”
Many remembered and applauded. Although they obviously disagreed with his conclusions or they would have been believers, they seemed to admire him.
“My family was slaughtered. I was exiled. A bounty remains on my head.”
“Then why are you here, man? Do you not know the Global Community devils are coming back?”
“I do not fear them, because Messiah is coming too! Do not scoff! Do not turn your backs on me!” Many did not. “Listen to our own Scriptures. What do you think this means?” He read Zechariah 12:8-10: “‘In that day the Lord will defend the inhabitants of Jerusalem; the one who is feeble among them in that day shall be like David, and the house of David shall be like God, like the Angel of the Lord before them. It shall be in that day that I will seek to destroy all the nations that come against Jerusalem.
“‘And I will pour on the house of David and on the inhabitants of Jerusalem the Spirit of grace and supplication; then they will look on Me whom they pierced. Yes, they will mourn for Him as one mourns for his only son, and grieve for Him as one grieves for a firstborn.’”
“You tell us what it means!”
“God is saying he will make the weakest among us as strong as David. And he will destroy the nations that come against us. My dear friends, that is all the other nations of the earth!”
“We know. Carpathia has made it no secret!”
“But God says we will finally look upon ‘Me whom they pierced,’ and that we will mourn him as we would mourn the loss of a firstborn son. Messiah was pierced! And God refers to the pierced one as ‘Me’! Messiah is also God.
“Beloved, my exhaustive study of the hundreds of prophecies concerning Messiah brought me to the only logical conclusion. Messiah was born of a virgin in Bethlehem. He lived without sin. He was falsely accused. He was slain without cause. He died and was buried and was raised after three days. Those prophecies alone point to Jesus of Nazareth as Messiah. He is the one who is coming to fight for Israel. He will avenge all the wrongs that have been perpetrated upon us over the centuries.
“The time is short. The day of salvation is here. You may not have time to study this for yourselves. Messiah is God’s promise to us. Jesus is the fulfillment of that promise. He is coming. Let him find you ready!”
Rayford’s was not the only craft over the Plain of Megiddo. It was all he could do to pick his way through the traffic, but he also found it difficult to avert his eyes from the ground. He climbed to where he could see the 14-by-25-mile valley in its entirety, some 350 square miles.
The dust seemed to rise a mile as tanks, trucks, personnel carriers, missile launchers, cavalries, and ground troops moved into the area. Rayford had never seen as large an assembly of people in one place. It appeared as if an army of millions was marshaling in the vast staging area. From there he could also see the bustling seaport at Haifa, where great ships filled the harbor and fanned out in massive lines, waiting to disgorge armaments and troops.
From every direction personnel and equipment flooded into the region. Massive as it was, there seemed no way it could hold more. And yet the armies kept coming.
Buck feared at first that Tsion was only offending the devoutly Jewish crowd. Many tried to shout him down and many walked away, but others tried to hush the rest, and still others called more to come and hear him. The crowd kept growing, despite the noise and confusion.
Tsion seemed energized. He began quoting Scripture and explaining it, not waiting for the crowd’s response. His message went from dialogue to monologue, and yet people seemed riveted.
“Yes, the armies of the world are coming. Even as we speak, they are rallying to the north. They aim to destroy Jerusalem and destroy us. But I beg of you, ‘do not fear those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul. But rather fear Him who is able to destroy both soul and body in hell.’ Yes, you know of whom I speak. Messiah is coming! Messiah shall overcome! Be ready for his arrival!
“If you want to know how to be prepared for him, gather here to my left and my associate will tell you. Please! Come now! Do not delay! Now is the accepted time. Today is the day of salvation.”
Buck was stunned. He had not been prepared for this, but as the Jews gathered around him, looking expectant, he breathed a desperate silent prayer, and God gave him the words.
“When Jewish people such as yourselves come to see that Jesus is your long-sought Messiah,” he said, “you are not converting from one religion to another, no matter what anyone tells you. You have found your Messiah, that is all. Some would say you have been completed, fulfilled. Everything you have studied and been told all your life is the foundation for your acceptance of Messiah and what he has done for you.”
Buck moved into the plan of salvation, telling these hungry and thirsty men to tell God they acknowledged that Jesus was Messiah. “He comes not only to avenge Jerusalem but to save your soul, to forgive your sins, to grant you eternal life with God.”
“Naomi!” Chang called out. “Come watch this.”
She joined him to see Carpathia being interviewed by GCNN. It was clear he was not at Armageddon yet, but he was on a colossal black stallion and brandishing a sword so wide and long it appeared its weight alone would have pulled a smaller man from the saddle. He wore thigh-high boots and leathers, and he seemed unable to quit grinning.
“We have the absolute latest in technology and power at our fingertips,” he shouted as the reporter reached as high as she could with her microphone. “My months of strategy are over, and we have a foolproof plan. That frees me to encourage the troops, to be flown to the battle sites, to mount up, to be a visual reminder that victory is in sight and will soon be in hand.
“It will not be long, my brothers and sisters in the Global Community, until we shall reign victorious. I shall return to rebuild my throne as conquering king. The world shall finally be as one! It is not too early to rejoice!”
As word spread that Tsion Ben-Judah was at the Wailing Wall preaching to the Jews, more and more streamed in.
“These Scriptures foretell what is going to happen soon!” he said. “Listen again to the words of Peter: ‘The day of the Lord will come as a thief in the night, in which the heavens will pass away with a great noise, and the elements will melt with fervent heat; both the earth and the works that are in it will be burned up. Therefore, since all these things will be dissolved, what manner of persons ought you to be in holy conduct and godliness, looking for and hastening the coming of the day of God, because of which the heavens will be dissolved, being on fire, and the elements will melt with fervent heat? Nevertheless we, according to His promise, look for new heavens and a new earth in which righteousness dwells.’
“That is our promise, what we have been looking for! For how many generations have we prayed for peace? Soon, after the conflict, eternal peace!
“Messiah will return as King of kings. He promised to return, to conquer Satan, and to set up his millennial kingdom, reestablishing Israel and making Jerusalem the capital forever!
“With probably a billion of Messiah’s followers already removed from this earth, and with the disappearances of seven years ago that were predicted more than two thousand years before, many Jews and Gentiles have turned to Jesus Christ as the true Messiah.
“Our own prophet Joel foretold of these very days. Listen to the words of Holy Scripture: ‘It shall come to pass afterward that I will pour out My Spirit on all flesh; your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, your old men shall dream dreams, your young men shall see visions. And also on My menservants and on My maidservants I will pour out My Spirit in those days.
“‘And I will show wonders in the heavens and in the earth: blood and fire and pillars of smoke. The sun shall be turned into darkness, and the moon into blood, before the coming of the great and awesome day of the Lord. And it shall come to pass that whoever calls on the name of the Lord shall be saved. For in Mount Zion and in Jerusalem there shall be deliverance, as the Lord has said, among the remnant whom the Lord calls.’
“You are that remnant, people of Israel. Turn to Messiah today! Listen further to the prophecy of Joel and see if it does not reflect these very days! ‘For behold, in those days and at that time, when I bring back the captives of Judah and Jerusalem, I will also gather all nations, and bring them down to the Valley of Jehoshaphat; and I will enter into judgment with them there on account of My people, My heritage Israel.’
“This massive international force that the evil ruler of this world calls the One World Unity Army will break up from its staging area and pass through the very Valley of Jehoshaphat Joel writes of, and when they find the city of refuge impossible to overthrow, the fighting will spill back into that valley.”
Rayford had to head back. There was nothing he could do high above the assembled hordes of Antichrist. He knew it was from this area that the great mass would divide two-thirds and one-third, and that the latter would begin its inexorable march toward Petra.
His best guess was that it would take almost a full day for the force to cover that much ground and begin its offensive. In just a few hours, however, the two-thirds assigned to Jerusalem might already be engaged in battle.
Buck was answering questions, praying with people, and all the while trying to listen to Tsion, who seemed to have found a second wind.
“The Day of the Lord is upon us,” he said. “And lest there be any among you who still doubt, let me tell you what the prophecies say will happen after the armies of the world have gathered at Armageddon—which, as we all know, they are now doing. How many of you know Peacekeepers and Morale Monitors who have been called there? See? Yes, many of you. We have no illusions. They are rallying now, planning our destruction.
“And yet the Scriptures say that when they have gathered there, it will be time for the seventh angel to pour out his bowl into the air. Do you know what this refers to, men of Israel? The drying of the Euphrates was the sixth Bowl Judgment of God on the earth, the twentieth of his judgments since the Rapture.
“This seventh Bowl Judgment shall be the last, and do you know what it entails? When this bowl has been poured out, the Bible says ‘a loud voice came out of the temple of heaven, from the throne, saying, “It is done!”’ How like the pronouncement of the spotless Lamb of God on the cross when he cried out, ‘It is finished.’
“‘And there were noises and thunderings and lightnings; and there was a great earthquake, such a mighty and great earthquake as had not occurred since men were on the earth.’
“Let me warn you, my countrymen. This earthquake will cover the entire world. Think of it! The Bible says that ‘every island fled away, and the mountains were not found.’ The mountains were not found! The elevation of the entire globe will be sea level! Who can survive such a catastrophe?
“The prophecy goes on to say that ‘great hail from heaven fell upon men, each hailstone about the weight of a talent.’ Beloved, a talent weighs between seventy-five and one hundred pounds! Who has ever heard of such hailstones? They will crush men and women to death! And the Scriptures say men will blaspheme God because of the plague of the hail ‘since that plague was exceedingly great.’ Well, I should say it will be! Turn and repent now! Be counted among the army of God, not that of his enemy.
“Do you know what will happen here, right here in Jerusalem? It will be the only city in the world spared the devastating destruction of the greatest earthquake ever known to man. The Bible says, ‘Now the great city’—that’s Jerusalem—‘was divided into three parts, and the cities of the nations fell.’
“That, my brothers, is good news. Jerusalem will be made more beautiful, more efficient. It will be prepared for its role as the new capital in Messiah’s thousand-year kingdom.”
By now the crowds at the Temple Mount had ballooned as word of Tsion’s preaching continued to spread. Hundreds and soon thousands wept aloud and fell to their knees, repenting before God, acknowledging Jesus Christ as Messiah, pledging themselves to the King of kings.
Buck was weary but kept ministering, amazed at so many, steeped in their centuries-old religion, finally seeing that Jesus Christ fulfilled all the Old Testament prophecies concerning the coming Messiah.
Tsion thundered, “How will we know when this is about to come to pass? It will be preceded by the destruction of Babylon. Yes, the destruction of Babylon! Listen: ‘And great Babylon was remembered before God, to give her the cup of the wine of the fierceness of His wrath.’
“Awful! It will be horrible! The loving, merciful patience of God will have been pushed beyond the brink by that wicked city, and he will not hold back his anger. The plague of darkness has not been enough to satisfy his wrath. He will allow her to be attacked and plundered, destroyed in but one hour’s time. So great will be the power of the calamity that befalls it that its repercussions will be felt around the entire globe as all nations mourn the death of what had become the capital of the world.”
Knowing the time was short and what Buck had promised Kenny, Rayford radioed ahead to Petra and had Abdullah bring the boy to the helipad. He gave Kenny a quick ride, pretty much straight up and straight down, which Kenny loved.
Rayford was grateful the boy didn’t ask about the ragtag platoons George and Razor were amassing below at the perimeter of the rock city. Compared to what Rayford had seen north of Jerusalem, it was plain that the few thousand Petra troops would not have a chance without supernatural intervention.
Rayford spent the next couple of hours with Kenny, then ventured out to check on George and his fighting band.
“Mac, come quick,” Otto said. “I’ve got a colleague on speakerphone, but she’s nearly speechless.”
When Mac arrived at Otto’s quarters, he heard the woman try to recount what had happened. “I don’t know how much time we have,” she said, out of breath, “but it’s time to go.”
“How do you know?” Mac said.
“An angel,” she said.
“You’re sure?”
“Bright, white, shiny, big, very big. And it was a man, at least this one was. He was so bright that the darkness in this city is gone. It is as bright as noon here still.”
“What did he say?”
“He spoke so loud that everyone here had to hear it, and I will never forget one word of it. He said, ‘Babylon the great is fallen, is fallen, and has become a dwelling place of demons, a prison for every foul spirit, and a cage for every unclean and hated bird!
“‘For all the nations have drunk of the wine of the wrath of her fornication, the kings of the earth have committed fornication with her, and the merchants of the earth have become rich through the abundance of her luxury.’”
“We’re on our way, ma’am. Get everybody to the palace airstrip, and if you hear from any more groups of believers, send them there too.”
“That’s not all, sir.”
“Excuse me?”
“I heard another voice from heaven. It said, ‘Come out of her, my people, lest you share in her sins, and lest you receive of her plagues. For her sins have reached to heaven, and God has remembered her iniquities.’”
“I hardly have enough people to encircle this place,” Sebastian said.
Rayford avoided George’s eyes. “I don’t know what to say. The way I read it, we aren’t expected to even hold our own.”
“I don’t want men and women to suffer, though, Captain. I’d rather we just line up above and pick a few off.”
“Look at it this way, George. This is where Jesus is supposed to come first. We could be among the first to witness the Glorious Appearing.”
“Tell that to a fighting force outnumbered a thousand to one. They may be in heaven before Jesus leaves there.”
Mac had no idea what to expect in New Babylon, so at the last minute he enlisted Lionel to also bring in a large jet. Between the two of them he figured he could evacuate up to two hundred people.
When they landed at the palace, he found it eerie. The place was no longer dark, but the wounded souls within the boundaries didn’t know what to make of it. They had been in pain and darkness for so long they were disoriented and still hadn’t found their bearings. Most still limped and staggered around.
But waiting for the planes of refuge were more than one hundred and fifty believers, cheering their arrival. They carried their belongings in sacks and boxes and were eager to get aboard, which made the whole process quick and easy. Mac and Lionel had their planes loaded and turned around and headed down the runways when two invading armies attacked.
Before Mac was even out of New Babylon airspace, black smoke billowed into the heavens. He circled the area for an hour, and Lionel followed, as their charges watched the utter destruction of the once great city. Within those sixty minutes every building was leveled, and Mac knew that every resident was slaughtered. When the mysterious armies who had invaded from the north and northwest pulled out, they left the entire metropolis aflame. By the time Mac turned toward Petra, the only thing left of New Babylon was ash and smoke.
Chang watched, confused, as GCNN reports came in of fighting within the ranks of the One World Unity Army. Carpathia’s forces apparently had to strike back at nations who became drunk with power and ambition when armed with resources that had been stored at Al Hillah. The majority of Nicolae’s allies banded together to crush the resistance, and by the time all were assembled at Armageddon, they had all been persuaded, by the demons or by Carpathia or by the realities of war, to join together against the people of God.
The sheer number of troops swelled well beyond the Valley of Megiddo and spilled north and south and east and west, past Jerusalem and down toward Edom. Some estimates included an almost unimaginable mounted army alone of more than two hundred thousand. Aerial views shot by GCNN aircraft could show only a million or so troops at a time, but dozens and dozens of separate such pictures were broadcast.
Chang sensed panic on the part of the people at Petra. Those who saw the news could not imagine standing against such an overwhelming force. Those who didn’t see the news heard it from others, and the word swept the camp. Many ran to the high places and could make out the clouds of dust and the dark masses of humanity, beasts, and weaponry slowly making their way across the desert.
Chaim took the occasion to call the people together, just before the evening manna was expected. “My dear people, brothers and sisters in Messiah. Be of good cheer. Fear not. I am hearing wonderful reports out of Jerusalem, where our brother Tsion preaches the gospel of Jesus Christ with great boldness and, I am happy to report, great results as well.
“I only ten minutes ago talked with a very exhausted and still very busy Cameron Williams. He tells me thousands are repenting of their sins and turning to Christ, acknowledging Jesus of Nazareth as Messiah. Praise the Lord God Almighty, maker of heaven and earth!”
The people seemed encouraged and cheered and wept and raised their hands.
“We are not ignorant,” Chaim continued, “of what is to come. New Babylon has fallen, utterly destroyed in one hour, fulfilling the prophecies. That leaves only two events on the prophetic calendar, my friends. The first is?”
And the people shouted, “The seventh Bowl Judgment!”
“And the second, oh, praise God?”
“The Glorious Appearing!”
Chaim concluded, “We serve the great God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, the deliverer of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego. We lived through the fires of the Antichrist, and we have been delivered from the snare of the fowler. Do not be afraid. Stand still, and see the salvation of the Lord, which he will accomplish for you. For the enemy whom you see today, you shall soon see no more forever. The Lord will fight for you, and you shall hold your peace.”