CHAPTER 22
Wednesday, February 6 – MD Minus 109
SHE DIDN’T LIKE it, but she obeyed and parked her car in a very public place across the street directly north of the warehouse as the sun rose. She set up in the trunk, raised the license plate and sighted a clean shot to the sidewalk near the bookstore entrance where the targeted young man was expected to be in a couple of hours. Lowering the plate, she waited, wondering why she had been chosen and thankful to know that what she did today would protect others from the fate of the man she killed at the park and ride. The horror of that moment just would not go away. She remembered clearly the look of terror on the dead man’s face, the sound of his screams as he was judged and condemned to what must be Hell – to an eternity of suffering and punishment – the unimaginable. This would be one kill she could celebrate.
It was not long before she heard the sound of someone walking past her car toward the warehouse. Soon other sounds began to invade the quiet as a camera crew set up directly across from the warehouse, hoping to catch some shots to use on tonight’s special. They still didn’t have an interview set up with the old man, but Chaplain Forrest had agreed to ask and that was him at the door to the warehouse entering now. There was hope, thought Producer Hunt, “We may yet get an exclusive.”
One of many trains raced by as the traffic picked up. The campus was beginning to come to life as sleepy students headed to the dining hall for a quick cup of coffee or breakfast before early classes. Too much activity, she thought, but then an angel should be able to protect her. After all, she thought, this was a mission for god.
Elsewhere, Demetrius had awakened and was preparing for his glorious entrance into Allah’s presence, believing he would soon achieve his reward. He worked quickly and quietly, knowing that discovery by any of his fellows would be disastrous. They were unaware of his special assignment and would not understand. His hatred for the infidel’s public insults was so great that he would kill his companions if they tried to restrain his mission. The old man must die. Soon he had his explosive vest in place, covered by a winter jacket, and began the long journey to the warehouse on President’s Street and entry into his reward.
High above the city, the two opposing groups met briefly to consider the coming day’s anticipated events. Molech was pleased with the progress of the chosen instruments and excited at the chance to rid the earth of the Bookseller and his protégé. The plan was working even better than expected.
“Look Argon,” Molech observed, “A camera crew is present for the attacks. Can you imagine what that will be like when broadcast across the country in living color?” He sneered. “No one will cry out to the Enemy for protection after they see this. It is simply too good. They should get a clear view of the shooter’s car, which will guarantee that she will be captured and the reason for all the fear of violence will end. Soon the fools will sleep again until the real attack comes, and then it will be too late. It will be over for America.”
“Listen carefully,” Molech directed. “Be sure that the Keepers for Susan and Demetrius do their jobs. Have them continue to pour the Dark Master’s influence into them so that they have no second thoughts and will complete their missions. Use the Tempters named Hate and Lust on Demetrius and use Guilt and Fear on Susan so they will be motivated to perform exactly as required. We must keep our hold on them such that the forces of light cannot at the last moment thwart the plan.”
“Send messengers to Keepers throughout the city to prepare those under our influence to respond in accordance. Others are doing so around the earth even as we speak. We want the old man ridiculed and the shooter vilified. If we are successful, people will consider the old man a fool for what he said – stupid for challenging the religion of hate. The fear people already have of speaking out against it will be magnified, which assures the movement will grow with little real opposition.”
“Regarding the shooter, we must use our influence to make her a picture of evil incarnate. Cause them to hate her and to no longer be afraid, cause them to want to celebrate and take their collective guard down. Create a lack of interest in the Citizens Militia so we can get on with preparations for the real attack. What a glorious day is coming!”
Elsewhere, a sober but expectant group of the forces of light gathered. “Barnabas, I have received no further instructions,” Lucius shared. “It is clear that the Father intends to allow the Dark Master to attempt to execute his plan to publicly kill the Bookseller and Paul Phillips.
“Brothers, listen closely,” Lucius said, addressing all who were present. “Do not fret or be concerned with what you see before you. It is only the physical. You know that reality exists only in the invisible.159 The Father remains sovereign,160 and when He chooses to reveal what He will allow, it will come to pass exactly as He has determined. Listen for the Spirit’s commands, obey immediately and completely. The day is the Lord’s. For the Light!” And lifting their hands toward Heaven, they separated to await the Father’s will.
Interview Accepted – with Conditions
Before they prayed, the Bookseller shared with Chaplain Forrest the message from the unknown Iranian brothers and how it was delivered. “I always evaluate what anyone tells me they have experienced in light of what has been revealed in scripture,” the Bookseller began. “I look even more critically when someone says they have a message for me from God. I know that if God wants to speak to me, He communicates through the Holy Spirit within and the message is always consistent with the Bible. I have found, however, that sometimes He uses other believers to confirm what He has already been saying to me. This message and the circumstances surrounding its delivery line up with both. I believe that it was clearly God speaking with a message for all believers.”
“Yes, I agree,” Chaplain Forrest responded. “Scripture tells of an angel appearing to the Apostle Paul to tell him that all aboard a ship on which he was being taken as a prisoner to Rome would survive a storm if they stayed on the boat.161 God has often used angels to communicate with believers for themselves and others.”
“Gabriel was the angel God sent to Mary to tell her that she was chosen to give birth to Jesus and to Zechariah to tell him of the child who would be John the Baptist,”162 the Bookseller added. “The message of the angel is exactly what God has been telling me to say, ‘Stand together and pray.’ Nothing is more biblical than calling God’s people together to stand before Him and pray.”163
“Perhaps God has provided another opportunity for you to do just that,” Chaplain Forrest observed.
“What do you mean?” the Bookseller asked.
“I know you don’t watch much television so you probably don’t know that tonight ITN, the Independent Television Network, will be broadcasting a special on the situation here in Williams. They have spent the last few days filming interviews with the victims’ families, the police, the Citizens Militia, pastors responding to your comments at the news conference, citizens and politicians. They want to interview you as part of the production. Samuel, I trust them. The lead producer is a believer. I sense God’s involvement in this. He has provided you with this opportunity which further affirms the truth of the angel’s message. You need to do this.”
“Candidly, Forrest, I have been watching for God to provide another opportunity to share His message. It has been made clear to me that God is not yet finished with me. There is more for me to do, but I cannot allow a situation where what I said could be changed by editing in any way. Tell your producer friend that if he will come here, he can interview me live during the broadcast, provided that he agrees to broadcast everything I say and not market it to other networks. They can ask me anything they want as long as they broadcast the complete answer at the same time as they broadcast the question. Both live,” he repeated with emphasis.
“I’ll bet they haven’t encountered conditions like that before,” Chaplain Forrest responded with a smile.
“Perhaps not,” the Bookseller answered, “but if God is in this, they will accept the conditions. If not, God will deliver His message another way or use another messenger. Enough talk, let’s pray. Paul will be here shortly.”
Surrender
Paul’s night had not been uninterrupted. Once again, the Curtain had been opened and he dreamed. He saw in the sky what seemed to be thousands upon thousands, and ten thousand times ten thousand from every nation, tribe, people and language wearing white robes and crying out together in a loud voice, “Stand with us and pray for your brothers. Ask the Father to cleanse and purify His own and to restrain the hand that seeks to destroy you all.” Their faces were human, but equally not human in that they shone like the sun and their robes were as white as the light. They spoke with passion and with tears, much like Jesus when He cried over Jerusalem as He entered for the last time to give Himself on the cross.164
Paul awoke with a burden to pray even as he had dreamed, after which he rushed to get ready to go to see the Bookseller, wondering what he had seen and what it meant. He arrived at the warehouse just as Chaplain Forrest was leaving. “See you in an hour or so at my office,” he said. “Pastor Wilson will be there to join together in prayer. I am disappointed that there is only one Pastor who accepted my invitation, but it is a beginning.”
As Paul entered the warehouse, Chaplain Forrest crossed the street to speak briefly with Producer Hunt, who was setting up a camera crew to get some background video of the warehouse. “Good news, Mr. Hunt. The Bookseller will consent to an interview if, and only if, you agree to do it live and to broadcast everything he says, no edits and no sales to other networks.
“Totally unreasonable as I expected,” Hunt replied with a smile of glee. “We agree. Do you think he would mind if we took some video of him this morning to use for promotions today?”
“I honestly doubt he would make time for that,” Chaplain Forrest responded. “He wants to say what he believes God wants him to say, but he doesn’t want to in any way promote himself. It is the message that matters to him. I do have a suggestion that isn’t ideal but should work. If you keep your crew here for an hour or so, you will be able to catch some video of him coming out of his office walking to mine where we are meeting with others to pray. That is the best I can do.”
“If this man were only a politico, we would have to beat him away from the camera with a stick. Alright, not what I had hoped for, but it will have to do,” he said reaching for his cell phone to share the news with Carl Stern. A live exclusive interview with the Bookseller should assure a massive audience. People were still curious about what he said and what it meant. Now the hard part, what questions should they ask?
As Chaplain Forrest walked away toward his office in the Campus Chapel, his eye caught what seemed to be the movement of a license plate on a car parked down and across from the warehouse. What could that have been, he thought and just as quickly dismissed it as an overactive imagination. He could see no one in the car or near the car.
Across the tracks, Demetrius sat hidden in a group of trees, watching for the old man to leave the warehouse, ready for his glorious departure to his reward.
Prepared for Physical Death
“I had another dream,” Paul said to the Bookseller. “The sky was filled with masses of beings that appeared like people, clothed in glorious white robes like the sun and with radiant faces. They were all saying, ‘Stand with us and pray for your brothers. Ask the Father to cleanse and purify His own, and to restrain the hand that seeks to destroy you all.’ Is this biblical? Is this from God?”
The Bookseller almost could not contain his excitement. “You are asking the right questions and you already know the answers. Both the experience and the message are biblical and completely consistent with what God continues to affirm to believers in different ways. The group you saw in your dream is what the writer of the Book of Hebrews calls, ‘A great cloud of witnesses.’165 He wrote that we should run our race, a reference to our life as a believer, with perseverance because we are surrounded by a great cloud of witnesses. Those witnesses are believers who lived before us who cry out to the Lord for us. They were pictured in your dream, much like Moses and Elijah when they appeared with Jesus on what we call the Mount of Transfiguration.166 God’s message is the same: we must pray together and stand before Him and be changed, or we face a great disaster at the hands of our enemies. Allowing the disaster will be the judgment of God if we ignore His message.”167
“The people I saw were passionate, and as they spoke they were crying,” Paul added.
“We forget about the judgments through which many of those who went before us suffered as a result of their sin and rebellion,” the Bookseller added. “Scripture is filled with examples of God’s people turning their backs on Him when they become safe and prosperous. Soon they are satisfied in their abundance and begin to believe they no longer need God, so they ignore the teachings of scripture and live as they wish without God. This generation is no different. We are willful and have made our wants and desires our gods. We pursue them above everything else. Those who went before know that the Father will do or allow whatever it takes to cause His people to turn back to Him.168 Having experienced God’s judgment, they cry out for us to be awakened before it is too late. They don’t want us to suffer as many of them suffered unnecessarily. Their passion must mean time is short.”
“What they said is exactly what you said at the press conference,” Paul responded. “It’s like a Heavenly confirmation of the message.”
“Yes,” the Bookseller continued, “and that is not the only confirmation God has sent. I need to tell you of a message I received from two brothers in Iran, and how it was delivered to them. There is absolutely no doubt that what you heard in your dream is God’s message for believers now.”
As he finished telling the story of the angelic visitation, suddenly Paul interrupted. “Wait a minute. That message, the one from the great cloud of witnesses, was that for me too? They said, ‘Stand with us and pray for your brothers.’ Does that mean I am a brother? Have I been born again?” Even as there had been in the cry of the great cloud of witnesses, there was real passion in Paul’s voice.
The Bookseller paused and prayed silently for wisdom before answering, “We need to be cautious in our understanding of dreams, for the Bible contains examples where unbelievers were used to carry messages for believers in dreams. One obvious example is the dreams of Pharaoh, which Joseph interpreted to reveal seven years of plenty which would be followed by seven years of famine.169 Those dreams were a message from God which ultimately saved the lives of those God had chosen to be His people,170 but it did not mean that Pharaoh was a worshiper of the true God. You have been reading in the Book of Acts about the activity of believers after Jesus return to Heaven. Let’s look there first to see what the Apostles said was required to be saved, and then let’s look for what the Bible identifies as the fruit of the new birth and see if it is evident in your life. Then we can know for sure.
“When Paul preaches, he declares Jesus to be both ‘Lord and Christ.’171 Peter affirms Jesus’ death on the cross and His resurrection from the dead. He describes Jesus as ‘the author of life’ and declares that ‘salvation is found in no one else.’172 For the believer, Jesus’ death on the cross is a very personal event, for we all have come face to face with the reality that it was our sin and rebellion against God which caused all His pain. There is no one else to blame, no place for pride; we were as criminals facing a much-deserved execution who were not simply pardoned, but Jesus suffered and was executed in our place.173
“I know you accept that intellectually, many do, but the new birth is not an intellectual exercise. It is an act of the Holy Spirit in response to a heart which desires to be changed to be made like Jesus. This desire to be changed is reflected in the act of repentance. Remember, that was the message Jesus preached. He said, ‘Repent for the kingdom of heaven is near.’174
“Repentance is not simply admitting a wrong and asking to be forgiven. Repentance is crying out to God from a heart that wants to be changed so that you come to hate the wrong and the offense it caused to God. Repentance is a way of life for one who has been born again, for God places His desires in their heart and mind.175 You will know you have been given a new heart when you recognize that new desire to know God’s word and to obey Him because you love Him.176 The desire to know and obey God can only come from the new heart and new spirit which God places within as part of the new birth.
“An old preacher looking back on the time when he was born again explained what had happened to him like this, ‘I didn’t understand much of the detail, but I did know one thing. I knew I was under new management.’ That is the clearest evidence of the new birth, recognition that you are under new management and you rejoice in that fact and seek to obey. Suddenly you want to follow the Lord and are willing to venture you’re all in service of Him.
“Scripture supports this. Paul wrote, ‘If you confess with your mouth, Jesus is Lord, and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, you will be saved.’177 Romans 10:9. Lord means master, the one in absolute control. To become a believer means surrendering yourself to the will of God, something that is only possible when you have been given a new heart and a new spirit as part of the new birth. If you have that desire, you have been born again for only God could give you that.”
“It is strange. Mr. White,” Paul responded, “but I know I have been changed. For some days now I have been filled with a compulsion to know more about God. That feeling has changed or matured or something so that now I want to know God. It is not enough to know about Him, and I do have a desire to follow Him. I want to know what He says and do it because I know in my heart that Jesus died in my place for my sins, and then rose from the dead.”
“My brother, like all of us, your search will continue as you grow in relationship with Jesus, but it will be easier now for it is illuminated by the light within, the Holy Spirit,” the Bookseller said with joy. “I have been listening and watching you closely. I have seen clearly the evidence of the new heart and spirit within you, and now you have confessed that for yourself with your mouth. I can call you brother because I believe that God has made you my brother in Christ. Yes, I believe you have been born again.”
As they hugged and rejoiced together, thanking God for His work in Paul, the Bookseller issued an invitation. “I am leaving now to go to meet a few brothers in Chaplain Forrest’s office to pray. Join us.”
“I would love to,” Paul responded, excited at the invitation.
As they were walking toward the door, suddenly the Bookseller stopped and reached out his arm to stop Paul. “Before we leave this place I feel a sudden compulsion to pray the Lord’s Prayer together. I don’t know why, but we must do this,” and he knelt. Paul followed his example and the Bookseller led as they prayed out loud.
Our Father in Heaven, hallowed be Your name, Your kingdom come, Your will be done on Earth as it is in Heaven. Give us this day our daily bread. Forgive us our debts as we have forgiven our debtors. And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from the evil one, for Yours is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever. Amen.178
Outside a license plate was lifted and a rifle made ready. Demetrius, his hand on the triggering device, had crossed the tracks and was ready to rapidly approach the old man when he appeared. The ITN camera crew was waiting to begin filming the moment the Bookseller appeared at the door. The forces of darkness had gathered with glee to witness the executions by their chosen instruments. The forces of light were also present, still sober and still awaiting instructions, wondering what God would allow, unaware of the Bookseller’s prayer.