The Countdown Begins

by Patrick Higgins

  When the time was right, they’d be unearthed for the sole purpose of striking back at the infidels. Every last resource they had would be squandered away on achieving three main objectives: destroying the nation of Israel, followed by the United States of America, and killing Salvador Romanero.

  Once those three objectives were achieved, everything else would fall into place.

  While wiping Israel off the face of the Earth would always be their top priority, the fact that the tiny country was being supernaturally protected by their God, meant their focus had to be on the two other objectives for the time being.

  If they could somehow find a way to bring America to its knees in the coming months and assassinate Salvador Romanero, they could then unearth their remaining resources and kill all Jews everywhere.

  Thousands of bombs with Psalm 83:4 hand-painted on them declaring, “Come,” they say, “let us destroy them as a nation, that the name of Israel be remembered no more” were still in their possession waiting to be unleashed on Israel.

  Despite how dark and gloomy things looked now, when the time was right, Israel would cease to exist...

  JUST AS THE WORDS Salvador Romanero spoke about “countries falling under the weight of their own sins”, were starting to fade into the backdrop of society, he appeared on international television with what could only be described as the appearance of someone concealing a mighty secret that no one else knew.

  After spending a full night in his meditation room with the Master Deceiver, the Miracle Maker looked confidently determined. The aura he gave off was that the entire universe was subject to his control. It was impossible not to notice it.

  His address was short and to the point, “After being assured that all enemy air bases, military locations, nuclear power stations and strategic government buildings were dismantled and utterly destroyed, I’ve called for an immediate ceasefire on the twelve countries responsible for their coordinated attempt to thwart the peace treaty signing in Israel.

  “Where ornate palaces, government buildings, military facilities, churches, mosques, and all other threats once stood in those countries, little remains now but smoldering wreckage.

  “All of their nuclear forces and military bases have either been confiscated by us or destroyed, and many of their armed forces, including most who were deployed to Israel in the days leading up to the original peace treaty signing, have been silenced for good.”

  As Romanero spoke, viewers saw on a split screen the destruction in Moscow, Russia. The Kremlin, Red Square, and most of Moscow’s government and research buildings lay in ruins.

  Viewers then saw footage of the destruction in Tehran, Iran, followed by Istanbul, Turkey, then Damascus, Syria, and on and on...

  “At this time, I wish to commend my military on a near-flawless campaign. Your efforts were quite extraordinary. Now I’m asking you to step down as I finish it without your assistance!”

  With an assuring grin on his face, Romanero said, “Within twenty-four hours after the last global citizen has been relocated, you will witness with your own two eyes the words I spoke coming to pass precisely as stated, without the use of a single weapon.

  “But nothing will happen until everyone seeking relocation has been processed. If you are still waiting in line, let me assure you that you will be processed.

  “To help move things along more efficiently, I’ve ordered for a doubling of case workers at each location. Not only that, many more aircraft have been repositioned to help transport those who have already been processed. Remain patient a little longer.

  “Not surprisingly, the response in the United States has been overwhelming. More than seventy million have forfeited their rights as American citizens in order to be part of something far greater.

  “I find it quite interesting that if this offer had been made prior to the disappearances, the U.S. population would have easily doubled, if not tripled. Now, save for a small fraction, most seem to want nothing to do with that once mighty nation.”

  Romanero paused to let his comment hang thick in the air, knowing President Danforth was undoubtedly watching from the White House. “In closing, those of you not living in the twelve insurgent countries who have chosen not to relocate at this time, let me assure you that there will be other opportunities down the road.

  “But for now, aside from those already waiting in line, I hereby declare all borders closed so caseworkers can focus all their time on processing the many who are still waiting in line.

  “Once that objective has been reached and everyone has reached their new destinations, sit back and watch in awe as I finish what my brave and mighty military started. Until then, may you all be blessed in my name.”

  At that, the camera faded to black in Madrid, Spain, and newscasters started dissecting Romanero’s address. Even with his “no weapons” comment, a nervous energy circled the planet, as citizens of the world braced for impact. Not knowing what to expect, grocery store shelves were laid bare all over the world.

  Lost among the flurry of activity was that not a single Christian was among the massive global exodus. Whereas Muslims were taught it was okay to lie to further their agenda, Christians were taught otherwise.

  They knew this wasn’t the implementation of the Mark of the Beast; but it was the initial shake up, so to speak, the pulling up of roots and planting them into an unknown, shallow soil.

  Christ followers knew there was still time for those relocating to repent and come to faith in Jesus. Perhaps moving away from their familiar surroundings would cause them to contemplate life on a much-deeper level.

  Hopefully God would give them new hearts and put His Spirit inside them, as written in Ezekiel 36:26-27. That would be the ongoing prayer of the Christian community from this point forward.

  But once the future chip was implemented there could be no turning back for all who willingly took it into their bodies. Their fate would be sealed, and their souls would ultimately be sent to the eternal lake of fire.

  What Christians didn’t presently know was while the super computer in Brussels recorded every pledge of allegiance to Salvador Romanero, it also flagged every citizen on the planet who chose not to relocate.

  This was the main reason the offer was made in the first place...

  8

  ONE MONTH AFTER THE PEACE TREATY SIGNING

  THIRTEEN HOURS AFTER THE last person was relocated, it happened: the ground started shaking in Tehran, Iran. At first, it was enough to rattle a few buildings and fill those living there with mild concern.

  When the shaking didn’t stop but kept getting stronger—and infinitely more violent—mild concern quickly mushroomed into full blown fear and panic. Normally earthquakes lasted only a few seconds, but not this one.

  Suddenly, like a throttle turned on full blast, the ground started shaking ever so violently. It was unlike anything past earthquake survivors had ever experienced before.

  People were thrown around like rag dolls. Some slammed into walls. Others went flying through plate glass windows. Some fell many stories to their deaths below.

  In the end, with the ground shaking violently beneath their feet, there was no safe place to hide. Normally it wasn’t the earthquake itself that claimed so many lives; it was what happened after the quake—the destruction of man-made roads and structures, landslides, avalanches, tsunamis, and so forth. But not this time.

  It didn’t take long for the news unfolding in Tehran, Iran to break. The world watched in horror as an earthquake registering a magnitude 9.9 quickly reduced buildings to rubble, as if made out of paper mâché. Even buildings deemed “earthquake proof” collapsed without posing the slightest challenge.

  Streets and roadways were turned into angry waves traveling on a violent ocean, flicking vehicles of all shapes and sizes hundreds of feet in the air before falling back to Earth a good distance away. Many gas and water lines recently repaired after the disappearances had ruptured again. Power lines were down as far as the
eye could see, causing countless fires and explosions.

  Smoke billowed up everywhere.

  In just minutes, the city of Tehran was completely leveled. There was no need to fear aftershocks. The city lay in ruins. Power was out everywhere.

  Watching in stunned horror, many covered their hearts and mouths with their hands, gasping for breath. The words, “collapsing under the weight of deplorable sins” was at the forefront of every sound mind on the planet.

  It was frightening and incredibly awe-inspiring at the same time how Salvador Romanero the Great had predicted something so massively destructive like this in advance.

  There simply were no words to describe it.

  Just as everyone was slowly coming to grips with what their eyes had been exposed to, there was breaking news in Iran’s second most populated city, Mashhad, situated in the Razavi Khorasan province. In a matter of minutes, a 9.5 quake rocked the city, destroying everything in its path, leaving scores of dead bodies in the aftermath.

  A few minutes later, there was breaking news in Iran’s third most populated city, Isfahan. A 9.4 quake this time creating more death and destruction. Then there was breaking news in Iran’s fourth most populated city, Karaj, followed by Iran’s next most populated city, Tabriz.

  Citizens of the world watched in total disbelief.

  Suddenly, there was breaking news in Shanghai, China. A 9.8 earthquake shook the city for nearly three minutes, completely leveling the many skyscrapers which had stood so proudly for many years in the city also known as the “Paris of the East”.

  Then news broke in Beijing of a 9.7 quake. Total destruction and mass chaos ensued. Earthquakes were then reported in the cities of Guangzhou, Shenzhen, Tianjin, Taipei (located on the north coast of Taiwan) and Hong Kong.

  Needless to say, these once-sprawling cities no longer looked recognizable.

  A few minutes later, as news stations struggled mightily to keep up with the breaking news in Iran and China, there was breaking news in Moscow, Russia, followed by Saint Petersburg, Novosibirsk and Yekaterinburg.

  Simultaneously a Domino effect of earthquakes caused the entire world to tremble in horror. All major cities were destroyed in Afghanistan, Syria, Jordan, Iraq, Lebanon, Turkey, Ethiopia, Libya and Sudan. In just a few seconds their major cities, some of which were hotbeds of Islamic radicalism, lay in ruins.

  It took roughly an hour, but every large city within the twelve enemy countries were reduced to rubble. Light tremors were felt in neighboring countries, but the epicenters were clearly based in and around the cities in which Romanero had pronounced judgment.

  For the first time in recorded history, multiple earthquakes struck Planet Earth simultaneously, each registering a mind-numbing magnitude 9.0 or above. Death and carnage were visible as far as the eye could see where the earthquakes had struck, were targeted, rather. Buildings lay smoldering in ruins in many cities.

  Unlike all past catastrophes, there would be no international relief this time. As far as the Miracle Maker was concerned, those cities no longer mattered. They were mere footnotes in the history of civilization, and a necessary part of the massive population reduction.

  As impressive as Romanero’s military had been in destroying key strategic locations beforehand, it couldn’t compare to this. There wasn’t an army or terrorist organization on the planet that could hope to achieve what the Miracle Maker had just accomplished in sixty minutes.

  It made his top military advisers fear and respect him even more.

  The chief concern coming from the scientific communities of the world was that the enormous seismic waves created by the multiple quakes might weaken the tops of magma chambers—large underground pools of liquid rock found beneath the surface of the Earth—or disturb the gases inside the chambers, potentially causing volcanic eruptions in many places.

  Geologists, seismologists and scientists at the Institute of Volcanology and Seismology at Hokkaido University in Japan monitored all volcanic activity very closely.

  Given what had just happened, even the slightest hiccup registered anywhere on the planet caused fear to snake through them.

  They warned that with so much friction generated from tectonic plates grinding and scraping against each other in so many places—all caused by the many earthquakes—the massive waves of energy traveling through the earth at blinding speed needed to escape somewhere.

  Would it lead to volcanic eruptions or perhaps tsunamis at some point? It was too soon to know for sure...

  The only thing preventing full-blown panic from pushing them into a permanent state of hopelessness was that 75 percent of the world’s volcanoes—active and dormant—were situated along the Pacific rim. This region was called the “Ring of Fire” because it circled the Pacific Ocean and was home to 452 volcanoes.

  This was also where 80 percent of all earthquakes on the planet occurred. Since the quakes took place far from those regions, they were kept off the “imminent danger” list for now.

  The other possible danger they faced was with nuclear power plants. Had any suffered structural damage in the quakes? If so, it could lead to massive meltdown in some places. Scientists at the National Earthquake Information Center (NEIC) would keep monitoring things very closely for the foreseeable future.

  But even without volcanic eruptions or meltdowns at nuclear power plants, the stress the earthquakes caused to the planet would have a devastating impact on the environment and the world economy as a whole.

  In many places, the costs would be incalculable. No country would be spared.

  Even so, in the coming days, the world would marvel all the more—friend of Romanero and foe alike—when scientists, seismologists and geologists would confirm the quakes weren’t generated by man, as some were speculating. They came naturally.

  In other words, the ground wasn’t manipulated by man in any way, as documented in the past in the United States, Japan, and Canada. Most human-induced earthquakes were caused by the injection of fluids into deep wells for waste disposal, or when scouting for oil. Others were caused by deep mining and nuclear testing.

  But those quakes were only felt in the immediate area surrounding the test sites, and were so minor they barely registered, if at all.

  Scientists, seismologists and geologists couldn’t help but be completely baffled by Salvador Romanero, mystified even.

  Some of his past so-called miracles could easily be explained away, but not this one. Clearly this man had special powers and insights no one else had. Many threw in the towel, confessing what happened could only be explained as something they were trained not to believe in, a true miracle.

  “Could there be any doubt now that Romanero was god?” said a scientist from India.

  “Who else could order 9.0 earthquakes to strike various locations of his choosing?” said another from Costa Rica. “Surely not Jesus! Surely not Allah or Confucius or Buddha!”

  The overall consensus among scientists was that only Salvador Romanero the Great was capable of performing this sign of all signs. And to further prove his divine nature, he graciously spared so many lives by allowing them ample time to relocate to other countries before the grounds started quaking.

  As the world marveled at the Miracle Maker, in truth, only Yahweh had the power to send the devastating earthquakes. The very same supernatural power hovering above the nation of Israel, protecting the city and the Two Messengers God had sent back to Planet Earth to fulfill prophecy, was the very same power that had caused those cities to collapse under the weight of their own sins.

  The Most High sent the quakes for their failed attempt to strike the land of Yahweh’s beloved people during Passover Week.

  Only those who were blinded to the Truth—the vast majority—were totally unaware of it...

  9

  THE FOLLOWING WEEK

  PRESIDENT JEFFERSON DANFORTH FIRST met with Clayton Holmes and Travis Hartings at an underground bunker somewhere in the foothill mountains of northern Virg
inia.

  After offering to assist their growing organization, the President arranged for the two leaders of the End Times Salvation Movement to meet a second time at the White House. That meeting took place last month. Much was accomplished.

  They made tentative plans to meet three months later so they could start implementing those plans. But after watching Salvador Romanero’s forces surgically destroy multiple cities, before Romanero completely leveled them with devastating earthquakes, just as he had predicted, the President was suddenly fearful for his life.

  After placing America on Threat Con Delta, the highest level, he quickly rearranged his schedule. He couldn’t help but wonder if the Miracle Maker would send earthquakes to America next?

  Rumors were already spreading...

  The very thought of American cities collapsing at the command of a madman nearly caused the President’s heart to give out on him. As it was, Southern California averaged roughly 10,000 earthquakes per year. The vast-majority went unnoticed. But even the slightest tremor filled most with stark terror now.

  Everyone was understandably on edge.

  But that was just the beginning of President Danforth’s troubles. The massive security meltdown in Israel, which led to the surprise attack last month, still had his stomach in knots.

  Under normal circumstances, the vast military coalition in Iran would have never gone undetected by U.S. intelligence agencies. Never! It would have been the first thing listed in the President’s daily intelligence briefings. But there was no mention of it.

  So glaringly obvious was this military buildup that even third-world countries could have detected it with their sub-par spying capabilities. Who knows, perhaps they did?