by Mark Goodwin
“Thanks for asking Harrison. It echoes the inscription which used to be on the inner dome. It says, In the name of Angelo Luz, the Merciful, the Compassionate. There is no god but Angelo Luz. He is One. He has no associate. Pope Peter is the Messenger of Angelo Luz, the blessing of Angelo Luz be on him.
“Mosaic artisans were also commissioned to change the inscription inside the dome. Where it used to read Allah, it now reads Angelo Luz. And, Muhammad’s name has been replaced with Pope Peter. It’s all in the spirit of unity. For decades, religion has been the most divisive element on the planet. And perhaps nowhere more so than here, in Jerusalem. His Majesty has brought us into the light and revealed that all religions were actually pointing in the same direction all along.”
“Heather, here comes the Global Republic Minister of Religion, Jacob Ralston to the stage.”
The commentators fell silent as Ralston walked to the white stone podium which had a red dragon engraved on the front. “Citizens of the Global Republic, whether you are with us in person today, or whether you are joining us via television, we are all together in spirit, and I welcome you to the holy city of Jerusalem. As many of you know, Jerusalem is Hebrew for city of peace. And after centuries of conflict over this small parcel of land, it was His Most Beloved Majesty, Angelo Luz who finally brought peace to this city. It has been prophesied that such a savior would come, ushering in an age of peace, not only for the city of peace, but for the entire world.
“It has not been without bloodshed, and it has not come without cost, but in the end, we can say that it has been worth it all.
“But enough of my rambling, please offer a warm welcome to His Holiness, Pope Peter of Rome.”
The crowds cheered as the pontiff made his way to the podium. The pope shook hands with Ralston and kissed him on both cheeks. The pope spoke reverently. “My little children. It was from this mount that Muhammed journeyed into heaven, and it was upon this mount that King Solomon built the first Temple of God. Many traditions also say this mount was the location where King David made the sacrifice and stopped the destroying angel. Most scholars believe this is also Mount Moriah where Abraham offered up his son Isaac. So, it is most fitting that this should be the place where the greatest revelation in the history of mankind is made.
“Please, fall to your knees and worship the great and mighty king, the savior, the messiah, the highest Imam, our Most Precious, Great and Glorious, Angelo Luz.”
The pope prostrated himself on the stage as Luz walked out, wearing a long white robe with gold embroidery around the collar, cuffs, and down the front.
“Thank you, my most loyal servant. Please rise.” Luz offered his hand and helped the pope to his feet.
Luz gazed out at the crowds who were still bowing. “Please, children. Rise up.”
He paused while he drank in the worship. He offered a big smile and a steady nod to communicate that their worship was pleasing to him. “Thank you, you are blessed.”
Luz put one hand on the marble podium and with the other, he motioned to the buildings on either side of him. “These buildings have always represented man’s attempt to seek me. Places like the Dome of the Rock, the Temple, the Church of the Holy Sepulchre, St Peter’s in Rome, the Kaaba in Mecca, the Mahabodhi Temple in Bodh Gaya, India, and the heavens themselves have been where mortals with veiled understanding have reached to me. Now, I am come. And these things are no longer necessary, for I walk among you.
“However, we will not do away with these places so rich in heritage, but we will hold them in even higher honor. For these are the places on the Earth that have been dedicated to me. I am your god, so are they not mine to do with as I please?
“As we walk together into the new age of enlightenment, an age where technology merges with the spiritual.” Luz held up a tablet computer, snapped the fingers of his other hand, and the tablet became a white dove which flew away.
The crowd awed in wonder.
“Please. Some guy did that same trick on America’s Got Talent. I expected more out of the Anti-Christ.” Courtney rolled her eyes.
Luz continued his speech. “We must understand how the two work hand in hand to bring us to ever higher states of evolution. As you all know, Dragon was attacked and brought down by criminals in the Americas. Today, we are releasing Dragon Version 2.0. Unlike the previous Dragon, it is decentralized, like the internet itself. Dragon is now omnipresent. Six quantum computers have been placed in the holy sites I just mentioned to you. Each will have a hologram Image of myself where religious clerics may go and inquire of me for spiritual guidance. Dragon and myself are now one.”
Luz motioned to the Temple of God. “In the Temple, my Image will be projected in the very Holy of Holies where the priests presently go to beseech what they have imagined to be God. But gone are the days of imaginary gods. I am here. I am with you.
“The seventh quantum computer has been placed above in the very heavens where you would expect an omnipresent god to make his home. The seventh computer is on a space station as we speak, looking down from above. This station is very similar to the former ISS in size, but as a home for the primary computer for Dragon, it is ideal. Solar panels produce all the energy needed by the new energy efficient system, and the cooling system uses the frigid temperatures of space itself.”
“Too long have many of you worshiped only technology and forsaken the way of the ancients. And for too long have others clung to bygone superstitions and rejected the gifts of knowledge. It was this fear of knowledge that held back Adam and Eve in the garden. Only when they embraced the forbidden fruit of understanding was the human race able to advance to where we are today.” Out of nowhere, Luz was suddenly holding an apple.
“Having the components of Dragon housed in these sacred spaces will serve as a constant reminder of how technology and spirituality are not opposites but parts of the same puzzle.”
Everett heard screaming outside the window in the street below. Instinctively, he grabbed his rifle and made his way over to look out.
“What’s going on?” Sarah asked.
“A man is walking around in the street screaming in Turkish with his hands in the air. And there’s another one. He’s ripping his shirt.”
Rifle fire rang out.
“What’s that?” Courtney shouted.
Everett stood back far enough from the window to not be seen. “Some guy, popping off rounds in the air. He looks angry as well. People are pouring out of their houses.”
“It’s about the Kaaba in Mecca, and about the Dome of the Rock.” Sarah stood up and walked toward the window. “I bet these are all Sunni. They’re mad about the computer stacks being erected in their most holy sites.”
“Let’s hope they settle down quickly, or we won’t be going anywhere.” Everett watched as more and more people poured out into the street below, yelling, chanting and firing AK-47s into the air.
“Settling down quickly isn’t a common trait for Sunnis.” Sarah sighed.
Everett turned back to the television. “I doubt the Jews are going to be too happy about this either. Well, I’d say this qualifies as Luz setting himself up over everything that is called god, breaking the treaty, and the abomination of desolation being set up in the Holy Place.”
Courtney looked at him from the couch. “So, what does that mean for us?”
“It means this is the midpoint of the tribulation. We’ve got exactly three and a half years from today.”
Sarah pointed at the television. “You guys have got to see this.”
Everett looked back at the screen.
The crowd sighed in amazement.
“Lift up your hands with me.” Luz held his apple high.
The people in the crowd held up their hands. Each of them held an apple. They all examined their apples as if they had no idea where they came from.
Courtney pointed toward the screen. “Did he just make apples appear in everybody’s hands?”
Everett studied the TV.
“I wasn’t paying attention. But if he did, that’s not a trick you see on AGT.”
“What’s that verse about the Anti-Christ performing counterfeit miracles?” Sarah stared at the television.
“Second Thessalonians, 2.” Everett continued watching the broadcast. “Verse nine, I think.”
Luz waited for the crowd to get quiet before speaking again. “With Dragon, we have overcome the curse of death. We are now able to upload your consciousness into a specially designed realm within Dragon. It is a realm where technology meets the supernatural. A domain not constricted by time, or space, or matter. It is an interdimensional place that we call the Nirvananet.
“Release your hold on mortality and become, like me, immortal, liberated.”
Luz took a bite of his apple. “Join me. Eat the fruit of knowledge, embrace your emancipation.”
The cameras panned over the crowd as everyone bit into their apples as well. Rhythmic music began to play. Luz left the podium, and Pope Peter took the stage once more.
“Ladies and gentlemen. Today will be a great celebration. We have wine, beer, cocktails, as well as other various substances to help you get into a more relaxed state so you can properly worship His Majesty through music, dance, and sexuality.
“Bars and booths are set up all around the Temple Mount. Please help yourselves, but do keep your attention focused on the video screen above the stage over the next few moments. We’ll be televising His Majesty’s first visit into the Holy of Holies where he will commune with the hologram projected from the mind of Dragon in the perfect Image of Our Precious Leader, Angelo Luz.”
The music played and the video screen showed Luz walking between the pillars, up on the porch, and through the Temple doors. Scantily clad women danced and offered him drinks as he strolled through the first section of the Temple known as the Holy Place or Sanctuary. He pulled back the curtain which had been replaced with a blood-red tapestry embroidered with white dragons facing each other. The cameras followed Luz into the Holy of Holies. Smoke poured out of the room, slowly revealing what was inside. In the spot designated for the Ark of the Covenant sat a golden throne. On either side, where the cherubim would have stood, were finely-sculpted golden dragons. Each one stood ten feet tall, with their wings arched over the golden throne and touching at the tips. Luz sat down on the throne. Suddenly, a hologram of Luz appeared between him and the camera.
The life-sized hologram spoke. “This is the house of god, and this is the throne of god. Hear o Israel. I am your god, and I am one. Whether you see me or you see my image, we are the same, and all honor, and power, and glory, and wealth, and riches, and worship belong to me. Bow your knees and bow your head and worship me, and me alone.”
Luz stood up in the midst of the hologram and became one with the image.
The camera panned over the Temple Mount. Everyone bowed low. The camera went back to Luz who walked out of the Holy of Holies as the hologram took the throne. He took a glass of wine from one of the exotic dancers in the Sanctuary. He took a long, deep drink, then looked at the camera. “Now stand up! Drink, dance, enjoy one another’s bodies, for we have overcome the grave!”
The television cut back to Harrison Yates who held a glass of champagne in his hand. “Wow, how was that for an announcement? His High and Most Prepotent Majesty has defeated the grave! He’s offering eternal life, Heather. What do you say?”
She sipped her champagne. “Sign me up!”
Yates scooted closer to his co-anchor. “And you heard that last little bit he said about enjoying each other. Can I invite you back to my room after we’ve wrapped up here?”
“Harrison, I’m married!” She giggled and sipped from her glass.
Yates topped off her champagne. “Don’t be so old-fashioned. How about we finish this bottle and decide later?”
She flipped her hair and toasted Yate’s glass. “I suppose it’s a special occasion.”
The camera cut back to the crowd that seemed to be quickly embracing the spirit of absolute debauchery.
“I can’t watch this. It’s disgusting.” Courtney picked up the remote.
“Wait!” Everett pleaded. “Look back by the Dome of the Rock. What are those people doing?”
Sarah looked closely. “Break dancing? Forming a mosh pit maybe?”
“To this music? It’s slow, hypnotic, like new age jazz.” Everett turned to her.
Courtney lowered her brow and curled her upper lip. “They’re swatting at something.”
Everett observed the broadcast a little longer. “Locusts. Look, there’s more!”
Soon, a haze of insects appeared over the Temple Mount. The music and sounds of merriment were quickly drowned out by screams of torment. Those who could run fled from the assault of the locusts. Many seemed to be demobilized from the pain and rolled around on the ground, waving their hands or covering their faces. The feed cut, and the screen went black.
“Wait.” Courtney looked on in amazement. “Isn’t Apollyon the king over the locusts?”
“Yeah, why?” Everett asked.
“Apollyon is another name for Satan, right? I mean, why would this guy spoil his own coming-out party?” She stood up and placed her hands on her hips.
Everett shook his head. “Are you kidding me? That’s how he rolls. Like Lucy pulling the football away from Charlie Brown. He’s been offering total satisfaction, then jerking the chair out from under people when they go to sit in it, since the beginning.
“Think about all the heroin addicts chasing the ultimate high. They end up with a bad case of dope sickness instead. The husbands that want a little something on the side, but end up throwing a fragmentation grenade and blowing up their whole family. If they’d have counted the cost, you think they’d still have had that affair?”
Everett held his hands out. “This is exactly what I would expect for his coming-out party. He promises pleasure and life but delivers hell and death.”
Sarah turned off the television and set the remote on the coffee table. “Finish what you were saying about us having three and a half years left. What happens at the end of that?”
Everett dug out his Bible and his calendars from his duffle. He flipped through the pages of the Bible until he came to Daniel 12. “Listen to this. And from the time that the daily sacrifice shall be taken away, and the abomination that maketh desolate set up, there shall be a thousand two hundred and ninety days. Blessed is he that waiteth, and cometh to the thousand three hundred and five and thirty days.”
“Okay, I guess this qualifies as an abomination. But it doesn’t say anything about it being in the Temple.” Sarah looked on at his Bible.
“Okay.” Everett flipped over to Matthew 24. “When ye therefore shall see the abomination of desolation, spoken of by Daniel the prophet, stand in the holy place, whoso readeth, let him understand. Then let them which be in Judaea flee into the mountains.”
Everett looked up. “Another name for the Holy of Holies is the Most Holy Place.”
“And we’re running in the opposite direction of where Jesus told us to go. Great.” Courtney plopped back down on the couch.
“We’ll be with Elijah. We’ll be protected,” Sarah said.
“I hope you’re right about that.” Courtney crossed her arms. “Anyway, back to what you were saying about the three and a half years.”
“Today is March twenty-second.” Everett silently wrote down a series of numbers and made calculations. Then he counted out the dates on his Jewish calendar as well as his Georgian one. Minutes later, he looked up. “1290 days ends on October second. Yom Teruah.”
“Isn’t that like Rosh Hashanah? Jewish New Year’s?” Courtney asked.
“That’s when the Jews celebrate New Year’s, but Yom Teruah is on the first day of Tishri, the seventh month. By definition, New Year’s pretty much has to come on the first day of the first month. They got that stuff about it being New Year’s during their time in Satan’s original kingdom, Babylon. As a matter of
fact, the months never even had names. Tishri was simply called the seventh month. They carried the stench of Babylon with them when they left captivity.”
Courtney pursed her lips. “Sorta like Protestants keeping Christmas trees and Easter eggs when they left the Catholic Church.”
“Exactly.” Everett nodded.
“So, what is it?” Sarah tilted her head. “Yom Teruah?”
“The Feast of Trumpets.”
“What’s that about? And why does Daniel say blessed are the people that wait until the 1335 days? That’s like another forty-five days. What happens then?”
Everett shook his head. “I don’t know. I think Messiah comes back at the Feast of Trumpets, then fights the final battle. It could be a forty-five-day battle. Once that’s over, on day 1335, maybe the new millennium starts.”
“But He’s God!” Sarah threw her hands in the air. “Why would it take Him forty-five days to defeat Satan?”
“Oh, it wouldn’t take Him that long unless He wanted it to.”
Courtney puckered her forehead. “And why, pray tell, would He want it to?”
Everett lifted his shoulders. “Six thousand years of history. It’d be kind of anti-climactic to end it all in a thirty-minute fight to the death with Satan. And in case you’ve never seen a beautiful sunset, God kinda has a flare for the dramatic.”
“Yeah, okay.” Courtney stood by the window. “I can see that, I guess.”
Suddenly, the building shook, with a loud boom. The glass in the windows rattled. Everett pulled Courtney back and shielded her from the window. He turned to see a giant mushroom cloud in the distance, billowing toward the sky.
Courtney looked around him. “Where was that?”
“Looks like it was about a mile away. If I had to guess, I’d say it was a car bomb at the nearest GR outpost.”
Sarah looked out at the cloud, then down at the rioters in the street. “Doesn’t look like we’ll be going anywhere today.”
