by Dawn Morris
“I honestly believe he is the son of the priest, Akkadab,” Amalthai whispered, wiping her eyes while looking around to make sure that we were still alone. “You should see the way he looks at the baby. Terah said that Nimrod is doubtful as to the child’s origin, but he cannot refute Semiramis without losing honor.”
“There is to be a special feast to honor Tammuz in a few days,” she went on. “Semiramis commands you to attend the feast and publicly worship the boy.” She began to weep. “That is why I have been allowed to see you.”
“I will never do such a thing!” I stood up. “She must know I will never worship anyone but the Creator.”
As we stood there together, I was afraid for a moment. The spirit of the Magistrate was strong in Babylon. I wondered if the blood of all those children made the evil spirits stronger. Surely, they were not stronger than the Creator?
Shivering, I led Amalthai out to the patio so that I could feel the warmth of the sun. “Amalthai, I worship the true God, the Creator, the one who made the sun and the moon and all of the earth. He is the only God! He brought eight of us through the Flood. Surely, He will hear us call to him now! Surely He will save us!”
I sank to my knees and began to pray fervently. Amalthai knelt next to me and confessed her unbelief and turned to the Creator. Then she asked me to intercede for her and Terah. He was blinded in his devotion to Nimrod, and she feared what he would do if their child was a boy. I do not know how long I prayed before a loud clap of thunder and a torrential downpour of rain interrupted my prayers.
Both of us ran inside. As we watched the deluge, I felt my cries to the Creator were heard.
FIRE
Chapter 29
I will surely assemble all of you, Jacob, I will surely gather the remnant of Israel. I will put them together like sheep in the fold; like a flock in the midst of its pasture they will be noisy with men.
Micah 2:12
Although I was far from all that was familiar, Petra quickly became my home. For the first time in my life, I felt safe and cared for by people I trusted.
I was assigned to the same multi-level cave home as Zivah and a few other young women. Inside it, stone stairs led from the exterior to the main living level, with several doorways along the way opening to individual rooms. I shared a small room with Zivah. We slept on pads on the floor, but we had sleeping bags and candles to light up the room at night. I was afraid there might be mice, but there were many semi-feral cats living around us, and thankfully, I never saw any rodents.
From the moment I met her, Zivah took me under her wing like a mother hen. She came from a town not far from Jerusalem, Ma’aleh Adumim, which had been settled by her grandparents and about twenty other families many years ago. Just after President Bellomo negotiated the peace treaty between Israel and the Global Union, her family all turned to faith in Yeshua.
Zivah told me how, when President Bellomo rose to power in that first year, severe persecution against those who followed Yeshua began. Zivah’s entire family was murdered in one night by neighbors who turned against them; only she escaped.
Everyone who could work was assigned something to do. Zivah and I were responsible for a herd of goats. I didn’t see much of Jannik or Noam during the daytime. They were part of the team that cleared out old caves and tombs to make room for the new arrivals. Every day, people made their way through the gorge into Petra, although as time went on, the number dwindled.
The night Jannik and I met Tamas was the last day people could get in and out of Jerusalem freely. We were lucky; many who followed Yeshua were slaughtered in the days following our escape. President Bellomo—now claiming to be the Promised One—was anxious to destroy every Jew in Israel but especially those who followed the true Promised One, Yeshua.
“How is it we’re not discovered or attacked by President Bellomo?” I asked Jannik one day as we strolled to our favorite spot to watch the sunset.
“I don’t know how, but God is keeping us from being found. The 144,000 are specially sealed, safe from the Antichrist.” Jannik no longer called the President by his name, preferring to call him what he was—the name the Bible gave to the one who would rise up in the last days.
According to Tamas, Jannik went on to tell me, there were 144,000 others like him, Israeli men, 12,000 from each of the original, biblical twelve tribes, set apart by Yeshua to take the message of salvation to people throughout the world. Some of these men led many to faith in Israel, but once the Antichrist set up his image in the Temple, they heeded Yeshua’s warning to flee and took many refugees with them to Petra, in Jordan. Tamas, and three others, stayed in Petra to oversee the refugees there. They made up the Council.
The Council was able to keep up with world events through an encrypted system the King of Jordan had set up for the refugees. It was through this that we discovered that, three days after we saw the Witnesses killed, they came back to life and rose up to heaven in front of the whole world! I was dumbfounded.
Jannik continued, “Just like the Witnesses had power, so do the 144,000. No one can harm them. I was talking to a man who’d escaped from Russia with one of them. He said they literally walked unseen right out of a prison!”
I pressed in closer to Jannik. He was warm, and the desert air was cooling quickly. “I know I’ve been protected in ways that couldn’t just have happened.”
He wrapped his arm around me. “For which I am so grateful.”
About a month after we escaped to Petra, Zivah and I took our small goatherd from their pen to graze. The early morning air was cool, so I shrugged on a sweater from my backpack.
“Where are we going today?” I asked her.
Zivah smiled. “Up toward the monastery. I have a surprise for you.” No matter how I tried to wheedle it out of her, she refused to tell me any more about the surprise as we trudged along the dusty path with the goats.
As we neared a stairway winding up through a narrow opening, I saw Jannik sitting on a rock. He stood and smiled, with his arms outstretched, and I ran to him, delighted.
Zivah laughed behind us. “Okay, here’s your surprise, Dani. Jannik is going to tend the goats with you today. I’m going to take a turn clearing out caves in his place.”
I thanked her before turning back to Jannik. The expression on his face was tender and made my stomach jump. Our eyes locked together.
“It’s so hard not having a chance to see you alone,” he grinned down at me. He glanced up the stairway and back at me. “Have you been up here before?”
Chatting eagerly together, we clambered up the sandstone stairway, the bleating of the goats adding background noises to our conversation. After a while, the growing heat of the day combined with the steepness of the climb was too much, and we paused to rest in a sheltering alcove carved out of the stone. The goats didn’t seem to mind as they foraged for succulent bits of the hardy plants growing in the desert. I took my sweater from my waist, where I’d tied it, and shoved it into my pack.
We sat on the dusty ground and talked for almost an hour, draining much of our water. Jannik leaned into me with his shoulder. “I really have missed you, Dani. I miss the time we spent at the apartment when we could talk for hours.”
“That was good. You’re the first person in my life, besides Daphne, that I’ve felt completely safe with, you know?”
Wrapping his arm around me, Jannik kissed my lips softly. It was our second kiss, and it only lasted a moment. I sighed.
“I’ve never felt like this about anyone before,” he whispered.
It seemed even hotter when we got back on the trail, a mixture of stairs and dusty pathways, but finally, we made it to the top where the majestic monastery stood. Its massive, rosy walls soared high above us. There were a few people sitting around its opening.
Jannik told me more about the monastery and how he’d visited it—and Petra—as a child with his parents. Inside the facade was only one room, which was now the communication center for the leadership of Petra
.
“Who do they communicate with?” I asked.
“I think some of the 144,000, mainly some of the others in Israel. They get news about what is happening.”
I didn’t want to think about the horrors going on in the world as I looked around me. Although there were quite a few people here, the desert around us seemed quiet and serene. I hoped that Petra would prove to be a sanctuary, but I had seen President Bellomo kill the Witnesses. Shuddering despite the heat, I suggested we take a break to eat.
Long ago, there’d been a restaurant overlooking the Monastery. The Council decided to utilize the space where it had sat as a dining hall for the people who lived near the monastery. There were people sitting outside at café tables, as well as inside a tented area in the shade. After driving the goats into a small pen, complete with a water trough, Jannik and I went into the tent for some lunch. Just as we had tasks assigned to us, there were people responsible for providing meals for Petra’s citizens. There was nothing fancy, and it wasn’t much, but we didn’t go hungry.
Because of the goats, we couldn’t take too long to eat, but every moment was wonderful. When we finished eating, Jannik asked, “Can we leave the goats alone for a little while longer? I want to show you something incredible.”
I followed him back toward the monastery. We walked in front of the building to a staircase hidden on the side and made our way up. The staircase came out next to the round lid of the circular urn perched on top of the monastery. Carefully following Jannik’s lead, I made my way onto the lid and sat on the edge, overlooking Petra. The view below my feet was incredible! I saw the tent where we’d had lunch, a few cave homes, and the red sandstone mountains in the distance.
“Wow.”
We sat holding hands for a few minutes in silence. I could hear the bleating of the goats below us.
“Jannik,” I whispered, staring off in the distance.
“Yes?”
“Why does President Bellomo want to kill the Jewish people? Zivah told me that is why we had to flee Jerusalem. She said he hates the Jewish people and was behind the attack on her family.”
I turned to look at him. He shook his head. “There is an old prophecy that says the Messiah will come to our people, the Jews, when we mourn for him. President Bellomo, the Antichrist, wants to prevent Yeshua’s coming and keep up his façade as the Promised One. If we are all dead, the prophecy can’t come true.”
I thought about that for a few minutes. Could he do that? Could he prevent Jesus from coming back? Although I tried, I couldn’t remember much from the end of the Bible that Daphne had given me so long ago.
“Tamas is planning on speaking to the people tomorrow,” Jannik said, “Something amazing has been found in one of the caves. We found it a few days ago.”
“What did you find?”
Jannik grinned, and one dimple flashed as he teased that maybe he shouldn’t tell me.
“Oh, come on!” I begged. “Don’t make me wait until tomorrow!”
“Do you promise not to tell Zivah? I’m supposed to keep it to myself.”
I smiled back at him and promised.
“Noam and I were cleaning out one of the caves,” Jannik began. Something twisted inside me when he said Noam’s name. I had no real reason for the way I felt about Noam, so I said nothing and gestured for him to continue.
“There was a lot of stuff piled up from many, many years ago: old furniture, rugs, that kind of stuff. We pulled it all out into the open to see what could still be used. After moving much of it out, we discovered a stash of boxes at the back of the cave.” His eyes shone with excitement.
“What was in them?”
“Well, at the top of every box was a letter, written in Hebrew, all saying the same thing, that the books in each box were a gift from an American who followed Yeshua, William Eugene Blackstone. Apparently, he spent eight thousand dollars to purchase and send the books to the person who wrote the letter, who in turn brought them here to Petra.”
“What? How strange! What kind of books are they?”
“All of them New Testaments in Hebrew! I was allowed to keep one for myself. Look.” Jannik pulled his knapsack open and pulled out an old book. Its pages were yellowed with age. Opening it, I saw this inscription pasted on the inside, written in English and Hebrew:
Dear one, if you will read this, you will find out how to escape the destruction of your soul. The Lord has made a way of salvation for His people! He has given the most precious thing to Him—His only Son—so that you will not perish. Please read this book and find eternal life!
Yours truly,
W.E. Blackstone, servant of Yeshua and friend of the Jewish people
1931, Pasadena, California, USA
I thumbed through the pages, the symbols meaningless to me. When Tamas had laid his hands on me back in Jerusalem, I’d been given the ability to understand Hebrew, but I couldn’t read it.
“Someone did this over a hundred years ago?”
“Yes, before Israel was even made a nation again!”
“I don’t understand why he would do this. And why send these here to Petra? How could he know that there would be so many Jewish people here?”
Jannik answered, “I don’t know, but I think Tamas will have an explanation for us tomorrow.”
Handing him back the book, I shook my head in wonder. It was time to return to the goats, so we carefully navigated our way back to the stairs and down to the front of the monastery.
FLOOD
Chapter 30
The Nephilim were on the earth in those days, and also afterward.”
Genesis 6:4
On the day of the feast, where I was supposed to worship the son of Semiramis and her dragon-snake god, Marduk, I waited nervously in my room. Suddenly, someone banged loudly on my door. I opened it with trepidation. Akkadab, the high priest, stood before me, his dark eyes glinting with hatred. Three soldiers stood behind him at attention.
I stared back, trying to stop the quivering fear in my heart from betraying me to my enemy, for I could clearly see in Akkadab’s eyes the presence of the same spirit which had possessed the Magistrate.
“Motherrrrrr.” He hissed out the title with contempt. “King Nimrod and Queen Semiramis command you attend them immediately.” Without waiting for a response, he grabbed my arm and pulled me down the corridor. The guards followed menacingly, swords drawn.
“There is no need for such treatment,” I protested, trying to pull away from the evil priest. His only response was to grip my arm even more tightly.
Praying silently as Akkadab dragged me through the palace, I suddenly felt the peace of the Creator fill me with warm encouragement and strength. I knew He had brought me to this place with a purpose. I trained my anxious thoughts onto that truth.
At the end of a long, brightly lit corridor lined with ominous guards were two immense bronze doors, each carved with the symbol of dragon-snake. Two guards pushed the doors open, and we entered Nimrod and Semiramis’ private chambers.
The gold-painted walls were draped with tapestries embroidered with scenes from Nimrod’s many victorious battles, as well as images of him and Semiramis portrayed as gods. I was hauled behind Akkadab as he strode quickly to an alcove to the left.
There in a white, sun-filled atrium, was a pool filled with water lilies glinting in the sunlight. Semiramis stood naked in the water, holding her son, Tammuz, in her arms. As Akkadab pushed me forward, I noted with alarm the size of the child. He was not even a year old, yet he looked twice that size. Nimrod reclined on a plush red couch, draining a goblet of wine.
“Here she is, your majesty,” Akkadab intoned. I noticed his eyes raking Semiramis possessively.
“Well,” Nimrod spoke, wiping his mouth with the back of his hand. “Mother Ariana, how gracious of you to visit our small family.” His tone was mocking.
“Mother, do you see this most glorious son of mine?” Semiramis trilled. “I saw you noting his great size.”
/> Just then the child himself turned his dark eyes to gaze at me. Without any expression, he spoke. “Hello, Mother.”
I trembled. This was one of the Nephilim. He was not the son of Akkadab or any human man. My skin crawled with revulsion as he prattled some strange, childish rhyme. His melodious voice was eerily charming, his lips curled into a winsome smile.
Semiramis laughed. “Do you see how clever he is! Truly a child of the gods!”
She handed the child over to a servant on the side of the pool before exiting herself. Although I didn’t turn to look, I could feel the heat of passion roiling off of Akkadab by my side as his body tensed. Only then did I notice Terah, Amalthai’s husband sitting behind Nimrod. The expression on his face was dismal.
“Terah, it is good to see you. How is Amalthai?” I asked.
Terah looked at Nimrod, who nodded consent for him to speak. No one spoke without permission in the presence of Nimrod or Semiramis.
“She is in intense labor, Mother. It’s gone on now for three days, and she’s growing very weak, yet still the child has not come.”
“May I help?” I asked Nimrod.
“That is why you are here. Terah is of great importance to me and to the plans for my kingdom. He has been distracted for the last few days, and I need him by my side, fully in service to me. You will go and aid his wife in her delivery. We know you have an extraordinary reputation as a midwife.” Nimrod said.
Semiramis wrapped a robe about herself and took a seat on the couch by Nimrod’s side. “I would not have to remind the midwives of Babylon, but you would do well to remember this, Ariana. Any male child is to be disposed of at once. There is a fire burning before Marduk in his temple just outside of the Palace gates.”
Bile rose up in my throat. There was no way I would participate in their treacherous murder of those most vulnerable, but I kept my mouth shut. I would do what I could to help my friend.
