by Irvin Baxter
The plan was to hit the areas containing the most highly concentrated number of enemy troops. Every target had been updated by the technicians who had worked throughout the night.
The first nuclear explosion hit the highway leading from Jericho to Jerusalem. It was one solid mass of enemy troops. When the blinding flash of the nuclear explosion was unleashed, the eyes of the enemy soldiers literally melted in their eye sockets. Tanks and half-tracks melted where they stood. Not one living thing was left within a ten-kilometer radius. Objects only a few kilometers away from the epicenter of the blast were hurled like pieces of straw through the air. Tanks even hurtled through the air for over a mile.
The different warheads swept swiftly to various targets in the Jordan Valley where enemy troops had been in total control for several days. The scene on the Jericho Road was repeated over and over as each missile unleashed its deadly destruction on the unsuspecting young pawns of the New World Order. Dead Russian troops lay everywhere.
With pinpoint precision, the Israeli missiles landed one by one, tracing the supply lines of Israel’s enemies. Damascus, Syria, became one blazing inferno. Strangely, only one thing was left standing in Damascus—the famous Minaret of Jesus, one of the four minarets of the Mosques of Damascus. Interestingly, Muslims believe that Jesus will come back to earth, and that when He does, He will come to the Minaret of Jesus.
After the decision was made and the order given to use the Samson Option, there was only one thing for Prime Minister Alon to do. He went out to stand on the balcony. “Lord God, please grant favorable winds on the mountains of Israel at this time. Let the northwest winds blow. Let them carry death and destruction to those who would destroy Your people and banish Your name from the earth.”
Alon felt the gentle breeze flowing through his hair. Assessing the direction of the wind, he knew they were not fighting alone. “Thank You, God,” he whispered. “Thank You.” He had never felt this close to God in his entire life! He knew better than anyone that, in spite of the Samson Option, Israel’s situation was still desperate. Nevertheless, an inexplicable confidence was growing in his heart that, ultimately, everything would be all right.
They could not target the nuclear strikes too near to Jerusalem since radiation would have destroyed Israel’s own troops. Consequently, the international community still had formidable forces within the ten-kilometer band that was left untouched by the Samson Option. Those forces, not fully realizing what was occurring throughout other parts of Israel, pressed forward toward the goal of occupying Jerusalem. And they were steadily gaining ground.
As the reports poured into Prime Minister Alon’s command center, he wondered aloud, “Did we wait too long to trigger the Samson Option? Will all still be lost, in spite of the death and devastation we have wrought?”
On the front lines, the fighting was absolutely inhuman. The Global Forces had come around the side of the Mount of Olives and begun to bear down on the walls of the Temple Mount. The rumble of the tanks and the screaming of the jets overhead was deafening. The steady rat-a-tat-tat of five hundred machine guns never let up.
Men were dying by the thousands in the small Kidron Valley that separated the Mount of Olives from the Temple Mount. The command had been given that the holy places of Jerusalem were not to be bombed; consequently, the fighting was with small arms and hand grenades.
Wave after wave of New World Order soldiers dashed into the teeth of the deadly blanket of fire being laid down by Israeli sharpshooters positioned on the Temple Mount. So much blood had been shed that the soldiers were sloshing through it in their efforts to take the coveted Mount Moriah. One soldier lost his footing as he made his charge—and fell face down in the blood that had poured from the dead and dying. When he regained his footing, he was covered from head to toe with the blood of Armageddon.
Monte Ben-Isaac had served in the Israeli army for six years before Armageddon broke out. Because of his exceptional marksmanship and bravery under fire, he had been promoted to Israel’s finest military unit. When it became obvious that war was inevitable, Monte’s unit was assigned the sacred task of defending Jerusalem.
Monte had been fighting with almost no sleep since the invasion began. The weariness he felt as he pulled the trigger on his machine gun was bone-numbing. Yet he knew he would never give up as long as his ammunition held out. That was the one thing that worried him the most. Israel had been under an arms boycott for some time now. Some of her friends had secretly smuggled ammunition and weapons parts into the country. But would it be enough? They were facing an enemy with unlimited resources. Monte watched as the ammunition in the storage bins went steadily down.
“How’s the ammo holding?” Monte asked his friend Ze’ev. Monte and Ze’ev had been best friends since their schooldays.
“It doesn’t look good,” Ze’ev replied. “The word is that we might have enough to last through today and part of tomorrow. Stretch it as far as you can.”
But it was hard to worry about stretching bullets when you were fighting for your life every minute. After days of fighting, everything was now instinct. Monte sensed the next wave of enemy soldiers before he saw them. He knew the area he had to cover and the area that would be covered by the next Israeli positions on his right and on his left. When the marksman on his left ran out of ammo, he would put down a line of fire over that area, as well as his own, until he heard the rat-a-tat-tat pick up again. When his gun fell silent, his fellow soldiers returned the favor. And the blood in the Kidron Valley got deeper and deeper. The slaughter was absolutely horrible!
Monte really didn’t know how he made it through that day, but finally dusk descended and gave way to night. The enemy dug in to wait for dawn, since they needed light for the hand-to-hand combat required for conquering Jerusalem. He was thankful for the reprieve, even though he knew full well that it was only temporary.
“You’ve got to get some sleep tonight, Monte,” Ze’ev urged. “Israel is going to need you real bad tomorrow. I’ll keep watch so you can rest.”
It didn’t take much insistence by Ze’ev for Monte to drop to the ground. Within seconds he was in a deep slumber. In his dreams all night he was killing—load another round into the machine gun—catch the next wave—stop them, we’ve got to stop them.
Monte didn’t know what awakened him, but he bolted straight up. What time was it? He looked at his watch. Four a.m.…about one hour before the assault would begin again. Ze’ev spoke from where he was sitting about ten feet away. “You all right?”
“Sure,” Monte quickly replied. “How’s the ammunition?” He saw the troubled look on Ze’ev’s face.
“It’s not good,” his friend admitted. “As a matter of fact, it’s pretty bad.”
“How long can we last?” Monte asked anxiously. “I knew we were getting low last night.”
Ze’ev shook his head. “Five hours, maybe six, if we’re lucky.”
“Can we borrow some from another unit? Are there new supplies on the way?” Monte asked with increasing apprehension.
“Everyone is in the same shape as we are. There are no new supplies. Unless God performs a miracle, we’re finished,” Ze’ev reported.
“Ze’ev, it can’t end like this!” Monte protested. “This can’t be what God has in mind for His land. He brought us from all the nations of the world and miraculously established us in this land. You know that the prophecy of Ezekiel doesn’t end with our annihilation. It ends with Israel as a light to the nations.”
Ze’ev looked his friend straight in the eye, “I know, Monte. But if we are to resist the forces of the New World Order, God is simply going to have to intervene. We’ve run out of answers.”
Monte and Ze’ev simultaneously dropped to their knees, and together they prayed, “O God, this is Your land, and Jerusalem is the place where You said You would place Your name. Now, Lord, we’ve done the best that we could do, but still we stand this morning on the brink of defeat. We don’t know how You could turn the
tide of this dismal situation, but we know You can do it. Help us now, O God, we pray. We are in Your hands. Amen.”
Ze’ev and Monte positioned their guns and their ammunition in preparation for the assault they knew would come at any moment. Before the World Community pierced the defenses of Jerusalem through their position, the enemy would pay a high price.
Monte sensed movement to his right. “Here they come,” he shouted. He and Ze’ev laid down a deadly blanket of fire that consumed every human being in its path. As the charging soldiers were cut in two by the deadly barrage, their eyes would roll backwards as their bodies contorted in the throes of death. It was a hellish sight!
The charge of the Global Forces continued unabated for six solid hours. Several thousand bodies now completely covered the floor of the Kidron. Still the Israeli forces held. As the UN troops regrouped, Ze’ev did a quick inventory of their ammunition. His report wasn’t good. “We might have enough to last one more hour.”
When the charge resumed, it was with terrible fury. Monte believed they could hold if only they had ammunition. But when he looked in the ammo box, he estimated they had no more than 15 minutes worth of supply left. Well, if they were going down, they would resist to the last bullet.
The dread of what was coming and the cumulative tiredness of the last nine days weighed heavily on Monte’s shoulders. In his weariness, he leaned against the stones of the Temple Mount walls. As he lifted his eyes, he saw, for what he knew might be the last time, the beautiful Mount of Olives. His mother had taught him that when Messiah came, He would come to that place. Lifting his eyes in desperation to the skies above the Mount of Olives, he prayed fervently, “Messiah, if You’re ever going to come, You’ve got to come now!”
Monte reloaded his machine gun and resumed firing. The roar of the tanks, the throb of the rotor blades from the helicopters, and the rat-a-tat-tat from the machine guns drowned out everything else. It was impossible to communicate now except with one’s eyes. But there was no need. Both Ze’ev and Monte knew the moment of truth was at hand.
Monte’s gun fell silent, indicating that it was time to reload. When he grabbed the belt of ammunition from the ammo box, he noticed it was the last one. He slapped the ammunition into place and resumed his position behind the sights. I’ve got to make this last one count, he thought to himself. Ze’ev and Monte were exacting a terrible price from the enemy, but still they came. Days of non-stop fighting had taught Monte to sense when the last few bullets were entering the chamber. He could tell that time had now come. “O, God help us,” he silently prayed.
When his gun fell silent, his mind raced furiously. What do we do now? His fellow soldiers all the way down the line of defense were going through the same thing he and Ze’ev were experiencing. One by one, the guns fell silent.
Chapter 32
The morning marked the beginning of the fourth day that the bodies of Cornell and Freeman had lain on top of the Mount of Olives. The worldwide Bible-believing Christian community was filled with anticipation. When the news services began their noon reports, people around the world were glued to their television sets. By now the teaching that Cornell and Freeman would rise from the dead had spread everywhere. Everyone was anxious to see what would actually happen.
The fighting had now advanced to within one-half kilometer of the site where the bodies of Roger and David lay. Consequently, the sound of continual gunfire could be heard in the background as Ronnie Gannet began his report. “This will be the last noon report we will bring to you concerning these two religious extremists who so disrupted world peace. President Arachev has ordered that their bodies be cremated and scattered in the Mediterranean Sea tonight at midnight.” The cameras of WNN zoomed in close on the faces of Roger and David as Gannet continued. “We have been hearing the ridiculous rumor that the End-timers expect Cornell and Freeman to rise from the dead today. If they are going to do it, they had better hurry,” Gannet said with derision.
Suddenly Gannet thought he saw Freeman blink his eyes. He gasped. “Ladies and gentlemen, something incredible seems to be happening,” Gannet exclaimed. “Freeman and Cornell both just opened their eyes! I’m not believing this, but it’s happening right in front of me. Cornell is sitting up. Ladies and gentlemen, they are both standing now! This is unbelievable! What could this possibly mean?!” By this time Gannet was shouting at the top of his voice.
Suddenly, Cornell and Freeman left the ground. The TV cameras followed them upward as they lifted into the air, swiftly rising to meet their Messiah in the sky.
Around the world, believers had come together to catch the noon newscast. The expectancy they felt was electrifying. When Ron Gannet announced that Roger and David had opened their eyes, the incredible presence of God coursed through each of them. Instead of abating in a few moments, as God’s presence usually did, it continued to increase until it felt like white lightning flowing through each of their veins. The ecstasy that the power of God’s presence produced in them approached the limits of human endurance.
Charles and Anna Rhodes had been Christians for 20 years. As they listened to the newscast, they held hands in intense expectation. Suddenly, in the throes of divine ecstasy, they felt the floor receding beneath their feet. As they passed through the ceiling along with the other believers, a great shout of praise came from the depths of their beings. They were on their way to meet their Savior in the air!
As Charles floated upward through the sky, his eyes began to search among the clouds that floated overhead. Then he saw Him. Standing on a cloud silhouetted against the blue sky was the One he had worshiped all these years. Suddenly, he found himself shouting, “Jesus, Jesus!” The sensation was beyond anything humanly possible. It was as though he was being pulled into a whirlpool of love. The peace and the purity of the feeling was sublime.
The journey upward continued until Charles found himself kneeling at Jesus’ feet. Warm tears of love streamed down his now immortal face as he praised his Savior and Creator for His wonderful salvation. Charles found that all he could say was, “I love You. I love You. I love You.”
The amazing thing about all of this was that every one who had been caught up was experiencing the same thing simultaneously. Since the laws of space no longer existed in this immortal dimension, every person could be just as close to Jesus as the other. Now, all unanswered questions were answered. Every raptured saint was incorporated into the mind of God, and the level of enlightenment and understanding encompassed the entirety of history and the universe. For the first time, Charles understood First Corinthians 13:12: “For now we see through a glass, darkly; but then face to face: now I know in part; but then shall I know even as also I am known.”
Charles had no sense of how long this particular experience continued, nor did he care. He was utterly bathed in the effervescent presence of Almighty God. It was glorious!
As this meeting in the air continued, every person present understood his particular part in the Kingdom of God. They did not have to be told. It was as if they each had been grafted into the mind of Jesus so that His thoughts were now their thoughts. They dwelled in a state of perfect union with their Lord and Savior. And they all knew that the time had come to visit the Mount of Olives.
Chapter 33
For a brief moment, when the Israeli guns fell silent, the cessation of firing disconcerted the enemy, causing the advance to stop. Then the Global Forces seized the opportunity and surged forward like a tidal wave all the way up and down the Kidron. “God help us!” Monte cried in desperation as he watched the advance troops rush the Temple Mount walls. The portable ladders clanged against the city walls even as enemy helicopters swooped down to land on the now defenseless Temple Mount.
At that very moment, a glowing brightness appeared on the eastern horizon, just over the Mount of Olives. Monte felt the hair on his arms begin to stand on end. He had heard people say that was what they experienced just before the touch-down of a tornado. What is going on? Monte’s
mind raced. Maybe our government has a new secret weapon that nobody knows about. The brightness steadily increased in intensity as it grew closer and closer. Could it be…?
By now Monte had forgotten about the critical danger he was in. The approaching light began to take on shape and form. It was almost like an invasion from the sky by extraterrestrial forces. Then he saw horses—dazzling white horses. Their riders appeared to be clothed in light. Monte’s eyes locked on the front horse and rider who was larger and more brilliant than the rest.
“My Lord and my God!” Monte exclaimed. “This is our Messiah! Ze’ev, our Messiah has come!”
Monte was not the only one distracted by the invasion from the skies. The soldiers of the New World army occupying the Mount of Olives whirled to face this new enemy descending from the sky. Tanks, helicopters, and machine guns filled the air with a fusilade of bullets. But this celestial force continued its descent onto the Mount of Olives undeterred. The brightness of Messiah and His saints became blinding. Global soldiers dropped their weapons while attempting to shield their eyes from the incredible white light. The brightness was so overwhelming that men fell to the ground before the force of it.
“Ze’ev, I’m going to meet Him,” Monte announced.
“I’m with you. Let’s go!” Ze’ev shouted.
All the tiredness of the past days fled from Monte’s body. His heart pumped with newfound adrenaline as he ran at full speed through the bodies scattered over the Kidron Valley. He and Ze’ev ran, side by side, up the Mount of Olives toward the place where their Messiah had landed.
Strangely, the overwhelming light seemed to have melted into peace. Monte noticed that hundreds, perhaps thousands, of other Jews were running toward their Messiah as well. Apparently, they, too, understood what was happening.
Monte and Ze’ev were among the first to reach the white-clad figure who had dismounted and stood waiting for them. They both fell at His feet in adoration. “Messiah! O Messiah! You came just in time! Thank You. We love You.”