by Tim LaHaye
“You have seen the footage, and you know the glee with which the evil one watches his plan carried out.
“Many years ago I began proving the truth of God’s Word by telling you in advance of the judgments and plagues to come, things clearly prophesied hundreds, yea thousands of years ago. We saw the fruition of the prophecy of a rider on a white horse, promising peace but bringing a sword. The red horse, World War III, followed that. That brought the black horse of famine, then the ashen horse of death. Next came the martyrdom of many saints before the Wrath of the Lamb earthquake.
“Those six judgments had been foretold in Scripture, and the seventh ushered in the next seven. Hail and fire rained on the earth. Then the burning mountain fell into the sea. Wormwood poisoned the waters, and then the sun, moon, and stars were dimmed by one-third. Demonic locusts attacked those who were not sealed by God, and then we were plagued by an army, two hundred million strong, of demonic horsemen who slew much of the population. The fourteenth judgment ushered in the last seven, five of which have already befallen us.
“Millions suffered from boils, and then the sea turned to blood, then the rivers. The sun scorched people to death and burned a third of the earth’s greenery. The darkness that has fallen on New Babylon has been defended, rationalized, and explained away. But no one can account for the fact that it is so pervasive that it causes those caught in it to gnaw their tongues from the pain.
“Many have speculated how long this will last. I tell you nothing in Scripture indicates it will abate before the end. That is why the ruler of this world has moved out of his own kingdom. He may think the day will come when he and his people can move back in, but I proclaim he never will. Two more judgments await before the glorious appearing of our Lord and Savior, Jesus the Christ.
“Hear me! The Euphrates River will become as dry land! Scoff today but be amazed when it happens, and remember it was foretold. The last judgment will be an earthquake that levels the entire globe. This judgment will bring hail so huge it will kill millions.
“I am asked every day, how can people see all these things and still choose Antichrist over Christ? It is the puzzle of the ages. For many of you, it is already too late to change your mind. You may now see that you have chosen the wrong side in this war. But if you pledged your allegiance to the enemy of God by taking his mark of loyalty, it is too late for you.
“If you have not taken the mark yet, it may still be too late, because you waited so long. You pushed the patience of God past the breaking point.
“But there may be a chance for you. You will know only if you pray to receive Christ, tell God you recognize that you are a sinner and separated from him, and that you acknowledge that your only hope is in the blood of Christ, shed on the cross for you.
“Remember this: If you do not turn to Christ and are not saved from the coming judgment, this awful earth you endure right now is as good as your life will ever get. If you do turn to Christ and your heart has not already been hardened, this world is the worst you’ll see for the rest of eternity.
“For those of you who are already my brothers and sisters in Christ around the world, I urge you to be faithful unto death, for Jesus himself said, ‘Do not fear any of those things which you are about to suffer. Indeed, the devil is about to throw some of you into prison, that you may be tested. . . . Be faithful until death, and I will give you the crown of life.’
“What a promise! Christ himself will give you the crown of life. It shall be a thrill to see Jesus come yet again, but oh, what a privilege to die for his sake.
“The good news is that I believe that the enemy, whether he admits it or not, knows his time is limited. That too has been prophesied. Revelation 12:12 says, ‘Therefore rejoice, O heavens, and you who dwell in them! Woe to the inhabitants of the earth and the sea! For the devil has come down to you, having great wrath, because he knows that he has a short time.’ Lest you doubt me, remember that everything this man has done was foretold. Revelation 13:5-8 says, ‘He was given a mouth speaking great things and blasphemies, and he was given authority to continue for forty-two months. Then he opened his mouth in blasphemy against God, to blaspheme His name, His tabernacle, and those who dwell in heaven. It was granted to him to make war with the saints and to overcome them. And authority was given him over every tribe, tongue, and nation. All who dwell on the earth will worship him, whose names have not been written in the Book of Life of the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world.’
“You can have your name written in the Book of Life! That is the good news.
“Now I must tell you there is also bad news. The wrath of the evil one will reach a fever pitch from now until the end. There will be increasing demands for all people to worship him and take his mark. To you who share my faith and are willing to be faithful unto death, remember the promise in James 5:8 that ‘the coming of the Lord is at hand.’
“Oh, believer, share your faith and live your life boldly in such a way that others can receive Christ by faith and be saved. Think of it, friend. You could pray to be led to those who have not yet heard the truth. You may be the one who leads the very last soul to Christ.
“Second Peter 3:10-14 says that ‘the day of the Lord will come as a thief in the night, in which the heavens will pass away with a great noise, and the elements will melt with fervent heat; both the earth and the works that are in it will be burned up.
“‘Therefore, since all these things will be dissolved, what manner of persons ought you to be in holy conduct and godliness, looking for and hastening the coming of the day of God, because of which the heavens will be dissolved, being on fire, and the elements will melt with fervent heat? Nevertheless we, according to His promise, look for new heavens and a new earth in which righteousness dwells.
“‘Therefore, beloved, looking forward to these things, be diligent to be found by Him in peace, without spot and blameless.’
“I urge you to imitate our Lord and Savior and say with him, ‘I must be about My Father’s business.’
“Some have legitimately questioned how a loving and merciful God could shower the earth with such horrible plagues and judgments. Yet I ask you, what else could he have done after so many millennia to shake men and women from their false sense of security and get them to look to him for mercy and forgiveness?
“Think of how merciful he has been. He removed his church before the Tribulation began. He sent two supernatural witnessing preachers to Jerusalem to communicate his love. He poured out his Holy Spirit in power, as he promised through the prophet Joel, to convince mankind of its need to receive Christ rather than serve Satan and his demons.
“He sealed 144,000 Jewish evangelists to fan out across the globe and reach what the Bible calls ‘a great multitude which no one could number’ with the saving knowledge of the Son of God. He sent three angels of mercy to help people make their decision for Christ. And he has promised to supernaturally warn mankind before he destroys Babylon.
“Most of all, in his mercy, God still allows people to decide their own eternal destiny, whether to choose Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior or to believe Satan.
“The most wonderful news I can share with you today is that God has prompted us to use the brilliant minds and technology we have been blessed with here. Anyone who communicates with us via the Internet will get a personal response with everything you need to know about how to receive Christ.
“Yes, I know the ruler of this world has outlawed even visiting our site, but we can assure you that it is secure and that your visit cannot be traced. We have thousands of Internet counselors who can answer any question and lead you to Christ.
“We also have teams of rescuers who can transport you here if you are being persecuted for the sake of Christ. This is a dangerous time, and many will be killed. Many of our own loved ones have lost their lives in the pursuit of righteousness. But we will do what we can until the end to keep fighting for what is right. For in the end, we win, and we will be with Jesus.
”
Near the end of Tsion’s message, Rayford picked his way through the throng and made his way to the tech center. He stood behind Chang, watching as the young man chuckled and kept track of the frustration in Baghdad and at the affiliate stations around the world.
When he noticed Rayford, Chang said, “Here, listen to this.” He clicked on a session he had recorded in the conference room where Nicolae was demanding to know whom to fire or kill because of the TV disaster.
“Where is Figueroa?”
“He has not been seen since we left New Babylon, Excellency.”
“What about his people? The Asian kid. The Scandinavian young man.”
“The Asian is unaccounted for. The Scandinavian died from the heat, remember?”
“I cannot keep track of everyone who dies from one of these plagues. Who is running television now?”
“It has been farmed out to the affiliates. Things are impossible in New Babylon.”
“I know that, Leon! I want someone assigned who can put an end to this. What will people think?”
Fortunato cleared his throat. “Begging your pardon, Highness, but they will wonder what some on the cabinet are wondering. They are asking, ‘What about the fact that so many of these things we have suffered through were foretold? Is there some truth to all this? Who is Carpathia anyway?’”
“They want to know who Carpathia is?” Nicolae said, his voice rising. “My own cabinet?”
“Yes, sir.”
“And what about you, Leon? Who do you say that I am?”
“I know who you are, sir, and I worship you.”
“Are you implying there are those in my inner circle who do not?”
“I am telling you only what I hear, Majesty.”
“Maybe it is time we tell them, Leon. Maybe it is time they know who I am, if they truly do not know.”
Chang knew he would be unable to sleep. He and Naomi walked toward her quarters, their pace slowing more and more the closer they got. “What an incredible time to be alive,” he said.
“Really?” she said. “If I could choose, I’d rather have known Jesus earlier and gone to be with him at the Rapture.”
“Well, sure, if we had that choice.”
“We had it.”
“Yeah.”
“Actually, Chang, in my mind the greatest time to be alive will be after the Glorious Appearing. Besides getting to be with Jesus in a time of peace on earth, I’ll get to live with you for a thousand years.”
Chang was staggered by the thought. He stopped and took both her hands in his. “I wonder what I’ll look like when I’m a thousand and twenty years old,” he said. “A wrinkled-up little old Chinese man, I guess.”
“You’ll still be cute to me. I’ll be an old Jewish lady with lots of kids between the ages of five hundred and nine hundred-and-something years old.”
He cupped her face in the moonlight. “I am so grateful to have found you.”
Buck lay on his cot, across the room from Kenny’s, his arms aching from holding his Bible up to read it. He was studying everything he could find on the coming battle. Rayford had promised he would be assigned to Jerusalem, and at first he was disappointed, thinking all the action would be outside Petra or in the Jezreel Valley. But from what he could tell, those were just staging areas for the armies of the world. Much of the conflict would be in Jerusalem.
And there was no place he would rather be.
CHAPTER 16
Rayford was astounded that things could get worse. Just when he thought there was nothing Carpathia could do to top his evil exploits, reports flooded into the computer center that made it clear Carpathia had turned up the heat all over the world. More persecution, more torture, more beheadings.
Tsion’s appeal to people to contact the Internet counselors at Petra had generated an overwhelming response. This necessitated that the elders train more counselors and Naomi and Chang train more teachers to get more people up to speed on the computers.
Tsion had been preaching for ages that the world was speeding headlong toward Armageddon, but Rayford had never felt it so personally. He began really looking forward to seeing his Savior face-to-face and to reuniting with his loved ones and friends.
But there was much to do yet. Mac, Abdullah, and Ree recruited pilots and planes from all over the world to continue the massive airlift to Petra. There were days when Rayford wondered if they could even begin to catch up to the demand. The only prerequisite for a free ride to safety was the mark of the believer. It was assumed a person without the mark of Carpathia would be persecuted or executed.
Most amazing to Rayford, as he studied the Scriptures every day, was that the end of the strange prediction in Revelation 16:10-11 regarding the plague in New Babylon proved true of Carpathia’s followers all over the world: “His kingdom became full of darkness; and they gnawed their tongues because of the pain. They blasphemed the God of heaven because of their pains and their sores, and did not repent of their deeds.”
How could it be, Rayford wondered, that all these plagues and judgments could fall and yet the vast majority of people would not change their ways?
Chang had, of course, mercifully ceded control of international television back to the Global Community. And it was clear from Carpathia’s public pronouncements that he was taking the credit for “finally having this thing under control.”
“The next time he says that,” Chang told Rayford, “I’m going to immediately switch to this commercial we devised last week.”
The tape showed a particularly strong clip from Tsion’s last broadcast speech and closed with a voice-over: “Proclamations from your potentate are allowed only by the goodwill of Tsion Ben-Judah and your friends at Petra.”
Chang had for several days been testing the bugging job Buck and George had done in the private conference room in Baghdad. He got to where he could coordinate the video with the audio, switch to whoever was talking, and even follow Carpathia as he moved at the head of the table. Two of the hidden video devices had the ability to follow a person around the room.
The arrival of the ten regional potentates from around the world was broadcast by GCNN, and Buck couldn’t remember such pomp and circumstance since Carpathia had mocked the Stations of the Cross in Jerusalem. Parades, marching bands, light shows, dancing girls, announcements, and pronouncements. Stands full of cheering supplicants lined the routes, as representatives from each of the regions preceded their potentate.
Finally the dignitaries and a few thousand sycophants lucky enough to get tickets were ushered into the great room of the new conference hall, where Carpathia was to hold forth on an exciting new chapter in world history.
The Most High Reverend Father of Carpathianism, Leon Fortunato, was tapped to make the royal introduction, of course. He was in full regalia, which started at the top with a brimless fez of cardinal-red felt with a flat top adorned by a tassel of alternating gold and silver strings with mirrored bits that reflected the stage lights all over the auditorium. He wore a new robe of purple and iridescent yellow with six bars of brocade on each sleeve.
Fortunato was so obsequious and fawning in his introduction that anyone but Antichrist himself would have been ill with embarrassment. Carpathia stood in mock humility, clearly fighting a smile, and bathed in the worship from his toadies.
“Thank you, thank you, thank you, one and all,” Carpathia said, arms outstretched. “You are too kind to this humble servant from modest beginnings who has found himself thrust into a responsibility far beyond what he ever dreamed, only to discover by a spark of the divine that he was truly god—even to the point that he resurrected himself from the dead.
“And yet you—yes, each and every one of you—have made my task easier, in spite of crushing opposition and obstacles on every side. Every region has been well served by dynamic sub-potentates who have pulled together in times of crisis and helped make our fractious world a truly global community.”
Carpathia was interrupte
d countless times by tumultuous applause, and each time he seemed to bask in the glow of it. “This,” he said, “may be the most momentous and historic occasion in the history of our world. Despite the decimation of our citizenry—and our government—by relentless plagues and what our enemies glibly refer to as ‘judgments from heaven,’ I have called the top leaders together from every corner of the earth. Tomorrow, in a highly secure, private meeting, I will outline my marvelous, truly inspired plan to once and for all lead us to our goal of true global harmony.
“Our detractors have been given ample opportunity to see the error of their ways and to join our international family. I truly believed for too long that they were merely misunderstanding our aim and were ignorant of the benefits of standing shoulder to shoulder with us. Imagine what we could accomplish with everyone on board!
“Well, that day will soon come, my friends. We shall work together to enlist our enemies as fellow laborers, or we will eradicate them from our midst and be left with only loyalists . . . loyalists who share a common goal and purpose: true utopia, paradise on earth.
“No doubt all—even the opposition—have to agree that we have been fair. We have been patient. We have tried. But the time for tolerance has come to an end. Do you detect an end of patience? I freely admit it. It is time to get on board or be eliminated. Within half a year, I pledge to every loyal citizen of our Global Community, the opposition to peace will be destroyed. You will be living in the peaceful wonderland of your dreams.”
Representatives of the sub-potentates from the ten regions, when interviewed by TV reporters, all played a variation of the same tune: “This is the privilege of a lifetime. What I wouldn’t give to be in the private conference that follows this.”
