A week later a convoy of fearless Co-op drivers showed up with five semitrailers. One of the semis became buried in a sandy area near the buildings. Another reached a Trib Force storage center in Iowa and provided food and medicine for hundreds of families. But the three other trucks had been chased and apprehended by the GC. The drivers were beaten and questioned before being executed.
“No more of these missions until we know it’s safe,” Marshall Jameson said.
Vicki was even more depressed after the drivers’ deaths. She had hoped to convince the others that Judd and Lionel needed to be in Wisconsin instead of Ohio. But with each day, a new report of GC activity seemed to block their return.
Vicki took comfort in the new life of Ryan Victor. The Fogartys were overjoyed with caring for the baby. The diapers Charlie had found were huge on the child, but Shelly rigged up a way to make them work. Everyone took turns holding him and helping Cheryl with anything she needed. It was almost like the boy had an unlimited set of brothers and sisters.
Vicki tried to stay current on the events around the world and especially news from Petra. Tsion Ben-Judah’s letters continued to encourage people to stay strong as they passed the four-year mark of the Tribulation.
Sam Goldberg wrote more Petra Diaries, which made Vicki feel like she was in the ancient city. Sam’s descriptions of Tsion Ben-Judah’s messages, along with the testimonies of Micah and others, made her want to travel there. Sam described the battle going on for the soul of his new friend, and the kids prayed the boy would decide for God soon.
Sam Goldberg had tried everything to reach his new friend, Lev Taubman. Lev had moved with his family from Chicago to Jerusalem just before the disappearances, and they had spent the months before the escape to Petra hiding from the Global Community in secret passageways underneath the Holy City. Lev’s father, mother, and older sister shared a small hut in Petra, and Sam had spent a lot of time talking with them.
They watched reports of miracles performed by devoted Carpathia followers, and Lev seemed moved by the dead raised to life and the people healed.
“You know what Dr. Ben-Judah says about them,” Sam said.
“How could I not hear?” Lev said. “Fakers. Deceivers. They are not using the power of God, but the power of the evil one. Am I right?”
“Yes, but do you understand Tsion’s message? These miracle workers were sent to draw you away from the true God to worship a false one.”
Each day, as Tsion or Chaim followed the main teaching with an evangelistic message, Sam prayed for Lev and his family and the others who still had not believed in Christ. Each day he searched the foreheads of Lev’s family for the mark of the believer, and each day Sam was disappointed.
Nothing could stop Sam from singing, praying, and celebrating with the people who had been turned around by the preaching and teaching. But Sam’s heart ached when he thought of Lev and his family, who were so close to the truth.
Sam had found another new friend in Chang Wong, the teenager in New Babylon Judd talked so much about. Chang had written Sam about one of his Petra Diaries, and the two had struck up a friendship. Sam asked Chang his opinion about unbelievers in Petra.
Chang wrote:
Let me remind you that these people are just like you and me before the disappearances. There was a cloud over our understanding. You know this from Tsion’s message. We are in a war for people’s souls.
Paul writes, “For we are not fighting against people made of flesh and blood, but against the evil rulers and authorities of the unseen world, against those mighty powers of darkness who rule this world, and against wicked spirits in the heavenly realms.” There is something holding back your friend, and I will pray that God will break through before it’s too late.
My sister told me what happened to her in China recently. Three angels visited a group of unbelievers and preached the Good News to them. Some twenty-five of them received the mark of the believer before they were executed. God is at work. He is still calling people to follow him, so do not give up.
A few weeks later, Sam invited Lev to listen to Dr. Ben-Judah’s teaching. That day, Tsion was to speak of the fruit of the Spirit from Galatians.
“I’ll go with you if you’ll go with me later,” Lev said.
“Where?”
“Into the Negev. I hear a miracle worker is visiting us.”
Sam frowned. “I have heard the rumors too.”
“You don’t believe he’ll come?”
Sam shook his head. “I’m sure he will. Nicolae will try anything to get people to believe the lie that he is god—”
“I knew you would close your mind to this. My father said there was no sense inviting you.”
“You and your family are in grave danger, and you don’t understand it.”
“My father read about the miracle workers in Mr. Williams’s The Truth.”
“And Mr. Williams made it clear every time he mentioned them that they are fakes. You can’t trust them.”
“My family will go, and we will at least hear them out. My father thinks they may give us a reprieve about the mark—”
“You’re still considering taking Carpathia’s mark? After all you’ve seen and heard here?”
Now it was Lev shaking his head. “You’re so closed minded. You probably wouldn’t even come to the debate they’re talking about.”
“What debate?”
“The one between your Dr. Ben-Judah and Leon Fortunato. Don’t look at me that way. It’s from a reliable person. They said it would be televised so the whole world could hear.”
“I would welcome such a debate,” Sam said. “Maybe you will finally see the truth.”
“I still don’t know who or what to believe, but getting out of this place for a couple of hours and walking into the desert to see a show, that interests me.”
Sam thought of all he had seen God do while coming to Petra. People had been protected from bullets, missiles, and an army sent against them. What more did Lev need? Sam’s lip trembled, and he looked away.
Lev grabbed his shoulder and turned him around. “Why are you crying?”
Sam stared. “I beg you not to go. You must convince your family not to follow the false messiahs. It could mean death to you.”
Lev smiled. “I appreciate how much you care. I’ll talk to my family.”
Sam wandered back to camp, walking a different way than normal and praying, asking God to show him something new to speak to Lev. He spotted a man in his early thirties sitting by a campfire. Sam recognized him as a pilot friend of the American Rayford Steele. Sam walked closer, and the man motioned for him to sit.
“You look troubled, my young friend. My name is Abdullah.”
Though he didn’t know this man, Sam poured out Lev’s story easily.
Abdullah listened and leaned forward when Sam finished. “I am not an outgoing person. Some would call me shy. But what you talk about has troubled me too. I have been pleading with those who are undecided, asking them not to go out. I’ve told them the only safety they can be assured of is here in Petra, and the only safety for their souls is in accepting the forgiveness of Jesus Christ.”
“But what if they don’t listen?” Sam said. “What if they go out anyway?”
Abdullah took a stick and traced it in the ashes surrounding the campfire. “There is only one way I know to make this piece of wood catch fire.” He stuck it in the yellow blaze until the stick burned, then pulled it out. Flames licked at the wood and ran to the end. “The fire of God is ignited through the prayers of his people. I don’t mean that God only acts on what we ask, but I have never seen a person come to God without prayer somehow being a part of it.” Abdullah threw the stick into the flames. “How much have you prayed for your friend?”
“Every day.”
“Good. Double that. Triple it. Pray every hour. I will add him to my list as well. Ask others to join you. Get on that e-mail thing the young people have—”
“The You
ng Trib Force?”
“Yes. Ask everyone to pray with lots of hardness.”
“But what if nothing happens? What if we pray and Lev still goes out there?”
Abdullah stood. “When you are at war, you do not know how it will end. However, in this one, we know God wins, so we have the advantage. But we do not know what will happen in these battles for people’s lives. Keep praying and asking God to work—pray that the eyes of Lev’s heart will be opened. Pray that God will receive glory from Lev’s life. And that he will finally understand the truth.”
Abdullah’s eyes twinkled in the firelight. “The results are not up to you. You can’t make people believe. You must simply be faithful. If God brings someone to you, pray for them. Speak to them. Love them.”
Sam watched the stick burn. “Why don’t we pray right now?”
Abdullah smiled, clapped Sam’s neck with a hand, and shook him gently. “Now you’re talking with my language.”
26
AS LIONEL improved over the next few weeks, Judd spent more time at the computer, reading The Truth, Sam’s Petra Diaries, and anything else about the outside world. Judd was glad Lionel was making progress, but each time Judd saw him, he felt somehow betrayed, like Lionel had hurt himself to keep Judd away from Vicki. Of course, Judd knew this wasn’t true, but something was going on inside him, a bitterness he knew had to be worked out.
Before the disappearances, Judd had felt this way about his parents. They were trying to hold him back, keep him from doing things, making his life hard.
Now Judd had a new perspective. His parents had tried to give him freedom and let him make his own decisions. At the time, Judd figured they had no clue about his bad decisions, including turning his back on the church and God. But now Judd wondered if they had known. Had they sensed the battle inside him?
Thinking of his parents reminded Judd of the good times. When he was young, there was the excitement of summer, baseball, campouts, and vacation trips. Fall meant school, football, raking leaves, and preparing for the holidays. Winter was Christmas, snowball fights, skiing, and hockey. And spring meant baseball, heading outside, and planning for summer. The seasons had led from one to another in perfect sequence. It was part of the rhythm of life Judd took for granted.
But since the disappearances, those seasons had been interrupted. He used to be concerned about the weather and was bummed if it rained. Now he and the others stayed inside, scared to go out for fear of the Global Community. They did things at night, and Judd began to appreciate nocturnal animals and studied their living habits.
As the temperature turned colder, then plummeted severely, he resigned himself to staying in Ohio with their new friends. There was no way he and Lionel could set out on foot, and taking a vehicle was too dangerous. His trip north was on hold.
During this “underground season” as Judd called it, he looked forward to two things: writing or talking with Vicki and communicating with anyone else outside their group. Judd loved sending e-mails to Sam in Petra. He wrote Rayford Steele in San Diego and Chang Wong in New Babylon.
He also enjoyed writing Zeke in Wisconsin and hearing another perspective of things going on there. Zeke emailed texts of devotional messages by Marshall Jameson, and Judd was impressed by the tough issues he tackled. Marshall addressed becoming discouraged while being cooped up, fear of the Global Community, anger at God for making them go through the horrors of the Tribulation, and more. The one Judd was most interested in was a weeklong message Marshall had given on marriage. Several days were devoted to how husbands and wives were supposed to treat each other, but Marshall had begun by talking about whether it was good or bad to be focused on romantic relationships during such a terrible time.
The words challenged Judd to think more about Vicki, and they exchanged several e-mails about the material. What would a romance between Judd and Vicki do to their main purpose of spreading God’s truth? Would it in any way take away from that goal, or would they be more effective together?
As Judd thought about the questions, an e-mail from Chang Wong in New Babylon arrived. I wanted you to hear this for yourself, Chang wrote. I ran across it and think it shows the kind of evil we’re up against.
Judd opened the audio file and recognized the voices of Nicolae Carpathia and Leon Fortunato.
“If your wizards can do all these tricks, Leon, why can they not turn a whole sea back into salt water?”
“Excellency, that is a lot to ask. You must admit that they have done wonders for the Global Community.”
“They have not done as much good as the Judah-ites have done bad, and that is the only scorecard that counts!”
“Your Worship, not to be contrary, but you are aware that Carpathian disciples all over the world have raised the dead, are you not?”
“I raised myself from the dead, Leon. These little tricks, bringing smelly corpses from graves just to amaze people and thrill the relatives, do not really compete with the Judah-ites’, do they?”
“Turning wooden sticks into snakes? Impressive. Turning water to blood and then back again, then the water to wine? I thought you would particularly enjoy that one.”
“I want converts, man! I want changed minds! When is your television debate with Ben-Judah?”
“Next week.”
“And you are prepared?”
“Never more so, Highness.”
“This man is clever, Leon.”
“More than you, Risen One?”
“Well, of course not. But you must carry the ball. You must carry the day! And while you are at it, be sure to suggest to the cowardly sheep in Petra that an afternoon of miracles is planned, almost in their backyard, for later that same day.”
“Sir, I had hoped we could test the area first.”
“Test the area? Test the area?”
“Forgive me, Excellency, but where you have directed me to have a disciple stage that spectacle is so close to where we lost ground troops and weapons and where we have been unsuccessful in every attempt to interrupt their flying missions, not to mention where, my goodness, we dropped two bombs and a—”
“All right, I know what has gone on there, Leon! Who does not?! Test it if you must, but I want it convenient to those people. I want them filing out of that Siq and gathering for our event for a change. And when they see what my creature can do, we will start seeing wholesale moves from one camp to the other. You know who I want for that show, do you not?”
“Your best? I mean, one of your—”
“No less. Our goal should be to leave Petra a ghost town!”
“Oh, sir, I—”
“When did you become such a pessimist, Leon? We call you the Most High Reverend Father of Carpathianism, and I have offered myself as a living god, risen from the dead, with powers from on high. Yours is merely a sales job, Leon. Remind the people what their potentate has to offer, and watch them line up. And we have a special, you know.”
“A special, sir?”
“Yes! We are running a special! This week only, anyone from Petra will be allowed to take the mark of loyalty with no punishment for having missed the deadline, now long since past. Think of the influence they can have on others just like them.”
“The fear factor has worked fairly well, Potentate.”
“Well, it is sort of a no-more-Mr.-Nice-Guy campaign, one would have to admit. But the time is past for worrying about my image. By now if people do not know who I am and what I am capable of, it is too late for them. But some blow to the other side, some victory over the curse of the bloody seas—that can only help. And I want you to do well against Ben-Judah, Leon. You are learned and devout, and you ask for worship of a living, breathing god who is here and who is not silent. It takes no faith to believe in the deity of one you can see on television every day. I should be the easy, convenient, logical choice.”
“Of course, Majesty, and I shall portray you that way.”
The conversation sent a chill down Judd’s spine. Who was th
is creature Carpathia mentioned, and what would he do? Was there no end to Carpathia’s evil? Judd prayed for Sam Goldberg and his friend who was not yet a believer. He asked God to help convince more people to turn to the true and living God.
There was excitement in Petra as Sam met with Abdullah to pray for Lev and his family. Sam found Abdullah singing near his tent, getting ready for the meeting that would beam Tsion’s face via satellite to debate Leon Fortunato. Abdullah was hopeful that this would change many minds, but he was also excited about a flight he was making for the International Commodity Co-op.
“I think this trade we are about to make,” Abdullah said, “is so big, only God could pull it off.”
Sam smiled and the two began praying. Over the past few weeks, prayer had become more to Sam than simply telling God what he wanted. Sam was being drawn into something deeper, a reliance and trust in God that he couldn’t explain. When Sam brought Lev, his family, and his other concerns to God, Sam felt God not only heard his requests but also took them like a weight from his shoulders. While Sam met with Lev later, he noticed he didn’t feel as heavyhearted. He could simply talk naturally with his friend and show an interest in him.
The afternoon of the debate, Sam walked to Lev’s home but couldn’t find him. He asked a woman nearby where the Taubman family was, and she pointed and shook her head. “I don’t know why the rabbi puts up with such people.”
Sam climbed down to an area leading out of the city and spotted a gathering of thousands. Tsion Ben-Judah and Chaim Rosenzweig were trying to quiet them. None of the people had the mark of the believer.
Sam noticed Lev’s father and sister, who moved toward the front. “As soon as this debate is over, we’re leaving here for a few hours to hear another speaker,” Mr. Taubman said. “He will be right close by, and many believe he is the Christ. Jesus come back to earth to perform miracles and explain the future!”
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