The Complete 8-Book Guardians Adventure Saga

by Summer Lee

  A chill ran up my spine.

  “Demons are only allowed a small amount of power,” she said. “The power of God is great. The damage that is released on the earth when the horsemen ride out is punishment to those who reject God and his chosen nation, Israel. Those are the same ones who reject Jesus Christ as Savior. The Four Horsemen will ride out with the purpose of defending the Lord Jesus Christ and his righteousness.”

  I thought hard about all of this.

  Listen! Do you hear them now? I do. They are . . .

  Galloping, galloping, galloping.

  Chapter Thirty-six

  After dinner, I wrapped myself in a comforter and sat in my recliner. I wished my husband and son were home from their cruise. I knew that I would never see them again, not on this earth…

  I decided I would read the passage about the horsemen in the Bible again. Perhaps I had missed something. When I paused to rest my eyes, my mind wandered.

  When the Lamb opened the second seal, John heard the second living creature say, “Come!” Then a fiery red horse carried a rider, who rode out with power to “take peace from the earth and to make people kill each other.” People were so evil, that when the peace of God was withheld from the earth, they killed each other.

  Zechariah’s red horses rode east, so, I considered the powers in the Far East. The size and speed of China’s economic growth, coupled with its economic policies, represented a “growing source of concern” in the United States, according to Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner. A survey taken by a foundation in Germany stated that the United States would lose its position as the world’s undisputed leading power over the next decade and a half, with China emerging as a formidable rival. In the survey, based on interviews of 10,250 people worldwide, more than 50 percent of the voters said they believed the United States would be a world power in the year 2020. A survey in China showed they believed China would be in a leading role in 2020 showed a similar percentage.

  Another survey, entitled “World Powers in the 21st Century” was conducted by the Gallup polling institute in nine countries: Brazil, China, France, Germany, India, Japan, Russia, the United Kingdom and the United States. Between 1,000 and 1,500 interviews were conducted in each of the countries. At least half saw China rising in status. The survey showed the Chinese themselves were confident they would gain influence on the global stage.

  Many Chinese respondents said their country would be a world power by 2020. In September 2000, the government of China joined the international community of nations in pledging support for the Millennium Declaration that sets out a global agenda for human development. World leaders gathered in UN Headquarters in New York to take stock of progress and to adopt strategies to accelerate results where needed.

  China had shown that the right policies and actions, backed by adequate funding and strong political commitment, could yield results. China had made remarkable achievements toward poverty reduction. Additionally, China’s experience and its support to other developing countries had made a significant contribution to international efforts to meet these development goals and targets.

  China had emerged as an important contributor to global partnership. China’s efforts to undervalue its currency were not a tenable policy for China’s economy. The survey showed that India would also rise as a world power by 2020.

  The United States, the United Kingdom, Germany, France and Japan were expected to decline in status in the next 15 years. Of the respondents within those five declining countries, only those in France went against the international trend and said their country would gain in status from now until then. It was time for America to take these allegations seriously. Young Americans needed to decide that our country would gain in status, not lose our dignity. America had something in its favor. It was not specifically mentioned in Scripture. Perhaps this meant it was our choice. Did we want to live for God…or not?

  No matter which color of horse represented China, the day would come when they stepped out on the world scene. So, we would keep our ears open for the sound of the hooves clopping across our skies once again.

  Galloping, galloping, galloping.

  Chapter Thirty-seven

  “It is time for you to earn your keep again,” I told Amanda one day, jokingly.

  “Dearest Martha,” she said primly. “I earn my keep by keeping your house dusted, though the cleaning machine is so frightening to me.”

  “You’re scared of the vacuum?” I asked.

  “It roars at me,” she said.

  We laughed as she always did when making light of something in those moments that we relieved the tension we were under.

  Amanda had just gotten back from a visit to see her “cat” and this time, she had brought me a gift, probably from the Lion of Judah…from Jerusalem.

  “Oh, thank you, Amanda!” I said. “Look! It’s a beautiful little palm tree in a clay pot with Hebrew writing on it!”

  “It is a very special palm tree.”

  “How special?” I asked, almost afraid to find out.

  She sighed. “It is a descendent of the Judean date palm from which were cut the fronds of the very first Palm Sunday. Just days before the cross, when Jesus rode the donkey into Jerusalem, the mother of this tree provided the branches that were waved in welcome.” She nodded, in case I didn’t get it.

  But I did get it.

  My jaw dropped with shock. “Where on earth did you get this?”

  “From the source. Someone who loves you very much wanted you to have it, for inspiration.”

  “My goodness!” I said, honored and flabbergasted. “I don’t understand the gift. I know it is supposed to mean something important.”

  “You shall understand when it is time to understand,” she said.

  “Since I live in the north, it will have to be a houseplant,” I said. I set the pot carefully in the sunny window. “You are so full of mysteries, Amanda.” I stopped just short of asking her if she was an angel, as well as a prophetess.

  “As are you. So, what is it that we are going to decipher today?” she asked.

  “Jesus opening the third seal.”

  “The third seal is the black horse. Right?”

  “Exactly,” I said. “I want to make sure I am right. The third seal in John’s vision revealed a third living creature saying, ‘Come!’ Apostle John saw a black horse come on the scene. Prophet Zechariah said the black horses went toward the North. So, for lack of better information, we will assume this black horse goes north. Its rider was carrying a pair of scales in his hand.”

  “That is symbolic,” Amanda said.

  I looked at her. “That sounds like Africa, but it can’t be. It has to be Russia. That is, if we follow the prophet, Zechariah, then I believe I am correct.”

  I had been reading my log early in the morning, but ran into a snag. I wanted to tell Amanda what the Bible had to say before making a final judgment. “John heard what sounded like a voice among the four living creatures, saying, ‘Two pounds of wheat and six pounds of barley for a day’s wages, and do not damage the oil and the wine!’”

  “So, this rider from heaven will hold back the rain,” Amanda said.

  “I’d say so. If there is no food, then there must be drought.”

  “So, you see it as famine spreading north, and then engulfing the world?”

  “Yes, I do,” I said. “The apostle’s vision has to mean that.”

  “The coming plague may begin north of Israel and then spread to the country of Russia.” Amanda was deep in thought. “It will then spread around the world. You may be right.”

  “I think,” I said, “that strange weather conditions will make it difficult to grow the needed food for the world as well as those living north of Israel. We already have the honeybees dying off and less crop pollination.”

  She nodded. “Do you think this severe weather will be during the tribulation?”

  “Could be.” I bit my lower lip. “Beginning now, it seems.
”

  “Let’s proceed further. Looking into the Bible, we find the words, ‘Gog and Magog.’ Scholars say these represent activities which Russia will engage in at the end of time,” Amanda said.

  “So, it may not necessarily be weather conditions,” I said. “The prophets who foretold of end time events often showed evil rulers in Russia in the last days.”

  “Godless men have been in power in Russia for a long time.” She turned and gazed at me. “You know that, Martha. You know the one who is in power right now in Russia?”

  “I know his name,” I said, dropping my head and looking down. “But there are others, too. The Moscow Times published a piece by someone by the name of Yulia Latynina. The headline was, ‘When a Murderer Becomes a Hero.’” Once again, I raised my eyes.

  Amanda asked, “What was the heroic act?”

  “The article was devoted to the assassination of the notorious Colonel Budanov, who was imprisoned for raping and murdering a teenage Chechen girl. I think her name was Elsa Kungayeva,” I said. “Latynina wrote that there had been many cases throughout history of heroic soldiers who were guilty of rape and murder. Budanov, however, is the only soldier who was hailed as a hero exclusively for rape and murder. Up to that point, no other heroic wartime feat has been attributed to him.”

  “Evil! Terrible evil!” Amanda said. “What has the world come to?”

  “That is awful. I feel sick,” I said.

  During the exchange, Amanda looked out into the thick of the trees.

  I followed her gaze to two birds on a tree limb.

  “Do you see the evil that comes when walking away from truth and light?” she asked.

  I nodded.

  She continued, “It is because wicked men sit on the board in Russian government, surrounded by spiritual darkness.” She spoke with throaty emotion. “Who would even trade with people like this?” she asked.

  “I don’t dismiss Russia as an economic rival because its wealth is derived from raw materials like oil and food grains,” I said. “Policy thinkers in the United States should see the bigger picture than the fact that Russia is more than a military superpower.”

  “What do you mean?” Amanda asked.

  “The Russian weakness of not being a raw materials-based power was upstaged when Putin brought the one who won the spoils of the Soviet collapse to heel.”

  “How so?” she asked again.

  “He did this by keeping Mikhail Khodorkovsky in jail on trumped-up charges.”

  “I did not know that. I had not heard of this…Khodorkovsky.”

  “I know that Russia has issues with Israel,” I said.

  “Verily,” she said.

  “Debates on what to do with Israel always abound in Russia, and the Russian Council repeatedly condemns the Jewish State. But it has never adopted a resolution critical of the PLO or of Arab attacks on Israel,” I said.

  “I know they can be…how do you say it…two-faced,” Amanda said.

  I nodded and said, “The UN Ambassador declared, ‘What takes place in their Security Council ‘more closely resembles a mugging than a political debate or an effort at problem-solving.’ Kirkpatrick said that Israel is a thorn in Russia’s side.”

  “How long have things been this terrible?” Amanda asked.

  “I know that the Soviet Union broke off relations with the Jewish State after the Six-Day War. It has been that way ever since.” I had read about the Arab-Israeli conflict continuing as Russia voted consistently against Israel. I continued, “Pressure is on Israel at this time to return to the 1967 boundaries. This would take away most of the land for the Jews. But Israel just wanted the attacks to stop. They still do. They are looking through rose-colored glasses.”

  “What does that expression mean?” she asked.

  “It means, Amanda, that they have delusional hope.”

  Amanda nodded, tears pouring down her glowing face. She looked like an angel who was weeping for the world. Perhaps she was.

  I said, “Russia has been the strongest power from the north for centuries.”

  She wiped her tears on her sleeve. “How did they come to this place of power?”

  “It started with the Great Northern War in 1700–1721 with a conflict in which a coalition, led by Russia, successfully contested Sweden in northern Europe. One of the initial leaders of the anti-Swedish alliance was Peter the Great, of Russia. Others were Augustus the Strong, Frederick IV and August II. The war started when an alliance of Russia and other nations declared war on the Swedish Empire, launching a threefold attack. They had an opportunity to overthrow Karl XII, who was eighteen years old and inexperienced at the time,” she said. “The conflict continued with communism until it failed. However, they have not given up. They are coming back on the scene.”

  “My heart hurts for the world,” Amanda said.

  “Mine, too,” I replied.

  We brought our conversation to an end, and I went back on my laptop. That was when I noticed the Bosnian Pyramid of the Sun, which was completely covered by rectangular concrete blocks. It was a pyramid with precise placement of 0 degrees and 0 minutes, facing cosmic north.

  I was reading about Europe when I became intrigued by the article by Semir Osmanagich who went to Visoko, Bosnia. He found good in the midst of bad, and in the middle of ugly, he found beauty. Going to Bosnia in 2005, he saw a triangle-shaped hill with four sides. He got so excited when a closer view revealed four faces with clean-cut corners. It was now named the Bosnian Pyramid of the Sun. More such pyramids were soon found in the area.

  The pyramids were named for the Sun, Moon, Love, and Dragon. The height of the Sun Pyramid is 220 meters, much taller than the one in Giza. The way they dissipated heat showed they were hollow. Tunnels and a lake were found below. According to an Israeli newsletter, “The properties of the concrete include both extreme hardness and low water absorption.” This is far superior to modern-day concrete. Scientists from Bosnia, Italy and France all agree.”

  What will they find next? I wondered.

  I told Amanda about my find and said, “I’d rather write a blog about that.”

  She agreed that it would be an exciting journey. “Right now, I’m still trying to surmise how to get evil people to repent.”

  “You’re joking.” I laughed. “Good luck with that.”

  “No jesting! I am reading about how Israel’s neighbors don’t like them. Nearby Muslim nations have constant conflict against Israel. The Arab League has been reinforced by organized Islamic groups. They are on the brink of an full-scale war.”

  I said, “Russia got involved. They stepped into the breach after a communication between Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Russian President Vladimir Putin went sour. Russia said that the two sides need to exercise restraint, but the recent rocket attacks from Gaza on Israeli villages caused counterattacks from Israel.”

  “That is how war always is,” Amanda said sadly.

  “Oh, it gets worse,” I said. “Russia blamed Israel for its disproportional response to Palestinians firing rockets into Israel. It was as if they thought the smaller battles should go on forever.”

  “The president of Russia called on the parties to avoid the path of escalating violence, and to return the situation to a normal course.”

  “Does not sound good.”

  “’Attacks on the south of Israel and the responsive strikes on Gaza are unacceptable,’ said the foreign ministry spokesman, Alexander Lukashevich. The situation escalates whenever the Israeli Air Force eliminates a head of Hamas military wing, like Ahmed Khalid al-Jabari. That was when Israel launched the Pillar of Defense in Gaza, which took out many rocket-launching sites.”

  I explained to Amanda that leading nonaligned nations, such as India and China, had diplomatic ties with Israel.

  She put her finger on a Bible verse and read it aloud to me. “Ezekiel 38:15 read, ‘And thou shalt come from thy place out of the north parts, thou, and many people with thee, all of the
m riding upon horses, a great company, and a mighty army: And thou shalt come up against my people of Israel, as a cloud to cover the land; it shall be in the latter days.’”

  She looked at me. “What does this mean, according to what you know about Russia?”

  “Russia was one of the nations that believed Jerusalem should be divided into two parts: western/Israeli, and eastern/Palestinian, while the holy sites could only be under international control. A Russian foreign minister made statements to the notion that Jerusalem belonging only to one side would never work. He said that this should be part of an overall settlement, someday, when Palestine and Israel agree on their border. The Palestinian National Authority (PNA) sought to establish an independent state within the 1967 borders. At the time, the president of the United States agreed. We already knew the Jews would not give up Jerusalem without a fight.”

  Amanda spoke thoughtfully. “So much of what we see going on in world news looks like the Bible being fulfilled.”

  “Yes,” I said. “I looked at the same passages from different angles so as to implant the thought in our minds that even now, the horses are preparing to come to earth.”

  “Some Bible scholars believe they were already here,” Amanda said.

  I heard them:

  Galloping, galloping, galloping.

  Interlude

  I knew there was a connection between Isaiah and Revelation. Isaiah showed Jesus as the Messiah in the millennial reign of Christ.

  “The leopard shall lie down with the young goat,