Convened at Doc’s apartment to witness both the treaty ceremony from Germany and, in a couple hours, the live broadcast from Jerusalem of the first Temple sacrifice, it was a reunion of sorts, the first time they had all gathered together since the team returned home. Kallie, banished by the Israeli government, was living with the Bohannons for the time being, piecing her life back together. Tonight, she couldn’t seem to avoid, nor looked like she wanted to, the constant attention of Sammy Rizzo, her self-proclaimed rescuer.
“I hope the Palestinians don’t blow up the process,” said Annie.
It seemed to Bohannon that he’d barely let go of Annie’s hand since he returned from Germany. Even now, she sat by his side, wrapped around his left arm, her head on his shoulder.
“Each day I think something is going to go wrong,” said Joe, sitting side-by-side with Dierdre on a made-for-two, cushioned patio swing. “I mean, we got home okay, we didn’t get arrested, the world didn’t blow up . . . and we still have our jobs.”
“I told my boss I wanted a raise,” said Rizzo. “Combat pay.”
“Maybe Tom can arrange for the Bowery Mission to provide you with a bonus,” Johnson generously offered. “How much did the organization realize from the auction of those books?”
“Six million dollars,” said Bohannon. “But don’t get any ideas. It’s all allocated to doubling the size of the women’s home.”
“Well . . . there you have it, my diminutive friend.” Johnson was draped along the length of a lounge chair, one hand airily waving in the soft breeze. “Wounded in the line of duty and nothing to show for it.”
“Maybe we can hock the mezuzah,” suggested Rizzo, “and all take a trip to the Virgin Islands. You still got it locked up in the vault at the Collector’s Club?”
“Don’t worry about it, Sammy,” said Rodriguez. “The scroll and the mezuzah are safe and secure. I wish I felt the same way about this peace treaty.”
“Well, Mr. Rodriguez, in my opinion one of the thorniest moments will come in a few hours,” said Johnson, who was finally beginning to regain some of his lost weight, “when the resurrected priesthood of the Aaronites is going to offer ritual sacrifice in the Temple. After so many years of violence, I find it difficult to believe what I’m seeing, that Arab and Jew could so easily put aside generations of hatred.”
“But, Doc, they just signed the treaty,” said Rizzo.
“Yes . . . yes, I know. But the pace has been so rapid . . .”
“That’s what I’m concerned about,” Kallie interrupted. “Everything is just moving so fast. I was astonished when the Waqf relinquished control of the Huldah Gates, allowed the Israelis under the Mount, and granted them permission to clear away an entrance to the discovered Temple—even before the treaty was signed. Now, everything is in place for the sacrifice. Don’t the Arabs get it?”
Perhaps it was the late hour, but Bohannon was getting confused. “Get what?”
“The significance,” Johnson mumbled. “The Temple has been consecrated, all the furniture and elements are in place. All that remains is for the priests to lead a procession into the Temple chamber, bringing the sacrifices with them. It’s astonishing . . . historical . . . the first time in nearly two thousand years that the Jews will be able to worship in the Temple with ritual sacrifice.”
Johnson stretched, then abruptly sat up straight and turned to his friends. “But first, how about a midnight snack? Who wants Chinese?”
Doc Johnson’s media room smelled like soy sauce and onions. White cardboard containers with swirly red designs littered nearly every flat surface. A potted plant was skewered with a pair of chopsticks, courtesy of Sammy Rizzo, who found his hands full as the boxed cuisine was passed from person to person. They were sipping tea and cracking open fortune cookies as they watched the Temple ritual played out on Johnson’s plasma TV. While the take-out was excellent, it was no match for the drama unfolding before their eyes.
It was the third hour in Jerusalem, 9:00 AM local time, and the Levites were about to open the Temple. Like fireflies to a yard light, Bohannon, Johnson, Rodriguez, and Rizzo—pulling Kallie with him—were drawn from their seats and gathered close around the television screen. Annie and Deirdre sat just behind them.
“We were right there,” said Rodriguez, jumping in his seat with excitement. “Remember that fallen column on the left? That’s where Doc dropped his last cyalume stick.”
“Thank you, Mr. Rodriguez, for reminding me of my bumbling, and in front of such nice people, too.”
“Ease up, Doc,” Rodriguez said with a poke. “Tom and I would still be wandering around in those caves like Hansel and Gretel if it hadn’t been for you. You saved our backsides more times than I’d like to remember.”
“Duly noted,” Johnson said with a nod of his head.
Bohannon was enjoying the moment on many levels. He was blessed to hear the bantering between his fellow adventurers. Bohannon knew how many times they had come close to losing everything: their search, their hope, and their lives. He knew how many times God had answered their prayers, his prayers. But what warmed his heart the most was a new, just sprouting, conviction that seemed to be coming alive in Richard Johnson. Earlier that night, Doc had pulled Bohannon into a side room.
“You know, Tom, I’m thinking that you may be right. God really does love each one of us.” Bohannon nearly choked. “I don’t understand it, but I know I’ve just lived it. I think I’ve been searching for God all my life. It’s going to take some time to sink in, but the empirical evidence is that I think he’s found me.”
Remembering that moment, reflexively, Bohannon put his hand on Doc’s shoulder.
“They are about to cleanse the altar with the blood of the sacrifice,” said Johnson. “This is the key moment. It is the blood offering that washes away the sins of the Jews.”
“Eeewww . . . gross!” Rizzo shuddered from his perch in front of the TV. “Holy transfusion, that is a lot of blood from one ram, don’t you think? Oh-oh, here comes another.”
The sacrifice ritual came to an end, and the priests began to line up for the procession out of the Temple and back to the surface. CNN brought in some “expert commentators” for the event, and the one who was getting the most face time was Ben Heath, the evangelical pastor of a megachurch just outside Dallas. Heath continually emphasized the significance of the just-completed Temple sacrifice to the course of history. “This is not just a Christian thing or a Bible thing,” Heath responded to a question. “This event is going to dramatically impact the lives of every human being currently living on the face of this planet. The prophecy in the Bible has been unerring in its predictions for the future. We have seen the fruit of prophecy fulfillment in every generation since the books were first written down.”
“Why is that so important to us?” asked the commentator.
“Because the Bible is full of predictions about what will happen when the Third Temple of God is consecrated, as is being done this very moment.”
“And what are some of those predictions?”
Heath hesitated.
“He sees the trap.” Bohannon pushed up to the edge of his chair and wiped the palms of his perspiring hands against his thighs, just as he had done during the Giants’ final scoring drive in the 2008 Super Bowl. “He knows what CNN is looking for. The question is, can he avoid it?”
“There’s truth here,” said Heath, “but it’s truth that needs to be revealed gradually. Temple prophecy is abundant, it’s powerful, and it’s easily misunderstood. The return of ritual sacrifice to the Temple of Jerusalem will have great historical significance. Judaism believes it will herald the long-awaited arrival of the Messiah. But for those who believe the entire Bible is true, both Old and New Testament, one thing is indisputable. Consecration of the Third Temple of God brings us into the last days of this world.”
Eyes blinking rapidly, the announcer leaned toward the pastor. He looked bewildered. “Are you saying this is going to lead to
the end of the world?”
“No,” said Heath, his voice soft and calm. “What I’m saying is that the consecration of the Third Temple brings us into a time, an era, at the end of which biblical prophecy predicts that the world as we know it will end. No one knows when that time will be. But if you are someone who believes that the Bible tells the truth—and in two thousand years, the Bible has never been proven to be inaccurate—the Bible tells us that the consecration of the Third Temple begins the march of time toward the last days of the world. We are now, all of us, all around the world, in the last days. The thought of that is enough to sober any man.”
The CNN announcer continued to stare at Heath, his mouth agape. After an awkward moment of dead air, CNN went quickly to commercial.
“Wow, what do you think that means?” asked Rodriguez.
“What that clock means,” said Johnson, pointing to the mantle, “is that it’s time to get to bed if I ever hope to get to work tomorrow.”
A loud yawn sounded as Rizzo stretched from his corner of the sofa. “Say, Doc, can’t we just have a sleepover? I’ll cook breakfast.”
“Great idea, Sammy . . . if we were teenagers,” said Rodriguez. “Sorry to burst your bubble, but Deidre and I have to get home.”
Kallie and Annie were gathering up the mangled food boxes, and CNN was still replaying clips from the morning’s events in Jerusalem when Tom pulled Doc into a corner.
“Thanks for sharing your heart with me earlier,” Bohannon said. He pulled away and held Doc at arm’s length, their gazes locked on each other. “This will likely be a challenging search you’re on. Lots of bumps and disappointments along the way.” Bohannon struggled to keep his emotions in check. “If you ever need me—”
They were silenced by a CNN breaking-news report from the still operating television.
“This is CNN. We are having difficulty reacquiring the video feed, but reports are coming in of a violent earthquake in Jerusalem, just minutes after the completion of the first sacrifice in the new Jewish Temple. Reporters on the scene, who have been able to contact their desks, report that, among other extensive damage throughout the city, the Temple Mount has essentially been split in half by the strong earthquake, destroying all of the structures on the Mount. So much water has been released from the massive, natural cisterns under the Temple Mount that it appears, for now, there is a new river flowing through Jerusalem. We will have more on this breaking story as it unfolds.”
AUTHOR’S NOTE
While The Sacred Cipher is a work of fiction, several plot elements are based on fact.
The Bowery Mission (http://bowery.org) has served the lost, the least, and the lonely of New York City since 1878. It is the third-oldest rescue mission in the United States, and one of its most effective. Besides serving over 250,000 meals yearly to the homeless and poor, the Bowery Mission’s nine-month, faith-based, residential recovery program has guided thousands of men in transforming themselves from addiction and hopelessness to productive and healthy lives. There are over three hundred rescue missions in the United States helping the poor and homeless with a combined one million donors and over four hundred thousand volunteers. Most of them belong to the American Gospel Rescue Mission organization (http://agrm.org).
Charles Haddon Spurgeon (1834-1892) was England’s best-known preacher for most of the second half of the nineteenth century and pastor of London’s famed New Park Street Church. Spurgeon’s All of Grace was the first book published by Moody Press and is still its all-time best seller. Three of his works have sold more than one million copies, and there is more of Spurgeon’s work in print than any other Christian author (http://www.pilgrimpublications.com).
While Spurgeon’s trip to Alexandria, Egypt, depicted in this book, is a creation of the author’s imagination, Spurgeon traveled widely in the Near East and Europe and was an avid student of history. The Spurgeon Archive (http://www.spurgeon.org) is a voluminous collection of Spurgeon history.
Spurgeon’s London publication, The Sword and the Trowel, was replicated in New York City in 1878 by his cousin Joseph Spurgeon as The Christian Herald and Signs of Our Times. Dr. Louis Klopsch purchased the magazine in 1890 and was instrumental in preventing the Bowery Mission from closing its doors, purchasing the rescue mission from the Reverend A. G. Ruliffson in 1895 after its original superintendent passed away.
The history of the Rosetta Stone, displayed in London’s British Museum (http:// britishmuseum.org) since 1802, is true.
The inscription on the Rosetta Stone is a decree (circa 196 B.C.) passed by a council of priests, one of a series that affirm the royal cult of the thirteen-year-old Ptolemy V on the first anniversary of his coronation. The decree is inscribed on the stone three times, in hieroglyphics (suitable for a priestly decree), Demotic (the native script used for daily purposes), and Greek (the language of the administration).
The Demotic language was first a spoken language, then a written language, which was extensively used in Egypt for over one thousand years, from 660 B.C. to 425 A.D. Chicago University’s Oriental Institute embarked on a Demotic Dictionary Project (http://oi.uchicago.edu/research/projects/dem) thirty years ago and has cataloged twenty-seven Demotic letters, only fifteen of which have been deciphered. For those fifteen letters, which were the equivalent of words in the spoken Egyptian language, the Demotic dictionary currently contains over eleven hundred pages of possible meanings for words associated with those letters or combinations of those letters.
The Collector’s Club, founded in 1896 (http://www.collectorsclub.org), is one of the nation’s most influential stamp-collecting societies. Its permanent home at 22 East 35th Street in New York City, a baroque-style townhouse designed by Stanford White, houses the vast Collector’s Club Library; its 150,000 volumes comprise one of the world’s largest and most comprehensive collections of philatelic literature. The building and its library are open by appointment.
Sir Edward Elgar (1857-1934) was an English romantic composer most notable for his many compositions of Pomp and Circumstance and his orchestral work The Enigma Variations. Elgar was also a devotee of codes, puzzles, and ciphers. On July 14, 1897, Elgar sent a letter to a young friend, Miss Dora Penny, the twenty-two-year-old daughter of the Reverend Alfred Penny, Rector of St. Peter’s, Wolverhampton—the now famous Dorabella Cipher.
The cipher consists of eighty-seven characters, apparently constructed from an alphabet of twenty-four symbols. The symbols are arranged in three lines; contain one, two, or three semicircles; and are oriented in one of eight directions. A small dot appears after the fifth character on the third line. No one has yet deciphered its meaning. Dora Penny died in 1964.
The Elgar Society (http://www.elgar.org) holds an annual competition for those code-breakers who are attempting to crack the Dorabella Cipher. In 2008, seven entries were submitted, but the cipher remains a mystery and the £1,500 prize has yet to be awarded.
Abiathar was the leader, or Gaon, of the Jewish community in Jerusalem, and Meborak was the leader, or Exhillarc, of the Jewish community in Egypt, when the crusaders captured Jerusalem in 1099. The Temple Mount in Jerusalem is a platform, supported by a series of arches built by Herod the Great. The Mount is a formation of karstic limestone that has eroded over time by water, creating a honeycomb of cisterns, tunnels, and caverns. Other than the unofficial diggings of Charles Warren in the nineteenth century, there has been virtually no archaeological study of the space under the Temple Mount platform.
Other than the basic facts and associated research listed above, the rest of The Sacred Cipher is a result of the author’s imagination. Any “errors of fact” are a result of that imagination.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Terry Brennan was born and raised in Philadelphia, where he grew into a lifelong Phillies and Eagles fan, and is a graduate of Penn State University.
Brennan launched his twenty-two-year journalism career as an award-winning writer and sports editor for a suburban Philadelphia chain of news
papers. He spent seven years covering the Philadelphia Flyers hockey team, auto racing, and other sports for the Philadelphia Bulletin. He continued to win writing awards during a ten-year career with Ingersoll Publications, a multinational newspaper firm with papers in the U.S., England, and Ireland. He was an editor and publisher for Ingersoll newspapers in Pennsylvania, Illinois, and New York, and in 1989 joined the Ingersoll corporate staff as executive editor of all U.S. newspaper titles. Brennan led the Pottstown (PA) Mercury to a Pulitzer Prize for Editorial Writing during his tenure as editor.
Brennan transferred his successful management career to the nonprofit sector in 1996 as vice president of operations for the Christian Herald Association, Inc., the parent organization of four New York City ministries, including the Bowery Mission. In his eleven years with Christian Herald, the organization helped more than 3,700 adults and 11,000 children experience the power of a transformed life through its faith-based programs.
Currently a management consultant, Terry, his wife Andrea, and their two adult children, live in New York City. He also has two married sons who live with their families in Pennsylvania.
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