The unveiling, p.6
The Unveiling, page 6
part #3 of Chaos Series
At that, the Secret Service formed a human wall around President Danforth and hurried him off to his waiting limousine. Within minutes, he was on board Air Force One for the long flight to Madison, Wisconsin.
In a flurry of activity, no one in Brussels noticed that the American President never even bothered to take the time to say goodbye to Salvador Romanero.
This would soon come back to haunt him in a very big way…
10
CHARLES CALLOWAY LOOKED OUTSIDE his hotel room window and saw the many mourners lining the streets below. He looked skyward and was astonished to see stars in the sky.
Last time he looked outside it was raining hard. Man, he thought, scratching his head, the rain stopped just in time, exactly as this Romanero dude boldly predicted!
Clear skies or not, Calloway wouldn’t join the throngs of citizens in New York City to honor the many departed. If he did, he felt certain he would fall to pieces in front of colleagues and complete strangers alike, much like he did on Fifth Avenue the day before.
It was best to remain inside his room. Besides, he had something more pressing on his mind. After securing a good connection, he surfed the internet looking for new believers to chat with. He met a man from Wyoming who’d stumbled upon a new web site called www.lsarglobal.org. LSAR was an acronym for Last Shot At Redemption.
Calloway was mindful of the countless websites in cyberspace prior to the Rapture, warning of what would happen at God’s appointed time. Monique was obsessed at times watching videos which pertained to the end times. She always tried persuading him to watch them with her. He rolled his eyes each time.
Apparently, the people he thought to be a bunch of misguided conspiracy theorists were correct after all. Now here he was suddenly interested in end-times prophecy after the fact.
The irony was so thick he could choke on it.
This time last week, Charles Calloway had zero interest in eschatology or in anything else that could be considered negative or detrimental to his personal growth. He believed his positive thinking was the main reason for his success. He no longer thought that way.
Calloway closed the curtains to avoid any and all possible distractions, then bowed his head: “Open my spiritual eyes, Lord, as only You can. Give me supernatural wisdom to understand Your Word, especially regarding these times.”
By simply logging onto www.lsarglobal.org, new believers were being given a crash course on end-time prophecy straight out of the Book of Revelation and other prophetic books of the Bible. From an aesthetic standpoint, it was a rather plain looking website. But what made it so intriguing was that it was launched into cyberspace from others who were also left behind.
At the center of the homepage were 22 separate links numbered 1 to 22, representing each of the 22 chapters of the Book of Revelation. They were laid out in the form of a cross. All one had to do was click on a link, select the language of choice and start learning.
A crimson red shadow, representing the redemptive blood of Jesus, was cast over the first three links, signifying that everything prophesied in chapters 1 through 3 in the Book of Revelation had already come to pass.
Because chapters 4 and 5 would take place in Heaven, a lighter shade of red covered those two links. The site creators knew it was taking place now but dared not speculate on the actual time line. Only those in Heaven knew when the Judgment Seat of Christ would commence.
Hence, the lighter shade of red.
Chapters 6 through 22 were still to come and, therefore, were ominously gray in color. Whenever prophecy would be fulfilled in the future, the crimson red shadow would be extended, allowing new believers to know exactly where they were, prophetically speaking.
More importantly, they would know what to expect next.
Button number six had four black blinking arrows all pointing at it, signifying what was next to come for Planet Earth, prophetically speaking. Instead of clicking on it, Calloway found Revelation 6 in his Bible and read verses 1 and 2, I watched as the Lamb opened the first of the seven seals. Then I heard one of the four living creatures say in a loud voice like thunder, “Come!” I looked, and there before me was a white horse! Its rider held a bow, and he was given a crown, and he rode out as a conqueror bent on conquest.
At the bottom of the web page was a rolling script updating visitors on all major current newsflashes. Scripture was mixed in to educate visitors on how this was all prophesied long ago.
Above the cross were four links. One said PRAYER. One said SALVATION. One said CONTACT. The last one said CLICK HERE FIRST.
Calloway did as he was instructed and clicked on the link. A deep, booming voice provided a narrative of sorts pertaining to the times in which they were living. It was the voice of one of the site creators, a man named Clayton Holmes. For security purposes, that much wasn’t mentioned.
Said he, “Now that the Rapture has come and gone, if there’s one thing you need to know to help put the time aspect into perspective it’s that the Rapture itself didn’t necessarily start the seven-year Tribulation period described in the Book of Revelation.”
Charles gave his cell phone a sideways look as if the speaker could see his bewildered expression. Having read the Book of Revelation three times already, this confused him. What? Come again?
The voice continued, “The Rapture had to come first, which it did. Guess you can say it was the precursor. But the tribulation period won’t commence until Israel signs a seven-year peace treaty with the soon-to-be-revealed Antichrist of the Bible.
“Once that happens, God’s final prophetic hourglass will be turned upside down and the final seven years can be counted off until Jesus returns to establish His Millennial Kingdom on Earth. That part’s exciting. Everything else is downright scary.”
Calloway grabbed a pen and the Waldorf-Astoria stationery on the desk in his suite, “I gotta write that down!”
The voice continued, “Many of the world’s most renowned Bible scholars throughout history were all agreed that, while the seven-year tribulation period would follow the Rapture, some believed many years would pass in between the two events. Personally, since it’s the next thing to happen, prophetically speaking, I believe it won’t be too much longer until we know exactly who Antichrist is.
“I already have my suspicions, but I won’t speculate at this time. But suffice it to say he’s walking the Earth right now. This false messiah who is the rider on the white horse in Revelation six, chapter two, and the first of the four Horsemen to come, will have a bow in his hand, but no arrow. Having no arrow signifies he’ll proclaim to be a man of peace. He’ll set out to conquer the world through diplomacy, promising peace and prosperity for all.
“This diabolical leader will claim to be a pacifist and will order many of the world’s weapons of mass destruction to be destroyed in the name of peace. But in the end, he’ll rule Planet Earth like no other dictator has. He’ll make Adolf Hitler look like an amateur. More deaths will occur under his reign than all other world leaders combined. Needless to say, the peace he promises will be nothing more than well-crafted lies on his part.
“Even so, the majority still on Earth who remain blinded to the Truth will fall prey to his deceptive lies. Halfway through the seven-year peace treaty, the Antichrist will break his promise with Israel by entering inside the newly built Temple and proclaiming himself to be God incarnate, thus desecrating it.
“He will then demand that the whole world worship him, thus fulfilling Daniel’s prophecy when he called the Antichrist the ‘abomination of desolation’. This breach of trust will usher in the second half of the Tribulation period—also known as the Great Tribulation—which will be far worse than the first half, especially for Jews and Christians.
“This is one of many counterfeit acts the Son of Perdition will perform in these last days hoping to rob God of His glory. Everything God does, Satan tries to imitate. Instead of God the Father, Jesus the Son, and the Holy Spirit, Satan will imitate God, the Antichrist will imitate Jesus, and the False Prophet will imitate the Holy Spirit.
“One example of how Antichrist will try imitating Jesus can be found in the Book of Revelation. By riding a white horse, the Antichrist is merely imitating the Righteous rider on the white horse later revealed in Chapter nineteen, verses eleven through sixteen.
“It says, ‘I saw Heaven standing open and there before me was a white horse, whose rider is called Faithful and True. With justice he judges and makes war. His eyes are like blazing fire, and on his head are many crowns. He has a name written on him that no one knows but he himself. He is dressed in a robe dipped in blood, and his name is the Word of God. The armies of Heaven were following him, riding on white horses and dressed in fine linen, white and clean. Out of his mouth comes a sharp sword with which to strike down the nations. He will rule them with an iron scepter. He treads the winepress of the fury of the wrath of God Almighty. On his robe and on his thigh he has this name written: KING OF KINGS AND LORD OF LORDS.’ This rider is the Lord Jesus Christ!’”
Isn’t that interesting, Charles thought. But who is the False Prophet? Guess I’ll find out soon enough...
“Another thing y’all need to understand is that the seven-year Tribulation period was never intended for the Church, but for Israel. That’s why it was necessary for Jesus to remove His true followers from the planet last week. Second Thessalonians two, verses six and seven states, ‘And you know what is restraining him now so that he may be revealed in his time. For the mystery of lawlessness is already at work. Only he who now restrains it will do so until he is out of the way’.
“That’s the Church, y’all. With the bride of Christ removed, Jehovah God will once again deal with His wife, Israel, and finish what was prophesied in Daniel chapter nine, verse twenty-four, ‘Seventy weeks are decreed about your people {the Jews} and your holy city {Israel}, to finish the transgression, to put an end to sin, and to atone for iniquity, to bring in everlasting righteousness, to seal both vision and prophet, and to anoint a most holy place’.
“To date, sixty-nine of the seventy weeks have come to pass. Each week represents seven years. So, in that sense, four-hundred and eighty-three of the four-hundred and ninety years have already come to pass. Daniel said the final seven years of judgment wouldn’t come to pass until after Israel’s Savior was cut off.
“When Christ was crucified two-thousand years ago, the remainder of Israel’s judgment was temporarily put on hold. The problem for most Jews familiar with these prophetic passages is that they never accepted Jesus as their Messiah. They were too blinded to the Truth to know.
“Regarding the soon-to-come seven-year Tribulation period, the prophet Jeremiah, who wrote of this time thousands of years ago, called it a time of Jacob’s trouble. Jeremiah thirty, verse seven states, ‘That day is so great there is none like it; it is a time of distress for Jacob; yet he shall be saved out of it.’ Who is Jacob? Jacob was the son of Isaac. Isaac was the son of Abraham. Jacob was later renamed, ‘Israel.’
“Starting to see the big picture? If not, consider this: while the seven-year tribulation period is described in such vivid detail in chapters four through eighteen in the book of Revelation, the Church is never once mentioned during this time. Chapters two and three record the seven letters written to the seven churches.
“After that, there is no mention of the Church again until chapter nineteen, when the Church comes back with the Lord Jesus Christ to begin His Millennial reign on Earth, after the seven-year tribulation comes to an end.
“Need more convincing? Another reason the seven-year tribulation period is meant for the Jews, and not the Church, is that the one-hundred and forty-four thousand preachers God raises up during this unprecedented time are not Gentiles, but Jews. Revelation seven, verse four makes this crystal clear: ‘And I heard the number of the sealed, one-hundred and forty-four thousand, sealed from every tribe of the sons of Israel.’
“Revelation chapter seven, verses nine and ten goes on to say, ‘After this I looked, and behold, a great multitude that no one could number, from every nation, from all tribes and peoples and languages, standing before the throne and before the Lamb, clothed in white robes, with palm branches in their hands, and crying out with a loud voice, ‘Salvation belongs to our God who sits on the throne, and to the Lamb!’”
“The ‘after this’ refers to the sealing of the one-hundred and forty-four thousand, who will preach the Gospel of Jesus Christ to every nation, tongue and tribe. When was the last time you heard one-hundred and forty-four thousand Jewish preachers causing multitudes from every nation and tongue to turn to Jesus Christ and receive Him as Lord and Savior? I’ll tell you when, never!
“So, as you can see, all signs point to Israel and the Jews, not the Church of Jesus Christ. Now that the Church is safely tucked away in Heaven, it’s time for God to finish what He started more than twenty-five hundred years ago with His chosen people.
“But praise God not all will be bad for the Jews. This time will also bring forth Israel’s redemption. Even amid the coming tribulation, many Jews will finally see that Jesus is indeed the Messiah—their Savior—thus causing the remnant of Israel to repent of their sins and be saved. Hallelujah!”
“What we have now is simply an in-between period that the Antichrist is using to rebuild the world and gain the support of many world leaders. Everything they’re now rebuilding will be destroyed again. As terrifying as the Rapture was, it’s just the beginning of their troubles. Ours too. But at least we know what to expect. By the time they learn it, it’ll be too late.”
Is he referring to the dude from Spain? Calloway wondered...
“With that in mind,” the voice declared, “if you’re listening to my voice and you don’t have a personal relationship with the Lord Jesus Christ, wake up! Now’s the time to repent! The day of salvation is at hand. Don’t put it off another moment! Seek the Lord while He may be found. The tribulation we now face is nothing when compared to being thrown into hell for all eternity! Again, I say, repent!”
“Amen!” Calloway was greatly emboldened by the confidence in this man’s voice and his obvious command of the Scriptures. He started pacing the floor. A million thoughts flooded his mind. Sensing in his spirit that the creators of www.lsarglobal.org were on to something potentially huge, he wanted to be part of it.
He clicked on the CONTACT link and sent an email. Charles then dropped to his knees and prayed that God would open this door for him.
If those in charge would only agree to let him be part of their plan, he would dedicate the rest of his life doing all he could to help them spread the Word of God.
Considering his limited options, it sounded like the perfect way to spend his remaining days on Earth...
11
SINCE MICHIGAN STADIUM HAD millions of eyes fixated on it when the disappearances occurred, it instantly became the main “ground zero” meeting place for the vigil in the Wolverine State. With most of the debris from the plane crash and charred vehicles cleared from the parking lot, Michiganders were expected to show up en masse and form a complete circle around the stadium.
Though still three hours away from midnight, there were enough Michiganders there to form a complete circle around the stadium. Most of the early arrivals were teenagers. Despite that they were still in mourning, for the first time since last weekend, they looked hopeful.
With so much synergy among them, there would be no talk of suicide this night.
It was a start. One day at a time...
Among the early arrivals were Renate McCallister, her sister, Megan, and best friend, Rachel Stein. Caught up in the emotion of it all, Renate kept pleading with Brian—via text message—to join them, saying there was plenty of hot chocolate, blankets and candles to go around.
She wasn’t overly surprised that her boyfriend had refused each invite. Why return to the place where his life was forever altered after losing a good friend in the most horrific way?
While Renate was right, Michigan Stadium was the very last place Brian wanted to go, that’s not the reason he gave for not going. Shortly after President Danforth’s address, Amtrak announced that plane tickets could be exchanged for train tickets, for those still too terrified to consider flying. But seats would be extremely limited.
Taking a train to New York sounded so much better than borrowing one of Renate’s parent’s cars and driving there, as Brian had planned on doing. At the very least, he wouldn’t have to deal with all those DETOUR signs posted on roads everywhere.
As the rest of the world participated in the vigil, Mulrooney spent nearly three hours on the phone waiting, then pleading with an Amtrak ticket agent until his request was finally granted.
He was both relieved and grateful to have a confirmed seat in his name. Like most travelers, Brian wasn’t yet ready to fly. It wasn’t the airplane that scared him; it was the thought of it suddenly becoming pilot-less again, like on so many occasions last Saturday.
With the reservation made, Mulrooney resumed watching TV. On a split screen, he could see everything unfolding in Brussels on one side, and everything in Ann Arbor on the other.
The sun was just rising in Brussels, and Romanero was still out among the people, signing autographs and posing for selfies.
Mulrooney was never more alarmed. Is this the Man of Lawlessness I read about early this morning? Brian had an eerie feeling that it might be him. What other previously “unknown” individual could empower billions of mourners to line the streets of the world the way he had, and on such short notice? Only someone possessing special powers.
