Nicolae High (4 page)

“A revolutionary?” Judd had asked.

“You know this stuff as well as I do,” Bruce had said. “You grew up with it. Buck is just learning the character, the personality, the mission of Jesus, and it fascinates him. He told me that the Jesus he had always imagined or thought he knew was an impostor. The Jesus of the Bible turns out to be a radical, a man of paradoxes. Jesus said if you want to be rich, give your money away. If you want to be exalted, humble yourself. Revenge sounds logical, but it’s wrong. Love your enemies, pray for those who put you down. That kind of thing.”

Judd couldn’t argue with that. He only wished he’d become a radical Christian long before.

J
UDD
insisted that everyone in the house be up early and ready to go long before church Sunday morning. No one grumbled. They had somehow turned a corner and were now excited and bold about the task before them. Even Ryan and Lionel seemed to be getting along.

Judd asked that they find good seats in the sanctuary, which was already filling, and he hurried down to the office to see Bruce. Loretta, Bruce’s kindly old secretary, was just arriving. She told Judd he could knock on Bruce’s door.

“If it can wait, I’d appreciate it,” Bruce called out.

“OK,” Judd said. “Sorry.” But as he walked away, Bruce came to the door. He looked disheveled, unshaven, as if he had stayed up all night.

“I didn’t know it was you, Judd. What’s up?”

“Nothin’,” Judd said. “Just wanted to say hi.”

“Glad you did. Pray for me.”

“OK, but why?”

“Just feeling the responsibility of this church. Big crowd already?”

Judd nodded. “Jammed. Cars lined up around the block. People mostly look scared or sad.”

“They’re terrified,” Bruce said. “They come here looking for hope, for answers, for God. Some are finding him, and the word is spreading. I’ve been studying all night. I’ve got to shave and get going here. You study those verses I suggested?”

“Yeah. I found the one about the quarter of the population.”

“Memorize it?”

“Yup.”

“Let me hear it.”

“You have time?” Judd said.

“Did you really memorize it?”

Judd had to prove it. “Revelation 6:8,” he began, “ ‘So I looked, and behold, a pale horse. And the name of him who sat on it was Death, and Hades followed with him. And power was given to them over a fourth of the earth, to kill with sword, with hunger, with death, and by the beasts of the earth.’ ”

“Excellent, Judd. You’re a good student. Unfortunately, you’re going to learn that what comes after the pale horse is worse and keeps getting worse until the end.”

Vicki waited with Ryan and Lionel in the third pew from the front, in the center row. She saved a seat for Judd. When she saw him coming, she also recognized Buck Williams across the way. He had slid in behind a tall, dark man and a pretty young woman, and they were greeting each other.

“Ryan,” she whispered, “don’t make a big scene, but is that Captain Steele and his daughter over there in front of Mr. Williams?”

Ryan stood to look, and Vicki cringed. “Yep,” he said. “That’s them. Mr. S. and Chloe.”

Judd joined the kids as the music began.

He noticed that many people didn’t know the songs. The words were projected on the wall, and the choruses were simple and catchy, but they were new to some people. As for those, like himself, who knew the words, he wondered how he and they had all missed the truth while singing songs like those.

Finally Bruce hurried to the pulpit—not the large one on the platform, but a small lectern at floor level. He carried his Bible, two large books, and a sheaf of papers he had trouble controlling. He smiled sheepishly.

“Good morning,” he began. “I realize a word of explanation is in order. Usually we sing more, but we don’t have time for that today. Usually my tie is straighter, my shirt fully tucked in, my suit coat buttoned. That all seems a little less critical this morning. Usually we take up an offering. Be assured we still need it, but please find the baskets on your way out at noon, if I indeed let you out that early.

“I want to take the extra time this morning because I feel an urgency greater even than the last few weeks. I don’t want you to worry about me. I haven’t become a wild-eyed madman, a cultist, or anything other than what I have been since I realized I had missed the Rapture. I have read more, prayed more, and studied more this week than ever, and I am eager to tell you what God has told me.”

Bruce told his own story yet again, how he had lived a phony life for years, even as a member of the pastoral staff. When Jesus came back, Bruce had been left behind, without his wife and precious children. Judd had heard the story, but it still made him want to cry. People all over the church sobbed.

“I never want to stop telling what Christ has done for me,” Bruce said. “I will never again be ashamed of the gospel of Christ. The Bible says that the Cross offends. If you are offended, I am doing my job. If you are attracted to Christ, the Holy Spirit is working.

“We’ve already missed the Rapture, and now we live in what will soon become the most perilous period of history. Evangelists used to warn people that they could be struck by a car or die in a fire, and thus they should not put off coming to Christ. I’m telling you that should a car strike you or a fire consume you, it may be the most merciful way you can die. Be ready this time. Be ready. I will tell you how to get ready.”

Bruce announced that his sermon title was “The Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse” and that he wanted to concentrate on the rider of the first horse—the white one.

Judd had never seen him so earnest, so inspired. As Bruce spoke he referred to his notes, to the books he’d brought, and to the Bible. He often wiped sweat from his brow. Judd noticed that most people were taking notes and that everyone was following along in the Bible.

Bruce explained that the book of Revelation spoke of what was to come after Christ had raptured his church. “Does anyone doubt we’re in the last days?” he thundered. “Millions disappear, and then what? Some believe the tribulation period has already begun and that it began with the Rapture. We feel the trials and tribulations from the disappearances of our loved ones, don’t we? But that is nothing compared to what is to come.

“During these seven years, God will pour out three consecutive sets of judgments—seven seals in a scroll, seven trumpets, and seven bowls. If the Rapture didn’t get your attention, the judgments will. And if the judgments don’t, you’re going to die apart from God. Horrible as these judgments are, I urge you to see them as final warnings from a loving God who is not willing that any should perish.”

Judd was struck to remember that he had heard old Pastor Billings preach on these same subjects. Judd had scoffed and quit listening. It all sounded too weird, too far-fetched, too unbelievable.

“I warn you,” Bruce rumbled on several minutes later, “this is not for the faint of heart. Revelation 6:1-2 says, ‘Now I saw when the Lamb opened one of the seals; and I heard one of the four living creatures saying with a voice like thunder, “Come and see.” And I looked, and behold, a white horse. He who sat on it had a bow; and a crown was given to him, and he went out conquering and to conquer.’ ”

Bruce stepped back and began clearing off the lectern. “Don’t worry,” he said, “I’m not finished.” People applauded. Bruce said, “Are you clapping because you want me to finish, or because you want me to go on all afternoon?”

The people clapped all the more, including the Young Tribulation Force. If the others were like Judd, they were drinking this in, and they wanted more and more. Clearly Bruce had been in tune with what God was showing him. He said over and over that this was not new truth, that the commentaries he cited were decades old, and that the doctrine of the end times was much, much older than that. But those who had said such teaching was not to be taken literally, well, they had been left behind. All of a sudden it was all right to take Scripture at its word! If nothing else convinced people, losing so many to the Rapture had finally reached them.

Bruce stood before the bare lectern now with only his Bible in his hand. “I want to tell you now what I believe the Bible is saying about the rider of the white horse, the first horseman of the Apocalypse. I will not give my opinion. I will not draw any conclusions. I will simply leave it to God to help you draw any parallels that need to be drawn. I
will
tell you this in advance: This millenniums-old account reads as fresh to me as tomorrow’s newspaper.”

Vicki couldn’t believe an hour had flown by since she’d last checked her watch. She was hungry, but she could sit there all day listening to Bruce. She knew where he was going with this imagery, but more amazing, she knew someone in the sanctuary right then who knew the rider of the white horse personally. Buck Williams had experienced the power of the Antichrist. Buck had convinced her that Nicolae Carpathia was the man, the enemy of God.

“Notice,” Bruce continued, “that it is the Lamb who opens the first seal and reveals that horseman. The Lamb is Jesus Christ, the Son of God, who died for our sins, was resurrected, and recently raptured his church.

“Who is this first horseman? Clearly he represents the Antichrist and his kingdom. His purpose is ‘conquering and to conquer.’ He has a bow in his hand, a symbol of warfare, and yet there is no mention of an arrow. How will he conquer? Other passages say he is a ‘willful king’ and that he will win through smooth talking. He will usher in a false peace, promising world unity. Will he be victorious? Yes! He has a crown.

“The rider of the white horse is the Antichrist, who comes as a deceiver promising peace and uniting the world. The Old Testament says he will sign a treaty with Israel. He will appear to be their friend and protector, but in the end he will be their conqueror and destroyer.”

Bruce said he could prove that he himself was not the Antichrist—not that anyone suspected him—because he would never promise peace. “The Bible is clear that we will have a year and a half of peace following the pact with Israel. But in the long run, I predict the opposite of peace. The other three horsemen are coming, and they bring war, famine, plagues, and death. That is not a popular message, not a warm fuzzy you can cling to this week. Our only hope is in Christ, and even in him we will likely suffer.”

Bruce closed in prayer, and Vicki assumed everyone else felt as she did, that she could have stayed all day. She tried to get to Bruce, but he had already been intercepted in the aisle, near the Steeles. Vicki was behind him as people quizzed him.

“Are you saying Nicolae Carpathia is the Antichrist?” one said.

“Did you hear me say that?” Bruce said.

“No, but it was pretty clear. They’re already talking on the news about his plans and some sort of a deal with Israel.”

“Keep reading and studying,” Bruce said.

“But it can’t be Carpathia, can it? Does he strike you as a liar?”

“How does he strike you?” Bruce said.

“As a savior.”

“Almost like a messiah?” Bruce pressed.

“Yeah!”

“There is only one Savior, one Messiah.”

“I know, spiritually, but politically I mean. Don’t tell me Carpathia’s not what he seems to be.”

“I’ll tell you only what Scripture says,” Bruce said, “and I urge you to listen carefully to the news. We must be wise as serpents and gentle as doves.”

“That’s how I would have described Carpathia,” a woman said.

“Be careful,” Bruce said, “about giving Christlike characteristics to anyone who doesn’t align himself with Christ.”

Vicki had been stopped by Bruce’s comment about being wise and gentle. She couldn’t wait to tell the rest of the Young Trib Force about that. Wise and gentle was what they had to be when they went back to school. So many people needed what the Young Trib Force had to offer, and yet so much danger awaited them too.