The Illuminati (63 page)
Then suddenly the discussions shifted to the detention camps and the conversation between Razzak and Rutland on the use of nuclear bombs to eliminate all evidence of their existence. Superimposed on the screen were satellite photographs of the camps, along with photographs from within the camps, obviously taken by someone with a hidden camera. Interspersed were recordings of guards cursing at the inmates and the obvious sounds of people being beaten. In the background the cries of women and the screams of children could be heard clearly.
The effect is perfect
. Rutland thought somberly.
Not too dramatic, but very convincing. They have done a good job
.
The final scenes were the video tapes of the shooting of President Hunt while the original transcript of the speech he was planning to deliver was read over the air. But even more incriminating was the replay of the taped conversation between Cal Rutland and Jason Franklin in which Rutland was giving the details of how the Hunt assassination would be carried out. His final comments were that one of the plants in the CRC would do the assassination so there would be no link to the Society.
Rutland sat mesmerized by the presentation. He realized that many of their most secret conversations had been monitored and recorded. The group watching them had not even tried to warn those who were to be eliminated. They were content to wait and bide their time, knowing that when the nation was ready they would present their evidence. He also knew the timing was perfect. The country was fed up with the cash-less system and fed up with chaos. The very methods the Society had used to cause the disruption in the economy were now allied against them.
Only Donald Shepperd and a select few others would ever know that most of the information came from monitoring by the Mossad. For years they had tapped the phones in the White House and planted a variety of listening devices throughout the executive offices. For obvious reasons, they did not wish the information to become public.
Cal Rutland took out the .357 revolver he always carried and laid it on the desk. Then he took out the bottle of vodka that he seldom touched, poured himself a large swallow, and put the gun to his head. His last thought was,
I wonder what eternity will be like
.
The report from the large-caliber weapon rang throughout the nearly empty White House. In her quarters, President Alton jumped when she heard it. She knew immediately that it was Rutland.
I wish I had the courage to kill myself
, she thought as she sniffed the white poison that had become a part of her daily routine. At first she had told herself she only needed it when her nerves were jangled. Then it seemed that they were jangled more all the time, so she used the white powder more frequently.
“I wonder what they will do with me?” she said idly as the drug began to take effect. “I don't think they would execute a president.”
That means Grant will be president
, she thought lazily as the drug made her mind float.“Well, who cares,” she said out loud.“One day we will rule the world. If not now, then later.” She decided she should take a good hot bath. She ran the tub full of warm water and stepped into it. It felt so good. She just needed to relax. As she slumped down in the tub, she passed out from the combined effects of the drug and the warm water. The maid would find her when she came in to turn down the sheets on the president's bed.
In his study, Amir Razzak was unaware of the events that were taking place around him. He had just been thinking about how he would exact punishment on his enemies. Suddenly he was gripped with a fear unlike any that he had ever known. It was as if the power that he had used so often on others was now being directed against him. It was so overwhelming that he thought he would faint. He fell to his knees praying, “Lord, don't abandon me now. We are so close to winning. Your kingdom will be established.”
In his mind, Razzak heard just the whisper of an evil he had never faced before.
“You have failed me, just like all the others,” the voice said. “I will have to start all over again. You will be tormented until eternity ends,” the voice hissed.
“But, Lord, I have served you with my life,” Razzak heard himself say as he groveled on the floor in agony.
“Your life!” the voice said with the sharpness of a cobra's strike. “Your life means nothing. Do you hear? You could have had riches and honor when I ruled, but now you will see how I reward those who fail me.”
Razzak felt his throat constricting. He was unable to breathe. “No, No!” he screamed with his last breath. “I don't want to die!” The next instant Amir Razzak felt his soul being pulled down into a dark abyss. He was frightened beyond all control. All he could do was scream, but no sound came out as he fell into the blackness.
The next day Vice President Grant announced that President Alton had suffered a fatal accident while taking a bath and had drowned. The chief justice of the Supreme Court immediately swore Grant in as president. The official ceremonies would take place at an appropriate time after President Alton's burial.
President Grant announced that, effective immediately, all citizens who had been arrested under the Alton administration would be granted their freedom and the full protection of the Constitution. He also recalled the Congress and announced the elections would be held for the presidency the following November.
He further announced that a full investigation would be conducted into the activities of the group known as the Society and the role they had played in the attempted takeover of the government.
“The government and military leaders who participated in the unlawful arrest and detention of American citizens will be prosecuted to the full extent of the law,” he promised. The word went out that some of the lower-echelon people would be granted amnesty in exchange for information on the Society. The president let it be known that the decision to prosecute or not would be based on full cooperation with the investigation.
Suddenly there was a deluge of people who confessed to being duped by the Society and who asked for amnesty from the Grant administration. In his first official act, President Grant issued a proclamation stating that members of the Society would not be considered for amnesty unless and until they resigned any government or military positions they held. Nearly three thousand men and women resigned and requested amnesty, or at least consideration for a lesser crime than treason.
Jeff Wells was appointed by President Grant to oversee the dismantling of the Data-Net system as soon as it was feasible. An independent committee of nonpoliticians was appointed to design a system to help reestablish the American currency and economy.
The single greatest proponent of media reform was Thomas Galt. He set up a foundation to oversee his vast empire and became a crusader for the cause of Christianity. According to his testimony, he now knew that the only hope for mankind was total surrender to Jesus Christ as Savior.
“The intent of man's heart is evil,” Galt shared on his prime time program called
Face the Truth
. “It is only through the power of God's Son that He can change that intent.”
His open testimony helped to spark the greatest revival of Christianity the world had ever seen. Nearly forty million Americans, according to the WNN Insta-pol, confessed their sins and accepted Christ as their Savior.
As John Elder told Galt, when he was remarking about this phenomenon, “It was bound to be, Tom. We had a hundred thousand Christians praying every dayâat least half of them for you alone.”
When the detention camps were opened, it was found that nearly two hundred men, women, and children had died of starvation, neglect, or abuse before Jeff had been able to divert food and clothing to them. A memorial was established in Washington to honor those who had fallen in the defense of their faith. When the NCLU protested this violation of separation of church and state, the response according to Insta-pol was that nearly 90 percent of all Americans supported the government's position. As Thomas Galt so aptly said, “A nation without God is a nation without a conscience.” The NCLU quickly withdrew their opposition as their funding dropped to a record low in the wake of the revival.
After the camps were closed, and the survivors were sent home, Donald Shepperd went to Chicago to check on the Cofers. He located Mary Cofer and the children back in their home, trying to get their lives back on track. Her husband, Bob, had been killed while trying to escape from one of the camps. Through Shepperd's efforts, Bob Cofer became the symbol of the nation's conscience.
“We thought such things could not happen here,” Shepperd said to Thomas Galt on
Face the Truth
. “Instead, what Americans discovered is that the only difference between us and the Nazis or the Communists is opportunity. Man is inherently evil and needs redemption. Jesus Christ became the Redeemer.”
John Elder found his Julia well and in good spirits. She had been secreted from one CRC camp to another for nearly a year. The other Christians had protected her identity so that she could not be used as a hostage against her husband.
Jeff and Karen were married in a simple ceremony, if there is such a thing, in the White House gardens.
What no one would know for another fifty years was that at the moment of Amir Razzak's death, another was chosen to prepare the world for the final conflict that would eventually pit the people of God against the forces of Satan.
“The one thing that we can be certain of,” John Elder said to his congregation on the first Sunday he spoke from the pulpit of his new church, “is that people have short memories. We weren't the generation to see the ascension of the Antichrist. But one day he will ascend, and that generation will not escape the persecution. Perhaps God in His infinite wisdom has given us a second chance. Let us pray that we will not waste it.”
LARRY BURKETT (1939â2003) founded Christian Financial Concepts, a nonprofit organization dedicated to teaching biblical principles of money management. In September 2000, CFC merged with Crown Ministries to create Crown Financial Ministries. Larry served as chairman of the board of directors until his death. He also published more than seventy books, sales of which exceeded over eleven million copies, including
The Coming Economic Earthquake, Your Finances in Changing Times, The Financial Planning Workbook, Investing for the Future, Financial Parenting, Business by the Book
, and
Kingdom Come
.
