The Left Behind Collection: All 12 Books (331 page)

“I am sure you agree with me that there is no future in such diplomacy. I have nothing to offer in exchange for the millions of human lives lost, not to mention the beauty and the richness of the plant and animal life.

“You may rest assured that my top people are at work to devise a remedy to this tragedy, but it will not include deals, concessions, or any acknowledgment that these people had the right to foist on the world such an unspeakable act.”

In the middle of that newscast, from Chang through Buck, came a reproduction of the conversation between Suhail Akbar and the two pilots from the Petra bombing raid. Though the GCNN tried to speak over it and stream words in front of it saying it was false, a hoax, anyone listening heard the pilots defending themselves to Akbar, and his order for their executions.

Rayford could not fathom how Carpathia could have a supporter left in the world, and yet it was clear that Scripture foretold he would. At Petra the crowd grew restless and murmured among themselves about both the lies and the truth they had just been exposed to. But the rumor was that Micah, the one who had led them out of Israel to this safe place, was about to emerge and introduce Dr. Ben-Judah.

Spontaneously, the entire crowd fell silent.

Chaim Rosenzweig held both hands aloft and addressed the assembled in a huge voice that could be heard everywhere.

“It is my great pleasure and personal joy to once again introduce to you my former student, my personal friend, now my mentor, and your rabbi, shepherd, pastor, and teacher, Dr. Tsion Ben-Judah!”

The only reason Rayford did not applaud and cheer was that he knew Tsion hated personal adulation. Yet he hoped the rabbi would appreciate that these people were merely trying to express their love for him.

When Dr. Ben-Judah was finally able to quiet the crowd, he said, “Thank you for the warmth of your welcome, but I ask that in the future, when I am introduced, you do me the honor of merely silently thanking God for his love and mercy. That is what I will be talking about primarily, and whether you pray, raise your hands, or just point to the sky in acknowledgment of him, your adoration will be properly directed.

“In the fourteenth chapter of the Gospel of John, our Lord, Jesus the Messiah, makes a promise we can take to the bank of eternity. He says, ‘Let not your heart be troubled; you believe in God, believe also in me. In my father’s house are many mansions; if it were not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and receive you to myself; that where I am, there you may be also.’

“Notice the urgency. That was Jesus’ guarantee that though he was leaving his disciples, one day he would return. The world had not seen the last of Jesus the Christ, and as many of you know, it still has not seen the last of him.

“Think with me now of the five paramount, pivotal events of history. From Eden until this present moment, God has given us in the Bible an accurate history of the world, much of it written in advance. It is the only truly accurate history ever written.

“The first pivotal event was the creation of the world by the direct act of God.

“Next comes the worldwide flood. This flood had a catastrophic effect on the world and still boggles the minds of scientists who find fish bones at altitudes as high as fifteen thousand feet.

“The third pivotal event in history was the first coming of Jesus the Messiah. That event made possible our salvation from sin. Jesus lived a perfect life and died as a sacrifice for our sin. He died for the sins of the world, for all those who would call upon him.

“But that is not the end of the story, as we all know, because none of us here called upon him to forgive our sins until after the fourth pivotal event in history—when he came back.

“Most of us have since rectified that situation, and it is a good thing. Both the Old and the New Testaments of the Bible point to his coming one last time—the fifth pivotal event in world history. This glorious appearing will signal the beginning of the millennial kingdom, true utopia.

“Imagine paradise on earth with Messiah in control. Many believe that during his thousand-year reign, which will begin less than three and a half years from now, the population will grow to greater than the number of all the people who have already lived and died up to now. How can that be? Because ours will be a world without war. Imagine a globe in which government will not be responsible for killing the nearly 200 million it has slain to this day.

“Serving God has never been the choice of mankind. But when Messiah returns, he will establish his kingdom and people will live at peace. We will live in righteousness. We will have plenty. It is difficult to describe what an incredible time it will be. Everyone will have enough.

“God wants this kind of a world, and he wants it for us for one reason: He is gracious. In the Bible, Joel 2:13 says he is merciful, slow to anger, and abundant in loving-kindness. He relents from doing harm. Jonah, 125 years after Joel was born, described God in the same words. And Moses, fifteen hundred years before these men lived, said the Lord is merciful and gracious, long-suffering, and abundant in goodness and truth.

“Those are the prophets’ views of God. Where do you get your view of God? What better picture of him could we have gotten than what we lived through yesterday? When you kneel to pray, remember that event and what the prophets have said. Yes, we have an august God—the only supreme, omnipotent potentate. But if the Bible teaches one thing about God, it is that he is for us. He is not against us. He wants to bless our lives, and the key to the door of blessing is to give your life to him and ask him to do with it as he will. How could you not love the God the prophets describe? How could you not love the God Jesus the Messiah refers to as our Father who is in heaven?

“How wonderful it is that we can come as children into the presence of God himself, the creator of everything, and call him our Father.

“We find ourselves enduring the worst period in human history. Sixteen of the prophesied judgments of God have already rained down upon the earth, each worse than the last, with five yet to go. The Antichrist has been revealed, as has the False Prophet. That is why Messiah referred to this period as the Tribulation, and the second half of it—in which we now find ourselves—as the Great Tribulation.

“How can I say this judging, avenging God is loving and merciful? Remember that during this period he is working in people to get them to make a decision. Why? The millennium is coming. When Jesus makes his final glorious appearing, he will come in power and great glory. He will set up his kingdom exclusively for those who have made the right decision. That decision? To call on the name of the Lord.

“Does that sound exclusivistic? Understand this: The Bible makes clear that the will of God is that all men be saved. Second Peter 3:9 says, ‘The Lord is not slack concerning his promise . . . but is long-suffering toward us, not willing that any should perish but that all should come to repentance.’

“God promised in Joel 2 that he would ‘show wonders in the heavens and in the earth: blood and fire and pillars of smoke. The sun shall be turned into darkness, and the moon into blood, before the coming of the great and awesome Day of the Lord. And it shall come to pass that whoever calls on the name of the Lord shall be saved. For in Mount Zion and in Jerusalem there shall be deliverance, as the Lord has said, among the remnant whom the Lord calls.’

“Dear people,
you
are that remnant! Do you see what God is saying? He is still calling men to faith in Christ. He has raised up 144,000 evangelists, from the twelve tribes, to plead with men and women all over the world to decide for Christ. Who but a loving, gracious, merciful, long-suffering God could plan in advance that during this time of chaos he would send so many out in power to preach his message?

“Remember the two supernatural witnesses who preached the Word of God in Jerusalem and on global television? After three and a half years they were murdered in full view of the whole world. And then after their bodies lay in the streets for three days, God called them to heaven. Why? Because as a loving and merciful God he wanted to manifest his power and glory so men and women could see and make the right decision about him.

“Here we have the supernatural God of heaven fulfilling his promises of ages past, preserving the children of Israel while Antichrist tries to persecute you.

“Whom will you serve? Will you obey the ruler of this world, or will you call on the name of the Lord?

“God has done all these great and mighty things because he wants to save mankind. Many will still rebel, even here, even after all they have seen and experienced. Do not let it be you, my friend. Our God is merciful. Our God is gracious. He is long-suffering and wants all to be saved.

“If you agree that God is using the period we now live in to get people ready for the millennial kingdom and for eternity, what will you do with your life? Turn it over to Messiah. Worship Jesus, the Christ. Receive him as the one and only Lamb of God that takes away the sins of the world. Receive him into your life and then live in obedience to him. He wants you. And a God who will go to such lengths to save to the uttermost anyone who will call on him is one worth trusting.
Will
you trust a God like that?
Can
you love a God like that?

“Messiah was born in human flesh. He came again. And he is coming one more time. I want you to be ready. We were left behind at the Rapture. Let us be ready for the Glorious Appearing. The Holy Spirit of God is moving all over the world. Jesus is building his church during this darkest period in history because he is gracious, loving, long-suffering, and merciful.”

All around Rayford, people had bowed their heads, and many began praying. They prayed for friends and loved ones in Petra and in other places in the world. They had to have heard, as Rayford did, the emotion in Tsion’s voice as he pleaded once again for all to make the decision to follow Christ.

“The time is short,” Tsion cried out, “and salvation is a personal decision. Admit to God that you are a sinner. Acknowledge that you cannot save yourself. Throw yourself on the mercy of God and receive the gift of his Son, who died on the cross for your sin. Receive him and thank him for the gift of your salvation.”

“Major, major problem,” Aurelio Figueroa said, steepling his fingers as he leaned back in his chair. Chang sat across the desk from him, praying silently. “It’s not just the bogus entries in the palace database, the phony personnel and checks and balances that have allowed the enemies of the GC to fool local leaders. Now we clearly have bugs in offices as high as the director of Security and Intelligence. Do you know that earlier today, while the potentate was trying to properly mourn our dead pilots, someone superseded the feed with a bogus conversation Director Akbar was supposed to have had with the pilots?”

“Bet you’re glad it was bogus.”

“I don’t follow, Wong.”

“If it was real, it could have been catastrophic. We all heard it, sir. Akbar lecturing the pilots, their disagreeing, and his having them executed.”

The tall, bony Mexican studied Chang. “Where would someone have gotten that kind of a recording?”

“You’re asking me?”

“I don’t see anyone else in the room.”

“I’m sorry. I should have said, ‘
Why
are you asking me?’”

This was zero hour. If Figueroa accused him, Chang might have to be out of New Babylon within hours to avoid execution.

“I’m asking everyone, of course. Don’t take it personally. You wouldn’t believe what’s been planted on the main database.”

“Tell me.”

Figueroa stood. “I’m not telling everyone this, but Akbar himself began to suspect something shaky in Chicago. You know the place was hit more than once during the war. The city was evacuated and declared off-limits, and we have virtually ignored it for months. Years.”

Chang nodded.

“We didn’t fly reconnaissance planes over it, didn’t take pictures, didn’t check heat sensors, anything.”

“Because?”

“Because someone planted on the computer that the place had been nuked and would be radioactive for years. Akbar didn’t remember it that way. He thought the city had been virtually destroyed, but not by nukes. Every time he had somebody check, they went straight to the database, checked the current levels, and said, ‘Yup, it’s radioactive all right.’ Not until recently did anybody check the archives to find out if the readings could be right. Of course, they can’t. The place is clean.”

“Wow.”

“Wow is right. You know as well as I do that there is only one reason someone would plant such information: to have the city to themselves. We’ve been able to bypass the phony readings, finally, and have tried to get a bead on what’s happening there. Precious little, of course, because everyone else was getting the same info we were. But there has been activity. Water and power usage. Planes, choppers, coming and going. Jets from an airstrip on the lake. That would be Lake Michigan.”

“Really?”

“Yes. There is evidence of both vehicular and pedestrian traffic. Very little, of course, but there could be up to three dozen people in the city.”

“Hardly enough to worry about,” Chang said.

“Oh, on the contrary,” Figueroa said. “These people are going to wish they’d never been born.”

Chang was dying to ask but desperate to appear remote. He waited.

“You’d think we’d just send a team of Peacekeepers sweeping in there and round them up, wouldn’t you?”

Chang shrugged. “Something like that, sure.”

“Akbar has a better idea. He says if somebody wants it to appear radioactive, let’s nuke it.”

“You can’t be serious.”

“Totally.”

“Waste technology like that at a time like this?”

“It’s brilliant, Chang.”

“It’s a solution, I’ll say that. But has he thought of the freshwater that flows through there?”

“We’re harvesting Lake Michigan from northern Wisconsin. We don’t have to worry about the Chicago River.”

“People living downstream from it do.”

“Well, anyway, word is the big boss loves the idea.”

“Really.”

“You kidding? Carpath—uh, the potentate loves stuff like this.”