THE WARNING A Novel of America in the Last Days (The End of America Series Book 2) (27 page)

Unit
4501, 700 Lake Shore Drive, Chicago, Illinois

        
700 Lake Shore Drive had long been considered by Chicago’s
business and financial community as the premier condo tower on the Lake
Michigan waterfront. It looked out on the Chicago River to the south, on the Loop
to the southwest and on the Navy Pier and the Lake to the east. The fifty story
condo tower boasted some units in the multiple million price range, thus
limiting its accessibility to the wealthy. With the downturn in the economy,
though, some condo units were available for annual rentals.

        
One of the those actively seeking to rent a condo unit at
700 Lake Shore Drive was Muhammad ben Sarkori. That was his actual name, but
for the last nine years since his student visa had expired, he had been known
as Alfred H. Carlsberg. His parents were both light-skinned, which allowed
Alfred to be able to pass for what he claimed to be, a German citizen, whose
parents were from Sweden and Italy. Upon arriving in Chicago, Alfred rented
offices in what was then known as the Sears Tower, with the name on the door
and the building directory reading
AHC
Global Trading and Finance, Inc.
Alfred had one employee, a secretary born
in Saudi Arabia, educated in London and on the payroll of al Queda, of which
Alfred was a sleeper operative arising from his family’s financial support of
al Queda for several years.

        
For the first few years that Alfred was in Chicago he
immersed himself in managing a modest portfolio of investments for a Saudi
family, whose name nor location never appeared on any trading documents. All
trades were in the name of AHC Global. Alfred had been instructed to earn what
he could on the twenty million dollar portfolio, with part of the earnings to
be uses to rent a high-end, well-located condo. Alfred was to locate and lease
a condo unit in one of Chicago’s Lake Shore Drive locations, as centrally
located as possible, and as high in the building as possible.

        
Alfred and his Saudi born assistant carefully scanned
realtor websites to find just the right condo. In March, Alfred’s assistant
found a condo that appeared to be newly available on the market for lease. It
was a 3,300 square feet three bedroom condominium on the forty-fifth floor of
the fifty floor tower. It was located on the south side of the building with an
expansive view of downtown Chicago. The listing price was two million six
hundred thousand dollars. On inquiry Alfred learned that the seller would be
willing to lease for eighty-five hundred dollars per month. Within three weeks
the lease had been signed. Soon after Alfred and his assistant turned the key
and entered the living room, with its breathtaking view of the nation’s third
largest city.

        
Alfred’s assistant couldn’t contain herself, “Praise be to
Allah. Look at that enormous city. Almost three million souls….Praise be to
Allah.”

        
“Yes, my dear, three million souls. All of whom will be
offered as a sacrifice to Allah….It’s time now to do two things….Notify our
friends to deliver to Yousef the special coffee table, the two inch thick lead
covered one, as you know. And arrange for Yousef to deliver the furniture
package to this lovely new home.”

        
“Yes, in paradise this will be hailed as one of the highest
places of sacrifice for Allah. When we are given the day and the time, this
room will light up the sky and this corrupt city with Allah’s sword of nuclear
destruction.”

Park
Cities Area of Dallas, Texas

        
The replaceable letter sign in front of Jack Madison’s
Highland Park church stated that Sunday’s sermon title would be
THE WARNING.
As Sunday approached rumors
began to spread among church members. The whispers were that their favorite
pastor, who had been back in his pulpit for several weeks since being released
from prison, was going to make a major announcement. So many people attended
Sunday’s first service that folding chairs were brought into the back and sides
of the sanctuary. The word was out - Pastor Jack’s sermon this week was not to
be missed.

        
As Jack Madison stood and approached the pulpit to deliver
his sermon he knew that he was about to radically change not only
his
future life, but potentially the
futures of the many who would hear his words, in the sanctuary and by way of
television. He quickly sent up one last prayer, smiled, cleared his throat and
said, “
He is risen
!”

        
The congregation responded in the centuries-old response,
“He is risen,
indeed!
”

        
“My brothers and sisters in Christ, I come before you today
with a
heavy heart
. But….candor
demands that I also disclose at the same time that I am
very
excited
about what
we are going to discuss on this bright and sunny Sunday morning. You know that
the title of today’s sermon is The Warning. I see that we’re blessed this
morning by an overflow gathering of the saints. Some may be here, I suspect, to
learn what the pastor is
warning about
?
Well, let me begin by saying that I will not be conveying to you a warning from
me
, from Jack Madison. No, today’s
sermon is based on
God’s warning
.
His
warning from
His
Word to
His
people.

        
Several in the congregation exchanged puzzled glances,
wondering what warning from God their Pastor was going to discuss. Was he going
to preach on the need for a personal acceptance of Jesus Christ? Jack Madison
was known for never missing an opportunity to lead people to salvation through
Christ. He soon answered their unspoken question.

        
“I am not referring to the clear warning that God gives in
His Word that human beings need to be saved, before they depart this life.
Jesus is God’s only way to be saved. If you’re here this morning and you can’t
say with an assurance that you have asked Jesus into your heart to be your
personal Lord and Savior, then today is your day. It’s a simple but
critical decision
. When we close later
in prayer I’ll give you the opportunity to ask Jesus Christ to be your Lord and
Savior.

        
“Many are understandably asking - about what is God warning
us? Many of you know that our men’s accountability group has been studying
God’s prophecies concerning the identity of Mystery Babylon, also called the
Daughter of Babylon and Babylon the Great. Those 223 verses, written by five
prophets in both the Old and New Testaments, describe a rich, powerful and
influential end times nation. Scripture describes this nation as the hammer of
the whole earth, the great voice, the center of world commerce, a melting pot
of a nation where the other nations of the world stream to meet, a nation of
great wealth and luxury, which mounts up into the heavens and has a large
Jewish population. Does any of that sound
familiar
?

        
“We thought so, too. In our study we looked in detail at the
thirty clues given us as to the identity of Mystery Babylon. Each one fits
squarely our beloved nation. I wish it
weren’t
so. I wish that the Daughter of Babylon was some other nation, some other
institution,
anything
but America.
But, alas, that doesn’t appear to be the case. God says that this end times
nation was used in the past as a golden cup in His hand. That was certainly the
case in decades past as America’s missionaries reached out to the world. But,
these prophecies also tell us the golden cup is now full of evil and
abominations.

        
“Does that thought bother you – that our country could be
the source of abominations to the world? It sure bothers
me
. I’m a patriotic American who loves my country. But, we have to
face the facts. Once the U.S. Supreme Court said it was legal to kill God’s
little creations in the womb, the rest of the world has followed, for a total
since 1973 of over one billion….that’s with a B…. aborted human beings
world-wide since Roe versus Wade. To compound this abomination the U.S. has
used millions of our dollars to bribe other nations to change their laws
against abortion and allow abortion on demand.

        
“
Hollywood
has gone from making movies lifting up people’s spirits and praising God,
instead to glamorizing adultery, sexual licentiousness, drug use and excessive
violence. America is now the world’s largest user of illegal and mood altering
drugs. The list goes on. These abominations have happened in just the last few
decades. America is not the country
that
it used to be.
It has become in our lifetimes what the Bible calls the
Mother of Abominations
. How
truly
sad. We would be missing the signs
of our times if we missed the major changes in America in our time on this
earth.

        
“As difficult as it is to acknowledge
how far our country has fallen, an even larger problem for American Christians
is the prophecies that persecution will grow in this end times nation, with
violence and strangers in the sanctuaries of God. We’ve already witnessed the
fulfillment of these prophetic verses, even in this very church, as you know. I
know, some of you are undoubtedly thinking, ‘pastor with all this bad news, can
it get any worse?’ Well, actually, it can. Thus, the title of today’s message -
THE WARNING. In the prophecies foretelling the future of the Daughter of
Babylon God gives us
a warning
ten
separate times.

        
“Before we see what He is
warning us to do
, let’s look briefly at
what will happen
to the Daughter of
Babylon. What will happen to this end times super power? Simply put, the
prophets, under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, tell us that the Daughter
of Babylon will be asked by Israel to come to its
defense
when Israel is invaded. Ezekiel tells us in chapters 38 and
39 that once Israel has entered into a peace agreement and is dwelling securely
she will be invaded by Russia, Iran, Libya and other named nations in
scripture. Interestingly, Russia has a large Muslim population and each of the
other named countries is predominately Muslim.

        
“Needless to say, America is the
only
nation on the globe with a military
defense agreement with Israel, which was signed as part of the Camp David
Accords in 1979. The prophets say that even though Israel will
plead
for help, cry out to the Daughter
of Babylon to come help save it, the Daughter of Babylon will
betray
Israel, stab it in the back,
allowing many Israelites to die, before God Himself intervenes and saves
Israel. God has never repealed Genesis 12:3. That’s His promise that He will
bless
those who bless Israel, and
curse
those who curse Israel. When the
Daughter of Babylon ‘betrays’ Israel as Isaiah phrases it, God will allow two
of the same nations that invade Israel, according to Jeremiah, to destroy the
Daughter of Babylon in one day, one hour, one moment.

        
“Back to God’s ten
warnings
. Ten times He tells His people, Christians and Jews, to
flee the Daughter of Babylon, to flee and ‘run for your lives’, warning us not
to share in her sins and her plagues. God doesn’t waste His words. He
means
what He says. He
loves
His people, and thus, He wants to
protect us
. Flee can only be interpreted
in one way –
flee
. Some may object
that due to family, possessions, jobs, etc. they can’t, or don’t want to flee.
It would appear, though, to be a clear matter of obedience A half a million
Jewish residents of Germany saw the danger coming in the 1930’s and they fled
from it. See Proverbs 22:3. Six and half million didn’t flee, two thirds of
whom were then killed.

        
“I could go on, but the clock tells me
that….”

        
A parishioner on the front row called
out, “
Go on
pastor, go on.”

        
Pastor Madison, smiling, replied, “We
have a second service coming in soon, so as much as I would
like
to go on, I
do
have to wrap this up. I’ll post an extended more complete version
of this message on the church website, along with links to study and research
materials. But, before I close, I need to tell you that the Madison family is
putting our faith to work by obeying the verses I just referenced. We are
fleeing America
…..”

        
Jack Madison waited to allow the hub
bub among those in the congregation to die down, saying quietly, “I know.
I know
. It’s not a normal thing for a
pastor to
voluntarily
leave the
flock. This shepherd, though, is saying to the flock to do your research, pray
and consider
following us
by also
fleeing, just as God said. We will be joining my father and mother who have
left the country, in spite of obstacles against their doing so. We expect
similar challenges to our leaving. It’s not an easy thing to do, but we do it
out of
obedience
. We ask for your
prayers as we seek new ministry opportunities offshore. We
love
you all.
God bless you
every one
. Let’s close in prayer.

        
“Father, we don’t pretend to know what
lies ahead of us as we move out of America in obedience to your Word. But, we
do know that
you love us
and you’ve
given us your warnings for your good purposes. Bless this assembly of believers
and guide each one to seek wisdom from you as to what you would have us to do
in the days ahead. But Father, more important than where we live and whether we
should flee is the question of where we will dwell
for eternity
. I pray that for any person who may be here today who
has never asked your son, the Lord Jesus Christ, into his or her heart as their
personal lord and savior, they will do so now. You may wish to pray a simple
sinner’s prayer, such as, ‘Lord Jesus, thank you for dying for my sins, which I
confess. I ask you to come into my life as my personal Lord and Savior. I pray
that you will be with me and guide me in the days ahead’ In Jesus precious and
powerful name. Amen.”

        
Not a single person in the sanctuary
stood to leave. ‘Shocked’ was the word most used to describe their reaction to
what they had just heard. Later, the word most used by those who heard the
message was ‘scared’.