Times of Tribulation: Christian End Times Thriller (The End Times Saga, #7) (3 page)

“Okay, good answer. Now, Patriarch Karimi has also announced he will appoint someone to head the new world church. Do you have any thoughts on who he might choose?”

Ryan was dreading this question, but he would answer it without sounding angry or envious, “I don’t know who he would choose, but I’ve heard rumors the new High Priest might be Kevin Josten,”

“Yes, we’ve heard the same, but that’s only speculation for now. Would you follow Josten’s lead if he were the High Priest?”

“Yes, of course. I would offer my help if he needed it and do whatever was asked - if that is what’s required of me,”

“So you aren’t envious that one of your colleagues might have one of the most powerful positions on Earth?”

“Of course not, I’m happy for him,” Ryan lied.

“I see. Okay, I have one last question for you, Ryan. Recently, two men appeared in Jerusalem claiming they’re witnesses for God. What do you think?”

“I think they’re probably a couple of troublemakers who are trying to get attention. I suggest everyone ignore them and they’ll go away.”

“Well, that’s about all we have time for today. Thank you for coming, Ryan. Next, we have a story about the increase in surface temperature at Yellowstone and if geologists think we have anything to worry about.”

Sandra Gilliland stood up when the cameras turned off, shook Ryan’s hand, and then Ryan left for home. He sincerely hoped Patriarch Karimi could use him in some capacity, but he really had no idea how to contact him. He also thought about contacting Josten, since, as far as he knew, Josten still had his cell phone. Instead, Ryan decided to hold off so he could see what would happen in the coming months to the new Union of United Earth and the world religion. He hoped he could swoop in and rescue Josten, mostly because he didn’t think his colleague had it in him to run a worldwide religious empire, while Ryan was confident he did.

Meanwhile, the Robertson’s and their group had no idea the Rapture had happened, since no one in the group had disappeared and they were far enough from civilization where they weren’t affected by driverless cars, airplanes, and trains. They watched the announcement made by Evans and Karimi about the new world order, and were not happy with what they heard.

“Really? Aliens? That’s one of the dumbest things I ever heard for politicians to use as an excuse their grab for power. We finally get rid of one tyranny, but then we end up with one that’s potentially a whole lot worse. There’s no way I’m going to let those jack-booted thugs implant me so they can keep track of my purchases, or tell me what I can or can’t buy. We’re going to take everything underground and try to erase our presence above ground so their satellites or drones won’t find us. We’ll try to maintain a small footprint so we’re not noticed. If this new government’s going to be as bad as I think it is, we might have some people trying to escape from them, hoping to find us, so we’ll have to be careful who we accept. Okay, let’s get to work.” ordered Pete, after venting about his dislike for governments.

Years earlier, Pete started building underground facilities for his group just in case they ever had to go into hiding. The buildings were built similar to nuclear weapons facilities, so if there were ever any earthquakes or the military bombed them, the underground buildings would be able to absorb the shock. Everything they would ever need was underground and they estimated that their supplies would run out in fifteen years if none of the supplies were replenished. Pete and the men worked on erasing the roads leading to the camp, brought down buildings they would no longer need, and made sure there was enough foliage to hide a human presence.  Once they felt they’d accomplish what they need to, Pete setup the camouflaged outdoor cameras so they could watch for any intruders and then he closed the large blast door, sealing everyone inside the underground facility. They would be able to get out, but no one would be able to get in, at least not easily.

Chapter 3

Three days earlier....

There was a knock on his door, so recently former Mayor of Dallas Wayne Davis got up from his recliner, paused the movie he was watching, and answered the door. Two women stood there, both dressed rather conservatively, and both were holding Bibles. His first thought was,
Well, they’re not Mormons, since these two aren’t guys dressed in black and white, and I don’t see any bikes. Maybe they’re those annoying Jehovah’s Witnesses, but this isn’t a Sunday and there’s no NFL games on when they usually bother people. Anyway, I wonder how they managed to get past the guards at the gate? This is a gated community, we’re supposed to be safe from these people. I guess I’m going to have to call the police. I hate being bothered with their nonsense.

Doing his best to smile and be pleasant, for now, he said, “Can I help you?”

“Hi. We’re with First Baptist Dallas. We’re going around the neighborhood, asking everyone if they know Jesus as their personal Lord and Savior. If you don’t know Him, we’re here to help you get into Heaven by leading you to Him,”

Oh, great, they’re Baptists, they’re even worse!
was Wayne’s second, sarcastic thought. “Um, how did ya’ll get past the guard at the gate?”

“Our pastor lives in this community. A group of us, him included, are spreading the Word before it’s too late,”

“Too late for what?” he asked, as he crossed his arms across his chest, and began tapping his foot.

“We feel the time is getting ever closer to Christ’s return, and the Church gets called by Him to Heaven. We’re asking people to consider where they’re going before they die, so they won’t spend eternity in Hell,”

“Give me a break, lady, I am a Christian. I mean, I attend Kevin Josten’s church for crying out loud,”

“I’m sorry, but just because you attend church doesn’t make you a Christian. Your Mr. Josten is leading many people to Hell with his false teachings and ear tickling....”

“Lady, that’s your opinion. Now, I’m going to ask you nicely to leave my porch and go bother someone else, before I call the cops on you,” Wayne interrupted.

“Okay, but I’d like to leave you a brochure that tells you how you can ask Christ into your heart. Will you please take it?”

Wayne really didn’t want to take the brochure, but then had the thought to take it, and then rip it up in front of the two’s faces. Before he said anything though, the two’s faces lit up, and one of them said, “Did you hear that?”

“Yeah, praise God, we’re going home!” the other replied.

“What?” Wayne asked, perplexed.

The two disappeared before his very eyes, leaving their clothes, their Bibles, and their brochures behind. Wayne briefly thought this was all in his imagination, or maybe he was dreaming, but realized he wasn’t when he picked up one of the Bibles. He had an instant where he felt lost and had this feeling of being doomed to spend the rest of eternity in Hell. Then, he shook those thoughts out of his head, replaced with the thought that he was glad to get rid of those pests. He bent down, quickly scooped up the clothes, the Bibles, and the brochures, then he tossed them in the garbage bin in his alley. Once that was done, he went back to watching the porno he paused when the two interrupted.

Before too long, he heard a very loud explosion. He got up from his chair, went outside, and saw heavy smoke off in the distance. Since most of his neighbors were also outside, he walked over to one of them, and asked, “Do you know what’s going on?”

“Yeah, an American Airlines jet just crashed less than two miles from here. As I was driving home, I could see it falling out of the sky. I hope the fire department gets to it quickly, before the fire spreads and affects us.”

“I hope they do too.” Wayne walked back into his house, turned off the movie, and turned on the news.

The news broadcast showed I-35 East tangled up with a multi-car wreck near Corinth, where traffic was usually horrible to begin with on the best of days. The reporter was saying that a car was missing its driver, the only proof anyone had actually been in the car when it crashed was the driver’s clothes were draped all over the seat. The reporter quipped, “I hope the missing driver is not out there naked while trying to flee the police, if that’s what the driver’s trying to do. I think that would be embarrassing for everyone involved. This pile-up involves forty cars and pickups, and five semi-trucks, which the Texas Department of Transportation (TexDOT) estimates will take the rest of the day to clean up this mess. If you have anyone you’re waiting on who is headed north towards Denton, they’ll probably be stuck in traffic for hours. Now, we’ll go to Kelly Slattery, who is near the scene of a wrecked American Airlines jet.”

The next reporter had thick black smoke and flames happening behind her, with over a dozen fire truck sirens almost drowning her out, “Thanks, Ellen. I’m near the scene of a crashed American Airlines jet, which has taken out a whole neighborhood and the fire from the crash is threatening more homes in the area. According to TexDOT, the passenger jet was headed from Austin to Oklahoma City when there were reports that the pilot and co-pilot disappeared into thin air. We have no way of confirming that and I’m not sure the investigators will be able to confirm that with this crash. I was also told that the crash was not caused by terrorism, so that was ruled out immediately as the cause of the crash. There were no survivors amongst the two hundred on board the aircraft. That’s all we have for now, back to you at the studio.”

Wayne turned off the television and decided to read instead. He knew the Dallas Fire Department would get the fire out before it burned down any more homes and businesses, he had complete faith in them. He looked outside shortly before sunset and saw that the smoke from the crash site had almost completely disappeared.  Satisfied the fire was under control and not headed his direction, he went back to what he was doing, giving the crash not another thought.

Later the next day, he turned on the news and discovered the announcement about the new world leader. While he hadn’t given much thought to the disappearances after the two women vanished in front of him, the idea that aliens took them because they stopped peace, unity, and harmony from occurring on Earth made sense to him.

Watching Karimi explain the new way of things in the world, Wayne approved of the idea of a global government, with Karimi at the head of the global government. Wayne also approved of the plans to remake the economy so it could be fair for everyone. Patriarch Karimi announced the creation of ten regions that would be administrated by ten men and he would announce who would be governing these regions in the next few days, making Wayne wonder if he could somehow get in on that. He’d made many political allies as Mayor of Dallas, so he thought he could use that to get a good position in the Union of United Earth. If it weren’t for the fact that the new Republic of Texas’ government was politically opposite of him, he would’ve attempted to be re-elected again as Dallas’ mayor, but he had no desire to be pushed around by those political hacks in Austin. The Patriarch was also going to announce a new religious leader for a one-world religion, causing Wayne to wonder who was going to head up this religion, even though he wasn’t certain he even cared.

Turning off the television, Wayne went to his computer to look up the prices of airplane tickets to Babylon, Iraq, which was supposed to be the new capitol of the world. Discovering that he could afford the trip, he bought a one-way ticket, and he would leave the next day. Wayne packed his clothes into one suitcase and figured he would buy more if this trip to get a position in the new government was successful for him.

At DFW Airport, the place wasn’t as busy as it usually was and there was a noticeable lack of screaming, misbehaving, unaccompanied children.
I think I could get used to that,
Wayne thought, since he wasn’t a big fan of children, especially when parents let them run loose and didn’t keep an eye on them.
If the Centurions really did take the children so the teens and adults of Earth could learn to live in peace, harmony, and unity, I hope that when the children are returned, they’re civilized and behaved and not the little monsters that were here.

While waiting for his flight, Wayne noticed something else that never happened before the disappearances – people making out in public and not just the minor public displays of affection, but also doing things that should’ve taken place in the bedroom. Before the Rapture, he would’ve been uncomfortable with such displays, but now, he was surprised he didn’t care.
If that’s what they want to do, then who am I to stop them?
He thought with a shrug of his shoulders, and then he picked up a magazine to read while he waited. An hour later, he boarded his flight and left Dallas.

After spending over seventeen hours on the airplane, Wayne went to his hotel to rest from the long flight, and he would visit the Union of United Earth headquarters once he had enough sleep. While preparing to go to bed, he turned on the television to find out what he missed while on the flight to Iraq. The channel he turned to turned out to be the official station of the Union of United Earth, named the United Earth Television Network.
I wonder how long they’ve been up and running? Well, no matter, I’ll just turn up the volume to hear what the anchor has to say.

“Less than an hour ago, the names of the ten administrators over the ten regions of the Union of United Earth was announced to the world. Currently, Patriarch Karimi is meeting with his choice for High Priest of the Union, and we’ll know, almost instantly, who it is when the Patriarch makes it known to us first who will be leading the world religion. Now, let’s find out who will be administrating the ten regions.

“First, the man who is now over the new North American Union, or old, depending on your point of view, is Steve Powell. Mr. Powell is the former Governor of New York and a loyal ally to the late Michael J. Evans. He was picked because he was an effective leader over the state of New York as governor and worked closely with the former United Nations when it was clear the United States government was no longer capable of leading. As with the others, we will bring you an interview with him when he’s available. The next administrator is over South America, Jorge Fuentes....”