Countdown - Worldwide Evangelical Ministry

Countdown

To

ETERNITY

By

IKECHI P. IHEJIRIKA

Countdown To Eternity

An inspirational Christian novel using imaginary and biblical

characters. All Scripture quotations have been taken from the New

King James Bible.

© 2007 By Ikechi P. Ihejirika. All rights reserved.

No part of this book may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval

system, or transmitted by any means, electronic,

mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise,

without written permission from the author.

ISBN: 978-978-083-762-4

Other books by the Author:

The Threat of Darkness

Oily waters

For information, contact:

Worldwide Evangelical Ministries

9-11 Ken Uba Close,

Lekki Peninsula, Lagos, Nigeria

Url: www.worldevangel.com

Email: [email protected]

iii

In memory of the martyrs who were beheaded, burnt at the stakes,

or fed to beasts, for their uncompromising faith in God. Rejecting the

mutilation of God’s word and proclaiming their preference for that

heavenly City whose builder and maker is God, they chose suffering

and death rather than serve other gods. They set examples for those

coming after them to always contend earnestly for the faith which

was once for all delivered to the saints.


Dear Reader,

I greet you in the precious name of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ.

You may not be aware that the multitudinous din of cacophonous

voices on matters of faith emanating from pulpits, television and

radio are not accidental. You may not be aware also that it is part of

Satan’s grand conspiracy to drown out God’s word to us through

saintly preachers and prophets. Creating an apparent illusion of

anarchy in the Christian world using his messengers masquerading

as Christian preachers, man’s archenemy has continued to confound

and deceive the world. Even some believers have been taken in by

the god of mammon and the new age ‘easy believism’ Christianity.

In their bid to adapt to changing times, situations and culture, some

denominations have mutilated the Christian message while others

have added their own. Those that teach flawed doctrines on the Holy

Spirit have split the New Testament Age into dispensations in their

bid to justify their denial of the Baptism of the Holy Spirit

accompanied by the initial evidence of speaking in tongues as

witnessed in the Book of Acts of the Apostles. For them, God’s

active presence in the early church stopped with the demise of the

apostles. Those that hold and propagate this doctrine not only are

mutilating God’s word but they also are denying the power of God.

Are we right in believing and accepting those doctrines that our

denominations teach without testing them with God’s word?

Some Christian groups, especially those in the poorer societies, have

made casting out demons part of their ritual; unfortunately, many of

the methods they employ have no biblical basis. Other Christian

groups, especially in the richer societies, do not even recognize that

demons still operate in our world. Does it mean that demons departed

the earth after Christ’s ascension since we know that Christ routinely

cast out demons during His earthly ministry?


Yet others have joined with Mammon to fleece their congregation

by equating faith with buying and selling with God. Daily asking

for money for one project or the other and promising hundred-fold

riches, these ‘men of the belly’ continue to grow fat at the expense

of their suffering but ignorant parishioners. These false ministers,

with their glamorous lifestyles and get-rich-quick messages, have

taken Christ out of the gospel and out of the lives of their followers

and have almost drowned out the less glamorous Christ-centered

messages delivered by God’s true ministers.

The poetry of the moment is the mutilation – the unsettling messages

on faith, prosperity and healing that have been laced with esoteric

and eastern occult philosophies and practices. Many, seduced by

promises of salvation without sacrifice, instant wealth and health,

rush to life-quenching denominations and ministries while rejecting

the truth from life-giving churches unrepentantly holding fast to

biblical standards and contending earnestly for the faith which was

once for all delivered to the saints.

How can those still in ignorance and who are still searching for God’s

truth not be confused when they are bombarded daily with many

cross less and Christ-less ‘Christian messages’ from pulpits,

television and radio.

How can they repent and accept Christ’s finished works when they

know that the actions of the purveyors of these ‘Christian messages’

do not match their words and that their lives are no different from

those they are asking to repent?

How many would choose the true Christian pathway – being

conformed unto His death and being a partaker in His sufferings,

which includes denial of self – when presented with the alternative

that subliminally says, ‘you can come to Christ but you do not have

to make sacrifices or lifestyle changes?’


No wonder the world has difficulty hearing and understanding the

small still voices that continue to pierce through the thick blanket of

lies and deceit.

Countdown to Eternity dramatizes and exposes a satanic conspiracy

that spawns the time before time up until the dawn of the beginning

of new beginnings. A must read for any who seeks to know the truth,

break Satan’s stranglehold, and who desires to rest in Him for all

eternity.

You owe it to yourself to know the truth because you will appear

alone before the judgement seat of God to render the account of your

stewardship on earth. What will you tell Him on that day? Would

you use ignorance as your excuse for not knowing and doing God’s

will or would you plead that since you followed the teachings and

practices of your church denomination, pastor, priest or prophet to

the letter, they should be held responsible?

You owe it to yourself to do the best by you i.e., guard your soul very

jealously and not let anyone rob you of your place in Him. It is your

responsibility to study the scriptures and trust the Lord to lead you as

you walk the walk of faith.

Remain Blessed.

Ikechi P. Ihejirika


All honor for the inspiration, writing, editing, and publishing of this

work goes to the Lord Jesus Christ.

For their assistance during the editing of this work, I give special

thanks to Anne, my helpmate, Ihuaku, my daughter, and Nnaziri, my

son.


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1

BEFORE ETERNITY

“In the beginning was the Word and the Word was with God and

the Word was God.” (John 1:1)

“You were the seal of perfection, full of wisdom and perfect in

beauty. You were in Eden; the garden of God; every precious stone

was your covering: the sardius, topaz, and diamond, beryl, onyx, and

jasper, sapphire, turquoise, and emerald with gold. The

workmanship of your timbrels and pipes was prepared for you on the

day you were created.” (Ezekiel 28:12-13)

There were no universes, quasars, galaxies, angels, suns, moons,

planets, human beings, languages or time before God created

eternity.

In perfect harmony, on this undated moment, Father, Word and

Spirit, radiating immense beauty and serenity, were in council.

“Let Us create endless beginnings, which We shall call eternity,”

said the Father.

“Let Us create spirit worlds to be populated by spirit beings or

angels,” uttered the Word.

“Let Us fashion these angels using spiritual materials proved through

fire before breathing life into them,” added the Spirit.


2

“These angels, though fashioned with the more superior spiritual

materials, will ultimately become ministering spirits for the eventual

heirs of salvation to be created and tested in the very far future,”

stated the Father.

“Each angel will receive power according to function; the

archangels will be more powerful, overseeing dominions and hosts

of angels,” said the Word.

“Not only will these angels worship Us of their own freewill, they

will also carry out their functions in love,” added the Spirit.

“Yet, looking ahead, I see iniquity in the most powerful and the

most beautiful of the archangels, the very one who will be

responsible for ushering praises to Us,” voiced the Father sadly.

Pause

“This archangel will conceive in his heart to establish his throne

above God’s own and will convince one third of the angels to join

him in the rebellion,” continued the Father.

“We can prevent this future rebellion by not giving them

independent minds,” said the Word. “Lacking freewill, angels will

carry out their functions perfectly.”

Pause

As the Father and the Spirit looked at the Word, He continued,

“However, that would be contrary to Our plan to create spirit beings

that would love Us of their own freewill and carry out Our commands

without coercion.

Looking ahead into the very far future, We see the joy on the

faces of those angels and archangels who remained faithful.”

“The radiance that would be emanating from those faithful angels

would more than compensate for the darkness that would be

enveloping the fallen ones,” added the Spirit.


3

The Father’s command, “Eternity, come into existence,” rang out,

setting in motion the beginning of endless beginnings.

“Spirit worlds, come forth in an order that is perfect and which

reflects the glory and peace of God.”

At those commands from the Father, eternity and the spiritual

universe with its worlds and radiance came into existence. With

spiritual languages praising God resounding from all corners of the

universe, all the elements in the spirit worlds bowed in worship.

It is unknown how long this first praise and worship session

lasted – there was no time then and no created beings to record this

epochal event.

“Be formed, metals of the finest quality; come out hardy with

beautiful colors fitting to make the most handsome spiritual bodies,”

commanded the Word.

“Fiery furnace, come into existence,” commanded the Spirit.

As metals of many colors and great beauty came from all corners,

a massive fiery furnace came hurtling out of the bowels of the

spiritual universe.

At the Father’s command, “Be fashioned, archangels and angels from

these metals,” metals began to combine in simple configurations, and

then rearrange into more complex formations until zillions of images

emerged.

At the command of the Word, these images began to pass through

the fiery furnace in a preordained order.

“Breath of life, enter and imbue each image as it comes out of the

fiery furnace with knowledge and power in accordance with its pre-

assigned duties,” commanded the Spirit.


4

God looked at the spirit worlds and was satisfied. Everything was

perfect in the spiritual universe. Zillions of angels were carrying out

their assigned tasks under the supervision of the archangels.

Among the angels, one archangel called Lucifer stood out. Not

only was he the covering cherub responsible for ushering praises

from the hosts of angels to God’s throne, he was also the most

beautiful.

One day, after an indeterminate period, the whole universe heard the

Voice of many thunders from God’s throne.

“Hear the Word of God, all archangels and angels:

God is One.

God is Love.

God has always existed.

God will always exist.

The Father is God.

The Word is God.

The Spirit is God.

Yet, there is only one God.

There is no separateness in God.

Therein is the mystery of the Godhead.

Only at the end of all the ages will the import of this mystery be

revealed.”

Angels, spiritual galaxies with their planets, bowed in worship as the

Voice of many thunders from God’s throne continued proclaiming

the almightiness of God.

“In a moment in eternity, God fashioned archangels and angels,

put the breath of life in them, gave them freewill, and imbued them

with indwelling power to carry out pre-determined tasks. Though

angels have freedom to move freely in all the worlds and archangels

have thrones and dominions, yet must all remember that eternity and

the spirit worlds derive their powers and abilities from God.


5

God does not dwell in eternity. Rather, eternity lives in God. No

one but God has intrinsic power and independent existence.”

When the Voice of many thunders finished speaking, the entire

creation began to worship God with songs and praises.

There was harmony in the spiritual universe for many eons. Angels

continued to praise and worship God, and to rejoice in Him. The

more they worshipped God, they more they grew in love.

“You were the anointed cherub who covers; I established you;

you were on the holy mountain of God; you walked back and forth in

the midst of the fiery stones.

You were perfect in your ways from the day you were created, till

iniquity was found in you.” (Ezekiel 28:14-15)

“How you are fallen from heaven, O Lucifer, son of the morning!

How you are cut down to the ground, you who weakened the nations!

For you said in your heart: ‘I will ascend into heaven, I will exalt

my throne above the stars of God; I will also sit on the mount of the

congregation on the farthest sides of the north;

I will ascend above the heights of the clouds, I will be like the

Most High.’ Yet you shall be brought down to Sheol, to the lowest

depths of the Pit.” (Isaiah14:12-15)

Suddenly, at a moment in eternity, iniquity reared its head in the heart

of God’s most powerful and most beautiful archangel.

“It beats my imagination,” Lucifer, lost in thought, muttered in

his heart. “Why should I continue to worship Father, Word and

Spirit?”

He tried to suppress the thought, but was unable to, as he began

to visualize what it would be like to be God.


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“I have the same power as Father, Word and Spirit. They tell us

there is only one God. Yet we worship Father, Word and Spirit as

God. It follows that anyone powerful enough can join them to

become God.”

Lucifer, now hooked on his idea, continued to explore the matter

in his mind. His heart screamed rebellion. Fully aware that the dice

was loaded against him in this quest but blinded by vaulting

ambition, he plunged headlong into a strategy session with his soul.

Shortly thereafter, he had a plan. With shouts of danger growing

louder and louder in the depths of his innermost being, he made the

decision to cast his lot on the side of foolishness.

“Oh, if only I could become more powerful than the three Persons

in the Godhead,” he mused.

“Then, I shall set my throne above God’s throne on the North

Side and all the angels will worship me too,” he concluded in his

heart.

He was still visualizing and loving the scenes where hosts of

angels were worshiping him when the summons to appear before

God’s throne came to him.

Moving at a speed greater than that of light, Lucifer was at God’s

throne in eternity moments. On the way, he could not help but

wonder why God had sent for him. It never occurred to him to

wonder why he should have been concerned about this particular

summons when he had never given thought to previous ones. If not

for his blind and foolish ambition, he would have known that having

sinned in his heart he had lost the great angelic attribute of

discernment.

Bowing his head, he waited for the Voice from God’s throne to

speak.


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“Lucifer, son of the morning, remember that you are a created

being and that God understands the thoughts and intents of every

heart.”

Did he detect sadness in the Voice or was he imagining it?

“God created and made angels and archangels perfect but He also

gave them freewill. All who love God obey and worship Him

willingly without coercion. Purge yourself of the iniquity gnawing at

your heart.”

Lucifer was about to protest but before he could utter a word, the

Voice continued, “Only you can elect which road you will take –

obedience that leads to eternal life in God or rebellion that leads to

perdition.”

He was dumbfounded. What could he say? Even his own heart

convicted him. While he was still trying to find a wiggle room, a

command now appearing as if from a distance, echoed into the

innermost recesses of his soul.

“Lucifer, you are to go to the worlds and convey what you have

heard to all the archangels and angels. Let all know that every spirit

being has the right to worship and obey God as well as the right to

refuse.

You must also tell them that those who elect to continue in

obedience will live with God forever while those who choose the

path of rebellion will burn forever in the fiery furnace that was used

to harden angelic bodies at the time of their creation.”

Filled with fear that God knew his secret, Lucifer left for the spirit

worlds. In each world and dominion, he gave God’s message before

proceeding to reveal his own plan.

At the end of his mission, he had persuaded about one third of

God’s angels to support his rebellion. The carrot had been the

promise of larger dominions and greater power.

Michael, an archangel, appeared before God’s throne. Lying

prostrate and crying, he could not utter a word.


8

“Michael, why are you crying?” asked the Voice from God’s

throne.

“Oh, God, forgive us for we have sinned by the mere hearing of

the heresies and blasphemies of Lucifer,” answered Michael.

“Even now, he has deceived one third of God’s angels and they

are ready to do battle against God.

However, we know that a word from God and they would all be

destroyed. We tried to dissuade him and his cohorts but they are

determined to go through with their evil plan.”

“Michael, all the angels and archangels were created and given

freewill,” said the Voice from the throne. “You and the loyal angels

must decide on an appropriate response.”

Michael left God’s throne to assemble God’s loyal angels from all

corners of the spirit worlds.

Meanwhile, Lucifer and his legions were heading to the North Side.

Just before Lucifer and his legions reached God’s throne, Michael

and his legions interposed themselves.

Lucifer could hardly suppress his rage on sighting Michael at the

head of the army of God’s loyal angels. Leaving his position, he flew

across to meet Michael.

“Michael, why are you trying to protect God?” Lucifer shouted

angrily. “You and I should join hands together, establish our own

thrones on the North Side, and divide the worlds between us. Don’t

you know that God is powerless without you and your legions?”

Michael stared long and hard at Lucifer. He was still trying to

comprehend what could have led this most beautiful of angels to fall


9

into such grave error and foolishness. He determined to reason with

him one more time.

“Lucifer, what has possessed you to make you lose all reason?

You still do not get it. Has it not occurred to you that God has the

power to destroy you and the whole angelic hosts with just a word?”

“Then, why has He asked you to fight for Him if He has the

power?” mocked Lucifer.

“God did not ask us to fight you,” Michael answered. “Just as

you and your followers have elected to use your freewill to rebel

against God, we have chosen to use our own freewill to stop your

rebellion.”

Lucifer laughed. “Aren’t you missing something, Michael? You

seem to have forgotten that I am the most powerful archangel and

that though the number of my legions is not equal to yours, yet our

combined power being more than yours ensures our victory. You and

God should be suing for peace.”

“I have heard enough blasphemy from you,” Michael retorted.

Then realizing his mission was to try to save Lucifer and his

rebellious angels, he added softly in a voice heavy with compassion

and sadness, “Even if our combined power was truly less than yours,

yet we believe God’s word that love will always prevail over evil.

God is Love. All the angels on God’s side today have that which you

and your cohorts have lost.”

“You are joking, Michael,” shouted Lucifer. “How you and your

foolish followers can put your belief in God’s love beats me. Will

that love withstand that which we will unleash on you and your

followers if you do not back down?”

When Michael did not reply, Lucifer threw another punch. “Or

maybe you want to put your foolish love theory to the test.”

Michael looked again at Lucifer, now certain that trying to rescue

Lucifer from himself was a lost cause.

“Lucifer, you have one last opportunity to repent of this evil deed

and God, being merciful, will forgive you. However, if you cross the


10

barrier we have erected, you and your cohorts will be damned

forever.”

“Michael, you and God beware,” Lucifer, totally consumed with

fury, shouted. “We shall show no mercy when we take over the North

side. You have one last opportunity to surrender to my forces. We

will deal fairly with you, your army, and with God.”

An indeterminate period elapsed as the two opposing armies

finalized their battle plans for the first war in the universe.

Suddenly, the war was on. Lucifer and most of his legions, joining

their powers, created very powerful ultra magnetic force field filled

with super destructive rays capable of pulverizing many galaxies.

Riding behind the waves of this very powerful super magnetic force

field, Lucifer and his legions advanced towards the barrier erected by

Michael and God’s angels.

Positioning his remaining legions strategically on the corners of

the spirit worlds, Lucifer gave the command for them to begin

raining missiles, with enough explosive capacities to melt planets, on

the positions of Michael’s legions.

In response, Michael and his legions launched their own counter

super magnetic force field, filled also with very powerful destructive

rays, to meet the advancing force field of Lucifer and his legions.

They also rode behind the resulting waves.

Michael’s remaining legions, stationed on the corners of the spirit

worlds, began firing powerful missiles to intercept the ones coming

from Lucifer’s legions.

Explosions and fiery flashes continued as missiles of the

opposing armies met and destroyed each other in the air.

Meanwhile, the two opposing super magnetic force fields were

getting closer and closer. Hosts of angels, on both sides of the

conflict, riding behind the waves, held their breaths. They were fully


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aware that the resulting explosion at impact would be massive

enough to consume all of them.

Impact!!!

The collision came with massive fiery balls and force, more than

enough to shake the foundations of the universe; such was its

awesome power that no words could accurately describe this great

but sad event. Yet, nothing moved out of joint in the universe!

Angels on both sides of the conflict were stunned; it was obvious

that the Hand of the Almighty God had spared them all.

Michael and his army, seeing a demonstration of God’s awesome

power and love, fell down and began to worship. Knowing what a

wondrous salvation had just been wrought, they continued to sing

praises while clapping and dancing for joy.

In that period of worship, try as they might, Lucifer and his army

could not penetrate the shield of love enveloping the whole universe

as faithful angels ushered praises to God. All the missiles were

bouncing off the invisible shield around God’s angels.

Still singing and praising God, Michael and his army began to

return fire and launch missiles at the enemy forces. God’s angels,

now fully comprehending that they could only win with faith in God

and with praises on their lips, began to launch their missiles with

greater frequency. These missiles, to their surprise, had greater force

and intensity than the earlier ones; they were now penetrating and

destroying the shields of the enemy. On the other hand, the enemy’s

missiles and rays were bouncing harmlessly off their shields on

impact. It was then that Michael and his army realized that they had

tapped into the power of the Almighty God through their trust and

faith.

With zillions of angels doing battle, the first war in the spirit

worlds was very intense. The battle continued for an undetermined

period, since there was no time then. Lucifer changed strategies


12

many times, to no avail. His army continued to lose ground each

passing moment just as Michael and his army continued to gain

ground.

In the end, God’s angels prevailed. Driving Lucifer and his

legions out of their dominions, they banished them to the less

hospitable places in the universe.

Ranting at the loss of his exalted position in God’s kingdom,

Lucifer vowed to create chaos.


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2

THE MATERIAL WORLDS

Now the serpent was more cunning than any beast of the field

which the Lord God made. And he said to the woman, “Has God

indeed said, ‘You shall not eat of every tree of the garden’?”

And the woman said to the serpent, “We may eat the fruit of the

trees of the garden; but of the fruit of the tree which is in the midst

of the garden, God has said, ‘You shall not eat it, nor shall you touch

it, lest you die.’”

And the serpent said to the woman, “You will not surely die. For

God knows that in the day you eat of it your eyes will be opened and

you will be like God, knowing good and evil.” (Genesis 3:1-5)

“For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son,

that whosoever believes in Him should not perish but have

everlasting life.” (John 3:16)

“For unto us a Child is born, unto us a Son is given; and the

government will be on His shoulder. And His name will be called

Wonderful, Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of

Peace.” (Isaiah 9:6)

“We have tested the angels; two thirds, exercising their freewill,

rejected the lies of Lucifer and remained faithful,” said the Father.

“One third, exercising their freewill, chose to believe Lucifer’s

lies and joined him in the rebellion,” added the Word.


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“Loyal angels, under the command of the valiant Michael, with

faith in God, defeated Lucifer, the most powerful archangel, and cast

him and his cohorts out of Our presence,” said the Spirit.

“Now, the whole of creation knows that good will always

triumph over evil and that love manifested through obedience to God

is the only anchor for salvation,” stated the Father.

“One of the consequences of the rebellion is the chaos in that part

of the spirit world now inhabited by the fallen angels,” chipped in the

Word.

Pause

“The moment has arrived to create man, time, material universe with

its galaxies, stars, suns, moons and planets out of this chaos,”

proclaimed the Spirit hovering over the deep formless void filled

with water and great darkness.

“Man, to be created in Our image and likeness, shall be Our

companion,” said the Father. “In addition to having dominion over

his world, he shall also be responsible for ushering praises to God’s

throne.”

“Given that he has freewill, he will have to be tested,” echoed the

Word. “In the midst of many trees in the beautiful Garden of Eden

shall be two trees – the tree of life and the tree of the knowledge of

good and evil.

Man will have the choice of eating fruits from every tree in the

garden save one, the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. Eating

a fruit from the tree of life would enable him to have eternal life in

God while eating the fruit from the tree of the knowledge and evil

would lead to eternal damnation.”

“Looking ahead, the first man will of his own freewill disobey that

simple command,” said the Spirit. “As a result, the human race will

be eternally damned. Man will die and end up in the fiery furnace

meant for Lucifer and the fallen angels.”


15

Pause

“The Word shall become flesh, would dwell among men, and would

go obediently to the cross to die in man’s place,” declared the Father.

“Taking the sins of the whole world on His body, He will destroy the

nature of sin and restore man into God’s favor. For three days and

three nights, He shall be in the bowels of the earth to free those who

had died previously in the Lord.”

“Yet shall He rise on the third day in a new spiritual body, having

triumphed over death,” stated the Word.

“He will then ascend into heaven, which had been previously shut

to man from the time of the first man’s disobedience, leading the first

fruits from paradise to be at God’s right side,” said the Spirit.

“And all who will believe in His Name, calling on the Name of

God in truth and righteousness, will be born anew and will become

sons of God,” proclaimed the Father.

“Looking ahead in the very far future, I see praise-singing

multitudes bearing their sheaves before God’s throne as a result of

My sacrifice on the cross,” announced the Word.

“Yet shall many go into damnation because they did not believe

on the only Son of God, slain before the foundation of the worlds,”

echoed the Spirit.

Pause

With the Spirit still hovering over the deep formless void, the

Father’s command, “Let there be light,” rang out. “Let there be a

firmament to be called heaven in the midst of the waters, and let it

divide the waters from the waters.”

“Be gathered together waters under the heavens into one place,

and let dry lands appear on the earth,” commanded the Word.


16

“Earth, bring forth grass, herb that yields seed, and fruit tree that

yields fruit according to its kind and whose seed is in itself,”

commanded the Spirit.”

“Let there be lights in the firmament of the heavens to divide the

day from the night; and let them be for signs and seasons, and for

days and years; and let them be for lights in the firmament of the

heavens to give light on the earth,” commanded the Father.

“Waters abound with an abundance of living creatures, and let

birds fly above the earth across the face of the firmament of the

heavens,” commanded the Word

“Earth, bring forth living creatures: cattle and creeping thing and

beast of the earth, each according to its kind,” commanded the Spirit.

Then, the Father said, “Let Us make man in Our image,

according to Our likeness; let them have dominion over the fish of

the sea, over the birds of the air, and over the cattle, over all the

earth and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth.”

After forming an image using dust from the earth, God put His

breath into it and the image became a living being.

There was uneasy silence in the council chambers of the Kingdom of

Darkness. Lucifer had summoned the council meeting in response to

the creation of man and the material universe. Prior to the council

meeting, members had been pondering the import of what in their

minds was God’s move on the chessboard.

“God has not only denied us the use of our dominions but He has

converted part of our world into a material one,” said Lucifer angrily.

“To make matters worse, He has given the seat of my dominion to

earthlings made from mere dust.”

Interrupting Lucifer, the First lieutenant said very crossly, “The

Voice from heaven announcing the creation of man said that these

dust beings have been created in the image of God. What an insult to


17

the angels who had been crafted from the hardiest metals and given

powers almost equal to God.”

“First lieutenant, what are you trying to say?” asked Lucifer

irritably.

Without waiting for the First lieutenant’s reply, Lucifer, who

hated being interrupted, continued speaking.

“Our powers are as great as God’s own. We should always

remember that. Michael and his army pushed us out of our dominions

because they were more in number.”

“What shall we do to reclaim our dominions?” asked the Second

lieutenant.

Lucifer, ignoring the question, turned to the Third Lieutenant and

asked, “What do you have for us?”

“I have been monitoring Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden as

you had instructed,” replied the Third lieutenant. “Both are going

about happily in the garden, eating only those fruits that God

permitted them to. Eve usually plays with her pet, a beautiful serpent,

when not in the company of Adam.”

“Thank you, Third lieutenant,” shouted Lucifer excitedly. “You

have just given me the final piece to the puzzle. Now I can proceed

with my plan.”

Every eye in the room turned to look at Lucifer who had leapt out

of his seat. Shouting and dancing, as he moved from one end of the

room to the other, he began to mouth unprintable vituperation against

God and Adam. No one dared interrupt him. They knew they had to

wait until he calmed down.

Moments later, Lucifer sat down. Without waiting for them to

ask him why he had been prancing up and down, he boasted, “I am

going to do a reverse kick on God using these dust beings. Right now,

God thinks He has us running. However, I will have the last laugh. I,

lord Lucifer, shall cause the dust beings to disobey His instructions.”

“What’s the plan?” asked the First lieutenant.


18

“I am going to possess the serpent and use her to deceive the

woman into eating the forbidden fruit,” replied Lucifer proudly.

“Once the woman has eaten the fruit, it will be very difficult for

Adam to resist eating it too; he would not like to part ways with Eve.

God will have no choice but to send them out of Eden. With sin

reigning in their bodies, it will be but a short walk to death.”

“How does man’s fall help us?” wondered the Second Lieutenant

aloud.

Lucifer stared at him before continuing.

“In time, our numbers will increase as these dust beings die and

their spirits join us. At the appointed time, when our number becomes

equal to or greater than that of Michael and his army, we will fight

to regain our kingdoms.”

“Good thinking!” exclaimed the Fourth lieutenant. “I always

knew you would come up with the perfect plan.”

Lucifer decided to visit the Garden of Eden to implement his plan.

Entering the material galaxies, the anger in him welled up as he saw

the peace and the beauty of man’s world – suns, moons and planets

moving in their appointed pathways, held in place by the power of

God.

He and the hosts of fallen angels had tried many times in the past

to dislocate the material galaxies. Pooling their powers together to

create an extraordinary powerful force field with great momentum

and intensity, they had directed it at what they thought were the

pivots holding the galaxies together. Yet, they had been unable to

move them even by a jot.

His anger at these failures and the realization that he was fighting

a losing battle only increased his frustration. Many times, of late, that

anger had almost reached boiling point and he had nearly erupted. To

avoid wounding part of his essence with his anger, he had had to


19

refrain from visiting the material worlds for a season. In that period,

the Third lieutenant had been his spy on earth.

Now en route to earth, he discovered that his anger at God and

man had not diminished. The intensity of the anger was increasing as

he got closer to the Garden of Eden and he knew that if uncontrolled

he could erupt and lose some of his powers. By calling to mind the

reason for his visit to earth, he barely managed to reduce the intensity

to just below the explosive point.

His personality had altered since Michael and his legions drove

him and his cohorts out. He still refused to acknowledge that blind

ambition had driven him to rebellion since his capacity for informed

reasoning had declined. Hatred of God and all His creation now filled

the big void where love had once resided.

However, no matter how much he hated God, the intensity of that

hatred paled in comparison to the one he had for Adam whose

offspring would inherit his lost position of ushering praises to God’s

throne. The thought that, with each passing day, Adam and Eve were

getting closer to eating the fruit from the tree of life that would

transform them into spiritual beings filled him with fury. How he

hated the peace and tranquility that surrounded them in the garden

and how he had been plotting to disrupt it. Today, he has an excellent

opportunity to destroy that harmony and strike a blow at both God

and Adam.

Reaching the garden, he saw the woman playing with a very

beautiful serpent. Unseen by them, he listened as they conversed and

concluded that, for an animal, the serpent was indeed very smart. Not

a surprise, therefore, that Eve had made it her pet.

Lucifer knew that God had instructed Adam, Eve, and all the

animals never to leave the Garden of Eden or to communicate with

strangers. He must find a way to seduce the serpent.

After a while, he knew what he was going to do. He was going to

play on the serpent’s weakness; the serpent had become very proud,


20

what with all the love and attention bestowed upon it by Eve. No

other animal in the garden was that favored.

Lucifer watched, waiting for his opportunity.

As Eve left the serpent to be with Adam, Lucifer saw his chance.

Quickly transforming into a woman, Lucifer whispered from outside

the garden, “Beautiful one, none fairer and none wiser.”

“Who are you?” asked the serpent suspiciously. “We have been

told not to talk to strangers.”

“And who would give such a stupid instruction, if I might ask?”

Lucifer said.

“God,” replied the serpent. “Are you the only one on earth who

does not know about this instruction?”

“Didn’t God tell you that there is only one man and one woman

in all the earth?” Lucifer asked mockingly.

Lucifer, without waiting for a reply, continued, “Well, God does

not want those in the garden to know that there are many of us on

earth. You are very smart. So, why don’t you step outside the garden

and see if I am not a real human being.”

The serpent hesitated for a moment before her vanity took over

and she left the garden in disobedience to God’s instructions.

Standing outside was a woman, more beautiful than Eve.

“Surely, someone is lying and it is definitely not me,” mocked

Lucifer.”

“Are you trying to say that there are other human beings like

you?” asked the serpent.

“What do you think?” Lucifer countered.

When the serpent did not reply, Lucifer continued, “There are

many of us. We are like God and can do anything that God can do.

That is the reason why God does not want Adam or Eve or the

animals to step outside the garden. I can take you to see other human

beings if you like.”


21

“No. I cannot leave Eve. She loves me.”

“Really, then why does she not eat the fruit from the tree in the midst

of the garden that would make her to be like God, knowing good and

evil. Then, she can have the power to give you everything you want

like taking you to see the other worlds.”

“Adam and Eve cannot eat the fruit of the tree of the knowledge

of good and evil or they will die, that is what God told them,” replied

the serpent.

“Again, another lie; just like the lie that there aren’t other human

beings on earth.”

“Why don’t you follow me and talk to Eve and Adam?” the

serpent asked.

“That wouldn’t be wise,” replied Lucifer. “But you can talk to

the woman and she can talk to her husband. Go back and talk to the

woman and meet me here when you are done.”

Lucifer patted the serpent on the head as he finished talking. With

that touch, he entered the serpent and took total control.

“Adam, try this fruit,” said Eve.

Adam looked at the fruit and knew that it came from the

forbidden tree.

As comprehension dawned on him that Eve had already eaten

part of it, he wailed, “Oh, Eve, what have you done?”

His lament reverberated throughout the garden.

“Oh, Adam, take a bite and you will see that it is the sweetest

fruit in the garden.”

“Is that not the fruit that God told us not to eat or we would die?”

“No, Adam, we will not die. Instead, we will be like God.”

“Who told you such nonsense?”

“The serpent,” replied Eve.

“Since when did the serpent have more knowledge than us?”

asked Adam. “God created us and gave us the whole earth to subdue

and dominate. Every animal including the serpent is under us. None


22

of them has the capacity to discern. Above all, we have the spirit of

God indwelling us.”

Adam, looking at Eve more closely, knew that they were no

longer of one mind. He sensed a resistance in Eve that was

bewildering. Then, it dawned on him that he too must make a choice.

He had spent a long time looking at all of God’s creatures and

none had been satisfactory. However, when God took one of his ribs

while he was in deep sleep and created Eve, he had found joy and

known then that he was complete. He loved Eve so much, even in

her fallen state, and did not want to lose her, as he knew he would, if

he did not eat the forbidden fruit.

“Take and eat, my love,” said Eve. “God will forgive us. He will

if He truly loves us.”

“No woman, you have done a great evil but I cannot allow you to

suffer alone,” said Adam sadly. “God indeed loves us but His Word

is incontrovertible.

Death is the consequence of sin as God had warned us and yet I

have no choice but to eat the fruit for me to be with you.”


23

3

ADAMIC WORLD

“Now it came to pass, when men began to multiply on the face of

the earth, and daughters were born to them, that the sons of God saw

the daughters of men, that they were beautiful; and they took wives

for themselves of all whom they chose.

And the Lord said, “My Spirit shall not strive with man forever,

for he is indeed flesh; yet his days shall be one hundred and twenty

years.”

There were giants on the earth in those days, and also afterward,

when the sons of God came in to the daughters of men and they bore

children to them. Those were the mighty men who were of old, men

of renown.

Then the Lord saw that the wickedness of man was great in the

earth, and that every intent of the thoughts of his heart was only evil

continually.” (Genesis 6:1-5)

Lucifer was very unhappy at the turn of events. He had

misjudged and once again, he had lost. Just as he had not weighed

the consequences of failure before his rebellion against God, he had

again not done so before embarking on his Garden of Eden deception

project.

It had been a pyrrhic victory. Getting man to sin, gaining control

over him and all his descendants, and having him driven out of Eden

had made him very happy. On the other hand, he had become Satan

and the most abominable of God’s creation. On the day of Man’s fall,

God had cursed him for transgressing His law that no being should


24

possess another. For that heinous act of possessing the serpent, his

nature and that of the serpent had commingled to produce a hideous

and revolting creature. The serpent, with him still inside it, had fallen

flat on the ground after God’s curse, crawling out of the garden as

fast as possible in its bid to escape God’s justifiable anger. He could

still remember the bewilderment on the faces of God’s angels as they

looked at the repulsive image of what used to be God’s most

beautiful archangel.

God’s pronouncements that day in the garden had shocked even

him. That God cursed the serpent for having been a willing tool in

his hands and pronounced punishments on Adam, his enemy, and

Eve, offered him little comfort.

All the fallen angels had started to degenerate as result of the light

of God leaving them after the rebellion; from handsome creatures,

they had gradually turned into very ugly beings. Try as they might

with their powers, they had failed to revert to their beautiful spiritual

states again.

However, they had found out that they could escape their spiritual

ugliness by assuming material forms. In the material realm, they

could manipulate their features and assume any image of their

choosing – a beautiful maiden, a handsome man, a tree with delicious

fruits, animals of any color, etc.

Though spiritually ugly before going to Eden to tempt Eve,

Lucifer’s ugliness, after the fall of man, had become so bad that it

revolted even him. He had found out rather late that rebelling against

God was one thing but becoming His enemy was another thing. His

new terribly hideous spiritual features, representing the nature of sin,

were God’s mark to differentiate him from every other created being.

He was lucky his cohorts had not witnessed the events in the

garden. Having decided not to let them know what transpired in

Eden, he had invented a special covering for himself. Not only must

he continue to give his cohorts the false hope that one day they would


25

reclaim what was theirs before the rebellion, he must also continue

to get them deeper and deeper into evil.

Though he knew that God would triumph in the end, he continued

to convince himself that frustrating God’s plan to save fallen man

was his only course of action. Delaying the inevitable end was better

than lying down for God to trample over.

“My plan worked. Adam and Eve are out of Eden and sin now reigns

in their bodies,” Lucifer announced at the beginning of his council

meeting.

“Their offspring will be born with the sin nature instead of that

of God. With time, they will die and their spirits will join us.”

“What should be our next steps, lord Lucifer?” asked the First

lieutenant.

“The dust beings will soon populate the earth. At the opportune

moment, some of our angels shall go into the daughters of men to

produce children who will have part of our nature and part of the

nature of the dust beings.”

“What purpose would that serve, lord Lucifer?” asked the Second

lieutenant.

“Remember God created these dust beings whom He has called

man to be kings and priests on earth,” replied Lucifer.

“God meant for man to live forever, ruling the earth, and offering

Him praises. However, He can no longer receive praises from them

because of sin. Though He has abandoned them because of

disobedience, God still wants them to populate the earth hoping one

day to find a way to rectify His failure.

What better way to further frustrate God’s plan than to have man-

spirits in our image inhabiting the earth alongside the dust beings.”

Lucifer paused.


26

He wanted to have the full attention of his followers before

stating his reason for wanting to procreate man-spirit beings. All eyes

were on him.

“Being part spirit, these man-spirit beings will be more powerful

than the mere dust beings. With time, it will be easy for them to

eliminate the dust beings and fill the whole earth with their offspring.

The dust beings took our place on earth. With our plan, we use

these man-spirit beings to occupy the earth and annihilate the dust

beings. These man-spirit beings will reign in our place, and God

would have lost out.”

“As usual, lord Lucifer you have come up with another brilliant

plan,” said the Third lieutenant.

“These man-spirit beings will do our bidding without question,

and will do everything that displeases God,” Lucifer exulted.

“Evil is now the motto of our kingdom. God’s plan was for peace

on earth but through wars and violence, we will make sure that there

will be no peace on earth. In the meantime, begin the selection of the

angels under you who will go into the daughters of men to produce

the man-spirit beings. They should be ready to spring into action

once you receive my command.”

After dismissing the council, Lucifer pondered his next steps. The

reason he gave in the council was not true but he had become the

master deceiver, lying even to his own lieutenants.

God had said that day in the garden that He would send a Messiah

to redeem fallen man. Since the Messiah would be born by a woman,

what better way to stop God than to have the whole earth populated

by man-spirit beings?

With no true human being left on earth, he was convinced that

God would have no choice but to abandon the plan for man’s

salvation. Then, maybe some of God’s loyal angels might switch

sides when they see that His plan had failed.


27

Yet, he was wary. God had stopped him every time before now

and deep down he knew he would fail yet again. He recalled God’s

pronouncement at the time Michael’s army drove him and his cohorts

from God’s presence.

“For your rebellion, you and all your followers shall be cast into

the lake of burning fire at the end of the ages.”

He would do everything to delay the inevitable. Again, he dared

not let his cohorts know that underneath the bravado, he was a very

frightened being.

“Violence has filled all the earth, and man, of his own freewill, has

elected to follow after the fallen angels,” proclaimed the Father

sadly.

“Man, with inherited sin nature, has plunged headlong into evil.

I will destroy all living things on the face of the earth, man and beast,

creeping things and birds of the air.”

Silence

“Noah is a just man, perfect in his generations,” said the Word. “He

and his family have walked with God and have not sinned.”

“Only Noah and his family will be saved in all the earth,” added

the Spirit. “We shall open the fountains of the great deep as well as

the windows of heaven, and it shall rain for forty days and forty

nights so that all who have the breath of life on the face of the earth

shall perish.”

“Noah shall prepare an ark that will accommodate his entire family

and two each, male and female, of all animal species on the face of

the earth,” uttered the Father. “Because of his faithfulness, Noah will

become the father of the new generations of mankind.”

Silence


28

“Yet, generations after Noah will conspire to build a tower whose top

will reach the heavens to make a name for themselves,” proclaimed

the Word.

“And the people, being one and with one language, would be able

to do whatever they propose and nothing will be withheld them,”

added the Spirit.

“But on that day, We shall go down to confuse their language,

that they may no longer understand one another’s speech,” said the

Father.

“The earth, presently surrounded by water, shall be divided into

continents with bodies of waters separating them,” stated the Word.

“We shall scatter the people all over the face of the earth when

the earth is being divided into separate landmasses,” added the Spirit.

Silence

“Yet, evil will continue to multiply in all the earth after the separation

of peoples into different nations and continents,” declared the Father.

“This would confirm that unregenerate man will continually

devise evil, for man’s heart is wickedly evil,” stated the Word.

“However, a man from Ur of the Chaldeans shall find favor with

God,” echoed the Spirit.

“Becoming a friend of God, Abraham will obey God, even to the

point of being ready to sacrifice his child of promise,” said the

Father.

“And for his obedience God will bless Abraham, multiply his

descendants as the stars of heaven and as the sand which is on the

seashore,” added the Word.

“His descendants will possess the gates of their enemies and in

Abraham’s Seed, all the nations of the earth shall be blessed because

he obeyed God’s voice,” declared the Spirit.


29

Silence

“And the Word shall become flesh and dwell among men and they

shall behold His glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father,

full of grace and truth,” concluded the Father triumphantly.

On the appointed day, the Lord God broke the fountains of the great

deep and opened the windows of heaven, and rain fell continuously

for forty days and forty nights until everything that had the breath of

life perished.

Among the dead were the giants, called sons of the gods by some

and the immortals by others. These had been the product of the union

of demons – fallen angels – and the daughters of men. Many were

the tales of the extraordinary exploits of these sons of the gods who

held sway in the ‘Adamic’ world. Blinded by their sins, people had

worshipped them.

Noah and his family, ensconced inside the ark, ate, drank, held

fellowship and worshipped the Almighty God while the whole earth

lay submerged in sin and death. Riding the waves of the floodwaters

of God’s salvation and mercy with them were animals, a male and a

female of every kind.

The ark settled finally on Mount Ararat, after many days.

Thereafter, God gave Noah and his family the mandate to repopulate

a renewed earth that had been purged of violence and corruption.

There was great tension in the council chambers. Since the great

flood, Lucifer had refused to call a council meeting. He had finally

acceded when some of his lieutenants threatened to hold one in his

absence.

Lucifer looked at the faces staring at him. Though he was

worried, he knew he must not show it. What annoyed most as he


30

stared back was not the hatred he observed on each countenance but

rather the look of scorn on the First Lieutenant’s face.

Uncharacteristically, he stood up to address the council.

“God has destroyed the earth, killing all dust and man-spirit

beings with the exception of Noah and his family. We were almost

there before God unfairly struck. But for the foolish Noah and his

family, we would have succeeded in immersing the whole world in

sin and God would have lost.

On the positive side, we have ensured that God can never have

fellowship with multitudes of dust beings. Unfortunately, we lost the

thousands of years we had invested on this earth-pollution and

takeover project and must now start afresh.”

Before he could continue, the First Lieutenant interrupted, “Why

shouldn’t we be happy that God has destroyed the world? After all,

you had told us that the spirits of the dust beings would be joining us

when they died. Shouldn’t we be getting ready to fight Michael and

his army according to the plan you had sold to us not too long ago?”

“You have become disrespectful of late, First Lieutenant,”

replied Lucifer angrily. “Are you trying to question my modus

operandi? Can’t you see that God must have figured out that we were

going to use them to reclaim our kingdoms? Why do you think He

sent their souls and spirits to Hades? ”

“You would want us to believe that the spirits of the dead dust

beings would have made a difference in any future fight with Michael

and his army,” replied the First Lieutenant. “Well, I hate to

disappoint you, but we know the truth. We know that the spirits of

both the dust beings and the man-spirit beings are powerless in the

spirit world; even the limited powers manifested by the man-spirit

beings on earth are non-transferable. Therefore, the argument that

they could have been of help had God not consigned them to the

Hades is untenable.


31

I propose that henceforth we debate all new plans thoroughly and

only proceed to implementation when the council reaches a

consensus.”

“Would you have dared question God when you were serving

Him?” Lucifer asked angrily.

“That is God,” replied the First Lieutenant. “You are not God

even though we have been humoring you by referring to you as one.

You should remember that we are not serving you and that thousands

of archangels are nearly as powerful as yourself. You are only the

first among equals.”

“How dare you talk to me like this?” Lucifer yelled, enraged.

In that moment every council member saw Lucifer’s true hideous

nature, as his invented covering had melted under the intense heat of

his anger. It was then that it dawned on all of them that God must

have punished him for possessing the serpent in the Garden of Eden.

They knew that God had not only put chains on all those fallen

angels who had gone into the daughters of men and fathered the man-

spirit beings but that He had also confined them in the bowels of the

earth to await judgment at the end of the ages.

“If God could bind all the angels who went into the daughters of

men, confining them in the bowels of the earth to await their

judgments, and turn Lucifer, their leader, into the most hateful and

hideous of all created beings, what were their chances of ever besting

God?” many in the council began to wonder silently.

Two things were clear to them. A spirit being mating with a

human being was the gravest spiritual sin while possessing another

being came a close second. Yet, they knew that Lucifer would

continue employing those methods; otherwise, what other

ammunition did they possess?

“Look at your image,” the First Lieutenant, becoming bolder,

shouted back. “How do you account for your deteriorated state? We

cannot continue to fight God. It is useless. Can a created being fight

its Creator?”


32

There was stunned silence. Many in the council had seen this

coming. In their private discussions, most had agreed that Lucifer

was deceiving them. Some had even flirted with the idea of going

back to God but had been afraid to try since their evil deeds

condemned them. They knew that they have lost all purity and were

now derisory demons filled with hate and envy.

Lucifer had constituted the council comprising twelve fallen

archangels immediately Michael and God’s loyal angels had driven

them from the presence of God. The council documents usually

showed twelve in number but in reality, they were thirteen because

Lucifer was not among the twelve. He was the lord of the council.

He had held sway from that time until now.

Unknown to the First Lieutenant, one of the twelve council

members was Lucifer’s spy. Lucifer, having known of the discontent

in the council, was prepared. He had always feared the First

Lieutenant, a powerful but fallen archangel, whose power was nearly

equal to his.

The tension in the council chambers was now unbearable.

Lucifer, suffused with so much hatred, threw caution to the wind and

was at the point of reaching his explosive limit when he was saved

as it were by the bell; a magnetic force field created by several

millions of Lucifer’s followers enveloped the council chambers and

paralyzed all the thirteen council members.

Eleven out of the thirteen council members tried to create a

counterforce, but the force field of the eleven was no match for the

advancing magnetic force field. The eleven members were powerless

against such tremendous force.

Angels and demons though spirit beings and not subject to death

could have their powers diminished, albeit temporarily, if magnetic

force fields with awesome intensity surrounded their environment.

The eleven council members, still in a state of paralysis from the

sudden attack, could not resist when the lead attackers rushed into

the chambers, chained, carried, and threw them into a special


33

dungeon inside Lucifer’s kingdom. They put a special squad

comprising a thousand fallen angels to guard the dungeon.

Lucifer and the Third lieutenant were not touched.

“We are establishing a new council comprising faithful and

trustworthy angels,” said Lucifer. “Each person has a nametag with

a portfolio before him. I am the lord god and you are all gods under

my command.

Each one of you must swear eternal obedience to my rule. You

must demand the same obedience from those in your own

principalities and dominions. They must swear an oath of allegiance

to your rule also. Mammon will read out the new names and duties

of each council member.”

“My name is Mammon and I am the god of wealth. Baal is the

god of religion, Mars is the god of war and Venus is the goddess of

Beauty and love. Apollo is the god of prophesy and music and Hades

is the god of the underworld. Neptune is the god of the sea while

Mercury is the god and guide of dead souls. Bacchus is the god of

wine and Athena is the goddess of crafts and arts. Diana is the

goddess of the hunt and Vulcan is the god of fire.”

When Mammon finished reading, he bowed to Lucifer before sitting

down.

“In this dispensation I shall be called Zeus,” said Lucifer. “I shall

be known as the supreme god, and will make the final decisions on

all matters in the galaxies. I shall also be the god of the skies and the

earth.

From this moment, we should drop our previous names.

Remember, names are not important; we shall constantly change

them whenever the need arises. The only thing that will not change

is our primary assignments. In time some of you shall manage, on

my behalf, some of the continents of the earth.”

“I presume we are to continue with the two principles of

procreation and possession?” asked Apollo.

Zeus looked in his direction and nodded his head in response.


34

“Lord Zeus, what should be our response if some angels, aware

of the fate that befell those angels who went into the daughters of

men previously, refuse to follow our orders?” asked Mercury

“Mercury, you have asked a very important question,” replied

Zeus. “The motto of our rule is evil and the instrument for achieving

our objective is fear. Every one of your subjects should know what

befell those who tried to rebel against my rule.

Tell those angels who will participate in the procreation project

that should God bind them in chains, we will rescue them at the

appointed time. However, let them know also that we would throw

those who refuse into the same dungeons presently occupied by the

former council members.”

“What about possession?” Vulcan asked.

“Even though we shall continue with procreation projects,

possession shall be our main tool for the most part,” replied Zeus.

“Instruct angels under your charge to go down to earth and begin

to work on the minds of the dust beings. They should create suspicion

and plant evil thoughts in their hearts.

Any dust being that gives room they should enter and possess the

soul. With many possessed souls, we can instigate the dust beings to

fight, kill, commit adultery, and have homosexual relationships. Sin

must not only multiply but everyone in the universe must see that it

has permeated the whole earth.”

The new rulers left the council chambers satisfied with their new

roles. They were happy that their plans would usher anarchy, evil and

wickedness in an even greater proportion than had been the case in

the world that God had destroyed.

Centuries later, Lucifer, still going by the name of Zeus, gloated as

he addressed the council meeting, “I have gone round the earth and

evil has indeed multiplied.”


35

“Why has God not destroyed the earth as He did in the time of

Noah?” asked Mars.

“God has never played fair,” replied Zeus. “Look at that man

called Abraham. He has put a shield around him and we have failed

to penetrate his heart.”

“I have done everything to make him distrust God; It is like the

more I afflict his mind with doubts, the more he trusts God,” said

Apollo. “Sarah is barren, both of them are old, and yet Abraham

continues to believe God’s promise for a son.”

“We had even tried to use Lot against him but he refused to take

the bait; instead, when the land could no longer support their

combined flock, he had asked the younger Lot to select a territory

first, contrary to custom,” added Vulcan. “Of course, Lot chose the

better one and Abraham had not minded. Later, he had pleaded with

God to spare Lot and all those who had not sinned in Sodom and

Gomorrah.”

“Very interesting that God could not find any one righteous

except Lot and his two daughters in Sodom,” Venus interjected.

“How very unhappy He must be that his dust beings are failing

Him yet again.”

“We must not despair,” said Zeus. “The one armor that has beaten us

is Abraham’s faith in God. No armor can pierce the shield of faith.

Our business is to make sure that other dust beings do not cotton

onto that fact or we will be powerless against them.”

In time, Abraham’s descendants, now called Jehovah’s people or the

Israelites, became slaves in Egypt. However, at the appointed time,

God delivered them using a prince of Egypt called Moses.

In time too, the nation of Israel was born; mighty kings ruled and

while some sinned against God, others were faithful. God finally

allowed the enemies of Israel to conquer them in battle, and to carry


36

them into captivity where they served people of other nations for a

season.

After a period in foreign lands, God restored the Israelites back to the

Promised Land. Again, they sinned against Jehovah through their

unbelief.

Throughout their sojourn as slaves in foreign lands, and under

foreign occupation at home, the Israelites did not lose hope as they

waited for the promised Messiah, the King who would deliver them

from their enemies and return them to the glorious days of Solomon

and David when Israel reigned supreme in all the lands of the Middle

East.

In the century before the birth of Christ, the Messiah, Israel was

under the suzerainty of the Roman Empire. In exchange for

privileges, the Jewish priestly class entered into an unholy alliance

with their Roman oppressors.

The priests, who ought to minister to the people, became their

overlords. Placing heavy burdens they themselves could not bear,

they exploited God’s people.

As the despair in the land increased, the poor cried out to God for

deliverance.


37

4 THE SEED OF

ABRAHAM

Then the Angel of the Lord called to Abraham a second time out

of heaven, and said:

“By Myself I have sworn, says the Lord, because you have done

this thing, and have not withheld your son, your only son, in blessing

I will bless you, and in multiplying I will multiply your descendants

as the stars of the heaven and as the sand which is on the seashore;

and your descendants shall possess the gate of their enemies.

In your seed all the nations of the earth shall be blessed, because

you have obeyed My voice.” (Genesis 22:15-18)

There was consternation in the whole universe on this particular

day. On earth, those disciples who had the courage to make it to

Golgotha were dejected and confused. Those who had abandoned or

denied Him the night before or who were unsure of what to believe

after His arrest had stayed away.

The rowdy crowd jeered and shouted at the Man nailed to the cross

between two thieves, “You who saved others but cannot save

yourself, come down now and we will believe in you.”

Some in the crowd who had witnessed God’s miracles through

the Hand of Him on the cross wanted to speak up but were afraid.


38

However, others who had also been witnesses joined the raucous

crowd to denounce Him.

Many in the crowd without knowing it had become willing tools

in the hands of Satan and his demons. The gaping holes created by

sin in their lives had opened the door for Satan and his demons to

enter their hearts and possess them. Therefore, prodding them to rain

abuses on the Just One, a Man who had done only good deeds during

His short stay on earth, had been easy.

With their spiritual eyes closed because of sin, the Priests,

Levites, Pharisees, Sadducees and the rest of the crowd could not see

Satan and his demons jeering and mocking the One on the cross too.

Satan could not believe his good fortune: “How could the Word of

God made flesh have allowed these dust beings to crucify Him?” he

wondered to himself.

Something must have gone horribly wrong with God’s plan or

why had God not attempted a rescue, which indeed was still possible

but which would negate His announced plan to redeem these dust

beings from eternal death through the Just One.

He and his cohorts had tried to analyze the prophetic utterances

regarding man’s salvation without success. It did not make sense that

Jesus Christ should die on the cross and they could not understand

how His death could rescue man from eternal damnation.

They had assumed that Jesus would not die but would rather

cheat death by walking down from the cross. However, with what he

was seeing, Jesus was really going to die.

Jesus Christ, the Word of God, was dying before his eyes! In his

mind, death had defeated the Word of God made flesh.

Satan and his demons held their collective breath, and waited.


39

In heaven, God’s angels watched in horror as the Roman soldiers

nailed Jesus to the cross. They waited for the Father to command

them to go to His rescue.

“It is impossible for the Son of God to die, after all God is eternal

and can never die,” they reasoned.

They too had not understood the Scriptures.

Michael and God’s angels held their breath too, and waited.

For the three hours that Jesus Christ, the Son of God, hung on the

cross, the whole of creation and eternity waited while the Father

turned His face away from His Son.

At the end of the three hours, God’s angels and Satan’s demons saw

something beyond their comprehension: sin-nature and all the sins

human beings through the ages had committed or would commit, in

the form of filth-filled galaxies, rushing headlong to the cross. This

revolting massive behemoth’s aim was to crush the One hanging on

it.

No human eye could have looked at it and lived. Fortunately, for

man, only the spirit worlds and eternity beheld the very sickening

spectacle representing the sins of the whole world.

Following the filth-filled galaxies of sin, eternal death, in the

form of a huge void greater than a quasar, opened up to swallow

Jesus.

And in that moment that would be etched forever in the annals of

eternity, the Blood coming out of the Body of Jesus Christ expanded

and filled the whole universe. Enveloping the approaching horrifying

spectacle representing the sins of the whole world, the Blood of Jesus


40

Christ crushed it, and wiped the big slate of filth-filled galaxies clean

in a twinkle of an eye.

Contemporaneously, the Blood stopped the huge void of death in

an instant, and laid a very beautiful bridge draped in the glorious

Blood of Jesus across the whole expanse stretching from the earth to

God’s throne.

Inscribed on the eternal bridge were the words, “I am the way,

the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through

Me.”

God’s angels and Satan’s demons then saw the Blood of Jesus Christ

course through all of God’s creation – eternity, quasars, galaxies,

stars and planets – cleansing and making everything new. At that

same time, the angels in heaven saw the Father turn to His Son on

the cross with smiles.

The triumphant cry of Jesus, “It is finished, I have accomplished

everything necessary for man’s redemption, destroyed sin-nature and

eternal death, removed all the handwriting of requirements against

man, built the eternal bridge and cleansed all eternity,” rang

throughout the whole universe.

At that cry, all the galaxies, suns, worlds, planets, moons and

angels stood still to honor the Son of God.

“Father into Your hands, I commend My Spirit,” came from the

lips of Him who had conquered sin and death, and assured eternal

redemption for all who would believe on the finished and

empowering works on the cross.

As He gave up His Spirit, having sacrificed His Body, the most

beautiful spectacle ever beheld in eternity began to unfold. The

Blood of Jesus, which had now turned into a beautiful aroma and

radiance, shot up to the throne of God through the beautiful eternal

bridge. The same radiance permeated the universe and shone right

through everything that God had created.


41

Cowed as he beheld that radiance, Satan took off to Hades. His

demons scampered after him, going into the deepest part of Hades to

escape the brightness. Unfortunately, for them, the radiant power of

the Son of God had reached Hades before their arrival. The brilliant

light had also broken all the barriers in paradise.

As Jesus entered Hades, Satan, still cowering, fearful, and unable

to look at the radiance emanating from the face of Jesus, said, “Please

Lord, do not destroy me.”

“You were the seal of perfection, full of wisdom and perfect in

beauty,” said Jesus.

“You were in Eden; the garden of God; every precious stone was

your covering: the sardius, topaz, and diamond, beryl, onyx, and

jasper, sapphire, turquoise, and emerald with gold. The

workmanship of your timbrels and pipes was prepared for you on the

day you were created.

You were the anointed cherub who covers; I established you; you

were on the holy mountain of God; you walked back and forth in the

midst of the fiery stones.

You were perfect in your ways from the day you were created, till

iniquity was found in you.”

“I was indeed the anointed cherub and I ushered in the praises of

all of God’s creation,” said Satan. “Why can’t I be restored to my

former position so that God can have peace?”

“How you are fallen from heaven, O Lucifer, son of the morning!

How you are cut down to the ground, you who weakened the nations!

For you said in your heart: ‘I will ascend into heaven,

I will exalt my throne above the stars of God; I will also sit on the

mount of the congregation on the farthest sides of the north;

I will ascend above the heights of the clouds, I will be like the

Most High.’


42

Yet you shall be brought down to Sheol, to the lowest depths of

the Pit.”

There was silence in Hades.

Abraham and the saints looked on from paradise at the cowering

Satan and his demons. They had seen some of them strutting all over

Hades before then, boasting of their victory over God.

“You used trickery to deceive Eve and therefore caused the first

Adam to fall, thereby bringing sin and death into man’s world,” said

Jesus. “You and your demons have continued to lie and to deceive

many and have reached the point of even deceiving yourselves. You

do not know the truth anymore. You now believe your own lies.”

“Why have you come, Lord?” wailed Satan. “It is not yet the

appointed time.”

“I have come to take back what you stole from Adam,” replied

Jesus.

“There is a little detail you are forgetting, Lord,” said Satan,

recovering a little. “God gave Adam the authority to rule and

dominate the earth. Your own word said that to whom one yields

one’s members in obedience to whom that one becomes the slave.

When Adam disobeyed God and obeyed me, he ceded his authority

over the earth to me and I will never relinquish it.”

“As usual you obscure the truth because there is no light in you,”

replied Jesus. “The word of God has this to say, ‘for by one man’s

disobedience many were made sinners, so also by one Man’s

obedience many will be made righteous.’

What Adam lost, I have by My unquestioned obedience to My

Father regained today and man is forever free from your bondage.”


43

“But that is not fair,” screeched Satan. “Why should God come down

from heaven to rescue man? An authentic man should have come to

face this test and not the Son of God.”

“I left My glory, power and authority in heaven,” replied Jesus.

“In the form of a man, I was subject to temptation and to the

possibility of yielding to it. Therefore, it was indeed a fair test.

Moreover, God owns everything and is everywhere, in heaven,

above the heavens, on earth, and beneath the earth. He is subject to

no one but to His own word. Before eternity, God is, and in God’s

eyes, the Lamb of God was slain even before the foundation of the

worlds.

Man, who has been your captive, has overcome by the Blood that

I have shed on the cross this day. You and death have no more power

over him. I have destroyed your hold over man, which power you

acquired when man sinned against God.

From this day forward, your captives have become your master.”

Satan and his cohorts quaked for the three days and three nights that

the Son of God stayed in the bowels of the earth.

They watched as the Blood of Jesus, transformed into a cleaning

hyssop, washed the saints and gave them a new radiance like the one

on the face of Jesus. The saints, unable to go to heaven because God

had closed it to man because of sin, had been in paradise from the

time of Adam till then.

It galled Satan when he saw the great rejoicing in paradise and

the transformed saints having fellowship with Jesus. He and his

demons had tried to gain access to paradise before then but the power

of God had enveloped it and they had failed. They had found it

impossible to cross over the gulf separating paradise from Hades.

He and his cohorts had responded by building fortresses around

their part of Hades, as if to prevent anyone from paradise crossing

over to them. That had been a foolish response, Satan knew, but he


44

had to do something to show that he was still the master of his own

destiny.

On the early morning of the first day of the week, Jesus Christ, the

Son of God, in His full majesty, led the saints out of the bowels of

the earth. The saints were singing and rejoicing with Patriarch

Abraham leading the chorus. It was such a glorious spectacle.

In Hades, Satan and his cohorts mourned greatly.

In heaven, Michael and God’s angels cheered as those first fruits of

the resurrection marched triumphantly en route to heaven.

On earth, Christ’s disciples sat huddled in their homes. A daring few

had made it to the tomb, only to find it empty. However, they had

gone home after waiting for a while leaving Mary Magdalene behind.

Mary Magdalene sat by the entrance of the tomb. On that first

day of the week, tears continued to pour from her eyes as she waited.

After a while, she decided to stoop and look into the tomb again. It

was precisely at that moment that the Lord Jesus Christ, leading the

army of saints, was emerging from the bowels of the earth.

Mary’s anguish had permeated all of God’s creation. Jesus, filled

with compassion for her who had been the most steadfast, and with

the Father and all the angels watching, broke his stride and went to

Mary.

Opening Mary’s eyes so she could see His spiritual Body, Jesus

said, “Do not cling to me, for I have not yet ascended to My father;

but go to My brethren and say to them, ‘I am ascending to My Father

and your Father and to My God and your God.’”


45

As Mary ran off rejoicing, the Lord Jesus Christ went back to the

head of the line to continue His triumphant march to God’s throne.

All of God’s creation rejoiced, worshipped, and clapped as Jesus

entered Heaven and sat by His Father’s right side.

A voice rang out in all the four corners of heaven, “What you see

today is but a foretaste of that which will take place shortly.”

“The saints you see today are but the first fruits of the redeemed

of the earth,” announced another voice. “Multitudes, beyond

imagination, of redeemed men and women from the earth will

celebrate after this fashion at the end of the ages,” declared yet

another voice. “However, there is a ‘proving’ to reveal the sons of

God first,” said the fourth voice.

“To as many as will accept Christ’s finished works on the cross,

to those God will give the right to become His children, even to those

who will believe that Jesus Christ is the Son of God,” echoed the first

voice.

“These will be born, neither by the will of the flesh, nor by the

will of man, but will be born of God,” uttered the second voice.”

“Whosoever calls on the Name of Jesus shall be saved,” statedthe

third voice.

“For in no other name is salvation,” proclaimed the fourth voice.

“The only Name God has given men under heaven for their salvation

is that of Jesus,” thundered the voices from God’s throne.

Thereafter, angels of God went and registered the import of these

events in the annals of eternity.


46

5 THE REDEEMED AGE

Then Jesus came and spoke to them saying, “All authority has

been given to Me in heaven and on earth.

Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them

in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit,

teaching them to observe all things that I have commanded you; and

lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age.” (Matthew

28:18-20)

“Lord, will You at this time restore the kingdom to Israel?” asked

His Disciples after He had commanded them not to depart from

Jerusalem but to wait for the Father’s promise.

“It is not for you to know the times or seasons which the Father

has put in His own authority. But you shall receive power when the

Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you shall be witnesses to Me in

Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the

earth.”

Now when He had spoken these things, while they watched, He

was taken up, and a cloud received him out of their sight.

And while they looked steadfastly toward heaven as he went up,

behold two men stood by them in white apparel, who also said, “Men

of Galilee, why do you stand gazing up into heaven? This same Jesus,

who was taken up from you into heaven, will so come in like manner

as you saw him go into heaven.”

(Acts 1:6-11)


47

Now when the Day of Pentecost had fully come, they were all in

one accord in one place.

And suddenly there came a sound from heaven, as of a rushing

mighty wind, and it filled the whole house where they were sitting.

Then there appeared to them divided tongues, as of fire, and one

sat upon each of them. And they were filled with the Holy Spirit and

began to speak in other tongues, as the Spirit gave them utterance.

Now there were dwelling in Jerusalem Jews, devout men, from

every nation under heaven. And when this sound occurred, the

multitude came together, and were confused, because everyone

heard them speak in his own language. (Acts 2:1-6)

Empowered by the Holy Spirit, the Disciples of Christ, later called

Christians, went on to conquer their world, not with the force of arms

but with the word of God. No army or philosophy could withstand

the message of these simple men and women.

The Christian way of life bewildered unbelievers since they could

not comprehend their passion for souls or their willingness to give

their all – time and resources – for the furtherance of the gospel of

the Lord Jesus Christ. Unbelievers were even more confounded when

they witnessed the miracles wrought in the name of Jesus by His

followers.

In the kingdom of darkness, there was panic – everything had gone

awry: uneducated persons were giving brilliant dissertations that

trounced the mostly demonic-inspired arguments of brilliant lawyers

and philosophers!

Satan, who had changed his name again from Zeus to Lucifer, sent

hordes of demons into the world to stem the tide of the Good News.

Soon, religious and secular leaders, under the influence of demons,

began to persecute believers who refused to stop preaching in the

name of Jesus Christ.


48

Many Christians were beaten, imprisoned, and sometimes killed,

for failing to renounce their faith in God through Christ. Most

preferred to burn at the stake rather than deny the Author of their

salvation.

Persecution, rather than suppress the surge and power of the

Christian message, succeeded in strengthening the faith and resolve

of believers and in fuelling Christian growth.

Satan had to admit that redeemed man was finally taking charge of

the world, exercising power through Christ to destroy his

stranglehold on sinners. All his attempts to stop the rushing flood of

the Christian message before it covered the whole earth had failed.

Running out of ideas, he had gone into seclusion. In the period, there

were no council meetings. When he finally appeared, he was alarmed

at the exponential growth in the number of the redeemed and of the

disarray in his own kingdom.

“Persecutions have failed to deter these dust beings,” an angry

Lucifer, staring at no one in particular, muttered as he paced up and

down the council chambers in the first council meeting since

emerging from his seclusion.

“We have had them burnt at the stake, stoned, butchered,

imprisoned, and all to no avail. Instead of decreasing, their numbers

continue to grow.”

“I suggest we adopt a new strategy,” Baal said.

“What do you have in mind?” asked Lucifer expectantly.

Luckily, for him, no one in the council knew that he had no idea

of what to do.

“The principle of accommodation,” replied Baal. “Instead of

persecuting them, we should welcome them with open arms, embrace

them, infiltrate their minds, and then pollute them with the same

doctrines that we used in Ancient Babylon.”


49

“What shall we do without you, Oh Baal,” shouted Lucifer

jubilantly.

Now taking his seat, he mumbled grudgingly, “I should have

thought of that but as usual you have been wonderful.”

“It was not really a big idea,” laughed Baal, trying to downplay

his contribution.

Everyone in the council knew that Lucifer did not like anyone to

outshine him.

“I was merely borrowing from our success page in ancient

Babylon when we introduced magic powers and mysticism to the

people,” continued Baal. “Recall at which speed those doctrines and

occult practices spread to the whole world in a very short time. The

dust beings are always looking for the esoteric.”

“And we almost succeeded except for that man Abraham who

defied all logic, placing his faith in God rather than join the people

of Ur in their occult practices,” interjected Neptune, trying

unsuccessfully to be helpful.

Lucifer was not happy with that comment. He hated it when

anyone brought up past failures.

“Of course we know that God unfairly put a hedge around him

and made his heart impervious to our attempts at infiltration,” said

Neptune, trying to make amends.

“We should note that Christians are powerful because they have

faith,” said Mammon. “Without absolute faith in God through Jesus

Christ, they cannot perform miracles or even pray effectively.”

“How do we destroy their faith in God?” asked Athena. Athena,

the goddess of crafts and arts, rarely spoke at council meetings,

preferring to have her works speak for her.

“Presently, Christians own nothing,” replied Mammon. “Living

communally and sharing everything, how could they not have faith?

Most dust beings have an inordinate desire for power and wealth.

They would readily kill to have either one and would gladly sacrifice


50

their souls to have both. Splitting Christian communities by sowing

seeds of discord should be our goal.”

“How do we achieve the goal?” asked Vulcan.

“First, we start by prodding Christian groups into creating

hierarchies, and then gradually introducing their leaders to opulent

living,” replied Mammon. “Then we pollute the minds of those in

leadership positions with the same hunger for money and power that

afflicts secular leaders.

Soon, every one will like to be a leader, living in pomp and

receiving adulation. Within a very short time, many will cease to pray

effectively thereby opening the door for us to plant the seeds of

distrust in their midst. Manipulating them in the ensuing confusion

in any way we see fit would be like child’s play.”

“Mammon has made an excellent presentation deserving all

consideration,” said a relieved Lucifer.

“He is correct in his assessment that as Christians pursue power

and wealth, they will stop putting their trust in God. When Christians

lose faith, which is the anchor of the Christian life, their messages

will no longer be harmful to our interests. Removing the cross from

the Christian message will invariably lead to the emergence of a

cross-less and Christ-less Christian church.”

“What happens after we have succeeded in creating a Christ-less

Christian church?” asked Mars.

“We then marry that powerless and corrupt church with the

Babylonian occult system to create a truly antichristian church,”

replied Baal. “Thereafter, we transfer the occult practices of the

ancient mystical rights into this hybrid church. Becoming the

inheritor of Babylon, this mystery Babylonian church will hold

power over kings and emperors.”

“Exhibiting all the outward trappings of a Christian church, the

mystery Babylonian church will serve us in everything but in name,”

interjected Lucifer, now happy to take over the conversation as if the

original idea had been his.


51

“It will persecute true Christian holdouts, burn at the stake those

that insist that the written word of God is the only authority on

Christian doctrine and practice, and ensure that the whole world

drinks of the doctrines of our mixtures.”

“In return we shall make it the richest and most powerful

institution ever created by man; its splendor shall dazzle the whole

world, and kings and princes shall pay homage to its ruler,” added

Mammon.

“This church shall lead the direction, discovery, and development

of new knowledge,” said Lucifer.

“In addition, we will raise philosophers and theologians; provide

them with contradictory information so that they will always be at

each other’s throats. Our overarching aim is to have people

questioning the doctrine that Christ’s death on the cross is sufficient

for man’s salvation.”

“What shall we give the dust beings in place of salvation through

Christ’s death on the cross?” asked Apollo.

“Good question, Apollo,” roared Lucifer.

While a good question, he knew he did not have the answer.

Turning to Baal, he asked, “What do you suggest, Baal?”

“Let us give them the doctrines of salvation through man’s good

works and self-punishment,” replied Baal. “The twin concept – belief

in his ability to earn his own salvation and self-flagellation of his

choosing to appease a higher being – will play very well with the

warped psyche of these unintelligent dust beings.

With our hold on the apostate church, we shall destroy the two

doctrines of Faith in God through Christ and salvation only through

Christ in less than a century. We will inspire church leaders to

proclaim that mere men should not approach God directly since He

is so big. Rather they should direct their followers to respect God and

pray to God through some of the saints departed like Mary, Peter,

Paul and John. We will assure them that these saints will not only


52

take their prayers directly to God but will also intercede on their

behalf.”

“Baal, your suggestions are noted and should be adopted,” said

Lucifer approvingly. “In time, I shall create an anti-God religion.

This anti-God religion shall be different from the antichrist one in

appearance but the same master spirit shall control both.

Baal, the god of religion, will be responsible for both the antichristian

church and the anti-God one. However, this council will assist him

in every aspect of the work.”

“Further down the road, I have just thought of a plan to pit the

anti-God followers against the antichrist ones for the control of

Jerusalem and the so-called holy lands,” said Mercury.

“I can taste the blood of many who will die trying to claim

Jerusalem for their God. The dust beings will be pretty much

occupied for many centuries to come.”

“How will the world have true faith in God when the dust beings

are engaged in wars, debauchery and riotous living,” mused Venus.

“Give them war implements, a cause and money, and the dust

beings are ready to kill each other,” added Mammon.

“The formula has always worked,” concluded Lucifer happily.

When He opened the fifth seal, I saw under the altar the souls of

those who had been slain for the word of God and for the testimony

which they held.

And they cried with a loud voice, saying, “How long, O Lord,

holy and true, until You judge and avenge our blood on those who

dwell on the earth?”

And a white robe was given to each of them; and it was said to

them that they should rest a little while longer, until both the number

of their fellow servants and their brethren, who would be killed as

they were, was completed. (Revelation 6:9-11)


53

Early in the 16th century, Michael and the hosts of God’s angels

gathered before the throne of God worshipping and singing praises.

Souls had been pouring into heaven since the 13th century and with

each entrant, shouts and cheers would go up all over heaven. The

numbers were adding up quickly. Many angels and saints thought the

time of the end was near, what with the events on the earth.

On earth, the blood of the saints continued to water the seeds of

salvation, enabling parched souls to flourish. All creation was

waiting eagerly for the revelation of the sons of God.

The inquisition had been on for the past three centuries; executed

with all the fury that only hell could muster. Europe was in the grip

of the Roman Catholic Church, the true inheritor of the defunct

Roman Empire. The Pope, known also as the Pontifex Maximus, was

exercising the power of life and death over all the inhabitants of the

known world.

God’s angels and saints looked down on the earth, shocked at the

blasphemies emanating from the false seat of Peter in Rome, and at

the burnings at the stake of faithful Christians who refused to accept

the mutilation of the gospel.

Suddenly, lightning and thundering came from God’s throne as

the Voice spoke.

“Hear, angels and saints, it is not yet the appointed time. The

persecutions and blasphemies are only a foretaste of that which will

shortly happen on earth.

The present persecutions and suffering are but minor. I will shake

the heavens and the earth after the coming tribulation by the evil one

and, if not for My Mercy, no flesh would live.

Multitude shall die for their faith in Me during that tribulation,

thereby glorifying the God of the universe and His only begotten

Son, the Lamb of God, who was slain before the foundation of the

world.”


54

“Put on the whole armor of God that you may be able to stand

against the wiles of the devil.

For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against

principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of

this age, against spiritual hosts of wickedness in the heavenly

places.” (Ephesians 6:11-12)

Sometime in the 19th century, a shout of “Arise!” echoed inside the

council chambers of Lucifer’s kingdom of darkness. Seventeen

demons already inside the chambers stood up, bowing their heads as

Lucifer made his grand entrance. In addition to the twelve council

members, five other demons were present.

They all remained standing until Lucifer sat down on the biggest

throne in the large conference chamber.

“The apostate church has performed beautifully, holding the forte

since the collapse of the Roman Empire,” declared Lucifer

triumphantly. “However, new challenges have arisen since the

pronouncements of that foolish monk in Wittenberg in 1517.

Works had become the dogma of all the religious groups, prior to

that monk’s foolish declaration. Many had believed that salvation

could be purchased and that the number of years one stayed in

purgatory could be shortened through payment of money to the

church.”

“It still amazes me how these dust beings believe that there is an

intermediate state where souls are purified first before God admits

them into heaven,” commented Venus.

“Some call this intermediate state purgatory, others call it nirvana

and yet others believe that human beings must reincarnate many

times, passing through many life cycles, before their souls could

achieve the pure state,” added Mars gleefully.

“Such beliefs have led many dust beings away from the salvation

message, rendering them powerless in the process,” said Mercury.


55

“These foolish souls, on reaching Hades, ask expectantly how many

years they must suffer before they could be clean enough to enter

heaven or how long before their next reincarnation cycle. It always

amuses me to see the bewildered look on their faces when they hear

that they will never leave Hades. The most beautiful part is when I

bring out a Bible and ask them to show me where it describes

purgatory, reincarnation cycles and nirvana; they search and search

without success.

Not finding it, they begin to curse their priests, preachers,

bishops, imams, diviners and mystics for having misled them. I am

yet to find one soul that owned up to its own foolishness in believing

their fellow man, no matter his or her status, when they could have

known the truth from the Bibles that they neglected to read while on

earth. How God could have entrusted such foolish beings with the

earth still beats me.”

“Unfortunately, that useless monk’s declaration that the just shall

live by faith in God and not by works opened the eyes of many with

the result that so many souls have gone into heaven in the last four

hundred years,” said Baal sadly.

“We succeeded in breaking the ranks of those Protestants; while

some succumbed to our temptations, others refused to budge,” added

Venus. “These later groups have continued to propagate salvation

through faith and more dangerously encouraging everyone to read

the Bible.”

“To contain these Bible-believing Christians, what new strategies

should we adopt for the 20th century?” asked Lucifer.

After some hesitation, Baal said, “I suggest that we infiltrate the

so-called Bible-based churches, create doubts in the minds of the

worshippers and possess the souls of those that yield to us. We then

create divisions in the churches and spread heresies using these

possessed souls.”

“Good,” intoned Lucifer.


56

“The 19th century was not very good for us primarily because

many preachers exposed the apostate church to the world,” said

Venus. “Many came to know which religious institution was the

mystery Babylonian church described in the Bible.

To ensure success in the 20th century, we must repackage the

apostate Church and present it in a new light to the world. After

throwing the hounds off the scent, we then create another Babylonian

institution of a different kind.”

“What do you have in mind?” asked Diana, the goddess of the

hunt.

“I would like to disguise as Mary, the mother of Jesus, and give

messages to children, whom dust beings regard as innocents, for the

world,” replied Venus. “This will cause many in the world to believe

that the apostate church is the true church. Believing me to be God’s

messenger, they will begin worshipping the Queen of Heaven just

like in ancient Babylon.

With the severe oppression of Russia’s workers and the poor, and

knowing that the orthodox church in Russia has been in alliance with

the emperor, it would not be difficult to prod these workers to revolt

and install an anti-God government in Russia. The overarching aim

is to deflect attention from the apostate church and redirect the

world’s eyes to a potentially more sinister establishment.”

“Very good, Venus,” Lucifer said, clearly impressed.

He was very satisfied with Venus, Baal and Mammon. The three

had become his most trusted confidants. Not only had they been

propagating lies using human mediums, they had continued to

blindfold the world using religion, sex, alcohol and money. They had

contributed in no small measure to making the world ungovernable.

“We shall make sure that the whole world is perpetually at war,”

said Lucifer, now ready to take control of the meeting.

“Wars keep people occupied and very few raise questions on

matters of faith during such turbulent periods. Empowerment of

some dust beings with new knowledge that will lead to extraordinary


57

developments that befuddle minds is imperative for the 20th century.

In addition to war, developments and money have ways of keeping

people from inquiring into spiritual matters.”

After a pause, Vulcan said, “I propose that we give the dust

beings the know-how to build major highways and carriages capable

of moving at high speeds in the 20th century. We have to end their

dependence on horse drawn carriages since few lives are lost through

this mode of transportation. They should also receive the knowledge

to reach the skies in air vehicles, and to build armaments capable of

destroying themselves and the whole world.”

“Vulcan’s proposals are accepted,” said Lucifer. “In addition, the

dust beings should be inspired to create advanced communication

systems, such that the whole world can import and export

pornography, violence and all other such filth at the touch of a button.

More importantly, I have a plan to use the weakness in the

communication infrastructure to bring the world to its knees at the

appointed time.

Also in the 20th century, the dust beings should have the

capability to clone themselves. It is important that they reach this

threshold in order to incur God’s wrath. We will see if God will not

abandon them at that point, leaving us to do whatever we like with

them.”

Mammon asked the five non-members of the council to rise up

and receive their assignments from lord Lucifer.

“I invited five of you for a special purpose,” began Lucifer.

“From now, each one of you shall bear the name of a continent and

be its principality. As a principality, you are responsible for the

continent whose name you bear.

You should appoint angels in your domain as powers and rulers

of countries, nations and tribes. The powers responsible for the more

important countries will constitute your continental councils.

At continental council meetings, you will distribute assignments

from the supreme council of the universe to the rulers and powers. It


58

is your responsibility to collate the monthly reports of the countries,

nations and tribes in your continent and forward them to me no later

than midnight of the last day of each month.

Use angels in your domain to infiltrate and possess the souls of

dust beings, seduce their women and procreate, give knowledge to

chosen ones, incite wars and make peace when necessary.

20th century must not only be the most productive, from the dust

beings’ point of view, but it must also be the bloodiest. All the

resources of the universe are at your disposal. We in the supreme

council are here to assist you. Do remember that the consequences of

failure are indeed grave.”

Lucifer left the council chambers satisfied that he had

reorganized his kingdom hierarchy yet again. Not wanting someone

in his council to challenge his authority, he had always played it safe

by constantly reorganizing. Making those five, who were non-

council members, principalities in charge of the continents as the

struggle entered its decisive phase was a stroke of genius. Aware of

what power could do to a being, and therefore always suspicious, he

had previously been shuffling the headship of continents among his

council members. Before the meeting that just ended, he had

concluded that the best way to reduce the influence of the council

members was to break that tradition and appoint non-council

members to the principality positions.

He would never admit it, but he was always expecting one of his

lieutenants to try to dethrone him. God created him and gave him

power that was greater than that of any other created being and yet

he had rebelled against Him. If he could betray God, who had given

him so much, why wouldn’t an ambitious subordinate do the same to

him?


59

6 THE TIME OF THE

END

“But you Daniel, shut up the words and seal the book until the

time of the end; many shall run to and fro, and knowledge shall

increase.” (Daniel 12:4)

“The coming of the lawless one is according to the working of

Satan, with all power, signs, and lying wonders, and with all

unrighteous deception among those who perish, because they did not

receive the love of the truth, that they might be saved.

And for this reason God will send them a strong delusion that

they should believe the lie.’ (2 Thessalonians 2:9-11)

Jane and Adonis were the children of two highly acclaimed

academics, Dr. Blake White, a professor of molecular medicine and

Dr. Eva White, a professor of biochemistry. Dr. Blake White had

received the Nobel Prize in medicine three years before Dr. Eva

White got hers in chemistry.

While the elder Whites never hid their dislike for anything religious

from their children, they encouraged them to hate the Bible-based

churches springing up, in their opinion, faster than McDonald fast-

food restaurants. Of course, going to church for the family was out

of the question.


60

It was, therefore, not surprising that Adonis and Jane grew up

loathing all things religious. Finding that school that could challenge

Adonis, their highly cerebral son, had proved abortive.

Consequently, they had to make do with moving him from one

school to another, sometimes twice in a year. Whichever school he

attended, he always came out on top of the class.

Academics had not been his only forte; an accomplished pianist,

flautist and guitarist, Adonis had broken school records in short and

long-distance races too. He always used the first term in a new school

to establish his supremacy over his peers. Unfortunately, for him, he

usually lost interest in the school and its programs after proving that

he was the best.

Adonis had been an unhappy child. From an early age, he had

sensed that something was missing in his life but had been unable to

put his finger on why he had such an intense dissatisfaction and

distaste for life. He felt unloved despite having more than his fair

share of toys, computers, play stations and cell phones.

Playing music instruments and computer games with his senior

sister were the only times he had come alive during the day. Yet with

time, he had lost even that; Jane, having developed interests in the

arts, preferred painting and acting out funny jokes to computer

games.

For many years now, even though Adonis had been miserable

during the day, the nights had been different and he had looked

forward to them since he was three. It had started as a dream and it

was always the same: a beautiful woman lying beside him and

touching every part of his body. These nightly visits had continued

until his twelfth birthday.

Waking up in the morning, he would remember the details of the

amorous encounter. While the memories had kept him going during

the day, they had prevented him from enjoying the company of his

peers and teachers. None of his peers and teachers could have


61

guessed that his outward charm was a façade and that lust, anger and

hate were the only elements vying for space in his heart.

Suddenly, on his twelfth birthday, the woman had stopped

visiting. He had been devastated and had even contemplated suicide.

Without those nightly experiences, life had become boring and he

had not wanted to live. Something seemed to hold him back each

time he had come close to ending it all.

In the two years since the woman’s last visit, Adonis had buried

himself in books, competed even more aggressively in sports hoping

to ease the withdrawal pains, but to no avail.

Then, it happened! He was in his room brooding. As he wandered

through the maze in his mind, which his anger and frustration had

created, he heard that tingling throaty voice he thought he would

never hear again. Freezing to a point of paralysis, he could not stop

the smooth warmth suffusing his whole body.

“Adonis, so you cannot control yourself?” he heard the voice ask.

“How could I?” he asked in a hurt tone. “You made me happy for

many years and then without warning you suddenly left me. Instead

of hiding in the shadows and meeting me in my sleep, why don’t you

reveal yourself?”

“You don’t know what you are asking, Adonis,” the voice replied

sadly. “There is a price to pay before anyone can see me.”

“I will do anything that you ask of me, just come back and be

with me,” he cried out plaintively.

“Okay, I will meet you by midnight at the east gate of the

cemetery on Algonquin Road,” he heard the voice say.

“How will I recognize you?”

“You will see me exactly as you have been seeing me in your

dreams.”

Adonis could hardly wait for nightfall. From an early age, his parents

had always left their two children to their own devices. They never

entered their rooms, though they monitored them electronically.

Unknown to his parents, by the age of six, he had broken the


62

electronic monitoring system code and reprogrammed it. From that

time, they had been seeing only what he wanted them to see. Had

anyone dared tell them that their young son had been feeding himself

with a steady diet of pornographic movies since he was eight and that

he was a regular visitor to several adult internet porn sites, they

would have sued.

Overriding the security alarm codes with a master commander he

had designed enabled him to leave and enter their home at any hour

of the night. He liked prowling at night, visiting nightclubs and

spying on people. He had become so adept at creating disguises and

false identities that he could easily pass for a fifty-year old man and

no one would be any wiser.

At the stroke of midnight, he felt the presence even before he saw

her. She was more beautiful in person, skin glittering even in the dim

midnight light. He stood there with his mouth open.

“Follow me,” she commanded.

She was walking very fast and he had to run to catch up. One

thing he noticed: it was as if her feet never touched the ground.

Suddenly she stopped, just beside one of the burial vaults.

Then before his incredulous eyes, the earth opened up and a

circular stairway emerged. Descending the stairway that appeared to

be extending in length with each step, they reached at last to a

beautifully ornamented door that opened on its own accord at her

approach.

Before him was the most beautiful living room he had ever seen.

Diamond floors, gold crafted sideboards, bookcases and tables, rugs

that looked richer and finer than the best Persian rugs, sparkling

vases and many other items he could not describe having never seen

objects of such beauty and perfection before then.

“Welcome to my home,” said the woman in her rich velvety

voice.


63

“Who are you?” Adonis, unable to contain himself, blurted out.

“My name is Venus, though in other times and places my

followers have called me Ishtar, Astarte, Queen of heaven, and

Aphrodite, among many other names. I am the goddess of beauty and

love and you are my chosen consort.”

“I do not believe in God, gods or in anything spiritual. So, tell me

something else.”

“You are my creation, prepared in manners of my instruction and

possessing abilities that no man born of a woman has ever had in all

creation. If you doubt me, I will show you the video of your life, from

conception to the present.”

Adonis laughed.

“Humor me,” he said. “That is not possible.”

“I have noted your doubts, my beloved,” replied the woman

seriously. “You have thrown down the gauntlet. I hope your courage

will still be there when you have finished watching the story of your

life.”

Suddenly a big screen emerged from the wall as the room went

dark. He first saw a younger version of his father followed by that of

his mother. The film then progressed to their wedding. Several fast-

forwards later, he saw his parents inside a laboratory.

“Using genetic engineering technology, we can create the perfect

child,” he heard his father say.

“I know dear that with in-vitro fertilization, gene-mapping and

the sequencing techniques that we had perfected, we can create a

child that is not only a genius but is also artistic, athletic, and poetic

at the same time,” concurred his mother.

“I have gone further than our recent scientific achievements

which are still many years ahead of those of our contemporaries,”

announced his father proudly.

“I have just tested a new equipment with my inbuilt gene-

modification program. Before now, to get a preferred embryo type,

we had to manually modify the structures of a couple’s genetic map


64

after the gene-mapping program had created it from their sperm and

egg. However, with my new gene-modification equipment with a

built-in gene-modification program, we no longer have to manually

change such parameters. Now, all we have to do is put a couple’s

sperm and egg into the new machine. With the aid of the inbuilt

computer program, the machine will produce their genetic maps,

rearrange and remove defective structures, create new ones, and

modify others until it gets a fertilized egg that corresponds to the

couple’s specifications.

The child from this embryo could be made to live longer than any

known human because the machine has the ability to remove

potential disease-causing genes and create substitute longevity ones

within seconds.”

“So that was the surprise you have been talking about,” said his

mother. “You mean this machine has an inbuilt gene-splicing and

modification program that can alter a couple’s egg and sperm’s

genetic makeup as well as an in-vitro fertilization chamber to

produce the dream embryo?”

“Exactly,” said his father. “Just as a good cook tastes the food

first before serving the guests, we should also be the first to use this

new technology. What would be your preferences so that I can set

the program now?”

“Let us produce the world’s first authentic genius with a

projected longevity of not less than three hundred years,” said his

mother.

Adonis moved uncomfortably on the sofa. Venus had been

gazing at him while the film was still rolling.

The scene then shifted to where his father pushed the sperm and

egg on the Petri dish into the gene-modification equipment. He saw

the genetic charting, molecular rearrangements, the fertilized egg, its

implantation into his mother’s womb, the birth of the child, and the

child’s first steps.


65

“Please stop the film,” he shouted, terribly hurt. “I believe you

now. Why didn’t my parents tell me that I was created in a

laboratory?”

“Believe me there are many things you don’t want to know. At

this moment, you are simply not mature enough to handle such truths.

Believe me, I know, since I am the one who has been responsible for

your education right from your mother’s womb.”

“What do you want from me?”

“The question should rather be, ‘what does Adonis want?’ You

have seen only a very small part of your history. I have given you

pleasures, albeit in your dreams, which no human has ever known

and yet you have barely touched the threshold of eroticism.

I am the goddess of love and the originator of all human

emotions. I will give you the whole world because you are my chosen

one.”

Before Adonis knew it, he was in her arms. The smooth silky skin

accentuated by the enchanting perfumery was overwhelming. He

was fourteen but his physical development was comparable to that of

a twenty-year old. His intellectual development was beyond that of

any human at that age, living or dead, though of late he had started

making strenuous efforts to downplay his abilities.

“In everything you, Adonis, have excelled. I chose wisely and

now I must prepare you for your ultimate destiny.”

“What is my destiny? I don’t want to live outside of your

presence.”

“Neither do I, but you must follow the preordained path for you

to earn that right to be my only consort.”

“I am ready.”

“For want of a better word we shall call the first part of your

education ‘Perspective Training.’ You are to read the following

books: Ancient Tongues, Evolution, the Christian Bible, Lucifer’s

bible, Popes and Emperors, Greek Mythologies, Origins of the

Babylonian Occult, Ancient Mystical writings of Lucifer, the


66

complete works of William Shakespeare and the Greek Philosophers.

You are to analyze each book and we shall review your findings in

our next meeting.”

“Why is the Christian Bible on the list? You know I don’t believe

in it and that our parents forbade us to read it.”

“Yes, I know, but their instruction did not stop you from reading

it. You have never passed up an opportunity to assert your

independence.”

“You seem to read me like a book. How do you know so much

about me?”

“I know because I am in you,” she replied. “I joined my spirit to

yours in your mother’s womb. Therefore, you and I have practically

lived together from your conception. That is the reason why no one

living or dead has your intelligence or ability or physical stamina.

The world is at your feet with my spirit in you.”

“When do I see you again?”

“You will see me at the completion of your assignment. When

you are ready, just whisper my name three times and you will receive

instructions on when and where to meet me. The books are already

packed in the knapsack by the door.”

Adonis was ready at the end of one month. He had not only finished

reading all the books given to him by Venus but he had also made

copious notes, marking up areas where he wanted further

clarifications.

Venus had not been in his dreams during the period. Daily

longing for her had almost driven him crazy and he knew that he

would commit suicide if he did not see her again.

Muttering her name three times, he nearly jumped out of his skin

when he heard her voice.

“We meet at midnight at the south gate of the burial ground on

Algonquin Road. Bring all the books, and your notes.”


67

He turned but there was no one in the room. Yet, the alluring smell

of her perfume filled the room. Hearing her throaty laugh caused him

to turn again. This time the reward was a brush of her silky lips on

his face.

Suddenly he was tired. Deciding to lie down for a period, he was

about to doze off when he saw a very brilliant light.

“Adonis, Adonis, Adonis, why have you chosen this path?” a

Voice, filled with such compassion that he could hardly breathe,

asked.

You will surely die if you do not turn now and seek deliverance

from the Almighty God who made the heavens and the earth.”

“And who are you?” he heard himself ask.

“I am Jesus, the One who died for your sins on the cross. I am the

way, the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through

Me.”

Before he could utter another word, the light had gone from the

room and in its place was an almost tangible darkness.

Opening his eyes, he realized that he had witnessed something

extraordinary. Try as he might, he could not dismiss the vision and

the message. It was too real.

Could the Scriptures indeed be true – Jesus, really the Savior of

man while Venus, Lucifer, principalities, powers and Lucifer’s

angels false spirits already doomed?

Adonis was at the appointed place just before midnight. Venus,

looking even more glamorous, took his hand as they walked to a

mausoleum in the cemetery. Suddenly, the earth opened and they

walked down ten flights of stairs before reaching a house, whose

doors opened as they approached.

As he entered a large living room, he knew that this house was

different from the one he had been in the last time. Both room and

house appeared to be floating, with no foundations.


68

Making himself comfortable on a chair that mysteriously

materialized in the otherwise empty room, he observed a sofa

floating in the air with Venus reclining on it.

Tonight, to his disappointment, it was all business as she asked many

questions after looking at his summaries.

Finally, he heard her say, “You have impressed me with your

depth of knowledge, but I had expected no less. We created you to

be the best. Do you have any questions?”

“I saw a brilliant light and heard a Voice tell me that, ‘He is Jesus

and that He is the way, the truth and the life,’ after you left me earlier

today. Are you sure that Lucifer’s bible is telling the truth when it

says that Jesus was really defeated on the cross?”

He wondered whether Venus’s discomfiture was due to the

question or whether it was from the fact that Jesus had appeared to

him.

“Adonis, why do you think Jesus appeared to you if it was not

out of weakness? He knows that I have opened your eyes to the

universal truth. He came to deceive you. You have only seen but a

small demonstration of my power.

Soon you will be able to leave your body to attend spiritual

meetings where lord Lucifer will be presiding. Would Jesus not have

offered you something or demonstrated His power were He to have

had it?”

An inner voice still spoke into his soul, ‘I am the way, the truth

and the life, and no one comes to the Father except through Me,’

even as he pondered what Venus had said.

Dismissing the inner voice as a figment of his imagination, he looked

at the adorable woman before him and knew that, no matter the

consequences, he had no choice but to be with her.

While still in his reverie, a large screen appeared showing the

organization chart of Lucifer’s kingdom with the names of the

principalities, powers and spiritual rulers of every country on earth.


69

Then country by country, he saw the locations and membership of

Lucifer’s churches.

“There is a spiritual fight going on in the heavens between

Lucifer’s forces and Christ’s forces,” Venus said after an interval.

“Even though we have the upper hand in the war, the real victor,

according to the rules of engagement, will be the one that gets more

followers on earth. That is where you come in.

With our help, you will become the world’s absolute ruler. On

that day, Jesus will have no choice but to abide by the rules of the

engagement and accept that Lucifer is indeed the most powerful

spirit as well as the overall lord of the universe.”

“How can I become the absolute ruler of the whole earth? That is

impossible.”

“Are you afraid, my Adonis? Of course, no human being can do

it but the whole host of Lucifer’s spiritual kingdom numbering many

billions will assist you. Through you, lord Lucifer will bring the

world to its knees and the world will then willingly accept the one

who not only solves their problems and brings peace on earth, but

who also performs signs and wonders.”

“What must I do in the meantime?”

“You will stop high school. There is nothing more for you to

learn there. In fact, you knew more than the best high school student

did by the time you were six years old. Unknown to you, I had been

restraining you from demonstrating your actual mental capacity then.

I removed some of the restraint a few years ago when you were

contemplating suicide because I had stopped my nightly visits.”

“Why did you stop those visits?”

“We needed to toughen you up emotionally and to help you

understand a little bit of yourself. I watched you read more than a

thousand books in those two years.”

“I could have killed myself. Then, what would you have

achieved?”


70

“I would have raised somebody else. Always remember that you

serve me at my pleasure. To continue, I removed the final restraint

last month when I gave you this assignment. Otherwise, how could

you have read and analyzed so many books, some in ancient

languages, in such a short time? Many philosophers and theologians

spent all their lives trying to complete the analysis of just one of them

without success.

Spiritually, you know more than any living human. We will help

you bring spiritual technologies to earth. In the process, you will gain

control of the material world and become its absolute ruler.”

“My parents will never accept that I stop my high school

education. So, how am I going to get around that?”

“Whom do you love more, your parents or I? Think hard before

you give your answer to this question.”

“You know the answer to that. It is you, of course.”

“There is only one way that you can prove it.”

“How?” he asked.

“Your parents must die, and you will be the one to kill them.”

“Isn’t that rather too drastic?”

“Your real education cannot begin, and neither can we make you

the most powerful man ever to walk the earth, without their deaths.”

“Okay.”

“How do you propose to do it?”

Adonis closed his eyes. After a few minutes, he said, “My parents

will be going to their cottage this weekend. I will rent a car using a

false ID, drive to the lodge on Saturday night, shoot them, set the

bungalow on fire, and come right back to the city.”

“How will you get rid of the gun?”

“I will break it into pieces, throw each piece in a different dump

yard, and then go to sleep.”

“Who will be your alibi?”

“My parents are unaware that I know they monitor our rooms.

The police will eventually discover the videotape showing that I was


71

asleep all the time. Of course, they will never know that I have been

resetting the recording equipment since the age of six.

In any case who will suspect a fourteen year old, who stands to lose

so much, of killing his parents in their weekend hideaway far from

the city?”

“Yes, you could get away with it. But that elaborate plan will not

be necessary.”

Adonis was now puzzled.

Venus descended from her floating sofa, took him in her arms,

and whispered into his ears.

“My Adonis, indeed you have excelled. You have jumped the last

hurdle, which really was the final test, and we have found you

worthy. Your parents will not die.”

Adonis looked at her, confusion clearly written on his face.

“Your parents are Lucifer’s trusted followers, your father and

your mother are in fact the high priest and high priestess respectively

of our New York church.”

Adonis broke free from her arms, “That is definitely not true. My

parents do not believe in anything but in their work and pleasures.”

“Oh Adonis,” Venus muttered. “When will you learn to trust

every word that I say? I do not lie. Your parents deliberately created

that image to enable them carry out their functions.”

“They could have confided in me.”

“No, they could not, and would not have, even when you reached

majority, just as you cannot confide in them or in anyone for that

matter the projects you will be working on. You bring death upon

both yourself and the recipients of our secrets.”

“So, how do I tell them that I will stop high school without

tipping my hand?”

“Your parents are aware that you are the chosen one. They also

know that the time has come for your accelerated education. Your

letter of admission to the Civil Engineering program at Yale is

waiting for you at home.”


72

“I did not apply to Yale,” Adonis blurted out. “I still have two

more years of high school.”

Venus, clearly exasperated, was now angry.

“How many times will I tell you that you are going to become the

world’s absolute potentate? How is that possible if impossible things

do not happen? You must begin to trust and not question.”

Now truly afraid and sad to have annoyed her, Adonis slid to her

side, with an upturned face filled with a mixture of fear, intense

passion and longing.

“Beautiful and adorable Venus, I will never again question you

even if you were to ask me to kill myself,” he said.

Venus sighed and took him in her arms again.

“I will never ask you to kill yourself though lord Lucifer could

command it if he is dissatisfied with your progress. In Yale, you will

be working directly with our Professor Simpson in your free

periods.”

“Is it the same Professor Simpson, the molecular biologist,

pioneering the science of cloning?”

“Yes, it is the same Professor Simpson. He has instructions to

teach you in your free times, holidays and nights. You should

participate in college activities of your choosing and take as many

courses as you like in areas that interest you. We have only one

stipulation: You must graduate first in your class in two years.”

“What will I do after graduating?”

“Oh, you will go on to MIT for advanced degrees in computer

science and mechanical engineering. You are going to be the best

computer genius ever produced as well as the foremost authority on

robotics.

Young man, don’t get ahead of yourself now. Just concentrate on

all you will learn in your civil engineering classes but more

importantly on everything that Professor Simpson knows.”

“Will I be seeing you?”


73

“Not during the school terms, but I will be around. When you

need me, just call my name and you will experience pleasures similar

to the ones you derive from being in my arms. However, I will allow

you to spend part of your holidays with me provided I am pleased

with your progress.”

Eight years later, Adonis had acquired over ten degrees including

four PhDs. After two years at Yale, the authorities had found that not

only had he completed all his courses for the B.S degree in Civil

engineering, he had also satisfied the requirements for B.S degrees

in Biochemistry and Sociology. The President of Yale had invited

him for a chat, trying to get him to pursue graduate studies at Yale,

in any area of his choosing, offering a starting salary that most

University Dons would sell their souls for, but he had thanked her

politely and declined. Pressed to give a reason for refusing the offer,

he had told her that he wanted to broaden his knowledge base through

working under as many professors and in different academic

environments as possible.

Spending four years at MIT, he had obtained two PhDs, the first

in computer science and the second in mechanical engineering. In

addition, he had received a master’s degree in economics and an

MBA with specialization in Accounting.

Proceeding to Princeton after MIT, he had spent the next two

years getting a PhD in mathematics and another PhD in theoretical

physics. Princeton also awarded him B.S and M.S degrees in

mathematics and physics.

Both Time and Newsweek magazines put him on their respective

covers, proclaiming that a genius surpassing Einstein and Newton

was on the world stage. Most academics acknowledged that his was

the best mind ever to grace planet earth. However, media attempts to

interview him failed. Adonis was an enigma. Many mothers spent

sleepless nights wishing he could somehow meet their daughters.


74

At twenty-two, no one had captured the world’s spotlight before

then like Adonis. Young girls, for once, stopped dreaming about

basketball, baseball and football players or about pop and Hollywood

stars.

Young men envied him not just for his academic

accomplishments, which were indeed breathtaking, but also for his

innocent and handsome look. His picture hung in the bedrooms of

most young persons around the globe.

Unknown to the world, Adonis had indeed been more than busy

during the eight years of his scholarship. Venus had raised the ‘seed

money’ through Lucifer’s churches after Adonis expressed his

interest in becoming the richest man in the world. Within days, she

had had Lucifer’s followers place one hundred million dollars startup

fund in various anonymous accounts worldwide for his use.

For more than six years, Adonis had been trading in stocks,

options, commodities, oil futures and currencies using myriad

anonymous trading accounts all over the world. He had parlayed the

initial investment into multi-billions in the period, what with Venus

giving him secret recordings from boardrooms that made it possible

for him to know the financial health of companies ahead of trading

days at the various trading exchanges. Forbes magazine would have

disagreed but at age twenty-two, Adonis was indeed the richest

person in the world. Of course, only he and Venus knew that fact. So

secret had been his trades, so well hidden his financial holdings, that

the down payment on his first house after he left Princeton was made

by his parents.

Unfortunately, his vast financial empire was not what would

threaten the world but rather what he had developed while working

under Professor Simpson at Yale. He had cloned the first human

being using cells from Professor Simpson even before the cloning of

Dolly, the sheep, made the headlines around the world. Venus,


75

having determined that such a feat at the time was rather explosive

for even the loyal Simpson to handle, had ordered Adonis to kill him.

Adonis had taken the ‘womb’ in which the cloned embryo of

Professor Simpson was growing to Mr. and Mrs. Carl Winthrop, the

high priest and high priestess of Lucifer’s California lodge. That had

been the summer following the completion of his undergraduate

studies at Yale. He had spent three months in the home of the

Winthrops setting up the laboratory for the cloned embryo and the

delivery room for the baby.

Leaving for MIT in September that year, Adonis had gone back

to California the following summer to witness the christening of

Sampson, Professor Simpson’s clone, now a handsome baby, and the

son of Mr. and Mrs. Carl Winthrop.

‘Young Simpson,’ called Sammy by his friends but officially known

as Sampson Winthrop grew up in the posh neighborhood of

Sacramento, very close to the California State government house, not

knowing that he was a clone.

The wealthy and influential Winthrops pampered their only son

not just with gifts and toys but also with their company. Carl

Winthrop started taking Sammy to important meetings by the time

he was three. Sammy, therefore, had learnt the art of manipulation

very early, having seen his father exploit relationships, dispense

patronage, and sometimes blackmail people into doing his bidding.

There was a time the elder Winthrop had picked a virtual

unknown and turned him into a popular politician. Another time, he

had single-handedly stopped the impeachment proceedings of an

unpopular governor after he came to their house and prostrated

before his father. Sammy had seen his father work the phones that

night calling in favors owed him by some of the state legislators

while threatening others with exposure of their past misdeeds, which

records he had, if they failed to play ball. For insurance, his father


76

had sent a package through one of his trusted lieutenants to a

particular news organization that same night. Therefore, it had not

come as a surprise when one of the morning newspapers printed

amorous pictures of the Speaker of the state legislature and his

secretary. The meeting of the state legislators, a few hours later,

resulted in the dropping of the impeachment proceedings against the

Governor and the setting up of a house committee to look into the

embarrassing photos.

Sammy had learnt well. Using his school as the laboratory for

testing his father’s techniques, he was a hit with his teachers and

classmates who trusted him implicitly. With his gift of making

people in his circle feel special, he never failed to send birthday

presents to his classmates and teachers. Whichever school he had

gone to, he had won the admiration of both students and teachers in

no time. Everyone spoke highly of him. His classmates could count

on him for assistance with their academic and social lives. They, of

course, confided their secrets to him.

Many would have sworn by him and would have willingly done

anything for him had he asked. Years later, when former classmates

compared notes at different school reunions, they had found out that

Sammy had never asked any of them for a favor. They had also found

out that none of them had been his favorite, as he had managed to

dispense favors equally. The consensus among his peers was that

Sammy was a true example of one who gave people his time and

resources without expecting anything in return.

The elder Winthrop initiated Sammy into Lucifer’s church of

California when he was fifteen. From that time, he began attending

their meetings, most times held under the cover of darkness. He had

a special teacher who instructed him in transcendental meditations,

astral travel, witchcraft, hypnotism, necromancy, astrology, illusion

and magic. The activities at the lodge rather than distract had helped

him in his schoolwork.


77

After high school, Sammy went to Berkley. At six feet five

inches, he had élan, dressed nattily, and spoke exceedingly well. He

could hold an audience spellbound for hours. Whoever invented the

word charisma had him in mind. It was, therefore, not surprising that

all the fraternities at Berkley had courted him, even offering him the

post of president in his first year, something unusual in a prestigious

institution of higher learning. He had eventually accepted to become

part of the elite ‘Berkley Lions’ Fraternity.

In his second year at Berkley, he mobilized a large number of

students to campaign nationwide for many politicians vying for seats

in the United States Congress. From his table in a well-equipped

campaign headquarters in California, he coordinated the American

youth votes for candidates of a particular party, helping to elect many

in the process.

After that successful national mobilization effort, many more

politicians began to seek his help in their electioneering campaigns

for one political office or another and soon enough the scorecard of

favors people owed him had risen exponentially. By the time he was

leaving Berkley, many influential persons in the United States

including the President, governors, mayors, senators and house

members were in his debt.

On the day he graduated from Berkley with magna cum laude in

religious studies, the Church of California ordained him a Reverend.

Many came to witness the graduation of this up and coming

charismatic preacher. Reverend Sampson Winthrop had one

consuming passion: to create a one-world religion that would unite

the present world’s religions. Aware that many would oppose him,

he had smartly kept that ambition to himself. However, he knew he

must have a vehicle through which he could feed his messages to the

more gullible worldwide. Therefore a year after graduation and with

the assistance of the Church of California, he founded ‘The

Cosmopolitan Church of God’ with headquarters in Sacramento.


78

As a ministry, ‘The Cosmopolitan Church of God’ was different

from those before it. Reverend Sampson, reputedly the most

mesmerizing speaker on earth, preached mostly on religious

inclusiveness, prosperity and world peace. Claiming that religious

bigotry was the basis of most of the world’s ills like man’s

inhumanity to man, wars, diseases and poverty, he painted a picture

of an open, prosperous, peaceful and disease-free world where

people lived and served for the greater good of humanity.

His slogan, in the form of a question, “Can’t we all live together

in peace and harmony irrespective of our religious beliefs?” soon

caught on worldwide, making him famous.

To demonstrate his commitment to world peace, he paid visits to

Hindu temples, Jewish synagogues, Moslem Mosques, monasteries

of different faiths, Catholic Churches, and many protestant

denominations including some evangelical ones. Flattered, most of

these religious groups asked him to preach to their congregations.

Since his spellbinding messages were not Christ-centered, no one

took offence. In fact, he made his hearers feel very good about their

particular faith. Returning the favor, he invited Imams, Rabbis,

Hindu priests, pastors, Catholic priests and protestant ministers to

preach to his congregation.

His new church cathedral, completed two years after he started

his ministry, could sit more than twenty thousand. People were

coming from all over the world to hear this very refreshing man of

God that could keep an audience enthralled for hours. In a very short

time, Reverend Sampson Winthrop became a household name, not

just in the United States of America, but also in most of the

developed world.

Five years into Reverend Sampson’s ministry, the President of

the United States of America commissioned, ‘The Cosmopolitan

Church of God’s Theological Seminary.’ The guest list on the

occasion included planet Earth’s most influential and richest citizens


79

and the total amount realized was more than two hundred million

dollars.

This degree-granting seminary was one with a difference; people

from all faiths were welcome, and faculty included well-known and

respected scholars from all the world’s main religious groups. As a

tuition-free seminary, with an undertaking to pay for the board of the

poorest, the seminary was able to attract some of the world’s

brightest young persons.

On graduation, Reverend Sampson gave most of the new reverends,

rabbis, imams and priests large checks to establish branches of their

particular faiths in cities of their choosing. All Reverend Sampson

asked them to do in return was to preach religious tolerance and to

encourage interfaith visits within their communities and cities.

The Sunday telecasts from his headquarters church in

Sacramento, initially for his converts, soon became ‘a must’ view for

his burgeoning followers worldwide. With the completion of his

radio and television complex, and his desire to have a worldwide

audience, Reverend Sampson Winthrop entered into broadcast

agreements with major television networks around the world.

Many were listening. Apostates, unbelievers and even some

weak believers loved his positive confession messages and teachings

on faith. According to Reverend Sampson Winthrop, to honor God,

man must believe in his inner self since God created man in His

image.

“Tapping into the inner self unleashes the creative abilities lying

dormant in the soul,” he taught.

His ‘Man: the Architect of his Own Destiny’ video sold several

millions on its release.

Reverend Sampson Winthrop was also a very prolific writer. His

books were on stands in most bookshops and people rushed to buy

them after hearing the testimonies of persons whose businesses

improved dramatically or who claimed to have received their healing


80

after putting into practice Reverend Sampson’s formula for success

and health.

In the tenth year of his ministry, Reverend Sampson Winthrop

visited all the well-known religious leaders in the world. Moslems in

the Middle East feted him. In India, Hindus, Sikhs and Moslems

mobbed him when he visited the Taj Mahal. At an audience in Rome,

the Pope held him up as a true apostle of peace. The Head of the

Anglican Church echoed the same refrain and of course, not wanting

to be left out, some Evangelical and Pentecostal leaders joined the

bandwagon.

His ability to have religious groups working together in many

communities and cities earned him both the Times and Newsweek

Person of the Year Awards. While many regarded these as great

achievements indeed, especially after a Nobel Peace Prize, the more

perceptible ones stated that Sampson’s greatest achievement was his

ability to unite peoples with disparate philosophies, agenda and

beliefs and having them eating out of his hands.

Gay and lesbian groups courted him because of his treatise that

God is a big God, who plays no favorites, and who does not

discriminate among his children. Above all, he reasoned, God has a

very big tent to accommodate all his children irrespective of their

lifestyle choices.

Feminists were in love with him, more so after hearing him

preach that God was both male and female. Abortionists could not

resist his appeal when he made the case for abortion in the case of

incest. Yet, Pro-lifers loved him too for his stand that the world must

build new structures to accommodate children from unwanted

pregnancies. His argument was that with well-funded state facilities

more women would choose to have their babies instead of aborting

them.

Reverend Sampson Winthrop had perfected the art of illusion.

Most did not know that he was sucking the weak-minded into his

orbit, devouring their souls in the process, and that he was the devil’s


81

conduit for the transference of demonic spirits into the souls of his

ever-increasing worldwide audience intent on walking a walk

different from God’s ordained pathway.

The Scripture in Second Thessalonians, Chapter 2, Verses 9-11,

“The coming of the lawless one is according to the working of Satan,

with all power, signs, and lying wonders, and with all unrighteous

deception among those who perish, because they did not receive the

love of the truth, that they might be saved. And for this reason God

will send them a strong delusion that they should believe the lie,”

was germane to the present seduction of many by Reverend Sampson

Winthrop.

Many Christian leaders took note but did nothing. Among those that

did recognize the evil gnawing away at the fabric of the world’s

conscience were those that failed to speak up because they did not

want people to put the label ‘divisive’ on them. However, those

courageous enough to sound the alarm had their voices drowned out

by the din of praises heaped on Sampson by the majority. Only

Sampson’s inner group and those world religious leaders, who were

members of Lucifer’s churches, knew that Reverend Sampson

Winthrop was the Head of the community of worldwide churches

and lodges of Lucifer and that his title was the High Priest of priests.

And they were not telling.

Adonis started to work on his next project immediately he left

Princeton. This project was going to be, by the far, the most

ambitious undertaking by man since the beginning of time. He was

going to build the world’s largest underground city and the longest

underground tunnel.

It took him two years to complete all the designs for the

infrastructure, equipment and ancillary facilities. Finally, with

Venus’s assistance, he selected the location – two miles below the


82

surface under the ocean waters by the Southern California coast,

between San Diego and Tijuana.

Getting the project off the ground would require a well-executed

and coordinated plan, worthy of study in the world’s best business

schools. Unfortunately, the world would never know, at least not

until after the fact, and by then it would be too late.

He mapped out his plan of attack, dividing the operation into

phases. The first part, dubbed ‘Operation Open the Door,’ would

involve having one of his companies contribute substantial amounts

to the campaigns of many influential senators, house members and

presidential candidates of the two major parties in the United States.

The second part of his plan dubbed, ‘Operation Break the Ice,’ was

for one of his offshore companies to join forces with activists fighting

to stop drilling in environmentally sensitive areas of the United

States like the shallow and deep waters off the coast of California.

Using this offshore company, he would fund street protests and

defray the expenses for most of the vocal environmental agitators at

international conferences.

In ‘Operation Geyser,’ the third part of his plan, DEMA

Corporation, a wholly owned subsidiary of his holding company,

would demonstrate his new ‘Geyser Separation and Recycling

Technology,’ which could extract oil without polluting the

environment, to environmental groups and activists.

Three years after, Adonis had succeeded in implementing all

three parts of his plan. To everyone’s surprise, the environmentalists

pledged to stop their opposition to drilling in environmentally

sensitive areas in the United States on one condition. Congress must

pass a bill stating that only companies that adopted DEMA

Corporation’s ‘Geyser Separation and Recycling Technology’ or its

equivalent would receive exploration rights to large chunks of

acreage off the coast of California and to any other areas hitherto

declared off limits to mining activity.


83

With Congress quickly passing the bill and the President readily

giving his assent, many multinational oil companies rushed in their

bids for the right to use the geyser technology. All but one – All Star

Oil – withdrew when they found out that they could never make a

profit if they paid the high license fee set by DEMA Corporation.

With no other research company having anything remotely close to

the geyser technology, DEMA could afford to be smug.

All Star Oil, the only one that remained standing in the end, but

which had no previous experience in offshore drilling, won the large

concession off the coast of California. For the record, All Star Oil

paid two billion dollars to DEMA Corporation for the right to use the

geyser technology as well as agreeing to a profit sharing arrangement

with DEMA. All Star Oil also paid the required ten billion dollars to

the United States Treasury for the extensive acreage off the

California coast.

The Greens were ecstatic. They were full of praises for All Star

Oil who by blazing the trail had guaranteed that all future

concessionaires would use the ‘Geyser Separation and Recycling

Technology’ patented by the DEMA Corporation or its equivalent.

To them this major victory would help to preserve the world’s

ecosystem and the environment.

Government and Congress were happy that they had found a

solution to the thorny question of drilling in environmentally

sensitive areas in the United States. The politicians used it to make

the point that the days were coming when American dependence on

Middle East oil would be a thing of the past. Few were discerning

enough to know that the claim by the politicians was false because

America’s daily oil consumption had been increasing since the first

Arab oil embargo in 1973 and the expected output from all these new

sources would be insufficient to close the gap.

The only ones who were unhappy were the major multinational

oil companies. For them, it was only a matter of time before All Star


84

Oil went bankrupt. When that happened, they were sure that

Congress would reverse itself and repeal the obnoxious law.

With all approvals in place, Adonis began recruiting for the

construction of the tunnel and the city. In addition to being among

the best in their fields, all those he recruited for the All Star Oil

offshore drilling and the tunnel projects were bona fide members of

Lucifer’s churches and lodges.

Recruitments completed, All Star Oil mobilized. With its floating

rigs anchored at about two hundred miles off the coast of Southern

California, the company gave out a press release announcing the start

of drilling for its first exploratory wells. In reality, All Star had just

begun the digging of a two-hundred mile length underground tunnel,

two miles under the ocean floor, running from its location in the

Pacific Ocean to the shores of the California coast.

It took two years before the underground tunnel two miles under

the ocean floor, with a width of five miles, a length of two hundred

miles, a runway for airplanes, tracks for trains, and roads for trucks

and cars, was completed.

At its completion, between the San Diego and Tijuana coastlines,

special crews began to excavate two miles under the ocean floor at

the California end of the tunnel an area measuring one hundred miles

by one hundred miles. Disposal of the earth via the two-hundred mile

underground tunnel to the far ocean waters took place by night and

could never have attracted any attention since All Star Oil

prospecting lease covered the whole area.

In the same period, companies owned exclusively by Lucifer’s

worshippers were secretly manufacturing equipment for the

underground city and its facilities. The shops were also building

special cloning lines, airplanes, submarines, ships, weapons delivery

systems, satellite communication facilities, trains and rail systems

using the specifications and drawings prepared by Adonis.


85

Ships dropped off materials, equipment and other items on the

high seas, near the opening of the underground tunnel two hundred

miles away. From there, trains and trucks carried them through the

two hundred mile tunnel into the new city for installation.

Two years into the drilling project, All Star announced the

discovery of major oil deposits. By the fifth year, All Star oil tankers

began to pass through the offshore facilities, pretending to be loading

crude oil for delivery to its refineries.

Six years later, the City of Adonis was ready. Measuring one

hundred by one hundred miles, the ten-thousand-square mile city

boasted every convenience of a modern city plus more. The city with

its submarine tunnel represented the greatest engineering feat of all

times.

Today was the big opening day. Adonis was inspecting the

infrastructure and facilities in his city one more time. He was

satisfied, and indeed excited, that the long awaited march to his

destiny would begin this day.

He was always ecstatic whenever he toured his city. Venus had

assured him that it was a city like no other in all creation and that its

facilities were the best in the whole universe.

Not only could he monitor his city from a giant control room, he

could also see everything going on in every part of the world via a

terminal linked to Lucifer’s universal mainframe computer stationed

above the earth. With Lucifer’s orbiting satellites updating

information to the universal mainframe computer every second,

Adonis could record activities taking place in every corner of the

globe on a twenty-four hour basis.

Venus had told him confidentially about the giant space station

above the earth housing the mainframe of the universal computer and

of the invisible sensing points planted by Lucifer’s angels in people’s

homes, offices, roads and laneways, which were constantly

transmitting earthly activities to the orbiting satellites.


86

She also had told him that at the giant space station, angels

processed the incoming video, highlighting areas of interest for

Lucifer’s attention with copies to the principality or power covering

the affected region or country. If required action were within its limit

of authority, the principality or power would instruct rulers and lower

angels under its jurisdiction to implement.

“Major acts such as instigating wars and famine come under the

purview of Lucifer,” Venus had added.

Adonis knew that the facilities, equipment, transportation modes

in the city were beyond man’s comprehension and that he had

achieved this feat only because Lucifer and Venus had given him the

knowledge and expedited every aspect of the project.

Venus, though not physically present most times, had guided him

right from the conception to completion, sometimes breaking into his

thought processes with suggestions. When he had run into

difficulties, she had ‘exploded’ visions into his memory to enable

him grasp a design or specification. He knew that this city and

infrastructure, though bearing his imprint and name, was actually

Lucifer’s laboratory for the final onslaught on man.

Entering the control room, Adonis sat on the large circular

marbled chair with gold-encrusted legs facing the large screen

running from one end of the room to the other. With the world map

in his view now, he roamed casually through many countries,

activating anything in any country that suited his fancy using the

‘thought-cognition’ process medium.

‘Thought-cognition’ enabled him to see and hear any person

anywhere in the world without using computer keypads or any other

physical means. Developing the ‘thought-cognition and control

technology’ had been the hardest part of the entire project. This

technology enabled the creator to be one with his creation. In his

case, he had to be one with his city, its infrastructure and equipment

so that they all could do his bidding at all times. Venus had explained


87

that gods and angels used the same principle to manipulate the affairs

of men.

As he thought of the President of the United States, he saw him

having breakfast with his wife. Desiring to know what they were

discussing, he heard their voices distinctly in his ears. As his mind

roamed from country to country, he could see and hear whomever he

desired. It was as if he was watching a television with more than six

billion channels.

He was going to run this gigantic city all by himself using the

‘thought-cognition and control technology.’ Better get to work, he

cautioned himself. Venus was coming to open the city and its

facilities formally so that he could begin his work.

With cells from Lucifer’s millions of followers around the world,

he would mass-produce human beings like cars on assembly lines. In

one year, he would have more than two million cloned human beings

on earth. These ‘new babies’ would have special chips implanted into

their brains. Venus had brought the specifications and had watched

while he had produced them.

The first set of cells from more than one million persons was in

place. From each set of cells, he would produce two ‘babies’ but

would give only one to their parents. In the first year, he would send

one million to the parents and the other one million he would bring

up according to Lucifer’s prescriptions. Trained handlers, trucks and

special planes for conveying the first batch of ‘new babies,’ housed

in special incubators, to designated hospitals around the world were

already in place.

In three months, mothers of the future clones would begin to

dress like pregnant women and access antenatal care in special

clinics run by Lucifer’s followers. In nine months, doctors in these

clinics would take ‘delivery’ of the ‘babies.’ They would then match

each ‘baby’ with its mother making sure that each mother received

the clone of her own husband.


88

Initially the clones in the city would remain in special chambers,

fed from machines until they reached the age of one. Then robots,

controlled by special computer programs, would teach them to crawl,

walk, speak, and do things that one-year olds do. These robots would

be ‘parents’ to these young ones until they attained the age of five.

Then, he would meet them face to face to begin the final phase of

their training.

The present plan called for ten million clones in five years, five

million sent to parents around the world and five million trained in

his city.

He was convinced that in less than twenty years he would be

ready to claim the world. How proud he was of his achievements!


89

7 THE LOVE FAMILY

And it shall come to pass afterward that I will put My Spirit on

all flesh; Your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, Your old men

shall dream dreams,

Your young men shall see visions; and also on My menservants

and on My maidservants I will pour out My Spirit in those days. (Joel

2:28-29)

Joshua had just woken up from sleep. Slightly disoriented, he

thought he was lying on his bed in the university residence. A few

moments later, he remembered that he was at home for the spring

break.

This first year in the university had been one big experience. He

had found out very early in the first semester that there was an ocean

of difference between high school work and undergraduate studies.

He had had to make major adjustments to enable him cope with the

more challenging university study with its emphasis on independent

work, unlike high school where students were virtually spoon-fed.

Memories of his childhood flooded into his mind as he lay in bed.

Their parents had begun very early to feed their souls with God’s

spiritual food. Each day started with worship, prayers and Bible

studies. The Love family was a truly Bible-believing and loving

family.


90

He wondered how many young persons were as blessed as the

Love Children. Living in a beautiful Long Island detached five-

bedroom house surrounded by well-manicured lawns and mature

trees, and having parents who were not only lay preachers in demand

in many Christian gatherings but were also respected authorities in

their professions was more than most teenagers had on their resume.

His father, Dr. Joseph Love, was a biochemist and the Head of

Research at Oxco Biopharmaceuticals while his mother, Dr. Edith

Love, was a cardiac surgeon and a professor of medicine at New

York’s most prestigious medical school.

Married for nineteen years, his parents had three children – he,

Joshua, 18, Esther, 16, the only girl, and Jonathan, 14. Theirs was a

model family that loved doing things together. Despite their parent’s

very busy work schedules, the family made out time to visit the

poorer areas of New York, once a month, giving out food, clothing

and Bibles to the society’s forgotten ones.

He was in the first year of his chemical engineering

undergraduate program while Esther, who had indicated that she

would like to follow their mother’s example, was a junior in high

school. Jonathan or Jon as his family affectionately called him, who

loved being the baby of the family and basking in the attendant

attention that came with it, was in grade 9.

Every member of the family, he knew, had secretly resolved

never to mention careers in Jon’s presence since his career choice

was constantly changing, sometimes as many as three times on any

given day.

While still engrossed in his thoughts, he barely heard Esther’s

knock on the door.

“It is prayer time, big brother.”

“Who will give tonight’s exhortation?” he called out.

“Dad,” replied Esther.

“Please give me a minute so that we can go down together.”


91

They were the first to enter the large family living room. Their

parents came in shortly after. Of course, Jonathan, always the last for

such meetings but usually the first at the dining table, was the last to

come into the living room.

The “Let us pray,” by Dad opened the family prayer meeting.

Everyone in the living room bowed their heads, with eyes closed,

as Dad continued.

“Oh God, our Father, we pray that you bless this gathering of

your people in Jesus name. We also ask for your light to shine on us

as we meditate on your word this evening.”

A chorus of ‘Amen’ came from the five voices in the room.

After the Bible reading from the book of Revelation, Chapter 13,

and exhortations by Dad, it was time for the question and answer

session.

“Who is this beast in Verse 11, ‘Then I saw another beast coming

out of the earth, and he had two horns like a lamb and spoke like a

dragon?’” asked Joshua.

“Josh, I believe that the second beast is the false prophet,” replied

Dad.

“Who will give this second beast the power described in verse

15, ‘He was granted power to give breath to the image of the beast,

that the image of the beast should both speak and cause as many as

would not worship the image of the beast to be killed?’” asked

Joshua.

“In a sense you could say that Satan is the one who would give

power to the second beast or the false prophet, but in reality it is God

since God gave Satan powers at the time he was created as Lucifer.”

“Why did God give Lucifer such powers knowing that he would

become Satan and would use such powers to cause havoc at the time

of the end?” Esther, perplexed, asked.

“For angels to be in God’s presence, they had to have spiritual

powers or the glory of the All Powerful God would have obliterated


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them in a moment,” replied Dad. “Secondly, angels could not have

navigated the spiritual worlds without such powers.”

“Granted angels had to have powers to enable them serve God,

why didn’t God remove those powers from the fallen ones?” Joshua

asked.

“Being that those powers were part of their nature, God would

have had to destroy them,” replied Dad.

“Wouldn’t it have been better if God had obliterated the fallen

angels knowing that they would use their powers to disrupt His plan

for man?” asked Esther.

“That would have been neat, right?” Mum asked, laughing.

Mum paused before answering her own question.

“Similarly, God should have destroyed Adam and Eve after their

fall knowing that fallen man would use his creative abilities for evil.

With such a neat solution, we wouldn’t be here today holding this

discussion.”

They all looked at Mum with understanding.

“The knowledge that some angels would eventually rebel against

Him did not stop God from creating the spiritual worlds and angels

because God also saw the picture at the end of the ages when

innumerable multitudes of loyal angels and saints would bow their

knees in worship as they surround His throne bearing their sheaves,”

Mum concluded.

“Does it then mean that Satan and the fallen angels can exercise

their powers at will?” Joshua asked.

“No,” replied Dad. “Lucifer, also called Satan, devil, or dragon,

and the fallen angels, also called demons, can and do manifest their

powers on earth within the boundaries set by God. Recall that in the

matter of Job, Satan could touch Job only in those areas over which

God had given him permission. In the Christian age, no power can

penetrate the Blood Covering on faithful saints. That is why it is

important that saints remain holy at all times.


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At the time of the end, Satan, or one of his cohorts, would possess

the false prophet, and manifest those powers described in the book

of Revelation, Chapter 13. God will allow the onslaught because of

the world’s fascination with evil.”

“God being God should still find some way to stop the devil,”

Esther, still disturbed, commented.

“Esther, don’t you know that the just God established laws

governing all of his creation, inanimate and animate, spiritual and

corporeal, even before the foundation of the worlds?” asked Mum.

“I know Mum, but can’t God stop the antichrist and prevent him

from inflicting untold hardship on the world at the time of the end?”

Esther persisted.

“God is not like man that changes the rules in the middle of a

game,” replied Mum. “God, in His infinite mercy, did not leave His

creation in the dark but has provided it with His guiding principles

and laws.

God protects all His creation. Occasionally, however, He

removes His protective shield over individuals or nations when they

continue making choices contrary to His will.

Other times, God allows Satan and his cohorts to test the

faithfulness of an individual or a nation. In such a situation, He

removes His Hand temporarily so that the devil can operate within

the boundaries He has set.”

“I believe that giving freewill to both angels and human beings

is the root cause of their rebellion,” said Joshua. “Couldn’t God have

created them without giving them freewill?”

“That would have meant creating robots, persons and beings

without souls and therefore incapable of loving and receiving love,”

replied Mum.

“Angels and human beings would have been like the inanimate

world – suns, planets and moons. No Josh, freewill was God’s

greatest gift to angels and man, and it is what differentiates them

from the rest of God’s creation. The fact that one third of the angels


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and our first parents failed to use it wisely does not obviate the fact

of God’s great love.

Of course, God knew the consequences of granting freewill to

angels and human beings. That was why He surrounded them with

His love and let them know the punishment for disobedience at the

time of their creation.

When Lucifer conceived evil in his heart, God removed His

loving Hand from him and the consequence was a hardening of

Lucifer’s heart.

When one third of the angels led by Lucifer rebelled against God,

the consequence was a war in heaven – Lucifer became Satan, the

angels in his army became demons, and obedient angels under

Michael became ministering spirits to the heirs of salvation, that is,

you and I.

Adam and Eve disobeyed God and sin and death were the

consequences for all humankind. For God, the consequence was the

sacrifice of His only Son who became God-Man forever.

God, through John, the apostle, warned of the coming of the evil

one. He left signposts for the whole world to see the coming of the

evil day and has continued to inspire His prophets to exhort us to be

prepared.

Man, in choosing to explore the mysteries in the realm of God in

these last days, will open the gates for the enemy to enter the earth

again and cause havoc. On that day, God will remove His Hand and

Satan will have his way for a season.”

“How will that be, Mum?” Joshua asked.

Turning to his Dad, Mum said, “Darling why don’t you answer

this one.”

“Man’s quest for longevity was a major preoccupation in the

early 20th century,” Dad stated. “In the later part of that century,

scientists and doctors were able to fertilize an egg outside a woman’s

body before implanting it into the womb.


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Not long after, the quest to cure diseases led to significant

breakthroughs in genetic engineering. Soon, scientists mapped the

human genome, identifying which gene was responsible for growth,

diseases, intelligence, etc.

Still not content, man moved into cloning. Using cells from an

adult sheep, a cloned sheep named ‘Dolly’ came into international

limelight for a season. Soon, other cloned animals created from the

cells of their adult species became common. Despite the ban on

human cloning in many countries, know that many unscrupulous

individuals and corporations have been cloning human beings

secretly. I am convinced that we might have second-generation

cloned human beings in our world now.

The human being is unique among all the animals. In addition to

a body, it has a soul and a spirit. What do you think has happened or

would happen to a human body created by cloning?”

Joshua exclaimed as the import of his father’s question hit him.

“Since a human clone cannot have a spirit because that is beyond

man’s competence, Satan or one of his demons will breathe its spirit

into the clone’s body to fill the void,” Joshua answered.

“Correct,” said Dad approvingly. “That demonic spirit will unite

with the cloned body to create a demonic soul. The soul of a clone

can only be receptive to evil things. Having been created in the image

of Satan or his demons, it could never be truly human.”

“I get it, Dad,” Esther said. “Man, in his foolishness, will once

again open the gates for the devil to come into the world and create

chaos like in the time before the great flood when evil multiplied

greatly on the face of the earth.”

“Well put, my daughter,” Mum agreed. “God, of course, could

stop Satan and his cohorts but that would be contrary to God’s

established creation principles.”

“Please Dad, what is the meaning of verse 16, ‘And he causes all,

both small and great, rich and poor, free and slave, to receive a mark

on their right hand or on their foreheads?’” Jonathan asked.


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“Satan is the spirit that will possess a thoroughly evil genius. This

man, known in the Scriptures as the beast out of the sea or the first

beast, will become the antichrist. The world will be seeing a human

being when in reality it is the spirit of Satan in the body of an evil

genius claiming to be the messiah.

Manifesting diverse powers, this man of sin, as the Bible also

calls him, will stealthily shut down the world’s economic and

security systems. In the ensuing fear and confusion arising from his

nefarious activities, the world will willingly give in to any new laws

no matter how evil or draconian.

Passing decrees like the verse 16 you mentioned or verse 17

which states ‘And that no one may buy or sell except one who has the

mark or the name of the beast, or the number of his name’ will then

become child’s play.”

“How will people recognize the number of the beast, Dad?”

Joshua asked.

“God, in his infinite mercy, has not left us without an answer,”

replied Dad. “Generations before us tried to understand Revelation

13, verse 18, ‘Here is wisdom. Let him who has understanding

calculate the number of the beast, for it is the number of man: his

number is 666.’

However, they could not have solved the apparent riddle because

it was not yet the time of the end and the abuse of knowledge had not

yet taken place.”

Turning to Mum, Dad said, “Please darling, can you tell us the

true meaning of 666.”

“John, the apostle, saw repetitive six-sided structures

sequentially arranged,” said Mum. “ I believe that 666 was his best

way of describing these molecular chains that form part of man’s

DNA structure. How else could he have explained the vision to his

1st century audience except by interpreting that the repetitive

structures was the number of man; translated today, it would be

man’s unique genetic code.


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The science was not there then and his audience would not have

understood the building blocks that made up the human genes if he

had tried to draw what he had seen with the enabling of the Spirit of

God.

Today we know that each human being has a unique number – a

molecular genetic blueprint, part of which has six-sided structures.

Even though these numbers or genetic structures may look alike, the

arrangements for each of the more than six billion persons on earth

today are different.

In fact, from the time of the creation of man until the end of the

age, no two persons will ever have the same number or the same

genetic structural and molecular arrangement.

At the appointed time, agents of the beast will implant the beast’s

mark otherwise known as his number or genetic blueprint or code –

actually Satan’s – into humans ostensibly to allow them to buy or

sell. In reality, Satan will be laying claim to all human beings on earth

who have the mark of the beast. It will be the devil’s convoluted way

of saying to God, ‘These are mine.’”

“I understand now,” cried Joshua. “No wonder God has decreed

that anyone who takes the mark of the beast will be damned forever.”

“But Dad, why don’t we hear these things in the churches?”

Esther asked.

The children could not help noticing the looks on their parents’

faces. There was pain on Dad’s face and sadness on that of Mum.

After a while, Jonathan said in a pained voice, “I see that Dad

and Mum do not want to answer Esther’s question. Please, Dad and

Mum, we are no longer kids. This world is passing by very fast and

the more you can share with us the better we would be prepared.

From what you have told us this evening, the world is on a collision

course with God, and we know that there will be only one Victor.”

“No, Jon, it is not that we do not want to give an opinion,” Mum

replied. “Maybe we feel that, as children grow up, there are things


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they should figure out for themselves with the help of the Holy

Spirit.”

“We would rather you and Dad answered this particular

question,” Jonathan persisted. “You have never hesitated to share

your opinions with us before now and we love you for it. Why stop

a practice that has helped us all?”

The Love children looked at their parents’ faces and knew that

Jonathan had won them over with his persistence and cunning.

“Okay, but we must first gather the data that would help us to

answer not just this particular question but many others,” Dad said

resignedly. “Beginning next Sunday, we shall attend as many

churches as possible in New York. After New York, we will visit

five other churches in five different cities in the country. Each one of

you will give his or her account after the visits.

During the coming holidays, instead of going to the Bahamas as

we had previously planned, I suggest that we visit Europe, Asia,

Africa and South America. I am hoping that after seeing the Christian

practices of peoples of other lands, we would all be the better for it.

Between now and our departure date for the world trip, I shall

make appointment with pastors in different countries to meet with

us. You should feel free to ask them questions during the meetings.

Hopefully you will understand the course of Christianity through

history and why our faith is weaker today than at the time of our

forebears.”

Joshua, Esther and Jonathan jumped up breathlessly at the

mention of the world trip, forgetting temporarily the reason for the

proposed journey. In their excitement, they failed to see that their

parents were equally thrilled.

As they went to their rooms, after hugging and bidding goodnight

to the elder Loves, a smile crossed Edith’s face.

“Darling, I am so happy and yet frightened for our children. Not

only do they have an innocence that is rare to find in the world today


99

but they also wear their emotions on their sleeves. My fear is that the

children of the world could easily exploit them.”

“Edith, you have no reason to worry. Is the Lord not our Banner?

He will surely open their eyes to the hidden dangers of their time

provided they remain in fellowship with Him.”

Joshua thought about his family on the way to his room. The Love

family had always had lively debates, their parents having

encouraged the children to read and to ask questions very early in

their development. Thanks to daily prayers and Bible readings, they

had responded readily to instruction and their spiritual growth had

been phenomenal.

He had received the Holy Spirit baptism by the time he was 12,

Esther had received hers by the time she was 13, and Jonathan had

just received his. Everyone in their neighborhood knew that the Love

family’s consuming desire was to know God more and more. For

many, visiting the Love family home meant experiencing love,

laughter and inexplicable joy.

The following Sunday, the Love family was in a two thousand-

capacity Fifth Avenue Church by 7.30 a.m. Joshua had called the

church office three days before to find out the time for the Sunday

service. The receptionist, ascertaining that this would be his family’s

first time to the church, had advised that they come in well before the

starting time of 8.00 a.m., if they hoped to secure seats.

There were no empty seats by 8.00 a.m., when the service started.

Joshua could see many people standing outside, taking in the service

on the giant screens mounted on all sides of the church building.

Many of New York’s best and richest were in church. He

estimated that the cost of the clothes and jewelry worn by the over

two thousand church attendees could be several million dollars. The

officiating bishop, supporting clergy and members of the choir were

equally in their resplendent and expensive best.


100

Today was Easter Sunday, arguably the most important event in

the Christian calendar. He had trouble concentrating as the service

went on; it was apparent that the import of the day was lost on many

in the congregation, what with the uninspiring message from the

pulpit and the attention-seeking glances of the rich, overdressed,

bejeweled and famous church members.

What a relief it was when the service ended!

The silence in the car as they drove away convinced him that

other members of the family were pleased to be out of the church. As

the car headed for Harlem, Dad announced, “From our list, we can

make the Harlem church service scheduled for ten. I believe that we

could still attend two other services with later opening times after

Harlem.”

The Harlem Church was bursting with energy even before the

start of the scheduled service at 10.00 a.m. Many attendees were

moderately dressed, even if a few would have fitted more with the

Fifth Avenue crowd. The church choir led the congregation in the

praise worship segment. The boisterous atmosphere – singing

punctuated with shouts of ‘Praise the Lord,’ clapping of hands, and

gyrations by many congregants in response to the music

accompanying the songs – was a little bit more than the Love family

was used to.

Before Joshua knew it, he was dancing and clapping with the

other members of his family. Caught up in the moment, the Love

family members were a little bit disappointed when the worship

session ended. After the freewill offerings, the officiating minister

rose to deliver the Easter message. The Minister used the encounter

of Mary Magdalene with the resurrected Lord on the resurrection

morning as the theme of his message.

The Harlem church service over, they headed to Brooklyn.

However, they found that they could only take in one service in

Brooklyn since the Harlem service had lasted nearly three hours.

Worshippers had filled the Brooklyn church before the scheduled


101

time of 2.00 p.m. Though the worship service was in Spanish, they

did not have much difficulty following it since most of the songs had

the same tunes as their English translations. Again, worshippers in

this church had dressed in moderation. The Pastor of the church

rendered his message in both Spanish and English. His message

focused on Christ’s command to his disciples to love one another.

Service over, they decided to go to a McDonalds outlet for

burgers before heading to their Long Island home. While their

parents ordered cheeseburgers with small fries, Joshua and Jon had

two big Macs with large fries and Esther had one big Mac with

medium fries. As a rule the family hardly ate out, preferring food

cooked at home. Going to a fast food restaurant was rare. On such

occasions, their parents allowed them to eat whatever they liked.

Therefore, Joshua and Jon always tried to make the most use of those

very rare occasions.

They were all tired by the time they got home a few minutes before

six.

“I suggest we rest for awhile and meet for dinner at eight,” said

Mum.

“And be prepared to tell us your impressions,” added Dad.

Dinner was roast lamb chops in lemon sauce, vegetables and

potatoes. Mum and Dad drank cappuccino while Joshua and his

siblings drank freshly squeezed orange juice.

Putting down his half-empty glass, Joshua muttered, “From the

moment I left that Fifth Avenue Church, I have been wondering how

Brother Paul of the Bible would have felt had he been there.”

“He would have been awfully disappointed,” said Jon.

“This begs the question, ‘what is the relationship between Easter

and the Resurrection day of our Lord Jesus Christ?’” Esther asked,

looking in Mum’s direction.


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Joshua could see that Esther’s unexpected question had taken

Mum by surprise. Dad’s face was impassive as they all waited for

Mum’s response.

“I used to ask this question early in my Christian life and I must

confess that I never did get any logical answer,” answered Mum

sadly.

“Your Dad equally had the same problem. Later, of course, we had

found out the truth. Unfortunately, many Christians are suspicious of

anyone who tries to raise issues like Easter that Bible-believing

churches inherited from organized religion. Most would prefer to let

sleeping dogs lie. Many Bible-believing churches have continued to

use Easter to describe this most important day in eternity.

To put it frankly, the name Easter has no relationship with the

resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ just as Christmas has no

relationship to the birthday of the Lord. It was unfortunate that the

Christian churches of the 20th century failed to remove what we

consider to be satanic-inspired names and dates from the Christian

lexicon.”

“Mum, what did the pastors tell you when you asked how the

Church came about the names Easter and Christmas?” asked Jon.

“I got different answers from different pastors. Some did not

know and did not consider it important. Others felt that it would not

be right to change them since organized religion had used the names

and dates for centuries. Yet others had answered by asking, ‘what is

in a name?’”

“Mum, how do you think the names came to replace and in fact

muddle such important Christian milestones?” asked Joshua.

“Recall that persecutions dogged the steps of the early Church.

When the Jewish rulers were not handing Christians over to the

Roman authorities, they were hounding them from city to city.

By the 2nd century A.D., Roman authorities were throwing

Christians into arenas to fight with lions and bulls because they

refused to worship the Emperor. Under Emperor Constantine in the


103

4th century, a major rump of the Christian Church came under the

imperial control. To accommodate the wishes of Imperial Rome, this

major rump of the Christian Church compromised and took pagan

dates like the feast day of the sun god as the day of Christ’s birth and

re-christened the resurrection day of our Lord with Easter. By the

way, Easter, Eoster, Ishtar, or Ashtarte is the name of the pagan

goddess of fertility.

Dissenters to this abomination faced persecutions from their

former brethren. Soon Imperial Rome declared this church, now

called the Roman Catholic Church, the official religion of the Roman

Empire.”

“From ancient Babylon till date, pagans and occultists celebrate

the feast of the sun god on the 25th of December,” interjected Dad.

“Do church leaders know this truth?” Joshua asked.

“Of course, we do,” replied Dad. “Some of the best Christian

theologians are Evangelicals. At the seminaries, students take

courses in church history.”

“Then, why do Christians continue with this pretence?” asked

Esther, now exasperated.

“Who will bell the cat?” asked Dad.

After a pause, Dad proceeded to answer his own question.

“My children, this is not the time of the Jeremiahs or the Pauls of

the Bible. Something has gone very wrong in our generation. The rot

has gone too deep, as men have left the important things for the

unimportant. Many times, we are blaspheming God’s name in our

worship services. Some say there is nothing in a name but never

forget that names are important. When we say, ‘Happy Easter,’ are

we not really giving honor to the fertility goddess, Ishtar?”

“Knowing all these things, Dad, why has the family attended

church services on Christmas and Easter days?” asked Jon.

“My children, just note that most church leaders have accepted

the status quo. No one wants to have the appellation ‘divisive’


104

appended after his or her name, accommodation and compromise

have become the hallmark of most Christian denominations.

To answer your question, we went to church on those days

despite our misgivings because of our children. Our not going could

have provoked your asking questions, which would have been

difficult for us to answer because of your tender ages then. We did

not think you could have handled the truth then and before we knew

it you had all grown up and we missed the opportunity to inform you.

One thing your Mum and I decided many years ago was never to

accept to preach sermons in churches on Christmas and Easter days.

You can blame us for not shouting from the rooftops as church elders

since we know better.

However, I suggest that you all hold your fire until we have

visited more churches and countries. You are likely to criticize us

even more when you know how rotten the apple has become.”

The Love family spent the next five weekends visiting churches

in Chicago, Atlanta, Los Angeles, Boston, and Houston. Armed with

their notebooks, they tried to attend as many churches in as many

denominations in each of the cities.

Sometimes, they had gone to prayer meetings and taken part in

night vigils. The Love children never allowed the excitement of the

coming world tour to distract them, a credit and a mark of their

discipline. Focused, they took notes faithfully in the various churches

and prayer meetings that they attended.


105

8 THE CITY OF ADONIS

Today was very special. Lucifer was coming to visit his city. Adonis

was watching the traffic on the screen: cars moving on concentrically

designed roads with a network of criss-crossing diagonal links, trains

running on special magnetic levitation technology, and a wide-body

aircraft taxiing to the underground tunnel en route to the takeoff pad

in the middle of the Pacific Ocean. He wanted everything to be

perfect today.

The City of Adonis represented the greatest advance in robotic

engineering; robots operated and maintained all the facilities, drove

trucks and cars, and carried out every function in the world’s most

technologically advanced city.

Imagining himself to be taking a group of people on tour of his

city, he began to describe it.

“Situated in the middle of my city is my home. I am sure that

most of the world’s most powerful potentates and business moguls

would readily sell their souls to have a piece of this home. I am sorry

that I digressed but I could not help crowing a bit. From my home,

which serves as both home and office, I direct the city’s operations

from a gigantic control room located at the ground floor level.

Annexed to my home is the cloning laboratory, which leads directly

to the production floors stretching more than ten miles. After creating

cloned ‘embryos’ from adult human cells with my special cloning

equipment, I leave them for a few days to mature before transferring


106

them into ‘wombs,’ specially simulated like those of pregnant

women. The residence time for each ‘embryo’ in a ‘womb’ to

develop into a ‘baby’ is nine months.

There are two million ‘babies’ per each production cycle of nine

months. I transfer half of each batch of ‘babies’ into special chambers

for transportation to their ‘mothers.’ The other half I push into the

‘growth chambers.’

A ‘growth chamber,’ comprising a room and utilities, houses one

‘baby’ at a time. Robots, specially programmed to feed and bathe the

‘babies,’ teach them to sit, crawl and to stand when they attain the

age for such activities. There are more than one million of these

‘growth chambers.’

Robots transfer the ‘children’ when they reach the age of five to

their suites in the hostels. Each hostel block has kitchen and dining

facilities in addition to conference halls, swimming pools, football

fields, and courts for tennis and basketball. Each ‘child’ occupies a

suite comprising bedroom, study, washroom, screen and computer

terminal.

In the program that I have drawn, the ‘children’ wake up by 5.00

a.m., do their indoor exercises, shower and assemble in the dining

room by 7.00 a.m. for breakfast prepared by robots in accordance

with my meal plan.

All the ‘children’ between ages five and nine assemble in the

various conference rooms in the hostels by 8.00 a.m., for classes.

From my living room, I instruct, observe and direct their activities

until 10.00 a.m. Then robots, whom I prefer to call artificial

intelligence machines, take over the teaching and guidance.

‘Children’ older than nine years have a different program. Those

in this group carry out pre-assigned duties between wakeup and

10.00 a.m. Then between 10.00 a.m., and 1.00 p.m., they arrange

themselves in predetermined groups to work on projects. Using

computer-aided simulations, I walk them through all areas of science,

technology and the arts.


107

I must say that it is fun teaching these very bright ‘kids.’ I have

sometimes toyed with the idea of pitting them against the world’s

brightest children. Of course, I know that it is impossible but

sometimes I like to dream.”

He wanted to say, ‘Such wishful thinking helps to ameliorate the

deep sadness in me,’ but held his tongue; Venus or Lucifer could be

listening to his soliloquy.

After that unhappy pause, Adonis resumed the presentation to his

imaginary visitors.

“In addition to serious academic studies, I introduce those above

the age of nine to military training. Using simulations initially and

real equipment later, I train them in all aspects of military warfare.

Those above twelve, even though they are ‘children’ or

‘teenagers’ by definition, could pass for twenty or more years. The

world’s best pilots and soldiers would be no match to those with two

or more years of military training. Please pardon my immodesty, but

I must say that my sophisticated planes, submarines and armored

tanks are technologically hundreds of years ahead of the competition.

Were the military forces of the whole world to combine, my army

would easily defeat them in a matter of days.

The first one million ‘children’ are now fifteen years old.

Presently there are about ten million ‘children’ and young adults in

my City. In fifteen years, I have killed about five million that did not

meet my rigorous standards. I can see some of you squirming but do

not forget that only the strong can subdue and own the earth.

The City of Adonis is looking more and more like a true city.

Initially, I had only robots for company but now I have millions of

the best genetically engineered human beings on earth working side

by side with the robots. I know some of you will not agree that my

‘children’ and ‘young adults’ are indeed real human beings since

they act like robots. That observation notwithstanding, I am

convinced that the world’s best generals would love to have them as

soldiers under their commands.”


108

Stopping his imaginary presentation, Adonis looked at his watch

and smiled. He knew that the time for him to unleash his ‘children’

on the world was getting nearer and nearer with each passing day.

Perhaps Lucifer would give the signal for the start of hostilities at the

meeting tonight.

They came at midnight. The council members arrived before Lucifer

and proceeded to the giant underground complex. Tonight would be

the first time that Adonis would enter it, Venus having forbidden him

previously. He had known that disobedience meant death and so had

never gone near there until tonight. This underground complex was

the one facility that humans did not design or build. Lucifer’s angels

had built the complex using both material and spiritual components.

At the entrance door, Venus gave him something to drink. Then

she took his hand as they went through the door. Before now, Venus

had made Adonis believe that his city and facilities represented the

greatest technological breakthrough of all times. Looking at the

marvel before his eyes, he had to disagree. The giant map of both the

spiritual and material worlds covered one side of the conference hall.

He could see into the spirit worlds and understand spiritual languages

as he watched hosts of angels responding to the commands of the

principalities and powers.

Deluded Adonis, not knowing that he was only seeing the

activities in the kingdom of darkness, believed he was seeing the

inner workings of the entire universe. He could not have known that

Lucifer and his cohorts did not have the capacity to monitor vast

areas of the spiritual universe and that the kingdom of darkness, with

headquarters in Hades, represented only a very small part of the spirit

worlds.

The council allowed him time to mull over his discovery.

“Adonis, what you have just seen and experienced is but a small

fraction of the power that will be yours shortly,” Lucifer said. “I will


109

give you power which no man has ever had since the material world

began. Is there anything you need or lack?”

“No, lord Lucifer,” Adonis said, bowing his head.

“Good, do you have any questions?” asked Lucifer.

“No, lord Lucifer,” Adonis replied.

“Do not be afraid,” said Lucifer humorously. “I know Venus has

given you the impression that you must fear me. While that was the

right instruction, you must feel free to talk to me because you are my

chosen one. You have a special seat at this table and soon the whole

earth will be yours to manage.”

“Thank you, lord Lucifer,” said Adonis. “I am indeed honored

and I will always carry out your instructions to the letter.”

“How many ‘children’ are ready militarily?” asked Lucifer.

“We have about five million that can takeover the world once the

command is given, lord Lucifer,” Adonis replied.

“Though you can overrun the world now, yet must you be

patient,” said Lucifer, waxing poetic. “As soon as the last pieces of

the puzzle fall into place, I will give the signal for the final

onslaught.”

Lucifer could see that his statement had put Adonis in a

quandary.

“Adonis, you are wondering why you have to wait when you are

already there by your estimation?” asked Lucifer.

“Yes, lord Lucifer.”

“You have demonstrated that you have the men and resources to

overrun the whole world. However, at the appointed time, you will

seize the world not by force but by stealth and cunning. The world

must see and accept you as the man of peace.

We will allow the earthlings to develop and then depend more

fully on their communication infrastructure, which you will use to

bring the world to its knees in a second at the appropriate time.

Your young ‘soldiers’ and ‘pilots’ will form the One-World armed

forces after the world is at your feet. While most will assume


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positions in the new army, navy and air force, others will run the

media houses.”

“When will these things be, lord Lucifer?”

“Adonis, it is not yours to worry about the timing, all you have

to know is that the day draws near when you will be on the throne as

the man of peace, the one-world ruler, and my special

representative.”

“May I ask one more question, lord Lucifer?” Adonis asked.

“Go ahead, Adonis.”

“At the appointed time, what will be the roles of the nearly fifteen

million ‘children,’ copies of the ‘children’ in this city, who are in

various households in the world?”

“Good question. They are part of the great plan. Unknown to

them and their parents, the chip you implanted into their brains

defined each one’s future before they left your city. That chip directs

them in every sphere of their lives – profession, love life, and

sporting interests. Most will be occupying important positions in

every area of human endeavor – government bureaucracies, politics,

industry and commerce – by the time I give the order. Some will

become very imaginative criminals and perpetual protesters.”

“That last bit is interesting, lord Lucifer,” Adonis said. “I used

the environmental protesters to secure the mining rights from

Congress years ago but I fail to see how they will be helping us when

the time comes.”

“You will be surprised, Adonis,” said Lucifer. “The world’s

professional protesters are really going to be our ace in the hole at

that time. Adonis, has it not occurred to you that there are dust beings

who will protest about anything without first checking the facts. They

would protest if you told them to go and eat because their mindset is

one of total distrust of governments and systems. Our special

protesters will direct these restless ones during that period.”

“It is time for the rulers of continents to make their presentations,

beginning with Africa,” announced Mammon.


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“Adonis will leave us now,” interjected Venus.

With that statement, Venus went to Adonis and gave him another

drink before taking his hand again and walking him out of the door.

After Adonis had taken his leave, or rather after Venus had

dispatched him, Africa rose to address the council.

“………………… We have Africa in a death vice and our grip

is getting tighter with each passing day,” said Africa.

“Deploying and using time-tested weapons – war, hunger, famine

and disease – Africa lies prostrate, at the mercy of whatever or

whoever we throw at them. Despite Africa’s abundant resources, it

still begs for crumbs from their oppressors – European, Asian and

American.

The continent remains perpetually divided, what with religious

conflicts separating brother from brother. We have succeeded in

making sure that Moslems kill genuine Christians for the flimsiest of

reasons. They no longer attack those big churches pretending to be

Christian ones based on lord Lucifer’s instructions ten years ago. A

new understanding is developing between apostate Christian

churches and Moslems in Africa.”

“It is important that all rulers take note of this important point:

our battle is against those dust beings with true faith, which is faith

in God through Christ and who are genuinely following in the

footsteps of Christ,” interjected Lucifer.

“Tell your followers not to worry about those who claim they are

serving God through other personalities. Neither are they to bother

with those Christians whose actions do not match their

pronouncements.

It is not material whether these two latter groups know it or not

or whether they accept it or not: the fact is that by their useless faith

and actions they are our allies and are working for our interests. None

of their prayers reaches God. Most are unaware that we have been

granting some of their prayer requests. Without these impostors,


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many dust beings could have found faith and walked a walk pleasing

to God.

To continue the deception we must increase our help through

granting them many more of their prayer requests. We should also

reveal new knowledge to them as we facilitate the world’s plunge to

destruction.”

After Lucifer’s speech, Mammon stood and called on America to

make his presentation.

“………………………While North America has prospered

economically, South America has continued to wallow in poverty,

unrests, hunger and diseases. The population of the poor continues

to rise in the South American subcontinent.

However, North Americans have paid a very heavy price for their

prosperity. After successfully removing the milk of human kindness

from their hearts, we helped them to destroy the family unit. In their

formative years, most North American children end up in daycare

centers while nannies take care of others for a greater part of the day.

With parents’ careers, businesses and pleasures at the higher end of

the priority totem pole, many children feel abandoned. Later in life,

these children, now adults, in turn, send their parents to homes for

the elderly as they pursue their own careers and pleasures.

The icing on the cake for us: families rarely pray together

anymore. Left to their own devices, children surf pornography on the

internet and watch movies with occult, horror and sexually explicit

themes. In addition to giving moral and religious instructions to their

children, North American parents before the 20th century prayed

daily with their families. Schools held prayers before and after school

and teachers taught religious and moral instructions with texts drawn

from the Bible. As a result, children of those centuries grew up

respecting their fellow citizens and fearing God.

We have obviously blinded the present generation of North

Americans from seeing that their prayerful forebears laid the

foundation for the North American economic and political successes


113

of the 20th century. They do not know that these successes are God’s

answers to those prayers by their ancestors.

Not recognizing that a strong and cohesive praying family unit

was what made America strong, many have responded to our

promptings and turned their back on the institution of marriage. The

number of heterosexual couples divorcing is on the increase. With

our help, provinces in Canada and States in the United States are

redefining marriage to include same-sex couples.

North Americans have even consecrated an openly gay man as

bishop of a church, married same-sex couples in their churches, and

their religious leaders have condemned those in opposition from their

pulpits. In the 18th century, gays and lesbians hid their sexual

orientation from their communities for fear of being stoned. Today,

gay and lesbian groups are in the driver’s seat, driving the social and

political agenda of both Canada and the United States of America.”

“Very soon, North America will become hostile to anyone

preaching that the way to God is only through Christ,” laughed

Lucifer. “Most North American churches will soon have homosexual

and lesbian bishops, ministers, priests and pastors manning their

pulpits.”

Chuckling still, Lucifer muttered aloud, “The United States of

America, a country that prided itself as God’s own country,

becoming the arrowhead for the destruction of true faith in the

world.”

“Now we will hear from Europe,” announced Mammon, after

Lucifer had finished gloating.

“Europe, the architect of the modern world’s development for

more than a millennium, is as divided as ever. Abandoning its rich

heritage and perpetually coming second place to North America, it is

in the process of falling economically, behind Asia, to the third place.

Europe is beginning to pay the price for the cheap immigrant

labor it had used in its development in the 20th century and for the

cheap oil from the countries of the Middle East. Throwing its borders


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wide open, Europe encouraged citizens of the Middle East to come

in and spend their petrodollars. Once they came in, many did not

leave. In time, they had married. Their children, though Europeans

by birth, believe that white Europeans are treating them as second-

class citizens. With many retaining their Middle Eastern cultures and

religions, there is mutual suspicion between them and their hosts.

From the white European perspective, these Europeans of Middle

Eastern descent are threatening the ‘whiteness’ of Europe through

procreation: a typical non-white European family has more than five

children compared to one for a white European family.

The potential for implosion is there but we do not want that to

happen since Europe will be playing a major role in the not so distant

future.

Everyone has written off Russia but that is the western world’s

strategic mistake. Mammon helped us greatly in engineering the

economic turnaround of Russia. Afflicting the dust beings of

America and Europe with greed, he was able to influence them to

invest heavily in Russia’s oil industry and commerce. Soon, Russia

will be standing again.

At the appropriate time, we will influence their rulers to

nationalize western business interests and rearm so that Russia can

take its place again as a world superpower……………”

“Something all principalities, powers, rulers of continents,

countries and nations should note: we always have tremendous

success whenever we shoot the arrows of greed into the hearts of the

dust beings,” said Lucifer, after Europe’s presentation.

“In our final drive for the control of the world, greed must be the

weapon of choice. A greedy dust being is like putty; you can mold it

into any shape to do your bidding.”

“It is now the turn of Asia to deliver his report,” announced

Mammon.

“……………… We have had tremendous success in the Middle

East. We have used the greedy grabbing of Middle Eastern petroleum


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resources at the turn of the 20th century by European and American

oil companies and the installation of despotic puppet regimes by the

colonial powers to prod many Moslem clerics into preaching against

anything western.

The rulers of these kingdoms, being corrupt and lacking any

popular mandate, have been following the dictates of the oil

companies; after all, these companies pay large sums of money into

their private accounts before getting licenses to prospect for oil.

To minimize their peoples’ resentment, these rulers have been

funding the mosques and paying off the clerics. The clerics in turn

have been nudging their members to direct the cauldron of their anger

at the Western world and not at their rulers. These rulers believe their

subterfuge has been responsible for keeping them on their thrones.

Blinded by our agents, America and Europe have failed to recognize

the earthquake that is about to shake the whole world because of their

greed.

The mosques will continue to serve as recruiting grounds for

terrorists as well as providing the platforms for clerics to preach

against western interests. Our agents are already in place to

indoctrinate and train these disgruntled young persons. Shortly, they

will carry out suicide attacks against the whole world beginning with

western interests.

We will deceive the terrorists into believing that they are fighting

a holy war and that they will go to heaven for fighting the infidels.

The whole point is to create maximum chaos and make the world

ungovernable as per lord Lucifer’s mandate.”

“Very good Asia,” said Lucifer. “You and your subjects have done a

very good job. That is not to say that others have done less. It is just

that the Middle East, as you all know, is very dear to my heart. I am

looking forward to that day when all flesh shall worship me in

Jerusalem.”


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9 THE WORLD TRIP

Prior to the Love family’s world trip, Joshua spent most of his time

studying Church History, Christianity in the New World,

Colonialism, Slavery and Apartheid. The more he read, the angrier

he had become. In God’s name, people had committed very heinous

atrocities that could, were it to be possible, make demons weep.

Then, it was time for the world trip. Armed with round trip tickets

for New York – Toronto – London – Paris – Amsterdam – Rome –

Lagos – Johannesburg – Tokyo – Buenos Aires – Rio de Janeiro –

Mexico City – New York, members of the Love family waited for

the boarding announcement for American Airlines flight XXX

departing Saturday, 7.30 a.m., for Toronto, Canada. The cab had

dropped them at New York’s JFK international airport thirty minutes

earlier.

Joshua was flipping through a travel magazine when he heard the

boarding announcement for the flight. While Jon sprinted to the

departure gate, the rest of the family walked more sedately.

On landing at Toronto’s Pearson International airport, they spent

less than twenty minutes clearing customs before heading to

downtown Toronto in a rented Buick sedan. The drive to the Intrepid

Hotel took about forty-five minutes.

After checking in, parents in a suite, Jon and Joshua in a double

room, and Esther in a single room, the Love family left the hotel by

10.30 a.m., for a trip to Niagara Falls. They had previously been to

the American Falls but Dad had told them that the Canadian Falls


117

had arguably the more picturesque view. Armed with a map, with

Dad driving, they went south on Bay Street to Lakeshore Boulevard.

Turning west, they continued on Lakeshore Boulevard until they

reached the Queen Elizabeth expressway, also called QEW.

They reached Niagara Falls by noon but they had difficulty

finding parking space as it looked like the whole world had chosen

that day to visit. After driving round for more than twenty minutes,

they finally got a place. With cameras slung round their necks, they

proceeded to tour the Canadian Falls.

It was a remarkable sight; Dad was right, the Canadian Falls was

indeed more picturesque than the American Falls. The ride on a boat

called the Maid of the Mist made their day as soothing cold vapors

of the falling mists continued washing over them as the boat got

closer and closer to the base of the Falls. The boat started making a

u-turn only when the force of the water currents was becoming too

strong.

Joshua, Esther and Jon had made a bet on who would get the best

pictures. Therefore, they continued taking pictures of the scenic

intersection of the blue skies, the sun’s rays, and the miasma created

by the falling mists, right up to the time they disembarked.

Leaving the Niagara Falls region by 3.00 p.m., they headed back

to Toronto. As they got close to Mississauga, a western suburb of

Toronto, they joined route 400 heading north and then route 401

going east. On reaching the town of Whitby, an eastern suburb of

Toronto, they went into a Tim Horton’s restaurant for snacks.

Joshua had never imagined that Toronto was such a big city. He

expressed surprise when Mum informed them that it was actually the

5th largest city in North America.

As they entered the car for the drive back to downtown Toronto,

Mum looked at their satisfied faces, and asked, “I hope you all liked

your Tim Horton snacks?”

“Oh yea, another American gift to the world,” Jon replied

happily.


118

“You are wrong, Jon,” Mum said affectionately. “Tim Horton is

another of Canada’s gift to the world. Like many in your generation,

everything good has to be American but it is not always so.”

After a pause, Dad said, “We are blessed in America. Our country

encourages entrepreneurship and since America has the world’s

largest economy, our society, like a magnet, draws very brilliant and

talented persons.

Unfortunately, it also attracts the more enterprising criminals

who see opportunities to grow and expand their businesses too. You

all know that America is the world’s largest consumer of hard drugs.”

After a pause, Joshua said in an exasperated tone, “Interesting

you should mention it, Dad, but is it not hypocritical for our

government to pressure other nations to stop their citizens from

growing or manufacturing drugs for destination USA and yet do so

little to stem the consumption at home.”

“Who says our government is doing so little?” countered Dad.

“The United States government sends money and materials to

dictatorial regimes to enable them stop or reduce the production of

narcotics on their shores but turns a blind eye when they use

inhumane methods to get results,” replied Joshua.

“Our government could stop the consumption of narcotics in

America if it employed half of those brutal methods it pretends are

not being used by the governments of the drug-supplying countries.

However, we know our government cannot do that because the

American consumers of hard drugs know their rights.

If our government cannot adopt those wicked methods, it should

at the least police our borders more effectively. Without American

drug consumption, those third world drug supplying nations would

stop torturing their citizens because the law of supply and demand

would have solved the problem.”

“Are you implying that our government should use torture and

other cruel methods to stop drug consumption at home?” asked Dad.

“No Dad, you know that is not what I am saying,” replied Joshua.


119

“I am only trying to shed light on the injustice of it all: our

government placing the burden for the control of hard drugs on poor

nations without making corresponding effort on the demand side.

In their bid to please America, law enforcement agents of these

third world countries sometimes wipe out entire villages while trying

to destroy narcotics ‘grow’ operations and production centers. These

foreign agents know that the greater the destruction, the more money

they will get from Washington to carry out new raids on suspected

poppy fields and drug manufacturing facilities. Some reports have it

that for each poppy field decommissioned, more than one hundred

innocent persons die in the raids. The CIA refers to these causalities

as collateral damage.

My question is, ‘When shall we Americans put the searchlight on

ourselves and stop blaming others for our drug problems?’

Because we have failed to stem the flow of drugs at the borders

should not be a justification to fuel murders in other countries. Let

each nation solve its own drug problem. America and Europe should

work on the demand side and enforce effective border controls to

disrupt the supply chain while poor third world countries should

work on theirs without our help.”

The debate between Joshua and Dad continued until they reached

their hotel by 7.45 p.m. The rest of the family knew better not to

interrupt or to take sides. However, most knew that Dad was on the

wrong side of this issue. Unknown to the children, Mum and Dad had

held similar discussions on the subject countless number of times.

Strolling on Avenue Road later, just a short distance from their

hotel, they spotted an Italian restaurant and decided to try it out.

The Love family attended three Sunday services, one in the

downtown core, the next one near the airport, and the last one in

Richmond Hill in the northern part of the city. Thereafter, they spent

the rest of the day reading in their hotel rooms.


120

Toronto has many exciting places for the discerning visitor. It is

arguably one of the most diverse cities in the world, with over 150

language groups. Joshua, Jon and Esther spent Monday visiting the

Exhibition Place – one hundred and ninety-two acres of high quality

parkland on the shores of Lake Ontario that was home to some of

Toronto’s most unique and historical structures. On Tuesday,

looking through the telescope on the top floor of the CN Center, one

of the world’s tallest buildings, they were able to see more of

Toronto’s beauty; Lake Ontario’s waters hugging the shorelines and

mature tree-lined streets stretching as far as the eye could see. Mum

and Dad spent those two days at the Museum and at the University

of Toronto libraries.

After dinner on Tuesday, the Love children went to their parent’s

hotel suite on the 17th floor. Jon, standing on the balcony, drew their

attention to the lovely view below: lights from the ships at the harbor

of Lake Ontario mingling with glittering colored lights streaming

from different parts of the city.

“Time to pray, boys and girl,” Mum announced, after giving them

time to absorb the beautiful night view.

Mum led the prayers while Dad gave a short sermon.

At the end of Dad’s exhortation, he said, “We have concluded

our visits to churches in Toronto and the United States. Now is a

good time to hear some of your observations.”

Looking at Joshua, he asked, “Josh, would you like to start?”

Joshua rose to make his case. “I will begin with a general comment.

If someone from outside planet Earth were to visit North American

churches, he would definitely conclude, after hearing many diverse

teachings and seeing the many contradictory practices in the

churches, that there must be over a thousand Gods. While one might

argue that some of these practices, though of questionable spiritual

value, are not sinful, one cannot say the same for those others that

contradict God’s word in every way. The martyrs, who died

contending for the faith which was once for all delivered to the saints,


121

must be crying at the cultic practices going on in many churches and

at the fact that very few voices are protesting the mutilation of the

gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ.”

The whole family fixed their eyes on him.

“I wonder why God has not yet destroyed the world,” Joshua

added with passion. “Recall our visit to that church where men were

kissing men and women were doing the same with women. Irony of

all ironies, a man who called himself a reverend gentleman stood on

the pulpit to condemn bigotry using texts from the Bible.”

There was silence in the room.

“Are you sure you were right in going for chemical engineering

instead of divinity studies?” Dad asked, obviously moved like the

rest of the family.

Before Joshua could reply, Dad added gently, “I see your anger

and it is from above. Please continue with your analysis.”

“North American churches can be divided into three broad

categories, the true, the false, and the confused. I will not name any

churches but I will highlight the practices in each category.”

“Please begin with the false,” shouted Jon, suddenly alert. Their

small brother loved controversy.

“Sorry Jon, but I will start with the true where the Bible is not

only the pivot but it is also the lubricant for prayers, worship and

songs. Here, Church Elders make every effort to adhere to biblical

teachings. However, to fully understand the elements of a true

church, we must look at the practices of the false churches.”

“How will we know the confused ones?” asked Esther.

“Sis, the confused ones would be those whose practices oscillate,

like a pendulum, between the true and the false,” replied Joshua.

“Let us hear Josh out without interruption,” Mum pleaded.

“The false churches are characterized by the daily rewriting of

Scriptures by pastors and leaders as they get new instructions from

the ‘spirit.’ These leaders fail to test the veracity of their ‘revelations’

using the Bible. Rather, they go on to spawn new ‘Christian’


122

doctrines that many believers unfortunately accept as ‘truths.’

However, because very few elders challenge them, the mutilation of

the gospel continues unabated. With the passage of time, dissenting

voices grow weaker and weaker and falsehood becomes ‘truth.’

People fall down at a touch from a preacher, a phenomenon called

being ‘slain in the spirit’ in many church gatherings. Imagine a touch

from a so-called anointed pastor is all that it takes to lift someone up

and fling him or her across a room! We all witnessed an ‘anointing’

service where men and women were ‘manifesting,’ crawling like

snakes while others lay prostrate on the floor foaming at the mouth.

Even though their captivating banners proclaim the Lord Jesus

Christ, the ‘feel-good’ prosperity churches rather than lead people to

Jesus do the opposite. Most prosperity messages are about money,

money, and more money. Instead of teaching Christ-centered

messages, flamboyant prosperity preachers dressed like movie stars

deliver doctrines of greed to their congregants. Some of their

unbiblical antics have not only prevented unbelievers from coming

to Christ but have weakened the faith of many brethren.

Apart from Christ, mentioned rather grudgingly, you would think

that you are watching comedians on American TV late night

entertainment shows like the Late Night Show on CBS and the

Tonight Show on NBC. Preachers are now acting more like

entertainers than as those charged with the urgent command to give

help to a dying world.

Posters adorning many city billboards, sidewalks and walls

proclaim miracles, deliverances, healing in church services and

campgrounds, where a simple invitation to come to church and meet

with Jesus Christ, the Savior, would have been more appropriate.

Some unscrupulous preachers, using psychological manipulation

techniques, and even hypnosis, fleece congregants with promises of

thousand-fold riches for those who put in ‘seed money’ into their

ever-increasing number of projects.


123

In summary, I believe that the true churches are the ones that do

not practice the aforementioned unbiblical practices.

The confused ones have genuine Christians, and even honest

church leaders in their midst. Sometimes these church leaders find

themselves doing things according to the Bible, but at other times

they follow the examples of the leaders of the so-called more

successful ministries without testing the spirit behind them and

subjecting observed practices to careful Scriptural analysis.”

“Josh, you did not mention holy laughter,” chipped in Jon.

“Remember that church where almost everyone was laughing

after the preacher waved his hands at the congregation.”

“Jon, I did not forget. You and Esther should be supplying the

missing pieces.”

“I think you have given a fair representation of almost all the

things that we had observed,” said Esther. “There is one thing to add,

though. Many of the leaders of the false churches love titles; in one

service, we saw bishops and reverends swagger as they went to take

their special seats on the raised dais. We all know that those church

elders did not add anything to the service.

Therefore, what was the purpose of the parade and the glowing

introductions if not that the resident pastor wanted the congregation

to ‘adore’ their church’s very important dignitaries. Humble servants

are now masters, some even aspiring to be gods.”

Dad and Mum kept quiet as the three children continued to narrate

their experiences.

After a while, Mum asked rather gently, “Isn’t there something

that you have not touched on?”

As they wondered what that could be, Mum asked, “What did

you observe about the racial, ethnic, and rich-poor divide in the

churches?”

Joshua thought for a moment before replying, “Many churches

tended to cater to people of either the same color or of the same ethnic

origins. “I recall in one church where there were less than ten blacks


124

out of the two-thousand strong attendees. The rest were whites. Even

at that, those blacks could have passed for white due to their mixed

parentage. In another church, we were the only whites in a

congregation of three thousand. The rest were mostly blacks with a

sprinkling of Asians.”

“Is that good or bad?” asked Dad.

“Are we going to have the White quarter, the Latin quarter, the

Black quarter, the Asian quarter, and the Mixed Race quarters in

heaven?” asked Esther.

“If the answer is yes then the current practice is right but if not,

then all that practice this type of discrimination intentionally are of

all men the most miserable.”

“What will you say to those who argue that most people prefer to

be, or are more comfortable, with their own type?” Dad asked.

“I will say that such argument is specious and the proponents are

as insincere as those of our forebears who used the Bible to justify

slavery,” replied Esther.

“Josh, how do you think racism has contributed to the rich-poor

divide in the churches?” asked Mum.

“With their upper class attitudes, ‘rich whites’ cause ‘poor

whites’ in their congregation to sin,” replied Joshua without

hesitation. “‘Poor whites’ resentful and feeling oppressed either

leave the faith or find a church in the poorer part of town. Some of

these ‘poor whites,’ in trying to prove their self worth, go on to

practice overt racism in churches in the poorer parts of town. No one

gets to feel their hatred, misplaced aggression, as some psychologists

would rather call it, more than the blacks whom many whites still

regard in their hearts as being inferior.

Blacks, feeling unwelcome by the covert racism in the rich white

churches and the overt one in the poor white churches go on to start

churches in their own neighborhoods. Later arrivals from Asia,

Central and South America, have followed suit, establishing Latino,

Chinese and Indian churches in their own neighborhoods.


125

Unfortunately, the ostentatious displays by the richer folks in

Black, Latino and Asian churches help to push out the poorer ones.

The result is that you now have rich Black, Latino and Asian

churches as well as poor Black, Latino and Asian ones.”

“Your insight is great, Josh,” said Mum approvingly.

“Unfortunately, many Christians, inadvertently or advertently, have

by their acts of omission or commission created churches that

primarily serve their myopic interests. Self-serving pastors and

congregants have given love, the centerpiece of all Christian practice,

a kick in the teeth.”

“Remember we still have Europe, Africa, Asia and South

America,” said Dad. “Maybe, things will be different in other parts

of the world. Therefore, I suggest we all keep an open mind.

We leave tomorrow night for London. You may want to visit the

shopping plaza tomorrow and pick up a few things. You will see that

things are cheaper in Canada.”

The Love family boarded the plane for London on Wednesday night

and landed at Heathrow airport early Thursday morning. From the

airport, they took a bus to Victoria Station and then the famous

London black cab to Ingrid hotel, situated on a quiet street that runs

parallel to Oxford Street.

They agreed to rest up in their rooms and meet for lunch in the hotel

restaurant by noon. After a light lunch, they walked to Oxford Street

to join a tour bus booked earlier by Dad.

Their first stop was the Victoria Station where more tourists

joined the bus. From there they went to Buckingham Palace to see

how the royals lived. Hyde Park was the next stop followed by

Trafalgar square. They had toured a good part of London, visiting

many famous landmarks in the process, by the time their bus made

its Oxford Street stop at 9.00 p.m.


126

David, an old friend of Dad, visited the following morning. After

greetings and introductions at the hotel lobby, Dad asked David to

join them for breakfast.

Luckily for Joshua, Esther and Jon, it was a buffet and what a

spread: assorted fruits and juices, ice cream, yogurts, cheese and

vegetables. English breakfast was something they had heard so much

about and this was a perfect opportunity to compare it to the

American one.

While Mum, Dad and David were still on their first glasses of

orange juice, Joshua, Esther and Jon had consumed several plates of

fresh fruits, cups of yogurts and glasses of fruit juices.

“Would you guys still have room for the rest of the breakfast?”

Mum asked laughingly.

“Wait and see,” replied Jon seriously. “These English juices are

fruitier and better tasting than the American ones. I am sure the

English do not put additives into their juices. Mum, these yogurts are

great! I could stay here forever.”

“Jon, you will say anything because of this large spread,” Mum

said, smiling. “Who would not like to live in a hotel eating fresh fruits

and yogurts, with someone else paying the bill?”

The waiter came to take their orders for the main dishes. They all

requested mixed omelets with sausages and baked beans.

“I have always enjoyed the English breakfast,” said Dad approvingly.

“At least, that is one thing the world still hands to the English,”

David said. “We seem to have lost everything else, even our

language.”

They all could see that David was happy to see his American

friends having such a nice time.

Breakfast over, they retired to the living room in their parent’s

suite on the tenth floor. Joshua, Esther and Jon went to the balcony

to watch hordes of people milling through Oxford Street.


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David, watching them, observed, “Yes, Oxford Street is really

more like one very long shopping mall. Visitors passing through it

number in the millions yearly.”

Five minutes later, Mum asked them to come inside and shut the

door to the balcony.

When they had taken their seats, Dad asked, “Please David, for

the benefit of the children, what is the state of the Christian Church

in the United Kingdom today?”

David, a professor of theology and the Pastor of the West End

Christian Church of London, looked up sadly. Even though Dad had

already briefed him about the objective of their world trip, it was

clear that this was a task he rather would have avoided considering

that some in the room were still very young.

Clearing his throat and still shaking his head, he asked, more to

himself than to his audience, “Where do I begin to tell the tale?”

He took out a handkerchief to wipe away the tears before

continuing.

“………… Jewish and Roman persecution of Christ’s disciples

in the Jerusalem Church had acted as a vehicle for the spread of

Christianity as fleeing believers carried the good news to new lands

in the then world. The blood of the martyrs in Jerusalem, Damascus,

Antioch, Corinth, Ephesus, Galatia, Rome, India, Egypt, and in many

other places, watered Christian growth over the centuries. Many

pagans and animists, after witnessing the faith of believers in the face

of death, had turned to Christianity in the period.

Satan, the arch deceiver, seeing that persecutions had failed to

stem the spread and growth of Christianity, engineered the infamous

compromise between Pagan and Ecclesiastical Rome in the 4th

century leading to the creation of a syncretic church. This church

began to persecute the true followers of Christ almost immediately.

If not for the mercy of God, it would have wiped out the truth from

the face of the Earth. Rome’s fury knew no bounds as it mercilessly

persecuted, and many times killed, those who refused to accept the


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infallible authority of Rome on religious matters. The blood of

martyrs flowed uninterrupted between the 4th and the 16th century as

the devil tried to erase salvation by faith from all Christian worship

and practice.

The demise of the Roman Empire ensured that the Pope, as the

Head of the now amalgamated Pagan and Ecclesiastical Rome,

controlled the whole world in this period that we have come to call

the Dark Ages. The Pope and his church forbade laypersons, under

pain of death, from reading parchments containing the word of God.

However, at the appointed time, God opened Martin Luther’s eyes to

the full import of, ‘The just shall live by faith,’ in His word. Nothing

would be the same after Luther nailed his statement of ‘Ninety-five

Theses’ on the church door in Wittenberg in Germany in 1517.

The printing revolution, having eliminated the laborious copying

of texts by hand, enabled millions of people to get copies of the Bible.

The mass production of the Bible had another beneficial effect on the

society; a more literate world as more and more people went on to

acquire education in other to read the Bible.

Luther’s protestations at Wittenberg represented the first major

step in the revolution for the separation of Christians from apostate

Rome and to the weakening of imperial papal power. It opened the

door for laypersons to read God’s word and for more individuals to

have a personal relationship with the Lord Jesus Christ.

Unfortunately, the world mistook Luther’s revolution as reformation

and called it so. It would take events and sacrifices by many others

before the world felt the whole import of Luther’s revolution.

Just as the beast with the wound in the book of Revelation

survived, so did Rome. Many that forecast the demise of Rome did

not reckon with its cunning ability to rebound and put new spins on

its doctrines.

Rome, seeing that persecutions and oftentimes stoning and

burning protesters at the stake had failed to stem the tide of God’s

truth flowing to all men, instituted the Counter Reformation. It


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pretended to remove some obviously very shameful practices like the

selling of indulgences by priests as a way of salvation when its aim

was to blunt the revelations of its unscriptural practices by the

revolutionists and to stop the exodus of its adherents to the emerging

Protestant churches. Rome’s Counter Reformation could not have

addressed the substance of the matter; that is, the fact that it was

pretending to be Christ’s authorized church.

The British Isles played a great role in the spread of Christianity

in the world between the 16th and 19th centuries. Men like John

Wesley in the 18th and Spurgeon in the 19th preached in our churches.

The songs of Charles and John Wesley continue to produce tears in

many eyes to this day. 19th century opera had many biblical themes

and Handel’s Messiah never fails to inspire and touch hearts even

now. England was indeed very religious then, with filled pews and

new church buildings springing up regularly in many towns. In that

period, our young men and women gave their all for missionary work

and many risked their lives to take the gospel message to many parts

of the world.

What do we have one hundred years later?

Church buildings sold and turned into mosques, drinking pubs

and massage parlors. Those still standing, most of which are in need

of repairs, have very few persons in the pews on Sundays. Yet, some

of these cathedrals had more than one thousand persons in attendance

in the 19th century.

We thank God for the new generation Christian churches. Were

it not for them, any name but Christian would have described

England today.”

David, now clearly distressed, was shedding tears profusely.

Joshua turned to look at his parents and saw that they too were in

tears.

There was nothing to say. David’s narration had affected even

Jon deeply. Esther stared ahead but Joshua could tell that she was

dazed too.


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The silence lasted for more than five minutes as both adults and

children wiped tears from their eyes while their sorrow-filled hearts

drew comfort from the knowledge that God is their consolation.

Breaking the silence, Joshua said with feeling, “Thank you, Sir,

for unburdening your heart to us. It could not have been easy for you.

We know that you did it to help us gain another perspective in our

quest to comprehend some of the hidden truths.”

David looked up as Joshua finished speaking. Rising from his

seat without prompting, he came over to Joshua and began to speak

in other tongues.

Suddenly, he stopped.

Laying his hands on Joshua’s head, he began to speak in English,

“Joshua, are you not My anointed servant? See how the world is

marching into perdition. There are very few willing and ready to

sound the alarm to a dying world.

I gave humankind My Son. Then I gave them My Holy Spirit to

enable and guide those who believe into My salvation pathway. I

gave My all to the world to make sure that no soul perished.

I created you for this time so that you will go in my Name to

proclaim salvation to all the peoples of the world. For in your days,

the world will see such a great unleashing of evil by the forces of hell

that the hearts of many would have failed but for My mercy.

Go in My Name, Joshua. Let the world hear the gospel once for all

delivered to the saints. Beware of the mutilation! They will come

after you but they will surely fail. Nothing shall hurt you and those

others who will follow in the steps of My Holy Son, Jesus. ”

Joshua, kneeling as the prophetic words flowed from David’s

lips, was filled with mixed emotions. He was happy to hear the

encouraging words. However, he was fearful lest he fell short of

God’s expectations.

Finally, David, holding hands with Dad and Mum prayed over

him using both the language of understanding and those of the Spirit.


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They spent the next three weeks traveling all over Europe, sometimes

by air, and other times by train and by car. The story was the same

wherever they went. Western Europe, which between the 16th to the

19th century played a major role in the spread of true Christianity in

Africa, Asia and the Americas, had lost its soul.

21st century Holland, Norway, Belgium, France, Switzerland,

Italy, Spain and Portugal were no different from Britain in terms of

church attendances. Again, only new generation churches, those less

than one hundred years old, appeared to be increasing their

membership in most of those countries.

Dispirited with what they had witnessed in Europe, members of the

Love family headed to Lagos, Nigeria, hoping they would find things

to cheer about in Africa. Brother Obichukwu, Pastor of Christ

Awareness Church, was at the Lagos international airport to receive

them. He and Dad had met at a minister’s conference in New York

ten years before. Both men had taken to each other and a friendship

that transcended cultural boundaries had developed.

It was hard to imagine that they were in a third world country as they

drove past high-rise buildings with their glittering lights in

downtown Lagos. However, the sight of dilapidated buses filled to

overcapacity with human beings and motorcycle operators carrying

two or more passengers weaving in and out of the traffic was the first

sign of its true status. Two hours later, they were at Brother

Obichukwu’s Lekki Peninsula home.

After a welcoming dinner, followed by prayers, they all retired

for the night. Not long after the cockcrow signifying a new African

day, Joshua heard the knock at the door and a gentle voice

announcing that morning prayers would be in ten minutes. Esther,

lying on the other bed, had woken up but Jon, on the same bed with

him, was still fast asleep. Esther came over and shook Jon when she

saw that he was reluctant to do it.


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The Obichukwus have three children – a boy and two girls. Ndu,

their only son, was sixteen while Ada and Ulu were fourteen and

twelve respectively. After breakfast, Ndu took Joshua and Jon on a

tour of their compound. The nice bungalow of five bedrooms was set

on an acre of land dotted with tropical fruit trees and fully planted

gardens. As Joshua stopped to admire the vegetable gardens, Ndu

explained that his family preferred to grow its own food. Joshua, Jon

and Ndu spent most of their free time plucking coconuts, mangoes,

oranges and tangerines from the trees while Ada and Ulu taught

Esther the African version of rope skipping. Esther soon caught on

and was able to match her teachers a few days later. Occasionally the

girls helped themselves to some of the fruits with the boys in mock

pursuit. During their stay, Dad and Mum met daily with pastors who

came to welcome them to Nigeria.

The famed African hospitality was no exaggeration. Ameri,

Brother Obichukwu’s wife, prepared so many tasty meals. They

enjoyed them so much so that Mum asked for the recipes. On one of

those days, the two families walked to the Lekki Beach – about a

mile away – and picnicked. The guests could not help but wonder

why such a beautiful Atlantic Ocean beach remained undeveloped.

Was it so difficult for the Nigerian government to create first class

beaches and infrastructure along the more than one hundred-mile

Atlantic Ocean coastline stretching from one end of Lagos State to

the other? Developed, the area would become a magnet for investors

in holiday resorts and hotel business. It would be win-win for the

government and the people: jobs for many of its unemployed and

billions of tourist dollars for the treasury.

The Sunday service was one with a difference. Led by Sister Ameri,

the two-thousand strong congregation clapped and danced for one

hour before Brother Obichukwu came to the pulpit.


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His message, titled ‘Walking the Walk,’ challenged church

members to be different from the world. He wondered why a country

with arguably more churches than any other nation in the world, with

the possible exception of the United States of America, was also the

most corrupt.

“Many believers, including pastors working in government

offices and corporations, demand money from the public they are

paid to serve before carrying out their normal duties,” Brother

Obichukwu opined.

“Some of these backslidden brethren have convinced themselves

that extorting money from people they are serving is comparable to

the action of the Israelites when they collected the jewelry of the

Egyptians before their departure from Egypt.

Others tout that there was nothing wrong in believers receiving

bribes since the wealth of the unbelievers belonged to the believers.

Some go to the extent of paying tithes on the bribes they have

collected, erroneously believing that giving financial support to

churches and pastors would more than make up for their wickedness.

Still others pay such tithes to assuage their consciences.

Why do we say that we are different from unbelievers when many

of us who claim to be born again commit sins just like they do?

Where is our testimony if we cannot walk as Jesus walked? Does it

surprise anyone that many unbelievers’ hearts remain hardened to the

Good News because they do not see Christ’s outworking grace in

us?” he asked the congregation yet again.

Not expecting anyone to answer, he continued, “If old things

have not passed away in our lives after our acceptance of the Lord

Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior and sin is not an anathema to us, then

it means one of two things. Either we have not genuinely repented

and Christ, therefore, has not replaced our stony hearts with new

hearts, or the gospel claim that Christ changes our sinful characters

at our repentance into Christ-like ones is false. If it is the latter then

you and I have no business being in church today or calling on the


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name of the Lord. We are then like the unregenerate, miserable and

without hope.

However, I put it to us all that the fault is not in the gospel but in

us. We want to have it both ways. We want to run with the hare and

hunt with the hounds. We want to eat our cake and have it too. We

want people to see us as Christians who have denied themselves of

the world’s gloss while still competing for its gold. We want to own

this world and still stake our claim for heaven. We want to serve

Mammon and God, foolishly believing we are giving to Mammon

the things that are Mammon’s and to God the things that are His. We

want God’s approval and protection, and pray that He not blot out

our names from the Book of Life, but we continue to carouse with

Satan and his demons in our daily walk.

‘God understands, this is Nigeria,’ some say.

No, my dear brothers and sisters, God does not understand. God

will not change His word. God will not make allowances for us

because we are Nigerians……………………….”

At the end of the message, more than one hundred persons

answered the call for repentance.

The Love and Obichukwu families had dinner of vegetable yam

pottage and fresh fish that Sunday evening. Dinner over, they settled

down in the living room to chat since the Love family was leaving

Nigeria the next day for Dakar, Senegal.

“Your country reminds me a lot about our country, especially as

concerns the widening gap between the rich and the poor,” Mum

said. “Take Lagos for instance, you have multimillion dollar homes

with large swimming pools in many areas and yet a short distance

from these very rich neighborhoods are ramshackle huts, without

drinking water and sanitation, in the midst of mosquito-laden pools

of water.

In New York, the world’s financial capital, where billions of

dollars change hands on the stock exchange on any trading day, many


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of our citizens do not have healthcare and homeless people roam the

streets even on cold winter nights.”

“There is still another similarity,” said Ameri. “We have very

many churches in Nigeria, sometimes more than two churches on the

same street. I do know too that you have the same situation in

America.”

After a pause, Dad added, “While it might be true that the United

States of America has the highest number of churches in the world,

we must recognize that Nigeria could arguably be the world’s most

churched nation when you consider the ratio of the number of

churches to the population.”

“What is the population of Nigeria?” Esther asked.

“It is very difficult to give an accurate answer to such a simple

question. Nigeria has never had an accurate headcount, despite what

you may have read,” answered Obichukwu.

“I estimate that we are about one hundred million even though

you might hear official figures that range from one hundred and forty

to one hundred and fifty million.”

“Nigeria has been rated consistently for many years now by

Transparency International as either the most corrupt country on

earth or the second most corrupt, and yet you have the largest number

of Christians in Africa,” said Joshua.

“Joshua, I see where you are going and it is indeed a paradox,” Ameri

said, smiling. “But isn’t that to be expected. According to the

Scriptures, ‘But where sin abounded, grace did much more abound.’

God’s grace does indeed abound in Nigeria or we all would have

perished.

Your country and ours have the largest Bible-based churches in

the world and yet our histories show that evil has indeed had more

than its fair share in both our countries.”

After a pause, Esther put in, “I read somewhere that there was a

British survey sometime ago that claimed that Nigerians were the

happiest people on earth.


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How does one explain such an assertion with so much poverty,

corruption and insecurity?”

“Somebody was just being either very cynical or downright

mischievous,” interjected Mum angrily. “The Western world will use

any means to justify its horrid past records and its continued intrusion

in African affairs.

Nigeria is the most populous Black Country on earth. Therefore

‘proving’ that Nigerians were the happiest people on earth was

propaganda to blindfold the world so that it would not see the

consequences of colonialism and the continuing rapacious

exploitation of Africa’s natural and mineral resources by western-

owned multinational corporations.

That propaganda is akin to those made by American slave

masters during the slavery era touting their slaves’ happiness in

servitude despite the chains and beatings.”

Joshua, Esther and Jon were amazed. They had never seen their

Mum so passionate. Catching their glances, her face softened as she

continued.

“I might not be political but I am a student of history. I met quite

a few Africans in the university and I can tell you that Africans are

as intelligent as any other group of people. I believe that if the

western world had left African nations after independence to run

their affairs, without manipulating the electoral processes using their

intelligence agencies and paid local agents, Africa would not be in

its present crisis. More than forty years after its expected renaissance,

Africa is still unable to feed its teeming population and diseases are

claiming the lives of many and incapacitating an even larger number.

Sometime ago, the United States of America spent more than four

hundred billion dollars and committed nearly two hundred thousand

troops to oust an Iraqi president amid international opposition. Many

Iraqis told America, ‘Do not come.’ In that same period, Liberia, a

country that the United States had sent many black Americans to

after it abolished slavery, asked America to send them a few


137

thousand troops to help them maintain peace after its civil war. What

was our esteemed government’s response? It turned them down.

Obviously, a hostile Iraq with abundant oil reserves was more

attractive than a friendly Liberia that does not have comparable

mineral resources.”

“Bravo,” Ameri said admiringly. “My sister, you should run for

political office. We need God-fearing women in positions of power

in both our countries. The men are always trying to downplay

important issues but women are more forthright.”

Dad and Obichukwu chuckled as the women joined by Esther

now began to berate men, blaming them for all the world’s ills.

However, Jon had the last laugh for the night when he interjected,

“Doesn’t the Bible say that the woman was the first to eat the

forbidden fruit in the Garden of Eden? I believe that we are in this

mess because of that grievous error. Men since that time have been

trying to correct things, sometimes making a mess of things too.”

Everyone stared in surprise at this precocious fifteen-year old –

Jon had turned fifteen when they were in Italy.

The Love family thanked their hosts profusely for their kindness

before retiring for the night.

Their plane touched down by 9.20 a.m., local time, at Dakar,

Senegal. After clearing customs, they took a taxi to their ocean view

hotel. Leaving the hotel by 11.30 a.m. they made their way to the

quayside, which was close by, to board the noon tourist vessel for the

two-mile trip to Gorée Island.

The sight of the inhumane dungeon from where the slave

merchants shipped most Africans to the Americas during the

transatlantic slave trade made a big impression on all of them.

After dinner, Joshua, Esther and Jon went to their parent’s ocean

view suite. Looking out through the balcony, they could see the full


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moon, the gleam of the ocean waters, and waves rushing and

breaking up at the shore.

Jon, still clutching a glass of orange juice, asked, “With all its

talk of being civilized, how is it that the white race has not admitted

that it had committed one of the most heinous crimes in the history

of mankind?”

Dad asked, “Jon, what do you think the white race should do to

right this terrible crime?”

“I thought there is something called restitution,” replied Jon.

“Europe and America should set up a restitution fund to help Africa

and Americans of African descent.”

“That could help, but it is never going to happen,” Esther said.

“Why not?” Jon asked.

Esther patted Jon before replying, “Our society has failed to

create a level playing field for Americans of African descent in

schools, employment and other opportunities. How then can we

pretend that our government would ever accede to your proposal

since many white Americans are still in denial about what in my

opinion is the greatest injustice in human history?”

“Beings created in the image of God treated worse than the

lowliest animals because of what,” Joshua muttered angrily.

“Easy, Josh,” said Mum. “The answer is simple: greed. Greed

drives the world’s political systems – capitalism, communism or

dictatorship, it makes no difference.

The early settlers in the Americas could not cultivate the large

farmlands without cheap labor. The factories in Europe needed

cheaper raw materials to be profitable even as demands for finished

products increased in the Americas and in the European colonies.

Kings and other potentates benefited; they depended on revenues

from the slave trade to maintain control of their countries and

empires.

With slaves providing labor at little or no cost to the American

farmers, European manufacturers got cheaper raw materials and were


139

able to sell their manufactured goods at reduced but more profitable

prices to more people.

I make bold to say that African slaves were responsible, in a large

measure, to the economic boom of the period and that the free

services provided by the slaves were largely responsible for the

apparent success of the so-called industrial revolution.

In conclusion, it was in everyone’s interest that the boat not be

rocked since all – kings, merchants, farmers and manufacturers –

were profiting from the inhuman exploitation of the Africans.”

“Were there no Christian voices crying out against this great

injustice?” asked Esther.

Before Mum or Dad could respond, Joshua interjected, “I know

the argument would be that the Christian leaders at that time were

unaware of the deaths and terrible treatment meted out to the

Africans packed like sardines in the holds of unfit vessels during the

horrendous transatlantic crossings.

One could excuse them on that count and so the pertinent

question should be, ‘what did the Christian leaders do when they saw

human beings, after leaving the slave ships in chains, put on auction

blocks and sold like cattle in the so-called slave markets in the new

world?’” Joshua asked.

“Josh, you could also ask, ‘weren’t there Christians when slaves

were used like beasts of burden, without rights, tortured or killed like

cattle at their masters’ whims on the American plantations?’” Mum

added in return.

With no one responding, Dad looked in Josh’s direction and said,

“We are waiting for you and while you are it, answer this one too:

‘which religion did most of those who perpetrated these grave

injustices claim to be theirs?’”

“That’s not fair,” replied Joshua. “Mum’s contribution was more

of an addition to my question. I believe you and Mum have the

answers.”

“Josh, you could still try,” Dad persisted.


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“No Dad, I will take a pass and thanks for trying to get me to

answer my own question,” Joshua answered. “Come to think of it,

Dad, you are the one in the best position to answer all the questions.”

Dad shook his head before saying, “The objective of this journey

would be lost if your Mum and I give our opinions first before

hearing from you. Our hope is that your experiences during this

world trip would cause you all to look inwards, draw from your inner

resources under the guiding Hand of the Holy Spirit so that you may

understand some of the challenges genuine Christians are facing at

this hour. To understand the present, one must know the past, and to

predict the future, one must know the present.”

“Okay, let’s compromise,” interjected Mum when she saw that

the children were not happy with Dad’s answer. “Let us continue this

discussion after our South African visit.”

The Love family left Senegal the next day for Johannesburg, with a

brief stop in Accra, Ghana. They stayed three days in Johannesburg.

The black-white and rich-poor divides in the city and the suburbs

were obvious, even with the end of apartheid.

The sight of black shantytowns, with ramshackle zinc sidings and

roofs, separated by large expanse of green fields from the white

enclaves of mostly red brick bungalows with beautiful lush lawns,

was the fly in the ointment in this otherwise beautiful city. Soweto,

a black Johannesburg suburb, which many regard as a slum, had

areas in it that one could describe as paradise when compared to the

slums inside the city of Johannesburg.

Their stay in Cape Town was more enjoyable from a holidaying

perspective. The weather was superb and their guide told them that

their winter was more like the spring in the northeastern United

States.

Visiting Table Bay, they saw where Bartolomeu Dias, the first

European explorer to reach the southernmost part of Africa, landed


141

in 1488. As they stood on the top of the Bay, they could only but

imagine what it might have looked like before the Europeans set foot

on Southern Africa in the 15th century. The ride on the cableway to

the summit of the Table Mountain was great, what with the

spectacular views of the beaches and the city below.

Their trip to Robben Island the next day turned out to be both the

high and low point in their African odyssey. Though Robben Island

had hosted persons opposing occupying powers for centuries, it had

become notorious in the 20th century after the Apartheid South

African government jailed and sent Mr. Nelson Mandela to the Island

for his opposition to apartheid.

The apartheid authorities did not know it then but Mandela’s

internment there would help to draw world attention to the terrible

conditions of Robben Island, its shark-infested waters, and of the

many that had died there over centuries rather than bow to the

oppressive forces of their day.

Their guide took them to see the cell where Mandela spent those

twenty-seven years before the suffering and resistance of South

African blacks brought apartheid to its knees. Mandela’s cell not only

showed the indomitable will of man – exemplified by Mandela’s

refusal to abandon the liberation struggle in the face of

overwhelming odds – to survive but it also exposed man’s –

represented by the apartheid government – baser instinct to destroy

anything standing on its path. That Mandela, robbed of his youth,

tortured, humiliated, and abused, could turn round to forgive his

oppressors was one of the highest notes of the 20th century.

Mr. Nelson Mandela’s principled stand against injustice and his

willingness to pay the supreme price, if possible, and refusal to sell

out his comrades, was a reminder to the wicked world that truth

would always triumph over evil, though it might take time.

Their last night in Cape Town provided the opportunity to review

their impressions but more importantly for the children to ask their


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parents to help them make sense of the many disturbing images they

had seen.

Esther started the discussion by saying, “Dad, remember our

unfinished discussion in Senegal after our visit to Gorée Island.”

“Esther, please remind us again,” replied Dad.

“Dad, you must be joking,” Esther said crossly.

Dad began to laugh.

“Ah, girl, no need to get that way,” said Dad. “I was just teasing

you. Seriously, Esther, what do you want to know?”

“What was the response of the Christian leaders in the ‘slavery

centuries’ to the evil of slavery and, I must now add, apartheid?”

asked Esther.

Dad looked at Mum before replying.

“There are two things that we should understand about the word

of God. The first is that the Bible is a record of the creation of our

world, God’s plan for man’s salvation, Israel, Christ’s finished works

on the cross, the Church and Christ’s second coming. The second is

that the Old Testament was mostly about Israel, its history and its

walk with God.

Though the Bible mentions slaves many times, especially in the

Old Testament, and the laws of Moses went even to the extent of

directing and instructing how slaves were to be treated, it never once

stated that God told the children of Israel to own human beings as

property.

By the Old Testament Mosaic laws, the Jews believed that they

alone were the chosen people of God and that the rest of the world,

called Greeks or Gentiles, had no part in God’s salvation. However,

on the cross, Christ demonstrated that God’s eternal plan for man had

always included Jew and Gentile. The Lord’s sacrifice removed the

middle wall of division between Jew and Gentile and all became one

in Christ. Note that the classification was Jew and Gentile in the

Bible; not free and slave. Since Christ shed his Blood for all men and


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the conditions for Jew and Gentile to have eternal life is the same, it

confirms that God created all men equal.

Recall that the early Jerusalem church refused to accord the

Gentiles recognition and that it took the intervention of the Holy

Spirit and Paul at the Jerusalem Council to convince the orthodox

Christian Jews in their midst that the Gentiles were in God’s plan for

salvation.

Therefore, it was specious for those Christians in the ‘slavery

centuries’ who tried to justify slavery in their day using biblical

arguments and who conveniently forgot that by the Mosaic laws the

Gentiles were inferior to the Jews and were inadmissible in God’s

kingdom.”

“What were the arguments of those Christians who tried to justify

slavery?” asked Esther.

Before Dad could sidestep Esther’s question, Mum intervened.

“Darling, we have to let our children know about one of the

darkest periods in church history,” Mum said. “To answer your

question, we must first explore those aspects of slavery that relate to

the church history of that dark period.

Prior to the rise of the Constantinian Church, later called the

Roman Catholic Church, in the 4th century, the early Christian

Church had freed slaves and condemned the practice as evil. Records

have it that Christians in Asia Minor had denounced slaveholding as

sin and had even given asylum to fugitive slaves.

However, between the 4th and 17th century, Christian attitudes to

slavery changed, what with the inheritors of the early church

doctrines running for their lives and hiding in caves with parchments

of Scriptures. Therefore, with no strong opposition, the Roman

Catholic Church began to justify slavery, overturning many Christian

practices and charity of the early church in the process.

Records show that Pope Gregory sent a priest to Britain in 595 A.D.,

to purchase pagan boys to work as slaves on church estates. Pope

Paul III confirmed that any individual could freely buy, sell or own


144

slaves and those who caught runaway slaves should send them back

to their owners for punishment. Majority opinion in the Catholic

Church in the period favored enslaving pagans but sparing any that

had converted to Catholicism.

The Protestant denominations followed the lead of Rome in the

acceptance of slavery. It was not until 1665 when a few honest souls

like Richard Baxter, an ordained priest of the Church of England,

began criticizing those who caught poor Negroes, made them slaves,

and sold them, calling such people enemies of humanity.

Unfortunately, churches, governments, and the public, had ignored

him and others like him.

The first religious group to object to slavery in the United States

was the Mennonites, a Christian group that descended from the

Anabaptists. However, the British Quakers were the first to repudiate

and to forbid slave owning by their members. Its influence was

limited because of its small number and it took the personal

magnetism of John Wesley (1703-1791) to convert that small Quaker

protest into a mass movement.

After the British Parliament passed the law outlawing slavery in

Britain and its colonies in 1833, the pressure shifted to the United

States, the country with the highest number of slaves in the world.

With the economy of the Southern States largely dependent on cheap

slave labor, and they not willing to give up the evil practice, the battle

for the truth shifted to the American Christian churches. Soon,

denominations like the Baptists split with the Southern Baptist

Churches, who supported slavery, forming the Southern Baptist

Convention.

Insisting on States’ Rights, the Southern States broke away from

the Union rather than join hands with the Northern States that not

only had condemned slavery but also had abolished it in many of

their states. War was inevitable.


145

With the 13th Amendment to the constitution, after the defeat of the

Southern Confederate army, slavery officially ended in the United

States of America in1865.

The Roman Catholic Church was the last human institution to

accept the abolition of slavery, having expanded its Canon law in

1917 to declare that selling a human being into slavery was a crime.

As late as 1863, Pope Pius IX, concerned about the wretched

Ethiopians in Central Africa had prayed that the Almighty God might

at length remove the curse of Ham.

With this background, Dad and I will now try to answer your

question, Esther.”

Mum paused, looked at Dad pointedly, before saying, “Over to

you, darling.”

Dad laughed.

“But you were doing such a great job, darling. Why stop now?”

Mum shook her head even as she said, “Your turn, please.”

“Okay, here goes. In Genesis Chapter 9:24-27, we read, ‘So Noah

awoke from his wine and knew what his younger son had done to

him. Then he said: cursed be Canaan, a servant of servants he shall

be to his brethren.

And he said: blessed be the Lord the God of Shem, and may

Canaan be his servant. May God enlarge Japheth, and may he dwell

in the tents of Shem; and may Canaan be his servant.’

Some Christians were using those verses to justify the

enslavement of Africans. They erroneously believed that Africans

were descended from Canaan, the son of Ham; their dark skins, the

proof of the curse on Ham.

It never occurred to them to question the circumstance of the

curse; a man had just woken from a drunken stupor and cursed his

son. They ignored the fact that a curse is only valid if God allows it;

otherwise, it is worthless. Furthermore, there is no evidence that Ham

or his son, Canaan, settled in Africa.


146

Responding to the more appropriate question, ‘How did God

classify human beings in the New Testament Scriptures?’ could have

resolved the slavery issue had the people of the period been willing

to follow God’s word.

In the New Testament, there are only two classifications of

human beings, the righteous and the unrighteous. Since only God

imputes righteousness, it means that only those obedient to God’s

word are the righteous while the disobedient are the unrighteous.

The Old Testament had a different classification, Jews and

Gentiles. The Jews, Abraham’s descendants through Jacob, were

God’s natural born children by virtue of Abraham’s obedience to

God’s command. The Gentiles, descendants of Ham, Japheth and

Shem, with the exception of Abraham’s descendants through Jacob,

made up the rest of humanity.

From the Scriptures we see that God made no differentiation

between the various Gentile groups. Therefore, the early American

settlers and their European collaborators had no basis for the false

doctrine that made out blacks to be different from the other gentiles.

Furthermore, the fact that the early American settlers had

enslaved Native Americans alongside the Africans not only negates

the use of the ‘curse of Noah’ argument, but also gives unflattering

insight into the character of the people of that sad period – people’s

consciences were indeed dead to the things of God.

The slave merchants and the slave owners false use of the ‘curse

of Noah’ to justify slavery, when the driving force was pure greed,

was evil. Christian churches of that period that acquiesced, or worse

still that collaborated in the perpetuation of this grave evil, have a

case to answer before the loving God.

Records show that some missionaries felt that converting heathen

slave merchants and slave owners to Christianity was more important

than confronting the slavery issue. One must wonder why they could

not have tackled that heinous evil at the same time as they preached

the word of God. Therefore, we have to ask, ‘what was the reason for


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their silence or acquiescence: was it their dependence on handouts

from slave owners and the fear of losing their patronage or was it that

they genuinely believed in their bogus reasoning?’

I will be remiss if I fail to point out that those Christians who

spoke up against slavery demonstrated great courage. Many lost

opportunities while others faced persecution for speaking out against

such great evil. Some even lost their lives trying to help slaves escape

from their owners.

To those past saints who stood up against evil and the many

future saints, who would courageously speak up in the face of future

evils, I thank the Lord God for their lives and for the courage that He

has put in them.”

There was a pause as the children tried to digest all that they had

heard.

“I guess that the South African settlers must have used the same

biblical verses to justify apartheid,” commented Jon, after some time.

“Correct,” replied Dad. “Many still use it to the present day to

justify racism, an offshoot of slavery.”

Esther, unable to contain herself burst out, “Dad, history shows

that Protestants of all hues were as guilty as the Catholics in the

practice of both slavery and apartheid. So how do you account for

the fact that Protestants, who claim to have more knowledge of the

Bible, participated very actively in the slave trade, apartheid and

racism?”

Dad looked hard and long before replying.

“A little leaven leavens the whole lump. The seeds planted in

Rome in the 4th century reached full bloom in the slavery era. The

whole world, having drunk the wine of fornication of the whore of

Babylon was under its sway. Rulers, governments and churches of

the day were able to justify evil in the name of God.

Only a faithful few raised their voices in protest when they saw

the mutilation of the gospel that Brother Paul had warned of in his

epistles. Using greed as the weapon of choice, the devil had blinded


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both the Roman Catholic and Protestant Churches so that they could

not see the evil in the use of fellow human beings as beasts of burden.

Possessing slave owners, he had instigated many to band together

and persecute faithful Christians who opposed slavery and its trade,

and to even kill those who were helping slaves to escape.”

Jon then asked the question that was uppermost in their minds,

“Dad, do you think Satan instigated the transatlantic slave trade?”

“I believe that Satan not only instigated it but he also managed

the dehumanizing processes from the capture of Africans to their

becoming ‘beasts of burden’ in the American plantations. He must

have derived satisfaction from seeing the debasement of a whole race

created in God’s image.”

“What did he gain from it?” asked Esther.

“I believe that he was responding to the new wave of truth in the

early 16th century,” replied Dad. “From the 4th to the 15th century,

true believers remained underground because it was an offence

punishable by death for a layperson to have a parchment of the

Scripture. Only the clergy could read and interpret the Scriptures.

Those laws, restrictions, threats of death, and even death, did not

deter the saints in that period from preaching the full gospel of the

Lord Jesus Christ. Many saints, carrying parchments of Scriptures

hidden either on their persons or inside sacks on donkeys’ backs,

risking their lives, went through mountainous regions, bushes and

footpaths in different parts of Asia, Europe and Northern Africa, to

witness.

Unfortunately, for Satan, by the 16th century, with the invention

of the printing press and the mass production of Bibles, more and

more people were beginning to have access to the undiluted word of

God. The embrace of God’s word by millions of people was a

challenge to the kingdom of darkness. I believe Satan’s hatred for the

emerging new world order led to the transatlantic slave trade. You

may wish to check this out: the beginning of the transatlantic slave


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trade corresponds to the beginning of the collapse of imperial papal

power and the unfettered spread of the gospel.”

“Would racism and apartheid be Satan’s handiwork too?” Joshua

asked.

“Josh you should know that the answer to that is yes,” replied

Dad. “As I said earlier, very few voices were raised in protest for

more than two hundred years while millions of Africans died from

starvation and heartless treatment in the transatlantic crossings. The

Africans that made it to America fared no better, what with constant

floggings from the slave owners with the power to kill, and who did

kill many times.

After the abolition of slavery, Satan’s response was to introduce

its offshoot, that is, racism in America, and apartheid in South Africa.

Only in the 20th century were these latter two evils officially

eradicated, but make no mistake about it, racism is well and alive in

the United States of America and indeed in most of the so-called

white world.”

“Would our generation have accepted such evils?” asked Jon.

“Yes dear,” replied Mum. “No generation is immune to the

devil’s wiles. Only in Christ do we have the power to resist Satan and

his cohorts and to find answers to world issues. Without the armor of

Christ, we are all powerless.

However, hold on, we are about to witness the worst evil of all –

the coming of the antichrist with all his lies and deceit.

Unfortunately, many will welcome the evil one and his rule. Saints

will warn the world when Satan’s agents gain control, but many will

not believe just as generations in the slavery era did not heed the

warnings of their saints.”

“Mum, can you tell us how the antichrist will gain control of the

world?” asked Esther.

“The antichrist will come in peaceably, deceiving the world into

letting him run it. In the first three-and-half year rule of the antichrist,

the world will know peace and everything will be almost perfect.


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You can see why very few will believe the saints when they start

alerting the world that the evil one has taken over.”

“Mum, what happens after the first three-and-half years of the

antichrist?” asked Esther.

“The antichrist will break his agreement with the world and

Israel. At that time, he will revamp his government and decree new

laws. Some of the new laws would make it obligatory for all to

worship the beast and his image, accept the antichrist as god, and to

take the mark of the beast on their right arms or foreheads in order to

buy and sell.”

“What will happen to those who refuse?” asked Jon

“They will be denied food and water,” replied Mum.

“Furthermore, the antichrist’s security forces will seek them out,

imprison, torture and kill them.

“Will all take the mark?” asked Esther

Dad interjected, “We have had a very long night and your Mum

needs to rest.”

“Okay, I will answer Esther’s question and then it is goodnight,”

said Mum. “Unfortunately, many will accept the antichrist as their

god, take the beast’s implanted chip which has been embedded with

Satan’s genetic code so that they can buy and sell but those will be

damned forever. Fortunately, many will also refuse but they will be

killed by the antichrist.”

“What will be the fate of the saints?” Jon asked quickly.

“I thought I said Esther’s question would be the last,” said Mum.

“That’s not fair, I am the last, and should be the one to ask the

last question,” replied Jon.

“Okay, Jon, I hear you,” replied Mum, laughing. “To answer your

question, hounded saints will run for their lives for those last three-

and-half years of the seven-year antichrist reign. The antichrist will

kill countless number of saints but many will still escape. When it

appears the saints have lost, the Lord God will rapture them.”


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“Mum, are you saying the saints would be overcome by the

antichrist?” asked Joshua.

“Josh, Jon said he had the right to ask the last question,” interjected

Dad before Mum could protest. “We didn’t hear your objection when

he made that point.”

“Mum, please, I need an answer to my question” Joshua pleaded.

Mum looked at Dad.

Joshua knew that it was an invitation for Dad to answer his

question.

His parents could be in the room without talking for hours and

yet a careful observer could see that they were constantly

communicating their thoughts and desires. How he wished he could

have that kind of close relationship with his future wife.

“Your Mum is not the one saying it, Josh. The Word of God states

in Revelation 13:7, ‘And it was granted to him to make war with the

saints and to overcome them. And authority was given him over every

tribe, tongue, and nation.’

“What happens after the rapture of the saints?” asked Jon.

“The Lord Jesus Christ will meet and welcome the saints, carried

on the wings of the Holy Spirit, in the air. There, they will be with

Him in that heavenly banquet He had described while on earth.

Immediately after the rapture, the Lord God will pour out His

wrath on the earth. Those who have taken the mark of the beast will

be the most affected. Millions of souls will perish from those plagues

and earthquakes.

Following the cessation of God’s wrath, the Lord Jesus Christ

will appear with His saints to destroy Satan’s army already

surrounding Jerusalem, put Satan in the dungeon for the next one

thousand years, and sit on His throne in Jerusalem to start the His

one-thousand year rule on earth.”

The next day, the Love family flew out of Cape Town for Tokyo,

Japan, on JAL flight YYY. Quickly clearing customs, after their


152

plane touched down at Narita International airport by 7.15 a.m., local

time, they boarded a bus for Tokyo. Dad and Mum had been to Japan

a few times. Though their parents had told them what to expect, the

sight of billboards and road signs written in Japanese characters was

a little unnerving at first.

It was quite an experience riding on the Nozumi Super Express

train, the successor to the famous bullet train of Japan. With a speed

of more than three hundred miles an hour, it was surprising that the

level of comfort was superior to other forms of transport. One could

see that Japanese engineers had no respect for hills, mountains, deep

or wide crevices. Many times the trains passed through tunnels,

sometimes stretching more than ten miles, dug right through

mountains. Other times the trains passed through overhead tracks

with long stretches of deep and wide fissures below.

Trains – surface and underground – ran on schedule within the

Tokyo metropolis. They learnt that more than twenty million

passengers commuted in and out of Tokyo on each working day by

train. There were supermarkets, restaurants and shops in most train

stations. Knowing their travel schedules, passengers could shop and

eat while waiting for the trains.

They had to agree with their parent’s assessment that Japan was

the most efficient nation in the world. Despite its challenging terrain,

it still had the second largest economy in the world. One had to

wonder what Japan could have achieved had it been blessed with half

the landmass of the United States of America.

Sadly, the percentage of Christians in Japan was very small.

Strong family ties, emperor worship and the Shinto religion have

contributed in a large measure to the Japanese resistance to the

gospel.

At the Peace memorial in Hiroshima, they saw how man’s

ingenuity, wrongly used, could cause so much harm. Harnessing the

energy from the atom, man had developed and used a weapon to

erase an entire city and culture. Worse still, more than seventy years


153

after, children were still born deformed or afflicted with cancer

because of that one bomb on that sad day of August 6, 1945.

They left Japan after two weeks with a heavy heart: the Japanese had

absorbed everything western but the gospel. The Love family was

returning to the United States by way of South America where Bible-

based churches had been witnessing an unprecedented increase in

membership.

Their first stop was Buenos Aires, Argentina, where they stayed

for three days before going on to Rio de Janeiro in Brazil for another

four days, and then it was on to Mexico City for two days.

Their discussions with pastors and ministers revealed that more

and more South Americans were leaving the traditional churches for

the full gospel churches. They attributed this development to the

empowering messages of the more radical ministers who had

preached openly against syncretism a couple of years previously.

These fiery and fearless preachers had challenged the status quo with

the message of Christ, the Deliverer.

“South America for centuries had been home to religions that

mixed voodoo and other cultic practices with Christianity,” one of

the pastors told them in Rio.

“But, were there no full gospel churches in that period, Pastor?”

Joshua asked.

“The orthodox churches had dominated the landscape for more

than three hundred years,” replied the Pastor in Rio. “These

traditional churches had ignored the syncretic practices and

sometimes had even co-opted some of them into their services in a

bid to increase or retain membership. Having created a climate of

fear through their claims that they had powers to kill or maim their

enemies and that distance was no barrier, voodoo priests had held

sway in South America and the Caribbean for centuries. The mostly

peasant class had been the most affected. That climate of fear was

destroyed not too long ago when ministers of the full gospel of the

Lord Jesus Christ brought the salvation message.”


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“What really happened, Pastor?” Esther asked.

“There was the initial opposition from the traditional churches

who had exhorted their followers to have nothing to do with the new

generation churches. Then the voodoo priests entered the fray

threatening to kill pastors who preached against them.

Seeing that these pastors did not die and that instead they were

waxing stronger, some of the people, freed from their fears,

renounced their allegiance to the cults and joined the full gospel

churches.

It started as a trickle in the 1960s and by the 1990s, it was like a

flood as more and more people went in droves to the Bible-based

churches.”

“No wonder South America is the continent where Christianity

is having the fastest growth today,” Mum said.

“As usual, The Lord God has delivered a people that the devil

had subjected to centuries of fear, hatred and poverty.”

After three months, the Love family’s world tour ended. They had

attended Sunday services in many cities, made do with midweek

services in others, and interviewed many ministers of the gospel.

Today, Joshua was ensconced in his room in their Long Island

family home trying to finalize his report of the trip. He was having

difficulty trying to condense his one hundred and fifty-page report to

fifty. For two days, he had failed. With the start of the fall semester

only a week away, the pressure was on.

Looking for what to delete without losing part of the experience

and lessons learned was proving rather difficult. He was now at his

wits end. Then the idea hit him. Why not present a summary of not

more than ten pages and leave the main text as reference.

It took another three days before he completed the report to his

satisfaction. Jon and Esther had submitted theirs a day earlier.


155

After handing his report to his parents, he went to bed happy. He

could not have known as he lay in bed that he was about to have an

experience that would mark a turning point in his life.

As he dozed off, he suddenly found himself transported high into

the clouds. He was singing along with all the hosts of heaven,

praising and worshipping the everlasting God. Even trees, moons and

stars were worshipping. He had never felt that much peace in all his

life. He was still singing those beautiful choruses, repeating them on

and on so that he would not forget the tune and words, when he

finally felt the pull downwards.

Opening his eyes, he knew that he had taken part in a heavenly

worship. He tried to remember the songs but could not, not even a

single word.

Then he heard the voice in his heart say, ‘Those were heavenly

songs, the tunes and words are not for the earth.’

He felt very humbled and knew then that God had indeed been

merciful to him.

The last night before heading back to campus, he heard a Voice

say, ‘Let Us open his eyes.’

Immediately, he felt like a blind person regaining sight suddenly

on a bright sunny day. With his inner senses quickened, he began to

see things that were not otherwise visible to the naked eye. He saw

opaque-like beings, in white and dark colors, with shapes and forms

like those of human beings all around him. It was apparent that these

beings, unlike human beings, did not have dense bodies.

Then he noticed that only a thin layer separated him from the

innumerable number of these beings. A voice told him these demons

were about to attack him and that he should begin to plead the ‘Blood

of Jesus.’

As soon as he began to plead the ‘Blood of Jesus,’ the demons

started falling and then disappearing one after another. The spiritual

encounter lasted for quite sometime, though he had no way of


156

knowing how long the attacks lasted. It only stopped after he had

defeated all the demons.

Waking up he knew that he had been fighting in the spiritual

realm. He also realized that God had been the One who had opened

his spiritual eyes so that he could see the form of man’s true enemies

as well as show him how spirit-filled persons defeat demons, powers,

principalities and the evil rulers in the kingdom of darkness daily.

The next morning, over breakfast, he narrated the incident to the

rest of the family. They all listened attentively, not uttering a word

until he was done.

“As the Spirit has already revealed to you, God is confirming His

word that we do not wrestle with human beings but with Satan,

principalities, powers and evil rulers in the kingdom of darkness,”

said Dad.

“Using human beings, Satan and his demons constantly provoke

believers. Satan’s aim is to get believers to lower their guard and

commit sin. He could use say superiors in the workplace to make life

difficult for believers. He could even encourage a believer’s neighbor

to be noisy or cause other people’s pets to defecate constantly on a

believer’s property.

Undiscerning believers, unaware that the real culprit is Satan and

his demons that have instigated their neighbors to misbehave, end up

attacking them to the delight of Satan. Diverting believers from the

real battle is one of Satan’s strategies.

Since the effective fervent prayer of a righteous man avails much,

believers should recognize that the antics of those who hate them or

who commit acts capable of taking away their peace are part of the

devil’s ploys to weaken their prayer lives.”

“The only weapon at our disposal is absolute faith in God,” added

Mum. “God has given the Blood Covering to those who believe on

His Son. The devil and his demons cannot harm those who put all

their trust in God. We overcome demons, powers and principalities


157

by the Blood of the Lamb and by the word of our testimony. The two

go hand in hand.”

“What really is the word of our testimony?” Jon asked.

“Good question,” replied Mum. “Our testimony is the total

package of living the true Christian life, daily demonstrating our faith

in God through righteous living.

Word of our testimony is not just saying the right things but also

doing them. Protestation of faith without living it is hypocrisy.

Unfortunately, the gap between ‘speaking’ and ‘doing’ seems to be

getting wider and wider with each generation of professing

Christians.”

There was silence for several minutes before Dad’s voice broke

into Joshua’s thoughts.

“Josh, these revelations by the Holy Spirit are for a purpose. It is

a confirmation that His Hand is on you. More importantly, God is

preparing you for an end time ministry. The times ahead are indeed

dangerous. Remain prayerful and He will reveal His will in due

course.”


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10

BEFORE THE FUTURE

God loves both the sinner and the saint. Did He not send His only

begotten Son to die in their place? Does His covering not protect

both the wicked and the righteous? Has He not constantly pleaded

with the wicked to repent? Who then can blame Him if He removes

His protective shield over the wicked – individuals, nations and

generations – when their sins become very pervasive?

History tells us that whenever God does remove His protective

Hand, destruction usually follows. History also tells us that survivors

do turn to God for a season. However, with the passage of time,

memories of the generations that saw the consequences of sin begin

to fade. While some turn back again to those obnoxious practices that

caused God to remove His protective hand, faithful ones commit

God’s laws to their offspring. In later generations, the wicked begins

to hold sway again. They start wrapping sin in beautiful colors,

substituting substance with hype and truth with falsehood.

As the time approaches for the world’s rendezvous with the

antichrist, Satan’s agents are becoming more and more active. Occult

messages are commonplace and lies about the Person of God’s Son

are reaching a crescendo. Nothing is sacred anymore – writers and

commentators use print, radio and television to blaspheme the name

of the Lord God. Those waiting for His appearing know that


159

cataclysmic changes in the world’s socio-political landscape are

about to take place.

From the time of Adam until now, the moral fabric of the human

race has been in progressive decay. Despite the availability of God’s

word, abundance of churches and preachers, the present generation

is more sinful than all the previous ones combined. Therefore, this

generation will have the greater condemnation and will face the

greater wrath because it failed to use its knowledge quotient to

improve its world.

The percentage of the world’s poor is on the increase, higher than

in previous centuries. Despite breakthroughs in knowledge and great

technological leaps, humankind is unable to feed and give medical

aid to the most needy. The gap between the rich and the poor

continues to widen, even between the rich and the poor countries.

Richer nations continue selling arms to the poorer ones, helping to

keep the later in perpetual servitude.

Because this generation has turned its back on God, wickedness

abound the more despite societies’ many laws and law enforcement

efforts. Horrific crimes, unheard of in previous generations, are on

the increase. Unfortunately this generation, knowing what befell

generations that rejected God and His Laws, has continued to dip its

beak in the deep pit of evil.

Diseases that were previously alien to the earth have started

making appearances. As soon as man finds a cure for one, another

takes its place because human beings have refused to change those

causative behavioral patterns adjudged to be responsible for the

creation of these diseases.

The individual wants to live a life without God. Societies mock

God by the laws they enact and implement. Pursuing their own

pleasures, parents no longer give quality time to their children.

Children, left unsupervised, play violent video games, watch satanic-

inspired movies and enter internet chat rooms where predators are

waiting to snare the more vulnerable. Man continues to wonder why


160

there is a breakdown in morals and increase in crime rates, forgetting

that those are the natural consequences of taking God out of schools,

families, governments and marketplaces.

Reading edifying books or watching movies that teach agape love

and responsibility is out, while pornography – print or electronic – is

in. Bestsellers or movies with top ratings are mostly x-rated,

oftentimes violent, and many times with occult themes. Judging by

the present standards, none of the great literary works of past

generations would make the bestseller list in the 21st century.

Who could have known it then?

The Czar, at the dawn of the 20th century, was the lord of Russia. In

1917, with the Russian Bolshevik revolution, the Czar lost his throne

and power. After executing him and his family, the Bolsheviks

dumped their bodies in unmarked graves. It would take nearly one

hundred years before a new Russian government could exhume his

body and those of his family and give them proper burials.

Following the 1917 Russian revolt, communism was in full cry

in many parts of the world as workers clamored for the overthrow of

oligarchies and the installation of proletariat governments. Soon, the

revolution the Russian people had labored for turned into full-blown

dictatorship that not only denied them their rights but also

imprisoned and sometimes executed those who dared to ask for the

revolution dividends.

Russia, after annexing the smaller nations around it, became the

Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. Blood flowed in the subsumed

nations as hell let loose its fury on the hapless people resisting the

Russian hegemony.

China, the most populous nation on earth, went communist in 1949.

The threat of China overrunning the whole of South East Asia made

many in Washington and London very uneasy.


161

Suddenly, a regrouping of nations took place and communism

came under attack. No one could say for sure what forced their hands

– a realization that the barbarity in the Soviet Union could reach the

rest of the world, enlightened self-interest or divine intervention.

By the middle of the 20th century, two major blocs emerged – the

western capitalist world led by the United States of America and the

eastern socialist countries led by the Soviet Union. Each bloc created

its own military wing, the Northern Atlantic Treaty Organization for

the western world and the Warsaw Pact for the Communists.

In the latter part of the 20th century, the world witnessed the

unprecedented development and stockpile of nuclear arsenal capable

of wiping out the whole world by the two antagonistic power blocs.

Yet, such conflagration never took place in the period that the world

came to know as the ‘Cold War.’

Just like the rise and fall of a meteor, the Union of Soviet Socialist

Republics, at the height of its power and influence, collapsed without

a whimper in 1991. Many ascribed failed economic policies as the

raison d’être for its demise. Others, mostly Americans, believed that

American government’s economic policies like its embargo of

animal feed to the Soviet Union in the early 1980s contributed to the

collapse of the Soviet agricultural sector and to the subsequent state

bankruptcy. Still, others believed that huge Soviet military

expenditures and subsidies to the economies of its satellite countries

contributed in no small measure to its downfall. Yet others, more

discerning, ascribed it to the Hand of God. One thing all agreed on,

though: no one saw it coming.

Russia became a democracy in 1991, something that had never

happened in its history and everyone bought into the act. Aid flowed

and western businesses jockeyed for places in the newest world

market. Major European and American multinational oil companies

were in the forefront, delivering billions of dollars worth of

investment and state of the art technologies for the drilling and

development of oil fields in Russia’s Sakhalin Islands and Siberia.


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Humble at first, and content to be the world’s only superpower after

the collapse of the Soviet Union, the United States of America helped

to mobilize and lead the world in the economic and technological

resurgence of the 1990s.

In 1993, Moslem terrorists attacked the World Trade Center, the

world’s tallest twin structures, in New York with explosives and

killed some people in the process. A Saudi-born terrorist was the new

kid on the block. Declaring war on America, his agents detonated

explosive-laden trucks in an American military base in Saudi Arabia

in 1996, killing 19 American soldiers.

Not too long after, a United States President seduced a

Whitehouse intern, scandalizing America and the world in the

process. This President, having unintentionally provided fuel for his

rightwing enemies, held his breath as they mobilized resources to

have the United States Congress impeach him.

The whole world witnessed the impeachment process with all the

sordid details. While local and international media – print, cable,

satellite and the internet – aired America’s dirty laundry worldwide,

the Saudi terrorist, using the distractions in Washington as cover,

moved against American interests overseas. His Afghanistan-trained

terrorists killed hundreds of Africans and a few Americans in bomb

attacks on American embassies in Kenya and Tanzania in 1998 and

many American sailors in an attack on an American warship in

Yemen in 1999.

With a lame duck and ‘distracted’ President under constant attack

by the rightwing media, a divided Congress and country, America

lacked the will to tackle the increasing menace of the Saudi terrorist

and his nascent wicked organization before the dawn of the new

Millennium. That omission would have disastrous consequences not

only for America but also for the rest of the world.


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Five epochal events in the United States of America greeted the

beginning of the new millennium. No one could have known at the

time that these events would change the world’s political, economic

and social kaleidoscope.

The first event took place in the United States Supreme Court sitting

in Washington, D.C., in 2000 A.D. The Court, by a 5-4 decision,

denied the recount of the Presidential election in Florida State,

thereby ensuring the election of a new United States President based

on hanging and loose chards.

The Presidential race was very close. The loser got more votes

than the winner. Unfortunately, for the loser, the number of electoral

votes primarily decides the winner in the American presidential

elections. With a close race, Florida, where less than six hundred

votes separated the two candidates, became the bride with its swing

electoral votes. Many in the poor areas of Florida could not vote

because the electoral officials refused to accredit them. Others had

their votes discounted because the antiquated machines in many poor

districts had not perforated the ballot papers sufficiently for

automatic counters to record.

Court judgment in favor of the eventual victor stopped the hand

recounts but not before the world witnessed the spectacle of electoral

officers, using magnifying glasses, trying to decipher which ballots

had hanging, pregnant or loose chards.

Who could have known it then: that an inconclusive Presidential

election count in Florida in 2000 A.D., whose outcome depended on

hanging, pregnant and loose chards, would redirect the world to a

more dangerous track and hasten it with its appointment with the

antichrist?

Those that fought to ensure the ascendancy of their man to the White

House surrounded him with rightwing ideologues. From the onset,

they set out to shape the new President’s worldview. Soon, rightwing

policies like isolation and unilateralism became official government


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ones. Despite opposition arguments that pre-emptive military strike

on perceived future enemies could lead to anarchy in the world, the

new President adopted the neoconservative doctrine of pre-emption

wholesale.

Those who had fought unsuccessfully at the Supreme Court to

have a recount of the votes cast in Florida lamented as the new

American government began pursuing policies that were invariably

isolating her from the rest of the world.

The second event was the destruction of the World Trade Center, the

world’s tallest twin towers, in New York, on the 11th day of

September 2001. Terrorists, mostly Saudis, belonging to the terror

organization of America’s self-declared enemy, using two hijacked

commercial planes, carried out this dastardly act. With another plane

crashing into the Pentagon, the pride and heart of America’s military

might, in Washington D.C., within minutes of the New York attacks,

the United States of America went into full war alert.

The official number of deaths, from these reprehensible acts, was

about three thousand. This number could have been off the mark

because families of mostly undocumented aliens, fearful of

deportation, might not have reported the loss of their loved ones.

As America went into a ‘barricade mode,’ fear soon turned to

grief and then to anger. The President pressed Congress to pass many

draconian national security laws; some say he succeeded because he

was exploiting the peoples’ anger while others believed that he truly

feared more terrorist attacks. Before long, the laws led to loss of

individual liberties as many found themselves held without trial in

the world’s self-declared freest democracy.

As fear overtook reason, security agencies began to use new

technologies to spy on citizens and the idea of embedding

fingerprints, facial recognition features and iris scan on national

identity cards, hitherto anathema, came back on the drawing board.


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The United States of America, putting its isolationist policy on

hold, began to assemble a multinational force to root out the terrorist

regime in Afghanistan that was harboring the Saudi terrorist and the

masterminds of those terrorist attacks on New York and Washington.

The American President, fearful of losing many lives in a full-

scale ground offensive, chose to fight mostly from the air with only

limited ground action. Unfortunately, when the few boots on the

ground located the terror organization’s leadership in the mountains

of Afghanistan, they could not surround the area and the Saudi

terrorist and most of his lieutenants escaped.

The third event that rearranged the world order occurred when the

American President, knowing that his forces had failed to capture or

kill the terrorist leaders in Afghanistan due to wrong strategy, made

plans to attack Iraq on the basis that it possessed weapons of mass

destruction.

This President and his men came to equate war on Iraq with war

on terrorism. The world said ‘no’ to unilateralism and to a pre-

emptive attack by one country on another based on the possibility

that such a country could become an enemy in the future. The more

discerning did not believe the stated reason for the planned attack on

Iraq; they were convinced that the rightwing in alliance with

America’s military-industrial complex wanted to test new military

armaments. They also believed that the American government

wanted to increase its oil stockpiles through having direct access to

Iraq’s oil reserves, the second largest, after Saudi Arabia, in the

Middle East.

Greedy multinationals could hardly wait; they started to mobilize

for the expected Iraqi multibillion reconstruction contracts well

before the first shots of the Iraqi war were fired. The President, his

rightwing advisers and executives of major military-industrial

corporations shut their ears to any voices but those beating the drums

of war.


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Soon, America was ready for the ‘mother of all wars.’ This time,

the President and his lieutenants easily committed hundreds of

billions of dollars and more than one hundred thousand ground

troops for a made-for-TV war that the whole world could watch in

their bedrooms and living rooms.

The world held its breath, as protests in world capitals failed to

slow down the war preparations. The brutal dictator in Iraq helped

fan the embers of war by refusing to cooperate fully with the United

Nations Weapon’s Inspectors.

Stifling opposition became virtuous in America while sycophants

and multinational companies pumped money to ensure Americans

re-elected a more rightwing congress favorable to the President and

his pre-emptive war polices in 2002.

In their bid to carry the American people along in the looming

war with Iraq, the American President and his men, using the news

media organizations, began to glamorize war. Journalists – called

‘embeds’ – trained with the troops preparatory to their coverage of

the largest televised military advance of all times. The news

organizations, aware the coverage of the war would increase their

ratings, reciprocated by softening their criticisms of the

administration while some went as far as defending the flawed raison

d’être for the war. Most Americans were taken in, what with the

entire hype showing on twenty-four hour cable and satellite channels.

Despite groundswell opposition, even in America, the President

went to war against Iraq in 2003. In less than one month, American

troops supported mainly by the British overran Iraq. The very little

loss of American lives during the actual invasion coupled with its

very short duration resonated very well with the American public

who felt proud of their military’s might and accomplishments. The

‘War President’ received kudos from a grateful public and everything

appeared to go very well for a time.

The fourth and by far the most dangerous event went unnoticed at

first. A gay-lesbian group went to a court in the State of


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Massachusetts in 2004. Homosexual couples wanted to be married

and have the same rights as heterosexual couples. The Judge granted

their prayers.

On the other side of America, thousands of couples flocked to

San Francisco where an elected official joined homosexual couples

in ‘marriage.’ The whole world saw pictures of hundreds of kissing

and hugging homosexuals on their television. Marriage, the oldest

and most sacred of human institution, was under threat.

The Democratic Party, dominated by the radical leftwing, failed

to condemn a gay-lesbian agenda that had the potential of drawing

God’s wrath. How could they not know that the very first command

God gave to man was, “Be fruitful and multiply; fill the earth and

subdue it.” To ensure that this command was fulfilled, God ordained

that, “a man shall leave his father and mother and be joined to his

wife, and they shall become one flesh.” The radical leftwing failed to

see or understand the outrage of many church-going folks. God-

fearing Democrats compromised by not distancing themselves from

their party and joining the Republican Party in condemning this

blight on the world landscape. The Republican Party seized the

moment, quickly condemning the wicked ruling in Massachusetts

and the unholy ‘marriages’ in San Francisco.

The fourth event contributed to the fifth event: a backlash against the

Democratic Party. Many infuriated American citizens felt that the

American homosexual groups had gone too far and that they and the

abortion rights group were controlling the Democratic Party agenda.

These God-fearing folks came out in record numbers to vote for the

incumbent President and the Republican Party in the 2004

presidential and congressional elections.

The result was an overwhelming mandate for an incumbent

President with one of the worst job performance records in more than

fifty years at the time and whose unilateral military adventure in Iraq


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had put more than one hundred thousand American troops in a

quagmire.

A few months after the American President declared victory, Iraqi

opposition now joined by terrorists from all over the world began to

kill American soldiers and those engaged in the humanitarian and the

reconstruction efforts.

It was ironic. The American President went to war in Iraq

ostensibly to change the Iraqi dictatorial regime, destroy Iraqi

weapons of mass destruction and introduce western-style democracy

that would cascade throughout the Middle East. A stable Middle

East, so said the propaganda, would help to stem the tide of

worldwide terrorism. Unfortunately the invasion succeeded in

opening the Iraqi Pandora Box, increasing geopolitical tensions and

causing a virulent resurgence of worldwide terrorism.

The American occupation, unable to stem the tide of terrorist

attacks that was causing many civilian deaths, helped to revive old

Iraqi sectarian rivalries and hatred. Soon, Shiite and Sunni militias

were at each other’s throats and a civil war was on. American troops,

unable to stop the internecine conflict that was claiming hundreds of

innocent Iraqi lives daily, retreated into carved-out strongholds.

However, they continued to suffer casualties whenever they made

forays into the cities and towns.

Some terrorists, after gaining battlefield experience in Iraq,

shifted their attention to the rest of the world. Blowing up buildings,

buses, trains and people in many countries like Indonesia, India,

Morocco, Turkey, Saudi Arabia, Spain, Kuwait and London, the

terrorists succeeded in wrapping the whole world in a blanket of fear.

Iran and North Korea were apprehensive. They were the other

two countries previously branded along with Iraq as the three

countries making up the axis of evil by the American President in his

state of the union address prior to his incursion into Iraq. Needing a


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deterrent, North Korea began to amass more nuclear weapons while

Iran started to develop its own.

Russia and China refused the pleas of America to help put the

brakes on the nuclear programs of North Korea and Iran. Why should

they, they reasoned, when America, by the actions of its President,

was the reason those two countries were pushing ahead with their

nuclear programs. Russia and China believed that the American

President provoked the two countries by his open declaration in his

state of the union address that Iran, North Korea and Iraq were

members of the axis of evil. They also saw the unilateral invasion of

Iraq, a few months after the speech, despite world opposition, as

confirmation that America could invade North Korea and Iran at a

time of its choosing. Therefore, for them, the pursuit by North Korea

and Iran for acquisition of nuclear weapons was a legitimate

defensive option against possible American invasion.

“Would America listen to any country after successfully taking

out the regimes in Iraq, North Korea and Iran?” they asked in

Moscow and Beijing.

“What prevents America from turning its sights on our own

despotic regimes after the elimination of the regimes in Iraq, Iran and

North Korea?” they further asked.

Therefore, Russia and China were more than happy to see

America bogged down in Iraq, suffer causalities and opprobrium. As

payback for daring to increase its power and influence, Russia and

China hesitated to give America the needed lifeline to save it from

the wayward North Korean and Iranian regimes.

On the domestic front, the American government began to issue

‘color-coded alerts’ warning their people of potential terrorist attacks

on the homeland. Many were the cancelled flights and evacuated

buildings. Yet, terrorism threats increased as the days went by.

Revising its immigration rules and making travel to the United States

difficult for foreigners followed. The United States Congress first


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enacted a law requiring immigration officers to fingerprint and

photograph visitors, mostly from third world countries, at entry

points into the United States of America. Initially, the government

exempted those coming from the rich and white European nations

from that requirement.

The exemptions did not last long since the white and rich

European nations were home to many Islamic fundamentalists.

Knowing that this latter group would enjoy the same rights as the

white Europeans, since they carried European passports too, the

American government revised the policy. Separation based on race

was not an option; such policy would have shown up America before

the court of world opinion.

For international passports, the United States at first conceded a

few countries the right to opt for a less intrusive and less costly

passport photograph digitization. In this process, an individual’s

passport picture, personal data and signature were digitally printed

and embedded into the information page in the passport document.

An embedded optically variable ink enabled immigration officials

see the second image of the individual when they exposed the

information page to ultraviolet light.

However, a few years later, even with many nations against it, a

new law came into effect. This law called for the embedding of one

or more biometric features like face-recognition, iris-scan and

fingerprint data on the international passports of intending visitors to

the United States of America.

The American government did not want to acknowledge that it was

trying to solve a problem that the western world created in the 20th

century. In that century, American and European multinational

companies had exploited third world’s mineral resources, especially

oil, paid ridiculously low concessionary fees and transferred the third

world’s wealth to the Western world. This wealth transfer and the

stupendous profits made by these multinationals helped grow


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western economies and power the great technological leaps in that

century.

The multinationals succeeded rather too well in corrupting rulers,

intermediaries and officials in those poor third world countries,

making many of them multimillionaires during that period in history.

Using their newfound wealth, this third world nouveau-riche turned

around to purchase choice properties in Europe and America and pay

for their children’s education in very expensive private schools.

Abandoning school, buying fast cars and organizing expensive

parties soon became the norm for most of these rich kids. Who

needed education when enormous allowances from parents

continued to flow unabated? Other kids remaining in their oil-rich

countries refused to work, preferring to collect stipends from their

corrupt governments in that period of plenty.

American and European governments ignored the excesses of the

sons and daughters of the nouveau-riche on their shores while the

Middle Eastern oil resources appeared limitless. The visa waiver

policy of western governments for the citizens of the oil-rich

countries was deliberate. It encouraged the rich but idle citizens of

the oil-rich countries to spend their weekends in Europe and

America. While the boom lasted, western businesses, especially five-

star hotels and luxury car manufacturers, benefited immensely from

these highflying and profligate citizens from the richest oil exporting

countries.

In the 1980s, the bubble burst with the economic recession in the

western world. With lower demand, oil price crashed to very low

levels. The oil-rich countries were in a bind. Unable to balance their

budgets, the oil-rich countries began cutting citizens’ access to free

money. Overnight, the extravagant Middle Easterners resident in

Europe and America became paupers.

Feeling abandoned and frustrated by the turn of events, many

turned to radical Islam. Marrying and procreating profusely, they

became dependent on government welfare to bring up their children


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since they had little or no skills, were lazy, and were unwilling to

take menial jobs. To cover up their failures, they began to

indoctrinate their children against their host countries. Twenty years

later, the number of young Moslem malcontents residing in Europe

and America was on the rise. Complimenting them was another large

number in the Middle East. By the early 21st century, an army

comprising tens of thousands frustrated Moslems stretched from the

Middle East to Europe and America. Radical Islamic clerics, seeing

the opportunity, began to dip into this sea of hopeless and frustrated

humanity. Soon, an unending stream of recruits began to flow into

the terrorist organizations.

With the continuing threat of terrorism, western governments knew

the time to apply the brakes firmly had come. They had a dilemma,

though. Europe and the United States were home to millions of

people with Moslem and Middle Eastern roots. While they had

succeeded in restricting visitation and immigration of nationals from

the third world, they had not yet found a way to separate potential

terrorists from the millions in their midst. They knew many of their

citizens were sympathetic to the Middle Eastern terror organizations.

In fact, some European and American Moslem citizens had already

carried out terrorist acts against western interests.

How to separate the non-natives from the white natives of Europe

in the new biometric requirements caused anxious moments and

sleepless nights for many in Washington, D.C. A few years later, to

the chagrin of the Europeans, Mexicans and Canadians, the United

States Government, afraid that the world would shout racism were it

to give different treatment to different people groups, demanded that

all those wishing to visit the United States of America, irrespective

of their country of origin, should carry passports with embedded

biometric features.


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Initially accepting passports with only one biometric feature, it

would later insist that all passports must have three biometric

features – face-recognition, iris-scan and fingerprint.

Cutting-edge developments in computer technology, microchips, and

software capable of managing near-infinity data helped in no small

measure to facilitate the transformation of the 20th century world into

the 21st century one-world giant technological machine. One

application of this giant leap: a government official with a small

desktop computer could monitor the movements of goods and people

around the world.

A few courageous voices in the United States of America

protested this attempt to use terrorism and its threats thereof to justify

what George Orwell called ‘Big Brother Watching’ in his book titled,

NINETEEN EIGHTY FOUR. These protests, unfortunately, had

more to do with individual rights and privacy concerns than with any

fear that the American government was preparing the grounds for the

world to accept the antichrist’s future use of advanced biometrics.

The American government and the rightwing press castigated the

few protesters, calling them names and even going to the extent of

questioning their patriotism. Some suggested that the dissenters were

indirectly aiding and abetting terrorism.

No recognized American church leader raised his or her voice to

warn that America was preparing the identity infrastructure for the

antichrist. How could they when many were in bed with the powers

in Washington? Can one honestly speak truth to power when one is

romancing with it?

These draconian security measures eventually did stem the tide

of terrorism in the United States, but it was at such an incalculable

cost to the world.

Fear of terrorism led to the introduction, acceptance and use of

biometric features in personal identity documents. Many nations


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would argue that the end justifies the means on national security

issues and that the use of biometrics hurts no one.

Unfortunately, Satan was counting on nations to make that

argument and not think of the implications of biometrics or consider

other security options.

Who could have known it then that Biometrics development and

its worldwide acceptance was the missing and final piece that the

devil had been waiting for and that he started the countdown to his

takeover of world governments from that date?

Even more troubling, leaders of the United States of America, a

country that called itself God’s own country and which had led the

great Christian revivals of the last three centuries, had inadvertently

helped to prepare citizens of the world for their eventual marriage

with the antichrist.

Who could have guessed it?

That while the western world was in greed-induced stupor, Russia

was busy rebuilding its military-industrial complex with money

pumped in by naïve western governments and transnational

corporations.

The rest of the world watched while the United States of America got

more than it had bargained for in Iraq. They also watched with

dismay as the American government continued to drive the out-of-

control Iraqi war reconstruction and political reengineering vehicle

unaware of the enormity of the botched mission and its effect on the

world’s geopolitical balance.

In the face of America’s refusal to have the United Nations lead

the reconstruction efforts, the more important countries in the

Organization refused to lend a helping hand without corresponding

concessions. They too wanted to participate in both the award of the


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reconstruction contracts and in the determination of the future

direction of a new Iraq.

In the end, apart from Britain and a few other countries whose

contributions to the war and peace efforts were minimal, the burden

for the military occupation, reconstruction and reengineering of the

political landscape came to rest on the American people.

With time, the scandal of the mega-billion reconstruction

contracts awarded without tendering to companies with links to

people in government, the huge military expenditure and the

concomitant widening of the budget deficit began to turn American

public opinion. Cable and satellite television daily newscasts

showing videos of terrorists beheading, maiming and burning

kidnapped American citizens finally curbed American citizens’

appetite for war. With mounting military casualties, a newly elected

adversarial congress in 2006, the administration could no longer

withstand public demands for their troops to return home. Later,

America claimed victory and left Iraq without achieving any of its

goals for the invasion.

The humiliation of America in Iraq would have a domino effect

in the Middle East with western-supported oligarchies falling one

after the other to terrorist and hard-line Moslem fundamentalists.

With new empires rising and the older ones weakening and falling, a

New World order began to emerge.

In a few short years, Russia became the largest oil and gas

producer in the world. Saudi Arabia, now ruled by Islamic

fundamentalists, came a distant second. The American economy

mired in failed economic policies and saddled with huge military

expenditures began to lag behind that of many developed countries.

Many international investors losing confidence in the American

economy began to divest with Russia and China becoming the

favored homes for their capital.


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China began purchasing oil and massive military hardware from

Russia while exporting Chinese manufactured products to Russia

under a new strategic alliance between the two countries. It had not

come as a surprise to discerning observers when, a few years later,

the combined GDP of Russia and China surpassed that of the United

States of America.

While America was engaged in its wars, Russia and China were

not only reinvigorating their economies but they were also secretly

developing new weapons’ systems. In time, the joint military power

of Russia and China came to be at par and then finally surpass that

of the United States.

The world woke up one day to discover that there truly was a new

sheriff on the block. The secret was out in the open: the combined

military and economic might of China and Russia placed them at a

higher superpower status than the United States of America.

Not willing to play second fiddle, the United States of America

went into massive military expansion to regain its preeminent

superpower position. It was not ready to concede defeat like previous

empires before it had done.

Later, Russia and China formed the Northern Alliance with some of

Russia’s former satellite countries. In its bid to restructure the world

on its terms, the Northern Alliance developed the world’s most

powerful supercomputer and used it to code citizens’ biometric data,

systems and infrastructure. With this supercomputer located in

Moscow, operatives also monitored and controlled access to military,

utilities and communication systems. A special unit embedded

citizens’ fingerprint data, iris-scan, voice, face recognition and blood

group from this supercomputer into new biometric identity cards.

Middle Eastern countries run by Moslem fundamentalists,

chaffing at the non-resolution of the Arab-Israeli conflict and at the


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perceived American support for Israel, allied with the Northern

Alliance.

In response to the growing threat from the Northern Alliance, the

United States of America formed the Southern Alliance with those

countries wary of another Russian hegemony. Within a short time,

the Southern Alliance developed its own version of the

supercomputer to encode citizens’ biometric information,

communication and infrastructure. It too issued embedded biometric

identity cards from its own supercomputer located in Washington,

D.C., to its citizens.

Citizens of countries in the Northern Alliance could travel to other

member countries without passports – a biometric identity card was

the only requirement at border crossings. At sea, airport and land

immigration posts, an operative would simply swipe the visitor’s

identity card through a special device that relayed the information to

the supercomputer in Moscow. Within seconds, the operative would

receive a feedback on the border control screen. The average time at

the border was less than a minute for visitors with the right identity

cards. Northern Alliance citizens praised their governments for

making border crossings very easy.

Equally, citizens of the countries in the Southern Alliance could

move freely within the member countries of the Southern Alliance.

Visitors with proper identity cards traveling within Southern

Alliance countries also spent less than a minute at the immigration

posts.

However, immigration officials subjected citizens from non-

alliance countries to body searches and arduous questioning. Many

times, they would ask intending visitors to pass through scanners that

would take pictures highlighting very intimate details of their bodies.

With the chances of admittance so low even after all the humiliation,


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only those desperate or those with very strong family ties in the

destination countries dared to undertake such trips.

The world stood at the brink of the end as each side threatened to

annihilate the other.

Suddenly, peace left the earth.

Yet, the expected conflagration failed to materialize when both sides

finally realized that a full-scale military conflict would spell the end

of all living things and was therefore a loss-loss proposition.

Frustrations led each side to increase its taunts of the other. In time,

the world came to accept the new reality.

Historians appropriately named the state of permanent suspicion

existing between the Soviet Union and the United States of America

in the second half of the 20th century, the ‘Cold War,’ in their bid to

differentiate it from the two shooting world wars of the first half of

the 20th century.

‘Warm War’ soon became the new name for this new state of

affairs in the 21st century because of the ‘hot’ words from each side.

While the ‘Cold War’ represented a period of mutual distrust

between the adversaries, ‘Warm War’ was one of open hostility

where the enemies fought each other using radio, television, internet

and satellite.

It was a season of anomie and everything seemed to have turned

upside down.


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11

COUNTDOWN

Events of the past few years have convinced Joshua that it remained

only a few hours before the midnight of evil enveloped the whole

world. The knowledge that very few understood the unfolding drama

playing before their eyes continued to amaze him.

On completing his university studies, Joshua had joined one of Wall

Street’s top investment firms. Unable to shake off the recurring

images of a world moving inexorably to the precipice, he had left a

few years later to devote all his energies to preaching the gospel of

the Lord Jesus Christ. And it had been one long journey in nearly

twenty years of ministry.

He had not wanted to start a church at the beginning, preferring

to reach out to the unsaved by joining forces with those who shared

his burden for souls. He had been welcomed enthusiastically to

preach in churches initially but invitations had soon turned into a

trickle before fizzling out. Puzzled, he sought for answers. Then, one

evening, an elder who was filled with the Spirit of God called him.

He told him that his preaching had made some powerful leaders

uncomfortable, and that they had instructed churches not give him

their pulpits.

Not long after, he had set up a web-based ministry and a

publishing outfit for an End Time magazine. The magazine dealt with

topical Christian and world issues with emphasis on how current

events were shaping or reshaping the world for the antichrist. At first,

it was tough, what with many copies of the magazine returned and

few visitors accessing his website.


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Knowing that he needed a platform to disseminate his messages,

he had founded Street Corner Church with his parent’s support.

Miraculously the month he opened the doors of Street Corner Church

to the public, the demand for the End Time magazine suddenly

increased and his website recorded more hits.

Then, the attacks started. They had come from all sides. Some

churches, mostly orthodox with a few newer church organizations,

told their congregants not to read the End Time magazine and the

messages on his website. That the orthodox churches were in the

forefront did not come as a surprise, but that some self-proclaimed

Bible-believing churches were involved was a little bit disconcerting.

Later, he found out that Mr. Sampson Winthrop, a man well known

for his work to unite peoples of all religions, had been coordinating

the attacks.

Despite those attacks, the Lord continued to add to the ministry.

The End Time magazine was now a must-read for millions around

the world. Presently, more than one thousand pastors and ministers

are involved in one capacity or the other with his ministry. Once a

year, they all meet to share and pray with one another. Many of these

pastors continue to speak out boldly against the evils of the present

just as they had done years ago in condemning the embedding of

biometric features on passports and drivers licenses.

Joshua had just learnt that Mr. Sampson Winthrop was coming to

New York the following week to address the National Coalition of

American Churches. While praying the night before, he had the

leading in the spirit to pay a visit to Brother James Worthy, a

renowned New York pastor and the Vice-President of the National

Coalition of American Churches.

James Worthy had started out preaching the ‘fire and brimstone type’

gospel but had in later years, to the shock of many, softened and was

now a leading advocate of religious ecumenism.


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Joshua arrived James Worthy’s home by 6.00 a.m. At the third

ring, James opened the door.

“Joshua, you could have called first,” James stammered, still

struggling to overcome his initial shock at seeing him at his door.

“I sincerely apologize, but it had to be this way.”

“Why are you here?” James asked uncertainly.

“I should be welcomed into your home if we are serving the same

God, but if not I should be on my way.”

Ashamed, James asked him to come in.

“Brother James, I came not on my own volition. I was

constrained by the Spirit of God to seek out my brother and to find

out why he has joined those who seek my hurt.”

“Joshua, you want the truth, but can you handle the truth?”

“Try me, my brother.”

“You preach division and cause many to question spiritual

authority.”

“Please enlighten me since I believe my writings, teachings, and

other instructions are all scriptural.”

“I will start with the orthodox churches,” began James. “It took

many years for us to reach accommodation with them. Even now,

many of our top Christian leaders have paid visits to their leadership.

With the help of the leaders of the orthodox churches, we have

reached an understanding with the Moslem world. We, therefore,

take exception to anyone trying to destroy the spirit of world

ecumenism.”

“Really, Brother James, tell me more.”

“You are mocking me, Joshua, but I will let that pass. Only the

Lord God knows those who are his own. We should cooperate with

any that calls on the name of the Lord and not discriminate.”

“If they named only Christ, there would have been no occasion

for me to say anything,” replied Joshua. “However, it is rather

hypocritical for any Bible scholar to pretend not to know that any

group that prays not only to Christ but also to Mary and the departed


182

apostles for help must be serving many gods. We all know that God

hears our prayers because He is everywhere. How does Mary or Paul

or Peter hear those on earth calling on them for help as some in the

orthodox churches are wont to do unless they are everywhere like

God?”

“Joshua, you only see differences but we are looking at the total

picture. That is why we must all cooperate and avoid fighting with

one another.”

“Brother James, you know your argument would have sounded

reasonable were it not that you and I do not have any authority to

bend God’s word. A bent truth is a lie. After the so-called unification

of churches will come the unity of all religions, after all many are

already making the argument that all religions pray to the same God.

Very soon, we will have a one-world religion.”

“Why are you so pessimistic, Joshua?”

“Not pessimistic or optimistic but standing on God’s word seems

to me to be the safest course for any who names the name of Christ.

The Bible has already foretold of the mutilation, apostasy and the

falling away of many from the truth. The prophets of old and of the

new did warn us and we cannot pretend that what they delivered to

us, most times at the risk of their lives, should be ignored.”

“What can we do without causing greater dislocation in the

Church?” asked a now confused James.

While he took pity on the dear brother before him, Joshua knew

it was his duty to expose the devil’s wiles even if that meant hurting

some.

“Each generation blames God for its woes, despite ignoring His

laws and warnings through His prophets. God created man and gave

him a great gift – the ability to understand and the right to choose. It

is not for us to stop speaking the truth for fear that our doctrine might

give offence and dislocate the union of truth and lies. God’s

command, ‘Do not be unequally yoked with unbelievers,’ is germane


183

to this situation. When the good mixes with the bad, the resulting

mixture is bad.”

“Do you want us then to go back to the times when Christians

were persecuted for their faith?” James asked.

“Don’t you think that those times were the most glorious in the

kingdom of God, men and women responding and ready to pay with

their lives for their faith in God?” Joshua asked in return.

“Those indeed must have been, but times have changed,” James

conceded.

After a pause, he continued, “However, there were no Einsteins

then or current scientific discoveries challenging creationism. Our

generation is simply responding to a sophisticated world. Our joining

hand with syncretic Christian churches has helped us challenge

unjust laws, elect Christian leaders and be a voice for the oppressed.

We have done much good by cooperating.”

Joshua looked at Brother James with sadness. Men would always

try to justify sin, claiming to have taken such actions because of the

common good.

“I would have liked to believe what you were saying except that

I know that Bibles are not read in our schools. Yet, our so-called

Christian leaders in government have done nothing to put Bibles

back into the classrooms.

Years ago, the sexual molestation of boys by Catholic priests put

Christianity, in the eyes of the uninformed, and there were many, in

bad light. The American Anglican Church ordained an openly gay

person bishop in that turbulent period. Secular authorities started

sanctioning gay and lesbian marriages, first in the law courts, and

then in congresses and parliaments, only after some churches had

begun blessing such unholy marriages.

New Age theologians then followed suit to modify God’s word

to conform to our generation’s view of God and His laws. Is it any

wonder that the number of people in our generation who do not

believe in the full gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ is on the rise?


184

Would the world not have been served better if we had been forceful

in our messages that any church that does not fully accept the Bible

as the only and final authority on all matters of faith and practice is

not a Christian Church?”

James, instead of answering him, countered with his own

questions. “Don’t you think that God would have inspired more of

his pastors and teachers to preach along those lines had He not

wanted us to cooperate with churches not subscribing to the Bible as

the only authority for Christian doctrine and practice? Why is it that

only a few raised voices have condemned our rapprochement with

the orthodox churches and with those churches that have consecrated

gay pastors and married same-sex couples? We all can’t be wrong.”

Joshua decided to take James on a little excursion into church

history.

“My dear James, God’s word and the history of both the Jews

and the Church do not support your conclusion. Permit me to refresh

your mind a little. God did not leave man alone to flounder so that

He would have occasion to say he had failed. Enshrining His laws in

man’s heart, God gave him conscience and freewill. With the

conscience as guide, man exercises his right to choose between

obeying God’s laws or his own desires.

Even with those provisions, God continued to send prophets to

warn each generation when they disobeyed His laws. Those prophets,

men and women, imbued with God’s Spirit, seeing ahead of their

time, sounded the alarm on the consequences of disobedience to their

generations. Most times, the benefiting generation failed to

appreciate their prophets. They disrespected, hated, and sometimes

killed them for speaking out God’s mind on sin, compromise and

idolatry.

Shall we talk of Jeremiah, the weeping prophet, rejected by the

hundreds claiming to speak for God, whom the King jailed and

whom the ‘prophets’ of his day maligned for uttering what God told

him to say?


185

Maybe we should talk of John the Baptist whom Herod beheaded to

please a foolish daughter and his drunken guests, or of the Lord Jesus

Christ, hated by the priests of His day and in whose Name many have

committed crimes worthy of death since his ascension into heaven?

The people of Nineveh repented at the preaching of Jonah for a

season. Subsequent generations reverted to their idolatrous ways,

having forgotten Jonah’s warnings and God’s mercy to their

ancestors. The result was the destruction of that great city hundreds

of years after Jonah’s warnings.

God sent His angels to destroy Sodom and Gomorrah because the

people had committed acts contrary to nature. We have accepted

those same acts in our time with some churches and states calling

those opposed to same-sex marriage troublemakers just as the

citizens of Sodom and Gomorrah must have called Lot and Abraham

in their day.

Knowing that fallen man was incapable of following His ways,

God sent His only begotten Son to die in man’s place. Through His

Son’s death, God gave man another chance to inherit eternal life. God

did not stop there: To whosoever believed in His Son, God promised

His Holy Spirit.

Did the world repent?

We know the answer is no. What have Christian leaders, who

subscribe to the truth that the Bible is God’s word, done about the

evils afflicting our world? Many have kept quiet. Obviously, God

should handle these matters Himself. Why are we Christian leaders

if we cannot stand up to be counted, persecuted, or even killed for

the truth?

Man, with his Lilliputian mind, thinks he knows better than God!

So immersed in pandering to self and contemptuous of things holy

and edifying while the going is good, man easily denies culpability

when the tide turns against his schemes. He would rather take flight

than confront the consequences of his actions. He would readily


186

blame God for his self-inflicted troubles in a foolish bid to soothe his

seared conscience.

Who will warn the world of the present dangers facing it for

turning away from God if not those who stand before the altar

ministering to the people but who have chosen to ignore the cross?

Having betrayed their calling as they wine and dine with those

leading the world astray, they forget that their long joyful holiday on

well-appointed ships of sin sailing on the world’s ocean of evil will

someday come to a tragic end.

Just as in past generations, God is raising and anointing prophets

for tasks in our time. These men and women will fare no better than

those prophets of old. Just as there were false prophets and servants

in those days, so there are some today. While the true prophet

preaches and lives in accordance with God’s word, the false prophet

mutilates God’s word and uses it for self-aggrandizement. The true

litmus test for prophets comes from Isaiah 8:20, “To the law and to

the testimony! If they do not speak according to this word, it is

because there is no light in them.”

Therefore, a minister whose acts and utterances have deviated

from God’s word is not of God. At best, such a minister has

backslidden and must repent and ask for God’s forgiveness.

God hates mixtures. It is either hot or cold not lukewarm, true or

false not dissimulation, white or black not grey. There is no middle

ground with God. You know and obey Him or you do not know Him

and therefore are in disobedience.

From the time of the kings, the Israelites practiced mixtures;

assembling on feast days to worship God in the temple in Jerusalem

but going home to serve at the altars of Baal, Dagon, Mammon,

Ashtarte and the Queen of Heaven. We know the cycles of apostasy,

bondage and deliverance continued for many generations. Then, one

day in 70 A.D., God allowed the Romans under General Titus to sack

Jerusalem and scatter his chosen people all over the face of the earth.


187

If God did not spare those who became His chosen people because

of the obedience and faith of Patriarch Abraham, why does our

generation think that it will escape the righteous anger and judgment

of God? In our time, light bearers have become light quenchers, the

salt of the earth have become the poison of the earth and death

messages have replaced life-giving messages. Syncretism has

become the norm and worshippers of the occult are amazed at the

blasphemous utterances emanating from supposedly Christian

pulpits. These mutilators of the gospel pretend to speak for Christ

when they are actually leading their followers into Christ-less

eternity.

Sadly, many Christian leaders, who say all their Christian

teachings and practices are Bible-based, have kept quiet while

unbiblical practices continue to permeate our world. By pretending

that all is well in the midst of the blasphemous cacophonies coming

from syncretistic churches, they too are misleading their flock.

Who will let believers know that things are not what they seem

and that all is not well in our generation? Who will stand up and

declare very forcefully that our world has been under the direct

control of the mystery Babylonian Church since the 4th century?

Pretending that there is no mystery Babylonian Church that has been

giving kings, princes, presidents, prime ministers, and nations the

wine of her fornication is tantamount to saying that God’s word on

the subject is false.

God’s word said that the whore of Babylon sits and rules the

world on a city with seven hills. Is God’s word a lie? Is not Rome the

city with seven hills? Is there any other prominent city with seven

hills that we know of? Which empire and its successor have had the

most profound effect on the culture and the direction of the entire

modern world if not the extinct Roman Empire and its successor, the

Roman Catholic Church.

Our criticism of some 20th century Christian churches who use

occult terms like ‘positive thinking’ and ‘visualization’ to define


188

faith instead of teaching faith as trusting and believing God has

earned us opprobrium too.

Countries, religious leaders and individuals have the right to

make choices, to accept or reject God and His laws. Many in

exercising that inalienable right have been vocal. That is how it

should be. Anglicans and Roman Catholics can teach and propagate

their beliefs without fearing persecution. Moslems can spew out their

brand of beliefs without being harassed. Atheists can disgorge

theories denying God without being the worse for it. The world

applauds Pentecostal and Evangelical Christian preachers who have

strong links with some of the major orthodox churches. However,

many in the groups named above have hounded and persecuted

Christian preachers who condemn the mutilation of God’s word, and

who insist that all who name and call themselves Christians must

accept that all doctrines and practice must derive from the Bible.

Shouldn’t these few Christian leaders have the freedom to call it

they way they see it just as their persecutors have been calling it the

way they understand?

However, we know from the Scriptures that Christ’s words, ‘The

world will hate you just as it hated me. In Me you will have

tribulation…,’ make it clear who is serving the Lord in the prescribed

manner. True Christian leaders take comfort in our Lord’s words,

‘….but do not worry I have overcome the world.’

The devil can never persecute those who are his but would do

everything to destroy the truth and those that propagate it.

On another note, people have the right to believe or not to believe

the truth. They can believe the present lies, but they should not

complain on that day when evil shows its hand and the man of sin

unleashes his tribulation on the world.

Those who cry daily for the world’s repentance must never

despair and must never succumb to threats or fear death. For the

salvation of many, they must continue preaching and exhorting using

the unvarnished word of God.”


189

James sat through the long speech, his face inscrutable. Then rising

and looking Joshua in the eye, he started to speak in a very quiet tone.

“Brother Joshua, you have made an impassioned plea and I must

confess that I am troubled. However, many of us fear an exodus from

our churches if we were to remove some of the presently accepted

unbiblical practices from our services and join you to preach the full

gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ. Who will help us to maintain our

churches and feed our pastors?”

“My brother, you have hit the nail on the head,” replied Joshua.

“Presently it is ‘our’ churches, but I am asking that we hand over

‘our’ churches to the Lord Jesus Christ for once and see if He would

not look after His Church the biblical way. Our bellies should not

dictate to our consciences.

Has it not occurred to you that our congregations have been

thirsting for the truth and that many currently outside the church

system would gladly come to God’s Church if they saw consistency

and truth in our messages? The Lord will use the truth to set them

free. Many ‘churched’ persons are still in bondage because even they

do not know the truth. I am convinced that God will come through

for those leaders who again begin to put their trust in Him. They will

never be disappointed. Did He not promise us that in His Word?”

“We are having our annual meeting next week,” James said as

Joshua stood up. “I shall use the opportunity to speak to my

colleagues.”

“I am aware of the meeting. But I fail to understand why the

leadership of the National Coalition of American Churches invited

Mr. Sampson Winthrop, who in my opinion has caused more harm

to our Christian faith than any other living person, and has even asked

him to be the special guest speaker.”

James, who was getting up to see his visitor to the door, sat down

abruptly, unable to hide his anger now.

“Joshua, how dare you cast aspersions on another minister’s

integrity?”


190

“Oh, oh, can you tell me in all honesty that what I just said is not

true,” said a surprised Joshua.

“Reverend Sampson has helped open the doors for many

Christian organizations in the Islamic world,” an angry James

retorted.

“Many missionaries can now preach openly in almost every part

of the world, thanks to the efforts of Reverend Sampson’s inter-

cooperation religious ministry.”

“Are telling me that a man who preaches that every way leads to

God is doing well for the Gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ?” Joshua,

incredulous, asked.

Without waiting for an answer, he asked further, “Do his

teachings not negate the foundation of our faith that Christ is the only

Way to God?”

“Don’t you know that accepting his teachings is tantamount to

accepting that Christ’s death on the cross is meaningless and that our

belief that he took on the sins of the whole world and purchased

man’s salvation is baseless?”

“I don’t see where this discussion is leading us,” said James in a

hostile voice. “I was once like you until I saw the light and my

ministry increased fourfold in less than a year. You can come and

join us or you can continue to be a rebel. But know that we can no

longer protect you from your many enemies.”

Tears sprang into Joshua’s eyes.

“So you really believe that I came here to seek accommodation

and protection. No, I came because I have a burden for the Church

of the Lord Jesus Christ. I do not need anyone to protect me from the

devil because the Blood of Jesus is my covering. Goodbye James, I

shall continue to pray for the Church of God in America.”

Joshua got into his car for the sad drive back to his Long Island

home after one final look at a lost brother. James had started his

ministry so well and had been an inspiration to many but he had

compromised along the way because of wealth and fame.


191

Reaching home, Joshua let himself into the house quietly and

went into his inner room to pray. He was in that position three hours

later when Ruth, his wife, knocked on the door.

James sat down, his head on his hands, after Joshua’s exit. Still lost

in thought, he saw images of his early ministry days as they flashed

before him. He had been very zealous. Starting out with a

congregation of fifty persons, he had worked very hard. By the tenth

year in the ministry, he had more than two thousand adults in his

church.

They had just completed the construction of their new church

building, with a seating capacity for ten thousand, when disaster

struck. He had borrowed heavily from the banks in the hope that the

church would be able to service the loans from the expected increase

in the takings from a projected enlarged congregation. Unfortunately,

the expected congregation and revenue increase did not materialize

and the church was over its head in debts.

He spent many agonizing nights praying for a miracle; after all,

he had asked of no one in particular, ‘Was he not doing the Lord’s

work?’ The lenders were getting restive and he was now at his wits

end. The more the lenders pounded at his door, the more his faith in

God waned. Not too long after, he began to blame God for not

coming to his aid. It never occurred to him that he had not sought the

Lord’s guidance before starting the building project. Nor would he

listen to that quiet voice inside him pointing out that the church

building represented his own ego trip and that God does not give His

imprimatur to a project or idea that was selfishly motivated. He was

having sleepless nights as he contemplated his next line of action.

Then a lifeline had suddenly materialized. A pastor, whom he had

always criticized for his unbiblical messages, visited him. This pastor

offered to pay off the loans unconditionally. For him that was the

sign that God had relented and given him another chance.

Unfortunately, he also interpreted that to mean that God wanted him


192

to change his messages and to pattern them after those of his more

successful benefactor.

When his benefactor invited him to join the National Coalition of

American Churches, despite his reservations, he had accepted.

Rubbing shoulders with the ‘Who’s who’ in American Christianity

was mind-blowing. This Coalition featured mostly those with very

large congregations, some with television and radio ministries.

It did not take long before unscriptural quotes began lacing and

leavening his messages. With time, the whole lump was leavened and

he had begun to preach those types of messages he had previously

condemned. He had fallen so far by the time he met Reverend

Sampson Winthrop that he had been willing to do anything to

maintain the façade that he was still a man of God.

Joshua’s visit this morning was reminder of how far he had

indeed fallen. He knew it was too late to change though he

recognized the visit as God giving him another opportunity to repent.

He was sure his associates would never let him off the hook now.

They would readily expose his underhand financial dealings,

questionable miracles and extramarital affairs. Had they not done

that to a famous preacher who had thought he could get away from

them? Overnight, the preacher’s various financial and extra marital

affairs had become public knowledge. One night, this disgraced

preacher, worn-out by a hounding press and public ridicule, bolted

his door, took out his shotgun and shot himself. That preacher had

been his good friend.

He realized that he had to report Joshua’s visit, since his house

was under surveillance. Picking up the phone, he dialed a California

number. The person at the other end of the line was gruff. In his

confusion, he had forgotten that it was still very early in Sacramento.

“I am sorry to wake you up this early but I thought you would

like to know that I had an unusual visitor this morning.”

“Who might that be?” asked the man in Sacramento.

Did he detect interest now?


193

“Pastor Joshua of Street Corner Church,” he answered.

Thirty minutes later, he had finished giving the man at the other

end of the line a summary of their conversation.

“I will handle the matter myself. One more thing, don’t mention

his visit or this discussion to anyone.”

With the click at the other end, he knew that the conversation was

over and that he had signed the death warrant of Pastor Joshua Love.

The high council of the kingdom of darkness had been meeting for

the last ten hours. Lucifer was about to declare the meeting closed

when he suddenly scratched his head, turned to Venus, and asked,

“What were you saying as we were coming to this meeting?”

“Oh, it is about the foolish Christians who are preaching that the

end of the world was near and that the day of the one-world

government supported by apostate Christianity was very close.”

“But that kind of message is not new,” said Lucifer. “Many have

been saying those foolish things for centuries. Has anything changed

in the last one hundred years that you had to bring up the subject

today?”

“People are beginning to listen,” persisted Venus. “More and

more people are making a true commitment to God through Christ.

We have been losing many people to true Christianity in the last five

years.”

“Have we tried our usual persuasive methods on the foolish

preachers?” asked Lucifer.

“It is not working.”

“Why is it not working?”

“One man called Joshua has caused many pastors to rededicate

their lives to God. These pastors have been going round the world

preaching the true salvation message of faith in God through Christ.”


194

“Others had preached the same message in other centuries and

we still had success. What makes it different this time around?”

asked Lucifer.

“Lord Lucifer, you know the only way for us to succeed is to get

the preachers to sin first,” said Venus. “All our current efforts to

snare these preachers have failed; women sent could not entice them

and big donors were unable to influence their messages.

In fact, a donor wanted a particular pastor to soften his messages

on sin and false workers. What do you think this pastor did? He gave

back to the donor all the money with interest that he had ever put into

his ministry.”

“Venus, are you saying that the Sampson-led gang-up of apostate

Christian ministers has failed to dissuade this Joshua?”

“Yes,” lord Lucifer. “Sampson has instigated many pastors,

preachers, bishops, and priests, to denounce him from their pulpits,

stop their congregation from reading his magazines and articles on

his web site but to no avail.”

“Venus, why don’t we let Adonis handle this problem?” asked

Lucifer. “He should find this Joshua and kill him. His death would

serve as a lesson to all the other pastors.”

“Lord Lucifer, I worry that Adonis could find out the power true

Christians possess. I led the last spiritual operation against Joshua,

after he tried to dissuade one of our important converts, Pastor James

Worthy, from continuing to play his role in our religious ecumenism

project.

Even before we entered New York, Michael, with hosts of God’s

angels, had surrounded all the nooks and corners leading to Joshua’s

home. We had to retreat.

Before then, we had made relentless efforts to weaken Joshua in

the spirit but the Blood Covering always got thicker. We have

witnessed halos and fire surrounding him even when he is in deep

sleep.”


195

“What you have told me confirms why Adonis, a human being,

should use physical means to terminate his life. No Blood Covering

can stop a bullet fired at close range. You should instruct Adonis to

send his elite assassination squad. That way he would be oblivious

of any discouraging power manifestations.”

“I am afraid that the Blood Covering did indeed stop the bullets

the last time that muggers whom we had possessed fired shots at

Joshua at point blank range.”

“Let us still try with professional killers. However, Adonis will

have to be the next assassin in the unlikely event that the attempt fails

because God has unfairly protected Joshua again. Who knows,

Adonis might succeed where powerful spirits have failed. Also, the

time is coming when he has to know the real score; you have

sheltered him for too long.”

Venus knew when not to press further. She was afraid that

Adonis, confronting God’s power, could lose his competitive edge

and become afraid. Her only hope was that the assassination squad

would succeed.

She could not have known that Lucifer knew more than he was

letting on in the council. Lucifer had known for a long time that

Joshua was a great threat to his kingdom and therefore had been

trying for many years to kill him but without success. On two recent

occasions, he had been humiliated; God had opened Joshua’s

spiritual eyes, enabling him to see the big viper aiming for his throat

as he slept. Joshua, in the spirit, had responded by pleading the Blood

of Jesus. He had had to flee immediately. He hoped that Venus and

Adonis would somehow find a way to succeed but he doubted it.


196

12

CONFRONTATION

“Adonis dear, do you know Joshua Love, the Pastor of Street

Corner Church?”

“Yeah, I have heard of him,” replied Adonis.

Venus had come into his bedroom in the middle of the night,

perfumed, scantily dressed and exuding desire.

“Was he not the one who was reportedly shot point-blank by

robbers a few weeks ago and yet he had been unhurt?”

“Yes, he is the one,” replied Venus.

“The press made so much noise about it at the time,” Adonis said.

“I believe that he was either just lucky or his assailants were such

bad shots. Is he one of us?”

“Unfortunately no, in fact, he is your greatest enemy. He is

working seriously against your interests.”

Giving Adonis one of her more seductive looks, she said, “I

should have told you about it. Since spiritual laws forbid us from

going against human beings physically, we have to use human

agents. Unfortunately, those given the assignment for Joshua’s

removal failed.”

“What would you have me do?” asked Joshua.

“Send your elite assassination squad to kill Joshua immediately,”

replied Venus with venom.

Obsessed with desire, Adonis failed to see the momentary exposure

of her ugliness. Venus had always wondered what his reaction would

be if he were to see what she truly looked like in the spiritual realm


197

– a sad, ugly and powerful fallen archangel whose assignment

included seducing and making him Lucifer’s willing tool. Even

though Adonis was as besotted as ever, and was like putty in her

hands, there was still the risk she could lose control if he knew her

secret.

As she had done on numerous other occasions, she resolved again

to do a better job of masking her intense hatred for man while in his

presence. While in the physical realm, Lucifer and his angels could

maintain the image of their choosing provided they did not allow

intense hatred to suffuse their assumed material bodies. However, no

mask could prevent their true nature from emerging whenever they

allowed their unimaginable hatred for man to manifest.

Still looking into her eyes, oblivious of anything else, Adonis

could only mutter, “Your wish is my command. Joshua is a dead

man. But, why can’t I do this personally instead of sending my elite

team for one mere man?”

“I would have wanted you to, but Lucifer had expressly

instructed that you should send the squad. One more thing, I want

them to cut off Joshua’s head and bring it to you.”

Adonis was very disappointed that Venus left without even

kissing him. Had he not seen desire written all over her face when

she made her grand entrance? He could not sleep for the rest of the

night as he waited for Venus. By early dawn, he knew he had to

arrange for his men to dispatch Joshua immediately. Somehow, he

sensed that Venus would not come until he had Joshua’s head in the

bag.

‘What is so important about this Joshua that lord Lucifer has

taken such a personal interest in him?’ he asked of no one in

particular.

After a light breakfast of baked oats in fresh milk and freshly

squeezed orange juice, Adonis made up his mind to know everything

there is to know about Joshua. Hesitating a moment at the entrance

to his operation’s control room, he entered.


198

Still thinking of Joshua Love as he sat on his ‘thought-cognition’

seat, he heard and saw him in his office at the Street Corner Church

in New York holding a meeting with the church staff. He was

surprised at the image that appeared on the screen. Joshua was

handsome, with a kindly face and piercing eyes.

With his well-cultured voice echoing into his ears, Adonis asked

his mind for Joshua’s profile. Everything about Joshua from his birth

to the present that was in the public domain came on the screen.

Impressed with what he read, he wondered how someone that

intelligent could be so stupid as to abandon a corporate life with its

perquisites for a poor pulpit. His conclusion: Joshua was either a fool

or in need of psychiatric treatment.

Allowing his mind to roam around the office, Adonis saw

Joshua’s schedule for the next one month. Further probe revealed the

best way to eliminate Joshua and create confusion at the same time.

‘Why settle for a quiet death on a sidewalk, with a bullet in his

head?’ he asked himself.

Knowing he had the world’s best assassination squad, he chose

the following Sunday worship service as the ideal date for the hit.

“Jamie and Goodwin, are you and your men ready for the

assignment?” Adonis asked.

Adonis was seated on the swivel chair at the center of the glass

table in the conference room.

“Yes, Sir,” Jamie and Goodwin, holding themselves ramrod

straight before him, replied in unison.

“Repeat the instructions.”

“We are to lead the group of seven into Street Corner Church in

Manhattan, New York, on Sunday morning,” replied Jamie. “I will

shoot Joshua at exactly 10.00 a.m., just as he walks to the podium to

preach. Goodwin and the other five will shoot everyone in the

congregation. We are to make it look like the work of terrorists.”

“Did you come across any difficulties during the simulation?”


199

“No, Dr. Adonis,” Jamie replied. “We went through the plan,

carried out the simulation and we can report that it will take not more

than five minutes from the time we rise from our seats in the church

to the time we exit with Joshua’s head.”

“Good,” Adonis said. “All arrangements have been made for

your travels. See the screens before you and commit everything to

memory. The unmarked courtesy van that picks you from La Guardia

airport will be waiting to take you back to JFK international airport

where you will board the All Star company jet arriving JFK from

Europe by noon, local time. That plane leaves JFK for Los Angeles

International airport by 1.00 p.m., local time. A helicopter will be

waiting to bring you back to the city from Los Angeles.

As usual, wear the special latex gloves before departing the city.

We cannot afford to have you leaving fingerprints anywhere.”

The transparent latex glove was his special creation. It was so

natural that no one could suspect those wearing them of having

anything on the hands.

The assassination squad led by Jamie boarded the Adonis express

train on Saturday at exactly 9.00 p.m., Pacific Time, for Adonis

International airport. The engines of an All Star Oil Company

executive jet were already revving as they boarded. Taxiing at the

speed of one hundred miles an hour through the two-hundred mile

tunnel, the plane reached the take-off pad on the Pacific Ocean by

11.30 p.m. On taking off, the plane headed south first before banking

east for the flight to the East Coast.

All Star logistics section had filed a flight plan for one of its

executive aircraft to depart from its Pacific Ocean oil concession

airstrip on Saturday night for Paris with a stop at New York’s La

Guardia airport. It had also filed another flight plan for Sunday for

one of its aircraft leaving London for Los Angeles International

airport via New York’s JFK.


200

Arriving La Guardia by 7.00 a.m., local time, on Sunday, an

unmarked courtesy bus whisked the seven men and their luggage

away. The journey to Street Corner Church took ninety minutes.

The assassins used twenty minutes to reconnoiter the areas

around Street Corner Church and another five minutes to mill around

with passersby. At five minutes to nine, they walked into Street

Corner Church in the company of other congregants.

Adonis was looking at the real time video of Joshua in praise and

worship session on the giant screen in his control room. Try as he

might, he could not bring up other images except that of Joshua.

“What language is that?” Adonis asked aloud when he heard

Joshua speaking what appeared gibberish to him. That man has been

singing and praying since 9.00 p.m., Pacific Time, which was

midnight in New York.

Wanting to leave the uncomfortable scene before him, he tried to

think of another name to effect a scene change but somehow Joshua’s

name remained glued to his mind. He could not even rouse himself

to leave the control room. It was as if an invincible force was holding

him down and all he could do was watch the images unfolding before

his eyes on the giant screen.

“….. Lord Jesus, you are the Lord, magnify yourself and show

the world that there is no other way to God except through

you…………………………………………..

Your word says ‘and they overcame him by the Blood of the Lamb

and by the word of their testimony.’

I plead the Blood of Jesus over my spirit, soul and body. Dear Father,

please let your angels surround this home and all the places where

your people congregate to worship and adore you in all the earth.

Bless all your children in the whole world. ……..

Open the eyes of those still in unbelief and help them to

understand. ………………………………………...”


201

At last, it was over. He saw Joshua get into bed. Adonis looked

at his watch and it was midnight, Pacific Time.

‘So that man has prayed nonstop for three hours,’ he mused to

himself.

Joshua’s family was in Europe, visiting his brother and his

family. Adonis regretted that they would not be around to share

Joshua’s fate.

‘They would have been spared years of grief,’ he muttered.

Still glued to his seat, unable to get up or to sleep, Adonis began

to see some incredible images on his screen.

Stupefied, he cleared his eyes, pinched himself to confirm that he

was indeed awake and was not dreaming as he looked at the brilliant

glow on Joshua’s face shinning right through the screen. The

radiance was brighter than the sun at its most brilliant.

Then he saw other beings, having the same brilliant glow that was

on Joshua’s face, surrounding the bed, clapping and singing praises.

A Voice suddenly cut in, “Behold My faithful servant, Joshua.

Washed in the Blood of the Lamb and walking the walk as My Son

prescribed it since the day he made Jesus his personal Lord and

Savior. You have kept the faith and My seal is upon you. In My

righteousness, I have established you.

You shall be free from oppression, for you shall not fear; and

from terror, for it shall not come near you. Indeed, they shall surely

assemble, but not because of Me. Whoever assembles against you

shall fall for your sake…..………

No weapon formed against you shall prosper.”

Adonis then saw Joshua rise from the bed and join the beings he was

now convinced were angelic hosts in the worship. Looking down,

however, he saw Joshua still lying on his bed.

After a while, it dawned on him that what he saw rise from the

bed to take part in the angelic worship service going on before his

eyes was Joshua’s spirit. In effect, Joshua’s subconscious self was

awake worshipping God while his conscious part was sleeping.


202

Involuntarily, he burst out, “Oh my God, what have I done?”

Understanding set in and all the things he had refused to

acknowledge before made sense to him now. He knew that God

indeed is God and that Venus and Lucifer had been deceiving him.

What would he not have given to turn the clock back and be like

the man lying down with such peace and contentment that defied

understanding? Even though he knew that Joshua was going to die in

the next four hours, he would have gladly exchanged places with him

at that moment just to have the peace evident on his face.

Unfortunately, for him and the world, he was convinced that his

sins were unpardonable and that it was too late. In his mind, he had

crossed to the land of no return. Already deluded, it never occurred

to him that if he could but repent God would forgive him even then.

Adonis heart hardened further after he failed to grasp the opening

that God had provided for his salvation.

Dozing off briefly, he woke up more determined to work with

Venus and Lucifer to frustrate God’s plans for man.

It was 3.00 a.m., Sunday morning, on the West Coast and 6.00 a.m.,

on the East Coast. Joshua’s face was on the giant screen. His eyes

appeared to be looking directly at him with such compassion and

love.

“…. Lord Jesus, I commit the day and the service into your hands.

My Lord and my God, I pray that all who go to church today will

repent of their sins, turn to Your Holy Son, Jesus, and be born anew

according to your word…..”

“Doesn’t this man ever get tired of praying,” Adonis muttered angrily

to himself.

Adonis could see the pages of the Bible where Joshua had been

reading. He watched Joshua shower, drink a cup of coffee and get

into his car to go to church.

He wanted to shout, ‘Joshua, eat some food, a cup of coffee is

insufficient for your long journey into the next world.’


203

Then he remembered that more than three thousand miles

separated them and even at that, they were on opposite sides of the

conflict.

“Adieu, Joshua,” he muttered as he went out from the control

room.

However, his exit was short-lived. Unable to concentrate on any

tasks and with his mind still on Joshua, whom his men were going to

dispatch in a short while, he returned to the control room to watch

the final drama.

It was 8.45 a. m., in New York. With his mind focused on Joshua,

the Street Corner Church appeared before him. People of different

races and social classes, as could be seen from their dressing, were

going into the church.

He saw his men led by Jamie enter too. At exactly 9.00 a.m., the

service started. The congregation spent the next fifty-five minutes

praying and singing choruses.

The number of worshippers was about one thousand. They all

looked happy and he had to wonder whether they would still be

happy when his men released their plumes of death.

While still lost in thought, he heard, “Brothers and Sisters, join

me to welcome our beloved Brother Joshua, Pastor of Street Corner

Church, to the pulpit….”

As Joshua was taking the few short steps to the pulpit, Jamie was

also advancing to the altar. Goodwin and the other five had also risen

and taken strategic positions inside the church.

Jamie’s shot was the signal. He squeezed out five quick shots at point

blank range to Joshua’s face. Immediately, bullets from six other

automatic weapons began to rain on the congregation.

Pandemonium ensued. Then, the unbelievable happened!

“Brethren, please be calm. Stay on your seats and do not run from

the devil. Is Jesus not able to deliver even from the assassins’ bullets?

Remember your Bible verse ‘Without faith, it is impossible to please

God.’


204

Is there anything too hard for the Lord God? Saints, begin to sing

praises to the Lord and shame the devil…..”

Adonis looked and there still standing was Joshua, unhurt, busy

exhorting his congregation to stay calm in the midst of the hail of

bullets.

Jamie, Goodwin and the other five continued to fire, reload, and

fire again. Not seeing anyone drop to the floor they became confused

more so when the worshippers, whose initial reaction had been to

take shelter under the chairs or to run, were now standing and singing

praises, oblivious of the hail of bullets flying all over the place.

Poor ignorant folks had bested the most elite assassination squad

in the world by simply trusting in God and believing in His

deliverance. Using the weapon of faith, they had found the courage

to praise God and to ignore the bullets bouncing off their clothes.

Hearing police sirens coming from a distance and knowing that

they had exceeded their time in the church, the assassins ran out of

the church to the waiting bus.

Adonis could still hear Joshua’s voice in the background.

“Do not pursue those that came to do us harm. Rather, pray for

them that they may repent of their evil deed and turn to God for

mercy. The Lord God whom we serve has delivered us mightily.

Praise be to His Holy Name.

We would have been on our way to heaven by now had He not

delivered us from this pestilence at noonday. My brethren always

remember that whichever way it goes, the Christian never loses; in

the body, we serve God and our fellow man and out of the body,

when we die, we will still be serving God. …….”

Hundreds of bullet holes on the church walls and empty shells

scattered all over the floor were the only evidence that some persons

with very violent intentions had been there.

Unable to take it anymore, Adonis ran out of his control room.

Trying to understand what he had just witnessed only made him more

confused. One thing was certain though; God must have immersed


205

the congregants in magnetic fields for the bullets to be bouncing off

their clothes.

How was he going to face Venus after such a failure?

Unknown to him, Venus was also worried about meeting him.

She and some of her angels had also witnessed what had taken place

inside the Street Corner Church.

“How does she get a confused genius to believe that Lucifer was

more powerful than God after this unfortunate incident,” she asked

herself.

It was midnight. Venus suddenly came into his bedroom looking

as radiant as ever. Funny, but for the first time, Adonis had no

amorous feelings. He had spent the whole day agonizing and doing

some soul searching.

“Oh darling, you look so pensive,” Venus said as she slid into

bed beside him.

“Are you worried that your boys failed?”

“Yes and No,” he replied. “Initially, I was worried that I had

failed you. Then, on further analysis, it occurred to me that you are

the one who need to give me some answers.”

“What exactly do you mean, Adonis?”

“God is more powerful than Lucifer, right?”

“Wrong, God had more angels during the battle for the heavens

but since then our army has increased with many spirits of the dead

joining us. The next battle will be won by Lucifer’s army.”

“Not likely. I saw halos and angels of God surrounding Joshua

last night.”

“You saw what?” Venus exploded, unable to contain herself.

In that moment of extreme agitation, her true spiritual form

manifested. The ugliness was unimaginable.

Adonis stared, choked, and then vomited. The cat was out of the

bag. The air was very explosive even though there was total silence

in the room. Venus, still in shock, could not bring the physical beauty

back fast enough.


206

With her unwitting exposure, she knew it was time to stop the

pretense and to drop the bombshell.

“Now, you know. Yes, we are fallen spirits and you are in this all

the way. You have no choice but to help us assume control of the

world and then maybe there will be a chance for you and us.”

“No, no, no, I am out,” Adonis burst out. “You guys used lies and

half-truths to draw me in.”

“Adonis, you cannot get out. You elected of your own freewill to

be a part of this. Any further talk of quitting and you are dead.

Unfortunately, dying would be worse for you since you will end up

in hell and there are special angels or demons as God calls them who

will be inflicting punishment on your soul for all eternity. It is better

for you to continue being a faithful servant. With your help, our

negotiations with God might still succeed.”

“How could you have done this to me? I loved you so much and

you deceived me.”

“Adonis, if you only know the number we deceive each day,

without compensating them, you would be very grateful. In your

case, you have received more than your fair share of reward. You

will soon be the world’s absolute ruler, but remember only on the

condition of your unquestioned obedience. No matter the

circumstances, do not voice your doubts to Lucifer or you are dead.

I still have a soft spot for you since I joined my spirit to yours years

ago.”

Venus was no longer ‘Venus’ to Adonis. Though she returned to

her former ethereal self, both knew that the charade was over.

“I would prefer that you now come to me in your natural state,”

Adonis said.

Adonis looked on with shock as Venus transformed herself into

different creatures – fish, rat, dog, cat, vulture, snake, elephant, boy,

girl, woman, etc.


207

“Which one do you prefer?” she asked mockingly when she

finally turned into a hideous caricature – a combination of a snake, a

fish and a cat.

“None,” Adonis, scared, blurted out. “Please appear as you like.”

“That is better,” muttered Venus, changing back into the alluring

maiden. “I have the power to be and to turn into whatever form that

I want in the natural realm. You have to accept that fact.”

He felt great relief at her or, more appropriately, it leaving.

Adonis, the richest and the most intelligent human being on earth

was now a haunted man.

Then from nowhere that Voice again, “What does it profit a man

to gain the whole world and suffer the loss of his own soul.”

“Leave me alone. You could have saved me but you allowed me

to be deceived, first by my parents, and then by Venus and Lucifer.”

“It is not too late,” said the sweet gentle Voice. “All you have to

do is walk away from this cursed city right now. Go to Joshua, My

beloved son, and he will tell you what to do.”

Adonis spent the next week agonizing. Unknown to him, his destiny

and those of many would depend on the decision he would make.

What he could not see was the ring of fire the Lord God had used

to blanket the City of Adonis such that no one from Lucifer’s

kingdom of darkness could contact him spiritually or physically in

the period.

By the end of the week, Adonis had to admit that he could not do

without power and wealth. He still envied Joshua but he could not

bring himself to part with his city. With that decision, he finally

forfeited any chance of salvation and his heart hardened even the

more.

After Adonis elected which way he would travel, God removed

the spiritual blanket. Immediately after, Venus made her grand

entrance.

“You were wise,” she said simply.


208

“What exactly do you mean by that?” Adonis asked.

“Oh, the battle you were having all week – either to accept God’s

lies, throw in the towel, and lose not just this city but your life or to

join forces with us to checkmate God.”

“Can God really be checkmated?” Adonis asked.

“Why can’t He be checkmated?” Venus shot back. “What do you

think really happened this last one week?”

“You tell me because I don’t know,” replied a weary Adonis.

“Lucifer made a bet with God that you would decide in our favor.

If God knew everything, why didn’t He anticipate your choice and

not bet against Lucifer.”

“Venus, are you sure you are not stretching the truth? God

banished Lucifer and his angels from heaven eons ago.”

“Now you are being silly. What does the Book of Job in the Bible

say on the subject or have you conveniently forgotten? The sons of

God entered heaven and with them was Lucifer. God and Lucifer

made a bet then.

Unfortunately for us, Lucifer lost that bet because God did not

play fair and had put a hedge around Job’s life. This time around, we

won the bet because Lucifer made God promise in the presence of

His angels and Lucifer’s angels that he would allow you to make

your choice freely.

Why do you think we did not contact you in the last one week or

for that matter why did God not speak again to you within the week

if not for the bet? Now that God has lost the bet, He is afraid. He

knows that with you on our side we have a fighting chance.”

“Where do we go from here?” Adonis asked, now happy at this

turn of events.

“I am glad you asked,” replied Venus. “Lucifer is pleased with

you. Your decision showed that you know what is best for you and

us. Look at all the investments we have made on you, this beautiful

but complex city, and in more than fifty million others ready to do

your bidding.”


209

“I have about twenty-five million in this city. Where do we have

the other half?”

“Adonis, have you forgotten the more than twenty-five million

children we had sent to our followers’ homes in the last thirty years?”

“I remember but they have not been trained, indoctrinated, and

tested like our people in this city.”

“Do you remember the chips you implanted into their brains

while they were still in the artificial wombs?”

“Yes, I do remember.”

“Well, those chips had Lucifer’s genetic code and an embedded

program that orders their daily activities. This program has

predetermined their careers, interests, and even love life. I assure you

that all of them have been following the preordained pathways

faithfully. They will be equally as committed as your twenty-five

million soldiers on that day.”

“They won’t be strong enough to carry out dangerous

assignments.”

“Adonis, you think only of battles and wars. These men and

women are as important as the twenty-five million in this city. They

are the ones who will occupy positions in commerce and

bureaucracies of countries while your soldiers will man the military

and security outfits of the One-world government.

By virtue of either their pedigree or their individual achievements

or combinations of both, many in their communities know and

respect them. More than five million have completed university

studies and entered the workforces in many countries. Many are on

the rise in the public services and corporations. A few are

parliamentarians, senators, cabinet secretaries, ministers and

presidents of large and medium-sized corporations.”

“I am impressed. You kept all this from me.”

“We in Lucifer’s kingdom operate on a need to know basis. It

helps to maintain discipline. Now that you have shown that you are


210

with us all the way, you will become privy to the final countdown to

your accession to the throne as the ruler of all the earth.”

“But that ruler will be defeated in the end according to the Bible,”

said Adonis.

“Adonis, there you go again. Who do you think wrote the

Christian Bible? Would God’s agents have written anything

favorable to Lucifer? What does Lucifer’s bible say about that end?”

“That there will be a sharing of the earth between God and

Lucifer while the heavens will be open to all,” Adonis replied.

“You see what I mean. Who is more peaceful, God with His

threats of fire and brimstone on his enemies or Lucifer with his plan

for sharing and for all to live and let live?” Venus asked

triumphantly.

“Why can’t you change your features and look beautiful or

handsome all the time?” asked Adonis.

“Our sometimes hideous features are a reminder of the price God

exacted when Lucifer lost the bet on Job,” Venus replied glibly.

“Why did you not reverse it in this latest bet that Lucifer won?”

“Adonis, Lucifer is playing for higher stakes. He wants to convince

God that he is the prince of peace. He hopes that when we have taken

over the whole world without firing a shot, God would come round

to his thinking. Then everything will be resolved. But enough of

talking, we still have some unfinished business.”

“What unfinished business?” Adonis asked.

“Oh, the matter of that Joshua,” Venus replied.

“What about him?”

“Lucifer has decreed that Joshua must still die. He is a threat to

our operations.”

“But we have tried and failed. What else can we do knowing that

God is protecting him?”

“Answer this question, Adonis, when does God remove His

protection from His subjects?”


211

“If any sins, God removes His covering and such a person

becomes easy prey.”

“Good, we must get Joshua to sin.”

“I have his profile before me. He is incorruptible, faithful to his

spouse, and does not take strong drinks except for the occasional

table wines. How do we get him to sin?”

“You are a human being and I am not. Your assignment is to find

that chink in his armor. Once found, penetrate it and destroy him.”

“I will set to work immediately.”


212

13

GOD’S SOLDIERS

Joshua was living with his parents in their Long Island home in New

York, even after his marriage to Ruth, until the adjacent house had

gone up for sale twenty years ago. He had bought it, dug up earth,

and poured concrete to create an underground passage that linked the

basements of the two houses. As a result, his parents and his family

had been sharing the two houses since then.

Blessed with three sons, Josiah, Andrew and Isaiah, Joshua had

enjoyed watching his parents play with their grandsons when they

were growing up. Feeling his parent’s pain when Andrew and Isaiah

left the family home, Joshua was happy when Josiah, his eldest son,

and his family elected, in what had become the Love family tradition,

to live with them.

Joshua was thinking about the Love family clan as he inspected

the job done by the contractor he had engaged to refurbish both

houses in preparation for the coming Thanksgiving. His Dad, Dr.

Joseph Love, had turned eighty at the beginning of the year while his

Mum, Dr. Edith Love, would be seventy-six in a few days. Most

Americans saw nothing wrong in children sending their aged parents

to senior’s residences, erroneously believing that by paying the bills

the children have fulfilled all their filial obligations. When they were

growing up, he and his siblings had been critical of the practice. For

them companionship was as important as taking care of the bills.

Therefore, they had resolved that one or more of them would live

with their parents when they got older.

When they were young, his parents had spoken against the

practice whereby parents kept their babies in separate rooms at night


213

instead of with their parents in those early months. Each of the Love

children had slept in the same room with their parents until he or she

reached the age of four. His mother told them later that bonding

involves spending time with one’s child, and was more important

than giving presents.

He found out long ago that children whose parents were there for

them during their formative years were more likely to reciprocate

when their parents got older, many willingly living with their aging

parents, even if they had diminished capacities, rather than send them

to senior’s residences. Conversely, the ones who didn’t receive

enough attention from their parents in their early years were usually

the first to ship them off to homes for seniors. Of course, he had also

seen some exceptions in both categories.

Jon and Maggie, his wife, were pastors in the United Kingdom

while Esther and Ben, her husband, were missionaries in China. They

were all coming for Thanksgiving. Jon, Maggie, their two sons with

their wives and children would be arriving tomorrow while Esther,

Ben, their two daughters with their husbands and children would be

coming in two days later.

Andrew, Joshua’s second son, was flying that night from Los

Angeles with his wife and children while his other son, Isaiah, would

be driving down with his family from Chicago tomorrow. The house

was going to be full.

He was happy knowing how such gatherings of the Love family

excited his parents – the Patriarch and Matriarch of the Love family

clan.

In a popular restaurant in the financial district in downtown Toronto,

two young men had just finished lunch. Sipping their coffee while

waiting for the bill, Rudy’s mind was going over different scenarios

for the afternoon strategy session with his company’s change

management team when his friend interrupted him.


214

“Rudy, is it true that Brother Joshua, the Pastor of New York’s

Street Corner Church is coming to Toronto?”

“Yes Pape,” replied Ruddy.

“I hear the man is highly controversial. Why is your Pastor giving

him the pulpit?” asked Pape.

“Pape, what do you have against Brother Joshua?”

“I have nothing against him per se, but I have heard that he never

stops pointing out the errors in the messages of many Christian

preachers,” replied Pape defensively. “Shouldn’t he be about

preaching his own message and allowing others to do the same?”

“I never heard word that he has ever stopped anybody from

preaching or teaching,” replied Rudy. “However, what I do know is

that unbiblical messages coming out of pulpits have done more

damage to the gospel than anything that the devil could have

designed. Therefore, it is refreshing to hear a man call it the way he

sees it, not minding the consequences.”

“Since the Bible says we should live in peace with everybody,

would you not construe his attacks as disturbing the peace?” Pape,

unwilling to give up, asked.

“When did constructive criticisms become attacks?” countered

Rudy.

Without waiting for Pape’s answer, Rudy continued, “I have read

some of his books. In none did I see an attack on any pastor or

preacher. His ‘crime’ has been in his use of the Bible, which he

unapologetically states is the final and only authority for all Christian

beliefs and practice, to x-ray many currently held beliefs and

practices.

I must confess that I was shocked at the number of our accepted

practices and beliefs that run contrary to God’s word. Should the man

have held his peace in the midst of the great apostasy in our time by

hiding under the foolish notion that we should all mind our

business?”


215

“Rudy, you must agree that sometimes it is wise to keep quiet

and to let sleeping dogs be.”

“Similarly, Pape, you must also agree that to stop evil from

becoming more pervasive it is wiser to speak up than to keep quiet. I

believe it takes God’s anointing for him to be doing what he is doing

despite all the attacks from both his peers and some powerful Church

groups.”

“I shall come to your house on Sunday evening so that you can

tell me all about the sermon,” Pape said.

“No Pape, you should come to our Sunday service, hear the man

and make up your own mind.”

“We shall see.”

Pape spent the next two days agonizing over the conversation he

had with his friend and brother in the Lord. He and Rudy went back

a long way, right from their high school days in a famous downtown

Toronto Collegiate. Both had been members of their Collegiate

Scripture Union. At the end of their high school studies, he had gone

to Toronto’s York University where he had taken a liberal arts degree

before proceeding to the University of Toronto for his law studies.

Rudy, on the other hand, had gone to the University of Western

Ontario. After obtaining his bachelor’s degree in Commerce, he had

joined a famous Bay Street Investment firm in Toronto. Three years

later, he had qualified as a chartered accountant and was now the

head of his firm’s Corporate Affairs Department.

Now working for a Bay Street Law firm, on the tenth floor of the

same high-rise building as Rudy’s Investment firm, he and Rudy

made it a point of duty to have lunch together whenever possible.

“Darling, I would like us to worship this Sunday at the Crossway

Bible Church,” Pape said to Vivian, his wife.

“Why, Darling, is anything special happening there this

weekend?

“Yes. Brother Joshua, the Pastor of New York’s Street Corner

Church is coming to Toronto and will be preaching there.”


216

“What?” Vivian exclaimed. “You can’t be serious. That man is

not a man of God. He should be barred entry into Canada and if he is

already in the country, he should be run out of town.”

“How do you know he is not a man of God?”

“Everybody says so.”

“Vivian dear, please give me a break. We have all condemned

the man without fair hearing on the basis that everyone says so.”

“Darling, you seem to have forgotten the popular dictum, ‘Vox

Populi, Vox Dei,’” replied Vivian

“As a lawyer, you have to agree that a man is innocent until

proven guilty,” Pape shot back. “I shared your present jaundiced

opinion of the man up till a few days ago.”

“So, what made you change your mind?” Vivian asked

suspiciously.

“Rudy and I had a very interesting conversation a few days ago.”

“I should have guessed. Poor Rudy sees the good in everyone.”

“Vivi, don’t go there. It does not befit you. You know Rudy is no

one’s fool. I had to re-examine my position after my conversation

with him.

“How did you arrive at your present position?” Vivian asked in

an exasperated tone.

“Our previously held position is untenable in law. The man

deserves a hearing and I intend to give him the benefit of doubt by at

least attending his service.”

After a pause, Vivian said, “You are right, Pape dear. I agree that

it is wrong to accept the conviction of a man in the court of public

opinion without hearing his side of the story. You and I, husband and

wife, but more importantly Christian lawyers, will give him that

opportunity on Sunday.”

Pape and Vivian had been married for ten years. They had met at

a fellowship organized by the University of Toronto Christian Union.

It had been love at first sight. Sitting at the same table on that

momentous evening, while the choir sang songs and children acted


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out a play, they found that they had a lot in common, the most

important being their love for the Lord.

Vivian was two classes lower in the Law School and Pape had to

wait for her to finish before they tied the knot. Now with three

children, Agnes, 8, Peter, 6, Lucy, 4, Pape and Vivian had their work

cut out, juggling their daily schedules, what with challenging careers

and parenthood.

While they both loved to talk, sometimes far into the night, their

true passion was in studying God’s word. Their marriage was one

that was vibrant, constantly spiced, and filled with the flavor of their

service for the Lord.

By God’s grace, both had believing parents, now retired, who

were very happy to baby-sit and play with their grandchildren. They

always had fun watching their parents ‘arguing’ which couple would

have the children for the day. He and Vivian knew that God had

blessed them indeed; it was not commonplace to find Christian

couples whose parents were on fire for the Lord too.

“Please join me, brothers and sisters, to welcome our beloved

Brother Joshua, the Pastor of New York’s Street Corner Church,”

announced Brother John, the Pastor of Crossway Bible Church.

The response to the introduction was polite clapping. Crossway

Bible Church, one of Toronto’s full gospel churches, with usually

two thousand worshippers, had more than three thousand in

attendance this Sunday. Many had come to see the controversial

preacher after hearing him denounced by gays, lesbians, free thinkers

and even by some leaders of the organized churches in Toronto’s

print, radio and television.

Brother John, though happy at the free publicity but sad at the

denunciation of someone whom he knew loved the Lord more than

most, had not mentioned the intense arguments for and against the


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visit to his guest when he received him at the Pearson International

airport the night before.

Vivian watched as Brother Joshua rose from his seat and moved

to the podium. She was surprised at her reaction on seeing him.

Brother Joshua had a kindly handsome face with sorrow-filled

penetrating eyes. Her heart went out to him and she felt ashamed at

her earlier condemnation of someone whom she had never met

before. Even before hearing him speak, she sensed in her spirit that

Brother Joshua was the real deal.

As one of the best prosecutors in the province of Ontario, Vivian

prided herself on being a good judge of character. Most defense

lawyers were afraid to come against her in court. On some occasions,

she had refused to prosecute cases based on her conviction that the

accused was innocent despite apparent evidences to the contrary.

Some ambitious prosecutors had taken such cases only to find to their

chagrin that her earlier assessment had been on the money.

The voice from the pulpit broke into her reverie.

“……. Our today is rooted in our yesterday. To understand our

today, we must go on an excursion to our yesterday. Pretending

yesterday’s issues and events do not matter, or wishing them away,

or rationalizing past errors, ensures we would continue to repeat

yesterday’s mistakes. The tool we need to cut the yoke of lies, deceit

and errors of past generations is knowledge. For us to leave a worthy

legacy for the next generation, cutting this yoke should be the urgent

goal for our generation.

Our message this morning will highlight the consequences of

practicing mixtures using previous generations as examples. After

that, we will demonstrate how mixtures of God’s word and satanic-

inspired lies continues to hinder our prayers and why it is imperative

that we break that cycle of deceit immediately.

Noah and his family found favor with God in one respect – they

were different from the rest of humanity, having refused to join the

rest of the world in sinning against God. The Bible tells us that the


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rest of world did evil in God’s sight. Obviously, they worshiped other

gods in addition to the Almighty God. Was Noah popular in his

generation for being different? We can only deduce the answer to

that question. I submit that he was not, or we would have read in the

Scriptures how some of his friends came to visit him while he and

his family were constructing the ark.

With the exception of Noah’s family, God destroyed the whole

earth and everything that had breath in its nostrils. Millions or even

billions of souls destroyed in a moment because of sin!

……………………………………………….

In Abraham’s world, the nations of Sodom and Gomorrah sinned

against God. Men and women in the two nations practiced mixtures

too, using their bodies for procreation as well as burning with lust for

those of the same sex. Lot, Abraham’s nephew, a stranger living in

the midst of the two nations, continued to preach the way of

righteousness despite strong opposition. Did the people of Sodom

and Gomorrah love Lot? No. They hated him for refusing to join

them in their debauchery.

When God’s angels rained fire and brimstone on Sodom and

Gomorrah, the angels saved none but Lot and his two daughters.

Again, who knows how many perished in that inferno, thousands or

tens of thousands?

In the time of Elijah, the children of Israel worshipped both God

and Baal. Elijah preached against mixtures and challenged the people

to choose one or the other. The people could not make up their mind,

after all Baal worship and worship of God had been going on together

in their generation and no one had complained before then.

How many persons were standing with Elijah when he challenged

the prophets of Baal that day on Mount Carmel? The answer is none.

Only when the people saw the fire from heaven consuming the

sacrifice on water-soaked wood immersed in flowing water did they

repent and join him.


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After demonstrating that Jehovah is God, did it stop the king and

his queen, Jezebel, from seeking to kill Elijah? If mixtures were

acceptable to God then, God should not have answered Elijah’s

prayer. The reason that God heard and answered Elijah’s prayers was

because he was obedient to God’s word.

If mixtures were wrong then, they are still wrong today. If the

Bible did not record that the world loved Elijah or any of the prophets

of old, it follows that the present world would not love the true

prophets of our generation. ………………………

The Bible records the world’s hatred of our Lord and Savior Jesus

Christ thus, ‘They hated Me without a cause.’

Evil will always hate good. The hypocritical Pharisees and the

corrupt priests could not stand the light of truth in Christ Jesus. The

presence of Jesus only showed the Priests, Pharisees and Sadducees

how dirty and corrupt they had become. Eliminating Him, they must

have thought, was the best way to salve their conscience.

Daily reminded of how far they had departed from God’s truth,

these previous enemies ganged up and conspired to put Him to death.

Goodness has a way of uniting evil persons and groups. Using the

platform of such unholy alliances, they slander and sometimes

eliminate agents of good. ……………………

What is the basis of our faith? Is it miracles, greed-based faith

doctrines such as naming and claiming our promotions, money,

houses and even someone else’s spouse? Is the way we pray in the

prescribed manner, or is it according to how our pastors say it has to

be?

Can we convince God that our lifestyles are in accordance with

His biblical admonitions? Or have we mastered the art of stifling our

consciences, daily deceiving ourselves?

No one will meet Him on the last day and claim that he or she

practiced the Christian faith by following a priest, pastor or preacher

when the Bible was there for him or her to read. … ……...


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…. There are many unbiblical practices in both the orthodox and

the Bible-believing churches. It is not my intention to catalogue them

here, as time will not permit. However, I urge each person here to go

home and carry out a personal Bible study. Please search for the

mixtures and errors, unaided. I am fully persuaded that when

convicted and you fall on your knees, God will open your eyes to

behold His glory as His truth washes over you.

As the truth sets you free, you will discover how easy it is to

approach God’s Throne of mercy. You will also learn how to

communicate effectively with our Father in heaven.

God destroyed the world of Noah, Sodom and Gomorrah, and the

heathen nations of old because of sin. Being a just God, would He

spare the present world that has committed arguably more heinous

sins than those nations He had previously destroyed?

God allowed the enemies of Israel to destroy Jerusalem and His

temple and to carry His Chosen people – His natural born children –

into captivity. He also allowed those enemies to rule over them for

centuries, and even today the Jews in Diaspora not only outnumber

those in Israel but many do not even know of their heritage. If God

did not spare his natural born children, why do we think that God

would spare the Church, His adopted children, if they failed to stand

up for the truth in the time of their dispensation?

God’s word in Second Thessalonians, Chapter 2, Verses 7 and 8

says, “For the mystery of lawlessness is already at work; only He

who restrains will do so until He is taken out of the way.

And then the lawless one will be revealed, whom the Lord will

consume with the breath of His mouth and destroy with the

brightness of His coming

”

The Holy Spirit, whom Christ promised His Father would send,

has been with the Church since that Pentecost day in the 1st century.

Guiding God’s saints, the Holy Spirit helped the Early Church to


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address such highly contentious issues as the unity of Gentiles and

Jews in Christ. The mystery of lawlessness was even at work then.

However, as long as the disciples allowed the Holy Spirit to work

with them, they were able to avoid doctrinal errors.

Unfortunately, the successors to the early disciples forgot their

Partner in God’s work. They went on to employ worldly principles,

philosophies and theologies to tackle complex issues.

Man without the Holy Spirit is no match for the devil. Over the

centuries, the mystery of lawlessness has succeeded in taking many

captive through the introduction of heretical doctrines into Christian

beliefs and practices.

The result is that in the 21st century anyone preaching Isaiah

Chapter 8, Verse 20, “To the law and to the testimony! If they do not

speak according to this word, it is because there is no light in them,”

is said to be divisive.

Mentioning Philippians Chapter 3, Verse 2, “Beware of dogs,

beware of evil workers, beware of the mutilation!” in a message gets

the hounds barking. Using Jude, Verse 3, to exhort the saints “to

contend earnestly for the faith which was once for all delivered to

the saints,” and to return to the simplicity of the gospel is no longer

acceptable to those who want to take away our liberty in Christ.

Anyone brave enough to take such a biblical stand must be ready to

endure salvos of slander from the well-funded propaganda

machinery of organized religion.

Honest servants of God preaching the true gospel in the 21st

century are said to be evil men and women who ought to burn at the

stake just like the martyrs in the Dark Ages who dared question the

heresies of Rome. False workers leading many into Christ-less

eternity are revered and called true servants of God by those they are

deceiving.

Miracles, signs and wonders have become the hallmark of

Pentecost and revivals, not genuine repentance from sin and passion


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for lost souls. Christ is an afterthought in ministrations. We call on

His Name for wonders but not for much else.

We have forgotten that the return of one lost soul is more

important than the raising of the dead and that there is rejoicing in

heaven over one sinner that turns away from sin to righteousness.

The implication is that heaven stands still when a soul bound for hell

turns to God. This shows us how much God regards one sinner’s

repentance.

In the book of Second Thessalonians, Chapter 2, Verses 3 and 4,

we read,

“Let no one deceive you by any means; for that Day will not come

unless the falling away comes first, and the man of sin is revealed,

the son of perdition,

Who opposes and exalts himself above all that is called God or

that is worshipped, so that he sits as God in the temple of God,

showing himself that he is God.”

The day is coming when the whole world will come under the

sway of the evil one, this man of sin. That day which seemed far off

a few generations ago is very near now.

I believe this man of sin will manifest himself in our generation.

‘Why in our generation,’ one would ask, ‘and not in either the ones

before or the ones after us?’

The simple answer is that at no time in human history have we

seen such congruence between the world religions. The organized

churches, some Bible-based churches, and many Middle Eastern and

Far Eastern religions, now share common cultic practices like

visualization and the worship of the dead. These churches and

religions have accepted that their followers are all praying to the

same God.

Would you not agree then that the falling away process has

already begun? It is only but a very short step to the next stage when

anyone repeating what the Lord Jesus Christ said in John Chapter 14,

Verse 6, “I am the way, the truth and the life. No one comes to the


224

Father except through Me,” would be run out of town because he is

discriminating against more than three quarters of humanity.

Furthermore in the Book of Revelation, Chapter 13, Verse 7, we

read,

“And it was granted to him to make war with the saints and to

overcome them. And authority was given him over every tribe,

tongue, and nation.

Has truth not received a thumping in our time? Even though the

war mentioned in the above verse refers to that final persecution of

believers during the reign of the antichrist, we can still liken it to the

present battle between the Truth and the Lie, between the Good and

the Bad. Who do you think is winning the war for the souls of men

today?

Many call those preachers who speak the truth to a dying world

evil, while calling those that fleece people of their hard-earned

income through promises of bogus miracles and powerful prayers

true men of God. Have the antichrist’s agents not already gone more

than halfway in accomplishing the designs of the devil?

……………………………………..

The final overcoming of the saints by the antichrist will be swift

at his revelation. I am convinced that the antichrist is already on Earth

at this very minute.

I believe that Satan will create a phony collapse of the world’s

political and economic systems, which only the antichrist or the man

of peace can restore. A grateful world would then readily accept him

as their messiah when he performs this ‘miracle.’

Many will ignore the saints’ warnings that this man of peace is a

phony who will only bring disaster to the world. The antichrist will

respond by hounding and putting to death those saints who warn the

world not to accept his phantom peace.

With the Lie becoming the truth, it will only take a little nudge

for the whole world to worship the antichrist as god and hail him as


225

the savior of humanity. You ask, ‘why should God allow such evil

to manifest on the earth and not put a stop to it?’

The word of God gives us the answer in Second Thessalonians,

Chapter 2, Verses 9 to 11,

“The coming of the lawless one is according to the working of

Satan with all power, signs, and lying wonders, and with all


receive the love of truth, that they might be saved.

And for this reason God will send them a strong delusion, that

they should believe the lie.”

In simple terms, the world rejected God’s message and those of

his prophets. Instead they chose those whose bellies ruled over their

heads, hearts and intentions. They loved the Lie and not the Truth

and therefore missed the salvation train. ………………..

……..…… Repent, renounce sin and mixtures, weep for the

world, pray for God’s mercy so that God’s Spirit will penetrate and

permeate the hearts of men and women so that multitudes may repent

and turn to God for salvation in these dying minutes.

That, my dearly beloved brothers and sisters, is how the cycle of

deceit can be broken in our lives, in the church, and in the world of

those around us.

Vivian, looking up, saw the anguish and tears in Brother Joshua’s

eyes. Then she became aware that she had tears in her own eyes.

Glancing at her husband, she saw tears in his eyes too. Looking

around she saw tears on many faces.

Vivian knew that God and Brother Joshua had made their case.

She wondered why she had never heard anyone preach in such a

fashion. It had been a ‘me-focused’ Christian practice for many when

it ought to have been finding and doing the will of God.

Many preachers, responding to the needs of the ‘Me Generation,’

spent more time preaching prosperity, visualization, and other

positive confession messages whose roots could be traced to ancient


226

Middle and Far Eastern occults. Their messages had in the main

diverted attention from the serious issues of the consequences of sin

both here now and hereafter. Messages from pulpits did not challenge

Christians enough to practice daily Christian living in their

communities. Neighbors who sought the truth did not see why they

had to become Christians when Christians in their neighborhoods

joined them in doing those very things that the word of God

condemned.

Rudy and his wife, Mary, came over that evening. Vivian could tell

that the day’s events were weighing heavily on everyone’s mind.

More than one thousand persons had gone to the altar either to

surrender their lives to Christ or to re-dedicate it when Brother

Joshua made the altar call.

Prayers and dedication over, she could still see the astonished

faces following Brother Joshua’s intervention when the call for the

offering was made.

Brother Joshua’s challenge still rang in her ears, “……… In the

city of Toronto, many poor and homeless persons would have loved

to be here today but could not or would not. One of those persons

could be your neighbor in heaven.

What will you say to him or her when he or she visits you in your

heavenly abode and asks you to share your experiences while on

planet Earth? Would you be ashamed or would you be happy because

you obeyed God’s call today to go out to the laneways and highways

and call them to the feast many more noble had rejected.

Brothers and sisters of Crossway Bible Church, as one body, let

us go into the streets of Toronto and give to the poor what we had

purposed to give as offerings in the church today. Tell whomever you

give your gift that Jesus sent you and that He loves him or her. You

will see what a difference that would make in many lives.”

With Brother Joshua leading the way, the whole church had

marched through many streets of Toronto, singing and dancing,


227

giving the homeless money, tracts and oral invitation to join the

merry crowd. Many residents had come out of their houses to witness

this unprecedented happening on their streets.

One hour later, the congregation had returned to the Crossway Bible

Church building accompanied by more than one hundred persons

who had been touched by what they had seen on the streets.

The couples ate their dinner quietly, still mulling over the day’s

events. When dinner was over, and with no one apparently ready to

bell the cat by giving voice to his or her thoughts, Vivian decided to

touch the subject that was uppermost on their minds.

Turning to Mary, she asked, “How did you find Brother Joshua’s

sermon?”

“I have never been more blessed, my sister. Brother Joshua is a

man of God. While it is sad that the world has already condemned

him, it is all the more tragic that some of those calling themselves

Christians have spread such evil against a man whose ‘crime’ is his

insistence that the word of God be the only authority for Christian

doctrines and practices.”

Pape, looked each person around the dining table in the eye,

pushed his chair aside and rose up. He was about to speak when he

remembered Vivian’s usual tease that his practice of rising from his

seat to speak was because he was always imagining himself to be a

criminal defense attorney addressing a jury just before the judge sent

them out for their deliberations. Chuckling, he drew his seat and was

about to seat down before he changed his mind and remained

standing.

“Ladies and gentleman, first, let me say thank you to my friend

and brother, Rudy. May the good Lord reward you for insisting that

Vivian and I attend Brother Joshua’s service.

It would have been tragic had I missed today’s service. Brother

Joshua did indeed give a practical demonstration of Christian love.

Look at the number of souls whom the Lord added to His Kingdom

today!


228

I have one question though for Rudy, ‘How does Brother Joshua

expect ministries and churches to pay their bills if they regularly give

away their Sunday service offerings to the poor and the needy?’”

Rudy laughed before replying. “That is a great question. I have three

of the dynamic Brother’s books. However, his book, Pastoral

Calling answers your question. Using Scripture to back up his

arguments, he demonstrated that God always makes provision for his

ministers. He believes that many ministers do fundraising in

churches because either God did not call them or they were not

patient enough to allow God’s empowerment of their ministry to

manifest before striking out.

He is not against church members contributing for the upkeep of

their ministers and for the payment of church bills. In fact, he states

that it is the responsibility of Christians to maintain their pastors,

churches and ministries. What he questions is the practice where

pastors and ministers inundate attendees to Sunday church services

with prosperity messages that turns into requests for contribution to

one church project or another.

Many church attendees, still inquiring and trying to find their

way, are often put off by the regular mention of tithes and offerings

during Sunday services. Several unfortunately have stopped

attending fellowships because they erroneously believe that the

primary purpose of church services is to solicit funds.

In the end, souls have been lost to the kingdom because many

churches have been emphasizing wealth-creation messages, tithes

and offerings instead of Christ-centered life-changing and life-giving

messages.

Brother Joshua believes that the funding of ministries and

churches should be the responsibility of a local church’s committed

members. He suggests that churches organize the collection of

money and other support at member-only functions. He strongly

advocates that pastors and ministers should use Sunday worship and

other church services where enquirers and young converts attend to


229

present Jesus to a dying world. The messages during such services

should focus on the finished works of Christ on the cross, the

Christian’s walk with his Lord and on how to run the race in the love

and fear of God.

You all will agree that we saw the practical demonstration of his

beliefs both in the way he conducted the church service and the

outreach today.”

“Bravo Rudy,” Pape exclaimed. “With your excellent summary,

I don’t need to read the book. You have succinctly articulated and

convincingly presented Brother Joshua’s book in such a way that

even he would be proud of you.”

“Vivian, tell your husband to buy the book. My summary could

never do justice to a four hundred-page treatise.”

Vivian and Mary were laughing now. The couples had always

been comfortable in each other’s company and the conviviality was

always there.

Mary decided to intervene.

“Please darling, leave Pape alone. You should be happy that he

trusts your judgment.”

“Whose side are you on?” Rudy asked Mary with pretended pain

in his voice. “Are you trying to let Pape off the hook?”

“Rudy, do not worry,” Vivian said laughingly. “I am on your side

even if Mary has decided to pitch her tent with my hubby. Tell me

where I can get a copy and I promise you that I will have it sitting in

a prominent place on our dining table.”

After a pause, Vivian asked, “One thing I find a little puzzling

though, why was he introduced as Brother Joshua and not as

Reverend Joshua or Pastor Joshua?”

“I am glad you asked that question, Vivian,” answered Rudy. “He

treated the subject very extensively in his first book. In fact, I believe

that it was after the publication of that book that some pastors

stopped inviting him to their churches to preach.


230

Brother Joshua believes that the rise of hierarchy and the special

treatment given to the overseers of the churches in the 2nd and 3rd

centuries contributed in no small way to the apostasy of the 4th

century. Some Christians, seeing the benefits and reverence

associated to higher church offices, began actively to seek them,

oftentimes using wicked methods to achieve their objectives.

To him, part of the lack of spirituality from the 4th century until now

is attributable to the rise of hierarchy in churches. He also believes

that there is a direct correlation between pomp and pageantry –

exemplified by the love of titles – and the absence of the Holy Spirit

in our services.

He argues further that the early apostles never preceded their

names with titles like apostle, pastor, bishop and teacher.”

“I can now see why some of our top preachers and organized

churches dislike him,” Vivian burst out. “But sincerely, is he not

making a lot of sense? What is so wrong in our addressing our men

and women of God as brothers and sisters? Where is their humility?

In fact, Brother Joshua is truly God’s prophet for a time like this

when those entrusted with the offerings in the temple are busy

making away with not just the offerings but even the praise due only

to our God. Instead of being servants of the flock, they are now lords

over the flock.”

“How can we reach him, Rudy?” asked Pape. “We would like to

become part of his ministry.”

“Our brother, I have heard, has an open door policy. We can write

him, but we can also pay him a visit at his church. He receives all

who come to see him without discrimination. He does not go about

with any security detail because he says that God is his protector.”

“And indeed, God is his Protector,” said Mary. “Recall that a few

weeks ago armed men had stormed Street Corner Church in New

York, firing several hundred bullets at Brother Joshua and the

congregation. The assassins fled the scene in fear but there was not

even a scratch on anyone in the church. That is the testimony of this


231

man of God that some misguided ones in this city have been busy

castigating.”

The discussions continued far into the night before Rudy and

Mary took their leave.


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14

JO LIBRA

When an unclean spirit goes out of a man, he goes through dry

places, seeking rest; and finding none, he says, ‘I will return to my

house from which I came.’

And when he comes, he finds it swept and put in order. Then he

goes and takes with him seven other spirits more wicked than himself,

and they enter and dwell there; and the last state of that man is worse

than the first.” (Luke 11: 24-26)

Adonis was looking at the revised dossier on Joshua and his family

for the umpteenth time on this particular morning. For one month

now, he had been monitoring Joshua and members of his family from

his thought-cognition control room. The day he watched Joshua’s

exegetical preaching in Toronto on his giant screen, he had fleetingly

thought that he could have repented had things been different. Joshua

had earned his respect that day and he had reluctantly admitted that

he was indeed a worthy adversary.

Still lost in his thoughts, he remembered his only sibling. He and

Jane rarely met though they occasionally spoke on the phone.

Considering their continued existence an inconvenience, he hardly

thought of his parents. They were in a Senior’s home in New York.

Though he went to New York many times a year, he rarely visited

them. As the years went by, he could hardly restrain the impatience

in his voice whenever he saw and talked to them.


233

“Why can’t they just die so that I can close this chapter of my

life?” he would mutter sometimes after leaving them.

Adonis envied the Love family for their closeness. Joshua, Esther

and Jonathan, though separated by oceans, spoke daily with each

other. Since he regularly monitored Joshua’s movements, he often

listened to his conversations with his siblings. Images of Joshua

playing basketball with his sons and grandchildren at the makeshift

court at the back of his Long Island home usually made his loneliness

worse.

He had tried many times before today to convince himself that

were circumstances to have been different he could have been Joshua

and Joshua could have been him. As he thought about it today, he

was startled when he heard a small still voice say, “You know you

are lying to yourself. Joshua had choices and opportunities like you

had. He chose the narrow and difficult path that led to the salvation

of his soul while you chose the broad and easy road to perdition.

Despite the circumstances of your birth, God’s grace was

sufficient for you to have accepted Christ’s finished work on the

Cross and been like Joshua.”

Shouting, “No, no, no, I don’t want to hear,” he shut his ears to

the small still voice growing fainter and fainter as he continued to

scream. It was preferable to blame God for the choices he had made.

“God will see,” he muttered, trying hard to put a salve on the deep

melancholy that had set shop inside his soul.

Yes, he was on the subject of Jane before that voice interrupted

him. Jane had made quite a name for herself. After completing her

college education in theatre arts, she had gone to Hollywood to

pursue an acting career to the chagrin of their parents.

Though his sister was naturally beautiful, it had taken many plastic

surgeries to turn her into Hollywood’s most beautiful and most

expensive star. Running through five husbands and dozens of men in

a few short years, her currency rather than depreciate had gone up in

value. Many men would do anything for just a smile from the ‘queen


234

of Hollywood,’ the name her teeming fans and the press now called

her.

Deciding to know what she was doing, the thought-cognition

portal in his brain opened up immediately. As soon as he saw the live

feed on the screen, he regretted having activated the process. His

sister was in bed with her latest conquest – a young senator from

Missouri. Picking the phone beside him immediately, he dialed his

sister’s red line. It was the only way to stop the images flooding the

large screen in his control room.

“………. Adonis, why are you calling this early?”

“Oh Sis, I am in New York,” he lied. “I was wondering if we

could meet for lunch at the Pellegrino by say 2.00 p.m., tomorrow.”

Pellegrino was New York’s finest restaurant where stars,

politicians, drug barons and the well heeled dined.

“Sure, why not,” replied Jane.

The click of the phone did not stop him from seeing Jane reach

out to the smitten senator who was miffed that she had answered the

phone. The Senator could not have known that she always picked up

the red phone whenever she was in residence in her Fifth Avenue

apartment. Only very few people knew that unlisted number.

Adonis ran from the control room when he could not will away

the images still playing on the screen, even after the telephone

conversation. He had to acknowledge rather reluctantly that having

a technology that spied on the world had its disadvantages.

Adonis took off from the All Star airstrip in the middle of the Pacific

Ocean for New York very early the next day in his special private jet

via the usual circuitous underground tunnel of Adonis city. Because

the aircraft controls had a direct link via satellite to his thought-

cognition control room, enabling him to monitor any place or persons

worldwide even in flight, he was the only one who maintained and

piloted this particular jet.


235

An All Star limousine was waiting at La Guardia airport to take him

first to his New York offices and then to the Pellegrino.

“You are always beautiful, big sister. How are you doing?”

“Oh, little brother, I am okay. And how are you doing yourself?”

“I am fine. One of the things that I regret is that you and I don’t

get to spend much time together.”

“Come on, Adonis, you were never the hypocrite. So, don’t start

now. Something is on your mind and I don’t think you asked me out

for lunch because you wanted a family reunion, or to assuage your

conscience. Just tell me know what you want.”

“I am sorry Jane. You are right. I was going to ask you for a favor

but I have changed my mind. Let us eat and be a family this once.”

Jane looked at her brother as tears welled up in her eyes. Worried

that her tears could start dropping on the table, Adonis passed a

napkin to her.

“Not here, Jane. You are a celebrity. You know the press is

lurking somewhere in the background.”

They ate lunch without speaking. Jane had lobster with

vegetables while he had medium rare steak and vegetables specially

prepared for him.

Over dessert, Jane asked, “Adonis, what do you want me to do

for you?”

He hesitated before replying, “I want you to destroy Joshua, the

Pastor of New York’s Street Corner Church.”

“Why, what has he done to you?”

“Nothing,” he lied. “I want to expose him as a hypocritical fraud.

A few weeks ago, the press reported that some criminals opened fire

on Joshua and his congregation while the service was in session and

that no one in the church received even a scratch. It made for a very

good read in the New York Times. You know l like challenges.

Therefore, out of curiosity, I decided to investigate when I heard that

attendance at the church had doubled since the incident.


236

Can you imagine what I discovered? Our famous Pastor had

organized the whole thing. His associates fired blanks at him and the

church members and real bullets on the church walls.”

“How can you be sure and what is it to you if this Pastor wants

to attract people to his church using a rather unorthodox way. Come

to think of it, we could use him in one of our movies if he is this

good.”

“Jane, have you forgotten the things we used to discuss as kids?

You know there is no God and that all the people who claim to know

Him personally are liars.”

“Adonis, as kids, I believed our parents and the books we read

that tried to advance reasons why there is no God. However, growing

up, away from our parents, I have come to question their stand. While

most of me still does not believe that there is God, a little bit of me

has come to acknowledge that there could indeed be God. Otherwise,

how does one account for the planets rotating around the sun in

ordered and pre-assigned orbits.”

“Jane, you are talking nonsense. Who has brainwashed you?”

“I would like you to turn that question around and you might

discover that our esteemed parents might have brainwashed us.”

Adonis sensing that he was losing the argument, and knowing his

sister was more right than she could have imagined, decided to

change tack.

“Would you not like the challenge of proving to yourself that this

Pastor, like all the other church leaders, is indeed a fake?” Adonis

asked slyly.

His sister was not one that ran from a contest. As children, she always

cried whenever he bested her, which was all the time, in the regular

quizzes their parents gave to keep them busy.

“Adonis, you are forgetting that I am now a grown woman and

can see right through you. You were baiting me just now. All the

same, I will check him out. What is the plan?”


237

“I will organize for some punks to shoot you. They will use

blanks and so you will not be hurt. However, you must fall down

when they begin to shoot, as the assassins will fire live bullets into

the surrounding buildings. The press will have a field day reporting

the attack on a famous actress and of her miraculous escape.”

“What is the purpose of this elaborate hoax?”

“There are two reasons for what you call a hoax. The first is to

show you how Joshua stage-managed the attack in his church. The

second is to create the perfect reason for you to seek him out.”

“I see,” said Jane sadly. “I had always known that you were a

very dangerous man despite your uncanny brilliance. I sometimes

wonder if you have not gone over the edge. All the same, I will play

my part in this made-for-print and television reality show just to see

how your plans pan out. I might use this reality script in a future

movie.”

Jane, looking into her brother’s inscrutable eyes, sensed

something sinister was going on. She knew she ought to rescind her

decision and walk away from him but having spent most of her adult

life living on the edge she knew that this was one very tempting

challenge that she could not pass over.

“What happens after I make contact?”

She knew the answer even before Adonis uttered it.

“You will seduce Joshua.”

“Then what happens after that?” she asked.

“You would have succeeded in your assignment having exposed

him for the fraud that he is.”

“So you mean his sleeping with me would be the proof that he is not

a man of God. Would that also prove that God does not exist?”

“Jane, just do what I have asked. Believe me; you do not want to

know the larger picture. One thing is certain; Joshua’s exposure

would have beneficial consequences for all of us. My associates will

underwrite all the production costs of your next ten movies.”


238

“Adonis, you cannot bribe me. I am independently wealthy. I can

also have any man eating out of my hands in a moment. That means

that I can have the world’s richest men underwrite my projects. I will

do what you have asked but not for any of the reasons you had

advanced.”

“You will not know when or where the attack will take place.

That way your reaction will be normal. My associates and I will give

the attack maximum publicity. After that, the ball shifts to your court.

We will be monitoring your every move and will be there when he is

in bed with you. Good luck.”

“A thought just crossed my mind. Suppose Joshua does not take

the bait, what then?”

“No man can resist a damsel in distress, not to talk of the most

beautiful woman on earth. Play on that.”

“You will say anything to have your way. I do not need you to

flatter me.”

“I wasn’t flattering you. I meant what I said, Sis. You are indeed

the most beautiful woman alive.”

With a kiss on the cheek, Adonis rose. On cue, Jane, whose

screen name was Jo Libra, took his proffered hands and together they

walked out of the restaurant.

Someone had tipped off the National Enquirer about a possible

romance between the world’s most beautiful actress and the reclusive

investment banker who, for a season, had captured the world’s

imagination with his brilliance.

The reporter followed them discreetly and was rather

disappointed when two limos pulled up, one for the actress and the

other for the banker. Obviously, this could have been a business

meeting. However, he decided to stake out Jo Libra’s apartment for

the next one week.

How disappointed the reporter would have been had he known

that Jane White and Adonis White were siblings. In fact, very few

persons knew Jo Libra as Jane White.


239

The breaking news flashed round the world. An armed gang of three

had attacked Actress Jo Libra while she was walking on a side street

close to her New York’s Fifth Avenue apartment. Initial reports

claimed that she had died while later reports said she was in the

hospital.

Within hours, her face was on most television and computer screens

around the world as she gave a press conference primarily to dispel

the rumors of her demise. It did not take long before reporters

connected the dots and began to compare her miraculous escape to

that of Joshua, the controversial New York pastor, and his

congregation, a few weeks before.

Soon enough many paid television commentators began to question

the theology of divine intervention, flatly ridiculing those who hold

unto such beliefs and proffering philosophical arguments against it.

Others stated that having faith in God is profitless since Jo Libra’s

deliverance from assassins proved that God delivers whosoever He

chooses. The corollary for others was that praying to God has no

affect on whether God delivers someone from evil or not. After all,

they asked, ‘Had He not prevented the assassination of a pastor and

a seductress in the same city?’

A few disingenuously chipped in that God was delivering a

message that, contrary to scriptural assertions, every human being

would go to heaven because He loves all of His creation and would

not send anyone to hell. ‘Otherwise, why would He miraculously

save both saint and sinner a few weeks apart in a big city like New

York,’ they further opined.


240

The telephone in Joshua’s office was ringing. Picking it up after the

third ring, Joshua heard a soft voice ask, “Can I speak to the Pastor

of the Church, please?”

Jane, at the other end of the line, heard a gentle voice answer,

“My name is Joshua. I am the Pastor of Street Corner Church.”

Disconcerted by the tenderness in the tone, she began to wonder

if she was doing the right thing.

After a slight hesitation, she decided to plunge headlong. “My

name is Jo Libra,” she said in her sweetest voice.

“Yes?”

The very short query made her more nervous.

“I am the actress that was attacked by a gang of killers a few days

ago,” she stammered. “I decided to call you when I read that you had

been attacked by a similar gang a few weeks back.”

“Praise the Lord for saving you from the assassins’ bullets,”

responded the man at the other end of the line.

“I would like to meet you,” Jane said uncertainly.

“Why?”

She thought this Joshua must be a man of very few words. Before

she could stop herself, she had blurted, “I would like you to pray for

me.”

“Our service starts at 9.00 a.m., every Sunday and our midweek

services at 7.00 p.m., on Wednesdays,” stated the voice at the other

end.

“I would have liked to come on Sunday except that I am flying

to Los Angeles tonight and would be gone for two weeks,” she lied

“In that case we would be happy to pray with you when you

return.”

“Pastor, you don’t understand. Since the attack, I have not been

sleeping well. I see either replays of the attack or variations of it in

my dreams every night. As an example, in my dream last night, I saw

a gang of assassins break into my apartment with guns blazing. I


241

woke up paralyzed with fear, in cold sweat, and with increased

heartbeat.

A friend advised me to get closer to God after the attack but I

didn’t listen. However, after reading about your encounter with the

assassins this morning, it dawned on me that maybe my friend was

right. Who would best help me if not someone who had faced a

similar situation? I believe that you are the one who could understand

my fear and help me to conquer it.”

“When do you want to come?” the hesitant voice at the other end

asked.

“How about one hour from now?”

“Do you have the church address?”

“Yes.”

One hour later, Jo Libra was ushered into Joshua’s office. Jo saw the

face she had etched into her memory since she agreed to undertake

this assignment.

As Joshua rose from his chair to greet her, she could not help but

notice his very imposing presence and kind face – attributes that had

not been that evident in the video images and newspaper clips.

“Welcome to the Street Corner Church. Please have a seat and

tell me your story one more time.”

She was surprised at his getting down to business without

pleasantries.

Using her best acting voice, she narrated the attack, the sleepless

nights, the ever-present fear and visit to a psychiatrist.

“Let us pray.”

Not even a sympathetic expression of understanding. She had

expected that he would have given her tissue to wipe the tears raining

down profusely from her eyes. This Pastor was hard, and worst of

all, he did not seem to notice that he was in the presence of one of

the most beautiful women in the world.


242

Joshua’s voice soon drowned away her carnal thoughts. Before long,

she was crying and for the first time in many years, genuine tears

were coming out of her eyes.

Without prompting, she began to narrate the seduction plot. After

she had finished, she was surprised to see the sympathy in the

Pastor’s eyes. She had thought the Pastor was unfeeling but now she

could see the softness and tenderness.

His next question, “Are you ready to accept Jesus Christ as your

Lord and personal Savior?” jolted her from her reverie.

“Please, tell me you are joking. I came here to destroy you and

you show no anger, rather you would like me to meet your God?

Which God would have mercy on Jo Libra who has been using men

and will continue to use and discard them like wet tissue?”

Joshua paused for moment, opened his Bible to Isaiah Chapter 1,

Verse 18, and began to read, “Come now, let us reason together,

Though your sins are like scarlet, They shall be as white as snow,

Though they are red like crimson, They shall be as wool.”

After another pause, Joshua looked into her eyes and said, “The

Lord Jesus Christ has already paid the price for your sins on the cross.

Accepting His finished works on the cross will make you into a new

creation in Christ. Christ will replace Jo Libra, the seductress and

sinner, with Jo Libra, the sedulous and saint.”

She was dumbfounded. Bending her head, suddenly aware that

she was in front of a truly noble and saintly figure, she began to sob

again as the shame of her undertaking suffused her total being.

The tissue pressed into her hands and the gentle voice saying,

“The time to repent is now, do not put off this day of the Lord,”

brought her back to earthly reality.

“My brother is a very dangerous man,” She heard herself say.

“He will not cease trying until he has brought you down. I still don’t

understand what you have done to make him your enemy.”

“Your brother is not my enemy. Satan and his cohorts are man’s

enemies. The powers of darkness are manipulating your brother who


243

has chosen to be Satan’s willing tool. Please, do not worry about me.

The Blood of the Lamb covers me. Having failed to carry out the

devil’s bidding, your life is now in danger.

You must make a decision today, either put your complete trust

in the Lord or go back into your world where you could become

cannon fodder for the devil.”

Thirty minutes later, Jo Libra had said the sinner’s prayers,

acknowledged Jesus Christ as Savior and accepted Him as Lord. She

could not believe what was happening to her. She felt very light; it

was as if someone had just lifted a heavy load from her shoulders.

She was literally walking on air. Suddenly, she burst out singing and

praising God. Then, without warning, she began to speak in other

tongues.

Kneeling down, Joshua began to thank God for the mighty

deliverance He had wrought in the life of this beautiful but confused

woman. Jo Libra, still overcome with untold joy and happiness,

continued dancing and running from one end of the church to the

other praising God.

Jane left Street Corner Church promising Joshua she would buy a

Bible and begin a systematic study of the Scriptures. She could

hardly wait to enter her limo to continue with her praise and worship

session.

Her chauffeur could not believe his ears, ‘wonders will never

cease,’ he muttered to himself as he listened to the shouts of ‘Praise

the Lord,’ ‘Thank you, Jesus,’ ……….. coming from the lips of his

employer in the back of the limo.

“John, you can have the evening off,” Jane told him joyfully

when they reached her apartment building. “Go to dinner with your

wife and enjoy yourself. The bill is on me.”

Was this a dream or what, he thought. Still bewildered and

wondering what to say, he heard, “Take this card to the Manager at

the Pellegrino. He will give you a special table.”


244

Before he could say anything, she had floated happily through the

doorway into her building. What would he not give to know what

transpired in that church to cause such a spectacular transformation

of his employer. Whatever it was, he made a decision to take his wife

and children to Street Corner Church come Sunday.

Jane had never known such elation in all her life. She was inside

the elevator with the attendant and two other persons and could

barely restrain herself from praising God, what with so much joyful

energy bubbling inside her heart. The elevator stopped on the third

floor to let off one person and stopped again on the sixth for the other

one. She was relieved when the elevator stopped on the tenth floor

for her.

Quickly opening the entrance door to her apartment, she burst

into her living room jumping and praising God. She did not know

when she removed her clothes and went into her Jacuzzi. Only the

soapy water entering her mouth as she luxuriated in the warmth of

the Jacuzzi’s whirlpool caused her to stop singing.

With cooler water now sprouting all around her from the faucets,

she lay still as an inner peace that defied any logic or reason suffused

her completely. Searching her heart, she had to acknowledge that she

had never felt this way before and had never been happier. She hoped

that the day would never end.

She had two more days to stay in New York before heading out

west. Going west now did not make any sense, she reasoned with

herself. It was more important to get very close to God. She was

afraid to lose what she had just gained.

For the first time in her life, Jane felt fulfilled. An entire week

devoted to prayers and the study of Scriptures would not hurt at all,

she concluded. Her mind made up, she picked the phone and called

her agent to cancel all her engagements for the week.


245

Nearly three thousand worshippers attended the service at the Street

Corner Church this Sunday. Jane was one of them. Though

recognized by many even in her conservative attire, she was pleased

to see that her presence did not distract other congregants.

Jane had driven herself to church as John, her chauffer, had

Sundays off. She was therefore pleasantly surprised to see John and

his wife walk to the altar to give their lives to Christ when Joshua

made the Salvation call. She made a mental note to ask John how he

came to be in Street Corner Church that Sunday.

Just as she was about to leave at the end of the church service,

she felt a gentle tap on her shoulder. Looking up, she saw a beautiful

woman with the kindest face that she had ever beheld smiling.

“I am Ruth. My husband told me about you.”

“Your husband?” she asked inquiringly.

“Oh, I am sorry; I should have made myself clearer. My husband

is the Pastor of this church.”

“You have nothing to be sorry about. I should have guessed.”

“If it is no bother, we shall be honored if you could have lunch

with us today.”

“Did your husband tell you the whole story about our first

meeting?”

“Yes.”

“And you still want me to have lunch with your family?”

“Yes.”

Jane was speechless.

Only in the Christian community could you have a wife

extending an act of kindness to someone who but a few days ago was

part of a plot to ensnare your husband.

Still confused, Jane could barely mutter, “I accept.”

Unknown to Joshua and Jane, Adonis had witnessed everything that

transpired at the Street Corner Church that evening. It was clear that

his sister was now an enemy. Remembering their childhood days,


246

and the soft spot he always had for her, he decided to give her another

chance. Before confronting her, he needed more evidence.

Watching her every move from his control room, Adonis could

not believe what he was seeing. Jane, studying the Bible, singing and

shouting praises in her apartment!

Days later, she was still in her apartment. Having canceled all her

appointments for the week, she was not answering her telephones or

seeing any visitors. The only persons who had access were restaurant

personnel bringing her special meals and even at that they had to be

cleared each time by the chief security officer for the building before

they could proceed to her floor.

To make matters worse, she had even called all her former lovers

telling them to repent and accept Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior. He

had heard the laughs at the other end of the line from her past lovers.

His calls to her unlisted red phone had gone unanswered. As each

day passed, he had got angrier. By the end of the week, he was

seething with rage. Unable to contain himself any longer, he left

Adonis City for New York with no clear plan in his head.

To his dismay, when he reached the apartment building where

Jane lived, the chief security officer rejected his entreaty to use the

security phone for the building to call her even after he had identified

who he was. His sister’s instructions not to be disturbed under any

circumstance, he was told, meant exactly that.

He waited two more days before putting his plan into action.

Using bogus identities, two of his men, dressed as electricians with

false work permit, entered Jane’s apartment building utilities area. In

less than thirty minutes, they had reprogrammed the instrumentation

controls, planted a little chip that would cause fire in twenty hours

and reset the building instrumentation back to its original positions

after the fire. This later action was to ensure that the cause of the fire

would never be determined.

Jane was having her afternoon nap when piercing ringing sounds

from the building fire alarm system woke her up. Putting on her


247

dress, she quickly took the steps by the fire exit and raced downstairs.

Already, three fire trucks had responded to the emergency. She could

see the smoke billowing from the basement area and firefighters with

hoses trying to put out the flames.

Still wondering what could have caused the fire in one of New

York’s most expensive and finest apartment buildings, the familiar

voice saying, “Hi Sis,” jolted her.

Turning around, she saw her brother smiling. There was

something very threatening about the smile. A chill went through her

spine as she stared at him.

“You refused to take my calls.”

As understanding dawned, she asked, “So you had to set this

building on fire to flush me out?”

“You are beginning to get the drift, Sis. Weren’t you supposed to

get back to me on an assignment you willingly undertook, without

coercion?”

“I changed my mind.”

“I see.”

Soon, the firefighters had put out the fire and were gathering their

equipment preparatory to leaving.

“This fire was merely to get you out of the building. It was not

supposed to burn down the building or cause death. In fact, we took

the added precaution of placing an anonymous call to the fire

department, just before the fire started. ”

Did she detect a veiled threat in that statement?

“Who are the ‘we’ if I may ask?”

“My business associates, those that stand to gain from Joshua’s

downfall.”

“You have to look for some other foolish female to do your work

even though I know whoever it is would surely fail.”

“Great, I see that you have fallen for our Pastor. That is even

better. Go and complete your assignment or your boyfriend could get

hurt.”


248

Jane looked at him and tears began to fall from her eyes. She could

not believe that this diabolic person was indeed her brother.

“Joshua is a man of God. Your sister is a changed person. I am

born again and washed in the Blood of Jesus Christ.”

Did she see rage on his face or was she imagining it?

“Don’t you ever mention that Name to me!”

“I will if you do not leave me alone.”

“You will regret this day. I hereby dissolve every tie you and I

ever had.”

With that chilling statement, he hurriedly left her.

Jane spent most of her day fervently studying the Scriptures. She

wanted to know everything the Bible had to say about God, Jesus,

the Holy Spirit, salvation, creation, faith, etc; it was as if she was

trying to compensate for her missing faithless years in one day.

Whenever she had difficulty with some passages of Scripture, she

would call Ruth, sometimes more than ten times a day, seeking

clarification. As a result, she and Ruth became quite close.

Now a regular visitor to Ruth and Joshua’s home, Jane was

having dinner with Joshua and Ruth this particular evening when she

asked, “Which is the right political party for a Christian to belong to

in the United States, Republican or Democratic?”

“There is no right or wrong political party for a Christian,” Ruth

replied. “American Christians are free to belong to any party of their

choice. However, they should be change agents in whichever party

they belonged. In addition to supporting God-fearing candidates,

they should see that their party platforms adopted policies that met

biblical standards.”

“In that case the Republican Party should be the choice since it is

pro-life and against same sex-marriage,” Jane countered.

“Good point, except the issues you mentioned are only part of

what the Bible condemns,” chipped in Joshua. “The Democratic


249

Party has a stronger social agenda. Their policies are more in tune

with scriptural admonitions about the poor.”

“So the ideal party would be that which could incorporate all

biblical principles into its platform, that is, a hybrid of the best of the

Republican and Democratic platforms,” Jane stated with a smile.

“Such a party would have to be named the Christian Party of

America,” Ruth chimed in. “Unfortunately many would argue that

such a party would violate the secularity of the American State.”

Jane nodded her head before asking, “Of the two parties, which

one does God favor?”

“God has no favorite party,” Joshua replied slowly. “However,

God has shown favor to both parties at different periods in our

history.”

“How?” asked Jane when she sensed that Joshua did not want to

expound his answer.

“The slavery issue played a key role in the American civil war,”

Joshua replied. “The Republican Party with a strong Northern base

wanted to abolish slavery while the Democratic Party with a strong

Southern base opposed the measure. Subsequently, the Southern

States, camouflaging their intentions as the fight for States’ Rights,

seceded from the Union whereas the actual reason for seceding was

to preserve the right of its rich members to continue to use human

beings as beasts of burden in the southern plantations.

The Republican Party and the federal forces were victorious in

the end because God granted them favor for their just stand that God

created all men in his image and that they are all equal. The American

government under the Republican Party, the party of Lincoln,

abolished slavery finally in the United States of America in1865.

The Democratic Party and the Southern States, even with the end

of the civil war and the defeat of the Southern Confederate army,

continued to resist black and minority rights for nearly a century after

the abolition of slavery. They continued to practice segregation –

different schools and facilities for blacks and whites. Claiming


250

States’ Rights, the Southern States refused to implement federal laws

on equality and equity. Unfortunately, for nearly one hundred years,

the Republican Party was unwilling or afraid to take the next step

that would have ensured equal rights for all citizens.

A century after the abolition of slavery, the Democratic Party

made a U-Turn. The President, a democrat, amidst protests especially

from the Southern States, signed the Civil Rights and the Voting

Rights Acts in 1964 and 1965 respectively. While the Civil Rights

Act led to the desegregation of schools, restaurants, theatres, motels,

etc, the Voting Rights Act removed voting barriers for Blacks and

other minorities.

For the next forty years, Blacks and other minorities voted in

record numbers for the Democratic Party, and the democrats

dominated the US Congress in that period. That had been God’s

favor on the Democratic Party.

Unfortunately, the Democratic Party’s electoral successes

emboldened their members and they started to overreach. Getting

involved in unbiblical causes like abortion rights for women and gay-

lesbian rights, the Democratic Party began alienating its more

conservative members. It soon became the champion of a pot-pourri

of fringe causes. Gradually many southern democrats, uncomfortable

with their party’s direction, switched parties and even those that

remained went further right on their party platform.

Disingenuously equating the fight for civil rights to the fight for

a woman to have abortion and for gay and lesbian couples to have

the same rights as married heterosexual couples, the Democratic

Party lost its soul. The United States of America had the greatest

economic boom and budget surplus in its history in the 1990s under

the two terms of a President from the Democratic Party. Yet, the Vice

President in that period lost the famous presidential election of 2000

to the inexperienced Republican Governor of Texas.

To compound their errors, the Democratic Party went silent when

gay and lesbian ‘marriages’ started taking place in some states in


251

2004. These ‘marriages,’ given very extensive coverage by the

media, drew the ire of many republicans including the President.

Their vocal condemnation of the abomination of the images of

‘Gomorrah’ unfolding daily on television and the internet won more

support for the party and the President.

Therefore, despite supervising one of the worst economies since

the 1929 depression and prosecuting an ill-advised war in Iraq, the

incumbent Republican President won the 2004 Presidential election

over his more accomplished and more eloquent Challenger. The

Republican Party also improved on their majority in both houses.

God’s favor was clearly on the Republican Party and the President.”

“More coffee, anyone?” asked Ruth.

Nodding her head, Jane said, “Please.”

Still sipping her coffee, Jane observed, “In Hollywood, and in

fact in the rest of the country, many people claim that homosexuality

is an inherited trait and therefore not sinful for persons of the same

sex to live together like heterosexual couples.”

“What would you say to those persons in the light of your new

experience?” Joshua asked.

“I would say that a homosexual or a heterosexual lifestyle is a

matter of choice and not of genetics. I would tell them that lifestyle

changes are only possible in Christ. That since I gave my life to

Christ I have stopped my adulterous and hedonistic living, which

lifestyle I could have claimed to have been genetically induced.”

“Correct, Sister Jane,” whispered Ruth. “Thieves can claim that

stealing is in their blood since most thieves would tell you that one

or more of their relatives were thieves.”

“Man always tries to justify sin,” added Joshua. “It always comes

down to the sin question and man’s refusal to accept responsibility

for his actions. Many associate sodomy with genetics because they

do not understand the different pathways a person could get into that

lifestyle.


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Many homosexuals acquired the trait in their days in boarding

schools or while living in the same house with homosexual relations.

Many in this category, if they are not possessed within the period of

their stay in those places, ended up ‘kicking’ the habit once they left

the oppressive environment or got involved with the opposite sex.

Unfortunately, demons are always looking for opportunities in

boarding schools and homes to possess children in order to pass

homosexual desires to them. Fear, anger and parents’ adulterous

affairs serve as great openings for these wicked demons to come into

a home and possess the more vulnerable. Their possessed young

victims grow up believing that they were born with homosexual

genes and that sodomy was the only lifestyle possible for them.”

“Pastor, how do demons come into a family in the first instance?”

asked Jane.

“Let us start with a boy we shall call Blue. He is gay. His great

grandfather was a murderer. That act had opened a door for a demon

to possess the soul of Blue’s great grandfather. The demon had later

invited other demons to come in; in time, the soul of Blue’s great

grandfather had become an abode for a horde of demons. When

Blue’s great grandfather died without repenting, the demons had

remained in the family of Blue’s great grandfather waiting for an

opening to possess the soul of Blue’s grandfather. The demons,

contrary to some teachings, had not followed the soul of Blue’s great

grandfather to hell.

When Blue’s grandfather accepted Jesus Christ as Lord and

Savior, the cycle of possession was broken and the horde of demons

had fled his home to search for new victims. A generation later, one

of those demons decided to check out Blue’s family. Finding out that

Blue’s father was living in sin and had no commitment to Christ, it

began to work on the mind of Blue’s father; after all, it knew the

family’s weak spots. When Blue’s father committed adultery, the

door to his soul opened itself for possession. The visiting demon had

gone and brought other demons to join it so that they could live


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together in the soul of Blue’s father. These demons then set to work

on Blue. Convincing him that he was unloved, they nudged him into

masturbation as a way to quench the lust they had induced in him.

Once Blue succumbed, convincing himself that he was responding to

the hormones in his growing body, he opened the door for the

transference of demons from his father’s soul to his own. Finding

Blue’s soul very comfortable, some decided to make it their

permanent abode. Inducing Blue to progress from masturbation to

lust for other boys was only a matter of time and opportunity. The

rest they say is history; Blue became gay. What I have just described

is one of the pathways demons possess persons. There are many other

ways.

Christ’s teaching in Luke Chapter 11, Verses 24-26, is the most

appropriate take on the subject: “When an unclean spirit goes out of

a man, he goes through dry places, seeking rest; and finding none,

he says, ‘I will return to my house from which I came.’

And when he comes, he finds it swept and put in order. Then he

goes and takes with him seven other spirits more wicked than himself,

and they enter and dwell there; and the last state of that man is worse

than the first.”

The good news is that the Blood of Jesus drives off demons,

including those that lead people into sodomy, in saved persons.

Therefore, gay and lesbians become free of such demons when they

accept Christ as Savior and Lord. Without those demons, saved

former gays and lesbians would never have homosexual relationships

again provided they hold unto their faith in Christ and continue to

immerse themselves daily in the word of God. We have testimonies

of former lesbians and gays in our church; some have gone on to

become ministers of the gospel of Christ. Many are now married with

children and have never had a desire for that former lifestyle.

The argument that homosexuality is genetically induced and that

there is no deliverance for those with homosexual proclivities is a lie

of the devil. Such falsehood fails to recognize the power of God and


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God’s transformational grace. With God, nothing shall be impossible

for the one who believes.”

“How come churches have not challenged the state on the subject

of homosexuality?” Jane burst out.

“The mantra of separation of church and state has helped small

but vocal and powerful groups with fringe causes to railroad their

opinions and ways of life on the acquiescent and silent majority.

Through making large contributions to politicians’ election

campaigns, groups like the abortionists, gay and lesbian movements

have blackmailed legislators into passing antichristian laws and into

appointing judges who adjudicate in their favor.”

One hour later, they saw Jane off. Bidding her farewell as she got

into her limo, Ruth and Joshua waited on the driveway until the car

headlights faded into the distance.

“Jane is the most beautiful woman I have ever met,” Ruth said

admiringly. “I am happy she is immersing herself in the word of

God.”

“Yes, she is indeed beautiful but what is most attractive about her

is her gentle soul,” Joshua agreed. “Darling, we should go on our

knees this moment to intercede for her. Our enemy never gives up.”

Shivers ran down Ruth’s spine as she looked at the grave face

before her. From experience, she knew something must be afoot.

Jane was reclining at the backseat of the limo, busy with her

thoughts, when she heard John shout, “The Blood of Jesus.”

Looking out, she saw an out-of-control truck careening towards

the limo. John tried to do a hard right turn, away from the hurtling

death, but it was too late.

The impact came, sounds of metal crushing metal and then total

silence.

Jane heard, “Wake up,” “Do not sleep,” in her subconscious. As

consciousness returned, she realized that she was inside the wreckage


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of her burning limo, her legs trapped under the seat. Unable to move,

she tried to cry out for help. No sounds came from her throat.

Now sure she was dying, she began to mutter, “The Blood of

Jesus.”

Gasoline oozing from the truck’s tank was about to reach the

burning limo. Suddenly, she felt very gentle hands lifting her out of

the vehicle. As her rescuer carried her away from the wreckage, she

became unconsciousness again. Therefore, she was unaware of the

loud explosion that followed their exit, and of the balls of fire and

plumes of smoke that enveloped the whole area.

Still in coma, she did not hear the sounds of fire trucks coming in

the distance or remember the ride in the hospital ambulance.

Two hours later, Ruth and Joshua were still in prayers. They had

hardly got up to stretch their legs when their telephone rang. It was a

call was from the University Medical Center. They dressed up

hurriedly and rushed into their car for the drive to the hospital.

“The actress has been in surgery for two hours now,” the

receptionist at the nurses’ station informed them.

“Between her mutterings of Jesus, she continued to say, ‘Call

Joshua, the Pastor of Street Corner Church.’ She calmed down only

after the Chief Surgeon assured her that he would allow you into the

theatre as soon as you arrived.”

After putting on gowns, Ruth and Joshua went into the theatre.

Holding hands, they prayed silently for the remaining three hours of

the operation. After, they accompanied Jane into the intensive care

unit before going to the waiting room. Not long after, they heard

Joshua’s name on the public address system. He was asked to see the

chief surgeon in his office.

“So, you are the Joshua?” the Chief Surgeon asked.

Joshua nodded.


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“I have been a surgeon for more than twenty years and this person

should be dead. Her kidneys and lungs had collapsed by the time the

medics brought her to the hospital. Yet, she was both breathing and

speaking.”

“With God nothing shall be impossible,” Joshua responded

simply.

“I have never been one to believe in miracles but I must confess

that I saw things beyond medicine in the theatre. It was as if

invincible forces were guiding my hands throughout the operation.

Her lungs and kidneys regained life suddenly as it were while we

were still working in the cranial area.”

“Sir, God is the Giver of life and we thank Him for His mercy

and the healing He has given our sister tonight.”

Jane was in the hospital for one month. In that period, the Police tried

to piece the puzzle of the accident together without success. They

found only one body burnt beyond recognition at the scene of the

accident. Using dental records, they had identified the body as that

of John. Despite their best efforts, they had not yet found the truck

driver or located any records of the truck.

Adding to the mystery, the two handsome men who had rescued

and brought Jane to the University Medical Centre seemed to have

disappeared. On the hospital video were two opaque images pushing

a stretcher into the emergency room with Jane strapped on it.

Therefore, when Jane asked to see her rescuers so that she could

express her gratitude, and they could not produce them, no one could

give her a satisfactory answer.

Jane knew it had not been an accident and that her brother had

been behind it. Joshua and Ruth also knew that unseen forces using

human elements had tried to snuff out Jane’s life.

Ruth was by her side throughout her hospital stay. Despite the

accident, Jane was happy: She now had a loving family just as the


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Bible had said that God would give His children new brothers and

sisters. The doctors had wondered how she could have healed in the

short period, without scars to her beautiful body and face.

She still thought about her deliverance from the wreckage.

Joshua had told her that God’s angels always look out for God’s

children. He had buttressed his assertion by quoting Psalm 91, Verses

11and12, “For He shall give His angels charge over you, to keep you

in all your ways. They shall bear you up in their hands lest you dash

your foot against a stone.”

Jane wanted to attend John’s funeral and his family had obliged and

waited until she had recovered. She could hardly restrain her tears as

John’s body left the church for the cemetery. Still feeling responsible

for his death, since the killers had been after her and not John, she

was uncertain on what she would say to John’s widow. Walking

across to her, after the burial, she took her hands and held it to her

cheek for a long time.

“Madam, accept my heartfelt condolence,” Jane said. “I believe

the attackers were after me and John got killed instead of me. Forgive

me.”

“Sister Jane, what are you talking about?” asked John’s widow.

“We owe you our gratitude. Without you, my John would not be in

heaven now. In the last one month of his life, John had been full of

life, singing, dancing and praising God. No, my sister, please do not

blame yourself. If God wanted John to live, He would have saved

him also. I believe He knew that it was time for John to come home.”

Jane marveled at such faith for one who had just known the Lord

for less than three months.

“God bless you, my Sister. I shall be setting up a trust fund for

your children’s education. In addition, my bank shall be remitting a

monthly stipend for your family’s upkeep. Please feel free to call on

me whenever you like.”


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“Oh, Sister Jane, you have already done so much for us, paying

all the burial expenses. May the Lord God reward you abundantly, in

Jesus Name.”

A day after John’s interment, Jane set up an educational trust

fund of one million dollars for John’s three children, bank order of

50,000 dollars monthly allowance, adjusted regularly for inflation, to

John’s widow for the rest of her life. One week later, she bought a

new home for John’s family.


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15

WORLD OUTREACH

“I must work the works of Him who sent Me while it is day; the

night is coming when no one can work.” (John 9:4)

For more than ten years, Joshua had been using the internet to

disseminate his weekly sermons to his worldwide audience. More

than five thousand pastors in different parts of the world downloaded

and burned the sermons on CD’s and DVD’s for distribution to those

who did not have access to the internet. From New York, the ministry

sent funds, video and audio cassettes of the same messages directly

to missionaries and pastors in remote locations.

News of thousands of souls giving their lives to Christ after

hearing Joshua’s eschatological soul-stirring messages resounded

daily in Street Corner Church. These reports were coming from such

far-flung and diverse places as Mongolia, the Siberian Tundra, the

desert tents in Libya and Saudi Arabia, the skyscrapers in downtown

Tokyo, the beaches of the South Sea Islands and many others.

Jane had decided to settle permanently in New York. She wanted to

be near her new family, grow in the Lord, and contribute to the work

of ministry. Her Los Angeles home, on the market for less than one

week, had fetched twenty million dollars. That was two million

dollars above the asking price.


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In her enthusiasm to serve the Lord, she offered to fund some of

Street Corner Church’s evangelical efforts. Joshua had counseled

patience. Unhappy with Joshua’s response, she spoke to Ruth.

“My dear sister, Josh means well,” Ruth said after Jane had

voiced her unhappiness to her. “I believe Josh wants you to grow

spiritually first.”

“Sister Ruth, I am in my fifties,” Jane replied. “I have not known

true happiness since becoming an adult. For the first time in my life,

I know that I have found a peace that any rational mind would find

impossible to comprehend. I am ready to give up all my worldly

possessions, and they are quite substantial. The ministry needs all the

help it can get.”

Before she left, she made Ruth promise to speak to Joshua.

Ruth and Joshua were in their living room sipping coffee after dinner.

“Darling, Sister Jane is saddened by your refusal to have her fund

some of the ministry programs.”

“Sister Jane is a new convert, my love. Her soul is more important

than all the money in the world. Our task is to do everything to help

her grow spiritually. I believe that it is our duty to discourage her

from making financial commitments at this stage of her Christian

growth that she could possibly regret later.”

Ruth thought for a moment before responding, “Don’t you think

that you are being patronizing. Jane is a grown woman with her own

mind. She has demonstrated her love for the Lord. Why refuse her

offer?”

After a pause, Joshua asked gently, “Did she tell you how much she

wanted to give the ministry?”

“No.”

“She wanted to donate five hundred million dollars.”

As Ruth’s mouth hung open, Joshua said, “Aha, so you see what

I mean. It is a lot of money. I believe that she should give it more

thought, making sure it is really what she wants to do. More


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importantly, she should know that it is not the size of the purse that

God loves but a repentant soul.”

“I am sure that she knows. You and I know that Jane is truly

saved and that God’s Hand is on her. Has it not occurred to you that

it might be the Spirit of God prompting her to make the offer?”

Ruth could see the astonishment on Joshua’s face as he thought

about her question.

“Let us pray.”

In the more than thirty years of knowing her husband he always

said, ‘let us pray’ either when there was a major spiritual problem or

when he was confused. On many occasions, she had seen God’s

resolution of such problems or confusing situations immediately

after such prayers. Other times, events beyond their imagination had

helped to resolve the matters at the times of the Lord’s choosing.

Joshua had just completed his latest book – a Christian novel tilted,

‘The Time of the End.’ Jane asked to have a look at the manuscript

before he sent it to his Publisher.

Joshua was about to enter his car this particular morning when

his cell phone rang.

“Pastor, this is the most exciting work I have ever read.”

“Jane, you couldn’t have finished reading the manuscript. You took

the manuscript last night and it is 8 a.m., now.”

“Pastor, have you forgotten that I not only act but that I also direct

and produce movies. I was up all night. I could not put down the

book. Tell you what; we should make it into a movie immediately.”

“Jane, let us publish it first and then we can talk about a movie

after that.”

“Pastor, for one so anointed, you could be a pain in the neck. Do

you not know that a picture is worth more than a thousand words? It

is not by accident that the culture of Hollywood has reached the far

ends of the earth. It is time to use the media to counter the present


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world culture of hostility to the gospel. Let me handle this project,

please.”

He was about to refuse when the Voice spoke to his spirit,

‘Joshua, allow my servant to do that for which I have called her.’

“Hello, Pastor, still there?”

There was silence at the other end.

“Pastor, are you still there?”

“Yes, Sister Jane. I am sorry to have kept you waiting. I had to

respond to a very important call. Please go ahead and do what you

think best.”

“Pastor, something is wrong. You have just done a 180-degree

turn in less than one minute. Please tell me what the matter is.”

“Okay Sister Jane, I will tell you. The Supreme Commander of

the Universe has just finished rebuking me. Accept my apologies for

trying to hinder your ministry.”

“I still don’t understand what you are saying, Pastor.”

“The Lord God, whom I serve, has directed me to give you a

freehand to make your movie and to contribute in any way you are

led to in His ministry. His Hand is on you my Sister, and I am glad.”

The ‘Time of the End’ took one year to make. Jane both directed and

starred in the movie. With a purse of two hundred million dollars,

she created a truly technological marvel combining excellent acting

from some of Hollywood’s best with superior computer animation.

Joshua and Ruth could not believe their eyes when they watched,

‘The Time of the End,’ at its first private screening. The words in the

book had come alive in a way that no written work could have done.

Reports that more than half the actors and production crew had given

their lives to Christ during the production gladdened their hearts even

further, evidence that the Lord’s Hand was on the movie.

Three months later, ‘The Time of the End,’ was in movie theaters

around the world. Reports of repentant tears from spectators and of

hundreds giving their lives to Christ in theaters appeared in both print


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and television. Church attendances increased in many cities and

pastors began to face more questions on the Book of Revelation from

their congregation.

Jane, now more fully versed in the word, began to preach and

raise money for the ministry. Many actors gave their lives to Christ

while some joined the ministry, contributing time and money to

evangelistic efforts. With the establishment of a television and radio

network, the ministry began to broadcast Joshua’s sermons

worldwide.

Soon, many known stars began to take part in reality shows

whose aim was to create awareness on the expected collapse of the

world economic and political systems and of the emergence of the

antichrist. Before long, millions were listening to the ministry’s radio

and watching its television programs.

The ministry decided to use the proceeds from ‘The Time of the

End’ to print one billion copies of the book and to produce more than

one billion radio cassettes and videos. It then mobilized thousands of

pastors worldwide to hold crusades in their countries using the movie

as catalyst. This evangelical effort, the like never seen before, had

pastors give, free of charge, books, cassettes, CD’s and DVD’s of

‘The Time of the End’ to hundreds of millions of persons worldwide.

It was indeed a time of spiritual awakening, akin to the time of the

Luther revolution of the 15th century. The revival was on, and would

continue for another year.

On this Saturday afternoon, Joshua was lying down on the couch in

the living room, relaxing. He and his first son, Josiah, had just

finished shoveling more than twelve inches of snow on the driveway.

Ruth and Peace, Josiah’s wife, were making final changes to the new

arrangement in the living room. Their other two sons with their

families were coming to spend the New Year.

He missed his parents. Though he knew they were with the Lord,

he could not help wishing that they were still alive. His father had


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been the first to die three years ago. Less than one year after, his

mother had passed on too. He could still hear his mother talking to

him after his father died.

“Joshua, you must hold yourself together. We cannot mourn as

though we have no hope. Your father is with the Lord and I shall be

joining him soon.

Your father and I had a good life, having been blessed abundantly

by God. We rejoiced daily, seeing how God was glorifying His name

using our children. Please Josh, promise that you will not cry when I

have gone to be with the Lord.”

He could still remember his reply.

“Mum, do not ask me for that which is beyond my control. You

and Dad demonstrated the right way to bring up well-rounded and

God-fearing children. The Love family is indeed a lovely and loving

family. We are happy with the legacy you and Dad have left us and

do believe that, until the end of the age, future Love generations will

continue to benefit from it.”

Esther has been helping to extend God’s word in China for the

last thirty years. A tireless worker, she uses her family’s yearly visits

to the United States mostly for the Lord’s work. She not only

ministers in churches during such visits but also takes out time to get

supplies for their China ministry. Jonathan, on the other hand, was a

maverick itinerant preacher who continues to traverse European

cities and towns preaching, teaching and exhorting the saints.

Joshua and his siblings spoke with each other regularly;

sometimes, they had three-way calls that lasted no more than five

minutes. For them, the important thing was to hear each other’s

voice. He counted himself blessed indeed. A magnificent upbringing

by adoring parents, a wonderful wife, God-fearing children, beautiful

and handsome grandchildren, and a loving brother and sister, was

more than anyone could ask for.

The scope and breath of the present revival had taken even him

by surprise. Millions were repenting and marching for the Lord in


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the midst of an evil and perverse generation. At no time in human

history had evil multiplied so quickly as in the present generation. In

the same breath, at no time too had the Lord’s grace and mercy been

more evident. The Scripture in Romans 5: 20, ‘But where sin

abounded, grace abounded much more,’ could not be truer than in

this generation.

There was consternation in the kingdom of darkness. Lucifer was

infuriated. He raved and ranted at meetings, blaming everyone but

himself. He had seen it coming and had dispatched hosts of demons

to stop both Joshua and Jane.

Joshua should have died many times before now but for God’s unjust

protection. Jane should have died in that accident but God had

intervened, sending angels to rescue her from the burning wreckage.

God had restored her burnt skin with an even more beautiful one

before the angels drove her to the hospital. That was when he had

known there was trouble. From that time, a blanket of Blood

Covering had enveloped Jane, Joshua and his family. Try as they

might, he and his demons had failed to penetrate the shield; many

times, when they had ventured very close, the power from the Blood

Covering had thrown them out of the material universe.

The present revival was unlike any he had witnessed since the

fall of man. Multitudes were giving their lives daily because of the

movie and the book. Churches were filling to the brim every Sunday

and some of his ‘pastors’ were now afraid to oppose the new move

of God’s Spirit. For once, projects and church needs for money were

not dominating pulpit messages. Many were preaching on the need

for repentance, salvation, the last days, the antichrist and perilous

times.

Lucifer was now certain of Christ’s imminent return and of his

looming incarceration, for a thousand years, in the bottomless pit.

Growing more and more afraid with each passing day, he wished he

could reverse things. However, he knew that it was rather too late.


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He must continue to deceive the foolish dust beings. The more souls

he could take with him to Christ-less eternity, the better. It was now

a numbers game. Millions were repenting, more than he had ever

thought possible a decade ago. The world’s population was about

eight billion presently. He must try to take a larger chunk of the pie

before it was too late, he had finally concluded in his heart. It was

imperative that he put into motion his plan before more and more

people knew the truth and turned to Jesus.

Adonis was in his control room. He was a very unhappy man. He had

watched his sister give the best performance of her life in ‘The time

of the End.’ How eerily accurate the film had portrayed Lucifer’s

plans to install him as the world’s messiah.

‘Without God having revealed it to him, how else could Joshua

have known that there were millions of clones ready to do Lucifer’s

bidding,’ he asked the empty room. Since Jane’s accident, he could

no longer monitor her or Joshua – a halo of mist and fire covered

them, making it impossible for him to see or hear them. Lucifer

should have allowed him to conquer the world years ago and this

present massive spiritual awakening and outpouring of praises for

God would not have occurred.

Adonis knew he had made a fatal error in judgment, allowing

passion to overcome reason. The funny thing was that he could have

been cohabiting with a snake, a boar constrictor, a hippopotamus, a

dog or even a rat all that time that he thought he was sleeping with

the most beautiful woman in the universe.

The small voice came quietly again – he still had a chance to flee

after discovering that Venus was not really a woman. Not wanting to

confront the larger issue that his lust for power had caused him to

make wrong choices, he shut his heart to the voice.

He had to finally acknowledge, albeit grudgingly, that the Bible

is indeed the word of God. Then the shocking realization: Lucifer

would possess him completely at the appointed time. He, Adonis,


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was indeed ‘the beast that rose out of the sea’ or the ‘man of peace’

or ‘the man of sin’ spoken of in the Bible. He also realized that the

power the dragon – Lucifer or Satan – would give to the beast would

actually be Lucifer’s spirit in the beast’s body performing signs and

wonders. ‘What a mess,’ was the last thought on his mind as he put

his head on the table and fell asleep.

Precisely at that moment, Satan entered him and took complete

control of his soul and spirit.


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16

THE MIDNIGHT OF EVIL To: My fellow Laborers in the Lord’s Vineyard.

From: Joshua Love, Pastor, Street Corner Church,

New York.

Subject: THE COMING MIDNIGHT OF EVIL

I send you greetings in the precious name of our Lord and Savior,

Jesus Christ. Brethren I thank you all for the work you have been

doing, especially in the last three years in the Lord’s Vineyard. My

prayer is that the Lord God will preserve you blameless at Christ’s

coming.

The midnight of evil will soon be upon us. Rejoice, I say rejoice,

because after the midnight of evil comes the glorious dawn and the

revelation of the sons of God. You may be asking yourselves why

God should allow the midnight of evil to envelope the earth. The

answer is simple. In addition to adding more into His kingdom in the

period, God will ‘prove’ the steadfastness of His saints to all creation.

However, there are things we ought to know as we approach the

zero hour. As I have exhorted many times in the past, know that Satan

will throw the whole world into confusion when he causes an unusual

collapse of the world’s utilities and communications’ infrastructure.

Using the ensuing panic as cover, Satan and his cohorts will send

wave after wave of evil until they have covered the whole world with


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it. With the world ready, the antichrist will emerge to create a world

order that would be a cataclysmic shift from the present one.

Please encourage believers with means to buy all their needs for

the next seven years immediately after the mysterious breakdown

and the subsequent ‘miraculous’ restoration of the world’s utilities

and communications’ infrastructure. Let them know that the Lord

will bless those who can provide for the less fortunate in our midst.

Persons living in all the developed and most of the developing

countries will come directly under the antichrist’s sphere of influence

during his seven-year reign starting from the date of the restoration

of the collapsed utilities and communications’ systems. However,

people in the world’s poorer regions, not dependent on electricity,

modern telephony, credit and debit cards, will not be so affected.

Please ask brethren with young children, who have the resources,

to consider moving to the countryside; the further away they are from

major population centers, the more likely their chances of escaping

the antichrist’s clutches. Families with young children who desire to

leave the cities but do not have the necessary funds, and have no one

to assist them, might consider following their wealthier brethren to

the countryside. In exchange for room and board, they should help

their benefactors to cultivate the land and rear livestock.

However, for those who would like to take that last stand against

the antichrist and his cohorts, I ask that they stay wherever the Lord

directs them – within or outside the cities. All that God requires from

his children is that they follow His leading at all times. Brethren

should stock up provisions, especially bottled water, no matter their

ultimate destination. Those living in cities in cold countries should

keep lots of warm clothing since they might not have access to

heating while those in the countryside should store up heating oil in

addition to warm clothing.

Brethren with missionary zeal might consider migrating to the

uncharted and desert regions of Africa, Asia, South America, the

Arctic, and the Antarctic, where many have not yet heard of Christ.


270

They might wish to move to those regions as soon as possible and

aggressively preach Christ crucified and resurrected. Since the

regions mentioned are in the more inhospitable areas of the world,

ask those who are interested to pray and be sure that they have the

Lord’s sanction before they commit themselves to the undertaking.

Families should band together, pool their resources, carry as much

provisions, farming seeds, fishing equipment and Bibles as is

possible.

Because we know that evangelism would be the first target of the

man of sin, those who can afford it should begin buying Bibles,

cassettes, CDs and DVDs once the zero hour comes. These materials

will help the brethren to be effective witnesses, wherever they might

find themselves, at that time when the world would be groaning in

death pains.

As I have told you in times past, know that there will be an

unprecedented world peace and prosperity in the first three-and-half-

years of the antichrist’s reign. The world, seduced, will forget the

warnings in God’s word and the antichrist will use that period to

consolidate his rule. Saints need not fall into that trap. They should

not be deceived at that time.

This new world leader or the antichrist will start rebuilding the

temple in Jerusalem immediately he comes into power. The

completion of the temple will be the date he will reveal his true colors

and the beginning of the great tribulation.

The antichrist will kill all those who refuse to take the mark of

the beast and worship the devil during the last three-and-half years

of his seven-year reign. Let the brethren know that even with all these

precautions, the antichrist’s security outfit will definitely arrest many

Christians during the period. They will torture and kill those who

refuse to take the mark of the beast.

Please tell your followers that on no account should anyone take

the mark of the beast. If anyone is arrested by the antichrist’s

security, he or she should ask for the Lord’s grace to enable him or


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her withstand the brutal tortures and to face death with joy. Let all

take comfort in the fact that those who die for their faith in God will

immediately join the saints departed residing in the Lord. That is our

consolation and why we must never renounce our faith no matter the

level and severity of the tortures.

‘What should the Saints do in the meantime?’ you may be asking.

I answer, ‘Saints should redouble their evangelization efforts in

their neighborhoods. They should pray more fervently and urge

friends, family and neighbors to repent and accept Jesus Christ as

their Lord and personal Savior.

Remember the Lord’s saying in John, Chapter 9, Verse 4, “I must

work the works of Him who sent Me while it is day; the night is

coming when no one can work.”

Like Christ, our day to work is now; the night that is coming

when no one can work, except the Lord decrees otherwise, will be

the time of the antichrist. With the antichrist’s security in place,

Saints should know that it would be very difficult to witness in much

of the world in the last three-and-half years of the antichrist’s reign.

During this period, the antichrist will have the power to overcome

the saints as the word of God tells us in Revelation Chapter 13, Verse

7, “And it was granted to him to make war with the saints and to

overcome them. And authority was given to him over every tribe,

tongue, and nation.”

I encourage pastors and church leaders to keep the doors of their

churches open during the tribulation period, even with the risks, since

many confused citizens would be seeking guidance then.

Obviously, the antichrist’s cohorts would target churches, and

church leaders would likely be the first martyrs but we have no need

to fear because we know the truth. The blood of martyrs has always

watered the Christian faith and our courage and example in the face

of extreme violence would act as inspiration to those who might have

otherwise wavered.


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Pastors and church leaders should exhort the elders under them

to be ready to assume leadership and keep church doors open

whenever the antichrist’s police arrests or kills a pastor or church

leader. We should be like soldier ants; the more you kill them, the

more others come out to take up the positions left vacant by their

fallen comrades.

I look forward to our sharing shortly in the marriage supper of

the Lamb and in the celebrations in the skies.

Remain blessed.

Yours in the service of the Lord,

Joshua Love

P.S. Please see that all the brethren get copies of this letter and do

give it the widest circulation possible.

Joshua sent off the letter, which he knew in his heart would be the

last before the world came under the sway of the antichrist, to more

than thirty thousand pastors worldwide. In addition, he gave it the

widest publicity on the internet.

Street Corner Church’s web site began to record more than one

million hits per day after Joshua posted the letter on the internet. One

month after, the number of hits per day had doubled. With the buzz

created on the internet, various news organizations decided to air the

letter in full to their audience. Soon, comedians and talk show hosts

picked it up.

Joshua did not have long to wait before the expected fireworks

started. Organized religion, led by the National Association of

American Churches, was the first to denounce the letter, impugning


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ulterior motives to Joshua’s correspondence. Then, it became the turn

of secular leaders who branded him a lunatic and a threat to world

peace. Even some believers began to question whether he had ‘lost’

it. The media gleefully recounted previous prophecies where people

had sold their houses, waiting for Christ’s return, only to be

disappointed.

Unfortunately, the messenger had become the subject and the

import of the message was lost to many in a dying world. Many

theologians, who ought to have known better, began to question

Joshua’s integrity. They failed to acknowledge that Joshua did not

give any timetable for Christ’s return but only pointed to the events

that would precede the coming of the evil one and was preparing the

Saints for the zero hour.

At last, Lucifer was ready to unleash the first phase of his plan

without firing a shot even though he had the most technologically

advanced fighting force since humans inhabited the earth.

Equipment, systems and men of the One-World Armed Forces were

ready to take control of world security. Adonis had been moving

these military assets around the world in the last five years in such a

way that aircraft, submarines and ships were all within striking

distances of their objectives. Dispersing them had not been difficult

since they had coatings that rendered them invisible to the naked eye

and to current radar technologies.

The One-World bureaucracy, the world’s most organized

bureaucracy, was ready to replace governments and bureaucracies

around the world. Men and women, who had been in training for

more than thirty years in various parts of the world, were ready to

carry out assignments, unbeknownst to them, but for which they had

been preparing for since the day they came into the world via the

human production facilities in the City of Adonis.


274

It was 11.00 p.m., in the City of Adonis, 2.00 a.m., in Washington,

D.C., 7.00 a.m., in London, 8.00 a.m., in Paris, Rome and Berlin,

10.00 a.m., in Moscow, and 4.00 p.m., in Tokyo.

“……. You are the best. In one hour, we shall bring the

developed world’s infrastructure down. Everything and anything that

is computer enabled, including systems and facilities with manual

overrides, will stop automatically.

Only very poor countries with rudimentary infrastructure will

escape. However, if an international contractor had diagnosed and

repaired utilities and telecommunication systems of any poor country

in the last five years using computer programs, its infrastructure will

shut down too.

In exactly one hour, the super virus that I had introduced into the

supercomputers of the Southern Alliance and the Northern Alliance

countries five years ago will deactivate all systems. Operating

airplanes using onboard computers will crash all over the world.

Trains will stop automatically on their tracks. Power plants, water

systems, satellites, petrochemical plants and refineries will all shut

down. Supermarket checkouts will be inoperable. Of course, banks

and other financial institutions, no longer keeping paper trails and

depending wholly on computers, will shut their doors. Many living

in high-rise buildings in the world’s major cities will have to walk

long flight of stairs to get to their apartments since elevators would

have shut down.

I have given you a bird’s eye view of the overall situation, even

though the after-effects of the complete shutdown of the world

infrastructure have no impact on your assignments. At the stroke of

midnight in my City, you and the men under your command are to

take control of the military facilities in your designated theatre of

operations.

While we expect a peaceful takeover, you must arrest and quietly

kill anyone who tries to resist your authority. ….”


275

Adonis, possessed completely by Satan, was addressing the

generals commanding the more than twenty million soldiers of the

One-World Armed Forces. Most had hooked into the speech by

secure handheld video phones from their locations inside

submarines, ships and aircraft carriers as well as from underground

bases in the deserts and mountains.

Stealth aircraft were within striking distances of the world’s most

important military bases while ships, submarines and aircraft carriers

were shadowing all naval assets at sea.

It was 11:50 p.m., Pacific Time. General Indigo had gone to bed an

hour before the urgent knock on the door to his bedroom.

“The duty officer in charge of top priority communication has a

code red message from the Chief,” his aide informed him in a

trembling voice.

Grumbling, General Indigo rose reluctantly from bed. The duty

officer saluted as he entered his living room before handing him the

message.

“Sir, this just came through the most secure channels five minutes

ago.”

After dismissing both his aide and the duty officer, General

Indigo put on his reading glasses.

Then his jaw dropped as he read the decoded message.

To: General Indigo

Commander, the United States Pacific

Tactical Air Command

URGENT: TOPMOST PRIORITY: TOPMOST SECRET

The Northern Alliance has perfected plans to cripple our utilities and

communications’ systems. Fortunately, we had anticipated this and

taken corrective measures.


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Unknown to you, for the past ten years, we have been training a

highly secret army and developed advanced weaponry and aircraft

that humanity has never seen before now.

General Croft, who will be presenting his papers within the hour,

will assume command of all the men and facilities under your

command. You are to return to Washington, D.C., in the plane

bringing General Croft, to assume your new role as Chairman, Joint

Chiefs of Staff.

I need a man of your distinction to take charge in these troubled

times.

General Indigo had never met General Croft, in fact, he had never

heard of him until now. Obviously if they had been preparing for this

day for more than ten years, then it made sense that they should keep

the identities of the men running the clandestine army secret.

As he was still pondering on the developments, the lights in his

house went out. Looking out he saw that the whole area was in

darkness. This had never happened before; the backup power source

designed to pick up the load if the primary power supply system

failed should have kicked in. Going to the telephone to find out why

the whole area was in darkness, he discovered that the telephone lines

were down too. The busy signal emitting from his satellite phone

confirmed his worst fears.

He was still contemplating what course of action to take when he

heard the sound of the aircraft. His furrowed brow relaxed at the

thought that it most likely was his successor in the incoming aircraft.

He hoped he would shed some light on the unusual developments of

the last ten minutes.

Leaving instructions for protocol to bring General Croft straight

to his house, he waited anxiously. Twenty minutes later, General

Croft came into his living room.

Apart from the light coming from the candles, the whole living

room was in darkness.


277

“Sir, the transport plane is ready to take you immediately to

Washington, D.C.,” said General Croft, after handing over his

deployment letter to General Indigo.

General Indigo read the letter with the Presidential seal and the

signature of Bill Frazier, the President and Commander-In-Chief of

the Armed Forces of the United States of America. Everything

appeared to be in order.

“General, do you have any idea what is going on?” asked General

Indigo, still bewildered and making every effort to speak calmly.

General Croft hesitated slightly before replying, “Under other

circumstances I would not have answered due to the most secret code

in which we operate. However, as the new Chairman of the Joint

Chiefs of Staff, I guess it is in order to tell you what I know.”

“Please.”

“Just before I landed, I received the unfortunate information that

the Northern Alliance had introduced a virus into our utilities and

communication systems that would activate at exactly midnight

Pacific Time. We had anticipated that this hostile action would take

place, at the earliest, by this time tomorrow. Obviously, we had

misjudged the timing. Right now, the virus has crippled our utilities,

telephones and computers. I am afraid that all our military planes,

ships and other military hardware – anything that is computer

enabled – are now inoperable.

Fortunately, the Pentagon had anticipated such a possibility a few

years ago and the President and Congress had covertly approved the

development of new generation military hardware that would utilize

algorithms and technologies outside the domain of public

knowledge. As we talk, the Pentagon is replacing our present

antiquated military hardware with new battleships, aircraft and

submarines that are light years ahead.

The Northern Alliance, thinking they have crippled us, will attack

in possibly the next few hours but we will be ready for them. Sir, you


278

must feign ignorance when you meet the President and Commander-

in-Chief. He will be briefing you and you will be taking it from there.

Please do remember that I breached my oath because I do believe

giving you a heads-up was in the best interest of the country.”

Throughout the presentation, General Indigo was looking at the

handsome, soft-spoken fellow of about six feet six inches tall with

admiration. He had never heard a military man speak with such

polished diction. In his mind, he put his age at not more than forty-

five. He was proud to have such a colleague in the United States

Armed Forces.

“Thank you General Croft. Indeed, you did the right thing and I

will not forget you when peace returns. Once again, thank you.”

While still in conference, General Indigo had sent an aide to

sound the bugle for all officers, men and women to assemble on the

parade ground immediately.

“General Croft is now in command,” General Indigo announced to

the assembled group on the parade ground. “I have orders to report

to Washington, D.C., immediately. We have a sort of national

emergency. I believe that General Croft will be briefing you on a

need-to-know basis. Please extend to him the same loyalty and

cooperation that you have given me.”

General Indigo saluted his men and women before boarding the

aircraft waiting in the tarmac, its engines still revving, for takeoff.

Within one hour of General Croft’s arrival, the elite Pacific Tactical

Air Command of the United States Air Force was under the United

States Special Forces.

“Men and women of the United States Pacific Tactical Air

Command, we are expecting an imminent attack from the Northern

Alliance,” stated General Croft to the assembled group standing easy,

puzzlement still on many faces.

“Our crafty adversary has immobilized all our command and

control centers, utilities, communications, airplanes, ships and


279

carriers in the last two hours. Using a computer virus, the enemy has

crippled the United States and her allies in the Southern Alliance.

That is the bad news.

However, I have good news for our brave men and women of the

United States Pacific Tactical Air Command. Your government had

known from the start that they would try something funny and had

been prepared.

Within the next few hours, aircraft and carriers operating with

technologies that are light years ahead of the current stockpiles will

be arriving at this base. Onboard will be a contingent of three

thousand men and women from the United States Special Forces

Division. They will control all the facilities on this base until the

emergency is over.

While you will assist when requested, you must not ask them

questions. They are under strict instructions not to talk to anyone. If

you have any problems, you should come directly to me.

In addition to defending the pacific area of operations, if possible

with our new generation tactical nuclear weapons, they will try to

resuscitate the airplanes, utilities and communication systems on this

base.”

In more than fifty army, air force and naval locations in the United

States, events like the one in the United States Pacific Tactical Air

Command were taking place at the same time. Commanders were

receiving code red instructions from the President of the United

States of America asking them to handover to their successors, board

the planes, ships or submarines that brought their successors, and

proceed to their next postings. The new posting was invariably a

higher appointment.

Within four hours, the One-World Armed Forces, though still

masquerading as the United States Special Forces, had taken over the

entire Armed Forces of the United States of America.


280

In the same period, the armed forces of each country in the

Southern Alliance had also fallen to the bogus Special Forces.

During the same four hours, Russia had also fallen to the One-World

Armed Forces masquerading as Russia’s Revolutionary Forces. The

ploy was the same except that the purported invader, who had

crippled Russia’s command and control centers, utilities,

communications and computers, was the United States-led Southern

Alliance. Other Northern alliance countries had also fallen to the

Special Forces of their respective countries.


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17

DARKNESS

The coming of the lawless one is according to the working of

Satan, with all power, signs, and lying wonders, and with all


receive the love of the truth, that they might be saved.

(2 Thessalonians 2:9-10)

While the satanic-inspired military maneuvers were taking place,

the whole world was already on standstill; all communication

systems, nuclear, hydro and gas power plants had mysteriously shut

down at the same time. With no one able to make or receive calls,

radio and television stations off the air, homes in darkness and taps

dry, citizens were in dilemma.

No one could report that most operating aircraft were crashing in

mid-flight, killing all passengers aboard or that the few planes that

did land at nearest airports, when air traffic controllers had failed to

respond to pilots’ mayday calls, were those that did not use

computers for navigation.

With major traffic gridlocks developing in most cities, because

traffic lights were off, many people began abandoning their cars on

the roads. Only towns and cities where it was still night did not

experience traffic gridlock. It would take hours before help could

come to those trapped in elevators in most high-rise buildings. There

was more confusion when fuel-dispensing stations shut down, and


282

supermarkets and grocery stores closed their doors because they had

no power to operate their equipment and cash registers.

People stayed home wondering what was going on. Those that

ran out of food knew that they were in trouble when the situation had

not changed after twenty-four hours. Residents of each metropolis,

unaware that the anomalous situation was universal, thought that the

breakdown of communication and utility systems was limited to

theirs alone. However, within a few days, those who had gone to

nearby cities and towns in search of food brought back the sad news

of the chaos in other places too.

Because efforts to resuscitate their utility and communication

systems had failed, leaders of governments, knowing that they could

soon be facing the wrath of their citizens, began to quake with fear.

The red phone line between the Russian President and the President

of the United States of America was not even working. Convinced

that the other was responsible for the collapse of its communication

and utility systems, the governments of Russia and the United States

of America asked their military high commands to prepare for war.

The generals in the war room in the Kremlin were the worst hit.

Having honed their skills in logistics and military warfare with the

aid of computers, software programs and war game videos, they did

not know how to prepare for a war with the United States of America

without those aids. At their wits’ end, when the computers remained

inoperable even after mobile generators had provided power to the

war room, they had begun drawing up their battle plans on paper.

Unknown to the Kremlin, the generals in the Pentagon were having

the same difficulties. Frustrated, with their computers still out of

commission, the Pentagon generals had also begun drawing up plans

for the defense of the homeland against the imminent attack from

Russia and its allies.


283

“Mr. President, you must declare war on Russia immediately,” said

Jacob, the Senate Majority Leader, who had cycled on his bike to the

White house for this impromptu meeting.

“Jacob, even if that is the expected response, you are forgetting

one thing – there is no operating radio or television station to carry

the speech. The United States of America is cut off from the rest of

the world.”

“Has anyone figured out how they could have done this to us?”

asked Jacob.

“All we know at this stage is that the whole country is paralyzed,”

replied Bill, the President of the United States of America,

disconsolately.

“It appears that any equipment, whether aircraft or machinery,

remotely connected to a computer is inoperable. Pilots flying single

planes that do not use computer-aided navigation have brought

reports of chaos from other parts of the country. The most distressing

situation is that, in the event of war, our airplanes, submarines,

warships and nuclear arsenal, dependent heavily on computers for

their operations, would not be in play if we have not restored our

broken down systems before then.”

“At this moment, I am happy that you are the one to shoulder this

responsibility,” said Jacob sincerely.

Jacob and Bill Frazier had been bitter rivals in the Senate before

Bill went on to become the President. Since then the rivals had

become friends, with Jacob ensuring that the President’s bills passed

easily in both Republican Party-controlled houses.

Unknown to both men, an identical discussion was taking place in

Moscow. The only difference was that the Head of the Russian Duma

was the one urging the President of Russia to declare war on the

United States of America for crippling its communication and

industrial infrastructure.


284

The Russian President was in a similar dilemma as his American

counterpart – all their weapons systems, aircraft carriers, submarines

and aircraft were inoperable as they all relied on computers to

function.

Neither the United States and its allies nor Russia and its allies

had yet known the more disturbing news that all their strategic

weapons systems, aircraft carriers and nuclear submarines were

under the command of the One-World Armed Forces.

One week had passed and none of the superpowers was any

nearer to discovering the cause of the huge systems failures or

finding solution. The only way one could attack the other now was

for it to revert to the 15th century mode of warfare using boats, guns

and gunpowder. One side, believing it was a sitting duck, wondered

why the other had not yet attacked and destroyed it.

With dry taps everywhere, citizens had begun to fetch water from

lakes, seas and rivers. Initially many had boiled the water but after

running out of gas, they had started to drink polluted water.

Therefore, it had not come as surprise when many took ill. Soon

hospitals began running out of beds, medicines and doctors and

mortuaries were overflowing with corpses. Not surprisingly, many

grieving families started burying their loved ones in nearby parks.

Others simply dumped their dead on city street corners or into the

mountains of refuse piling up everywhere. Citizens choked just by

breathing; the stench was horrendous. With increasing chaos, it was

clear that an explosion was not very far behind.

Then, without warning, riots began breaking out in the world’s

major cities as citizens, now desperate and in despair, started looting

government offices to vent their anger while the more resourceful

broke into supermarkets searching for food.

Egged on by men and women springing up everywhere chanting

‘down with governments and politicians,’ citizens of the world began


285

to lay siege on government buildings and other public infrastructure

in most cities in the advanced countries.

As people of the earth rioted, looted, booted out their leaders, and

took back their governments, unknown to them, a select group

numbering not more than fifty million had taken over the entire

world’s political, security, military and economic infrastructure.

At the height of the descent into chaos, citizens anxious to fill the

void left by sacked governments and bureaucracies asked some

outstanding persons in their communities to take charge and head

caretaker governments at municipal, state, provincial and country

levels. However, not knowing what to do to restore sanity at this

epochal time of calamity, none of those approached was willing to

step forward.

When other equally renowned persons indicated their readiness

to serve, many citizens had been suspicious because even though

they knew of their pacifist stance before the riots, they also knew that

they surprisingly had supported the rioters when they were sacking

the elected governments. Challenged, the former pacifists had

succeeded in allaying the fears of citizens by claiming that their

support for the rioters had been tactical; it had been to gain the rioters

trust so that they could persuade them to stop the looting. Won over

by the soundness of their logic and their promise to restore order,

citizens had finally assented.

Many of the heads of these caretaker governments were

successful labor leaders, medical doctors, engineers, politicians, civil

servants, judges and journalists. Most of them were rich and some

were very large donors to charity. The politicians among them before

now had supported causes for the poor and opposed any legislation

on military spending.

None of the new heads of governments knew that they were

responding to sophisticated programming emitting from the chips

implanted in their brains when they were children. Nor did any of


286

them know that they were clones, their parents having never told

them. Though their parents were faithful members of Lucifer’s cults,

they themselves were also unaware that Adonis, at the behest of

Lucifer, had implanted chips inside their children’s brains which

would control them for the rest of their lives.

All the cities, states, provinces and countries of the developed and

most of the developing ones had installed interim governments

within a month of the total world systems collapse.

The heads of these caretaker governments at municipal, state,

provincial and country, responding to the program embedded in the

chips implanted inside their brains, selected those who would join

them to run the affairs of government. Even though the selection had

appeared random, citizens of the world, and even the heads of the

caretaker governments, did not know that members of these caretaker

governments had implanted chips inside their brains too.

Had peoples of the earth been able to compare notes they would

have found out that the restoration of services, whether at municipal,

state, provincial or country levels, had taken exactly twelve hours

after the appointment of an interim government. They also would

have found out that the restoration of their utilities and

communication systems had not been that complicated. Gaining

access into the control rooms of major utilities and communication

centers, these leadership teams had simply entered codes into

computers that in turn had activated the systems. These leaders,

brainwashed by the programs in their brains, never once pondered

how they had come by the codes. Citizens of the world could not

have known that the devil was now in complete control of the leaders

and members of the caretaker governments at all levels of

governance in the world.

With the restoration of services, lights, refrigerators and air

conditioners began to function as usual. For communication and

computer systems, there had been a tweaking. There was no internet


287

access and citizens could only make or receive calls within their own

countries. The new communication system had cut off all

international contacts. Citizens of each country remained isolated,

unaware that citizens of other countries were not faring any better in

the month following the restoration of services.

The caretaker governments in the various countries quickly put

new management teams in the various news organizations.

Beginning the sanitization process immediately they took over, the

management teams retired most news anchors, gave desk jobs to the

more visible reporters and appointed a new crop of reporters and

anchors.

Citizens of the various countries liked the new-look news

organizations with very beautiful female and physically well-

proportioned male anchors and reporters.

With the fourth estate secure, Adonis reprogrammed the world’s

communication infrastructure and people began to make

international calls, email and surf the internet again.

On the night of the world takeover, Adonis had instructed his men to

shoot the commanders of the various military formations while they

were still in the air or aboard ships. Each commander had received

the usual salute on boarding the aircraft or ship taking him or her

ostensibly to that higher appointment. Believing that they were in

charge, they had ordered coffee, or in the case of General Indigo for

champagne, as soon as they settled down.

However, thirty minutes into the journey, an attendant had

approached and shot the esteemed passenger in the temple. It would

be awhile before the new men at the helm of affairs in the different

countries would send the usual letters informing families of the

deaths of their loved ones while on special assignments. Most family

members assumed that their loved ones must have died in the

catastrophic upheaval of the preceding months.


288


289

18

THE MAN OF SIN

Now, brethren, concerning the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ

and our gathering together to Him, we ask you, not to be soon shaken

in mind or troubled, either by spirit or by word or by letter, as if from

us, as though the day of Christ had come.

Let no one deceive you by any means; for that Day will not come

unless the falling away comes first, and the man of sin is revealed,

the son of perdition, who opposes and exalts himself above all that is

called God or that is worshipped, so that he sits as God in the temple

of God, showing himself that he is God.

(2 Thessalonians 2:1-4)

Just like all other metropolis, Toronto, a city in the province of

Ontario, Canada, had undergone an unpleasant transformation

immediately after the worldwide collapse of utilities and

communication systems. No Torontonian could have foreseen the

unfolding tragic drama or its consequences or admit that things

would ever be the same again in this formerly beautiful North

American city.

In the early days, many affluent Torontonians had headed north

to their cottages on the shores of Lake Huron and the Georgian Bay.

In their desperate bid to escape the stinking city made much worse

by the obliterating summer heat, they had not reckoned with dry fuel

pumps en route to their destinations. With hopes of a safe retreat to

their cottages dashed as their car engines coughed and then stopped

for lack of gasoline, the city they left behind had beckoned. Many


290

were the sad tales of their tortured walk back to the city, after many

days, disheveled, hungry, and sick. Fellow citizens had been

unsympathetic to their plight; after all, were they all not facing

terrible situations themselves.

As more and more Torontonians began to drink water from Lake

Ontario, because the taps had stopped giving out their precious juice,

and to breathe the stench coming out of decaying debris and dead

bodies, something had snapped. Overnight, the peaceful people of

Toronto became vicious, shouting expletives as they demonstrated

against the Mayor and the city councilors. When word reached

Toronto later that the breakdown of utilities and communication

infrastructure had affected most parts of Canada, the tempo of the

protests had increased with strident calls for change of governments

at municipal, provincial and national levels.

With still no end in sight, and the situation deteriorating further

with each passing day, fierce looking persons had taken over the

demonstrations and turned them into large-scale riots. As

protesters set fire on Queen’s Park, destroying provincial

government buildings before looting banks and supermarkets, the

city of Toronto finally descended into chaos.

When word reached Toronto that rioters from Quebec were

advancing on Ottawa, the seat of the federal government of Canada,

the chief rioters in Toronto sent off volunteers numbering tens of

thousands to Ottawa with instructions to secure Ontario’s share of

the federal government properties.

By the fifteenth day of the protests, the federal, provincial and

municipal governments of Canada had fallen. Suddenly the looting

and riots stopped. Mr. Powell, a respected scion of one of Canada’s

richest families, had offered to help restore the collapsed

infrastructure after many other upstanding citizens had declined to

serve. After some hesitation, due to his surprising role during the

riots, Torontonians had accepted and appointed him the interim

Mayor of Toronto. Within an hour, Mr. Powell had raised a


291

management team to work with him. Twelve hours from its

inauguration, Mr. Powell and his management team had succeeded

in restoring the entire city’s utilities and communication systems.

Citizens in other Canadian towns and cities had also accepted the

offer of honorable citizens in their communities to run their

governments and bureaucracies at the same time as Torontonians had

appointed Mr. Powell as the interim Mayor of Toronto. These interim

mayors and town heads on their part also appointed management

teams to repair the utilities and communications systems in their

areas of jurisdiction. By the time Toronto had its systems restored,

the rest of Canada had theirs working also.

Two weeks after the restart of the utilities and communication

systems, all the interim mayors and town heads of all the cities and

towns of Canada met in Ottawa and elected Mr. Powell the interim

Prime Minister of Canada.

With the world secure, the interim leaders of the world’s strategic

countries agreed to meet in Geneva, Switzerland. To continue the

deceit, the new world media informed everyone that the interim

leaders from the former Northern Alliance territories had objected to

New York as venue for this all-important meeting, hence the choice

of Geneva.

On the appointed day, the interim leaders of countries from all

corners of the globe converged in that sleepy Swiss city with the

avowed aim of charting a new course for the world. The press, out in

full force to televise and beam the proceedings directly into homes

around the world, appropriately dubbed the momentous event, ‘The

First Meeting of the New World Order.’

Pointing to the gigantic roundtable with fifty seats in the middle

of the large meeting room, the spokesperson for the new leaders

informed the world media, “This roundtable shows that there will be


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no preferential treatment for any leader or country. In the new world

order, the supreme doctrine is equality of nations, big and small.”

Peoples of all nations watched live as their new leaders worked

out the modalities for world peace and prosperity. All the leaders

spoke passionately about the need to have new systems in place that

would prevent another catastrophic collapse of the world’s political

and economic systems.

At the end of the three-day deliberations, the world leaders, after

affirming their desire that all citizens of the world should live

harmoniously with one another on mother earth, signed a peace

treaty.

Reverend Sampson Winthrop read out the terms of the

agreement, with the whole world watching the occasion live from

their homes.

Citizens of the earth, below is the agreement of the New World

leaders:

Recognizing that sophisticated super cyber terrorists had brought

the world to its knees and had nearly destroyed it, we, the leaders

of the New World, mindful of our duties, have taken the

following decisions in the interest of world peace:

There will be only One-World economic and political system

under a One-World government. This will eliminate the

unhealthy national and business competitions that the world has

witnessed for more than three centuries.

World identity is more important than national identity.

Therefore, every citizen and country on earth is subject to the rule

of the One-World government.

World citizens can travel, live and work in any country of their

choice. There will be a one-world passport, removing the need


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for visas. The new world government will vet and bring all

national, municipal and local laws to the same standards.

Citizens must have world identity cards imbedded with their

biometric features. No citizen can be employed or receive a

driver’s license or passport without the world citizen identity

card.

Health care – doctor’s visits, hospitalization, surgeries,

prescription drugs, dental and vision care – is free for all citizens.

Countries must house and feed their weak and poor. Those with

more must give to those with less.

The world will no longer tolerate wars and threats of war. We

have adopted total world peace. There will be only one army for

the enforcement of world peace. Consequently, all countries must

destroy their weapons under the joint supervision of a one-world

task force on disarmament.

Because unscrupulous citizens have used religion to divide the

world for many centuries and wars have resulted in many cases,

we have decreed the equality of religion. Therefore, world

citizens must practice their religion in peace. To this end, there

will be no proselytizing using television, internet or any other

medium.

In acknowledgment of the immense help of Dr. Adonis White,

whose expertise helped to restore international services disrupted

by the cyber terrorists, we, the leaders of the world, have

unanimously agreed that he be the Chair of the One-World

government for seven years.


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We believe his unique knowledge will help the world to achieve zero

poverty and permanent peace.

The world body will hold all its meetings in the open to ensure

transparency.……………………………..

“God used Brother Joshua to warn the world,” exclaimed Pape after

listening to the resolutions of the so-called world body. He and

Vivian were in the family living room when they heard the ‘Breaking

News’ from Geneva.

“Yes darling, God did indeed warn us,” agreed Vivian.

“Everything Brother Joshua had foretold has happened. The time has

come for us to leave Toronto for our missionary journey to South

America.”

Vivian remembered the saintly pastor. They had become active

supporters of his ministry for many years. Leaving his job five years

ago, Pape had become a fulltime minister taking God’s word and

Joshua’s end time messages to all parts of Canada. Considering her

husband’s criticism of Canadian court judgments in the areas of

religious freedom, same-sex marriage and abortion rights, there had

been attacks on her in the press, with some questioning her

objectivity as a judge in the Supreme Court of Ontario.

“Rudy and Mary have decided to join our group,” Pape

announced, unaware that Vivian’s mind was far away.

“Did you say something, dear?” Vivian asked.

“There you go again, allowing your mind to stray from our

conversation,” Pape said humorously before repeating that Rudy and

Mary would be joining them for the South American trip.

“I thought they were heading to Asia with the other ten brethren

and their families,” said Vivian.


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“You know Rudy; he told me that he wanted to keep an eye on

me,” Pape said. “Seriously, I think he and Mary love our company

and believe that we are better off together.”

One month after the accession of Adonis as the Head of the One-

World government, and the signing of a New World treaty, Reverend

Sampson Winthrop, the executive secretary of the One-World

government, announced that Jerusalem would henceforth become the

headquarters of the world body.

At the first sitting of the world government in Jerusalem, citizens

of the world applauded after watching the signing of a permanent

peace agreement between Israel and the Arab world followed by

those of other warring groups.

One year into the reign of Adonis, there was unprecedented peace

in the whole world and the announcement by the One-World armed

forces that they had destroyed all the world’s stockpiles of

conventional and nuclear arms only served to reinforce world

security. In the same period, the One-World government installed

cameras on every street corner, laneways, roads and highways in

cities and towns. With the security blanket thrown around cities and

towns, worldwide crime rate had become negligible and people were

moving freely in the cities and countryside without fear of

molestation.

However, citizens were unaware that security personnel using a

technology created by Adonis were monitoring their movements and

eavesdropping on conversations going on in homes, schools and

workplaces on a twenty-four hour basis and that no correspondence,

paper or electronic, escaped their watchful eyes.

Many of those who initially had misgivings about the draconian

deprivation of people’s rights, seeing the immediate benefits, had

eventually accepted the new reality as the new normal. Those not so

convinced had been too afraid to speak out.

With goods and services now a fraction of their costs prior to the

emergence of the One-World government, even the poorest citizens


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in the more developed economies had sufficient food and adequate

shelter.

In the hospitality business, there was an unprecedented growth as

more and more people traveled to mountain and seaside resorts due

to the drastic reduction of fares by the airlines and room rates by the

hotels.

Citizens of the World believed they were experiencing prosperity

comparable to that of the fabled kingdom of Utopia. The press,

already under the control of Reverend Sampson Winthrop, hailed the

New World’s messiah. The only ones who did not benefit from the

economic policies of the One-World government were those residing

in the remote and inhospitable places of Africa, South America, Asia,

Arctic and the Antarctic

Two years into the reign of Adonis, twenty pastors from churches in

the Greater Toronto Area were having their usual weekly fellowship

meeting in Brother Jonah’s house in Toronto’s West End. They had

come together a year before in response to the subtle attacks on

biblical truths that they had been witnessing in their churches.

Many of the pastors had started seeing an increase in the number

of congregants and Sunday takings in Sunday services less than six

months after the formation of the One-World government. Initially,

they had been thankful more so when these new church members,

who appeared pious, not only had apparent understanding of the

Scriptures but were also large donors. Soon enough, some of the

pastors had gladly appointed them to leadership positions in the

Sunday schools and in other church programs.

In time, to their chagrin, they had discovered that most of these

new members were actually hindering the Lord’s work. Sunday

schools had become more of debating forums where these members,

now teachers, continued questioning biblical authority on matters of

doctrine and offering interpretations at variance with the word of

God. Those not in leadership positions were regularly writing to their


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pastors to disagree on Sunday school teachings, and sometimes on

even pulpit messages, while those in the church councils were using

their positions to obstruct evangelism.

Comparing notes with one another, and with other Christian

communities in North America, these Greater Toronto Area pastors

had come to the realization that their situation was not unique. It was

then that they had decided to meet and pray as a body once a month.

“I always believed that faithful Christians would not be around

during the great tribulation,” said Edna, a powerful preacher with

Glorious Evangelical Church in Downtown Toronto, after they had

finished praying this Saturday morning.

“Indeed, you thought wrong like many of us,” lamented Robert,

the Senior Pastor of Richmond Hill’s Greater Toronto Area

Pentecostal Church.

“What do you mean?” asked Victor, the President of World

Outreach Missions and by the far the more famous and the richest of

the group of twenty.

Jonah, the Coordinator of the Greater Toronto Area Awareness

Ministry and the host for this week’s prayer meeting, saw the slight

irritation on Robert’s face. Those two men had never got on well. He

decided to intervene.

“I believe Brother Robert meant that most Christians had

assumed that the rapture would take place before the great

tribulation. Many of us had used Scriptures in the past to justify this

apparently faulty position. With the present worldwide events, it is

time we all searched our consciences and answered this question:

‘Did we in the past sincerely seek to know the whole biblical truth

concerning the tribulation period or did we accept the convenient

teachings on the subject because we were afraid of the tribulation

sufferings, and the pre-tribulation rapture doctrine had offered an

escape route?’

My favorite Scholar, long gone, bless his soul, was an apostle of

the pre-tribulation rapture. In retrospect, he had argued more


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passionately for this position than he had for Christ in his books. How

his heart would have bled were he to be around today. He would have

been the first to acknowledge his errors and would have regretted not

having devoted his energies to the more relevant messages on Christ,

Him crucified and resurrected.”

“The Scholar I followed then was the opposite,” Robert offered

gently, not wanting to offend anyone especially Victor.

“He believed in the post-tribulation rapture. His argument was

that saints would be around during the seven-year reign of the

antichrist – which includes the last three-and-half years of the

tribulation – because God wants His saints to resist the devil and not

to cut and run from him. He had used the example of the Israelites in

Egypt to buttress his point. From his viewpoint, God allowed the

Israelites to suffer Pharaoh’s unjust tribulation before delivering

them mightily when they had lost all strength. Therefore, he had

concluded that God’s saints would face the antichrist and his wicked

security outfit before the Lord’s great day of deliverance, the

rapture.”

“How right your favorite Scholar was,” chipped in Jonah. “All

the pre-tribulation preachers, as people called them, used God’s

deliverance of Noah before the great flood that destroyed the first

world to justify their position that God would deliver His saints

before the great tribulation. They reinforced their argument using

God’s deliverance of Lot and his daughters just before fire and

brimstone rained down on Sodom and Gomorrah.

I believe that God will indeed deliver His saints, not before the

antichrist’s tribulation but before God begins to inflict the bowl

judgments on the earth following the seven-year reign and tribulation

of the antichrist. Like in the time of Noah and Lot, God will deliver

or rapture his saints prior to the unleashing of His wrath on the earth.”

“How right you are,” Edna shouted excitedly. “The Scripture

parallels were there all the time. God allows His saints to face Satan’s


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tribulation but delivers His own before raining down His wrath on

the wicked.

God had indeed closed our eyes so that we had failed to

differentiate His judgments from Satan’s tribulations because it was

not yet the time for us to know the full import of those scriptures

pertaining to the end time.”

“My sister, our eyes were closed because we chose to close

them,” Jonah said sadly. “God indeed did give us several witnesses

to prepare us for the time of the end. Most of us are in this mess today

because we did not heed the many warnings in the Bible or those of

His true end time prophets. A few years back, ‘The Time of the End’

movie by Brother Joshua had painted a very vivid picture of these

times.”

“Ah, that pastor who continued to warn of doom,” muttered

Victor. “He never seemed to talk of anything else.”

“That is not true, my brother,” Jonah said. “I know we all

supported you when you led the attacks on him but we were in error

and should now acknowledge it so that God can forgive us. Brother

Joshua had given hope to many and never failed to point believers to

Christ crucified and resurrected in his sermons.

Most of us allowed our needs to cloud our judgments. We misled

our followers by working with Reverend Sampson Winthrop of

California to vilify Brother Joshua. Today, our Reverend Sampson

has shown his hand and the testimony of Brother Joshua shames us

all.

In hindsight, you have to agree that Joshua was God’s true

apostle for the end time. Last week, as I was cleaning out my closet,

I stumbled on the DVD movie of the ‘Time of the End.’ I slotted it

into the player rather hesitantly, not knowing that action was going

to be the beginning of my own deliverance.

God used the opportunity of that action to get my attention and

to open my eyes at last. I believe many of you will finally change


300

your minds about that beloved pastor and his messages were you to

watch that movie.”

Without waiting for their response, Jonah went to his closet,

brought out the DVD of the ‘Time of the End’ and slotted it into the

player.

The movie lasted for about two hours. A sharp knife could not

have pierced the silence in the room. Jonah, who had been watching

the faces of his guests, saw the tears, and then the fear before most

of them fell on the floor crying and asking God for mercy. Their

response mirrored exactly his own after he had watched it

“Oh my God, the movie had accurately predicted the collapse of

the world political and economic systems, and had graphically

described the present One-World government,” observed Edna in a

subdued tone.

“Encouraged by Sampson Winthrop, the Canadian Union of

Churches of which we were all active members had asked our

members to shun the book and movie because Joshua was a divisive

pastor and not a man of God,” said Robert sadly.

“Some of us had even condemned the book and film from our

pulpits. On the other hand, all the Bible churches not affiliated to the

Canadian Union of Churches had encouraged their members to read

the book and to watch the movie. Today we all know that Sampson

and Adonis are parts of the same coin, just on opposite sides but still

the same coin.

In hindsight, all of us here had been working against God’s plan

to educate the world of the coming evil while Joshua and all who had

joined him and devoted their energy to spread the urgency of Christ’s

return had been the obedient virgins of the Bible.”

“It is wild to believe that Satan is already ruling the world using

cloned and possessed human beings,” said Victor, after a period

when the silence in the room had once again become very oppressive.

“Are we then to say that in less than two years, Adonis, the

peaceful man, who has helped to bring unprecedented peace to the


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world and ushered the most prosperous time on the earth, will

suddenly become an evil person?”

Victor had been the President of the Canadian Union of Churches

at the time and had spearheaded the attacks on Brother Joshua in

Canada.

“I am afraid so,” Jonah replied quietly. “You all know Pape and

Vivian. Well, they tried many times to convince me, years ago, that

our position then at the Canadian Union of Churches on Brother

Joshua was wrong. With Pape becoming the Canadian Coordinator

of Brother Joshua’s Ministry, he and I had parted ways for a period.

However, he had come to my house just before he and Vivian

with many other brethren left Toronto for South America after the

collapse of the utilities and communication grids two years ago. With

tears, he begged me to watch this film but instead I threw it into my

closet until God in His mercy miraculously opened the door to my

hardened heart last week.

Through their ministry then in Canada, many Christians had been

prepared. Heeding their warnings, many sold their houses after the

zero hour, bought materials for evangelism, and moved to the

Canadian interior witnessing Christ’s salvation while we in the

Canadian Union of Churches, blindsided by our pride and

foolishness, had misled our own followers.

In fact, I know three couples who moved to the Arctic, preferring

to be with the Inuit people. Some other pastors and their families

headed to Asia while two others went to the Sahara in Africa. Most

of those people had bought up the computers, photocopiers, printing

papers, video recorders, CDs and radio cassettes in the stores prior to

their departure.”

“Why?” asked Edna.

“Because my sister according to the film we had just watched,

our beloved man of peace will prevent us from preaching the gospel

of the Lord Jesus Christ very soon,” replied Jonah.


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“Haven’t we seen what the present measures have done to hinder

our effectiveness?”

The silence lasted for more than five minutes as the pastors

searched their hearts, their consciences condemning them.

“We can longer disseminate the Christian message on television,

internet or any other public medium,” Jonah continued speaking to

break the silence.

“Printing presses, now under the control of the central

governments, no longer print Bibles or religious manuals.

Photocopiers and papers are in short supply.

Our brothers and sisters who heeded the warnings in the film

have been busy evangelizing aggressively in both the cities and the

remote villages using those materials they had accumulated prior to

the advent of our man of peace. We, on the other hand, have not been

effective because we lack materials even though our church coffers

have increased more than tenfold.”

Victor’s heart was condemning him the more since he alone

knew that the reason he had dragged the Canadian Union of Churches

into Sampson’s arms had been anything but sincere.

“If this Adonis is the man of sin, then it follows that in less than

two years he will break all the peace agreements and begin to

persecute those who fail to worship him and his image,” Victor

commented skeptically.

“Brother Victor, everything we have seen and heard points to that

inescapable conclusion,” said Jonah.

“So you expect the rapture within the next six years?” Victor

asked, trying to appease his conscience.

“Yes,” Jonah replied.

“Now you are being unscriptural,” Victor burst out triumphantly.

“Didn’t the Scriptures say that no man knows the hour or day when

Christ will come back?”

“Yes,” replied Jonah. “However, the film did not give us a day or

hour and neither did I give one. The Bible has provided enough


303

information to enable us to discern the signs of the times and to know

when the deliverance of believers is near. What the film did at the

time of its release was to alert believers, years in advance, to prepare

and be ready to carry out that last evangelization effort before the

man of sin revealed himself.

Christ told us to be ready. In Matthew, Chapter 24, Christ

exhorted his followers to leave Israel when they see the abomination

of desolation standing in the holy place. Faithful Christian believers

of the 1st century in Israel, recalling Christ’s words, left just before

the Titus-led Roman invasion of Judea and the destruction of

Jerusalem in 70 A.D. Discerning the signs of the times, these 1st

century saints scattered to different parts of the world preaching the

gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ. Those who failed to take heed

remained in Judea, and perished. Their deaths were a loss to the

church because they died with talents and knowledge the world

desperately needed at the time.

While we do not know the time of the rapture, all the signs show

that the time for the man of peace to turn into the beast is upon us.

Recall First Thessalonians, Chapter 5, Verses 2 to 4, which I believe

is for our generation,

‘For you yourselves know perfectly that the day of the Lord so

comes as a thief in the night. For when they say, “Peace and Safety!”

then sudden destruction comes upon them, as labor pains upon a

pregnant woman. And they shall not escape.

But you brethren are not in darkness, so that day should overtake

you as a thief.’

Look again at that last verse. ‘…so that day should overtake you

as a thief.’ The ‘you’ refers to the believers.”

“If the predictions in ‘The Time of the End’ are correct, then we

had better start stocking up food and other necessities now before it

is too late,” stated Robert solemnly.


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“You are right,” echoed Jonah. “The beast will become the

absolute ruler from the time he breaks the peace agreement with

Israel and the world.

From that moment, he will decree that no man or woman will buy

or sell unless he has the beast’s mark on his forehead or right arm.

The mark embedded inside the forehead or arm, thanks to Brother

Joshua’s ‘The Time of the End,’ is actually Satan’s genetic code.”

“I believe we are beginning to stretch this matter,” retorted

Victor.

Victor’s heart was pounding more seriously now. The quiet voice

spoke into his ears, ‘Tell your brethren how you sold Me for a mess

of porridge.’

“I can see that Brother Victor is still playing the doubting

Thomas,” Jonah said gently. “‘The Time of the End’ drew its

inspiration from the Bible, especially the books of Thessalonians,

Daniel and Revelation.

Adonis, the man of peace, has used two years already to

consolidate. The press is full of praises for the man who brought

peace, eradicated poverty in the developed world, and gave full

employment to all in two short years.

Who will resist him when his security personnel start arresting

and killing people for trying to disrupt world peace say one or two

years from now?”

“The film also showed that the influence of the antichrist would

not be as pervasive in the more underdeveloped economies where

people do not use credit cards or computers in their daily lives,”

chimed in Robert.

“This means that Christians in cities and towns have two choices,

stock up on food and other provisions that will last them for at least

four years and hide when the time comes or head into the remote


305

parts of Africa, Asia or South America now to avoid the ungodly rule

of the antichrist.”

“There are two other choices, stock up on food and water but

don’t hide when the time comes or take the mark of the beast and be

damned forever,” Edna added.

“Taking the mark of the beast is not a choice,” Victor burst out.

Did he say that? The quiet voice again, ‘It is a choice just as you

have a choice to make a full confession to your brethren now or be

damned forever.’

“It is still a choice,” Jonah retorted. “For the undiscerning

Christian, that day will come as a shock. God warned us through his

word and more recently through end time prophets like Joshua.

We failed to heed the warning of the coming of the man of sin

and therefore did not prepare our flock adequately. Let us try and do

all in our power now to help more people know about Christ’s

imminent return.”

As they prepared to leave Jonah’s house, Robert asked the

question on everyone’s mind, “What can we do knowing that we

have spies in our churches?”

“One way is for Brother Jonah to burn ‘The Time of the End’

DVD for us so that we can give private screening of the film to those

members of our churches who were with us prior to the emergence

of the One-World government,” suggested Ada, one of the women

pastors present.

“Wouldn’t that be risky?” asked Victor. “Some of our old

members seem to have cast their lot with our new and influential but

godless members.”

‘Are you not one of the godless members?’ asked the still quiet

voice now growing fainter.

“There is always a risk in everything we do in life, more so for

us believers,” Robert answered. “The gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ

cost the Son of God His life, and faithful saints have through the

centuries paid for the spread of God’s word with their blood.


306

To minimize the risk, I suggest that we start first with those

members whose testimony is sure. Later, we must still give our older

but confused members a chance to see the light again.”

Victor, heart pounding and eyes blurring, began to sweat very

profusely.

Jonah rushed to the phone to call for an ambulance to take him to

the hospital while some of the pastors removed his tie, unbuttoned

his shirt and laid him out on the sofa. They all then joined hands to

pray as they waited for the ambulance to arrive.

None of the pastors knew it; what Victor needed was not medical

treatment but that confession that delivers and heals both soul and

body. Unfortunately, for Victor, his greed and maybe the fear of

losing the respect of his fellow pastors had made it difficult for him

to grab that one last opportunity to repent.

The last thought on his mind as he gave up his ghost was the ten

million dollars he had received from Sampson Winthrop to betray his

calling and mount a calumnious campaign against an innocent soul,

thereby preventing many from knowing God’s truth.

Ruth and Joshua with Josiah, their eldest son, and his family had been

playing host for the past month to three generations of the Love

family, thirty in all.

At New York’s Central Park on this beautiful bright autumn day,

members of the Love clan were enjoying the fascinating view of rows

and rows of trees with their bright beautiful variegated leaves

stretching as far as the eye could see. While the older adults were

playing hide and seek with the smaller ones, amidst the rustling dry

autumn leaves, the younger adults were taking pictures with their

digital cameras when they were not visiting nearby ice cream stands.

Members of the Love clan – babies, young adults, adults and seniors

– were having such a wonderful time playing, taking rides, eating

popcorn and ice cream that none of them wanted the day to end.


307

When the bus pulled up, everyone knew the picnic was over.

Midway home, most of the babies had stopped crying while the

young adults, who had been wearing long faces before boarding the

bus, were now chattering excitedly about the day’s events. The elder

ones could hardly repress their smiles as they looked at the animated

faces of the young. Most, remembering their youth, nodded their

heads in understanding.

The night’s dinner for the Love family clan was buffet type with

an assortment of steak, chicken, vegetables, tropical fruits, juices and

yogurt.

Assembling, after dinner, on the large balcony adjoining the

gardens, the Love clan, with Esther leading the choruses, began

singing and worshipping the Almighty God. One hour later, after a

short sermon by Jonathan, Esther said the closing prayers.

The chiming of the clock at 9.00 p.m. was the signal for children

between ages 0 to 12 to go to bed according to bedtimes established

years ago by Ruth. The young adults – ages 13 to 17 – spent the next

one hour in the family living room sharing young adult stories while

their parents and grandparents remained in the balcony making small

talks. Ruth’s entrance into the living room by 10.00 p.m. was the hint

for the young adults to call it a night. They had hoped that since this

was their last night together, Granny, the name they all called Ruth,

would make an exception to the rule. However, they had misjudged

her as she gently but firmly refused their plea for extension. Many

were the gloomy faces that went to the balcony to kiss their parents

and grandparents goodnight before reluctantly going to bed.

Joshua looked at his siblings, nearly as old as himself, their

spouses, his three sons and their spouses, his nephews and nieces and

their spouses. Though a little sad that this was going to be the last

night that they would all be together, he was happy and thankful that

the good Lord had granted him this last favor before the final act of

the antichrist.


308

Deciding the time had come for them to discuss their plans,

Joshua rose from his chair, hugged everyone, before taking his seat

again.

“We all here know that we have come to the end of the age,”

Joshua said. “The question of whether it remains a few more hours

or days or months before Adonis reveals his true colors is now

academic. For reveal himself, he must and soon too.

Citizens of the world have never had it so good; working fewer

hours with higher pay, with most services either free or heavily

subsidized, and with a standard of living that would have made their

ancestors green with envy.

How many would resist his rule when he finally plays his last

card? I submit, rather sadly, that many will take the mark of the beast

willingly. Becoming informers for the antichrist, they will readily

betray their fellow citizens. A short time thereafter, anyone without

the mark would be like a dead man walking.

However, we must not despair because many Christians and even

non-Christians will refuse to take the mark but the beast and the false

prophet will bide their time hoping for their resolve to weaken as

hunger bites harder and many begin to starve to death. In time,

security agents assisted by informers will begin to fish out and torture

the holdouts. While some will succumb to the pain and take the mark,

others will still refuse and pay the price with their lives.

It will be more difficult for those with children, as the antichrist’s

agents will use them as pawns to try to break the resistance of many

parents. How many parents would withstand the sight of the torture

of their children without compromising?”

Esther and Jonathan stared at their beloved brother, seeing the

anguish and sorrow in his eyes. It was as if he was blaming himself

for not getting the world more prepared.

“Brother Joshua, I do not know of anyone in our generation who

daily warned the world of the dangers of the coming period more

than you,” Esther said gently, feeling her brother’s pain.


309

“From every rooftop, you have been sounding the alarm for so

many years. All we can do now is to pray to the good Lord that He

remembers His children at this very dark hour and provides them the

grace to resist the adversary even unto death.”

“Amen,” came the chorus of voices.

“I leave for London tomorrow to see the brethren,” announced

Jon. “There, I shall be encouraging those who fear that they could

succumb under torture to head to the villages, far away from any

English city. Some enterprising ones have already stored up food and

water in caves and even in disused coalmines.

Maggie, our children, their wives and our grandchildren will fly

directly to Zurich. From there they will go on to a small village,

which is about one hundred miles from Zurich. Maggie will fly back

to be with me in London after our children, their wives, and our

grandchildren have settled in.”

“How many years did it take those Swiss guys to develop this

village which I understand is buried deep inside the Alps?” asked

Ben.

“Actually it is the road to the village that is buried inside the

Alps,” answered Jon. “Maggie and I had been on one of our skiing

trips with some of our brethren from our Zurich church a few years

ago when we had stumbled into this quiet uninhabited valley of about

four square miles surrounded by hills.

Later, our Zurich church organized expeditions to carve out a

passage to it through the mountain. With the road complete, brethren

ferried in goods and provisions. Our village is now a full functioning

small town except for the absence of telephones. There is a spring

and a river with lots of fish emptying into a small clear water lake.

We have three generators and enough fuel to last for more than three

years and right now we have about one hundred families from our

Swiss church living there.”

“Great,” exclaimed Ben. “I am already in love with the place. It

looks like a perfect place to keep the children.”


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“Why don’t all the Love grandchildren below the age of fifteen

go to this Swiss enclave?” asked Jon.

“Thanks for your well meaning concern, Jon,” cut in Esther

gently. “It sounds interesting and tempting. However, our churches

have small children too and they are looking forward to having our

children and grandchildren, whom they have known intimately all

their lives, joining them in a small village about three hours drive

from Shanghai. More than five hundred families are already there

and our children and grandchildren would be helping to organize and

run the activities in the village. Therefore, Jon, you see why we

cannot split up the family.

While our village does not have electricity, it does have sufficient

seeds to grow food and raise poultry. Hills also surround the village

and there are many rivers crisscrossing the entire area. However, Ben

and I will be staying in our Shanghai church building till the very

end.”

“Sis, you have reassured me,” Jon said. “When are you leaving for

Shanghai?”

“We should be in Shanghai on Thursday and then to our new

village the following day. Ben and I will remain there for about a

week before heading back to Shanghai.”

“There is no doubt that the Love family would have wanted to be

together till the very end,” said Joshua wistfully.

“But we have a responsibility to be there for those who would

need us in the trying times ahead. Our consolation should be that the

time is at hand and that we would soon be meeting at the heavenly

banquet.

However, we must not give false assurances to the saints because

the beast’s security agents would eventually discover some of these

villages no matter how remote and secure they appear to be. It is our

duty to convey this fact to the brethren.


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Finally, we must not fail to reassure all the brethren, no matter

where they choose to be, that death at the antichrist’s hands is but the

beginning of their eternal rest in the Lord.”

“Where are you going to be, brother?” Esther asked.

“Ruth and I will be moving into Street Corner Church, of course. The

devil knows my address and we have been wrestling for a long time.

He would like me to hide but that is not for me. Our children have

made their own arrangements with their churches.”

“Brother Joshua, people could be wondering why the children of

Joseph and Edith would be remaining in their churches knowing that

they would be the first targets of the antichrist,” said Maggie.

“Then you should tell them that the Lord’s grace is sufficient for

all His children – whether they choose to defy the antichrist openly

or elect to hide in the city underground or run to the remote villages.

However, it is important that some leaders remain in the cities to keep

the lights burning in the churches. In addition to ministering to those

who would surely seek refuge in the churches, they should visit and

encourage those who would be hiding in the city sewers and

underground.

Please tell everyone that only those led of the Lord should remain

in the city while those without such leading should leave for the small

villages to minister and encourage the brethren there. As some of the

remote villages would eventually fall to the antichrist, there should

be mature leaders there too to encourage and exhort the weaker ones

to go through with their commitment to Christ in the event of capture.

You all may recall that in the movie, Quo Vadis, Peter was on his

way out of Rome when he encountered the Lord. The Lord had

asked, ‘Quo vadis, Peter,’ translated, ‘Where are you going, Peter?’

According to that movie, Peter turned and went back to the city.

While the Lord’s encounter with Peter on the outskirts of Rome

cannot be authenticated, there is no denying the fact that many

Christians who left Rome in that terrible period of Nero’s brutal

persecution of 1st century Christians had gone on to minister the


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gospel to the heathen world. Another important fact, Peter’s stay in

Rome, and later execution, had been an inspiration for many who

otherwise could have faltered.

Just as Peter, Paul and many other saints stayed in Rome during

the dark days of the 1st century in obedience to the Holy Spirit and

paid the price with their lives, so will it be for many leaders during

the tribulation. Therefore, bravery by Christian leaders during their

execution by the antichrist would likely encourage those whose

hearts would have otherwise failed them. We all should pray so that

the Lord will put it in the hearts of many leaders to remain in the

cities too so that they may encourage the weaker brethren.

And just as the Lord allowed the early Christians to leave Rome

and take the gospel message to the rest of the world, so also will some

pastors and leaders leave the cities to go to the nooks and corners of

the earth to minister till the very end.”


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19

THE TRIBULATION

“Then I stood on the sand of the sea. And I saw a beast rising up

out of the sea, having seven heads and ten horns, and on his horns

ten crowns, and on his heads a blasphemous name.

Now the beast which I saw was like a leopard, his feet were like the

feet of a bear, and his mouth like the mouth of a lion. And the dragon

gave him his power, his throne, and great authority.” (Revelation

13:1-2)

“So they worshipped the dragon who gave authority to the beast;

and they worshipped the beast, saying, ‘Who is like the beast?’

‘Who is able to make war with him?’ And he was given a mouth

speaking great things and blasphemies, and he was given authority

for forty-two months.” (Revelation 13:4-5)

“Then, I saw another beast coming up out of the earth, and he had

two horns like a lamb and spoke like a dragon. And he exercises all

the authority of the first beast in his presence, and causes the earth

and those who dwell on it to worship the first beast, whose deadly

wound was healed.

He performs great signs, so that he even makes fire come down from heaven on the earth in the sight of men. And he deceives those

who dwell on the earth by those signs which he was granted to do in

the sight of the beast, telling those who dwell on the earth to make

an image to the beast who was wounded by the sword and lived.

And he was granted power to give breath to the image of the beast, that the image of the beast should both speak and cause as many as

would not worship the image of the beast to be killed. And he causes


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all, both small and great, rich and poor, free and slave, to receive a

mark on their right hand or on their foreheads, that no one may buy

or sell except one who has the mark or the name of the beast, or the

number of his name.”

(Revelation 13:11-17)

To the uninformed, and there were many, the good looking and

kindly man whose image appeared regularly in print and on

television was the genius who had rescued a world about to fall off

the precipice forty-two months ago and who had created the present

unprecedented worldwide prosperity.

To discerning Christians, Adonis was the antichrist, the man of

sin, or the beast described in Revelation Chapter13, Verse1, rising

up out of the sea, having seven heads and ten horns,… whom Satan,

also called the dragon, had given his power, his throne and great

authority.

Unbelievers were beginning to pay attention to the underground

Christian messages, which had been increasing in frequency,

painting Adonis as the antichrist; the harder his security outfit, his

press and his embeds in the churches tried to suppress the truth, the

greater the number of graffiti and leaflets proclaiming him as the

antichrist.

Immediately after that first summit of the new world leaders in

Geneva, Adonis, the chair of the One-World government, had

created seven economic and political blocks, namely North America,

South America, Africa, Western Europe, Eastern Europe, Asia and

Oceania. The leader or head of each block had the title of vice chair

and was a member of the supreme command council of the One-

world government. Adonis had given the leaders the mandate to

restructure the bureaucracies of the countries in their blocks and to

ensure that their citizens lacked nothing.


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By the end of the second year, world food production had

quadrupled and by the third year, there was enough food to feed the

world’s population twice. Adonis, using newly developed gene-

splicing techniques, had created and distributed hybrid seeds that

were twenty times more productive than the previously non gene-

spliced varieties.

Forty-two months after, installation of heating and air-

conditioning equipment using a revolutionary solar technology in

homes and offices cut energy costs by more than half. Most people

owned new fuel-efficient cars that used heavy water as fuel. They

had purchased these cars at less than half the cost of equivalent

conventional cars that the One-world government had banned two

years after coming to power. Touting the need for world citizens to

hear directly from their government and watch programs of their

choice unencumbered, the One-world government had abolished

cable and satellite fees and cut the cost of high definition television

sets drastically while charging only a token for flat screen television

sets. As a result, most citizens had access to more than five hundred

channels on their high definition television or flat screen sets. In

addition, with restructured communications infrastructure, citizens

could make free local and international calls.

The large army of environmentalists had welcomed the banning

of the exploitation and use of fossil fuels.

“Who needed such pollutants when solar energy and heavy water

were powering homes and cars respectively?” they gleefully asked.

Citizens of the world had never had it so good, what with the vast

improvement in their standard of living and increased savings since

they paid little or nothing for most services. People were working

fewer hours per week and receiving more wages than when they had

been working longer hours in the past. With only one currency,

international transactions had become very fast and efficient. The

world had truly become an Eldorado.


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Unknown to the happy earthlings, these freebies had come at

great cost to their privacy and personal freedom; the antichrist’s

security forces were monitoring their communications as they passed

through the giant supercomputers stationed in the headquarters of

each of the seven economic blocks.

How could a deluded world have known that special

indoctrination and propaganda personnel had been carefully

scripting all radio and TV broadcasts? Who openly could have raised

their voices against movies that dealt mostly with esoteric themes

that scoffed at the concepts of heaven and hell, Satan and sin, when

most people were happily enjoying the antichrist’s goodies? Had any

one publicly declared that the antichrist and his agents were

hoodwinking them, those who loved and were engrossed in what was

going on would have gladly stoned that person.

The antichrist, intent on sucking more and more citizens deeper

and deeper into his orbit, made sure such occult books like, ‘Using

Witchcraft for Good,’ ‘Transcendental Meditations,’ ‘Hypnosis and

Illusion,’ and ‘Becoming a god,’ were sent to every home. The letter

accompanying the gifts stated that world citizens had the right to read

those books that the reactionary old world order had denied them.

Most people had not known it then, but the re-education of the world

started from the day the world’s utilities and communication

infrastructure had mysteriously shut down.

With free books, cable and satellite services, many had become

addicted to reading and watching television on a 24-hour basis in a

very short time. Those reading the occult books and watching the

satanic-inspired movies could not have known that their actions had

opened the doors to their souls, making it very easy for demons to

enter and possess them.

Having succeeded in taking control of all aspects of life on earth after

forty-two months, the antichrist knew it was time to shift gears and

bring the world to its knees. He knew that nothing could stop him

now from imposing his will on the world using the millions of


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possessed souls as the springboard. They would be the first to take

his mark and worship his image

Reverend Sampson Winthrop, the secretary to the One-World

government, had been very active since the appointment of Adonis

as the leader of the One-World government. The time, money and

effort he had spent years before cultivating the world’s religious

leaders and promoting religious peace and harmony had paid off very

handsomely. Known as the apostle of unity before the emergence of

the One-World government, many had come to see him as someone

to be trusted.

He had allayed the fears of religious leaders when the world body

had enacted the laws that had restricted worship and evangelism.

Most of the famous religious leaders were indebted to him; after all,

had he not helped establish ministries for many and come to the aid

of others when they had run into situations that unknown to them he

had helped to engineer.

The few that had expressed doubts had received folders in their

homes or offices detailing their financial crimes and sexual

escapades. Soon enough, these religious leaders had known that they

were in it for the long haul and had acquiesced.

Appearing regularly on television with other religious leaders,

he had exhorted citizens to obey the laws of the One-World

government seeing that it represented God’s instrument to bless the

world with unmatched peace and prosperity.

Reverend Sampson Winthrop was aware that many Christians

had been evangelizing secretly despite the ban on evangelism.

Knowing that the One-world government could not move against

them openly during the first forty-two months consolidation period,

he had planted his agents in churches to slow down the ‘foolish’

pastors, misinform weaker church members and win new converts to

their cause.


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He had a record of all the pastors who had successfully

circumvented the law requiring persons to obtain permits before they

could buy computers, photocopiers and printing papers, and of those

who had failed to give account of usage. These ‘foolish’ pastors

would be the first to die when he and Adonis imposed their absolute

rule on earth.

Less than one month into the reign of Adonis, he had sanitized

all the news and satellite organizations in the world. With human

clones, which lord Lucifer had specially programmed from birth in

charge of television and internet content, he had begun to brainwash

billions of citizens using mixtures of illusion and propaganda. Forty-

two months after, millions were already seeing Adonis as god and

would willingly follow him to the death. With the image of the

antichrist now ready, things were about to change.

“With little or no opposition from a grateful world, who would

dare to complain when Adonis moves openly against the ‘foolish’

Christians?” asked Reverend Sampson Winthrop of no one in

particular.

“Has Adonis not given the world so much in forty-two months,

more than they could have ever imagined?

Now is payback time. Citizens of the world can continue to enjoy

the ‘free’ benefits on our terms or pay the supreme price.”

One day, citizens of the world woke up to see images of Adonis

adorning their landscapes. Underneath each image was a copy of the

Supreme Decree from the One-World government and instruction for

all citizens to tune in to a very important announcement by Noon

GMT.


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The appearance of Reverend Sampson on the worldwide satellite

television network reading out the decree brought reality home to the

world’s billions.

This is the Supreme Decree of the One-World Government for

all the citizens of the earth:

Adonis, our supreme leader, has not only restored order to a

chaotic world in a very short space of time but he also has brought

us so much peace and prosperity. Citizens of the world can rightfully

claim that their prosperity has surpassed that of the fabled kingdom

of Utopia.

To ensure that we continue to enjoy the unparalleled creative

abilities of our great leader, the One-World Government has elevated

Adonis to the position of god and messiah of mother earth.

The One-World Government is aware that there are those who

would want to turn the clock back to the time of wars and diseases

and who had been plotting for the past forty-two months to overthrow

our peaceful government.

We have therefore enacted the following rules primarily to flush

out the saboteurs in our midst and to prevent a reversal of our

collective gains:

� Every resident of our planet must worship our god and

messiah, and his image, under pain of death,

� Every resident of our planet must go to the nearest clinic to

have a security chip implanted on either their foreheads or

right arms within twenty-four hours,

� No one can buy or sell without the implant on his or her right

arm or forehead,

� Citizens must report any merchants selling or anyone buying

without the implant to the authorities,

� Citizens must note that it is death for anyone caught buying

or selling without the security implant.


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At the end of the announcement, Reverend Sampson Winthrop went

over to the life-size image of Adonis in the studio and blew his breath

into it. To the astonishment of billions, the image began to speak and

move around.

Not content with that display of unparalleled power, Sampson

commanded fire to come out of the skies. Billions watched the

roaring fire coming out of the sky. And as the fire was approaching

Jerusalem, Sampson commanded water to meet it in midair and

consume it.

“This is just the tip of the iceberg,” he exulted on the worldwide

telecast. “Man has indeed become god and in a very short time, we

will conquer death and man will live forever.

Those who oppose us do not want citizens of our planet to have

eternal youth and life. Has this ever happened before that man could

mould an image and put life into it, or command fire to come out of

the skies and put it off by sending water to consume it?

I challenge anyone, god or man, to come forward and duplicate

this great demonstration of power. No, there is no one that can do

what you have all seen me do openly on this worldwide telecast. One

thing you should be sure of; there is more from where this has come

from.

Our beloved god, Adonis, has conquered creation and become its

master. He is working towards making obedient citizens gods who

could manifest the type of powers you have just witnessed.”

There was a stampede in all the cities as citizens rushed in different

directions, some to the clinics to take the implant and others to

grocery stores to stock up on food items.

The sign announcing that businesses would reopen in twenty-

four hours for those who had the implanted security chip on their

right arms or foreheads was everywhere – entrances to all public and

commercial places, rooftops, power and communication towers.


321

As much as it was heartbreaking to see the disappointed faces of

citizens who had dashed to the supermarkets only to find armed

personnel guarding their front entrances, it was more heartrending to

see the long queues of the world’s deluded waiting patiently to take

the mark of death at the clinics.

Those who went to small neighborhood stores to stock up

discovered to their chagrin that earlier callers had beaten them to the

punch and had bought up everything on the shelves. Many citizens

groaned, their Utopia-like kingdom having suddenly crumbled.

Some of those who had never believed in anything but in

themselves knew that the new rules were indeed evil. People

discussed in hushed tones. As the day wore on, the lamentations

increased as anger began to replace the feeling of hopelessness but

the sight of armed personnel on every street corner deterred many

concerned citizens from taking action.

At the end of the twenty-four hour window, a good number had

taken the mark on their foreheads or right arms. However, many did

not comply, preferring to raid their refrigerators, kitchen cabinets and

basements. Unfortunately, after one week, most people had run out

of food items. Then, the trouble began. Parents watched helplessly

as their starving children cried for food and water. With each passing

day, the pressure to succumb increased as television anchors using

live pictures of dead and starving children exhorted parents to do the

right thing for their families.

“How can a parent claim to love a child and watch him or her

starve to death?” the commentators asked.

A few days later, when it appeared their pleas seemed not to be

having the desired effect, they had changed their tone, telling

children to, “Run out of your homes and our god will give you food

and water. Why should you die so young?”

Some parents, frustrated, succumbed.

Many of those who had received the implanted chip on their

foreheads or arms were unaware that the chip contained Lucifer’s


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genetic code, otherwise called the ‘mark of the beast’ in the Bible.

Those with the mark could enter commercial or public buildings,

schools, trains or aircraft through scanners that activated the entrance

doors after confirming the mark on their foreheads or right arms. By

placing their right arm or forehead on computer monitors, they could

also activate the internet and make phone calls.

With no visible security personnel or cashiers at supermarkets

and only screens at the entrances, all a customer had to do to enter

was to place the right arm or forehead with the implanted chip on the

screen. Walking through the aisles, the customer would point at the

items he or she wished to buy on the fully stocked shelves and the

electronic system would remove the identified items, stack them in

shopping bags and move them to the checkout. At the checkout, he

or she collected the bagged items, placed the arm or forehead with

the mark on the checkout screen and the unmanned checkout would

debit his or her credit account, issue a purchase receipt, and activate

the exit door.

In the beginning, many had taken the mark of the beast but a good

number, including those who had not heeded the call to repentance

before the revelation of the antichrist, had refused to take it.

A few weeks after his infamous decree, the antichrist had upped

the ante. He had reconfigured the world’s utilities and

communication systems so that only those with the mark of the beast

could access water, gas, electricity, satellite, cable and telephone in

their homes. With that action, homes of those without the mark of

the beast had gone dark, their taps had dried up and cooking for those

who still had raw food items was out of the question without gas or

electricity.

Reverend Sampson Winthrop, now called the false prophet by

discerning Christians, decided to escalate the propaganda war as the

hardship increased. His agents, numbering hundreds of thousands,


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armed with megaphones, began storming cities and towns to warn

those who had not yet taken the security implant to do so

immediately or face arrest and incarceration. When information

reached him later that people were going to rivers and lakes for water,

he had ordered round-the-clock surveillance on rivers, lakes, seas and

oceans and then instructed the police to arrest persons looking for

water or foraging for food.

While some, unable to bear the hardship, succumbed, others still

refused to take the mark. Soon, Reverend Sampson began to call the

refusniks resident aliens and saboteurs in league with beings from

other planets to frustrate the growth of the new earth under Adonis.

Later, with jailhouses filling up rapidly, he ordered the guards to

begin killing those who still held out after torture.

As the antichrist’s rule progressed, the false prophet lost his

patience. Tightening the screws of intimidation, he instructed the

security forces to slaughter persons without the security mark

wherever they found them. Several citizens, their courage failing

after witnessing grisly massacres on the streets, took the mark. Yet

many others still refused and paid the price with their lives when they

unwittingly ran into the beast’s police.

Unprepared saints living in the cities who had remained in their

homes had been the first to pay the price not too long after the

antichrist’s decrees came into effect.

Numerous heads of Christian households, faced with the

inevitable dilemma of watching their children starve to death,

knowing fully well the dangers, had gone outside in search of food

and water after a period. Many had fallen into the traps laid by the

antichrist and his cohorts. The Lord’s grace had been evident, as most

of those caught had refused to take the mark and had boldly declared

their faith in God through Christ before their executions. Most


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members of the families they left behind had died of starvation

thereafter.

Other heads of Christian families elected to stay with their

families, starve together, and die with them rather than risk

separation. For them, dying of starvation with their families was

preferable to giving satisfaction to the beast by going to search for

food or water and fall into his trap. The smell of the rotted bodies of

departed saints continued to emanate from many homes for a long

time.

Millions of Christians killed by the antichrist’s police and those

who had died from starvation in the first few months after the

infamous decree belonged to these two groups. They had failed to

stock up on food and water and had remained in their homes after the

antichrist’s decree went into effect. Watching their children starve to

death and before they too died, they had berated themselves for not

having heeded the warnings in the Scriptures and those by God’s end

time prophets to be ready.

However, millions of other Christians, mostly in small groups,

who had taken refuge in underground utilities and sewer systems or

in sealed-off basements, but who had limited stock of food and water,

survived much longer before their food and water ran out. Some of

these groups began sending volunteers to rummage for food in the

city dumps at night. Sometimes the volunteers had been lucky, other

times the antichrist’s agents had captured some.

The beast’s security service personnel usually took those they

caught to special reorientation centers, more accurately torture

chambers. As those hiding underground prepared for their own

deaths, they were comforted by stories of the heroics of saints who

resisted the severe tortures and had maintained their testimony for

the Lord Jesus Christ to the very end.

In the midst of the upheaval, Joshua and Ruth kept the doors of

Street Corner Church open. With no thought of leaving the church

under any circumstance, their prayer was for the Lord to raise another


325

to take their place as soon as the antichrist’s police arrested or killed

them.

As the situation worsened, many New Yorkers, mostly

unbelievers, started coming in the dead of the night to give their lives

to Christ while others came to beg for food. As the word spread,

thousands began flocking to the church during the day. Two weeks

later, the church had run out of food and water. After surveying the

empty basement, which had served as the storehouse, Ruth and

Joshua went on their knees and cried out to the Lord for His mercy.

The following morning, after prayers, Ruth went down to the

basement to pick the grains on the floor to prepare their last meal.

Opening the door to the basement, she froze at the sight of shelves

filled from top to bottom with all types of food items, full gas

cylinders, and a floor overflowing with cartons of bottled water.

Recovering from the glorious shock that rendered her speechless

for what seemed hours, she rushed upstairs shouting, ‘Praise the

Lord.’ With the Hand of God so evident, Ruth and Joshua, armed

with megaphones, went to the streets of New York exhorting people

not to take the mark of the beast and asking those without food and

water to come and feed from the Lord’s bounty at the Street Corner

Church.

By the time they came back, there were hundreds of people

waiting outside Street Corner Church to give their lives to Christ.

Unknown to Joshua and Ruth, similar miracles were taking place at

the same time in many cities around the world as the Lord confirmed

the testimony of those pastors who had remained in their city

churches. They not only had life to minister to those who came

calling but also had food and water to dispense to a dying world.

Satan was full of rage as he watched women and men

proclaiming the good news on the streets of New York, Los Angeles,

Chicago, Toronto, London, Paris, Milan, Berlin, Moscow, Tehran,

Shanghai, Tokyo, Melbourne, Lagos, Cape Town, Rio de Janeiro,

Mexico City, and countless other cities.


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It was obvious that the Lord God, moved by the prayers and

steadfastness of those pastors and ministers who had stayed put at

their posts, had decided to leave beacons of hope in many city centers

in the world that the antichrist and his men could never penetrate.

Seeing their storehouses replenished with food and water each day

only made God’s soldiers more determined to win more souls even

if they have to pay the ultimate price.

Because of these happenings, unbelievers continued streaming

into these oases of hope confessing their sins. Saints, whose courage

could have otherwise failed them, seeing God’s handiwork, had

drawn strength.

The beast and his false prophet raved and ranted because the Lord

God had thrown a blanket of fire around some of His ministers and

their church premises. All attempts by their security forces to arrest

the pastors while they were preaching openly on the streets or to enter

those churches and their surroundings had failed. As a result, more

and more people were giving their lives to Christ.

Since his security agents could not enter the Holy Ghost-

blanketed zones, the antichrist directed his men to wait outside the

zones for the new converts and to kill them while en route to their

hideouts. With this strategy, his police killed thousands of new saints.

In the cities, after three years, those saints, who had prepared and had

stored up food, cooking gas and water, were beginning to despair as

they watched their supplies diminish. Many had been hiding in

sealed-off basements, underground tunnels and sewers and most

have not seen the sun in three years. For those with children and

young adults, it had been very tough.

Saints in a few cities, prior to the revelation of the antichrist, had

worked together in teams, storing up foodstuff in disused cellars,

underground systems and burrow pits. These ones had fared better


327

than those that had not worked in groups. Moving from one

underground tunnel to another in the past three years, most of them

had escaped the clutches of the antichrist’s security service

personnel. However, with each passing day, they too knew that the

antichrist’s noose was tightening and that given time his agents could

stumble on some of their locations.

Comparatively, saints who had gone to the countryside in the

developed and developing countries, especially to the more remote

locations, had had an easier time than their city compatriots dwelling

inside the underground tunnels. Farming – crop, fish and poultry –

and sharing the word with one another, they had enjoyed greater

degrees of freedom of movement. Many of these saintly families

would usually gather especially on moonlit nights looking at the open

skies and singing praises to God. In the three years since the

revelation of the evil one, they had never suffered want.

The antichrist’s agents had made numerous forays into some of

the remote locations to enforce his rule. While they had arrested and

killed those who refused to take the mark of the beast on their first

visits, success during subsequent visits to the same location had been

limited. After the beast’s initial success in a remote location, citizens

in the area – Christians and non-Christians – would usually set up

lookout posts to warn people to flee farther inland at the approach of

the beast’s agents. This way saints in most of those remote locations

in the developed and developing countries gained the upper hand in

the deadly cat and mouse game with the antichrist’s agents.

However, those who fared the best were those saints who had

moved to the hinterlands of the least developed nations and to the

more inhospitable areas of the world months or even years before the

revelation of the antichrist. No one had disturbed them. The

antichrist’s security services, already overstretched, did not have the

resources to control the vast expanse of the entire earth.

Living in small population centers, these Christians had been

effective witnesses to the many who before then had never heard of


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Christ, Christianity, the antichrist, and the upheavals taking place in

most parts of the world.

As Jane opened her eyes wondering which city the Lord had brought

her to, she remembered how it had all started three years earlier. It

was still dark outside but there was something familiar about the

surroundings and the smell of this particular bedroom. Why was she

bothering herself, the soon coming of the morning would reveal the

name of the city and the owners of the bed she had been sleeping in

for goodness how long.

She felt the weakness in her body as she tried to get up. Giving

up, she lay back on the bed and the memories of the past three years

came flooding all over her.

Her odyssey had started after that momentous evening in her

New York apartment three years ago. She was restless after waking

up on that morning, what with the guilt still weighing heavily on her

mind that she was in some way responsible for what her baby brother

had become.

Ruth had spoken to her, many times on the subject, assuring her

that she was in no way responsible for her brother’s actions. She had

also told her that Satan was behind the accusations just to disturb her

peace. Initially she tried to dismiss that angle but after sometime, she

had to admit that Ruth was right.

As Satan’s oppression increased on that particular morning, she

had begun to plead the Blood of Jesus; the guilt had disappeared and

in its place a peace that finally sent her to sleep. Waking up that

evening, she spent hours praying the Lord to use her to help others

before the antichrist killed her. While still on her knees, she had

dozed off.

Then she had seen Him. Taking her by the hand, the Lord had

shown her the things that were about to take place.

“You will be My messenger to those in the city undergrounds,

towns and villages during the reign of the antichrist.


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“But Lord,” she had heard herself say, “How will I reach these

places since the antichrist will not allow those without the mark to

travel during his reign?”

“I own the whole universe and all the modes of transportation.

My word is sufficient. Just believe. You will be wherever you need

to be when the time comes.”

Astonished, she had blurted out, “Bless me, Lord.”

“You are already blessed, My daughter. Go in My power and

minister to them that are in need.”

It was when she opened her eyes that she knew that it had been a

vision and that the Lord had just commissioned her to comfort the

saints during this hour of darkness.

Ruth and Joshua had been so thrilled when she told them about

the vision.

“Why didn’t He commission you for this assignment instead of

me?” she had asked Joshua. “You would have been more effective.”

“Sister Jane, the Lord knows who is best for a mission,” Joshua

had replied. “To whomsoever He chooses for a mission, He gives the

grace because His ministers do not go in their own steam but in the

Lord’s. Ruth and I will support you with our prayers.”

She was in her apartment months later when the false prophet

broadcast the antichrist’s decrees on worldwide television. She had

felt sad for her brother. The word of God was clear on what would

become of the antichrist after the battle of Armageddon.

Jane did not have long to wait before Adonis, or the beast, played

his hand. The day after the issuance of the ungodly decrees, the loud

pounding on her door woke her from her afternoon nap. Looking

through the spy hole, she saw five bulky men armed with machine

guns. She gently removed the latch and opened the door. However,

before she could open her mouth, the five men facing her had hit the

floor with heavy thuds. Six hours later, they were still lying comatose

outside her door. When she looked out the following morning, they


330

had gone. She did not know whether people had come to carry them

away or whether they had woken up and left on their own steam.

Two days after that incident, she saw the notice declaring her

apartment building unsafe. Though the notice ordered the residents

to vacate the building immediately, she ignored the order and waited.

A week later, construction crews with heavy-duty equipment and

dynamite came to demolish one of New York’s finest apartment

buildings. The dynamite failed to go off and the crew was unable to

operate the equipment. Frustrated, her enemies sent others to shut off

the utilities to the building; an action they hoped would drive her out

of her apartment.

A few days later, while praying, she had heard the Lord’s voice

say, “Your enemies will surely gather but they will never succeed.

Go and comfort My followers in the New York underground.”

She had left immediately, spending the next two weeks traversing

all the nooks and crannies of the vast New York underground tunnels

encouraging the brethren. To her surprise, many churches,

sometimes numbering more than one hundred persons, were already

flourishing in the New York underground.

At the end of two weeks, an overwhelming presence had come

over her while she was saying goodbye to the last group of brethren.

In a split second, she had passed out or so she thought when she

regained consciousness.

Opening her eyes, she saw herself inside a circle of people and

they were all looking, talking and pointing at her at the same time. It

was obvious that they were Christians except that they were speaking

French.

Looking at her watch, she had asked, “Where am I?” in English.

“This is Paris, Sister,” someone had said in halting English.

“Where did you think you were?” another had asked

suspiciously.

“New York. I was just saying goodbye to the brethren there when

I felt an overwhelming presence and then I had passed out.”


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“It is not possible,” a burly man, who appeared to be their leader,

had said. “I saw you look at your watch. What is the time by your

watch?”

“It is 2.15 p.m. and I know distinctly that I was in New York as

at 2.00 p.m. today.”

The leader had looked at his own watch before shaking his head.

“Impossible. The time in Paris at this moment is 8.16 p.m. You

must be a spy of the antichrist. He could easily have transported you

here to deceive us. The Bible says that he will manifest diverse

powers to try to deceive even the elect in the last days.”

“Satan, antichrist or beast and all the demons may have powers

but they have limits. They can never transport a human being through

oceans in a matter of minutes because I believe that must have been

how I got here in such a short time.”

“What is your name?” a kindly woman seated on chair had asked.

“Sister Jane.”

A lanky man outside the circle had risen from the pavement,

joined the circle of Christians, and peered at her.

Shouting, “Praise the Lord!” he turned to the group who were

still looking at her with suspicion and asked, “Don’t you people

recognize that sister who starred in the movie, ‘The Time of the

End?’”

People who were sitting outside the circle had risen quickly to

join the group standing and still peering at her while many more had

come running out from the hidden recesses in that section of the Paris

underground to witness the miracle.

“Someone should please explain how this Sister could have been

transported from New York to Paris in less than fifteen minutes,” one

of the few still unbelieving had muttered after looking at his own

watch again.

“The same way the Spirit of the Lord had caught Phillip away

after the baptism of the Ethiopian Eunuch on the south road between


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Jerusalem and Gaza and transported him to Azotus in Acts, Chapter

8, verses 39 and 40,” the leader of the group had said.

Jane, accompanied by Brother Stephen, as the leader of Paris

Section A Church was known, had crisscrossed the underground of

the city of Paris for one week encouraging the brethren.

One morning, after breakfast, that overwhelming power had

enveloped her again and put her down in the midst of believers

holding a prayer meeting inside the London underground. Their

initial fear had soon given way to suspicion and then acceptance after

her explanations. She had stayed for two weeks in the United

Kingdom, sometimes visiting two towns in one day.

Overall, she spent nearly three months in Europe traversing

cities, towns and villages through the power of the Lord before

finding herself in a small enclave in the Alps one morning.

She had just woken up from sleep on the grassy slope where the

Spirit of the Lord had deposited her the previous night when she saw

the small village nestled between two hills.

As she walked down the slope towards the village, a familiar

voice had shouted, “Sister Jane.”

She could not believe her eyes. There standing before her was

one of Jonathan’s grandchildren.

“What are you doing here? How did you get here?”

She had scratched her head to remember her name. Then she had

remembered and laughed.

“Abigail, let me answer one question at a time.”

Enveloping Abigail in her arms, Jane had told her how the Lord

had been gracious to her.

Jane had spent two weeks with Jonathan’s grandchildren and the

members of their Zurich church who had made their abode in that

quiet enclave. The small village with a population of more than one

thousand made up mostly of children and young adults had no lack

of food, water and other necessities.


333

With the elderly and the women looking after the children, the

few men in the village went hunting and fishing during the day while

others hid on mountaintops scanning the general areas for signs of

spies. The evenings were for Bible studies and prayer meetings.

The whole village had rejoiced greatly at her coming and more

especially after she had narrated how other brethren were faring in

other lands. It had indeed been a time of refreshing, both for her and

the Brethren of the Alps as she had called them.

They had fed her sumptuously, the younger children holding her

at every opportunity, and she could not help thinking that their

possessive grasp was their way of trying to prevent her from leaving

them suddenly. She had also suspected that some of the older girls

who brought their sleeping bags to her room requesting to sleep there

had done so for the same reason. They had confirmed her suspicions

one morning when she overheard Abigail and two of her friends

praying in a quiet corner asking the Lord to leave Sister Jane in their

village and not take her away from them.

“Abigail, you must be missing your parents and grandparents?”

Jane had asked Abigail as they went for a walk one evening.

“I miss all of them very much, auntie.”

“But you have your brothers, sisters and cousins here to keep you

company?”

“Yes auntie, but I still wish they were all here with us.”

“Would you have wanted them to leave ministering in the

undergrounds and villages where the Lord has sent them?”

“No, auntie, they must obey God’s commands.”

“That is a brilliant answer, young lady. We all have our

individual calling, every member in the Body of Christ. Blessed are

those who answer and remain in their calling for as long as it pleases

the Lord. His grace is sufficient and abundant for whomsoever

believes, trusts, and continues in that for which he or she has been

anointed by the Lord.”


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“Auntie, can’t you ask the Lord to keep you here?” Abigail had

burst out unable to control her feelings anymore.

“Abigail, I could but what would become of those who should

have benefited from my ministry? Many of those souls have no one

to comfort them at this trying hour.”

“I am sorry auntie for asking. It is just that we feel so lonely

knowing that our parents are out there risking their lives and some

might even be dead as we speak and we are none the wiser.”

Jane had held her close for sometime before replying.

“Abigail, there is nothing to be sorry for. Your feelings and your

request are quite natural. I am sure that all the parents whose children

are here would have wanted their children to be with them.

Knowing that the antichrist could use their children as pawns to

hinder their effectiveness, many elected to separate themselves for

the Lord’s work fully aware that they might never see their children

again on this earth.

“I know. Mummy explained all that to me but the antichrist could

come here also and kill us too.”

“That is true but there is a difference. The antichrist’s agents

would kill everyone almost immediately if they were to reach here.

However, if the parents were here, they would torture the children

for days hoping to force their parents to take the mark.”

“But, true believers would never take the mark.”

“You and I know that but the antichrist’s agents do not know that

true church elders would never take the mark even if they are forced

to witness the torture of their children.

However, to spare their children that agony, many church leaders

on Satan’s A-list had to make that heart-wrenching decision. Rest

assured that wherever they may be, they are comforted by the fact

that they would meet their loved ones shortly in the skies.”

“Thank you, Auntie, for allaying my fears. I already feel better.”


335

“You must comfort others with the same comfort which the Lord

had just used me to minister to you. I sense my ministry here is about

to end.

Please Abigail, do not be afraid if the Spirit of the Lord takes me

away while we are still talking. Do not forget to tell the brethren that

I enjoyed every day I spent in this small paradise.

Give them also my love and tell them to keep the faith until we

meet again in the clouds.”

She remembered that as the last words were leaving her mouth, she

had felt those invisible Hands gently lifting her into the clouds before

she had passed out.

Her mind still racing, she remembered the night the Lord had put

her down inside a Shanghai prison, overcrowded with men, women

and children.

Without sanitation, people had been urinating and defecating on

the floors. Seeing no evidence of food or water in the very large hall

that day, she had wondered how the prisoners could have survived

thus far. It was obvious that the antichrist was using hunger and the

overwhelming stench as instruments of torture.

Two prisoners were conversing in Chinese. Suddenly, like a bolt

out of the blue, her ears had opened and she had begun to

comprehend what they were saying even though she had never

understood a word in Chinese before then.

“They will come for us in the morning,” one of the prisoners had

said happily.

“How do you know?” another had asked hopefully.

“I heard the guards whispering that they had received new

instructions to increase the number of executions from one thousand

to two thousand per day,” the first prisoner had answered.

“That does not mean it is our turn tomorrow,” the second prisoner

had said.


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“Do the math,” the first one had persisted. “We are about ten

thousand in this prison block alone. We have been here for nine

days.”

“Thank you Lord,” the second one had burst out. “I have been

praying for this day to come so that I can be with the Lord.”

As she had listened, she had marveled at the courage of these

men, women and children. She praised the Lord of the universe for

giving His people such boldness in their darkest hour. It was obvious,

as she walked from corner to corner, that all the prisoners were

looking forward to their day of glory.

She was still thanking God for making her a witness to the

steadfastness of His saints when suddenly, unable to contain herself

and moved by the Spirit of God, she had burst out,

“Thus says the Lord to the men, women and children in this

Shanghai prison: You have been faithful, steadfast and have upheld

My name. Keep the faith, My children. Those brethren who but

yesterday were with you here are now with Me in eternal bliss…..”

It was when she had paused that she realized that she had been

speaking to them in Chinese.

As the ten-thousand strong prisoners burst into songs of praise,

believing an angel of God was in their midst, she had let them know

that she was but flesh and blood sent to comfort them in their hour of

need.

Still grieved at the inhumane conditions inside the prison, she had

cried out to the Lord.

“What do you want, My daughter?”

“Give your people one last dignity before they meet You in the

clouds.”

“What is your request, daughter?”

“Complete plumbing and sanitation in this prison and a beautiful

banquet, dear Lord.”


337

In a moment, the Lord had transformed the Shanghai prison

according to her request. Shouts of joy filled the prison at the

unfolding miracle.

Many had gone into the washrooms to clean up and change into

more befitting clothes that had miraculously materialized, while

others sat at the dining tables eating the sumptuous meals on display.

Five hours of merrymaking and worship service over, she had

informed the prisoners that the prison gates were open and that they

were free to go.

“What should we do after leaving here?” one of them had asked.

“Go into the streets of Shanghai, proclaim the beauty of a loving

God, and exhort your fellow compatriots never to take the mark of

the beast,” she had replied.

“But we had prepared ourselves to die and be with the Lord,”

another had said.

“The Lord has many in this city waiting for your message and

testimony,” she had said. “Use your freedom, albeit a temporary one,

to preach Christ to those who would otherwise have perished.”

“What will happen after that?” another still had asked.

“Only the Lord knows,” she had replied. “The important thing is

that you would have brought many souls to Christ.”

“We have been ready to die for weeks now,” another voice had

added. “However, it is even more beautiful to die after helping others

find Christ.”

They had trooped out, ten thousand in all, storming the streets

and underground tunnels of Shanghai, boldly witnessing the mercies

of the resurrected Lord. Many persons had given their lives to Christ

in the first five days of that revival. The invisible Hand of God had

chained the beast’s Shanghai security services during that period and

the saints had made maximum use of the opportunity.

By the sixth day, millions of saints were marching in all the

streets of Shanghai singing the Chinese version of,

Oh, when the saints go marching in


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Oh, when the saints go marching in

Lord, how I want to be in that number

When the saints go marching in

And when the sun begins to shine

And when the sun begins to shine


When the sun begins to shine

Oh, when the trumpet sounds its call

Oh, when the trumpet sounds its call


When the trumpet sounds its call.

It was such a glorious sight, and she had been unable to restrain the

tears of joy pouring profusely from her eyes as the Lord lifted her

into the air to give her the overview of the marching and singing

millions.

Early morning of the seventh day, the Lord had removed His

restraint and the antichrist’s Shanghai security force had mobilized

its ground and air assault teams for the final solution.

Still in the air with the Lord, she had witnessed thousands of the

antichrist’s security personnel rain down missiles, grenades and

bullets from air and ground on the marching millions of saints. As

the saints fell, more and more Shanghai residents had come out of

their hiding places and joined the continually depleting ranks singing

and praising God.

For her, it was such a great joy seeing unbelievers repenting and

joining the ranks of saints dying from the hail of gunfire shouting,

‘Jesus is Lord,’ before the cowardly security forces mowed them

down too.

Then the Lord had lowered her so that she could join the last

group of singing Christians. Minutes later, oblivious of the volleys


339

of rockets, missiles and bullets flying and exploding all over her, she

discovered that she was the only one left standing on the street still

singing and shouting praises. Saints numbering more than five

million had shed their blood in Shanghai for the risen Lord.

At the monitoring post in the antichrist’s Shanghai security

headquarters, there was great consternation when the hail of bullets

failed to kill her.

“Thus says the Lord, ‘I have the power to save the more than five

million of My children that the antichrist slaughtered today but who

are now resting in My bosom,’” she had shouted in a voice that the

Lord had magnified to reach every part of Shanghai.

“‘You have all witnessed that the antichrist’s bombs and bullets

cannot touch My faithful servant because I have decreed it so. Do not

take the mark of the beast, citizens of the earth; it is eternal damnation

for the soul.

Do not fear him that has power to kill only but rather fear God who

has both the power to kill and put the disobedient in the lake of

burning fire and brimstone.’”

Unknown to Jane, citizens of the world had seen images of the

bloodbath on Shanghai streets and had heard her speech on their

television because the central world television station had been

transmitting live feed from the cameras without editing. To the

chagrin of the two beasts, by the time someone stopped the cameras,

much damage had been done.

After China had been Japan. Following a brief stint in Tokyo, the

Lord had taken her to South America by way of Australia. In country

after country, the Spirit of the Lord had transported her to many

execution grounds, prisons, villages, towns, cities and hideaways

where she had comforted the brethren.

She remembered that by the end of the first year, she had visited

all the continents and that, in the second year, she had gone to

countries that had not made the list in her first year. By then, the


340

oppression had become pervasive and the antichrist had lost patience

and ordered his forces to shoot on sight anyone who did not have the

mark.

In three years, she had traveled the whole world many times over,

visiting villages, towns, and cities but never going back to the same

place twice.

The memories were too many. However, the ones that did stand

out had been those times when the Lord had taken her to the

murdering grounds with thousands, sometimes tens of thousands, of

saints lined up for execution and she had ministered to the dying

before the bullets ended their earthly lives. Other memorable ones

had been her visits to prisons and dungeons where she had comforted

those who were about to die.

Her last stop before being in these somewhat familiar surroundings

had been that small town in the Amazon.

Two weeks before, she had woken up inside a church in a small

village. There, a woman had approached her.

“Where am I?” she had asked.

The woman looked surprised at the question.

“What a question, madam. Shouldn’t you know where you are

since you obviously came here by yourself,” the woman had replied

gently.

After a pause, the woman had asked, “But madam, how did you

get here?”

“The Lord brought me here in the night. You people have a

beautiful church here.

”She had nearly laughed when she saw the confusion on the

woman’s face.

“My name is Vivian.”

“Mine is Jane.”

Vivian had peered closely at her before exclaiming, “Oh my God,

are you the Jane?”


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“Yes.”

Without waiting, Vivian had rushed out to alert the brethren and

within minutes, the church had filled up. She had narrated how the

Lord had been using her to minister to His children across the world.

She had marveled at the functioning small town in the midst of

the Amazon jungle that God’s soldiers had created. Vivian and Pape

informed her later that they left Canada seven years earlier in the

company of about a thousand members of a Toronto Christian

church. She learnt that natives numbering more than twenty thousand

lived in the town, which had continued to grow as people from the

interior were still coming to join them. Vivian had also told her that

they had led more than seven thousand souls to Christ during their

seven-year stay in the Amazon.

It was bliss in the camp: abundant spiritual and natural food for

the ever-increasing population. There was indeed no lack. The

Amazon had been her last stop before the Lord put her inside this

bedroom in this new city. As her mind came back to the present, she

remembered that she still hadn’t figured out where she was. Still,

there was something familiar about this place but she could not put

her finger on it.

She smelt the breakfast before hearing the voice. Then, she knew.

Jumping out of bed, she rushed into the familiar kitchen where Ruth

was setting the table for breakfast for two.

“Make it three, please.”

“Impossible!”

“Sister Ruth, nothing is impossible with our God. God has a good

sense of humor. I have been sleeping for how long in our church

without being aware where I was until I smelt the breakfast.

The two women embraced and began to shed tears of joy.

“Darling, guess who has come for breakfast?”

“Sister Jane,” Joshua replied happily from their bedroom.

“How did you know?”


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“The joy in your voice, my dear, gave you away. Moreover, I

have been expecting her for sometime.”

Ruth and Joshua with the help of some brethren had partitioned

the church into rooms before the antichrist’s decrees. They have been

using some of the rooms for the past three years to accommodate new

converts for a period before sending them forth.

In the three years, all their guests had witnessed God’s protection

of the church and its environs, seen the antichrist’s army marshaled

outside the one-mile square invisible fence, and watched them fail

miserably trying to shoot their way through the invisible barrier.

Ruth and Joshua have continued to glorify God who had been

drawing thousands of unbelievers to the church to receive Christ, and

given them the grace to boldly declare their faith as they marched out

of the church premises into the streets to what they knew would be

certain death.

No one had ever balked when the time came to leave the church

premises and march into glory.

“The Lord, in His mercy, made me a witness to the antichrist’s

unprecedented bloodbath of the last three years,” said Sister Jane, as

she concluded the more than ten hours narration of her worldwide

odyssey.

“In three years, I have been at the execution grounds, witnessed

the killing of millions of saints, and can attest to the courage of the

martyrs. Tied to the stakes, many had continued singing even as the

antichrist’s security forces pumped bullets into their bodies. You

could see the glorious smiles on their faces as their spirits left their

bodies for ascension to the Lord. Many times the Lord had opened

my eyes to see the angelic hosts escorting souls of martyrs from the

killing fields into heaven.”

“We thank the Lord for His mercies and for a successful

mission,” said Joshua. “Your presence here now is a signal that our

worldwide ministry has ended.


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The Lord may choose to remove His covering and allow Satan

and his cohorts to come into the church and kill us or else the rapture

is imminent. One thing is for sure: we are now in the final countdown

to eternity.”

“Whichever one it is, we are ready,” said Ruth. “Lord Jesus, let

your perfect will be done.”

“Amen,” they all chorused together.


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20

THE MARRIAGE SUPPER

For the Son of Man will come in the glory of His Father with His

angels, and then He will reward each according to his works.

Assuredly, I say to you, there are some standing here who will

not taste death till they see the Son of Man coming in His kingdom.

(Matt. 16:27-28)

But I do not want you to be ignorant, brethren, concerning those who

have fallen asleep, lest you sorrow as others who have no hope. For

if we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so God will bring

with him those who sleep in Jesus.

For this we say to you by word of the Lord, that we who are alive

and remain until the coming of the Lord will by no means precede

those who are asleep.

For the Lord Himself will descend from heaven with a shout, with

the voice of an archangel, and with the trumpet of God. And the dead

in Christ will rise first.

Then we who are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. And thus we

shall always be with the Lord. (1Thessalonians 4:13-17)


345

For centuries, the Bride, otherwise known as the Body of Christ,

comprising both the living and the dead in Christ, has been waiting

for the Bridegroom’s call.

Suddenly, on a very beautiful dawn, the Bride heard the

Bridegroom’s long-awaited joyful shout – the signal for Her to meet

Him in the air – reverberate from one end of the universe to the other.

The graves immediately gave up the bodies of dead saints, which

the Holy Spirit transformed into spiritual bodies that then united with

their spirits already in the Lord. In the same moment, the Holy Spirit

also changed living saints wherever they were – caves, villages,

undergrounds, basements, mountaintops, valleys, jungles and deserts

– into spiritual beings. Thereafter, the Bride of Christ – comprising

all the transformed – rode on the wings of the Holy Spirit into the

heavens to meet the Lord in the air.

Marching to the rendition of the heavenly bridal songs, with all

the galaxies, suns, stars, moons and planets standing still, the Bride

and the Bridegroom proceeded to God’s throne. As Christ presented

His Bride, purified and made clean by His Blood, to His Father, the

whole of God’s angelic hosts cheered while joyful thundering never

heard before then began to reverberate in all creation.

After the merry presentation came the heavenly banquet. Saints,

now like angels of God, celebrated together with God’s angels –

singing, dancing and praising the God of all creation.

As a voice from the throne exhorted, “Praise our God, all you His

servants and those who fear Him, both small and great,”

innumerable multitudes of saints and angels responded, ‘Alleluia!

For the Lord God Omnipotent Reigns.’

The heavenly banquet continued for an indeterminate period. As the

Bride worshipped and rejoiced, she knew that the greatest carnival

ever had only just begun.

At this particular moment, multitudes of saints, too numerous to

count, were worshipping and praising the Lord God Almighty and


346

the Lamb of God, slain before the foundation of the world, sitting on

their thrones in the innermost circle enveloped by the Holy Spirit and

surrounded by the twenty-four elders.

Stretching far beyond what the eye could see in all directions

were rows and rows of concentric circles of saints of the First

resurrection. These had been the very faithful ones from the time of

Adam to the time of the rapture.

Joshua was on the seventh row. Looking to his left, he could see

Ruth standing far away on the seventh row too. He also saw Esther

and Jonathan, his earthly siblings, on the same row though distances

apart. He now understood why the unit of measurement in heaven

was different from that of the earth just as the spirit world was

different from the material world.

In front of him were his earthly parents on the sixth row but they

were not together and behind him were his earthly children separated

by heavenly distances on the eight row while his grandchildren were

on the ninth row and equally separated by heavenly distances. He

recognized his grandparents on the fifth row and some of his great

grandparents on the fourth row.

Even though earthly relationships had ended, members of earthly

families recognized those in their lineage, called the blessed of the

Lord, who had made the first resurrection.

There was no need for introductions in heaven. All you had to do

was look at a saint or an angel and you would know the name and

personal testimony. There was no night or day. He continued to

marvel at the beauty of heaven and at how the earth was dross in

comparison. For Joshua, his joy knew no bounds already and yet

inexplicably it continued to increase with each passing moment.

Imagining what level it could reach in a few eons defied the

imagination. The great mystery was that all the saints felt exactly the

same way.

And I will show wonders in the heavens and in the earth: Blood and

fire and pillars of smoke. The sun shall be turned into darkness, and


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the moon into blood, before the coming of the great and terrible 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. (Joel

2:30-32)

While the heavenly banquet was going on, with angels and saints

worshipping and rejoicing in His presence, God sent His wrath upon

the decadent earth. Opening the heavens, angels began to pour out

the bowls of God’s wrath on the earth.

At first, foul and loathsome sores appeared on those with the

mark of the beast as compensation for their wickedness. With seas,

rivers and springs of water turning into blood, and every living

creature in them dying, citizens of the earth started to groan. In their

misery, they forgot that it was only fitting that a world that had shed

the blood of saints should quench its thirst with blood.

Great heat arising from the sun’s intensity, which had suddenly

increased a million-fold while people were still battling with their

thirst, dried up rivers, seas and oceans. Instead of repenting, many,

even with their dry throats, began to curse and blaspheme the name

of the Lord.

Not long after, very thirsty citizens of the heated and doomed

earth saw such great darkness never before seen by man or spirit

envelope the earth. With falling hailstones icing earth’s cake of woes,

the two beasts knew that these acts were just the beginning of God’s

wrath on the wicked.

As the countdown to the end continued, the antichrist and the false

prophet sent out their agents to gather the nations of the earth for the

battle of all battles. The false prophet went on worldwide television

to exhort peoples of the world to meet with their regional and


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national representatives for urgent discussions on how to repel an

impending alien invasion.

In the meetings, the representatives explained away the torments,

earthquakes and plagues, blaming alien invaders who were on their

way to take over the earth. Satan knew that he did not need the dust

beings for the battle of battles but he had a different design for

sending his special representatives to the meetings. He was about to

put his ambitious and final possession plan into effect.

Satan’s plan all along was for human beings to become hosts to

demons who did not have homes yet. He believed that to wage war

effectively in the material universe, his billions of demons must have

human bodies since his fifty million clones created in Adonis City

would not be enough. Though the mark had altered genetically all

the human beings that had taken it so that they responded only to

things evil, he knew that they were useless in the present scheme of

things.

The possession plan had succeeded. Billions of demons had taken

over the bodies of those human beings who had assembled to hear

their national and regional representatives.

Satan’s army, comprising billions of demons inhabiting their human

hosts, his millions of clones, and the greatest military arsenal ever

assembled in the history of the material world, was ready for war.

From the Four Corners of the earth, it began to converge on

Armageddon.

The shout of, ‘It is done,’ from the temple in heaven was followed

by great noises, thunders and lightning.

Then the greatest earthquake ever to occur since man began

inhabiting planet Earth erupted, dividing Jerusalem into three parts

and causing many national landmasses, mountains and islands to

disappear.


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Not long after, the Lord Jesus Christ, with many crowns on His head,

eyes flaming with fire and clothed with a robe dipped in blood, rode

His white horse out of the heavens. Following Him were the armies

of heaven, the saints of God, clothed in fine white linen, riding white

horses too.

This magnificent army, clothed in the glory of God, was

indeed a remarkable sight. From the time of creation until then, there

had never been army of such beauty and splendor. While the angels

of God bowed and cheered, the suns, planets, stars, moons and clouds

stood still in reverence as the heavenly army passed through en route

to planet Earth.

Satan was in the front followed by the antichrist, the false prophet,

principalities, powers and the rulers of the world blocs. They were

leading an army made up of more than fifty million human clones,

the most sophisticated weaponry ever developed on earth, and

billions of demons living in the bodies of human beings who had

taken the mark of the beast and who had survived God’s bowl

judgments.

This was going to be the mother of all wars and for a moment,

Satan began to believe that he might yet pull it off. His spirit had left

the body of Adonis at the beginning of the antichrist’s seven-year

rule. However, to make Adonis an extension of himself, he had

rewired his brain. There had been no need to posses Sampson since

he had programmed his mind with evil in that petri-dish at the time

Adonis had cloned him. Satan’s first clone was actually the most

sophisticated and most evil.

His army had enough nuclear weapons to decimate earth more than

a hundred times.

“Earth will cease to exist after this battle,” Satan vowed.


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He had already stationed tactical nuclear weapons at different

places, which he planned to detonate using thought-cognition if his

army was on the verge of defeat. More than ten thousand airships, as

he called them, were also in the skies ready to rain their nuclear

weapons on the invaders.

Funny that with all those preparations and huge assemblage of

superior weaponry by Satan, the battle of Armageddon turned out to

be the shortest battle in the history of the universe.

As the King of kings and the Lord of lords rode into earth, swords of

flaming fires from His mouth tore through the whole earth destroying

all the nuclear arsenal, computer systems, airplanes and nuclear

submarines in just a moment.

There was consternation and fear in the ranks of Satan’s army.

Before they could blink, swords of flaming fires had consumed all

the human hosts with the exception of the antichrist and the false

prophet.

The same swords of flaming fires that killed the human hosts then

pinned the billions of demons as they were leaving the dead bodies

of their hosts, thrusting them into the lake of burning fire.

It had taken but a moment but Satan’s army – military armaments,

men, women and demons too innumerable to count – was no more.

Vultures circling in the air swooped and began to devour the flesh of

the billions of human beings who had played hosts to the demons and

had died at Armageddon while many more were en route from the

Four Corners of the earth to join in the great feast.

The antichrist and the false prophet looked very pathetic, cowering

before the fiery eyes of the King of kings. Satan looked even more

wretched and the saints wondered how such a cowardly fallen angel,

whose name had been synonymous with evil, could have fooled the

world for thousands of years.


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At the Lord’s command, the earth opened its doors for the passage

of the antichrist and his false prophet into the lake of fire and

brimstone.

Then, an angel descended from heaven with a heavy chain and bound

Satan, the dragon, and cast him into the bottomless pit, shutting him

up with a seal with the words ‘One Thousand Years’ written on it.


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21

THE ONE THOUSAND

YEAR REIGN

“The kingdoms of this world have become the Kingdom of the

Lord Jesus Christ,” proclaimed the saints from the Four Corners of

the earth. After establishing His headquarters in Jerusalem, the Lord

Jesus Christ began assigning villages, towns, cities, states and

nations to the saints to administer. Saints, armed with their mandates,

proceeded joyfully to their locations to brief earthly residents about

the one thousand-year reign of the Lord Jesus Christ.

Saints were very happy to see multitudes of people coming out

in their areas of authority. They came out from city utility and sewer

undergrounds, caves, houses, treetops, mountaintops, valleys and

forests, still afraid, not knowing what the future held, what with the

antichrist’s persecutions of the last four years and the cataclysmic

geological shifts, fiery thunders and intense heat. Of those who

emerged, a later census would reveal that the jungles of Southeast

Asia, South America and Africa had the largest number.

None of the people remaining on earth had taken the mark of the

beast. Most had not confessed Christ as Lord and Savior prior to the

saints’ rapture while others were backslidden Christians.

Some of those who came out from the city underground found their

houses still standing even if in different stages of disrepair. Others

discovered that the antichrist’s security forces had razed their

unoccupied houses down and erected new structures in their places.

Many of the returning earthly residents were occupying empty

houses, many of which had belonged to the raptured saints and to


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those who had perished at Armageddon. Others had taken residence

in government buildings and other public houses.

In the first few months of Christ’s millennial reign, many saints

were busy adjudicating land and housing disputes while others were

allocating homes and businesses in the most equitable manner.

Settling to the new dawn had been easier for human beings who

lived in the world’s poorer regions and in areas where weather was

more inclement. Majority in both groups had not changed abode

during the turbulent period of the antichrist’s rule. Saints assigned to

those places had fewer land and housing disputes to settle. While

most of these communities had lost some of their people either in the

rapture or in the turbulence created by the wrath of God during the

dying days of the antichrist’s reign, the dislocation of life had not

been as severe when compared to that in the formerly developed

countries.

Saints of God told peoples of all nations the good news of

Christ’s millennial reign and of their need to accept Jesus Christ as

Lord over their lives. Of course, they made known God’s rules for

the millennial reign, which those who accept the Lordship of Jesus

Christ must obey. They did not coerce the earthly residents to change

their lifestyles or to accept Christ as King of kings.

“Human beings have the right to refuse to recognize their rule,

refuse to participate or even rebel against Christ,” they told them.

However, they let them know too that at the end of the millennial

reign, Christ would judge all earthly residents according to their

works.

With no demons to confuse them, many had willingly accepted

the rule of the saints and that of the Lord Jesus Christ. There was no

crime or war; men and nations lived peacefully for a thousand

bountiful years.

Every year, residents from all corners of the world went to

Jerusalem to worship the King of kings and the Lord of Lords. The

Lord, in return, took away diseases, replenished the earth with a


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pollution-free environment, and blessed the citizens with bountiful

harvests. Even animals lived peacefully with men, and earthly

residents were very happy, what with no mortgages, gouging interest

rates and credit card debts to pay. The world was indeed witnessing

the real Eldorado, a true Garden of Eden.

No government from the time of Adam until then could compare to

the millennial reign of Christ. For a thousand years, the world had

peace and serenity instead of wars and rumors of wars.

The world before the millennial reign had tried every form of

government. Theocracy that ought to have succeeded failed because

man had succumbed to the wiles of the devil and had not

implemented God’s just laws. Some of the theocratic leaders had

fleeced the people, turning away many from God by their wicked

acts.

Democracy driven by capitalism that claimed to be the rule of the

people by the people and for the people had in fact been the rule of

the people by the rich and powerful. Believing in the trickle-down

effect, the rich kept the people in bondage with crumbs from the

table.

Socialism had been just another name for the poor class to

supplant their richer compatriots and become rulers of the people.

Introducing some reforms in healthcare and putting ownership of

property, utilities and transportation in the hands of governments,

these previously poor but now powerful rulers had dispensed state

resources inequitably and favored their cohorts in contracts and state

appointments.

Communism was the most hypocritical. Human beings pretended

to run countries where all men were equal and yet the so-called

communist leaders had been the worst and the wickedest of dictators,

freely killing millions who had refused to surrender their will to the

state. In reality, the world never did have a truly communist country

even though some usurpers touted that ideology when they were


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overthrowing the governments of their day. The people in the so-

called communist countries had been prisoners. Many had lived and

died inside psychological fortresses rarely ever having the chance to

exercise their freewill.

Of course, the worst rule of all had been that of the antichrist, the

usurper who had taken the world by treachery. That men and women

could have taken his mark and betrayed their own souls was the

greatest tragedy of all.


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22

ETERNITY

And if your hand makes you sin, cut it off. It is better for you to

enter into life maimed, than having two hands, to go to hell, into the

fire that shall never be quenched – where their worm does not die

and the fire is not quenched.” (Mark 9:43-44)

“But outside are dogs and sorcerers and sexually immoral and

murderers and idolaters, and whoever loves and practices a lie.”

(Revelation 22:15)

From eternity to eternity, the Lord God had never coerced anyone

to obey or serve him. All who came to Him had done so of their own

freewill. By creating the universe and populating it with created

beings, God demonstrated His love. What He expected in return from

His creation was obedience, an evidence of reciprocal love. How best

could God have determined those of His created beings who loved

Him if not by testing their obedience to His laws?

When God tested the angels, Satan and his cohorts had failed.

Man had also failed God’s test when Adam and Eve ate the forbidden

fruit and brought death into their world.

Two-third of the original angels and the saints were the ones who

had proved their love for God through their obedience. For the saints,

most had endured mockery, some threats and beatings, while others


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had died for their faith in the midst of wicked and perverse

generations.

Human beings during the millennial reign of Christ had known

so much bliss, what without Satan and demons to confuse them with

their lies. For a thousand years, they had heard the gospel, had been

witnesses to Christ’s righteous rule, and had lived the best possible

life. There had been unprecedented peace on earth in the period, with

no guns or other instruments of warfare and with even beasts living

peacefully with man.

As Christ’s millennial rule was ending, God decided to test the

millennial residents just as He had done in previous dispensations.

He released Satan from the bottomless pit and allowed him to roam

the earth for a time. Wandering from one corner of the earth to the

other, Satan began to incite men and women against the rule of

Christ. One would have thought that he would not have met with

success, considering the great divine favor during this period of

Christ’s millennial reign, but such thinking would have been wrong.

After promising to make them lords of towns, cities and countries in

the place of the saints, Satan won over many to his cause. Thereafter,

he began to teach his ever-increasing number of followers the art of

war and the technology of manufacturing war materials.

After a period, Satan had succeeded in amassing a very large

army and awesome weaponry. At the appointed time, he began his

final march to Jerusalem leading his army of the deceived. On

reaching Jerusalem, he and his army surrounded it. They were ready

to unleash mayhem on Christ and His saints. Satan’s hope: Since

Christ had destroyed all armaments on earth, He would not fight

back. Secondly, he reasoned; since Christ at the start of the millennial

reign had decreed eternal peace, He could not go back on His word

even if He had the means to fight. Unfortunately, for Satan and his

army of the deceived, that was his last and final miscalculation.


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When Satan and his army were about to rain their missiles and

nuclear warheads on Christ and His saints, Father God sent fire from

heaven to devour him and his army. The fire consumed the multitude

of invaders and threw Satan into the lake of fire and brimstone to join

his demons, the antichrist and the false prophet.

At the Lord’s command, all those who had died but had not been part

of the first resurrection rose from the dead.

Sitting on His throne, Christ ordered the books opened. By His

side, the multitude of saints of the first resurrection and before Him

multitude of those from the second resurrection. In this later group

were all the human beings that had died from the time of Adam until

the destruction of the army of the deceived and that had not been part

of the first resurrection.

On His judgment seat, Christ, assisted by His saints, separated

the sheep from the goats; the sheep were on the right while the goats

were on the left. The sheep were those who had lived a life worthy

of commendation while on earth and whose names God were written

in the Book of Life. The goats were those who had led wicked lives

while on earth, who had refused the Lordship of Jesus Christ, and

whose names were not in the Book of Life.

At His command, the lake of fire opened up, swallowed Death,

Hades and the multitude of goats. Thereafter, Christ joyfully

welcomed the sheep into the fold.

The damned could not erase the videos of their lives on earth; their

souls continued to replay them as they plunged headlong into the lake

of fire and brimstone. Nor could their souls expunge the instant

replays of the missed opportunities, the roads not taken and Christ’s

many attempts to get their attention while on earth.

After a period, their souls, now worms, continued to condemn

them. They continued to remember how they had used greed,

unbelief, sorcery, abominable living, sexual immorality, idolatry and

lies to dishonor the Creator. Knowing that they would forever be in


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darkness and torment and that their worms would never die, they

continued cursing the day they were born and those who had misled

them.

Many were the tears of the saints; they were mourning, having seen

loved ones cast into the lake of fire and brimstone. However, in the

midst of their sorrows, they beheld the glory of the new universe with

a new earth and a new heaven just emerging from the bowels of God.

Then they heard a loud voice from heaven proclaiming, Behold,

the tabernacle of God is with men, and He will dwell with them, and

they shall be His people, and God Himself will be with them and be

their God.

And God will wipe away every tear from their eyes; there shall

be no more death, nor sorrow, nor crying; and there shall be no more

pain, for the former things have passed away,” as God’s throne came

into view, and earth, heaven, material and spiritual universes became

one continuum.

Saints of God commenced their journey in eternity full of joy. They

knew that it would take an eternity to gain a full understanding of the

new universe with new quasars and galaxies.

Like a child joyfully taking its first steps, saints began their first

moment in eternity looking at the wonders of the universe. The more

they explored, the greater their joy and the greater their knowledge.

With each passing moment in eternity, they continued to realize that

for all eternity they would continue to grow in Him and love Him

even the more.

From whichever place they were in the universe, they saw God.

The more they worshipped God, the more their love for Him grew

and the greater their understanding of God’s immense and

immeasurable love for man.

Looking at the innumerable number of His saints and angels living

in harmony all over the universe, the Father was very pleased.


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“It is as it should be; harmony and order reign throughout

eternity,” said the Word, grinning from ear to ear.

Father and Spirit nodded.

Many, Many Eons Later…

Hell was so hot. No place could have been hotter. Fired and fuelled

by brimstone, the heat was extremely intense. Saying that hell was

pitch dark would be an understatement. Even with the raging fire,

trying to visualize the immensity of the darkness would drive one

crazy.

That final fateful moment had been horrendous – angels and

saints watching as God cast the disobedient out of eternity. Falling

headlong into hell, the castoffs had gone into the waiting arms of the

surging flames that consumed the flesh of all that came into its bosom

in seconds. Left were worms and the acrid smell of rottenness from

their burnt flesh. Eons later, instead of abating, the smell of burnt

flesh had grown even more putrid.

Unfortunately, for the worms, their memories and feelings were

still intact. Though fully conscious and aware of their surroundings,

they could not see, talk or interact with each other. Each worm,

though in close proximity to many others, felt so alone. Writhing in

extreme burning pain, it could hear the unbearably high-pitched

noises and sense the chaotic upheavals and forceful motions shoving

it violently from place to place. It knew it was futile to hope that the

fire and brimstone inflicting it with so much pain could annihilate it.

Prior to their present residence in hell, some worms had been

angels while others had been human beings. Many had been very

powerful and rich. Others had been very poor. Some had been

religious leaders, even professing Christ. Yet others had been

irreligious, preferring debauchery to seeking God. While their stories

varied, they had one thing in common: they had been disobedient,

having rejected God’s eternal love in the days of their earthly or


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heavenly existence. Each worm was now an “it,” no longer a being

in God’s image.

The knowledge that there would never be an end to this most

terrible experience was the most painful for each “it.” The

understanding that this ‘state of endless of endings’ was forever

spoke into each worm’s consciousness; it would be a lonely

inhabitant in this state in perpetuity. For each “it,” it would continue

to be an unending tragedy.

All the worms were terribly ugly. However, one worm, the ugliest of

them all, stood out. It continues to remember that first day on the

holy mountain of God, when it came out from the flaming fire in

mighty splendor that reflected the glory of God. For eons, it has

continued to wonder how it could have been so foolish. Why had it

not been satisfied with being God’s most beautiful archangel, one

that ushered praises to Him? How it wished it could go back and

make a different choice. Unfortunately, it knew that it was

impossible, and that it would dwell forever in this ‘state of endless

of endings,’ or ‘anti-eternity,’ as God had called it, moments before

casting him out of eternity.

Moments after God cast him into hell, the burning fire and

brimstone had devoured his body and turned it to a worm. He had

become an ‘it,’ a worm with no future but one that knew its past – a

worm that felt pain, was aware of its surroundings, and that could not

communicate with any other worm.

The video of its life, from the time of its creation to the time of

its end, playing, rewinding, and replaying in its consciousness was a

continuous reminder of its foolishness, grave disobedience, and of

the path not followed. The knowledge that it was responsible for the

multitude that had ended up in ‘anti-eternity’ offered no consolation.

As Satan, he had thought that denying God the fellowship of so many

would give him satisfaction but now as a worm, an ‘it,’ it knew no


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such satisfaction. It had been one grave exercise in futility from the

time it, as Lucifer, had embarked on that foolish rebellion.

YOUR SAINTS SAY, COME QUICKLY

LORD JESUS.

…AMEN

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