The Left Behind Collection: All 12 Books (107 page)

Rayford paused to take a breath and was startled when someone cried out, “I will!”

Rayford didn’t know what to say. Suddenly, from another part of the sanctuary: “So will I!”

Three or four others said the same in unison. Rayford choked back tears. It had been a rhetorical question. He had not expected an answer. How moving! How inspiring! He felt led not to let others follow based on emotion alone. He continued, his voice thick, “Thank you, brothers and sisters. I fear we may all be called upon to express our willingness to die for the cause. Praise God you are willing. Bruce’s notes indicate that he believed these judgments are chronological. If the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse lead to the white-robed tribulation martyrs under the altar in heaven, that could be happening even as we speak. And if it is, we need to know what the sixth seal is. Bruce felt so strongly about this Seal Judgment that on his computer he cut and pasted right here into his notes several different translations and versions of Revelation 6:12-17. Let me just read you the one he marked as the most stark and easily understood:

“‘I looked when He’—and you’ll recall that the
he
mentioned here is the Lamb, who is described in verse fourteen of the previous chapter as ‘Him who lives forever and ever,’ who is, of course, Jesus Christ himself—‘He opened the sixth seal, and behold, there was a great earthquake; and the sun became black as sackcloth of hair, and the moon became like blood. And the stars of heaven fell to the earth, as a fig tree drops its late figs when it is shaken by a mighty wind. Then the sky receded as a scroll when it is rolled up, and every mountain and island was moved out of its place. And the kings of the earth, the great men, the rich men, the commanders, the mighty men, every slave and every free man, hid themselves in the caves and in the rocks of the mountains, and said to the mountains and rocks, “Fall on us and hide us from the face of Him who sits on the throne and from the wrath of the Lamb! For the great day of His wrath has come, and who is able to stand?”’”

Rayford looked up and scanned the sanctuary. Some stared at him, ashen. Others peered intently at their Bibles. “I’m no theologian, people. I’m no scholar. I have had as much trouble reading the Bible as any of you throughout my lifetime, and especially over the nearly two years since the Rapture. But I ask you, is there anything difficult to understand about a passage that begins, ‘Behold, there was a great earthquake’? Bruce has carefully charted these events, and he believed that the first seven seals cover the first twenty-one months of the seven-year tribulation, which began at the time of the covenant between Israel and the Antichrist. If you happen to be one who doesn’t believe the Antichrist has appeared on the scene yet, then you don’t believe there’s an agreement between Israel and that person. If that is true, all this is still yet to come. The Tribulation did not begin with the Rapture. It begins with the signing of that treaty.

“Bruce taught us that the first four Seal Judgments were represented by the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse. I submit to you that those horsemen are at full gallop. The fifth seal, the tribulation martyrs who had been slain for the Word of God and for the testimony which they held, and whose souls are under the altar, has begun.

“Bruce’s commentary indicates that more and more martyrs will be added now. Antichrist will come against tribulation saints and the 144,000 witnesses springing up all over the world from the tribes of Israel.

“Hear me, from a very practical standpoint. If Bruce is right—and he has been so far—we are close to the end of the first twenty-one months. I believe in God. I believe in Christ. I believe the Bible is the Word of God. I believe our dear departed brother ‘rightly divided the word of truth,’ and thus I am preparing to endure what this passage calls ‘the wrath of the Lamb.’ An earthquake is coming, and it is not symbolic. This passage indicates that everyone, great or small, would rather be crushed to death than to face the one who sits on the throne.”

Buck was furiously taking notes. This was not new to him, but he was so moved by Rayford’s passion and the idea of the earthquake being known as the wrath of the Lamb that he knew it had to be publicized to the world.

Perhaps it would be his swan song, his death knell, but he was going to put in the
Global Community Weekly
that Christians were teaching of the coming “wrath of the Lamb.” It was one thing to predict an earthquake. Armchair scientists and clairvoyants had been doing that for years. But there was something about the psyche of the current world citizen that caused him or her to become enamored of catchphrases. What better catchphrase than one from the Word of God?

Buck listened as Rayford concluded: “At the end of this first twenty-one-month period, the mysterious seventh Seal Judgment will usher in the next twenty-one-month period, during which we will receive the seven Trumpet Judgments. I say the seventh Seal Judgment is mysterious because Scripture is not clear what form it will take. All the Bible says is that it is apparently so dramatic that there will be silence in heaven for half an hour. Then seven angels, each with a trumpet, prepare themselves to sound. We will study those judgments and talk about them as we move into that period. However, for now, I believe Bruce has left us with much to think and pray about.

“We have loved this man, we have learned from this man, and now we have eulogized him. Though we know he is finally with Christ, do not hesitate to grieve and mourn. The Bible says we are not to mourn as do the heathen, who have no hope, but it does not say we should not mourn at all. Embrace the grief and grieve with all your might. But don’t let it keep you from the task. What Bruce would have wanted above all else is that we stay about the business of bringing every person we can into the kingdom before it is too late.”

Rayford was exhausted. He closed in prayer, but rather than leaving the platform he merely sat and lowered his head. There was not the usual rush for the doors. Most continued to sit, while a few slowly and quietly began to make their way out.

Buck helped Chloe into the Range Rover, but before he could get around to the driver’s side, he was accosted by Verna Zee.

“Verna! I didn’t see you! I’m glad you made it.”

“I made it all right, Cameron. I also recognized Tsion Ben-Judah!”

Buck fought to keep from covering her mouth with his hand. “I’m sorry?”

“He’s going to be in deep trouble when the Global Community peacekeeping forces find out where he is. Don’t you know he’s wanted all over the world? And that your passport and ID were found on one of his accomplices? Buck, you’re in as much trouble as he is. Steve Plank has been trying to get ahold of you, and I’m tired of pretending I have no idea what you’re up to.”

“Verna, we’re going to have to go somewhere and talk about this.”

“I can’t keep your secret forever, Buck. I’m not going down with you. That was a pretty impressive meeting, and it’s obvious everybody loved that Barnes guy. But do all these people believe that Nicolae Carpathia is the Antichrist?”

“I can’t speak for everyone.”

“But how about you, Buck? You report directly to the man. Are you going to write a story in one of his own magazines that says that?”

“I already have, Verna.”

“Yeah, but you’ve always represented it as a neutral report of what some believe. This is your church! These are your people! You buy into all this stuff.”

“Can we go somewhere and talk about this or not?” Buck said.

“I think we’d better. Anyway, I want to interview Tsion Ben-Judah. You can’t blame me for going for the scoop of a lifetime.”

Buck bit his tongue to keep from saying she wasn’t enough of a writer to do justice to a story like Ben-Judah anyway. “Let me get back to you tomorrow,” he said. “And then we can—”

“Tomorrow? Today, Buck. Let’s meet at the office this afternoon.”

“This afternoon is not good. I’m coming back here for the viewing at four.”

“Then how about six-thirty?”

“Why does it have to be today?” Buck asked.

“It doesn’t. I could just tell Steve Plank or Carpathia himself or anybody I want exactly what I’ve seen today.”

“Verna, I took a huge risk in helping you out the other night and letting you stay at Loretta’s home.”

“You sure did. And you may regret it for the rest of your life.”

“So none of what you heard here today made any impact on you?”

“Yes, it did. It made me wonder why I went soft on you all of a sudden. You people are wacko, Buck. I’m gonna need some compelling reason to keep quiet about you.”

That sounded like extortion, but Buck also realized that Verna had apparently stayed for the entire service that morning. Something had to be working on her. Buck wanted to find out how she could relegate the prophecies of Revelation and what had happened in the world in the last twenty months or so to mere coincidence. “All right,” he said. “Six-thirty at the office.”

Rayford and the other elders had agreed there would be no more formality at the viewing. No prayer, no message, no eulogies, no nothing. Just a procession of people filing past the coffin and paying their last respects. Someone had suggested opening the fellowship hall for refreshments, but Rayford, having been tipped off by Buck, decided against it. A ribbon was draped across the stairway, from wall to wall, to keep everyone from going downstairs. A sign indicated the viewing would last from 4 to 6 p.m.

At about five, while a crowd of hundreds slowly moved past the casket in a line that stretched out the front door, through the parking lot, and down the street, Buck wheeled into Loretta’s parking spot with the Range Rover full of people.

“Chloe, I promise this is the last time I take advantage of your ailment and use you as a decoy.”

“A decoy for what? Do you think Carpathia is here and is going to grab you or Tsion?”

Buck chuckled. Rayford had been in the sanctuary since just before four. Now, Buck, Chloe, Amanda, Tsion, and Loretta emerged from the Range Rover. Amanda got on one side of Chloe and Loretta on the other. They helped her up the back steps as Buck opened the door. Buck peeked at the parishioners waiting in line to get into the church. Nearly all ignored his little group. Those who idly watched them seemed to be concentrating on the pretty young newlywed, her ankle cast, her sling, and her cane.

As the three women made their way to the office, planning to view the body when the crowd dissipated, Buck and Tsion slipped away. When Buck entered the office about twenty minutes later, Chloe asked, “Where’s Tsion?”

“He’s around,” Buck said.

Rayford stood near Bruce’s coffin, shaking hands with mourners. Donny Moore approached. “I’m sorry to bother you with a question right here,” Donny said, “but would you know where I could find Mr. Williams? He ordered some stuff from me, and I’ve got it for him.”

Rayford directed him to the office.

As Donny and dozens of others filed past, Rayford wondered how long Hattie Durham would be with her mother in Denver. Carpathia had scheduled a meeting with Pontifex Maximus Peter Mathews, who had recently been named Supreme Pontiff of Enigma Babylon One World Faith, a conglomeration of all the religions in the world. Carpathia wanted Rayford back to New Babylon by the Thursday after next to fly the Condor 216 to Rome. There he was to pick up Mathews and bring him to New Babylon. Carpathia had made noises about headquartering Mathews and One World Faith in New Babylon, along with almost every other international organization.

Rayford found himself numb, shaking hand after hand. He tried not to look at Bruce’s body. He busied himself remembering what else he’d heard Carpathia saying through that ingenious reverse intercom bugging device the late Earl Halliday had installed in the Condor. Most interesting to Rayford was Carpathia’s insistence on taking over leadership of several of the groups and committees that had been headed by his old friend and financial angel Jonathan Stonagal. Buck had told Rayford and the rest of the Tribulation Force that he was in the room when Carpathia murdered Stonagal and then brainwashed everyone else to believe they’d just witnessed a suicide. With Carpathia now angling his way into the leadership of international relations committees, commissions on international harmony, and, most important, secret financial cooperatives, his motives for that murder became clear.

Rayford let his mind wander to the good old days, when all he had to do was show up at O’Hare on time, fly his routes, and come home. Of course, he was not a believer then. Not the kind of husband and father he should have been. The good old days really hadn’t been so good at all.

He couldn’t complain about excitement in his life. While he despised Carpathia and hated to be in a position of actual service to the man, he had long since decided to be obedient to God. If this was where God wanted him, it was where he would serve. He just hoped Hattie Durham might come back through Chicago before he had to leave. Somehow, he and Amanda and Chloe and Buck had to pull her away from Nicolae Carpathia. It had been encouraging to him, in a perverse way, that she had found her own reasons to distance herself from Nicolae. But Carpathia might not be so easily dumped, considering that she was carrying his child and he was so jealous of his public image.

Buck was busy with Donny Moore, learning the incredible features of the new computers, when he heard Loretta on the phone.

“Yes, Verna,” she was saying, “he’s busy with someone right now, but I’ll tell him you said Steve Plank called.”

Buck excused himself from Donny for a second and mouthed to Loretta, “If she’s at the office, ask her if my checks are there.”

Buck had been away from both the New York and Chicago offices on paydays for several weeks and was pleased to see Loretta nodding after she had asked Verna about the checks. One thing he had seen in Bruce’s printouts, and which had been corroborated by Tsion, was that he needed to start investing in gold. Cash would soon be meaningless. He had to start stockpiling some sort of financial resource because, even in the best-case scenario, even if Verna became a believer and protected him from Carpathia, he couldn’t maintain this ruse for long. That relationship would end. His income would dry up. He would not be able to buy or sell without the mark of the beast anyway, and the new world order Carpathia was so proud of could virtually starve him out.

By a quarter to six, the sanctuary was nearly empty. Rayford headed back to the office. He shut the door behind him. “We can have our moment alone with Bruce’s body in a few minutes,” he said.

The Tribulation Force, plus Loretta and minus Tsion, sat somberly. “So, that’s what Donny Moore brought you?” Rayford said, nodding at the stack of laptops.

“Yep. One for each of us. I asked Loretta if she wanted one too.”

Loretta waved him off, smiling. “I wouldn’t know what to do with it. I probably couldn’t even open it.”

“Where’s Tsion?” Rayford said. “I really think we ought to keep him with us for a while and—”

“Tsion is safe,” Buck said, looking carefully at Rayford.

“Uh-huh.”

“What does that mean?” Loretta asked. “Where is he?”

Rayford sat in a chair on wheels and rolled it close to Loretta. “Ma’am, there are some things we are not going to tell you, for your own good.”