“By that same sign by which I, Elijah, proved myself to King Ahab and to the people of Israel on Mount Carmel,”[7] Milner answered, loud enough for everyone to hear.
Chaim Levin raised an eyebrow and frowned a bit. The boldness of Milner’s claim impressed him, though he didn’t for a minute think that Milner could carry it out. “And when shall we see this sign?” he asked after a moment.
“This very hour,” answered Milner. Then, turning away from Levin and toward the crowd, Milner continued. “For 1,260 days Israel has suffered drought. Today it ends!” With that, Milner’s hands shot skyward and from somewhere beyond the Temple a low rumbling was heard, which in just seconds grew in intensity to an earthshaking peal of thunder. Faster than anyone could imagine possible, the sky grew dark, as out of nowhere heavy gray clouds began to fill the heavens. In fear, the crowds and all but a few of those nearest the high priest drew back. No sooner had an area of a few hundred square feet been cleared than a bolt of lightning struck the Earth and a deafening crack of thunder sent people running. In the larger clearing that resulted from the evacuation, the first bolt of lightning was quickly followed by three more, each more powerful than the one previous.[8] And then it began to rain.
It came down in a torrent, pouring down upon Milner, the high priest, and everyone else except a very few who had made it to cover. Though terrified at first, most stood looking up with their hands upraised, thankful for the rain. Some began to dance.
For the crowd, who knew the biblical story of Elijah who called down fire on Mount Carmel, the verdict was clear: This truly must be the prophet. What other explanation could there be? Although the high priest was unconvinced, he could offer no more believable explanation and so he remained silent, staring at Milner as the rain turned his impeccably elegant attire to dripping disarray. Soon many of the priests and Levites joined in with the crowds, proclaiming Milner as the promised Elijah who, according to the prophecy, would return before the Messiah.[9]
It came as no surprise, therefore, when after a few minutes of drenching rain, Milner announced, “Behold your Messiah!”
With rain still pouring down, Milner turned and seemed to be pointing with his outstretched hand toward the top of the Temple wall, but no one could see exactly what he expected them to find. Then above the southeastern corner, a break appeared in the clouds, allowing a single brilliant shaft of sunlight to burst through. “There he is!” someone shouted.
[Photo Caption: View of Herod’s Temple (model) from the southwest. Pinnacle is corner closest to the camera. Southern entry and steps are at right.]
At the top of the wall, on the very edge of the southeastern corner, 180 feet above them, at a point which by tradition is called the pinnacle, stood Christopher, robes blowing in the wind and completely dry as the shaft of light shone down like a spotlight. Quickly the beam broadened, as from that point the clouds retreated in all directions, bringing rain to the parched countryside around Jerusalem. In just moments the area around the Temple was in full daylight again with the sun shining brightly overhead.
By now nearly every person on the planet was watching the events in Jerusalem. Every camera was on him, broadcasting his words and image to the most distant corners of the world.
“People of Earth,” Christopher began slowly with a serene, peaceful tone calculated to restore calm. “For millennia the prophets and soothsayers, the astrologers and oracles, the shaman and the revelators have all foretold the coming of one who would bring with him the olive branch of peace. By a hundred different names the world has known him. And by a hundred different names this promised peace bringer has been petitioned to come quickly to those in distress. For the Jews, he is Messiah; for the Christians, the returning Christ; for the Buddhists he is the Fifth Buddha; for the Muslims, the Twelfth Heir to Mohammed or Immam Mahdi; the Hindus call him Krishna; the Eckankar call him Mahanta; the Baha’i look to the coming Most Great Peace; to the Zorastrians he is Shah-Bahram; to others he is Lord Maitreya, or Bodhisattva, or Krishnamurti, or Mithras, or Deva, or Hermes and Cush, or Janus, or Osiris.
“By whatever name he is known,” Christopher declared, “in whatever tongue he is entreated, this day I say to you: The prophecies have been fulfilled! This day the promise has been kept! This day the vision has been realized for all Humankind!” Christopher paused as the anticipation rose.
“For on this day I have come!” he shouted triumphantly, surprising no one — for the conclusion was obvious — and yet astonishing all, for no one could have been truly prepared for such a declaration.[10]
Christopher’s voice quickly picked up speed and fervor. “I am the promised one!” he chanted. “I am the Messiah, the Christ, the Fifth Buddha, the Twelfth Heir to Mohammed; I am the one who brings the Most Great Peace; I am Krishna, Shah-Bahram, Mahanta, Lord Maitreya, Bodhisattva, Krishnamurti, and Immam Mahdi; I am Mithras, Deva, Hermes and Cush, Janus, and Osiris! There is no difference. They are all one. All religions are one. And I am he of whom all the prophets spoke! This is the day of the Earth’s salvation!”[11]
To the displeasure of the high priest, many in the assembly roared their approval and the response was echoed around the world. They had all seen Christopher die at the hands of an assassin, and they had seen his resurrection. They had witnessed him effortlessly dispatch John and Cohen, who had brought terrible plagues on the Earth. They had watched in amazement as Robert Milner called down lightning and brought rain to the drought-stricken holy land.
But more than anything else, they cheered because they were ready for a savior.[12] It was the worst of times. Truly, it was the worst of times. And never before had the world been so eager, so ready for a savior.[13]
“Do not misunderstand,” Christopher cautioned. “I haven’t come to make pious religious pronouncements. Nor have I come to demand your worship or insist that you pay me homage. I don’t seek your praise and adoration, nor do I demand your devotion.
“Instead I tell you to look to yourselves! For within each of you is all the deity, all the divinity, that you will ever need. You may call me a god, and I don’t deny it: I am a god! But I call you gods. All of you! Each of you!”
High Priest Chaim Levin had now heard enough. This was obvious blasphemy and, new robes or not, he was obligated to tear his garments and throw dust upon his head. And so he began with a vengeance, though he had to settle for wet muddy grit from the street. Some of the other priests and Levites nearby immediately followed his lead. But others, many others, were far too interested in what this man who had risen from the dead had to say.
“It is not my own godhood that I have come to proclaim,” Christopher continued. “It’s yours!
“I have not come to threaten or punish,” he said reassuringly, undistracted by the actions of the high priest so far below him. “I have come to offer to Humankind life everlasting and joy unimagined. I bring you the opportunity to build a tomorrow of abundance and life from a yesterday of hunger and death. Come with me. Follow me.”
The high priest’s overdramatic rending of cloth and hurling of dirt distracted Decker from Christopher’s speech just long enough for him to notice that despite the distance between Christopher and the street, he could hear him clearly. Christopher’s voice seemed to be coming from right next to him or, perhaps . . . even from inside of him. This discovery was quickly followed by another, even more startling: Decker suddenly realized that Christopher wasn’t speaking English. He didn’t know what language it was, but he was certain he had never heard it before; and yet he clearly understood every word. Apparently, so did those all around him, and as Decker correctly assumed, so did every other person on Earth, no matter their native tongue.
He wondered if others had noticed. Under his breath, Decker tried to repeat a few of the words, but discovered that though he understood everything Christopher said, he couldn’t duplicate a single word. Later Christopher would explain that he had been speaking in the root of all human languages, one that was as universal and
instinctive to humans as animal sounds are to the given type of animal. It was, as Christopher would explain later, the language spoken by all humans prior to the confusion of language, which Yahweh used to scatter the people when they built the Tower of Babel.[14] This language didn’t need to be translated. It was the translation.
“My resurrection,” Christopher continued, “is not a symbol of my victory over death. It is, rather, a symbol of Humankind’s victory of life. My resurrection, my release from the chains of death, occurred because the time has at last come for each of you to break your own chains. It is time to claim the glorious future that awaits us all. It truly is our resurrection!
“Let there be no confusion: What has befallen the Earth over these past three and a half years has not been accidental or the result of natural disasters. It has been the cold, calculated acts of supernatural oppression, enacted through the men John and Cohen, but caused by an oppressive, evil force — a spiritual entity whose goal is to prevent the human race from fulfilling its destiny and attaining its proper place in the universe.
“The power that directed my assassination and the entity that has brought the world to the brink of annihilation are one and the same. But my resurrection is proof that this entity can be defeated, that the Earth can be restored, and that Humankind is ready to throw off the yoke of bondage!
“I have returned to lead the world out of this age of destruction and death and into a new and transcendent age where suffering and death are no more, an age borne out of the trials and suffering and into a time of harmony with the universe. You — the ones who have outlasted the disasters and plagues — you are the survivors and you shall be the victors!
“The human race has tasted the worst of this evil entity’s spiritual oppression and has stood defiant. It is the power of this defiance that has restored my life. It is the power of this defiance that has weakened the enemy. And it is this defiance that will usher in the New Age.”
Though they still understood little, the people could hold their excitement no longer and began to cheer.
“Let the calendars of the world mark this as the first day of the first year of the New Age. Let this day mark the beginning of your own liberation from the hands of the one who has tried to crush your spirit and to destroy your soul.
“Let this date also mark the end of claims to exclusive truth held by backward groups like the Koum Damah Patar. John and Cohen are dead, their self-righteous claims lay lifeless with their bodies. Let no one boast that their way to god is better, for it’s not a god we should seek at all. It’s the power that lies within us. Let us no longer excuse ourselves as being ‘only human.’ Human is all we need to be! It is in our humanity that divinity resides. Immortality is yours to take! To those who follow me, I will give the power to live for a thousand years! Then you shall take your rightful place as evolved beings and shall never die!
“Worthy are they who work for the advancement of Humankind, for the universe shall be theirs. Worthy are they who have learned first to love themselves, for they shall be able to love. Worthy are they who do not deny themselves the desires of their hearts, for they have understood that to do so is to deny their own nature. Worthy are they who draw their strength and hope from within themselves, for they shall find both. Worthy are they whose spirit is strong and defiant, for they shall be first in the kingdom of the universe. Worthy are they who forbid intolerance and crush that which restricts growth, for they will be called beacons of truth and guideposts to fulfillment.
“Hear me and believe! Honor truth and growth with your allegiance!
“To the Koum Damah Patar, I extend the hand of peace,” he said. “Join us and receive amnesty and acceptance.” Then in warning, he added, “If, however, you who are the first to experience the power of the New Age and who have tasted the sweet flavor and experienced the awesome power that already grows within you — if you do not turn from your ways of persecution and intolerance, then you shall be the first to feel the wrath of a planet that has grown beyond its willingness to submit! Humankind stands unshaken before the ill winds of your theistic persecution. We are defiant! We shall not bend the knee to any tyrant!”
Because of the distance between the crowds and Christopher at the top of the pinnacle, and because of the way the wind blew his robes, few had seen and no one gave much notice to the two objects at Christopher’s feet. Certainly, no one suspected that the items had been taken from the Ark of the Covenant.
“I have told you of an evil tyrant,” Christopher continued, turning his attention from the KDP and again to his broader audience, “a spiritual entity who has held the world in chains. For many who are listening and watching, it will come as no surprise that the one of whom I speak — the one for whom John, Cohen, and the Koum Damah Patar have inflicted such ruin — is the same one who has demanded that his people offer him the blood of innocent animals as tribute.”[15]
Christopher paused to pick up the two items and raised them above his head. It still wasn’t clear to the audience in Jerusalem, but it was now obvious on television and online that he held two stone tablets. On the tablets a strange script could be seen clearly as the cameras zoomed in. Christopher was holding the Ten Commandments. A sudden gasp swept across the planet.
“No longer!” Christopher shouted, his voice now showing his full fury. “No longer shall the senseless dictates of spiritual tyrants have dominion over this planet!” And with that declaration, Christopher hurled the two ancient tablets to the street, 180 feet below, where they shattered into pieces so small most couldn’t be distinguished from the tiny bits of gravel. In Jerusalem, the mostly Jewish audience, which to this point had been largely favorable to Christopher, now stood stunned and motionless in shock. Christopher had just taken a national religious treasure and transformed it to dust. His address had been stirring, but no one expected it to result in this.
He continued, aware that he must quickly recapture the people’s attention if he was going to win their support. “The things I have promised are real and they are within humanity’s grasp!
“Earth is not alone in the universe,” Christopher explained. “As has been long suspected, there are thousands of other planets in the universe where life exists. One of those, an ancient and beautiful world circling a star beyond the Pleiades, is known as Theata. Life there evolved long before it did on Earth, and the people of Theata had already advanced to the beginnings of their space age four billion years before the first one-celled animals appeared on the Earth. It is a planet where hunger and fear no longer exist, where death is unknown, where people have taken the final step of evolution and become one in spirit and flesh, a planet whose inhabitants have fully become the god that is within them! It is from this distant, highly advanced planet that life on Earth came. I have come that all that is theirs may be yours!”
Christopher’s account of the origin of human life on Earth was interesting, but hardly sufficient to cause the people in Jerusalem to ignore what he had just done with the stone tablets brought down by Moses from Mount Sinai. Christopher sensed their unease and realized it was time to give the world a demonstration of his real abilities.
“The future I offer is a future of power,” he proclaimed. “Including the power to control nature, as Robert Milner has shown you. But power, like the final steps of evolution, cannot be given. For it to be truly yours, it must be taken. Take and it will be given to you!
“I have ended the reign of terror brought on by John and Cohen; I have ended the plague of madness which threatened the whole Earth; and now I shall begin the healing of our planet!”
Christopher fell silent and stretched out his right arm with his palm down. For a long moment there was no sound, and the throng quickly began to murmur. Chaim Levin, the high priest, robes torn and covered with mud, saw his opportunity and began to draw their attention. But before he could speak, a stirring at the edges of the gathering distracted the attention of everyone.
From the recently rain
-soaked soil, there was visible motion as, before the eyes of everyone, grass and then flowers began to grow where before there had been none. As if viewing time-lapse photography, the people watched in awe as the Earth around them released plant life of beautiful greens, reds, yellows, and purples. Flowering bushes sprouted from the barren ground and suddenly the air filled with the fragrance of spring.
But the miracle was not in Jerusalem alone. Christopher remained silent and motionless for nearly five minutes as throughout the world plant life began to spring up and grow. Across those continents struck by the asteroids’ effects, plant life exploded. Many of the smaller plants grew to full maturity in just moments and in the fire-blackened areas, young trees grew to heights of six, eight, and ten feet.[16]
Finally Christopher lowered his arm and the amazing growth slowed again to normal speeds.
“I have come that power such as this may be yours!” he shouted. There was evidence of exhaustion in his voice, suggesting that the proof of his powers had required a good deal of effort.
“Again,” Christopher noted, making his point again, “I do not seek your worship. Instead I ask for your allegiance.” There was no hesitation now as the vast majority of the assembly, along with those around the world, clapped or cheered or shouted out his name.
Again Christopher raised his right hand, but this time it was to quiet the crowd.
“Some may ask,” Christopher continued, “what of the billions who have died in Yahweh’s disasters?” He paused to allow the thought to register with his listeners. He knew that while only a few might have that question in mind in the context of his speech, for many it undoubtedly would arise soon after. It was better to deal with it now instead of waiting for it to be asked.
The Christ Clone Trilogy - Book Three: ACTS OF GOD (Revised & Expanded) Page 3