by Ormziar, H
“I promise,” Raimon answered but deep his heart he was pledging not to go near the holy☼house for life. From that time on, Raimon kept himself away from religion. He drank heavily and partied most nights and every weekend. He kept on with his wild lifestyle until he realized that while he was in his current job, he wouldn’t be able to save a penny for his future nor for a family. Nevertheless, at that moment of realization, he decided not have kids. ‘Why should I save money for other people?’ he asked himself. He kept living his life by the motto of YOLO (you only live once).
Meanwhile, five months ago a new neighbor moved into the house next to his flat, and the new neighbor seemed very religious, as he was going to the holy☼house twice a week. During one of the holy days he invited Raimon to join him at the holy☼house to praise and thank the Lord for his virtues.
“Why should I praise and thank a God who took the life of my mother early despite she prayed to him every day,” Raimon said to the neighbor as he remembered the last moments of his loving mother’s life.
“No, you misunderstood ∞Illuhim∞. He doesn’t take lives. He just transfers them from one place to another, and I’m sure ∞Illuhim∞ loved your mother and that is why he took her to a better place. If you come to the holy☼house once and opened your heart, you would realize how much he loves you, too,” the neighbor said.
“I’m sorry pal, but I can’t believe in ∞Illuhim∞. There is no evidence of his existence, and I’m a man who wants evidence,” Raimon said.
“There is a lot of evidence, but you haven’t seen it yet,” he said.
“Then, I will stay atheist until I see some,” Raimon replied.
“You will see. I was like you, an unbeliever, but then God showed me the truth. I will pray for God to show you the truth,” the neighbor said before leaving Raimon.
A couple of days later, Raimon saw a post on the news feed of his social page showing a faith-healer healing cancer through prayer and the holy§cript. When Raimon looked further onto the name of the faith-healer, he realized the story was reported in many professional media outlets. ‘This can’t be true; the man is clearly a fraud,’ he thought to himself. ‘How can people be so naïve.’
That wasn’t everything for Raimon, and as the days passed, he kept seeing posts and videos online about the faith-healer and the Antichrist warnings! He kept reporting the videos or labeling them as ‘not interested’, but they kept coming back to his news feed page in an increasing frequency because many of them were sponsored posts! ‘Why the hell I keep seeing these posts? I’m almost about to become a theologian!’ Then he remembered his neighbor’s words saying that he’ll pray for him to see the truth! ‘I need to ask my neighbor to stop praying for me!’ he thought to himself mockingly.
Now, after Raimon woke up from his lengthy sleep, he remembered all those prophesies he had been warned of in the last month through the social media: the last world war, the rise of Antichrist, the return of Messiah, and the sun coming from the west. ‘What the hell has happened since yesterday?’ he asked himself. That moment he heard someone knocking on his door, and he quickly went to open the door. He was eager to meet someone to ask him questions and to confirm that he was not dreaming. When he opened the door, he saw that it was his neighbor.
“Hi, my friend. Everyone is going to the holy☼house to recite the Messiah’s words. Would you like to join me now?” he asked.
“What happened?” Raimon asked.
“You don’t know!” he said.
“I have been asleep for the last 24 hours or even more.”
“Are you kidding me? The world was on fire and you were sleeping!” he said in amazement. “I thought you were now praying on your knees asking for forgiveness from the Lord!”
“Why should I have done that? Could you please tell me what has happened?” Raimon asked eagerly.
“I can’t tell you everything now. I’m in a hurry to join the others,” he said as he was trying to leave Raimon.
“For God’s sake tell me what happened!” Raimon demanded fiercely as he was desperate to get an answer.
The neighbor turned to Raimon again, “You really need to soften your heart. To know what happened, come with me to the holy☼house and find out yourself.”
“But I don’t know how to pray,” Raimon said.
“It’s OK. We are going there to recite the Messiah’s words and learn them by heart,” he said while he started to walk. Raimon decided to join him as he quickly put on his shoes and grabbed his coat.
“Did the nuclear war between countries happen?” Raimon asked while they walked.
“Yesterday, Padsha Mali, who turned out to be the Antichrist as everyone had expected, ignited the world war. All the TV stations and social media went down except the one he was controlling,” he said.
“You mean the faith-healer’s TV station was working?” Raimon asked.
“Yes, before the Messiah returned, Padsha Mali appeared on the TV asking all of his followers and everyone watching to worship him instead of ∞Illuhim∞,” he said. “Most of his followers revolted against him at that moment, but we saw on the big screens he was killing them mercilessly.”
“How could he kill them? The faith-healer was just an old man?”
“Do you still not believe that he was the Antichrist? You should have stayed awake and watched it yourself! He was controlling lightening and used the bolts to hit everyone standing against him or refusing to bow to him.”
“What happened then?” Raimon asked.
“That moment we all started praying asking the Lord to save us from the Beast. I suspect everybody did the same thing all around the world, and shortly after our prayers, we saw the Messiah falling from sky through the ceiling of the hall, and he took the Antichrist down with his blessed sword. He then revealed God’s message to everyone. I couldn’t remember all his words, but now we are heading to the holy☼house to help each other learn and remember all the words together, and you should do it too if you want to be saved.”
“How do you know what happened on the screen was real?” Raimon asked.
“You are still in denial!” the neighbor said to Raimon in a frustrated voice. “When we first met, you said you only needed one piece of evidence!”
“I’m sorry. I believe your words but I just need to make sure about the authenticity of the show you saw on the TV.”
The neighbor then pointed toward the sun. “Look at the sun coming from the west this morning. Does that look like something Photoshopped to you? What would you say to God when you meet him? Would you say there was no evidence?”
“You are right, but I just need more time to think and comprehend everything,” Raimon said in a submissive voice as the truth he had built for himself in the past years was now shattering quickly!
“We are living the end-days. There is no time for thinking, and you need to decide soon,” the neighbor said to him. “I’m sorry to say this but if you don’t believe in Messiah after the truth has clearly revealed itself, your punishment will be doubled.”
Raimon thought deeply about his mother’s last words. May be these were a message from God and that does God loves him that is why he was seeing all these things. That moment they were getting closer to the holy☼house, and a huge crowd of people was gathered around it.
“What should I do to be saved?” Raimon asked finally revealing his will to convert.
“It’s easy,” the neighbor answered. “All we need to do at this time is to surrender to the Messiah, memorize everything he says and follow his teachings unconditionally. He has God’s message and he knows the path to our salvation better than anyone else.”
Chapter 41
One week had passed since Nergz had last seen Hast before his flight to New Delhi. She was still at Sardar’s house with her child and was waiting for any news or communication from Hast. ‘We are probably the only ones who know the truth,’ she thought. ‘I can’t reveal the truth yet because the entire world is now biased t
oward the evil one believing that he is their savior.’
Nergz remembered the intense last discussion she had with Hast and Mark before they set off for New Delhi. When Hast had described Kogar’s plan to her and to Sardar, Mark had intervened. “I still don’t understand why Kogar has gone through all the trouble of igniting an apocalypse just to impersonate the Messiah,” he said.
“He wants people to submit to his plans without questioning him,” Hast answered.
“But he is a massively rich man, and he could make many people to submit just by paying them money,” he replied.
“With money you can buy people’s bodies but you can’t buy their minds,” Hast answered. “What you propose is what companies usually do; they hire employees to do what they want them to do in return for money.”
At that moment Sardar intervened, “With religion you can hire followers who will do what you want them to do for free, for their entire life and it all will continue for generations.”
“But Kogar invented a cure for cancer. He could have bought people’s hearts with that alone,” Mark said still trying to get a satisfactory answer.
“Remember that scientists have invented antibiotics and vaccines and saved millions of lives, but still they are not remembered by many,” Sardar said.
“Kogar’s ultimate aim is to impersonate ∞Illuhim∞, but since he doesn’t have the power yet, he is going to impersonate the figure of the Messiah first,” Hast said.
“But how can he impersonate ∞Illuhim∞? He doesn’t have any supernatural powers,” Mark said.
“I don’t know, but he may use TNARK’s technology to gain more power when he takes control of the world,” Hast said.
“What more does he gain by impersonating ∞Illuhim∞?” Mark asked.
Sardar intervened again, “Through natural selection and rules of apostasy during the ancient times, only our grand ancestors who chose to submit to the higher authority survived. So regardless of whether ∞Illuhim∞ himself exists or not, we the survivors do exist because of him. Hence, it is natural for us humans to see ∞Illuhim∞ as the most feared and the most loved superpower at the same time.”
“That is really terrifying!” Mark said. “If Kogar is planning to impersonate ∞Illuhim∞ then he might make up a fake hell and a fake paradise!”
“It’s all our fault,” Hast said. “We failed to introduce the true god to people, and instead we introduced the Antichrist to them!”
“What do you mean?” Nergz asked Hast.
“All this time our focus has been about the Antichrist, the apocalypse and terrifying people with the Lord’s punishment! The evil one took advantage from the hate we preached. Now we have the responsibility to correct our mistakes. We need to introduce the true god to the people, the God who is all loving and all merciful, and living within us, the true ∞Illuhim∞.”
That was the last time Nergz saw Hast and Mark before they set off, but before Hast left, Nergz saw him turning his head again to say his last words to her, “Remember, we can’t fight hate with hate. Evil will always take advantage from the hate we preach.”
Chapter 42
One week after the Messiah’s dramatic return, Kogar was in his new operation room in Padsha Mali’s town looking at the trends on his new screens. Many cities had survived the nuclear war because the change in the earth’s axis and the shutdown of satellite system had made the targets less visible and harder to be hit. Nevertheless, the destruction was evident in many places, the radiation levels increased and with it the risk of getting cancer increased, too. Kogar knew this was going to happen and he was prepared for that, after all, he already had the cure and he was ‘the Messiah’. People expected him to heal, not to say that he wasn’t already a savior in the eyes of public. He was the one who had taken down the Antichrist and had saved people from his destruction, and he was the hero that the prophecies had predicted. And those who were not aware of the holy§cript would read it and would soon realize the truth, the truth that only existed in this reality, the new reality imposed upon people, parallel with their beliefs. ‘It’s too late for the world to realize the other reality. Nobody will think of that or have an interest in looking for it. It's the end-days, everyone’s biggest concern would now be salvation and God’s satisfaction and their only path for that is through me, the Messiah,’ Kogar thought to himself.
‘No one will be able to tell my real identity’ he thought to himself as he looked at the mirror, and saw the effect of the mask and the chemical injections to his face were already giving good results and making him look like the figure of ‘Messiah’, the one described in the holy§cript. Kogar thought he would take off his armor in his next speech, and he would reveal his face to the public, the face they expected to see from the Messiah.
He also made sure to place small working light bulbs into his coat when he appeared to give his speeches to the crowd. ‘This is what people expect from the Messiah, the perception of enlightenment,’ he thought. ‘People of the earth will soon rise again, but they will do that under my rules and my guidance. They will take everything I say to heart, and my speeches will be imprinted in their brains. My mind will be their logic neurons, and their minds will be the memory and executive neurons for my logic. My books will be recited by them on every occasion, and my advice will be their guidance. Legends will be told about me, books will be written on me, countless amounts of research and studies will be made on my advice and my speeches. As time passes, everybody will think like me, behave like me, and I will be their idol. I will be in every mind for generation after generation, and humans will be naturally selected according to the rules set by me. My ideas will gradually start to be imprinted in their genes, as this happens, my views will become their common sense, my personality will be transferred to everyone.’ He concluded.
Chapter 43
One month later, Nergz still hadn’t heard any news of Hast and Mark. Day by day she had become increasingly worried because telephone communications and the internet was restored and many TV stations had now started broadcasting again. The majority of the online articles and TV programs were about ‘the Messiah’ and his speeches, and any word that came from the man was taken for granted to be the most valuable and would be discussed endlessly on TV shows and online posts.
Nergz knew the truth, but she couldn’t do anything about it. Nobody would believe her anyway at this stage. She was looking for a way to spread the truth to people; this would be her responsibility alone if Hast didn’t come back to her soon.
She had stayed at Sardar’s house for the month after Hast left for New Delhi, but yesterday she had decided to take the risk and go back to her own house. She left her little son, Abraham, under Sardar’s care until she could make sure that her house was safe again. When she got back home, she realized somebody was monitoring it. She looked through the window at a man who stood on the opposite side of the street. The man didn’t look like he was armed and didn’t seem dangerous, but the second time she peeked through the window, the man saw her and signaled to her to come out. Nergz decided to go out to confront him; she took a kitchen knife just in case.
“What do you want from me?” she said when she cautiously got closer to the man outside her house.
“I have been waiting for you for over a week. I can’t talk about everything here, but please would you come with me? It’s very important,” he said.
“Why should I trust you?” she said.
“Please, you need to trust me at this stage. I have important information about your husband,” he said. “You need to come with me to Interpol’s new headquarters. It’s not very far away from here.”
When Nergz heard about Interpol, her intuition told her to follow and trust the man; he didn’t seem like a foe to her. She followed him to his car before they drove together to a private jet, and then they set off. After one hour, the plane landed in a very small village and she accompanied the man to a small and derelict house in the village. ‘How can this b
e Interpol’s headquarters?’ she thought to herself.
“A group of us who know the truth are hiding out here waiting for a plan to get the message out,” the man said to Nergz while she entered the house.
“Is this Interpol’s headquarters?”
“I know it looks small, but we have deliberately spread ourselves into small groups all around the globe.”
Nergz looked at the many computers and hard drives all around the living room. She thought around 30 people seemed to inhabit the house, and one of them identified himself as the current head of Interpol, Sir Farad.
“It’s an honor to meet you my lady,” Farad said. “Your husband was a hero; because of him and one of our agents, we know the truth.”
“Do you know where my husband is?” she asked eagerly.
Sir Farad asked someone to play a video for Nergz. She looked at the video which had been recorded on a cellphone. It showed inside Padsha Mali’s hall during the time when the ‘Messiah’ was presenting his first speech right after killing the ‘Antichrist’. The video showed Hast challenging ‘the Messiah’ to uncover his partially seen face, and then an intensive argument between Hast and Kogar, the presumed Messiah, grew just like the ancient argument between Abraham and Nimrod. Kogar seemed to be losing the argument against the evidence presented by Hast to the crowd. The crowd started to grow suspicious of Kogar because they were still wishing for their favorite faith-healer to be innocent, so the conspiracy theory presented by Hast seemed plausible to them. Suddenly, the sound of an explosion and multiple shootings could be heard in the video. After that, the video abruptly ended.
“Unfortunately, we think everyone in the hall was massacred,” Sir Farad said.