Progeny

by Shawn Hopkins

  And then there were the Trumpets.

  The first angel sounded his trumpet, and their came hail and fire mixed with blood, and it was hurled down upon the earth. A third of the earth was burned up, a third of the trees was burned up, and all the green grass was burned up. The second angel sounded his trumpet, and something like a huge mountain, all ablaze, was thrown into the sea. A third of the sea turned into blood, a third of the living creatures in the sea died, and a third of the ships were destroyed. The third angel sounded his trumpet — a great star, blazing like a torch, fell from the sky on a third of the rivers and on the springs of water — the name of the star is Wormwood. A third of the waters turned bitter, and many people died from the waters that had become bitter. The fourth angel sounded his trumpet, and a third of the sun was struck, a third of the moon, and a third of the stars, so that a third of them turned dark. A third of the day was without light, and also a third of the night. The fifth angel sounded his trumpet, and I saw a star that had fallen from the sky to the earth. The star was given the key to the shaft of the Abyss… The sixth angel sounded his trumpet, and I heard a voice coming from the horns of the golden altar that is before God. It said to the sixth angel who had the trumpet, “Release the four angels who are bound at the great river Euphrates.” And the four angels who had been kept ready for this very hour and day and month and year were released to kill a third of mankind…

  More apocalyptic imagery was wrapped up in such descriptions as, the earth giving way and the mountains falling into the heart of the sea, the waters roaring and foaming and the mountains quaking with their surging, the heavens vanishing like smoke, the earth wearing out like a garment, its inhabitants dying like flies, the heavens disappearing with a roar, the elements destroyed by fire, the earth and everything in it being laid bare, the stars of heaven and their constellations no longer showing their light, the sun being darkened and the moon not giving its light, the earth reeling to and fro like a drunkard, the heavens trembling and the earth shaking from its place…

  And while God had given Enoch a precise timeframe for when he could expect the floodgates to open on the earth, He seemed content leaving the people of this age with only general hints.

  John would be lying if he said that the 2012 date, for all the reasons accompanying the prediction, didn’t send tingles down his neck. There was also Planet X that was supposedly scheduled to be dropping by around that time. Apparently, the tenth planet, named Eris, is really the Twelfth Planet that the Sumerians called “Nibiru” five thousand years ago. That it was home to the Anunnaki (or the Anakim Nephilim that the Israelites fought) was just another ingredient in the whole 2012 hype that seemed to reach back and touch the days of Noah. Coincidence? The leader of the Anunnaki, Marduk, was also sometimes thought to be interchangeable with Quetzalcoatl… Everything seemed to come full circle. The name the Sumerians gave the planet meant “planet of the crossing” because every three thousand six hundred years it crossed earth’s orbit. Reportedly five times the size of earth and one hundred times its mass, its magnetic core is so potent that it interferes with other planets’ electromagnetic fields. Indeed, according to John’s research, its influence on other planets was how astronomers even knew to look for it, NASA acknowledging its existence in 1982 (only thousands of years after the Sumerians). The planet is said to have its own orbiting moons and a tail stretching for millions of miles across space. Some believe that the planet will be passing between earth and Mercury and that its effect on the smaller planet will cause it to explode. Ironically, and again according to some, the earth is supposed to travel through the tail of Eris once a year for seven years… the length of the biblical Tribulation.

  Internet sites claimed that the planet’s Elite had been preparing for this encounter with the Anunnaki’s home planet ever since modern science discovered it to be on an inbound course. Expecting earthquakes, volcanoes, tidal waves, major climate changes, even a shift in the polar axis of the planet, the governments of the world set out to silence the discovery, fearing that such information would lead to anarchy and the collapse of the world economy, “man-made Global Warming” just a disinformation campaign aimed at deflecting the warning signs of the inevitable planetary cataclysm. If that were true, it would certainly make sense. If the rulers of the world had such information, there was no way they would make it public. In the mean time, however, they had been accused of preparing underground shelters in which they could ride out the cataclysm in order to birth their New World Order in its aftermath. All John had to do was watch the news in order to hear about the New Madrid Fault coming to life, the Yellowstone caldera, solar storms, unprecedented seismic activity, birds falling dead from the sky, dead fish and other sea life washing ashore in astronomical quantities for reasons no one can determine…

  According to Pastor Brian, the Masonic Christ would lead the world into a New Age, proclaiming himself to be God. But John couldn’t see that happening without utter chaos setting the stage for its acceptance. The biblical prophecies hinted at both cataclysmic events as well as wars and rumors of wars. So whether the Elite would use the coming disaster as a precedent to establish their world rule, or whether 2012 came and went and they were left to manufacture a precedent, John didn’t think it really mattered. The Book had already been written, its end foretold. It was the means by which the world would enter such a crisis that proved to be the mystery.

  He looked at a verse he kept tacked to his pegboard. It was from the book of Isaiah.

  …They are full of superstitions from the East; they practice divination like the Philistines and clasp hands with the pagans…

  And resting above Ronald’s two books that he’d kept was also printed out the damnation of all those who practiced magic arts, condemning any involvement with the Occult.

  There was a reason why God had wiped the so-called “Golden Age” or “First Time(s)” and all its marvelous wonders from off the face of the earth — whether it had thrived between the first two verses of Genesis or had been destroyed by the Flood of Noah or quenched by the Israelites (or all three, since Zep Tepi was seen many times as a re-creation) — and there was a reason the prophecies of doom, no matter how sophisticated, were etched into stone by savages that had practiced slaughtering each other in their ceremonial worship to demons. Were all the megalithic workings, whether constructed before the Flood or after it, an attempt at resurrecting Satan’s long lost reign? And what of the esoteric doctrine that believed the New Age would be ushered in by the return of the Great Pyramid’s missing capstone, the capstone said to hold the secrets of First Time?

  All John knew was that time was short, whether due to planetary apocalypse, nuclear annihilation, the iron fist of a New World Order, or the relatively quick life of man in general (the Bible calling it a “shadow” and a “vapor”). The truth of the matter was that everyone would die someday, somehow. So he and Henry had pledged to use whatever time was left, either for them or for the world, to spread the true message of Christ (as opposed to the politicized one that politicians liked to sway ignorant voters with) to as many people as they could. That was their mission. It was the church’s mission, had always been the true church’s mission, and all he could do was rest in the knowledge of a better world to come, the fact of a few billion casualties keeping him from growing lazy or selfish in his faith, casualties that would be realized all at once or gradually over the natural timeline of unfolding history.

  John finished his coffee, anxious to return to his wife and forget everything for just five minutes, just long enough to stabilize his perception of reality within his own, practical world. He was about to get up when the phone rang. He heard Kristen answer it from another room.

  She walked in and handed him his cell phone. “It’s Henry,” she said.

  John held the phone to his ear while reaching for Kristen’s hand. “Hey.”

  “Johnny?” Henry’s voice was shaking.

  “Yeah?” John asked, sitting forwa
rd, his hand falling away from Kristen’s.

  “You know what today is, right?”

  “Yeah…”

  “The solstice?”

  “I know what it is, Henry. What about it?”

  There was a short pause. “I just got a phone call… from Bermuda.”

  John slowly rose to his feet, chills tingling his scalp. “And?”

  “It was from Paul.”

  BIBLIOGRAPHY

  Bauval, Robert, and Adrian Gilbert. The Orion Mystery. New York: Three Rivers Press, 1994.

  Berlitz, Charles. The Bermuda Triangle. New York: Avon Books, 1974.

  Book of Enoch as Translated from the Ethiopic (in 1821). Ed. Richard Laurence. Artisan Pubilshers, 2007.

  Fleming, John. The Fallen Angels and the Heroes of Mythology, the Same with “The Sons of God” and “The Mighty Men” of the Sixth Chapter of the Fifth Book of Moses (1879). Kessinger Publishing.

  Glover, Lorri, and Daniel Blake Smith. The Shipwreck that Saved Jamestown: The Sea Venture Castaways and the Fate of America. New York: Henry Holt & Co., LLC., 2009.

  Hall, Manly P. The Secret Teachings of All Ages: An Encyclopedic outline of Masonic, Hermetic, Qabbalistic and Rosicrucian Symbolical Philosophy. New York: Penguin Group, 2007.

  Hapgood, Charles H., Maps of the Ancient Sea Kings: Evidence of Advanced Civilization in the Ice Age. Kempton: Adventures Unlimited Press, 1996.

  Hancock, Graham. Fingerprints of the Gods. New York: Three Rivers Press, 1995.

  Hancock, Graham. Heaven’s Mirror: Quest for the Lost Civilization. New York: Three Rivers Press, 1998.

  Hancock, Graham. Underworld: The Mysterious Origin of Civilization. New York: Three Rivers Press, 2003.

  Hancock, Graham, and Robert Bauval. Keeper of Genesis. New York: Three Rivers Press, 1997.

  Hancock, Graham, and Robert Bauval. The Message of the Sphinx: The Quest for the Hidden Legacy of Mankind. New York: Three Rivers Press, 1996.

  Heron, Patrick. The Nephilim and the Pyramid of the Apocalypse. New York: Citadel Press, 2004.

  Knight, Christopher, and Alan Butler. Before the Pyramids: Cracking Archeology’s Greatest Mystery. London: Watkins Publishing, 2009.

  Knight, Christopher, and Alan Butler. Uriel’s Machine: Uncovering the Secrets of Stonehenge, Noah’s Flood and the Dawn of Civilization. Gloucester: Fair Winds Press, 2001.

  Pember, G.H. Earth’s Earliest Ages. First published in 1876 by Hodder and Stoughton.

  Platt Jr., Rutherford H. “The Forgotten Books of Eden.” Sacred-texts. 1926.

  Quasar, Gian. Into the Bermuda Triangle: Pursuing the Truth Behind the World’s Greatest Mystery. New York: McGraw-Hill, 2004.

  Sitchin, Zecharia. The Wars of Gods and Men. New York: Avon Books, 1985.

  Wilson, Colin, and Rand Flem-Ath. The Atlantis Blueprint: Unlocking the Ancient Mysteries of a Long-lost Civilization. New York: Dell Publishing, 2002.

  Zuill, William Sears. The Story of Bermuda and Her People. Oxford: Macmillan Education, 1999.

  ABOUT THE AUTHOR

  Shawn Hopkins lives in Pennsylvania with his wife and two daughters. He holds degrees in Biblical Studies and theology. He is the author of the suspense action thriller, The Solomon Key, of which an excerpt now follows.

  THE SOLOMON KEY

  HOLY SECRETS

  For the mystery of iniquity doth already work: only he who now letteth will let, until he be taken out of the way. And then shall that Wicked one be revealed, whom the Lord shall consume with the spirit of His mouth, and shall destroy with the brightness of his coming: Even him, whose coming is after the working of Satan with all power and signs and lying wonders.

  —2 Thessalonians 2:7-12

  Benaiah, the son of Jehoiada, concealed himself within the shadows of a large rock formation that sat reaching into the desert air like a man’s disfigured arm breaking forth from the depths of sheol and begging for water. The sun had just finished its descent, the Great Sea ablaze across the horizon as she swallowed the fire into her bowels. Even at such a great distance, Benaiah could feel the charging winds gliding over the sea’s surface, freezing the desert air and pulling closed the curtains of night behind them.

  They circled around him, coming not only from the Great Sea to the west, but also from the Salt Sea to the east, and the sea Moses split five hundred years ago from the south. Stars twinkled like ice in the sky, dancing before the moon. And though a deep chill was biting at his skin, his mind was too preoccupied with what had to be done for him to notice.

  Below Benaiah was the camp, his army. He left its company to retreat up this jagged structure for some time to pray, to prepare. It was the son of Zadok who had suggested stopping here for the night, a spot just south of the Negev and enclosed by small mountains. Benaiah knew of its advantages — the blockage of wind and the concealment of torchlight and sound. But he also knew of its disadvantages. Attack. Being surrounded. Arrows storming down from the rocks above. Even if the king’s army hadn’t tracked them by now, there was a chance that the remaining Amalekite army had — the Negev desert south of Judah being their home. And though King David had struck them severely when recovering his wives and property from the raid on Ziklag, a small remnant had escaped on camelback. Had they since rekindled their old alliances with the Canaanites and Moabites? Benaiah didn’t know. It was possible. A dangerous journey he had indeed embarked on, leading his hand-picked army away from Jerusalem and into the wilderness of Paran.

  Benaiah took his eyes off the camp and the scattered torchlight below and scanned the shadows dwelling among the rocks. They sat still and unmoving. The heavens then drew his gaze, countless beaming stars singing with an intensity capable of humbling even the proudest of men. But instead of making him feel small and irrelevant, humbled by its majesty, the sight seemed only to intensify the importance of his mission. The God who had created all those stars with a mere wave of His hand had dealt with Israel many times before, both in blessing and in judgment.

  But it wasn’t from coming blessings that Benaiah and his army were fleeing. King Solomon had broken the Lord’s command, had disregarded the counsel of his father David.

  And thou, Solomon my son, know thou the God of thy father, and serve him with a perfect heart and with a willing mind: for the Lord searcheth all hearts, and understandeth all the imaginations of the thoughts: if thou seek him, he will be found of thee; but if thou forsake him, he will cast thee off forever.

  Solomon had indeed departed from the law of the Lord, offering sacrifices to the pagan gods of his countless pagan wives. So, surely, God would judge His chosen once again. Benaiah only prayed that, unlike his king, God would deal with him mercifully, sanctifying the mission.

  He set his gaze back down to the scattered camp below. The stars seemed to spotlight the scene, drawing heaven’s attention to their deeds and the vitality of their cause.

  He was old now, and his service to King David seemed a lifetime ago. Someone else’s even.

  King David…

  Benaiah had been one of David’s mighty men, more honorable than the thirty, but not attaining to the first three. Adino the Eznite, who had killed eight hundred men with his spear during one battle, was the first. Eleazar the son of Dodo, and Shammah the Hararite were the second and third. He would have been the fourth. Memories of those times projected against his mind’s eye. The adventures. But they drew no smiles. Joab… Solomon had given the command to kill him, and, even as he clung to the altar, Benaiah did slay him, cutting off his head and becoming the captain of Solomon’s army himself.

  How things had changed.

  A sudden noise came from behind, but he was not startled.

  “What is it, Menelik?” he asked without turning.

  Menelik, son of Solomon, came up and crouched beside him, ignoring the camp sprawled out below. “I know you have your doubts. I know your sense of loyalty must be confused. But you know that this is the right thing to do.”

  Benaiah looked at the young man throu
gh eyes grown weary from experiences Menelik would never come close to knowing. “I know.” He paused, reconsidered. “I hope.”

  “You are unsure?” Menelik asked defensively. “It must have been done,” he protested. “My father’s idolatry will surely bring God’s judgment to Jerusalem. It could not be left there under his care.”

  “And of the priests of Levi?”