Times of Tribulation: Christian End Times Thriller (The End Times Saga, #7)

by Cliff Ball

  The residents of Bid Bend thought the imaginative reasoning for what happened was certainly creative, but they also felt sad that anyone watching who were marked by the beast would continue to curse God for their own sin. Pete also talked with David Cohen and Pete reassured him they were surviving the judgments, told the former Israeli President that he accepted Christ as his Savior, and that they continued to avoid being seen by the forces of the Patriarch.

  Meanwhile, Wayne Davis and his staff were on a yacht in the Caribbean, enjoying themselves in spite of the chilly weather not normally felt in the tropics. Without warning, the crystal clear waters of the Caribbean turned red and water animals began coming up onto the surface, all dead. Horrified by what he saw and from what he was beginning to smell, the Administrator demanded of the yacht’s captain, “What just happened?”

  “I don’t know, sir, but I’m going to have to take us back to port. Whatever’s making the water that color is also making it kind of thick. If I didn’t know any better, I’d think it was blood, but that would be impossible,”

  “Well, whatever it is, I demand you get us out of here as fast as you can before we get terribly sick from the smell.”

  “I’ll do my best, sir.” The captain rushed away to get the yacht moving back towards land.

  Once back in his office, Wayne could still smell the death and rot in spite of the building’s air filtration system since Puerto Rico was surrounded by water. He decided to call the Patriarch to find out if the world’s leader would be doing something about this newest tragedy. “Hello, this is Administrator Wayne Davis of North America, I’d like to talk to the Patriarch,”

  “Sorry, but he’s busy. Is there a message for him that I can give to him later?” asked the Patriarch’s secretary.

  “Tell him I want to know what he’s going to do about the water that’s been turned to blood. Can you do that?”

  “I’ll let him know, Administrator, but you’re not the only one wanting know if he’s going to do something about it. When he decides to let you know, he’ll inform everyone at the same time, all right?”

  “Fine, whatever, I just demand something be done about this. Goodbye.” Wayne rudely hung up on the secretary, angry about yet another thing the Patriarch seemed to have no control over.

  The next time everyone heard from the Patriarch about the blood in the water was when he went on television the next day to explain to the world his version of what was going on. “Good evening, fellow global citizens, thank you for joining me today as I explain the situation involving our water problem. As all of you know by now, our oceans, lakes, rivers, and streams appear to be polluted with blood, which caused all life in those bodies of water to die. Because of the death of these creatures and the polluted water, there’s really no place on Earth right now that doesn’t have a bad smell permeating the air, causing many to become sick if they already hadn’t been from these sores we seem to be cursed with.

  “As for who I think caused our water to be polluted, I believe that it was caused by the haters who wish to see the global community fail. They’re jealous that I did something that their so-called God has never done, and that’s join the world together in peace, harmony, and unity. So, they committed an act of terrorism so large that one can’t help but notice. However, they didn’t count on the fact that I will not be intimidated, and neither will you, the great global community of the Union of United Earth.

  “As I speak to you, the security forces of the U.E. are going to begin a sweep of all cities for the haters so we can bring justice to our nearly crippled planet, which cries out in pain for the justice it seeks. We’ll find out how they accomplished such a grand scale operation under our noses and then we’ll force them to repair the damage. Remember, I’m here for you and as long as you seek my will, you will be successful in your life. Thank you for your time. Peace and blessings on you. Goodnight.”

  “The Patriarch really expects us to believe that the people we’ve been hunting down actually have the resources to do something so large, like polluting our waters with blood? Does he really think people are so stupid?” complained Wayne to Priest Nelson over the phone.

  “What difference does it make? As long as the Patriarch says he’s going to do something, the people will believe him, even if he offers no realistic reasoning for the problems and blames everything on the haters and malcontents,”

  “You know, there are times I wish I had joined with the others in trying to depose the Patriarch,”

  “You’d best remember that just because I won’t report you for such seditious thoughts, there are people under you who wouldn’t have a problem with turning you in. Mostly to show how they’re good global citizens, hoping they’ll have the honor of being praised by the Patriarch personally. You’ll remember to hold your tongue, won’t you?” said Nelson.

  “Yes, I’ll remember, but it won’t be easy.”

  “I know it won’t, but you’ll have to if you want to keep your head. Peace and blessings on you, Administrator, and have a good week.” Priest Nelson ended the call.

  “Blaming Christians on the world’s problems? How original of him,” Josh said sarcastically after the Patriarch’s speech.

  “No kidding. Too bad so many people are under the delusion that the Patriarch is serious about making us fix the problem, when all he’s going to do is go after believers and make even more of them martyrs. I’m glad we’re almost near the end of the Tribulation, only three more judgments to go before Christ returns. I wonder how the fourth judgment will work, since the sun is supposed to increase in power. I guess we’ll find out in a couple of months.” Pete replied.

  “I guess we will. We sure do live in interesting times.”

  “I think that’s an understatement.”

  Chapter 20

  Shortly before the fourth and fifth bowl judgment, the Christians of Big Bend continued their study of the book of Revelation. Josh was considered their unofficial pastor because he started the Bible study when he first arrived and no one else felt comfortable doing it as most of them weren’t very educated in Bible prophecy, even though Josh himself had to learn from reading various prophecy Bible study books.

  “As we can see in Revelation 16:8-9, the next bowl judgment is when an angel is given the power to make the sun’s power increase, causing man to be scorched with heat. Anyone care to guess on what that means?”

  Janet raised her hand and Josh motioned for her to speak, “Do you think that means we’re going to get some kind of massive solar flare that’ll increase the temperature on the surface here and maybe even fry electronics?”

  “I think that’s what might happen. If mankind gets scorched with fire, they’ll continue to reject God and blaspheme Him, while still wallowing in their sin nature. If that’s followed by some kind of EM interference, then it should destroy the economy of the economic Babylon mentioned in later verses. Imagine the kind of chaos that happens when all technology is practically destroyed. Pete, we probably won’t need our tech after everyone else’s gets disabled, but you protected everything, right?”

  “Actually, that’s not really necessary, because being underground protects us from EMP’s and other sources that would fry electronics. I would think the Patriarch and his sycophants wouldn’t even think to shield theirs from being fried, which might actually be a good thing. But, if the sun’s power is increased, does that mean we might not be able to go outside until Christ’s return?” Pete asked.

  “I’m not sure. It could be that with the sun and moon’s light being reduced by one-third since the fourth trumpet judgment, that the increase might feel like one is being severely sunburned after not having full sunlight for so long, but we won’t know until it happens. We might be able to go out at night, since the fifth bowl judgment says the darkness only affects the beast’s kingdom. I think anything to make the Patriarch to look bad is always a good thing, even though many will still follow him. Please join me in prayer as we end our Bible study.”
Josh led the group in prayer, followed by the group breaking up, and going about their daily duties.

  A couple days later, the only people who knew the sun was about to have increased power were the scientists who studied the sun, the scientist who told the Patriarch, and the Patriarch himself. They had less than eight minutes to prepare, but the Patriarch was only concerned with his holographic images and the technology to use them that were stored in the basement of his headquarters. He wasn’t all that concerned about what would happen to his followers, mostly because Lucifer didn’t, who was more obsessed with beating God than being concerned about the pathetic human sheep that followed him. When the sun’s power increase and the solar flare reached Earth eight minutes later, most modern technology failed, which put the Union of United Earth’s economy into a tailspin because people could no longer use their embedded chips to buy and sell since computers had failed.

  It was the first Monday of the month and Wayne Davis came to work thinking it would be like any other day as the Administrator for North America. He would order more people to be executed for being followers of Christ, have those who didn’t regularly worship the Patriarch’s image investigated and arrested, and he would also make sure his region had enough food to go around, since most of the water supply had been destroyed. While he was typing on his computer, the computer crashed for no reason at all, and then the lights turned off, which was followed by the eerie silence that comes from electricity being shut off. Oh great, who blew a circuit and will they have to be executed for it? Wayne wondered.

  With some irritation at having been inconvenienced by the power failure, Wayne got up from his desk and went over to the window so he could let some light in. He usually kept his the blinds in his office closed at all times, which were covered by heavy sun-blocking drape, because most of the time the only light in his office came from the florescent lights in the ceiling. Wayne pulled back the drapes and started to pull up the blinds when the light coming from outdoors was just too bright to stand, and then he felt some tingling on his arms. Glancing at them, he was shocked to see his arms turn red almost instantly, like they were being instantly sunburned before his very eyes, which only made his sores hurt even worse. Without thinking, Wayne let go of the cords to the blinds, noticing too that the plastic had melted in his hands, which didn’t hurt as much as his sunburned arms. He glanced back at the plastic blinds and saw they were also melting from the intense heat even though they weren’t supposed to because of the heavily tinted office windows.

  What’s going on? he wondered, while also thinking he should leave his office to find anyone who did know what was going, but the head of security Jake Stephens burst into the office, eliminating the need for Wayne to go search for answers.

  Stephens looked very red, his clothes seemed drenched with sweat, and the blisters on his face and exposed skin looked worse than it already did from being infected with the sores. “What’s going on, Director Stephens?” asked Wayne.

  “I’m not sure, Administrator. All I know is that the power across the island went out and the sun is brighter and hotter than ever. If you’re not covered up completely, skin gets burned almost instantly, and I saw a couple people outside who went blind. If I had to guess, the temperature is well over one hundred and twenty degrees,”

  “Are you sure we have no electrical power anywhere?”

  “I’m fairly confident about it. I was in my car, on my way here, when my car died with no warning whatsoever. I was attempting to open up my hood to check on whatever was wrong with my car when the light increased and the temperature began skyrocketing. I decided to head here, even though the heat made my sores hurt even more, and along the way, I could tell the power was out everywhere, since all the buzzing from the wires we normally hear was no longer happening. Except for people screaming in pain, the silence was kind of weird,”

  “If the power’s gone out because of something to do with the sun, we’re in a lot of trouble,”

  “Yes we are, sir. Before this happened, I saw citizens gathering at the stores to pick up their weekly food rations, and if the computers that read their chips don’t work, we’re going to have some riots on our hands. If I can find enough of my people, do we have permission to do whatever’s necessary to protect you from harm?”

  “What for? With the power having gone out, I have no way to mobilize the entire security force to keep the people in line. You could attempt to shoot at rioters all day, but you’d eventually run out of bullets, and then whoever survived would overwhelm you and your people, kill you, and then come after me. I have a better idea, I’ll tell the people, if they somehow manage to come here demanding an explanation, that we have the problem under control and they’ll receive their rations as soon as we can get it to them. They’ll spread the word around and we’ll have a mollified populace, at least on this island. Since it seems like we’re all going to die anyway, killing the citizens seems kind of pointless, don’t you think?”

  Shrugging, Stephens replied, “I don’t know, probably. Do you want protection at all when you try this crazy stunt?”

  Wayne was tempted to respond with sarcasm as Stephens seemed to be on the verge of being insubordinate. However, the Director of Security was armed, had access to and ordered around other people who were armed, while Wayne himself never carried a gun, had never thought to, and so he thought it was best not to tempt fate. Keeping his temper in check, Wayne responded, “No, because I think having guys with riot gear and military-style machine guns would make people even more nervous and someone in one of the two groups would end up doing something stupid, and make the whole thing worse. You can keep an eye on me, but stay in the shadows, okay?”

  “All right, I can do that. When do you want to go out among the people?”

  “I think I’m going to need a hat of some sort that can cover my entire face, along with something to cover my arms, so I can at least tolerate the more intense sunlight. Although, if it’s gotten really hot out there, I might not be out there very long. Give me about twenty minutes and we’ll go outside, okay?”

  “Yes, sir.”

  It only took Wayne fifteen minutes to find enough wrappings to cover his face and arms, and it looked to Stephens like the administrator had come straight out of an apocalyptic movie where the planet was dying from intense sunshine and solar radiation, which, if he really thought about it, was part of what was happening on Earth. The two went downstairs using the emergency stairs. The emergency stairs were on the outer shell of the building and encased in concrete, so the temperature inside was almost as warm as the outdoors. Both men made it to the lobby and went out the front door.

  In spite of the oppressing heat and blinding light, hundreds of people were gathered around the North American headquarters, some coming here to see if the local government would help in their time of need, many more who were angry about yet another disaster that now affected their ability to buy anything, and a handful who wanted to see what the others were doing here. Wayne looked at the crowd, while his eyes tried to adjust to the waves of heat radiating around them, reminding him of mirages on very hot days. It was very disorienting. True to his word, Stephens lurked in the shadows. The Director of Security wondered how this was going to turn out and was trying to make up his mind what he would do when everything hit the fan when similar situations, like the one Administrator Davis now found himself in, always turned out badly. He shrugged his shoulders and decided he’d see which way the wind blew in this situation.

  “Good citizens of North America, I know you must be wondering what I will do now since we no longer have the ability to buy and sell with the embedded chips in our wrists, since our technology has obviously failed us. I will tell you that my people and I will remedy the situation soon, so that all of you, even those not here right now, will get the food you need to survive. You just have to be patient, my friends,”

  Wayne was answered at first with someone throwing a small rock at him, which landed at his fe
et. Then he heard shouts of anger directed at him, so he said, “Please, we don’t need violence here. If all of you would remain calm, this situation will resolve itself and we can be one big happy global community again,”

  More rocks were thrown at Wayne, and while he managed to dodge most of them, one or two hit him. He looked back to Director Stephens for help, but Stephens only shrugged his shoulders, and did nothing to help. Before Wayne could say another word, the crowd of at least one hundred swarmed the steps to the headquarters and surrounded their administrator. They sounded really angry to him.

  I don’t know why they’re so angry at me, I took care of them like they were my own children. How dare they complain when I told them I had everything under control. Don’t they see I’m trying to help? Wayne wondered as some large men roughly picked him and carried him off to who knew where.

  Looking back towards where Stephens was supposed to be, Wayne didn’t see him, and no one in the mob was anywhere close to where the Director of North American Security had been standing. Where’d he go? Wayne then began to be really worried about his own life. “What are you going to do to me? Please, put me down. I think we can work this out, all I need is time.” No one answered him and for the first time ever, he felt lost and alone.

  Not that he would’ve cared all that much previously, but the people were upset with Wayne because he was indiscriminate with the beheadings. People were beheaded on their first offense for anything the administrator considered to be against the Union, which could be any number of things depending on how he felt that day and what he told his security forces to do. The Patriarch had originally said the guillotine was only for the malcontents who believed in Christ, and they believed him, but Wayne took it further by having anyone who disagreed with him executed. The people were sick of it and now that the playing field was level, they took out their anger on him.