The Time of Jacob's Trouble

by Donna VanLiere

  He takes the sandwich from her and begins to gobble it down. “Where’d everybody go?”

  Emma starts making another sandwich. “After the attack?”

  Micah’s mouth is full, and he shakes his head no. “Everybody who disappeared. Did bad people take them?”

  Emma is unable to wrap her mind around everything that has happened; she can’t imagine what it’s like for a child. “I’m not sure, but I think they went to heaven.”

  “How?”

  “I’m still trying to figure that out, but I think that Jesus came and he took his followers to heaven. My mom was one of them. So was my friend Mrs. Ramos and her family.” She looks for anything else she can put on Micah’s plate and finds an apple, some carrot sticks from the fridge, and a half-eaten bag of chips.

  Micah reaches for the second sandwich and shoves it into his mouth. “How could Jesus take people?”

  Emma fills a glass full of tap water and slides it next to the plate. “Well, that’s what I don’t know for certain, but from what I’ve been reading in the Bible, I do know he’s powerful.”

  He sits quietly eating before asking, “Who bombed us?”

  “Word is that Iran and Russia attacked the country together.” She clears her throat and changes the subject. “How long have those people been in your apartment?” He doesn’t answer. “Do you know how long your dad has been…” She doesn’t finish the question and Micah doesn’t answer, eating the rest of his food in silence.

  Two hours and a few pretzels and candy bars later, the sound of a key in the doorknob makes Emma jump. Matt opens the door and looks at her, and then at Micah. His face is not one of joy or even relief in seeing her; rather, he looks irritated. “What’s going on?”

  “This is my boyfriend, Matt,” she says to Micah. “Matt, this is Micah. He lives in the building across the street.” She looks at Micah. “I’ll be right back.”

  Matt follows Emma into the bedroom, closing the door. “Why is he here?”

  She sits on the bed, looking up at him. “He was standing outside of his building all morning, and I was worried when I saw a gang getting close to him. I went over and discovered that his apartment is filled with drug addicts.”

  “How do you know that? Is that what he said?”

  She stands up, not liking the tone in Matt’s voice. “No. I went up to his apartment to tell his dad that his son was out on the street, but I opened the door and found a bunch of crackheads completely stoned out of their minds. I don’t even know which one was his dad. The whole apartment smelled like vomit or a toilet. No one was watching him.”

  Matt walks to the window, looking out. “So now we have to?”

  “I’m going to go back later to see if his dad is conscious, but if he’s not, I’m not sending that little boy back into that apartment.”

  Matt turns on her; his face is twisted up and angry. “So what if he’s still stoned out of his mind? Are we just going to keep him? He’s not our kid, Emma!”

  She wants to yell, but controls her voice, keeping it down. “I’m not going to leave a little boy out on the streets. You’ve been out there. It doesn’t even feel like the same street.”

  Matt paces the bedroom floor, agitated. “I don’t want him here for long. The restaurant is gone. The university is gone. I have no work, Emma. We can’t pay for another mouth to feed around here.” Emma softens and walks to him, reaching for his hand. “It looks like a war zone, Em. We’ll never dig out from underneath it. The city is finished.”

  CHAPTER 24

  Israel

  Zerah walks with soldiers from his unit as they make their way to their posts at the Wailing Wall.

  “Hello, Zerah.”

  Zerah turns to see who has spoken to him, but the other soldiers are busy talking and heading to their positions. Zerah picks up his pace, muttering under his breath.

  “Zerah, you have been chosen by God as one of his servants.”

  Again, Zerah mutters, “Blasphemy!” Orthodox Jews would never use the name of G-d in speaking to one another. Instead, they would say Hashem, which is Hebrew for “the Name.” He hurries to pass the other soldiers.

  “Zerah.” The voice is louder now and Zerah pivots in all directions, seeking out the speaker. He stops when he sees the old man with the long gray beard and sackcloth robe standing ahead on the street and looking at him. “I’ve been waiting for you, Zerah.”

  How does the old man know him? How is it that no one else hears him? Zerah’s hand has been clutching the assault rifle across his chest and he puts his finger on the trigger. “How do you know my name? What are you doing out here? The whole country is under lockdown.”

  The old man steps closer. “It is God who knows you, and it is God who has chosen you to be one of his 144,000 servants on this earth.” Zerah’s grip tightens around the rifle. “You won’t need that, my son. God will seal you with his protection.”

  Zerah’s face is red with anger as he says, “Crazy old man! Get off the street! You blaspheme the name of Hashem!” Zerah marches past him, but the old man grabs his arm, stopping him.

  “Your coworker, Dr. Haas, is in heaven. You know that, though, don’t you?” Heat spreads over Zerah’s back and chest. “You know where all the others who have disappeared from Israel and the world are, don’t you? But you’ve been too afraid to speak of it in front of your parents and Rada and Amir.”

  Zerah stares at the old man, his heart stuck throbbing in his throat. “Who are you?”

  The old man releases his grip. “I am a witness.”

  Zerah turns to see if anyone is watching them. “A witness for what?”

  “A witness for the testimony of Yeshua.”

  “Shut up!” Zerah hisses between his teeth. “You speak blasphemy and lies!”

  The old man’s mouth turns up into a slight smile. “You know I don’t. You know the Truth, Zerah. Hashem has spoken it to your heart. You know that Yeshua has come for his own and that he’s coming again, don’t you?” Zerah stiffens, keeping his finger on the trigger. “Zerah? He is your Messiah. Do you know that?”

  Zerah nods. “I do,” he whispers, releasing his grip on the rifle. Flashes of light begin to swirl around Zerah, enclosing him in a tornado of brilliance, gleaming and spinning, and filling his body with heat. A tongue of fire laps across his forehead as a voice speaks from inside the light.

  “I am Yeshua. Your Messiah. And you are mine, Zerah. My two witnesses will be here in Jerusalem, but you will go throughout Israel and the Middle East and tell people of my love for them. The Holy Spirit will lead you and teach you. No one can harm you, Zerah. You are mine.”

  That is the second time he tells Zerah “You are mine.”

  Zerah smiles, his eyes brimming with hot tears. The burning tempest disappears, and Zerah looks up for the old man. He’s gone. The street is empty.

  To discover more about the biblical facts behind the story, read Where in the Word? on page 233, or continue reading the novel.

  CHAPTER 25

  Rome, Italy

  President Banes steps to the podium with the members of the E10 behind him looking dazed and exhausted. It has been a wearying time for all of them. He raises his hands to quiet the noise inside the Palace of Justice.

  “The entire E10 is as distressed and shaken as all of you as a result of recent world events. The crash of global financial markets, the crushing blow to the employment sectors around the world, and rising inflation can be seen as opportunities to prey on one another. However, as we have stressed in days prior, these are the days, more than any other in history, in which we must make a way for peace and unity to bring us together as a new world. We are troubled by the many wars that are being fought, and as one people, we must bring an end to them. We are not enemies. We will no longer be defined by our borders because we are one together in our new world. We will no longer be set apart by the color of our skin, our nationality, or our faith because we are one! As one world we must look inside ourselves
for the answer, for the better way, and for peace. We will not know peace until all war ends!”

  Reporters shout out, and many have the same question. “What will the E10 do if the wars continue?” But the E10 isn’t taking questions today.

  Queens, NY

  Rick and Brandon are on the sofa. Emma hands each of them a drink and notices they look as exhausted and gaunt as she and Matt do. They have barely slept and have been too frightened and weary to eat much. Since the attack she has only seen Rick and Brandon and wonders how the others in the apartment building are doing, but reasons they are as terrified as she is. She bends over to make sure that Micah is still asleep on the floor. They sit by candlelight each evening, and the images outside their apartment windows and the quiet of life without the noise of all things electric is becoming unnerving. None of them have ever gone this long without use of their phones or computers, and it’s driving them crazy.

  “Will we ever have electricity again?” Brandon says, his voice low and uncertain.

  “Maybe not in the city,” Matt says.

  “We have to get out of the city,” Brandon says. Emma nods, agreeing with him.

  “And go where?” Matt asks tersely.

  “I don’t know,” Emma says. “But we’ll run out of food and…”

  Matt raises his hand. “I don’t want to talk about this right now.”

  Emma looks at Brandon and his eyes are filled with dread. So much uncertainty, so many unanswered questions, and so much fear among all of them.

  “When will you be able to take him back?” Rick says, looking at Micah sleeping on the floor. His voice is tinged more with disinterest than concern.

  She can feel Matt’s eyes on her from the chair. “I’ll try again tomorrow, but it doesn’t look good. Everybody is stoned.”

  “That’s one way of dealing with it,” Rick says.

  Emma glares at him. “Getting stoned out of your mind is not a way of dealing with anything, let alone this,” she says, pointing outside the window to what’s left of the city.

  “I was just saying that…”

  “It’s not going to get any better,” Brandon says, interrupting. “It’s only going to get worse.”

  “We don’t know that,” Matt says.

  Brandon looks at him with fear in his eyes. “People have disappeared. The country has been attacked. Most of our city is in piles. There’s no food coming in. We have no electricity. People are looting every store and they’re fighting in the streets. And we’re just one part of the world!” He brushes a tear off his cheek. “If it’s happening here, then it’s happening everywhere else. Countries are attacking and killing each other. People aren’t suddenly going to shape up and everything’s going to get better. Can’t you feel it?”

  Matt shakes his head as he answers. “I just feel like we still don’t know anything. I don’t know if it’s going to get worse.”

  Brandon looks at Emma. “Do you feel it, Em?”

  Matt sighs. “Don’t get her going again.”

  “On what?” Rick asks.

  “The boogeyman and his unholy duo or whatever they’re called.” Matt looks at her, waving his hand in the air as if erasing everything Emma has said to him.

  “What does he mean?” Brandon says.

  “If darkness can be felt, then yes, I feel it,” Emma says. “Something’s missing, and something has been let loose on Earth. There’s lots of stuff in here about the end,” she says, picking up Mrs. Ramos’s Bible from the floor by her chair.

  “We’re at the end?” Rick says, looking at Matt. Matt shakes his head, listening.

  “I’ve found some things in here,” Emma says. “Jesus raised up the dead and all the people who were alive who had followed him and took them into heaven.”

  “How?” Rick says, puzzling over the statement. “Like with a fishing pole?” He and Matt smirk at the thought.

  Emma pretends she didn’t hear him. “He called to them, and they were all caught up together.”

  “Really, Emma,” Matt says. “Nobody’s up for this talk. Not tonight.”

  “I want to hear,” Brandon says, looking at Emma.

  “I’ve been reading so much. I don’t understand it all, but Mrs. Ramos wrote in her Bible that God always gives signs before judgment comes, and that he gave us all sorts of signs leading up to the disappearances and everything that comes after.”

  “What sort of signs?” Rick asks. “Like fire from the skies or something?” Matt sighs, shaking his head and getting aggravated with the conversation.

  Emma reads from the Bible, “It says people will be lovers of pleasure more than God and lovers of self and money…”

  “That’s a sign of judgment?” Rick says, incredulous. “Your God would judge us for loving pleasure and money and ourselves?” He looks at Matt, snickering. “Then we are all doomed.”

  Emma reads louder, “We would be proud, ungrateful, unholy, always learning but never coming to the truth…”

  Matt holds up his hand. “All right. We get the picture. What’s wrong with pride? And nobody likes someone who’s holier than thou.” He stands up. “Learning but not coming to the truth? Whose truth? My truth? Or your truth? And ungrateful?” He paces in front of them. “So God would send judgment because some of us didn’t say thanks enough to satisfy him?” He curses and makes Emma feel stupid.

  “What else does it say?” Brandon asks, interrupting before Matt can continue his rant.

  “A man will come into power and be the leader of the world.”

  “The entire world?” Brandon says, skeptical. She nods. “That’s not possible. One man? The whole world following him? Africa, Europe, Asia, the Americas…every nation following one man?”

  “I don’t know,” Emma says. “Maybe not the entire world—I’m not sure, but much of it will.”

  Rick laughs. “I don’t think so.”

  “He’ll have unbelievable power and control that comes from Satan.”

  Matt claps his hands. “Oh my God! Stop it, Emma! This sounds crazier every time you talk.”

  She looks up at him. “I don’t know everything, but I’m reading and reading, and I know he’s going to be a real man, and people will believe him and follow him.”

  “An evil man?” Rick says.

  “Yes.”

  He dismisses the idea. “The whole world will follow an evil man? I have no plans to follow evil.”

  “Nobody ever plans it, Rick,” she says. “It happens gradually. He won’t tell people he’s evil. He’ll convince them that he’s good and that he has a great plan, and they’ll fall for it. Just like Hitler.”

  Brandon leans forward. “Who is this evil man?”

  “I think he’s old man Ware from the market,” Matt says, walking to the kitchen for another drink.

  Emma ignores him. “I don’t know who he is. From what I’ve read, the day will come when we won’t be able to buy or sell anything unless we have his mark on our forehead or right hand.”

  “And if we don’t?” Brandon asks.

  “Then we’re killed.”

  Matt bangs the counter in the kitchen. “That’s it, Emma! No more! I’ve told you before…these stories are insane.”

  “We have to know what’s ahead,” she says, glancing at Micah to see if he’s still sleeping. She looks at Brandon and Rick for support.

  “All you’re doing is scaring them,” Matt says, hissing through his teeth.

  Brandon hasn’t stopped looking at Emma. “So things will get darker.” It’s not a question.

  “It looks like it. But Jesus will come back and set up his kingdom here. The world we know will end, but then God will refurbish this earth and heaven. I don’t know exactly what’s going to happen. I don’t even know if I believe that it’s all real, but maybe we can all study the Bible together and figure it…”

  “No!” Matt says, slamming a cabinet door and walking into the living room. He shakes his head. “No. We’re not going to study the Bible toget
her because not all of us are as…” He stops.

  “As what?” she asks.

  He looks at her, his voice softening. “We’re not as gullible, Em.”

  She nods. “If gullible means to study and search out, then yes, that’s me. I’m not going to wait to see how the end comes. I want to know before it gets here.”

  Matt shrugs. “Then you’re on your own.”

  CHAPTER 26

  Israel

  Mossad, Israel’s intelligence agency, led by Director Isaac Benesch, is busy tracking movements taking place inside Palestine, Russia, Iran, Syria, and Libya. In Syria, Iran’s Revolutionary Guard is moving closer to Israel’s border, and Mossad’s concerns about movement at the Mezzeh air base in Syria is heightened when the magnification on their cameras goes from cloudy images to clear shots of large containers being driven across the base into a hangar. Mossad’s man on the ground in Damascus confirms that nuclear warheads are being lifted from beneath the city. Director Benesch watches the activity with grave concern.

  “Inform the defense minister.”

  Queens, NY

  In the streets of New York City, news is spread through bullhorns that churches, rescue missions, and several other types of buildings are being used as places of lodging for anyone whose home was damaged or lost during the attack. Throughout the day, Emma can hear the sound of sirens announcing that news is about to be broadcast, followed by loud voices through the bullhorns with updates about food lines, common necessities, temporary housing, and news from the world. Even though many are encouraged by the meeting in Europe and the United States’s inclusion as a member of the E10, Emma continues to have an unsettled feeling beneath her skin. With the ongoing global wars, it’s as though the world is still at the brink of collapse…or maybe that’s just what she’s feeling within the walls of her own apartment. She and Matt are becoming more and more estranged; their nerves are stripped thin and Micah’s presence is frustrating Matt.