THE WARNING A Novel of America in the Last Days (The End of America Series Book 2)

by John Price

  “From the beginning God created humans as man and woman. We begin in Genesis 1:27-28:

  "So God created man in his own image, in the image of God created he him; male and female created he them. And God blessed them, and God said unto them, Be fruitful, and multiply, and replenish the earth, and subdue it: and have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over every living thing that moveth upon the earth."

  “Here, God's Word clearly states that you were created to be Father and Mother - as man and woman - designed for parenthood. The Lord states that very clearly here….The marriage institution is also clearly defined in Genesis 2:24, where it says:

  "Therefore shall a man leave his father and his mother, and shall cleave unto his wife: and they shall be one flesh."

  “Only man and wife are referred to here. It is not stated any other way; you can never imply or interpret it to mean that you can have whatever sexual partner you wish to have. ….”

  “What was it that led to these cities (Sodom, mentioned 30 times in the Bible, and Gomorrah) perishing, losing their dignity, disappearing from the face of the Earth? It was because they lived in homosexuality. It will be the same on that day when the Son of Man is revealed; consequently, this is a sign of the times we are facing. As people lived in the time of Lot, so shall they live before Jesus returns. This is something we cannot deny in any way. Jesus says that the lifestyle of Sodom shall be active in the whole Earth before the coming of Jesus. The one who represents this lifestyle today goes against God's order of creation.”

  “Are Pastor Ake Green’s words hate words? Or are they instead words of truth from God’s Word? Due to a high level of international interest in Pastor’s green’s conviction and sentencing to jail, the Swedish Supreme Court eventually overturned his conviction, I am happy to say. I am unhappy to report, however, that in doing so, the Swedish Supreme Court ruled that his Bible-based message did, in fact, constitute hate speech. The Court said that a higher European Court might not agree with them, so it threw out his conviction, even though they ruled that he was properly convicted as a hate speaker. Think about that for a moment. Pastor Green has been labeled by his government and his government’s highest Court as a disseminator of hate speech for those Biblically-based words in his sermon, though they spared him from serving time in jail.

  “Could that same thing happen in America? Many of you know that my father, a resident of Tyler, was charged by the federal government with various crimes, all arising from his use of words in a speech in the election campaign that he delivered in Austin to a political meeting. Many of you may also know that I didn’t agree at the time with my dad’s speech, and what I then thought was harsh rhetoric to use in describing the President of the United States. I used, ok, maybe, misused, the verse about rendering unto Caesar that which is Caesar’s.

  “I love my father, John Madison, but we didn’t see eye-to-eye on this subject, and frankly, it put a strain on our normally very warm father-son relationship. On more than one occasion, usually when I was visiting him in prison, I asked my dad if he knew what he was doing. Was it worth it to lose his insurance executive job and spend time in federal prison, away from mom and his family, just because of words? Dad loves me, as I do him, so he would always gently reply that he was right, and that I would eventually see that he was right.

  “Last week I was able to tell my dad that he was right in two ways. First, I told him that I now agreed that he was right to do what he did in opposing an administration that has frequently acted contrary to the best interests of the people of this nation. Secondly, I told him that he was correct when he said that I would one day see that he was right in his actions that led to his arrest and imprisonment. It was a sweet moment, my friends, to be able to be re-united not only in our love for each other, as dad and son, but also united in our belief that standing up for what you believe in is worth the cost, whatever that may be. Words do matter. I’m here today, using words from God’s Word, for which I may be, like Pastor Green, charged with criminal acts. I can’t control what those in authority may choose to do to me for using God’s Word, in their view, in a politically incorrect manner. I can only control what I say.

  “I said to John Madison, my dad, last week, a man I consider to be a true American hero, ‘Dad, you stood up when others, including me, should have spoken up before the second term happened. If more Americans had stood up and raised our voices, as you did, we would still have our First and Second Amendment rights today. Please forgive me.’ And, congregation, please forgive me for not leading you to stand up and speak up when we still had the chance to do so. Because of my lack of leadership, and the lack of leadership by many other pastors and priests, we now live in a different nation than we did before the last election. We can’t go back now and change that, but we can admit we were wrong and speak up now. Will that mean we will be charged with violating the McAlister Hate Speech and Hate Weapon Elimination Act? Only time will tell, but as for me and my house, we will serve the Lord.”

  “Pastor Madison, are those the same words that you delivered on the Sunday in question?”

  “Yes, I read them today as I delivered them in my church. The same words.”

  “Pastor, you were here in this trial and heard several of the government witnesses testify that you never even mentioned the Bible?”

  “Yes, I heard that from a number of government witnesses.”

  “Their testimony wasn’t accurate, was it?”

  “No, they were incorrect. I assume that they just forgot what they heard. My government, the government of the country I love, wouldn’t call witnesses that they knew were not telling the truth. Not my government.”

  After the government decided not to cross examine Pastor Madison, the Defendant rested his case. Closing arguments were brief and to the point. The time that the jury took to deliberate and return a verdict was also brief. They elected a foreman, took a unanimous vote and notified the bailiff that they had a verdict, all within one hour, not even time to order pizza. Jack Madison II was found innocent of all charges. Upon hearing the verdict, the Attorney General of the United States was so livid that his hand slamming his expansive walnut desk at the Department of Justice broke the glass top.

  49

  Ambergris Caye, Belize

  As a grandmother, Debbie Madison was convinced that SKYPE was the best invention since the dishwasher. Her regular SKYPE calls with her grandchildren in Texas were the highlight of her week. Hands down. This week’s SKYPE call, though, was not what she expected. Debbie had their laptop set up on the table on their lanai, positioned so her little ones could see ‘Gamma’ with the Caribbean in the background. As three o’clock in the afternoon came she pressed the SKYPE button on her screen and waited for Allie to answer. The musical tone warbled as she waited. Allie didn’t answer. She waited a minute. Then she tried again. Still no answer.

  Gamma Madison started to worry, but then decided that prayer was a better use of her time. Just as she finished asking God to help Allie with any problem she may be having, the SKYPE warble came on and Allie was on her computer screen, with a smile as big as any Gamma could remember. “Oh, Allie, you’re OK, I was just praying about your….”

  “Momma Madison, I’m better than OK….We’re terrific. The jury found Jack innocent of all charges. Totally innocent. It only took them an hour to reach a verdict. Chuck, his lawyer….your lawyer, too….says that’s warp speed for a federal jury in a major case. He didn’t think the jury would decide that quickly. He said it hardly ever happens. He was especially concerned about getting a fair trial. There are all those mass trials that the judges have been allowing, as they convict groups of conservatives and Christians and sentence them to re-education in those wicked FEMA Camps.”

  “Oh, Allie, I’m so happy. Happy for you, and Jack, and of course the kids! Wait until John hears. He’s fishing right now, but as soon as he gets back, he’ll be praising God, along with me! What else should I tell
him?”

  “Chuck said he didn’t know for sure, but as they left the federal building one of the Judge’s law clerks told Chuck, on the Q.T., that the judge was preparing to step down from the bench. The clerk said that the judge told him that he couldn’t do it anymore. He supposedly said that he couldn’t continue to try mass groups of defendants or cases of dubious legal basis, like the charges against Jack. He also supposedly complained to his clerk that he was tired of being pressured by the Department of Justice to rule in particular ways on certain high-profile cases. Whatever the reason, he’s apparently leaving the bench….and….Jack’s a free man. Praise the Lord.”

  “Praise the Lord, indeed. Now, Allie, you know what I’m going to ask you next….Will you and Jack please pray about leaving the U.S.? Maybe joining us in Belize? Or, at the least, getting out and moving somewhere. Chile, Ecuador, Uruguay, Costa Rica, Panama, New Zealand. There are lots of good options. I know Jack won’t want to leave his church….so, I’m just asking you to pray about it and let us know if there’s any possibility you will flee. John and I are convinced, as you know, that America is Babylon, Mystery Babylon. God says several times in prophecy to flee Babylon. Please, Allie, pray about it, that’s all I’m asking….Oh, I’m so happy! Praise His holy name!”

  50

  Federal Communications Commission

  Washington, DC

  Chairman Chadwick Cummins enjoyed drinking his morning coffee at the FCC in cups emblazoned with three large inter-twined C’s, commemorating the three C’s of his title and name. Now that he had been FCC Chairman for five years he was more than confident in his ability to shape communications law in America to his liking; more importantly, to the liking of his long-time friend in the White House. It was that goal, to please the President, that motivated Chairman Cummins to propose the Commission’s latest regulatory change. Thus, it was with significant inner pleasure that the Chairman whapped down his gavel and called the meeting of the Commission to order.

  “Members of the Commission, item one on today’s agenda is, in my opinion, historic in nature. All of us here at the FCC are more than well acquainted with the hundreds of thousands of signatures on petitions through the years demanding that the Commission not shut down religious broadcasters. Many false e-mail requests were circulated for many years asking recipients to contact the FCC to respond to a purported Marilyn Madelyn O’Hair petition. As result we have received and cataloged those petitions, which, I might add, have required the FCC to utilize large areas of a General Services Administration warehouse for storage of these largely identical petitions, referring to a cause number here at the FCC that never actually existed. It was a huge waste of citizens’ and the Commission’s time and resources.

  “The irony is that these thousands of petitions were not only untimely, but they can’t now be considered by the Commission because they all refer to a non-existent case. Item one on today’s agenda is the first time that this Commission has formally considered the question of the continuation on the public airwaves of religious broadcasting. The Commission recognizes that religious broadcasting has been allowed on the federally regulated broadcast spectrum for many decades. Until recently that was an accepted and legal use of what the public owns in America, the airwaves.

  “Today, however, is a different day. The law in America today is not the same as it was in prior times. We now live in a nation in which our highest Court has ruled that our Constitution allows marriage between persons of the same gender. This ruling has the widest possible consequences, as it not only affects religious institutions, but it also has direct impact on the use of the public airwaves by those institutions. Let me state the obvious in the most obvious of words. The public broadcast spectrum may not be used by persons or institutions who convey words of hate and who spew hatred of others because of their sexual orientation. This Commission will no longer countenance nor allow the broadcast of hate speech, even though it may be draped in a religious robe. Because the religious book relied upon by these religious broadcasters is directly contrary to the law as it now stands in America, this Commission must take official notice of this indisputable fact. In addition, the Commission cannot allow Muslim Americans and atheists to be offended. The Commission must not only take notice of the hate content of religious broadcasting, it has a legal obligation to do something about it, to prevent further violations of the law in the future.

  “It is quite likely that some more extreme persons in America will object to the Commission’s actions taken today. These extremist groups also objected when we recently revoked restrictions on nudity and profanity in public broadcasting. These anti-government forces fail to understand that we live in a different era. The world and this nation have changed. The only thing that doesn’t seem to change is these peoples’ anti-choice, anti-marriage and anti-freedom views. This Commission has had nothing but praise from the mainstream media, business leaders and many mainline theologians for our removal of Victorian restrictions on broadcast content, allowing real life to be viewed by real Americans. Similarly, it is now time for the Commission to correct religious broadcasting violations of the law. It’s time.

  “Accordingly, I move that the Commission adopt agenda item one in its entirety and thus prohibit any further use of FCC-regulated public broadcast spectrum by any broadcaster conveying broadcast material of a religious nature, in that it would violate: a.) the McAlister Act prohibiting hate speech, b.) the federal hate crimes statute and c.) the President’s executive orders prohibiting hate speech in the public forum. Is there a second? Hearing a second, a vote is in order. All those in favor? Against? The vote is 3 to 2 and agenda item one is adopted. The clerk is ordered to promulgate the text in the next issue of the Federal Register and notify all religious broadcasters of the cessation of their use of the public airwaves, all commencing by the end of next month. That should give everyone time to make adjustments. No more religious hate speech on the public airwaves. Now, let’s go to agenda item two…..”

  51

  Colonial Williamsburg, Virginia

  The large number of satellite trucks alone would have been an indication that big news was being made in this historic American village. The news trucks were clustered around the Governor’s Palace, in the original structure of which a critical vote was taken for America’s independence from Great Britain. The opulent building had been selected as the primary site for negotiations for peace in the Middle East, not only because of its historic setting, but because the 300 acre village could be secured from potential protestors, let alone terrorists.

  The President officially convened what the White House had labeled as ‘The Path to Peace Conference’ with a short media statement. “In my time as President, I’ve been able to achieve numerous successes, but none will be as memorable as obtaining an agreement between the ancient adversaries in the Middle East. Many have tried, sometimes in good faith, to make it happen, but I’m committed to staying here in historic Williamsburg until we get the job done. We’ll keep you updated regularly as we make progress along the Path to Peace. Thank you.”

  Israel’s Prime Minister was advised before the President’s statement to the media that he would not be accorded time for a similar statement. White House staffers concluded that if the Prime Minister was allowed to speak to the media before the negotiations began that he might lock himself into an intractable position, because of what he said to reporters. They needn’t have worried, as the Prime Minister had no desire to talk to reporters. His mood was such that he didn’t much care if he spoke to anyone, that is, except for the President. He really wanted to talk with the President, privately. Among his listed topics to discuss was item number one. What was the real reason for cancelling last month’s White House luncheon and embarrassing him with his political and governmental supporters, let alone Israel’s enemies? More important than the ‘Sandwich Snub’, as the media had labeled it, was his high level of interest in knowing what Israel would get from the Path to Peac
e agreement? Will Israel’s enemies acknowledge its right to exist? How would Israel’s security be enhanced? What about Iran’s nukes? Most critically, what could Israel expect from the US should its new treaty partners renege on the new peace agreement, and attack Israel in the future?

  The Prime Minister was well aware that the eyes of the world were focused on him. He had been portrayed by US mainstream media as ‘The Obstacle to Peace’ and by Israeli media as ‘Israel’s Sell Out Chief’. He knew, though, as soon as the results came in on America’s Presidential election night what Israel would have to do. With the President safely elected to his second term Israel would either bend to his will, or walk away from its only remaining national friend on the globe. Once his remaining questions were answered by the President, he would do what he had to do to try and protect his tiny nation from almost sure extinction at the hands of the one hundred and fifty million enemies who surrounded Israel. He knew he would be forced to sign a peace agreement. The only remaining question was how strong would the assurances of Israel’s survival be in the agreement?

  The President was sailing high. He had never been so confident in his ability to get his will, on whatever topic or issue he might choose. He wasn’t seen as arrogant, his staff told him, but nightly polls did pick up a growing number of Americans who thought he was becoming proud in his mannerisms and speeches. His Chief of Staff, being a decades long friend, was selected by the White House staff as the one who could get away with advising him to tone it down a bit. Sure, things are going well now, but anything could happen in the future, the President was told. He responded that he wasn’t about to take any guff from Israel’s Prime Minister, whom he personally didn’t like.