by Dave Mckay
By page 270, the believers are bidding for a contract with the Antichrist, installing wiring in his palace, and even collecting payment for their services, despite the fact that they do not have the Mark of the Beast, without which Christians are not supposed to be able to buy or sell. “We are now on [the antichrist] payroll,” Chang boasts to Rayford. (p. 270)
A few pages later, we learn that Chang, who is still in his teens, has such total control over the international television broadcasts of the Antichrist, that he can totally take them over, and even override efforts by the enemy to shut stations down to prevent the public from hearing what the Christians have to say. But what is most astounding is that, having all of this power, Chang chooses to let the Antichrist continue to use it for his own blasphemous broadcasts virtually 24 hours a day. Chang even produces an ad which tells the rest of the world that what the antichrist teaches has been SPONSORED by the Christians, as an expression of their “mercy”. (pp. 285, 287)
One of the saddest incidents in the book is when their spiritual leader, Tsion Ben Judah (from whom my pen-name of Zion Ben Jonah is taken) announces that he is going to abandon his teaching in order to take up a weapon and kill enemy troops in defence of Jews who have not accepted Jesus. He says, “I want to be taught to fight, to use a weapon, to defend myself... I hope to be [a warrior].” (Note: I say that this is a sad scene, but it is seen as heroic by the authors.)
Tsion is told that the elders are praying about whether it is the right thing that he is doing, and will he wait to hear from them. His reply: “Do I care what they come back with? Only if it is a yes.” The next line: “Buck couldn’t believe it.” And neither could I.
There are so many little hints like this that the authors themselves do not believe what they preach. They, like Tsion, do not really care about what God’s will is, if it does not conform with their own. Even talk of heaven, eternal life, and resurrected bodies offer them cold comfort, because of their stubborn unbelief.
For example, Chang talks about joining in the battle to save the earthly city of Jerusalem, and possibly being killed. He says that he must do so to obey his conscience. His girlfriend, Naomi, says, “We want to survive so we can be together for a millennium. Let’s not risk that for the sake of your conscience.” And once again, there is no suggestion that there is anything wrong with this reasoning! (p. 311)
Rayford tells the supposedly Christian commander of the so-called Christian troops who are assigned to protect a million people at Petra, “We could be among the first to witness the Glorious Appearing.” Their leader shoots back, “Tell that to a fighting force outnumbered 1,000 to one.” (p. 339) The wife of that same leader gives a similar response when Rayford tries to assure her that even if the troops die, they will be resurrected. She says, “Don’t say it. Too many of the wives try to comfort themselves with that stuff about how their man will be in heaven a day or two, maybe less, then [Jesus] is coming back. That doesn’t help.” (p. 353)
All of these comments are made without any suggestion that there is something wrong with the people saying them. And these are not some lukewarm new recruits who are saying these things. These are the top leaders and their wives/girlfriends... the heroes of the book.
The fact that Rayford has been married twice gives him some pause for thought about how he is going to go about joining in on all of the marital activity that everyone else is looking forward to in the Millennium (p. 346). He does not come up with any answers at that time. Certainly the theme of this volume, if it can be said that there is one, must be to get married and have kids, and not let anyone tell you that there is anything worth forsaking those pleasures for.
How sadly contrary to the message of the One whose “glorious appearing” we look forward to!