Survivors, Dave Mckay [reading comprehension books .txt] 📗

neither marry, nor are given in marriage, but are as the angels of God in heaven.”)

One of the other annoying things about the book is that no one with any faith in God seems capable of speaking for themselves. Whether they be American heroes or 15 foot angels, all they can do is quote verses from the Bible. The Bible is a great book, and God often speaks to us through it, but if I were facing death, I should think that I could give a personal testimony and not have to quote something Paul said as though it was coming from me.

There is a disturbing scene where Chloe hankers to be able to speak on television (even though the oversized angel has already spoken on TV at great length, during which the bad guys have been entirely powerless to pull plugs anywhere in the world in order to interrupt his broadcast). Chloe wants so badly to jump on the same bandwagon that she can just about taste it. So her captor offers her a microphone and says, “Taking this microphone also means taking the mark...” The very next line says: “She took the microphone.” How pathetic! and how brazen of the authors to suggest that one could give the impression that they have denied their faith in order to win such favours from the Antichrist. (p. 258)

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!

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Publication Date: 11-21-2015

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