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

punished before she goes to heffen?" Reinhard asked quietly, as he stared at his lap. When Rayford did not answer immediately, Reinhard raised his head, and then his blond eyebrows in further anticipation.

Rayford finally spoke. "Well, I don't know. I don't recall her saying anything about that." Even as he spoke, he was thinking about how emotional Irene had been on the phone. "Maybe she missed that part."

"She vill need help … spiritual help," Reinhard said sympathetically. He went on slowly, as though talking to himself: "It is so ferry hard for the shurch people… Zay cannot say ven zay are wrong." Then he looked Rayford directly in the eyes, and spoke slowly and deliberately, his own eyes opening wide as he spoke. "You must not let her run avay. She vill vant to run off and find her Sheesus."

Rayford did not like hearing his wife talked about in such a way at a time when he was so close to losing her. He would take the time to study Reinhard's book more closely later, but he was not getting any information from this strange little man that would help him in his present situation. So he excused himself and left Reinhard to finish his meal alone.

Rayford wondered as he glanced back at the skinny little street preacher wolfing the last of the food down, just how long it had been since Reinhard's last meal.

 

Zion Ben-Jonah Writes:

Predictions about the fall of America are mostly based on Daniel 7:1-7 and Revelation 13:1-2. Daniel's prophecy is usually assumed to be about the original Babylonian Empire (represented by a Lion with Eagle wings), the Persian Empire (represented by a Bear), the Greek Empire (represented by a Leopard with four chicken wings), and the Roman Empire (represented by a horrible 'Beast' that devours the whole earth). And yet these same symbols apply to four of the five members of the U.N. Security Council. (The symbol for the fifth member, China, is a Dragon.) Only the Leopard (or Panther) is not a prominent national symbol today, except as a symbol for Africa, militant Blacks, or, perhaps, the Third World.

In Revelation 13:2, a future world power is described which has attributes of all the animals listed in Daniel 7, except the Eagle. The Eagle, apparently, no longer exists at that time!

There are ten rotating members of the U.N. Security Council, taken from the rest of the world. The Bible says that with the help of ten "kings" a resurrected world power will destroy another world power described as a Prostitute... who rules over world trade. (Revelation 17:1-5, 12-16) And her name is "Babylon".

The Encyclopedia Britannica lists only one city in the modern world which is named "Babylon". It is located on Long Island, in New York City, not far from the New York Stock Exchange!

 

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3. Lo Here and Lo There!

 

When the sun was up, enough light filtered into the basement of the Strait's house in Prospect Heights, to enable the three prisoners to find their way around without the use of a candle.

Chloe designated one corner of the basement as the latrine. Water was no longer flowing through the pipes, so she urged everyone to drink their fill of water from one of the smaller containers, and then instructed them to use that to catch their urine. They would do that with all of the containers as the water supply dwindled.

"We may have to recycle it if we run out of water," Chloe explained.

"Gross!" said Raymie. "Like why don't we just get water from upstairs?"

"One problem," said Chloe. "There is none. Pipes have probably broken somewhere closer to where the bomb hit. We may be able to get something from the refrigerator in a few days; but even that won't be much more than a water bottle and some ice cube trays. I'm not saying that we would actually drink our own urine; but we have to be prepared, just in case."

Chloe found some old newspapers and put them in one corner, along with some cardboard boxes to catch bowel movements.

"And what are we going to do about the smell?" asked Raymie.

"One of two things," said Chloe, who was beginning to lose patience with her younger brother. "Either we put up with it or we bellyache. And we already know which you will do."

Irene remained silent and deep in thought. She was facing a difficult decision.

Then, at 9am, according to Chloe's watch, some five hours after the bombs had landed, the trio looked up as one when they heard footsteps running across the floor above them. The basement door flew open and Vernon and Elaine Billings came tripping down the steps. Light from the house above was blinding to those who had become accustomed to manoeuvring in the dark, and the darkness below was equally blinding to Vernon and Elaine.

"Quickly! Close the door!" shouted Chloe. Elaine Billings promptly shut the door, and then reached out for her husband's shoulder as she stumbled in the darkness. Vernon Billings was a big man, and he had no difficulty holding up his much smaller wife.

 

"My, it certainly is dark down here!" Pastor Billings remarked, as he held tightly to the railing. "Don't you have any candles?"

"We do, but we're conserving them," Chloe said coldly. She knew that she should be more polite to the minister and his wife. They were always sweet and polite to her. And yet something about them rubbed her the wrong way.

"Sister Strait, you must hear what has happened!" exclaimed Vernon Billings. "Go ahead! Tell them Elaine!"

Elaine Billings obediently responded. "You see, Irene, we prayed about this business in Montana, after Vern talked to you on the phone this morning. We asked God to give us a sign if this really was him.

"We were both sitting there in the cellar, having breakfast when it happened. Vern heard this voice. Well, we both did," she said, with a nervous look toward her husband. "And it said 'Come!' Just like that: 'Come!' "

Pastor Billings picked up the story from there. "We talked about it for a while, and then Elaine went up to the kitchen and brought down her promise box. We pulled out a card and it was the one from the end of Mark's Gospel, where it says, 'If you eat any deadly thing, it will not hurt you.'

"Can you see what God was saying, Sister? He was giving us a promise that he would protect us if we would just head out for Montana right now. We've packed up food, water, and a few clothes, and we're ready to go.

"But we want to give you a chance to come too. Are you with us, Sister?"

Elaine piped in sweetly, "Please come with us, Irene."

"Oh, I don't know," Irene answered. "Are you sure it's safe? Wouldn't it be better to wait a little while first?"

"And miss out on the rapture?" asked Elaine. "Look, we've been out there in the open for at least half an hour now, and we're as good as gold. I was scared at first too, but I'm not now."

"God'll protect you, Irene," Pastor Billings said softly. "I'm sure of it. Please, trust him, and come with us, Irene!"

"Can we, Mom?" asked Raymie. "It's better than staying in here. Look, it hasn't hurt them!"

"What about you, Chloe? Will you come with us?" Irene asked, the pained expression on her face pleading desperately with her daughter.

"No way! If you want to do something stupid like that, I… I don't want to be a part of it. Seriously, Mom, do you think this is the way God would do it? I think you're all panicking because things didn't turn out the way you expected. Just admit that you were wrong. It's no big deal!"

"I come against this doubting spirit!" Pastor Billings said as his eyes narrowed and he lifted his hand toward Chloe. The big man looked even bigger as he stood a few steps from the bottom of the stairs in the semi-darkness. Chloe recoiled in shock. She had never seen this side of the man before, and she did not like it at all.

"I rebuke you doubting spirit, in Jesus' name!" he shouted dramatically.

And then Pastor Billings lowered his hand and resumed his saccharin voice. "The car's waiting, Sister," he said softly. "It's your choice now. You can step out in faith or you can stay here and miss the rapture. What will it be, Dear? It's time to leave." And he started to move back up the steps.

"Please, Chloe!" said Irene pathetically. "Please come with us!" as she too moved toward the door.

"Mom, no! You don't know what you're doing!" Chloe shouted, shocked that her mother was so quick to believe two people who had talked themselves into believing what they, too, badly wanted to believe. "What about Daddy?"

"Tell him that I love him," was all that Irene could get out before she turned and raced, sobbing, up the steps. Elaine and Vernon had already reopened the door and stepped out into the hallway near the kitchen.

"Are you coming, Raymie?" Irene said almost as an afterthought. She had naturally assumed that young Raymie would go along with whatever she decided.

"Bye, Sis," Raymie said, with a one-armed hug. "Sorry for all the bad times I gave you." And he too headed up the steps.

Chloe was too shocked to answer. Raymie was at the top of the stairs before she could say a word, and then all she said was, "Raymie… No…"

And they were gone.

 

 

Zion Ben-Jonah Writes

The description of the situation on earth prior to the return of Jesus is one of people panicking because he has not turned up at the time when they had been expecting him to come. Jesus warns, in Matthew 24: "If they should say to you, 'Lo here, or Lo there!' go not after them. If they say that he is in the desert, do not go after them. Or if they say that he is in a secret place, do not believe it. For as the lightning is seen from the East to the West, even so will the coming of the Son of Man be." (verses 23-27)

So much for any "secret rapture"!

The real source of the secret rapture doctrine, and a lot of other teachings in the church world today, is one of escapism. It is so easy to deceive ourselves into believing what we want to believe, whether or not it is true. It could be a teaching that we will never be sick, or that we will be prosperous, or that we can go on disobeying Jesus and God will overlook it, or that we will not have to go through the Tribulation. All such teachings are popular, not because they are true, but because they are so appealing. They say what people want to hear.

Unless Christians are able to acknowledge error when it is pointed out (through circumstances if nothing else), they will only replace one form of escapism with an even more bizarre form, in an effort to further escape facing their error.

 

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4. Searching

 

When he was back at the Hilton, Rayford opened the booklet. He noted on the back cover that Reinhard and his friends called themselves "Jesans". He then turned to the book's introduction:

We all find it easier to see faults in others than it is to see them in ourselves. The people of America are no exception. When you observe all the religious activity in the United States today, it is easy to see how people (both in and out of the churches) have been fooled into confusing religion with real faith. But religious activities, rituals, even emotional experiences have little to do with good old-fashioned obedience to the things that Jesus taught in the Bible. And America's disobedience will be punished before anyone else's, because those who know the most have the most to answer for.

The introduction went on...

If it is any consolation, the Bible promises that there will be an