Arrived (46 page)
The commanding officer glanced at the prisoners, then waved a hand. “That can come after the victory.”
“They're going after the rebels at the Temple Mount,” Vicki said. “Sounds like Carpathia's gonna lead the charge.”
“Let him come,” Judd said, sneaking a peek at the sky. Jesus and his heavenly army were nowhere in sight.
Lionel and Sam joined the others on a hill overlooking Jerusalem. The sky cleared as Carpathia paraded through Jerusalem.
Someone pulled out a handheld TV and caught GCNN's coverage of Nicolae riding a stallion, his sword raised in the air. He swung it, and the troops around him whooped. “Follow me to the Western Wall and make way for the battering ram and missile launchers! Upon my command, open fire!”
Lionel couldn't help thinking of Judd and Vicki. Though he knew they would see each other again soon, he hated the thought of them being killed in Jerusalem. “Lord Jesus, protect my friends until we see each other again.”
Since Jesus had appeared, Lionel's attitude toward prayer had taken on a new dimension. Instead of just saying, “Amen,” Lionel looked up and listened for an answer.
Vicki heard the oncoming army and shuddered. The others in the holding area moved toward the barbed wire.
“Don't get any ideas,” a soldier said, waving an Uzi at them. “I'll mow all of you down.”
Some civilians stood on a wall behind them pointing and cheering as hundreds of horses clip-clopped their way toward the Temple Mount.
“Here he comes!” a woman shouted, then broke into a not-so-stirring rendition of “Hail Carpathia.”
The woman stopped when Nicolae shouted orders. Mounted soldiers urged their horses forward but they reared and bucked, spinning into each other. Some ran headlong into the wall. One horse and rider headed straight for the barbed-wire enclosure. The armed guard fell under the horse's hooves while the animal flung itself into the makeshift prison.
Quickly, the prisoners climbed over the downed wire, only to be met by three Unity Army soldiers holding guns. Vicki and Judd took a step back, still inside the prison.
“No!” Vicki screamed as the soldiers aimed their guns.
But before they could shoot, skin dripped from their arms and their eyes melted. The once-healthy soldiers were now simply uniforms full of bones. Seconds later the same thing happened to the horses. Their flesh and eyes and tongues dripped away like candle wax.
Vicki was too stunned to move. She had read verses in Revelation that said this was going to happen. She had even seen people die from the horsemen of terror and stung by the demon locusts, but she had never seen anything so gruesome. Without a shot fired or a missile launched, the Unity Army melted into the street.
“Look over there,” Judd said.
Leon had his face in his hands and knelt. Nicolae Carpathia, God's archenemy, ordered Leon Fortunato to his feet. “Get up, Leon! Get up! We are not defeated! We have a million more soldiers and we shall prevail!”
Leon just whimpered and wailed.
Carpathia cursed God and lifted his sword to the sky. Then he paused, seeing something in the heavens.
Vicki glanced up when God's temple opened and a flood of brilliant light surrounded her.
Judd pulled Vicki toward a nearby wall as lightning flashed, thunder roared, and the earth shifted.
In seconds the earth buckled and swayed. Carpathia's soldiers were swallowed through great cracks in the earth.
Conrad held on to Shelly while they rode out the huge earthquake together. Somehow the Global Community News Network managed to stay on the air and showed satellite pictures of the earth bathed in a light that originated from Jesus. In North America, a huge dust cloud hovered over Arizona, and reports that the Grand Canyon had been filled in and was now level brought
ooh
s and
aah
s from their friends. Even more incredible was the shot over Nepal showing that Mount Everest and the mountain ranges surrounding it had crumbled and were now as flat as every other place on earth. Islands disappeared into the sea. Everything had been leveled except for the city of Jerusalem.
Someone gasped and pointed up. Conrad glanced skyward and saw Jesus, who spoke in a loud voice. “Speak tenderly to Jerusalem. Tell her that her sad days are gone and that her sins are pardoned. Yes, the Lord has punished her in full for all her sins.
“Fill the valleys and level the hills. Straighten out the curves and smooth off the rough spots. Then the glory of the Lord will be revealed, and all people will see it together. The Lord has spoken!
“Watch, for the day of the Lord has come when your possessions will be plundered right in front of you! On that day I gathered all the nations to fight against Jerusalem. Half the population was taken away into captivity, and half was left among the ruins of the city. I went out and fought against those nations, as I have fought in times past.
“And I sent a plague on all the nations that fought against Jerusalem. Their people became like walking corpses, their flesh rotting away. Their eyes shriveled in their sockets, and their tongues decayed in their mouths. On that day they were terrified, stricken by me with great panic.
“I made Jerusalem and Judah like an intoxicating drink to all the nearby nations that sent their armies to besiege Jerusalem. On that day I made Jerusalem a heavy stone, a burden for the world. None of the nations who tried to lift it escaped unscathed.
“I caused every horse to panic and every rider to lose his nerve. I watched over the people of Judah, but I blinded the horses of her enemies.
“I defended the people of Jerusalem; the weakest among them will be as mighty as King David! And the royal descendants will be like God, like the angel of the Lord who goes before them! I destroyed all the nations that came against Jerusalem.
“Therefore, a curse consumed the earth and its people. They were left desolate, destroyed by fire. Few were left alive.
“Throughout the earth the story is the sameâlike the stray olives left on the tree or the few grapes left on the vine after harvest, only a remnant is left.
“That group called on my name, and I answered them. I said, âThese are my people,' and they said, âThe Lord is our God.' ”
Lionel followed the others to the east side of the Old City. Only a small portion of Carpathia's army remained alive, and most of them had been injured. Piles of human bones stood several feet high in some places. Many of the living staggered toward shelter as Jesus sat on his white horse. A host of his army was behind him looking on at the one-sided victory.
“It's going to be hard to get used to everything being flat,” Sam said.
Lionel smiled and looked at the sky. “There's going to be a lot of things around here that
won't
be hard to get used to.”
JUDD
was proud of Vicki for having the idea of finding their new friend Ehud and releasing him. They crept through the narrow street, avoiding the surviving Unity Army soldiers, and found several dozen Jewish believers chained together in a basement of a two-story building. Ehud called to them and said many of the prisoners had been starved and tortured, but they all looked fine now. Judd noticed bones of a guard near a vending machine and fished through the man's pockets until he heard keys rattle.
While Vicki loosed the prisoners, Judd smashed the vending machine and handed out food. Vicki wanted to look for more prisoners, but Judd thought it wouldn't be safe with the Unity Army still around.
“How long before we see the Messiah return to the Mount of Olives?” a skinny prisoner said to the others.
When no one answered Vicki said, “It has to be soon. It looks like he's already taken care of most of Carpathia's troops.”
Ehud ran away with the other prisoners while Judd and Vicki moved through a gate and toward a hillside. Judd thought she looked as happy as he had seen her in months.
“Why is the Mount of Olives so important?” Judd said.
Vicki started to answer. Then her jaw dropped. “Look, the remnant is moving this way.”
Lionel left Sam and the rest of the remnant and jogged toward Jerusalem. When he reached the wall of the city, he climbed on top and scanned the area. Bodies lay strewn about the streets. Dead rebels were scattered among the bones of Unity Army soldiers. Surviving soldiers regrouped for another attack on the Temple Mount.
He wondered where the bodies of Dr. Ben-Judah and Buck Williams were. Perhaps Buck and Tsion were mixed in with the other dead in front of him.
Lionel scampered down from the wall and raced back to his friends. He was thrilled that he would be face-to-face with Jesus again soon.