THE DAY: A Novel of America in the Last Days (The End of America Series) (6 page)

Trinity
Episcopalian Church

Bellevue,
Washington

           
Pastor
Mick Kirkland was looking forward to todays’ sermon. He had been working
on the text for several weeks. One of his pet peeves was Christian writers and
commentators who tried to convince the church that the end times were near. The
Pastor’s theology was simple. The Bible was a helpful guide book, though
not inerrant by any means. Jesus was a great teacher, but don’t look for
Him to somehow come back to earth. People who believed that the Bible
accurately prophesied the future undoubtedly also wore tin foil hats to ward
off microwaves from the NSA.

              
The
Pastor kept his sermons short, never more than twelve minutes, as he had
learned that his messages tended to encourage his parishioners to nod off if
they went much longer. Today’s sermon was to be no exception, including a
catchy title, which the Pastor devised each week to attract attention.

              
"Today,
my dear congregants, I will be addressing the subject of prophecy. The title of
my message is PROPHECY – ARE YOU KIDDING ME?" As was their norm,
the congregation chuckled upon hearing the title of his sermon. Leaning over
his carved stone pulpit, Pastor Mick stared at the people in the pews,
then
asked, "Does anyone here
really
believe that God, he or she, can actually know the
future?" He waited for his words to sink in. "I mean, certainly a
God who is as powerful and all-knowing as our E---
vangelical
friends would have us believe, might have such a parlor trick ability. But,
I’m talking about
reality
, my
friends." He paused for a second round of light laughter. "Come on,
folks,
don’t forget that our God is a god of
love
. Since he loves us why would he
want to
scare
us
by telling us that all manner of catastrophic events will
happen….some….day….in the future? Do you know how many E----
vangelicals
have been wrong about what they call the end
times, or the latter days, the final days, the day of the Lord?

              
"Oh,
I know that there are some Bible literalists who point to Israel coming back as
a nation in 1948 as
proof of prophecy
.
My view is simply that the re-creation of Israel was the world’s way of
making up for the bad treatment of Jews in the Second World War.
Certainly not some kind of miracle.
Don’t get me wrong
–
I believe
in miracles. How
else could you explain the
Seahawks
winning the Super Bowl?"
More laughter, stronger this
time.
As his listeners showed their appreciation for his words, Pastor
Kirkland looked out the side window of the sanctuary across Lake Washington.
His thoughts briefly went to his comfortable home which was east in Sammamish,
an upscale suburb of Seattle. The last thing he would ever do, he pondered,
would be to flee what he called his ‘heaven on earth’.

              
Pastor
Mick continued for the next few minutes bashing Christians who believed that
the Bible contained prophetic verses which accurately foretold the future. He
was now nearing his wind-up, what he had decided was the favorite part of this
sermon. "My dear congregants, there are, I am told, tens of thousands of
people, not just here in Washington State, but all over this country, who
seriously believe that
America is doomed
.
I’m not just talking about a high level of federal debt, we can all agree
that it needs to be trimmed a bit, but they go even further.
Much
further.
You may know some of them. They come in at least two different
categories. Some are called ‘
preppers
’.
And others are fleeing our beloved country.
Preppers
are
,
may I say this? They are unusual, strange, maybe
even wacky folks who store food and ammunition for when
the end times
arrive. Let me see if I get this….they want
Jesus to come back….so they’re storing up hundreds of bullets?
I’m sorry,
I just don’t get
that
.

              
"The
other certifiable folks are those who say that America will be destroyed,
claiming that the Bible names our country as Babylon. They throw out verses
saying that Christians….and American Jewish residents….must flee
the country and move offshore. One verse they use says to flee to avoid participating
in her sins.
Sins?
Sins?
What a
quaint
word. Don’t they know that this is
the 21
^st
century?
"
Snickers and laughter could be heard across the sanctuary. "America
isn’t perfect, what nation is? But ‘
flee from her sins’
? But that’s not the worst of what
these extremists preach. For example, I don’t think America will be
destroyed, which is what these folks argue, because it won’t come to
Israel’s defense in that dust-up that we’ve all been watching in
the media. What
difference
would it
make? It’s just one of a couple hundred nations on the globe, certainly
not
a ‘chosen nation’ and
definitely
not
God’s
‘chosen people’.

              
"I
met with a family from our church recently
who
were in
tears, asking me for advice. Why were they upset? The parents of one of the
parishioners in my office had decided to move to Central America. Why are they
moving, I asked? Because the parents think America is Babylon and will be
destroyed once it turns its back on Israel. They think, believe it or not, that
the Bible tells them to
‘flee the
wicked nation of Babylon/America’
. Well, congregants, I told them
that before their parents left the country they should consider seeking a court
order and have them
committed
."
Applause.
"God will
never
destroy this nation, even if he or she could. We are
too important
in the grand scheme of
things. A little insignificant country like Israel may not survive….who
really
likes
them anyway….but
the United States of America will
never
fall. The media is full of stories about Israel’s neighbors invading
them. So what? Israel should have
gotten
along better
with its neighbors, that’s
what
I say. It’s certainly not worth the lives of
any
American young men or women to
defend
them. They can fend for themselves.

              
"So
the next time a friend or a family member criticizes our great country, and
breathes heavy about hoarding food and ammo, or worst yet, leaving the country,
just tell them what you just heard from an expert on the Bible. America’s
not in the Bible. The Bible doesn’t predict anything about the time in
which we live. That’s voodoo Christianity.
You have nothing to fear
.
No
destruction.
No
downfall of America.
No
reason to hoard
nor
to flee. Things will
continue
in our
great country just as they have
in the
past
. You heard it from a man of the cloth, so you can count on it. Now, go
and be warm and blessed."

              
The
congregation jumped to its feet, cheering their Pastor’s comforting
assurances.

The
Moshe and Sophia
Guttman
Home

Petah
Tikva
, Israel

              
At
midnight in Israel the
Guttman
phone rang with a call
from Moshe’s brother in northern Virginia. Ben told Moshe that he was
able to reach his military client, but that the General didn’t have any
knowledge that he could share as to the intentions of the U.S. The General did
advise Ben, though, that a morning press briefing was scheduled at the White
House, at which it was expected there would be a new announcement concerning
the U.S. response to the invasion of Israel.

              
Neither
Moshe nor Sophia could sleep well for the balance of the night, though their
two teens had no problem. Sophia frequently said that youth was wasted on the
young. At 4 AM Moshe was tired of tossing in his bed, so he got up, started the
coffee and turned on the kitchen TV. He was soon joined by Sophia. They sipped
coffee and watched the news of the invasion of their country, while they waited
for the morning news conference from the White House. The hours crawled slowly
by before it finally came time for video coverage from the Press Room of the
White House.

              
At
just after 3 PM a news bulletin flashed across Israel’s TV screens. It
was being reported by the Israeli government that "after several
attempts" the Prime Minister had finally gotten through to the US
President and that the two leaders were currently in an "extended
planning conversation". Upon hearing the news flash Yitzhak and Golda
jumped up and shouted in joy. Moshe and Sophia hugged each other.
"Such good news"
, the four
said, "
such good news
".
Sophia didn’t share her concerns with her celebrating family, but she was
puzzled as to why it took so long for the PM to speak to the President. The
invaders crossed into the Golan yesterday at mid-day, she recalled. Why so
long?

              
Moshe
was so cheered by the news, though, that he went to the kitchen and starting
cooking an afternoon treat, his famous blintzes, with strawberries, blueberries
and red raspberries, which he usually reserved for special occasions. The
Guttmans
’ conversation was animated, as they enjoyed
the sweet afternoon treat and rejoiced over what they believed would be the
imminent insertion of U.S. troops and missiles into northern Israel. In the
background, television reporters disclosed that the invading force was mostly
now past Israeli Highway 91, with the lead units rapidly heading south on
Highway 6, the Yitzhak Rabin Highway, one of four major north-south roads in
Israel. A reporter on Channel 10 came on the screen, with clouds of black smoke
behind him as he spoke into his microphone. Golda saw it from her seat in the
kitchen and asked Yitzhak to go turn up the sound.

              
Almost
out of breath, the Channel 10 reporter, dressed in a desert
camo
flak jacket with red letters saying MEDIA, said, "….and one IDF
source described this invading force as like
a cloud
covering the land
….Based
on what we have just seen and been told by IDF sources, we’ve learned
that the village of
Kfar
Tavor
,
at the foot of Mount Tabor, has been decimated….
totally gone
….every building either flattened by the force of
the artillery or now in flames….It looks like the invading forces went
out of their way to run over and destroy the vineyards for which the village is
famous….This area is on the route the forces from Russia and Iran have
apparently chosen from Damascus into Israel’s heartland….There is
no estimate at this time as to the casualty count of the twenty seven hundred
residents here, though several apparently dead bodies were spotted lying near
the highway out of the village….Hold on….I’m getting a report
on my earpiece that….Yes, it appears that the town of
Afula
,
southwest of our location, has
also been
destroyed
by the invading forces on their way to Highway 6….When we
can get closer to
Afula
, we’ll update viewers
with what we learn. That’s all we have right now from the war
zone."

              
The
mood in the
Guttman
kitchen ratcheted down, as they
realized that brother and sister Israelis just north of them were being
attacked and killed. They left the kitchen to huddle around the television
awaiting the news conference from the United States of America, Israel’s
military defense treaty partner. Within minutes the station announced that they
were switching to their U.S. affiliate for coverage from the White House Press
Room.

              
The
President’s Press Secretary, a diminutive, bespectacled former reporter
for the New York Times, strode briskly into the Press Room. He stepped up
behind the podium. Sophia noticed that he had no document binder with him,
which was his normal approach, as he would consult written talking points in
order to answer media questions. The President’s Press Secretary only
briefly glanced at the assembled reporters, his eyes looking up at the ceiling.

              
He
only uttered one sentence, saying in a steady voice,
"In spite of enormous pressure on this Administration, there will
be
no change
in the position of the
United States regarding the inter-regional disagreement in the Middle
East."
The President’s Press Secretary turned and walked out of
the Press Room without taking any of the several questions shouted at him by
reporters.

              
Moshe
looked over at his family. He could see that Sophia and Golda were both crying.
Looking away but wiping his face, Yitzhak was the first to speak, saying in
anger, "I can’t believe it. We’re
dying
here."

              
Golda
just held her head in her hands. Sophia murmured,
"Disagreement
?"…."Is the President that
dense
?....
This
is a
full-scale war
with at least
three countries,
no friends
of the US
I should add, who are invading your
only
friend in the Middle East. What does it
take
to get you to help us before we’re all
dead
?
What
?"

              
Moshe
started to speak, cleared his choked-up throat,
then
suggested, "It’s time we get ready to go into the safe room.
Everybody take a good long hot shower, it’ll be the last one we get for a
while. Let’s do a big meal, not a diary meal like we usually have at
night. We’ll use up the last of the fresh meat, lettuce, you know, food
that’s refrigerated, since we don’t have refrigeration in the safe
room. Let’s get busy guys, those troops coming south on Rabin Highway are
headed our way….and
we’re
on
their
way
into Tel Aviv."