THE WARNING A Novel of America in the Last Days (The End of America Series Book 2) (21 page)

CAMP
CHARLIE - FEMA RE-EDUCATION CAMP

KANSAS
CITY, KANSAS

        
Dwayne Hatch was not only a guard at Camp Charlie, he was
also a re-education instructor tasked with correcting the thinking of the
Camp’s detainee inmates. Dwayne’s background was in education. His major at
Sarah Lawrence College, one of the nation’s most liberal universities, was in
diversity studies with a minor in Marxist economic theory. He was hired by the
CCC because he scored well on his hiring interview. He was asked during the
CCC’s qualification stage several questions about America and its people. He
provided acceptable answers to questions such as ‘would you be willing to shoot
American citizens, labeled as terrorists, if ordered to do so?’ Based on his
responses, Dwayne was quickly hired.

        
 
Today’s class was
called to order as the clock displayed digital numbers of 8 AM. The class
consisted of forty-seven inmates, mostly men, but ten of whom were female.
Instructor/Guard Hatch began by saying, “Hold up your hand if you agree that
America’s founders were white, ultra-rich, slave owning, bigots who tried to
impose their religion on everyone in the Colonies.”

        
Everyone in the room held up their hands, with the exception
of Bill Benner and two seatmates. Instructor/Guard Hatch was not amused, saying
with a scowl, “Benner, you still
don’t
get it
. You and your buddies are wrong again. Everybody knows this country
was founded by the dregs of society….a gang of
misfits
who couldn’t get along with England. Ungrateful. Religious
fanatics. Selfish aristocrats. A sad group of….”

        
“Officer Hatch,” Bill Benner interrupted, “You know we’re
never going to agree with
you
. Your knowledge of U.S.
history is
a joke
. Twelve of the
fifty-six signers of the Declaration of Independence had their homes ransacked
and burned. Five were captured by the British and executed. Nine were wounded
fighting in the Revolutionary War.
I
could go on
, but it’s a…..”

        
“STOP. No, Benner,
don’t
go on
. You do this
every
class. Look
around, except for you and your two political sweethearts there, everyone else
has gotten the word. Camp Charlie’s main job is to beat some sense into your
thick skulls.
RE
-education, Benner.
RE
-education. You were taught a lot of
stupid things when you went to American schools. Stuff created to make you
loyal little patriots, so called. But
all
lies
, Benner,
all lies
. The
enlightened nations of the world show just how bad the U.S. is. Look at Russia,
or China, or Cuba, to name a few. Everyone’s equal. Everyone’s the same. No
rich white Christian bigots running everything. Why, just look at….”

        
“Now
you stop
,
Officer Hatch. Get on a plane and go visit those workers’ paradises you just
listed. The leaders own dachas, jet planes and homes on the Riviera. The people
may be equally poor but the leaders are
fabulously
wealthy. Socialism, communism, none of these isms has ever worked. Just open
your eyes and you’ll….”

        
“Benner, we’re
done
for today. For a guy who thinks he’s
so
smart,
you sure are
dumb
. Almost everybody
here has figured out how this re-education thing works. If you agree with the
administration’s views, you get one point for each class you attend and hold up
your hand in agreement with the question. If you refuse, you get
minus one point
for each class of
opposition. Camp privileges, as you will know by now, are granted based on
those running scores. But, as you know, Benner, the most important thing is
that if you get to four-hundred points in your two year sentence here, you’re
released, you’re a free man, safe to go back out into society. But if you don’t
earn enough points, you stay at Camp Charlie until you do. What part of
that
don’t you get, Benner?
Huh
?”

        
“Officer Hatch, I’ll
never
agree to your un-American lies and falsification of our history as a country.
Never
. Keep me here
forever
. If America gets re-educated the way this administration
wants, I don’t want to ‘be out in society’, as you say. Wouldn’t be a
fit place
to live. Lying about America’s
history isn’t my idea of re-education….know what I mean?”

        
Hatch stared at Benner, pondering if he should say it or
not. Finally, he decided that he would. Benner got under his skin as he made
Hatch look ineffective as a re-education instructor. “Benner,” Hatch snarled,
“I didn’t know if I should tell you this, but what the heck. If it’s going to
happen,
it’s going to happen
. The
Camp Commandant told the guards yesterday in a meeting that Director
Mortman….you know….the head of the CCC….is finishing up a new re-education
procedure for people like you, Benner. The
uneducable,
the
stupid,
the
boneheads
who will never be re-educated
to agree with the administration. No more mister nice guy. No more nice little
class room debates.

        
“Do you know what water-boarding is, Benner? OK, maybe we
can’t use that….
yet
. But how about
NOISE.? You are going to wish that we were allowed to water-board you when your
eardrums explode from the 180 decibels of focused noise. We may not be able to
give you a swirly yet, but there is
no
limit
to the amount of noise that we can force you to endure. Of course, it
may take weeks of steadily increased disharmonious noise before we
increase
the sound pressure level to the
point that causes your eardrums to rupture and you bleed out while strapped
down to the re-education chair. You are still on blood thinners for your high
blood pressure right, Benner? We’re going find out pretty soon
how much pain
you’re willing to endure
to continue to hold your radical right wing beliefs. Are you
ready
for NOISE, Benner?
Huh
?”

Small
Group Bible Study, Home of Max & Liz

Pelham,
Alabama

               
Following
the death of Hannah’s uncle the small group thought it best to hold the next
meeting at Max and Liz’s house, giving Hannah and Gary a break after the
tragedy hit their family. Pelham was a suburb south of Birmingham, not far from
their church. Tonight’s mood was somber, coming only days after learning of the
unexplainable shooting of the well-known Christian leader in North Carolina.

        
As he normally did, Scott called the group to order with
prayer, “Father, we come to you tonight with
heavy hearts
for Hannah and her family. We continue to ask that you
be very close to them and help them get through this tragic shooting in their
family. Father, we also want to pray about what’s going on our country. We see
and hear in the news that our Christian brothers are increasingly being blamed
for the car bombings. We don’t know all the facts, Father, we don’t even know
if these are actually Christians, or not. We do know that you don’t favor
violence and bloodshed, so we pray for justice, but also for the
true facts
to come out. As we study your
prophetic warning tonight to flee the Daughter of Babylon, we pray for an
extra
measure of your wisdom. We don’t want
to be disobedient to your warning, yet we also want to make sure we
understand
your warning. That’s why we
pray for your wisdom which you promised to give to us liberally when we ask for
wisdom. In Jesus’ name. Amen.”

        
“Scott, before you get started,” Hannah interrupted, “Gary
and I just want to
thank you
guys for
all your prayers, and calls and….and….watching our dogs. You’re all
very
precious to….
I can’t
….Gary….
you
talk.”

        
Gary picked up, “Hannah’s right. We are so appreciative of
your showing us how the body of Christ pulls together and expresses God’s love
to those of us who were, and are still, hurting
. Thanks
, guys.”

        
Scott moved on, “You know we’re still here for you, whatever
you need. OK. Let’s open our Bibles and look at the ten warnings that God gave
to Christians and Jews. The first….”

        
Liz interjected, “Scott, when I was studying this last
night….oops….sorry to interrupt you….but when I saw that of these ten warning
verses three verses were aimed at America’s Jewish residents, it made me
stop
. After I thought about it, though,
I realized that the Jews are God’s people, the originally chosen race, so it
only made sense that God would warn them also to flee from coming destruction.
Taken together, then, the ten warnings cover God’s people, whether Jewish or
engrafted into Israel, as Christians. I wanted to bring that up. I just thought
it was
kind of neat
, you know what I
mean?”

        
“No problem, Liz”, Scott replied, “I’m glad you added that
point. It also hit me that God is interested in warning
all
of His people, not just the engrafted ones. Who is willing to
read the seven warning verses for Christians? Max? OK. Go.”

        
Max pushed his new reading glasses up a bit, leveled his
Bible so he could read and read the following verses:

           
“Flee
out of Babylon; leave the land of the Babylonians, and be like the goats that
lead the flock.”
 
That’s
from Jeremiah 50:8.

        
“Let everyone flee to
his own land.”
 
Jeremiah 50:16.

        
“Flee from
Babylon!
 
Run for your lives!
 
Do not be destroyed because of her sins. It
is time for the Lord’s vengeance; he will pay her what she deserves.”
 
That’s in Jeremiah 51:6.

        
“We
would have healed Babylon, but she cannot be healed;
 
let us leave her and each go to his own land,
for her judgment reaches to the skies, it rises as high as the clouds.”
I
know we’re going to discuss this, but doesn’t that first part just grab you?
‘We’, the
Trinity
I think that means,
‘would have healed Babylon’. Wow. Sorry, Scott, got to preaching there. That’s
in
Jeremiah
51:9.

        
“Come out of her, my
people!
 
Run for your lives!
 
Run from the fierce anger of the Lord.”
That’s f
rom
Jeremiah 51:45.

        
“You who have escaped
the sword, leave and do not linger!
 
Remember the Lord in a distant land, and think on Jerusalem.”
Source
here is Jeremiah 51:50.

        
“Then I heard another
voice from heaven say: “Come out of her, my people, so that you will not share
in her sins, so you will not receive any of her plagues.”
This is
apparently a New Testament part of the warning. It’s at Revelation 18:14.

        
Scott thanked Max, “Muchas gracias, Senor Max. Who
volunteers to read the three parts of the warning to
Jewish
residents of the Daughter of Babylon? Marty? OK. Go.”

        
Marty used an iPad for her lessons, so she rubbed her finger
across the screen and started reading. “Notice in these three parts of the
warning that the three Prophets, Isaiah, Jeremiah and Zechariah refer to Israel
as Zion and Jacob, traditional names for God’s chosen people. The first part of
the warning is at Zechariah 2:7:

           
“Oh Zion! Escape, you who live in the
Daughter of Babylon.”

           
“Next
is Isaiah writing at 48:20,
“
Leave Babylon, flee from the Babylonians! Announce this
with shouts of joy and proclaim it. Send it out to the ends of the earth; say, ‘The
Lord has redeemed his servant Jacob.
’

        
“The third is at Jeremiah at 50:5:
“
They will ask how to get to Zion. Then they will
turn their faces toward it. They will come and join themselves to me. They will
enter into the covenant I make with them. It will last forever. It will never
be forgotten.”

        
“Thanks,
Marty. Good job. The first two you read seem fairly clear on their face. Zion –
escape if you live in the Daughter of Babylon and ‘leave Babylon, flee’. I’m
not as sure that I get the last part of the third verse, the one from Jeremiah.
Apparently God is saying that the Jewish residents of the Daughter of Babylon
will ask about how to get to Israel and will head that way. The last part of
the verse may be for a time in the future when Jewish people turn to God in a
covenant
when Jesus returns? Any
thoughts?

        
Tom
asked, “one part of the verses that Max read I don’t understand….or, let me
re-phrase that….I think I do understand it, but I’m not too sure
I like it
.”

        
Liz
said with a smile, “Like God
is interested
if you like His prophecies?”

        
“OK”,
Tom smiled back, “I know….I know….I don’t get to vote….That’s
not
what I meant. Let me start over….In
Revelation John wrote….here it is….’Come out of her my people, so that you will
not share in her sins, so you will not receive any of her plagues’. Look, I get
the not receiving any of her plagues part. What
I’m
struggling with is the ‘flee’ so we ‘don’t share in her sins’
part. Does that mean that if I’m still living in a wicked nation that’s
exporting to the world abortion, and pornography, and who knows what all, that
I’m sharing in her sins
? Does
anyone else
get that from this part of
the warning?”

        
Max
nodded his head and replied, “Yeah, Tom, I think that’s
exactly
what it means. Ever since I read that last week I’ve been
really troubled in my spirit. I don’t know if Marty’s on board 100% yet….you
can speak up for yourself, honey….but I’m convinced that we need to give more
than serious thought to
moving out
of
the country. How many times have you read God giving a warning like this in
scripture? Once? Two or three times? Many times? Sure. But
ten times
? I’m convinced that He really wants to get His people out
of a decadent situation which will
hurt
us
. Look at that verse again. He says to ‘come out’, but why does He say to
come out?
‘So’
, He says, you will not
share
in her sins,
so
you will not receive any of her
plagues
’. It’s more than just not
sharing in the sins of the Daughter of Babylon; it’s
also
avoiding the bad impact on His people of her
plagues
. Who sends the plagues? God does
throughout scripture. Why? When His people mess up and walk contrary to Him.
Because He….”

        
Tom
interjected, “Max, sorry, but it just hit me….Some of these parts of the
warning say to flee to
avoid destruction
but this part of the warning says to come out of the Daughter of Babylon to
avoid any of her plagues
. Plagues come
on a nation
before
its destruction.
You know, additional warnings, like Moses telling Pharaoh what’s coming if he
ignores the plagues
being inflicted on his
nation and its people. We’ve all discussed how the weather in the last few
years has been so
violent and destructive
of people and property. We’ve talked about how the economy
stinks
, with so many out of work, and the growing national debt
because we spend 40% more than we collect in taxes. We’ve commented on how so
many people seem to get
sick
, Scott’s
recent bout with the flu, in spite of a flu shot being a possible example of
what I’m trying to say. I’m not saying Scott had some un-confessed sin, but he
is living in a country where sin is rampant. It could mean that
its plagues will land on God’s people
,
too, not just the unsaved. Could that part of the warning from Revelation have
that meaning? Anyone
else
agree with
me?”

 
       
“Whew.” Sally said, “You guys are a sack
of smiles. I can read. I get what these parts of the warning say….but to be
honest about it, I don’t want to even
think
about moving. I don’t want to leave America. I’m not going to move. We’ve got
family here, don’t cha know?”

        
Max
leaned forward in his chair, looked at Sally, waited, then said, “My dear
sister, who
doesn’t
have family? I’ve
thought about this in some depth, actually a long time before I read this book
and before we started this Bible study. I’m convinced that it’s the right
thing, the prudent thing, to do. The Bible says that ‘the prudent see the
danger coming and flee from it’. Let’s talk a little history. When Hitler was
coming to power in Germany, many Jewish residents saw the danger coming.
Germany passed laws to oppress Jews, limited how much currency they could take
out, took away their guns, eventually they prohibited Jewish residents from
leaving Germany. But approximately five hundred thousand Jews fled Germany
before the immigration doors were shut. Two thirds of the Jewish residents who
didn’t flee ultimately were put to death. Every Jewish person who fled had
family. Most left some or all of their family behind….but they did the right
thing and….they lived. I read about a Jewish businessman in Holland who saw the
danger coming, realized
Hitler was
serious
, sold his paint factory and
moved to Canada. He lived into his 80’s and eventually had over seventy
descendants who lived because he fled and they
all
lived. My view is that I need to be
obedient
….do what God has
told
us to do
….and be a leader in our family. I will pray that every family
member eventually flees, also, but I can’t live their lives, I can only live
mine, under God’s guiding hand.”

        
Tom,
addressing Liz, asked, “Are you on board with Max? Are you ready to leave your
parents, and other family? Are you ready to move offshore?”

        
“Tom, we’ve had some long discussions, and I’m
warming up
to the idea, I must say.
These bombings, supposedly by Christians and gun people, will lead to
more violence
and, I’m sure, to
increased repression of people of the faith. Already most American pastors are
scared silly
to preach about traditional
Biblical marriage. Might be a violation of the McAlister Hate Speech Law,
right? I don’t see things improving, frankly. The economy is in the pits and
getting worse. To follow up on what you said about plagues, I think that’s
exactly what’s been happening in the United States. God’s been sending His
plagues
to warn us
, and we’ve been
ignoring them
….and
Him
. So, to answer your question in one word, Tom, I’m not quite
ready to say, yet, but I’m getting
closer
.”