Euth Camp. A.W. Trenholm

Чтение книги онлайн.

       3. The God of Forces

      The Global Guardian had been appointed principal overseer of the ten international regions of the world. The world had been divided in this way after the confusion following the collapse of the world economies. Those were indeed times of sorrows⁴, because of all the plagues and natural disasters that befell people everywhere. People were crying for a savior, someone, anyone, who could restore peace and order. And the man who stood up and took the job was a fierce-looking fellow, so fierce-looking that people unofficially started calling him the Beast of Bible prophecy or the Antichrist. He openly proclaimed his fascination with the black arts, and made a point of speaking against God every chance he got. He said the only god he recognized was a god of forces. He obsessed about it, claiming that force was the only real evidence of god in the world. He even wanted us to abandon our antiquated notions about an unseen God to make room for an expanded, more realistic god, saying that we should worship god in the things we see, rather than some mythical presence.

      The Guardian had negotiated a seven-year peace between the Jews and the Arabs. His followers even claimed that his diplomatic skills were supernatural and that his solutions to world problems were divinely inspired—definitely not of this world. And truly, the way he brokered deals between the heads of nations was nothing short of miraculous. His openly proclaimed plan and intention of changing the world was immediately and immensely popular. When he first appeared on the Internet, the news about him went viral, virtually forming an army of followers overnight. He used the force of his enthusiastic following to gain control of governments, media, corporations and other offices that had authority over people.

      He declared the Catholic Church a misguided relic from the past and a pernicious cult that had long since outlived its usefulness and needed to be eradicated. Everywhere he had the effect of causing great confusion and the falling away of believers from traditional faiths. His great words and convincing speeches tapped into the willingness of people to listen to anyone who promised them hope after their former world had been shattered and their institutions had failed them. His soporific words and practical sounding solutions were turning people away from God and to himself.

      Things went well for him in the beginning. He went from being a world phenomenon to the leading voice for change and for peace in the world. His rhetoric was so appealing that he soon became a political force to be reckoned with. However, his anti-God, anti-religious speeches did not sit well with everyone, and one of the principal regions rebelled. They had tolerated his iconoclastic idiosyncrasies up to a point, but when he claimed to be the actual incarnation of the god of forces himself, that was too much. He was acting like he was some reincarnated emperor from ancient Rome claiming to be God. That was blasphemous, especially to people who were followers of sacred books, like Jews, Christians, Muslims. The Beast was determined to root out all who had rebelled against him. He had subtle ways of eliminating anyone with “reactionary” views, particularly older people who he claimed were permanently polluted from having read such mind poisoning literature.

      In spite of this, many believed and followed the Guardian religiously. I myself might have wondered if there could be some truth to his claim, but I had been pre-warned by specific verses in the Bible not to be deceived by all of his lies and marvelous miracles.⁵ He did not like to be called the Beast, although some of his actions made him appear to be very beast-like.

      To demonstrate the effectiveness of his god, he had a nuclear bomb deployed in the region that was rebelling, taking many lives and laying waste to large areas. This act dealt a serious blow to his world image as being a champion of peace. But Satan, the true power working unseen behind the scenes, raised up a powerful assistant for him, a second beast, a man who substantiated the Global Guardian’s position as the god of this world. Satan empowered this newly-found public relations officer with the ability to perform great signs and wonders. This Second Guardian was able to bring fire down from heaven like Elijah of old,⁶ and perform many such signs and wonders in support of the Beast’s increasing claims to deity.