BEWARE THE COUNTERFEIT RAPTURE!. Sandra Ghost

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СКАЧАТЬ interjected much into any kind of discussion between him and his son.

      She pushed her plate to the side. "Believe me, the government is worried about this big time! All the banks, savings and loans, and credit unions are scurrying to get their computers protected and their generators' microchips encased in copper protection. We've got to protect our branches' resources also."

      "See, I told you," Horace interrupted. He wagged a finger toward both Jesse and Lance.

      "But wait, Dad," she smiled. "Let's say the banks get compliant, and then the power and telephone lines go down--we can't operate. Our compliance is only as good as the utilities' compliance that serves us."

      "I'm pulling my money out way ahead of all this." Lance reached for another ear of corn. He ate restaurant fast food most of the time, and took full advantage of his mother's cooking whenever the chance presented itself.

      "It's just that kind of thinking that'll cause a run on the banks," Jesse told his younger brother.

      "Run on the banks?" Horace eyes dominated his entire face behind the thick glasses which seemed to magnify them anyway.

      "I don't mean to spook you, Dad," Lee's tone was gentle, "but it could happen. We're being told to prepare for it. It's possible that if the power and telephones go down the Federal Reserve could close us down until there's a correction."

      Scarlett played with her food, pushing it around the plate, "Oh, ya'll are positively giving me the vapors with all this doom and gloom talk." There was a slight lifting of some of the tension in the room as Scarlett's declaration brought laughter.

      Lee shook her head slightly from side-to-side; the silver dolphin earrings danced lightly.

      "There's a very good possibility this could happen. It's not hype, Dad. As the one on the point for compliance, I have to check our power suppliers--telephone communication suppliers. They're nowhere near compliance. Won't be ready for any kind of attack."

      "Haven't you been watching any of the House and Senate hearings on TV?" Lance asked them. "They've been holding hearings on MSNBC with the power companies...they're admitting they're not ready...won't be. The telephone company majors aren't ready...won't be." He finally pushed back his plate. "Super meal, Mom." He threw her a kiss across the table. Leaning back in his chair, he continued, "It was after watching those Senate hearings that I started preparing."

      "So again what about grocery stores?" Marianne looked around the table. "Will they have food?"

      Jesse patted her hand. "I think we need to prepare for that too. Trucking companies communicate with their drivers by computer. If there's no power, there's no way to pump diesel except with a hand pump. No fuel--no trucks--no trucks no food. Grocery stores have approximately three days worth of food on their shelves. It could get pretty nasty."

      "I've got a year's worth of food--dehydrated, canned and vacuum packed being shipped to me," Lance told them.

      "What? Are you trying to tell me the Mormons were right about a year's worth of food storage kept on hand? Really!" Horace couldn't believe the Mormons could be right on their many years belief on food storage..

      "How much did that cost you?" Lee asked.

      "About $2,000."

      "Of all the ridiculousness!" Horace's face was getting flushed again. "I should flat out disinherit you for such a waste of good money. I think you've all lost your minds."

      "Look at it this way, Dad, if the attack on our national power doesn't happen, I'll just eat up all the food anyway in the course of the year."

      "Well, don't think you'll be coming around here to sponge good food. You can just eat up your bags of tasteless sawdust."

      "Horace! Please don't." Marianne saw the wounded look on their youngest son's face. She tried to change the subject. "There's fresh blueberry pie for dessert."

      But Lance wouldn't let it go. "I don't think any of you people realize that there could be rioting if there's no food. Your neighbor could be your worst enemy if he finds out you have food and he doesn't. Once we go into bunker mode in the chalet, I'll cut down trees to block the lane. You can't see the house from the road. I've got plenty of rounds of ammunition reloaded."

      "Wait a minute." Jesse held up one hand. "Somehow I don't think shooting your neighbor is the Christian way to handle this. I've talked to some of the deacons in the church. We're thinking about stocking up, just like you're doing--but opening our doors to the hungry. The pastor thinks it should be the mission of the church to minister the gospel of Jesus Christ through this hardship."

      Scarlett rolled her eyes. She waved a ring bedecked hand at Lee and Marianne, who were clearing the table. "Wait a minute, Lee, better save that big plate of corn cobs. Ya'll just may need them if there's no toilet paper." The thick sarcasm in her voice served to amplify the affected drawl. This time there was no laughter in response to her statement.

      Jesse turned to her. "You can be just as glib as you want about this, Scar." It was his pet name for his little sister. He had given her that nickname when, at the age of thirteen, she had kicked him in the shins, leaving a permanent scar. "But you'd better wake up to where we are in God's timeclock--all of this is relevant to prophecy in the Bible." The words were clipped, but there was love in his tone.

      "Oh, my gawd, just show me where it says in the Bible that 'thy microchips shall faileth thee and thou shalt go hungry'." Her thickly lashed ice-blue eyes were such a startling contrast to the shining, jet-black hair. Now they shot arrows of insolence toward her brother.

      Jesse laughed, "It doesn't say that, of course, but there are only just a few prophecies left in the Bible which haven't come true yet."

      "More gloom and doom...so the world's about to come to an end, huh?" Horace wondered how he'd managed to father such a religious fanatic. He noticed though that Marianne had stopped clearing. She was smiling, seemed to be urging Jesse to continue. He'd put a stop to this nonsense, "Marianne, would you bring me a Pepcid? I'm getting a bad case of indigestion from all this pessimism. Better bring some aspirin too," he added.

      "Dad, the world's not coming to an end. Jesus is going to return and reign here on earth--that's what all the prophecy is about--His second coming. People get it all mixed up and say 'the end of the world'. What Jesus said was the 'end of the age.' "

      "Things are going to get pretty hairy first?" Lance asked him.

      "Pretty hairy. The Bible lays it all out, and we're getting pretty close, but Jesus said nobody but His Father knows the exact day, not even the angels."

      That got Scarlett's attention. "That's pretty preposterous that even the angels wouldn't know. My psychic talks about angels sometimes."

      "I know I could talk to you 'til I'm blue in the face about your psychic, Scarlett, I've tried, but you need to know she's tapped into fallen angels--demons."

      "Oh, for Pete's sake, you sound just like mother. Ya'all are so old fashioned. I can't believe it!"

      Lee set a hot piece of blueberry pie, topped with vanilla ice cream, in front of her. She shoved it aside in one of her fits of "pity pouts".

      "So what's gonna' happen that's so hairy? I just figure if the power, the banks and the whole country goes down, I'll just kick back...catch up on all the issues of 'Field and Stream' I haven't read. What's supposed to СКАЧАТЬ