Tyndale House - The Mark - The Beast Rules the World

"I understand rage, Chaim. I wanted to murder Carpathia myself, and I knew exactly who he was and that he would not stay dead."

"But I premeditated it, Captain, planned it many months in advance, virtually invented and manufactured the weapon myself, faked a stroke just to get myself in proximity to him without suspicion, then finished the job exactly as I had envisioned it. I am a murderer."

Rayford leaned forward and rested his elbows on his knees, head in his hands. "You know I almost saved you the work."

"I don't understand."

"You heard a gunshot before you attacked Carpathia."

"Yes."

"My gun."

"I don't believe you."

Rayford told him the story of his own anger, personality change, plotting, the purchase of the weapon, his determination to do the deed.

Chaim sat shaking his head. "I can hardly believe that the two people who dared attack Nicolae are in the same room. But in the end you could not do it. I did it with enthusiasm, and even up to the time I finally saw my need for God, I was glad I did it. Now I suffer such regret and shame I can barely breathe."

"Can you take no solace in the fact that this was destiny, and that you cannot be guilty of murdering a man who is alive?"

"Solace? I would give all I own for a moment of peace. It isn't whom I did this to, Rayford. It is that I did it. I did not know the depth of my own wickedness."

"And yet God has saved you."

"Tell me, is one supposed to feel forgiven?"

"Good question. I have faced the same dilemma. I have full faith in the power of God to forgive and forget, to separate us from our sins as far as the east is from the west. But I'm human too. / don't forget and thus often I don't appropriate the forgiveness God extends. Because we feel guilty does not mean God does not have the power to absolve us."

"But Tsion tells me I may have a greater destiny, that I just might be the one to be used to lead my believing countrymen to safety from Antichrist. How could he say that and how could I do such a thing when I feel the way I do?"

Rayford stood. "Perhaps the fallacy is in thinking it would have to be you who accomplishes this."

"I would love to be out from under the weight of it, but as Tsion says, who else? He himself cannot risk it."

"I'm saying it's something God is going to do, through you."

"But who am I? A scientist. I am not eloquent. I don't know the Word of God. I barely know God. I was not even a religious Jew until just days ago."

"Yet as a child you must have been exposed to the Torah."

"Of course."

"If Tsion is right, and not even he is sure, this could be your burning-bush experience."

"No one will ever see me as Moses."

"Are you willing to let God use you? Because if Tsion is right and you do what he thinks you should do, you would be a modern-day Moses."

"Ach!"

"You could be used of God to flee the evil ruler and take your people to a safe haven."

Chaim moaned and lay down again.

"Moses pled the same case you're pleading," Rayford said. "The question is whether you are willing."

"I know."

"You're right. You were depraved. We all were, until Christ saved us. God can make a miracle of your life."

Chaim mumbled.

"I'm sorry?" Rayford said.

"I said I want to be willing. I am willing to be willing."

"That's a start."

"But God is going to have to do something in me."

"He already has."

"But more. I could no more accept this assignment now than I could fly. The person who accepts this duty must have a clear conscience, confidence that comes only from God, and communication ability far beyond what I have ever possessed. I was able to hold forth in a classroom, but to speak to thousands as Tsion has done, to publicly oppose Antichrist himself, to rally the masses to do what is right? I don't see it. I just don't." "But you are willing to trust God to work?" "He is my only hope. I am at the end of myself."

At high noon Carpathia Time in New Babylon, David left the palace and went outside for the first time in days. He was to have his stitches removed at two that afternoon, and he looked forward to seeing Hannah Palemoon again, even in a sterile setting where they might not be able to converse freely.

The heat reminded David of the day of Nicolae's resurrection. It didn't seem right to stroll the grounds of the spectacular palace without Annie. His pain was so raw and the ache so deep that it made his scalp wound fade to insignificance. Hannah had told him that the removal of the bandage would be worse than the removal of the stitches. His uniform cap protected the wound from the sun, but David's body began to heat up in his dress uniform, and the memories of his trauma floated back.

The decimation of the world's population was reflected in the workforce at GC headquarters. What had once been its own bustling metropolis was now a shell of itself. The crowds that used to consist of enthusiastic employees were now made up of tourists and pilgrims, necks craned to catch a glimpse of someone famous.

In the distance David saw visitors crowded around one of the outdoor TV monitors that broadcast GC news twenty-four hours a day. He moseyed over and stood unnoticed at the back. The new Most High Reverend of Carpathianism, Leon Fortunato, held forth from his new office.

David could only shake his head. Leon stood before a pulpit-type lectern, but his height had seemed to change. A husky, swarthy man a tick under six feet tall, Leon wore a long burgundy-and-navy robe that flattered his physique. But when the late Peter Mathews-in a gaudy, silly-looking robe-had stood at the same podium, he had looked shorter than Leon, despite that he was several inches over six feet. Leon had to be standing on some sort of box or platform!

He reported on the worldwide competition to see which locales and regions led in the race to complete their replicas of the Carpathia statue. Of course, the United Carpathian States had an insurmountable lead, but the rest of the world competed for second place.

The report was dotted with feeds from all over the globe, showing how many communities had tried to make unique their version of the statue. Regulations stipulated that the replicas had to be at least life-size and monochromatic, but none could be as large as the original. Past that, local committees were free to exercise creativity. Most of the statues were black, but many were gold, some crystal, some fiberglass, one green, one orange, and several were twice life-size (or half the size of the original). Fortunato seemed particularly pleased with those two and announced plans to personally visit those sites.

"In the interest of full disclosure, it falls to me to report that while Israel has several replica statues in cities as disparate as Haifa and Tel Aviv, Jerusalem has not even begun theirs." Leon switched into his deep bass, solemn voice. "Speaking under the authority of the risen potentate, I say woe! Woe and beware to the enemies of the lord of this globe who would thumb their noses in the face of the most high!"

Here he switched to Uncle Leon mode, sounding like a beloved relative reading a bedtime story. "But you know, while I have been imbued with power from on high to perform all the miracles that our beloved leader performs, and whereas I have proven this power by calling down fire from heaven to destroy the disloyal, your lord, His Excellency, is the embodiment of love and forgiveness and long-suffering. Against my counsel and better judgment, though I defer to his divine wisdom, the Supreme Potentate has asked me to announce that he knows he has devout followers in the capital of the Holy Land. Their loving lord shall not forget those loyal pilgrims, suffering under the insanity and subversion of the very leaders who have been charged with responsibility for the spiritual health of their souls.