Listening by Dave Mckay - HTML preview

Chapter Thirty-Six--The Witnesses are Killed

"Friends, we mean you no harm!" Rayford's claim was met with hoots of derision from the unsympathetic crowd that had gathered near the Temple Mount in Jerusalem. But the crowd, though antagonistic, was still reasonably well behaved. They knew better than to disrupt the address.

"What we have done has not been of our own choosing. It has come from the God of heaven and earth, the Lord of Creation."

More derision.

"You can disagree with his right to judge, but you cannot stop him from doing it," Rayford concluded. Beside him, Chaim lay sleeping.

They had met for the first time just seven days previously. There had been a brief encounter with Dangchao himself at the start of the week, but when several of his guards were killed, Dangchao consented to letting them roam the streets of the city... at least until he could devise some other way to stop them.

Marksmen had been placed around the city, to follow their every movement, but not one of them dared to attempt a shot at the pair.

Rayford was younger than Chaim had expected him to be, and Chaim was fatter than Rayford had expected him to be. But together they had merged into a single voice with a single purpose. They each knew that this week was the culmination of their mutual life ministry, and they were resigned to their fate.

Throughout the week they hardly ate or slept; but they preached almost constantly, often answering questions for hours without a break. When they did sleep, they used only discarded cardboard as a bed, and a few old rags for warmth. One would stay awake while the other slept, because the crowds never left, not even in the middle of the night. There were hecklers, but even the hecklers were subdued as a result of the pair's reputation for judging harshly any who opposed them.

Their presence in the so-called Holy City had been broadcast around the world, bringing thousands of touristy spectators who wanted to see the aliens for themselves. Everyone knew to cautiously keep their distance. There had been a couple of incidents where spectators foolishly tried to attack them earlier in the week, and that was when either Rayford or Chaim had used their destructive powers to reinforce their divine right to be there.

It was Wednesday night now (or more precisely, very early Thursday morning). It had been a long and busy week. With that final comment, Rayford had answered what appeared to be the last question before the crowd moved away. As usual, those asking the questions did not really listen to the answers.

Nevertheless, Rayford poured out his heart to the people in one last attempt to turn them from the path they had chosen.

On the second day of their stay in Jerusalem, there had been one young woman who had responded to what they said. She had broken down and wept, begging for forgiveness for her hardness over those final years. She was taken away by two of the soldiers, probably for execution. An elderly man had repented on the fourth or fifth day. He met a similar fate. Apart from that, their efforts seemed wasted on the crowds.

Rayford was weary, and about to wake Chaim for a change of shifts when a shot rang out.

At the back of the clearing where they were standing, a young U.N. sniper had jokingly drawn a bead on Rayford's head when his companion bumped his elbow. The pair were almost as shocked as Rayford, who only had time to register surprise before he fell to the pavement, dead.

The shot awakened Chaim, who jumped to his feet, only to be struck in the head by a second bullet from the same sniper. This one was deliberate, and was the soldier's attempt to protect himself from retribution by the elder of the Two Witnesses. The two men in military uniforms crouched behind a tree, unsure whether they had really succeeded.

"Look!" someone cried from the crowd, as people leaving the scene turned back to catch what had happened. "They're dead! They really are!"

"Be careful. It could be a trick," someone shouted, but a few brave spectators raced over to the bodies anyway. It wasn't long before the spectators confirmed that the two men really were dead. This brought the soldiers out of hiding. They then strutted out into the open and down toward the two bodies.

The young man who had fired the bullets was already talking on his mobile to his superiors, while the other one pointed at him and made hand signals to let the crowd know that this was, indeed, the hero of the moment, and maybe the hero of the century.

"They're dead!" "The aliens are dead!" Shouts spread quickly through the quiet streets of Jerusalem, waking up residents and flooding the phone lines. In a matter of minutes it was being talked about throughout the city, across the country and even around the world.

An ambulance arrived to take the bodies away, but by morning they were back in the same place, with a cyclone fence around them. The public was being invited to come and view them, where they lay. Indeed, a global holiday had been declared in order to celebrate their deaths. The forces of law and order had prevailed; the monsters had been destroyed; and now the world could safely put itself back together again.

If it had ended here, as so often happens, the victors would have written history in the way that this book began. Dangchao, or one of his successors would have told us about how they had saved us from two monstrous aliens. So often throughout human history this has been the case. One political power after another has told us that they would provide a solution to the evils of the previous one, only to succumb to worse evils themselves. But this time was to be different.

There had been tremendous suffering on both sides over those final years of the old age, but the death of the Two Witnesses had merciful y brought their suffering and the suffering of those whom they represented to an end. For the others... those who had fought Chaim and Rayford and the truth that they stood for, the real suffering was about to begin. Rayford and Chaim's deaths, so quick and so painless, were a hol ow victory for those who had sought only revenge.

Then, three days after their deaths, while a crowd looked on and celebrated, an earthquake shook the city of Jerusalem. The earliest tremors seemed to awaken the two corpses; but a much greater power healed their wounds and brought youthful strength back to their bodies.

And then they had started to rise, slowly at first, but quickly accelerating, as they moved up through the atmosphere. On their way, they were joined by others like themselves, with new bodies that possessed new powers... the ability to fly, the ability to withstand cold and the ability to function without oxygen in the upper atmosphere.

Down below, the world was in chaos. The earthquake in Jerusalem was just one more of so many catastrophes that had occurred over the past few years. But there was worse to come.

Yet up here, as literally millions of believers from throughout history converged, there was unimaginable peace and joy and unity. Everywhere Chaim looked there was beauty. He had entered a dimension of pure light. Numberless species of plants and animals filled this new dimension. Even the stuff that it was made of was more beautiful than the most precious stones on earth.

And at the center of everyone's attention was the One who had made it all possible. His face radiated light so powerfully that it was difficult to make out the features. He wore a white robe as did everyone else, but his robe had a wide gold band around it. And when he spoke, everyone went silent. His voice could be heard perfectly by everyone, even though some were miles away at the back of the huge crowd.

Chaim knew immediately that it was Jesus, and he was overwhelmed with love for this one who had been leading him so graciously over the past seven years. But there were others in the crowd who had not yet come to know that Jesus was the One who had been orchestrating all of this. Even their presence in that amazing new dimension came for some as a surprise.

Everywhere there was rejoicing and celebration, dancing and singing, laughing and hugging. They had, indeed, come through the Great Tribulation, and they had learned that at the end of the tunnel called obedience, the God of Judgment that the world had so hated, was also a God of infinite mercy and love.

All he was looking for were people with enough faith to let him be who he was, enough humility to wait quietly and hear him speak, and enough courage to act on what they heard him say.

Other Books by Dave Mckay.

Armageddon for beginners

Survivors

Destroyers