Arrived (26 page)

Mark had slowly moved behind the huge trash bins, being careful the guard in the tower didn't notice him. He hid, choking at the awful smell, hoping this would be the last place anyone would look.

He had gotten the GCNN phone number from the directory of the deputy commander's cell phone. He hadn't expected to actually get on the air, but when it happened he prayed God would keep him calm.

“What have you told Commander Fulcire that you'd like to share with us?” Wojekowski said.

The door to the courtyard banged open, and several guards poured out.

Mark held the phone close, took a deep breath, and spoke softly. “Actually, I haven't even shared this with the commander, so you'll be the first to know.” He imagined the woman looking into the camera and sitting a little taller in her chair. “To all those who have read our Web site, or who were interested in knowing why the disappearances happened, or why we've had all these natural disasters, like the darkness in New Babylon, I'd like to point them to Dr. Tsion Ben-Judah's Web site.” Mark gave the address quickly before the woman cut him off.

“So the commander hasn't really changed your mind about being against Potentate Carpathia?”

Footsteps getting closer. Voices yelling.

“Being in here and seeing how they treat prisoners makes me all the more determined to live my last breath for Jesus Christ,” Mark said.

“Behind the garbage bins!” a guard shouted.

“Judd, Vicki, Lionel, Conrad—and anybody who's listening—I'm not alone in here! I'm all right. And I'll see you on the other side!”

The phone clicked and Mark wondered if his friends had heard his last few words.

Someone shoved a gun barrel into Mark's back and he stood. Deputy Commander Lockerbie snatched the phone away and led him back to his cell.

26

THE NEXT
few minutes were agony for Judd and the others watching from Petra. Judd put himself in Mark's place and pictured the GC leading him straight to the guillotine.

It was Vicki's idea to pray, and Naomi Tiberius ran for her father, an elder at Petra. She returned with him and Chaim Rosenzweig.

“Dear ones,” Chaim said softly, “let us join together.”

For the next hour the group gave thanks to God for Mark—for all the things he had done to help people come to know Jesus and for the good friend he had been.

“Father, we ask that you give special comfort and strength to Mark right now,” Chaim prayed. “Stir his heart and give him a peace that passes all understanding.”

When Eleazar Tiberius spoke, his voice boomed in the tech center, and many of the workers stopped what they were doing and gathered around. Judd didn't even know most of them, but he could tell they sensed one of their brothers was in trouble.

“Sovereign Lord, we knew when this period of Tribulation began that many would die for your sake,” Mr. Tiberius prayed. “And though we would ask for a miracle, it may be your will that Mark passes through this fire rather than being taken out of it. So I ask you to bring to his mind what the psalmist said: ‘Lord, give to me your unfailing love, the salvation that you promised me. Then I will have an answer for those who taunt me, for I trust in your word. Do not snatch your word of truth from me, for my only hope is in your laws.' ”

Vicki wept as she prayed. “Father, you know how much Mark and I disagreed, but I never doubted that he wanted to follow you as much as anyone. Whatever's happening to him right now, help him remember all of his friends and how much we love him.”

“Yes, Father,” Chang prayed. “Because of you and your love, none of us is ever alone. We thank you for friendships and the chance to join in the sufferings of our brother Mark. If we could take his place, we would do that, but you have called him to face this final task and you would not choose someone who would fail you. We give you thanks and pray you would hold Mark up even now.”

Mark came back to consciousness, not knowing how long he had been in his darkened cell. He groped his way across the floor until he reached the cot. He felt his head and found a lump the size of a Ping-Pong ball. His back ached, and he wondered how many guards had joined in the capture.

He wished his angel friend would return. He would have to ask his name this time. How good of God to send a final companion.

Verses flooded Mark's mind, especially from the Psalms. Then he recalled Jesus in the Garden of Gethsemane and his prayer to God to ‘take this cup of suffering away from me.' Jesus' mental anguish had been so intense that the Bible said he had sweat great drops of blood. Suddenly Mark could understand that a little better.

“God, thanks for letting me go through this. I wouldn't have chosen it, but if this is what you want me to do, I want to be faithful.”

Mark thought of Jesus' crucifixion. He had been tortured and killed. Dying on the cross took hours of agony. Mark's would be over in seconds—at least that's what he hoped.

“What are you thinking, my friend?” someone said.

Mark looked up. It was the angel, standing in a corner, shining with a heavenly light. “You mean you can't read my mind?” Mark said.

“Only the Almighty can see into your heart. We can only guess.”

“I'm just trying to think straight,” Mark said. “Could I ask your name?”

“You may call me Caleb.”

“Have you done this many times?”

Caleb nodded. “There have been more in the past few months than ever.”

“Does anybody … I mean, when it comes time to … you know …”

“God's people have always acted with great courage. Some weep at the end, others sing, and some quote Scripture. It is different every time, and yet there are remarkable similarities.”

“Like what?”

“The looks on their faces. The hope that shines through. Those who are doing the killing look like shells, but the ones being executed are truly alive. It happened that way recently with Chloe Williams. She was able to speak of the living Christ before her death.”

“You visited Chloe?”

Caleb put a hand over his chest. “Her heart was breaking over leaving her husband and son, but she expressed her desire to be with Jesus.”

“Will you do the same thing you did in the courtyard when Chloe was executed? You know, the bright shimmering thing we saw on TV?”

Caleb smiled. “Each event is different. If there is need for me to be there and speak, I will.” He tilted his head slightly to the left and gazed at Mark. “Thus says the Son of the most high God: ‘I am the resurrection and the life. He who believes in Me, though he may die, yet shall he live. And whoever lives and believes in Me shall never die.' Be comforted by these words.”

Mark raised his eyebrows. “Thank you. I hope I won't let you down.”

The angel stepped closer. “I know you won't because you are one of his.”

Mark took a deep breath. His throat caught and he had trouble speaking. “Well, I don't know how to thank you for coming and helping me get through this. I suppose you have other things you could be doing—angel stuff.”

Footsteps echoed down the hallway.

Caleb smiled again. “ ‘Peace I leave with you,' says your Lord Christ. ‘My peace I give you, not as the world gives, give I unto you. Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid.' ”

And Caleb was gone.

Commander Fulcire stepped into the room, accompanied by several guards. Mark thought it odd the deputy commander wasn't there.

When Mark stepped from the prison, the first rays of light peeked over the horizon. A long, thin cloud tinged with yellow hung in the sky. The way the sun hit it made it look almost golden. A jet sped high in the sky leaving a white trail. It intersected the cloud and came out the other side. Mark couldn't help thinking the whole thing looked like a cross.

Mark expected the same kind of fanfare as Chloe, news trucks lined up, the works. But there weren't even people manning the tables at this hour. A few guards huddled together, trying to keep warm.

Fulcire pushed Mark to the first guillotine and turned. “Bring out the others.”

After a few moments, six men were led from the jail. Mark recognized Steve at the front of the group with the mark of the believer on his forehead. The others all had the same mark.

Commander Fulcire pulled a cell phone from his pocket and dialed a number.

Steve smiled and stood close to Mark. “I was afraid you'd be gone before they brought us out here.”

“Me too,” Mark said. “You must have remembered all I said.”

“It's funny. I knew everything you told me, even believed it. I knew God was doing all the stuff around us, but I always thought I was too far gone to turn around.”

“We want to thank you,” another man said to Mark. “I think God brought you to us.”

Mark nodded. “I think you're right.” He looked at Steve. “But why did they single you guys out this morning?”

Steve's eyes twinkled. “We all said we didn't want you to be alone. We told the guards we would never bow down to Carpathia or take his mark, and if they were going to use these—” he nodded toward the guillotines— “that we wanted to be with you.”

Mark shook his head and bit his lip to keep from crying. “You didn't have to do that.”

“You didn't have to come to us, and you didn't have to risk telling us your message,” another man whispered. “But you did.”

“That reminds me of a verse in the Bible, a couple actually,” Mark said. “Paul says something about being thankful to God every time he thinks of the people he's writing. He says, ‘I always pray for you, and I make my requests with a heart full of joy because you have been my partners in spreading the Good News about Christ from the time you first heard it until now.'

“You guys haven't been believers long, but you have been faithful to what God called you. The next verse says, ‘And I am sure that God, who began the good work within you, will continue his work until it is finally finished on that day when Christ Jesus comes back again.' That day is coming real soon, but we're going to see him sooner.

“When Jesus hung on the cross, just before he died, he said to a man next to him, ‘Today you will be with me in paradise.' Well, I believe that the moment we leave this life, we're going to see him, and you'll see that the little bit of suffering we had to go through here will really be worth it.”

“A man came to us and taught us a song,” another man said.

“That was an angel,” Mark said.

The men's eyes widened.

“I didn't see any wings,” Steve said.

Commander Fulcire stepped forward and faced Mark. “You have some kind of feeling for these prisoners?”

“They're my brothers,” Mark choked.

“Quaint. Well, I'll give you one more chance. What you say now could save the life of your ‘brothers,' as you call them. I will allow them to go back to their cells and live if you'll tell us what we want to know.”

Mark wanted to tell Commander Fulcire the truth a final time. He wanted to scream at him that Jesus was coming back and would conquer the armies of the Antichrist. Instead, Mark felt compassion for the man who had followed the devil.

“I feel sorry for you,” Mark whispered. Fulcire laughed.
“You
feel sorry for
me?”

“One day every person on earth will admit that Jesus Christ is Lord. He is the true Potentate and the Creator of the universe.”

“So you don't want to save your friends?”

“One day soon, New Babylon is going to be destroyed.”

“Impossible.”

“And the armies of your leader will go to battle against God's people.”

“I hope to be there,” Fulcire said.

“You and those like you who wear the uniform of the Global Community will be struck down.”

“With all the weaponry and firepower at our disposal? Not likely.”

Mark looked at the guards with Fulcire. “Do anything you can to stay away from the last battle. Get sick. Run away. But don't be near Israel in six months.”

The guards scoffed. Fulcire motioned, and two guards led Steve to the guillotine. “Last chance to save this man's life,” the commander said.

Steve looked back at Mark. “I've already been saved. Can you guys sing one more time?”

The others began the song Caleb had taught them. As they sang the verse, “‘This is all my hope and peace, Nothing but the blood of Jesus; This is all my righteousness, Nothing but the blood of Jesus,' ” the blade fell and Steve died.

One by one the guards led the others in front of Mark to the guillotine. The guards tried to stop them from sing- ing, and several men went to the guillotine with missing teeth, but they kept singing to the end.

Fulcire saved Mark for last. As the guards picked up the body of the man before him and moved it, the commander pushed Mark toward the blood-caked machine. “Look around you, Eisman. No masses of people to preach to. No flashing lights of supposed angels. You die alone, and you die now.”