FIVE
Justification should never cometh through exposing fault in others.
Julius Mann, Reflections, ch. 6
“Roy Hoyle speaking.”
The voice on the line was so shaky that Roy could not understand what the man was saying. As he concentrated he began to follow.
“I didn’t think you’d be there, Reverend. I would have called earlier, but I had no idea you’d be there. Man, I thought you’ve been taken too. This is unreal.”
“Is this Lenny?” Roy asked, deciding by the voice that it must be one of the young men who regularly attended his church.
“Yeah, it’s Lenny.”
The sound of his voice was sheer relief for Roy. Lenny Sharma was one of his favourite churchgoers. A member of his congregation was safe! If one was safe then there were surely others. Could all 340 be safe too? Of course they were!
Lenny always enjoyed participating in social events; youth groups, and taking a part in their amateur rock band. Over the last few years Roy had taken a special interest in Lenny, with a plan to get the twenty-year-old interested in all the spiritual aspects involved with the church. Roy wanted Lenny to devote himself to becoming a deacon, and then, eventually, a priest. There were already two deacons under Roy’s guidance in the church, but he was always open for more. Lenny knew nothing of Roy’s plan or that Roy was carefully preparing him for it. Lenny had already been feasting on many of Mann’s classic works, and Roy had enjoyed a few enjoyable discussions; just the right preparation for the ministry.
“Where are you, Lenny? Are you all right?”
“Yeah, Reverend, I’m all right. I’m doing my best, you know?”
“But where are you? Are you at home?”
“Look, I’d rather not say, you know?”
“What do you mean?”
“It’s not safe.”
“Of course it’s safe, Lenny. What’s there to be frightened of?” Roy grimaced as he hoped Lenny had not taken to the same ideas as Bernard.
“We’ve got to meet somewhere, Reverend.”
“We can’t, Lenny; not yet. We’ve been told to stay indoors as much as possible, to allow the authorities to go about their work without hindrance. Unless there is an emergency, we must stay indoors.”
“There sure is an emergency!”
“You’re sure you’re not exaggerating, Lenny?”
“No way! We have to meet!”
“I’ll come visit you; you live with your parents, don’t you?”
“No, don’t come here—you can’t.”
“Then you come to me.”
“No, I don’t think your place will be any safer.”
“Well, would the church be safe enough for you?”
“Yeah, I guess. But wait until it gets darker, say about 10:30?”
“Are you sure we can’t just talk on this line?”
“You can’t trust them. Not now.”
“Can’t trust who?”
“Anyone, man! We’re on our own from now on. This is when we’re on the run!”
“Lenny, do you know something about what’s happened about the missing people?”
“Yeah, of course I do.”
“You do?”
“It’s obvious, Reverend.”
“It is? Then what is it?”
“I don’t have to tell you, do I? You know more about these things than I do. Look, we really got to get off this line.”
“Wait a minute, Lenny. What do you mean I know more about it?”
“Will you be there?”
“Be where?”
“At the church, Reverend, like you said. At 10:30. Meet you around the back, away from the street lights and your security lights. See you there?”
“I guess so.”
Lenny closed the call without another word. Roy found his head hurting and he had to sit down. He went back to his lounge and checked his TCS to see if any messages have come in. The screen was clear.
He typed an update, that he was going to the church for the evening, and sent it out. He called up Lenny’s number and tried to contact him again. After finding no answer he wandered to his lounge window. The street was still quiet, Roy wondered how close the government’s emergency workers were. After waiting a few minutes in the hope of seeing some pass by, he decided it would not hurt if he walked down the street and around the corner a little way.
Crystal Richards was the church member who lived the nearest to him. She was sixty-eight and although retired spent all her time making the cutest crocheted toys and selling them from her home. She was prolific in her output and always contributed a couple of boxes of toy animals for Roy’s annual church fair. Roy needed to cross three streets to get to her house, the last being one of Carlow’s main roads. He went anyway.
As he expected, even the main road was deserted of traffic. The only sign of life was a lone cyclist pushing into the sea breeze and taking no notice of Roy.
He knocked at Crystal’s front door and then walked around to knock at the back. As with every other house in sight, the windows were covered up, but hers was by blinds on the inside. Roy wondered if the houses of the people missing had their blinds and drapes pulled over, while those still present had boards and blankets over the outside of the window. Bernard was obviously not the only one fearing hostile extraterrestrials. Roy sighed as he concluded that Crystal was not home.
The Sloan family lived not far from Crystal and Roy decided to walk across the road and down the next street to visit their house. Once he was in their property, a small ginger cat meowed at him and brushed against his legs in a desperate manner. Roy gave it a pat, which encouraged it all the more.
He knocked loudly at their front door, to no answer. He contemplated the family. Ewan and Kylie Sloan were both about forty and their only child, Jay, was ten. Like Crystal, they were monthly church attendees, and Roy knew little about them. They were respectable enough to gain no special file on his church records, and were counted as good people with no hang-ups. Finding them not at home made Roy wish he had known them better, while he had the chance.
He went home and on the way looked for any sign of the emergency workers, to no avail. Once home, he felt confident enough to drive to his church. Seeing the streets deserted convinced him that one car on the roads would not make any difference. And he had a duty as a church leader to monitor the situation from the church itself, and not his own lounge. Just to be careful, he drove slowly, well under the speed limit, and constantly watched out for any sort of emergency vehicle that might come speeding by.
Once safely inside the church, he unlocked the back door for Lenny and went to his office to wait for ten-thirty. He was determined to not waste the spare time again; he would thoroughly clean out his desk drawers. In doing so, he found numerous notes of past sermons, all of which made him stop and think, and that made the time fly.
“Lenny?” he called out the back door into the night at precisely ten-thirty.
Behind the church was an empty section that went back to the next street. It was filled with large old trees, with sprawling low branches. Roy was never really sure where the church’s property finished and the section began, and no one seemed concerned about it. The lawn that went past the church’s small cemetery was always mowed up to where the trees began, and it made the whole area appear restful. But at night the trees made it very dark, with the lights from the next street almost completely obscured.
Roy carried a MaserStunner, a modest weapon for self-protection. He usually left it in a desk drawer, but after remembering the amount of fear in Lenny’s voice, he felt better in carrying it with him. It was but a light model, suitable for halting any attacker without causing any serious or long-term damage. A useful feature was that it could double as a torch. He was just about to switch on the light when he heard someone coming near. He knew the person carried no such weapon; a feature of Roy’s model was a warning device.
“Quick, get inside,” Lenny said as he ran to the door. “They mi
ght see you.”
“Who might see me?” Roy asked, agitated over Lenny’s alarm. He was relieved that it was no attacker, but he berated himself that he should have been more adept with the stunner.
“Anyone. We’ve got to watch out.”
Roy shook his head and shut the door, and brought Lenny some relief when he locked it. Lenny was a tall and powerful built Indian. He always spoke well, even though his parents came from central India and Lenny was raised in a home that alternated between Hindi and English. His short hair was black, skin dark, and he wore round-rimmed glasses which went dark in sunlight. His actions were always gentle and relaxed, and his voice surprisingly deep, but he had fiery emotions that could be unleashed at any moment. Roy knew him well enough to see from the first glance that he was frightened and panicked, and would need sensitive counselling.
“Let’s go to my office,” Roy said with a soothing smile and an arm over Lenny’s shoulders.
In the office Roy served a cup of black coffee and encouraged Lenny to sit on the comfortably large chair that was positioned in front of his desk.
“How are your parents?” Roy asked him conversationally.
“All right, I guess,” he answered without moving his eyes from the black coffee.
“Your extended family? I know you have many aunts, uncles, cousins here in St Antipas. They all safe?”
“I guess, yeah.”
“They’re all present and accounted for?”
“I guess.”
“You guess?” Roy questioned with a smile. “We’ve been through a major upheaval here. I still believe we’re under major alert. Don’t you think you should be sure you know where everyone is?”
“All right, I’m sure!” Lenny snapped and nearly spilt his coffee.
“Calm down, please, Lenny,” said Roy, stunned at his reaction. “Remember we’re all in this together. There’s no need to panic, or worry about people following you.”
Lenny put his cup on Roy’s desk and stood to start pacing. There was little room for him to do so, and he rapidly went back and forth from the large bookcase to a row of spare chairs. Roy could see he was in thought, and he gave him time to deal with it.
He soon started mumbling to himself. “What are we going to do?”
“Have a seat,” Roy insisted.
He sat on the edge of the chair, with his hands resting on Roy’s desk and his fingers nervously dancing about.
“During such times,” said Roy, “Such disasters and social upheaval, it is good for us to get back to what is really important, to what really matters; the central issues. Sometimes such events are good for us, in that we can see clearly the things that are eternal and everlasting, separate from the things temporal and earthly. God uses such times to show us where our hearts should be. If our minds are too centred on the world then we have nowhere to turn when the world lets us down. But if we keep our minds on heaven and the Master Above, then when the world falls apart we are still standing strong, standing fast on the rock of the divine word, for that will never let us down.”
Lenny removed his glasses and wiped his eyes in a frustrated manner.
“Is there something you would like to share with me? I can see something is troubling you.”
“Troubling me? Yeah, something’s troubling me all right.”
“You can tell me about it. We’re quite private in here.”
“Let me ask you this, then, Reverend: You talk about God using this time for our good; how can this be good? What kind of good can come out of this?”
“God is capable of turning the worst situation into one of blessing. I have no doubt about that.”
“Blessing? But he’s rejected us!”
“Calm down. He has not rejected anyone.”
“No, only you and me!”
Roy felt a surge of guilt. He realised Lenny was saying the same thing that he had imagined only one day ago. Such a lot had happened since then that Roy had not thought about it, or relived it. If Lenny had said it to him twenty-four hours ago, then Roy might have conceded that he was right. But not now. Now he was sure he was mistaken about God judging him, and he knew that he was saved by God’s grace, and he was going to stand on that belief.
“Tell me what’s wrong. What’s upsetting you? It’s not like you to shout, and pace about in my office. The sooner you can share it with me the sooner I can help you. I can’t help you if you don’t share with me.”
“I don’t even know what I’m doing here.”
“Lenny, you called for this meeting yourself. You’re the one who asked me here, in all this secrecy of the cover of night.”
“Why are you making this so difficult?”
Roy politely laughed with frustration and leaned back in his chair. “I’m sorry Lenny, but you are the one making this difficult. I know we are all going through a trying time.”
“Trying time? How about the Great Tribulation? How’s that for a trying time?”
“The what?”
“The Great Tribulation. You know, the locusts, horses, plagues, vials; the whole deal, the whole terrible deal, man. Beasts, plagues, trumpets, mountains of fire, God’s wrath, the Earth burning up, the sea turning to blood; everything!”
Roy looked at his friend and realised he had not only been reading from Julius Mann, He recognised the language of the book of Revelation. He knew the only people who read that book are those looking to the future in a state of fear and confusion. They were the people who read sensational books full of strange warnings about conspiracies and other general fear mongering. It saddened Roy that Lenny could have gone off and done his own thing by reading such books. Roy had spent years trying to cultivate a sound theological foundation in the young man. He told himself to be gentle with him, as he tried to bring his friend back into the Kingdomite way of thinking.
“Let me explain this ‘great tribulation’. You must understand that what you are quoting is apocalyptic symbolism. It is not at all appropriate for everyday life, especially times of disaster like we have seen today. There is a time and a place for such language, but I’m afraid this is not one of them. I know there might be a great temptation to use it as a solution to our current crisis, but we must guard against such an error. I don’t know what you have been reading, or who you have been following, but please take my advice and pay no further attention to it. Anyone who looks to the book of Revelation and tries to see today’s world is seriously deluded.”
“But what do you mean? You know all about this stuff, don’t you?”
“What stuff is that, exactly?”
“The end-times, the end of the age, the countdown to the end. The Great Tribulation. The Antichrist. The Second Coming, man!”
“I thought we have been through this. You’ve read what Julius Mann has said on this subject, haven’t you?”
“Yeah, I guess.”
“Do you remember what he said?”
“I guess.”
“Julius Mann said the apocalyptic symbolism found in the book of Revelation and the Old Testament prophets, together with Jewish Apocrypha, are written in that peculiar style as a special way of showing us God, and how we should view God in the light of a fallen world too corrupter to see him clearly. Thus we need to read of God and his dealings with mankind through the veil of beasts and dragons, and various other things that apparently held people interested in the first century CE. If you start trying to interpret such symbolism into today’s world, Lenny, you can come up with anything you like, and none of it anything like the original intention.”
Roy paused and looked at his young friend with sympathy. It looked like he was getting through to him; it had at least calmed him.
“I’m afraid,” Roy continued, “I cannot offer you help regarding such so-called “popular” thinking. But if you want to discuss serious biblical exposition, then I’m always available to you. But I can’t help you with misguided pseudo-intellectual ideas.”
“You believe in the last days, don’t
you? The Great Tribulation; you believe that?”
“I believe Jesus will one day return to this world, of course, but not the way you hear many people saying it.”
“But you’ve got books in your library that talk about the end-times stuff.”
Roy recalled that such popular books were indeed in the church library. He had never thought that Lenny would be interested in them, but now saw that when he had encouraged him to spend time in the library he had not concentrated entirely on the sound theological studies.
“You must understand something about people’s nature. Some are happy to be told one thing, one aspect of Christian teaching, and some are happy to be told something else, something less controversial, less hard to accept. To give everyone the same medicine, so to speak, is not good, because there are different diseases for different parts of the body. One part of the body is weak, and that can only take weak medicine, while the strong part of the body can cope with strong medicine. That is the same with teaching God’s truths. Some people are spiritually strong, and can take the strong, potent medicine of, for instance, a teacher like Julius Mann. Others are weak and can only take the weak teachings. Unfortunately, it appears that today the majority of people are satisfied with the weak. Such books you mean, the ones that talk about the last days and the so-called end-times, and say Revelation is relevant for today, they are only looking to the weak teaching, because they themselves are weak.”
“You mean you don’t think we’re in the Great Tribulation?”
“No, I don’t. Not in the way the popular writers might say. We believe the Great Tribulation represents the era of the church, of Christianity.”
“But how else do you explain it?”
“Explain what? The current crisis? I don’t know if any of the popular writers talk about that.”
“Well, sure you do. It’s the rapture, man. Isn’t it obvious? We’ve both missed out on the rapture!”
Roy desperately kept his face straight and his mind attuned to serious counselling. He did not want to offend his friend by showing him what he thought about the rapture teaching. He knew of some church leaders in the city who fervently preached on that topic, saying they were about to be “caught up” in the clouds to secretly meet Jesus, and then go back to heaven for something like seven years, or longer.
“I must admit I’m not overly informed about that teaching; I’ve never believed in it, and I’m not sure if I want to start believing in it now. But I will say this: It’s a great deal better than hearing that aliens have gone about vaporising people. And yes, I have heard that given as a possibility.”
“I’m not surprised people are saying that.”
“You’re not?”
“That’s exactly one of the things they will be saying.”
“Why do you say that?”
“I’ve got this book that lays down all the things that will happen after the rapture takes place. It’s written for those who get left behind, who will have to go through the Great Tribulation. And man, even if you don’t believe it, I sure do! They’re happening right now, all the things they’ve said! You take a look at the talk-shows and the so-called experts they’ve got on. Man, they’re all saying what this book said they’ll be saying. All this stuff about people killing themselves, due to some “cosmic mind” that planted it in their minds. Have you heard all that, what they’ve been saying?”
“No, I haven’t.”
“Take a look at the book for yourself. It’s just what they’re meant to do after the rapture happens, to delude everyone and keep them from the truth.”
“The doctrine that says some people will be taken to heaven and some will stay behind is false. It cannot possibly be right.”
“How can you say that?”
“We are saved by grace, not works. There is no such thing as better Christians and Christians who do not make it. You know our doctrines well enough, don’t you?”
“Reverend, all I know right now is that I’m here and they’ve gone.”
“All right, if you think you have been rejected by God, then tell me why. Why has he rejected you? Do you think Christ missed you out from his redemption plan? And what about me? If he left you here on Earth to go through the Great Tribulation, then it looks like I’m stuck here too; I’ve missed out on this flight to heaven, because I’ve somehow missed out on the redemption plan. Is that what you think? How much more theology are you prepared to throw out the window? Because that’s what you will have to do to believe these rapture teachers.”
“Man, I don’t know why you’re still here; I can’t figure it out. Maybe you’ve done something wrong, something so bad that you’ve been spat out, so to speak.”
“I don’t accept that,” Roy said with a raised voice. He was fighting to keep calm, but he could hear only accusation in Lenny’s voice. He knew Lenny did not know what happened on Saturday night, and he was certainly not about to let him know at this time, if ever.
“It’s biblical, being spat out, being rejected,” Lenny continued, excited by what he was thinking. “You know the bit about the Laodicean church in Revelation, that scores of people say we are in now; that age, that spiritual climate. They at neither hot or cold.”
“Yes, yes, I know what it says; they’re lukewarm and they get spewed from the mouth of Christ. It’s all just symbolic language, not meant to be taken literally.”
“But maybe it is literal. Maybe it explains what’s happened. I don’t know about you, Reverend. I don’t want to offend you or nothing. But maybe you’ve done something wrong in God’s sight; I don’t know what, but bad enough to be rejected as being spiritually pure enough to go to heaven.”
Roy controlled himself to not give a quick answer; knowing it would look better if he did not try to refute him. Answer him gently, to show you’re still in control and you’ve done nothing wrong.
“But as for myself,” Lenny continued, growing in confidence, “I know I’ve done something real bad. I went back to my old girlfriend. Man, she was begging me to come round and see her again. I haven’t seen her for a couple of months, you know?”
“I advise you to think through what you’re telling me. If you’ve committed a sin then pray for forgiveness and repent and move on in newness of life, in Christ your Saviour.”
Roy felt more in control now; he was back in familiar territory and was also speaking from experience.
“But please,” Roy continued, “don’t start thinking you’ve been rejected by God. It is just not right. You can’t go around thinking that way each time you fall. We all make mistakes, and that is why we need God’s forgiveness. Haven’t you heard me speaking about this every Sunday?”
“But this wasn’t just any old mistake, Reverend. Man, I was committing sin with this girl when the rapture happened. Do you see now why I missed out?”
Roy knew exactly what he meant, with a rush of guilt, and it stunned him so much that he began to feel dizzy and short of breath. He told himself to calm down and give a reasonable reply, but he could think of nothing.
“I don’t believe in the rapture teaching,” Roy offered. “It’s not in the Bible, and Mann said nothing about it.”
“Then maybe Mann was wrong,” Lenny said in measured tones, before he angrily jumped to his feet and stormed out of the office.
“Lenny!” Roy shouted as he went after him.
“You can think what you like, but I’m not going to fall away with all the others,” Lenny said as he marched to the church’s back door. “I’m going to live as Christlike as I can get, and prepare myself for the plagues.”
“You don’t have to think that, Lenny. There aren’t really any plagues. It’s just symbolic. It’s not meant to be taken literally.”
He stopped at the door and waited until Roy was close before he gave an answer. “Can you be sure of that, Reverend? Really sure? How do you know you aren’t under the Great Deception? Are you going to take the mark of the Beast too? Did Mann say anything about that? I bet
he didn’t!”
Roy reached out for him in a desperate effort to keep him in the church, but he ran from him, out into the darkness. Roy fumbled for the switch to the torch as he ran out after him. But he lost his footing and found himself falling and landing hard in loose dirt. He was in a hole. Some dirt went in his face and then in his mouth, and he spluttered as he spat it out. He then slipped further down, hurting his back on some broken pieces of wood. At first the only thing he could see was a few stars directly above him. He could feel more dirt spilling down on him from all sides. But he was more angry over losing Lenny than the misfortune of falling in a hole.
When he finally found the switch to the torch he flashed the light around him. The realisation of where he was flooded his body with terror. He was lying in a grave, a desecrated grave. Fear more than strength propelled him out.
Once he regained his footing, he put the light on the tombstone and read the name with grief. The body had been at rest for nearly twenty years. Barely able to believe it, he swept the light over the other graves. All had been opened and smashed. As far as he could see, all the bodies had been stolen. Shaking, not really wanting to look, he forced himself to go to the double-grave of his parents. An only-child, Roy was always close to them. Now ten years after their car-crash death, he still revered their grave. His stomach tightened when he found that too smashed, and the remains missing.
“This sick world just got sicker,” he muttered to himself.
With anger he brushed the dirt from his clothes and returned to his office. He made sure he locked the door to keep any psycho out. His opinion of the human race had never been lower.
As he tapped the number for the police he felt nauseated. He could not stop thinking about the bodies, and why anyone would want to do such a terrible thing like dig them up and take them away. How many nutters are there out there?
“Hello, my name is Reverend Roy Hoyle,” he said when the receptionist came on line, “and I want to report outrageous vandalism committed to my church property,”
“We are currently using all our lines for missing people reports, sir. Unless it’s a serious emergency, I’m afraid I’ll have to ask you to call back later,” She sounded tired, overworked.
“It’s serious to me, all right. And these qualify as missing people.”
“Well, I can help you there. Tell me their names, ages and last known whereabouts. We’ll add this to the list, but I must warn you there is little chance over locating them and they may be deceased.”
“They already were deceased. They were in my church graveyard. The remains have all been dug up and taken away. It’s most disturbing.”
“I’m sorry, but that does not qualify for our list. If you have no other report to make, then I must ask you to close the call. We have many lines full.”
“But you must do something about it, surely?”
“You’re not the first to report grave desecration, sir.”
“I’m not?”
“Good-bye, sir.”
“Wait, I do have some actual missing people to report. I’ve just remembered.”
“All right, give me their names, ages and last known whereabouts.”
“It’s my church. My entire congregation. I have all their names on computer file. Can I send that to you now?”
“Yes, we are free to take your file now, sir.”
Roy quickly found the mode to send the basic names and addresses of his congregation. After a few seconds the transaction was complete, and the receptionist thanked him for the convenience.
“How many other grave sites have been desecrated?” Roy asked her.
“Too many,” she said as she sighed and cut him off, leaving him all the more perplexed about what could have taken place.
Roy returned home and the expected haven of his bed, but the expected sleep eluded him. After spending numerous uncomfortable hours, he decided to make an early start to the new day, Tuesday.
He prepared his breakfast and then put the TCS on. He paged through the names of the church leaders he could rely on. He saw the name Doug Paull. He remembered Doug was one who taught the rapture doctrine. As he tapped his number he smiled and congratulated himself on how well Doug was going to help Lenny and his mixed-up ideas. If he could get Doug to talk to him then it would be obvious that he was jumping to crazy conclusions. If he’s still with us.
He made contact with Doug’s TCS. The call was answered. A male voice asked, “Hello? Who is it? It was not Doug’s voice.
“Is Doug Paull there, please?” Roy asked.
The voice on the other end gave a blunt, offensive reply.
“Well, could you tell me where he is?”
Another blunt reply, this one laced with abuse. Then the call was closed.
The conclusion was easy but hard to accept. Doug Paull was missing too. But what about his wife and young daughter?
Roy briefly considered what Lenny had said, that contrary to logical Bible exposition, the rapture had indeed been staged and they were missed; rejected. He wondered if he should have confessed his own sin to Lenny, to encourage him that there was really not much difference between them. Such a confession was about the last thing he was prepared to do, but he wondered if it would have helped Lenny. As he thought about his young friend he went over what he had said about the rapture, all of which Lenny seemed convinced of. Roy asked himself if it was possible that the Great Tribulation, for so long warned of by fanatical preachers, was about to come upon the world.
Could it be true?
Then he laughed at his fearful thoughts. He knew there must be some reasonable explanation. Then he thought of who was at Doug Paull’s residence. Whoever it was, and even if Doug was one of the missing people, the fact that an intruder could be there made him angry.
He decided right there and then not only to find out who had answered the call, but to find Doug and his family. Perhaps then he could also discover the truth about where the rest of his beloved companions in the faith had gone.