Read The Past or The Coming Future Page 10

CHAPTER 9

  “If you remember, Michael visited me in Oklahoma in 2002, during our summer vacation. We traveled to Dallas and saw all the sights and later I introduced Michael to Professor Hale and to his parents, Tom and Debbie. Tom and Michael talked and acted as if they had known each other for years. Michael told Tom about some commercials he would be putting together some day in the future and he asked Tom if he would be interested. Michael made him an offer of $250,000 a year. Ladies and gentlemen, meet Tom. Tom, do you remember what you said to Michael?”

  “Yes. I asked, ‘When do you want me to start?’ Michael said he would call when it was time to do the commercials.”

  “When I received my two crowns in heaven, I requested that I might have this community because Tom and Debbie were here. Jesus said He knew I wanted to be here, and He had already planned to give me Clearmount. I have talked to Tom, and he said he was willing to tell you about his life the last four or five years before the rapture. At this time I need to return to the New Jerusalem, so Tom will tell you what happen.

  “It is just as brother Steven stated; Michael and I hit it off immediately. We talked and shared different things that most young men never even think to talk about. I found that Michael was very interesting to talk to. The knowledge he had on almost any subject I brought up amazed me. He seemed to be a walking encyclopedia. We sat and talked, and when it was time for him and Steven to leave, I was very sorry we did not have more time together.

  “In the fall of 2005 I received a call from Michael. He said the commercials we had discussed were about to become a reality. He asked if I was still interested in making commercials. I told him I was still interested, but because the cost of living had gone up since we last talked the amount of money might not be enough. Michael paused for a moment and said, ‘You sly fox, you are just like me.’ We both laughed, and he agreed to give me $300,000 a year. He said the commercials would be made from January through October. The crew would have five months off, and the commercial filming would start again in April. I asked where the commercials were going to be made, and he said all over the world.

  “I told Debbie we were going to be celebrities. She asked what I meant. I told her Michael had called and said he wanted us to make commercials for him and I agreed we would do it. We had to have everything ready to go by the last week of December.

  “I talked to Charlie and asked if he thought it was a good idea. He said if we did not like it, all we would have to do is catch the next plane home. Michael said the first shooting would take place in Rome. After Rome, we would be in Jerusalem, then Babylon, Brussels, New York, Hong Kong, Tokyo and almost every major city in the world. The idea was to let everyone see the older generation using credit cards instead of money. There really wasn’t much to say in the commercials. We had to act excited about having a credit card and excited about using it. That would be easy enough.

  “I called Michael and told him I would like to arrive a couple of days early so we could get settled into our apartment, or hotel, or wherever we would be living. Michael said we would be living with him in his mansion.

  “On December 29, we arrived at the airport to get our tickets and leave for Rome. We were told to go to gate 37, where we would board the plane. When we arrived at gate 37, there was one man waiting for us. I told him who I was and that we were supposed to board the jet at gate 37. We followed him through the long corridor until we met two women at the door of the jet. They were not stewardesses. Their dresses were not uniforms. Once we were inside, the man closed the door behind us. One of the women said we could sit anywhere we wanted. When we walked into the passenger area, I was speechless! We were the only passengers on board.

  “I said, ‘You mean you are going to fly a jet to Rome with only two passengers?’ She stated that this was the private jet of Michael D. Glispbe and only very, very, important people are allowed this type of treatment.

  “After the plane took off, I decided to get a glass of water. While I was getting the water, I overheard the two women asking each other who we were. Neither one knew who we were, but they did a lot of speculation. One said, ‘It could be Michael’s parents,’ but the other said she had heard that his parents were killed in a fire. The other lady said, ‘Maybe they are his grandparents.’ The other replied that Michael had told her his grandmother would never get on a plane and fly. ‘She is deathly afraid of flying.’ They talked back and forth and could never come up with anything they both agreed on.

  “At that time, I said, ‘We are friends of Michael, and we will be making commercials for one of his companies.’ They seemed relieved we were not really important people. I think they were afraid we might say something to Michael if we had a bad flight to Rome. Everything went fine, and when we left the plane I told them I would enjoy flying with them again. They both smiled a smile of true pleasure and relief.

  “At the airport a man in a chauffeur’s uniform met us and said he would take us to Michael’s home. The car was a stretch limousine. We discovered that Michael did not do anything in a small way or inexpensively. His home was a 72-room, five-story mansion. Every room was arrayed with the most expensive furniture and decor money could buy. Michael greeted us at the door and said how happy he was that we were there.

  “That night we talked until one in the morning. Everything we needed was at our fingertips. If we asked, it was done immediately. When we went out window shopping, if we saw something we thought was nice, Michael had informed our guides to buy it for us. We both had to watch what we said. I remember one day I saw a horse and made the comment it was the most beautiful horse I had ever seen. Before the day was over, the horse was ours. I had to find a place to board the horse. When I made the statement, ‘Too bad we don’t have a barn for the horse,’ the next day a truck pulled up and unloaded a load of wood. Within three days, a barn was built for the horse. The barn was built just before a big snowstorm hit. No one ever rode that horse. Sometimes when I would get a little depressed or lonely, I would go out and talk to him.

  “The commercials were put on hold because of the rare winter storm that had hit Italy. It would be at least two weeks before we could start shooting. When we finally started doing commercials, I was a little camera shy. But after three of four commercials, I became an old hand at making them. Debbie seemed to be at ease all the time. She never did sweat or get nervous, like I would do sometimes. We only had a few lines to say. Most of the time, the commentator did all the speaking. The people who wrote the commercials really were good at their job. They knew how to make people believe they really did deserve to have the ICAN card and they deserved to use it as often as they needed to. Every commercial had the motto, ‘ICAN charge anything I want, because I DESERVE it. When we first started doing commercials, the elderly, from 60 and up, were using the credit card only 5 percent of the time. Within three months, the percent rose to 17 percent. The commercials were working. More and more elderly people were getting and using the ICAN card. The card did protect them from carrying a lot of cash, and dangerous as the world was getting, with people being robbed in broad daylight, this seemed to be a blessing.

  “As I just stated, the winter storm kept us from doing any commercials for almost two weeks. During that time, we were given the script for the next seven commercials. After I memorized them, I could do them in my sleep. Michael asked if I felt comfortable with the scripts, and I told him it would be a piece of cake.

  “Throughout the week, Michael and I would have talks at night and discuss all kinds of subjects. He would ask for my advice on many different things, and I would explain why I suggested what I did. Many times Michael would take my advice, and things would work out just fine. One night he asked if I was a Christian. I told him I did not believe all that stuff that Christians talk about and believe in. He said, ‘You do not believe Jesus is God?’

  “I told him, ‘I do not believe a man could ever b
e God, but some people put men into the position of God.’

  “He asked, ‘How can you have a son that is a Christian and teaches at a Christian University and not be saved yourself?’

  “I explained that some people want to believe anything. They want to believe there is life after death and there must be some way to reach that goal. With Christians, it is Jesus Christ. While other religions have their way to reach that goal, they all want to believe they will be the ones who make it to their type of heaven. I told him I didn’t know of any religion that taught about their followers being lost. It is always the other religions that are lost.

  “Michael said, ‘I can see that we are going to have a great relationship together.’

  “The first commercial we did, we wore old torn clothes, with dirt all over our faces. We walked out of an old decrepit house to the mail box. Inside the mail box was a letter with our new ICAN credit cards. The commentator said, ‘Without the ICAN credit card, we would continue to live the way we had been living.’ We looked at each other with sad, forlorn faces. In the next scene, we appeared with clean and fancy clothes on. We were walking out of our brand new house and saying, ‘Without the ICAN credit card, we could never have dreamed it was possible to have all of these luxuries.’ The director of the commercial said it was perfect. I thought to myself, ‘It sure does pay good to say only one or two lines.’

  “One day, in between commercials, Michael received a call from Ireland. He said nothing, but I could tell he was upset. I asked if he wanted to talk about the call. He said he should not let his personal life interfere with me. I told him I was there for him to talk to and to confide in. He said his grandmother, Kim, called to say his grandfather had died. He would be leaving the next day to make arrangements for the funeral. Michael told me the story of his family dying in a fire when he was a small boy. He said his grandfather and grandmother raised him as their own son. That was the main reason he did not believe in God. If there was a God, He would not have taken his family in a fire. Michael also told me how he was ridiculed by the boys in school because he was not Jewish. He said he was one-fourth Jewish, but the other children would not accept that as being Jewish.

  “All through school, there were slurs and things said that really did hurt. He said he hated all Jews and one day he would get even. Although I sat and listened to what he was saying, I was wondering why Michael did not make friends outside the Jewish community. When he was through talking, I asked him that question. He said he did have two friends, but his grandmother was a very orthodox Jew, and she forbade him to speak to or have anything to do with Gentiles. It seemed odd that she felt that way, seeing that her husband, Michael’s step grandfather, was a Gentile. He said she also blamed God for the fire that killed her son and grandchildren. Michael’s grandmother had never stepped inside a synagogue again.

  “From that day on, Michael treated me like I was his grandfather, and I treated him like a grandson. Debbie was always giving him advice from a woman’s perspective. That way, Michael could weigh each idea, and then decide which would be the most logical.

  “We continued to make commercials in nearly all the major cities of the world. Michael did not keep his word about the salary we were supposed to receive. He told me he would pay us $300,000 a year. Instead, we were given $1 million for the 10 months we worked in 2006. He said we did such a great job, he gave everyone a bonus. What a bonus!

  “In October we told Michael we did not want to pack everything up and send it back to Dallas, just to repack it in March for our return trip. I asked if it would be all right if we left everything. Michael though it was a great idea. He even made the comment, ‘That means you’ll be coming back.’

  “I playfully remarked to him, ‘How could you get along without us?’

  “He looked at me with tears in his eyes and said, ‘I really don’t know how I could get along without you two.’

  “The last commercial was shot on the 29th, and on the 30th we flew back to Dallas. It had been 10 months since we had seen any of our relatives. We had a lot of catching up to do. We would have Thanksgiving and Christmas at our house. We decided we had traveled enough for one year. Charlie could not believe how much money we had made doing commercials, and when we told him where we had been, he could not believe his parents had truly become world travelers. We shared half of the money with our children and grandchildren and put the rest in savings.

  “Debbie was very good at knitting. When we were in London, one of the tailors was making Michael a suit coat, and Debbie asked for his size. Debbie started knitting Michael a sweater out of cashmere. On December 20th, I called to find out where Michael would be the next day. I sent the sweater by overnight mail, and was told it would arrive in Rome around 4 in the afternoon. The note we put in the box said, ‘To Michael, someone who is as close as a son to us.’ He called as soon as he received the package and thanked us and said he could hardly wait to see us in March.

  “During our five-month stay, I had many chances to talk with Charlie. He would ask questions about Michael and Dr. Messenger. I told him we did not see much of Dr. Messenger because he was spending most of his time in Babylon. He asked if we did any commercials in Babylon, and I said we had done three. I told him, ‘Iraq is spending millions of dollars to rebuild the city to the grandeur it was thousands of years ago. Dr. Messenger is building a 20-story complex for his new headquarters.’

  “Charlie said, ‘So the rumors are true, he is moving to Babylon?”

  “I told him, ‘They are not rumors. The complex will be ready in two years.’

  “Charlie suggested, ‘It may be better if you do not do any more commercials.’

  “At my age, where could I make a million dollars a year?’

  “He said with concern in his voice, ‘There is more to life than money, Dad. The Bible says the love of money is the root of all evil.’

  “I spoke a little harshly to him, but made myself clear. ‘We made a lot of money and we did not use it for evil. In March, we will return to Rome and make commercials until November.’

  “Charlie asked with sincerity in his voice, ‘What is Michael like to be around?’

  “I told him, ‘Michael is a very easy person to talk to and to get to know. He did most of his business by phone from his mansion, and when we did commercials, he was always with us. He said, ‘If I go with you when you do the commercials, I won’t have to make an extra trip to that city later.’ We had plenty of time to talk to Michael.

  “We returned to Rome for the next seven months.

  “When we arrived this time, Michael said he had two cooks who would cook anything that we might want. I told Michael we would cook our own food if that was okay. Debbie cooked all our meals, and to my surprise, Michael started eating all his meals with us. He said the food Debbie cooked was so much better than the meals the hired cooks were preparing; he would rather eat with us. We would talk and just have fun together. He seemed at ease with us, compared to other people who were around him. One day he stated that everyone was always trying to get something out of him, except us. He said we never asked for anything or complained about things, the way the others around him did.

  “The year came and went, and before we knew it, we were on Michael’s plane heading back to Dallas. The two women whom we had met the first time we flew on Michael’s plane had become very friendly, and we would talk to each other on a first-name basis each time. They said the vacation would seem like it only lasted a week and then we would be flying back. Those words became fact. March arrived and soon we were on Michael’s plane heading back to Rome. The first couple of months we made commercials in Jerusalem and other Middle East locations. In May, we were going to go to Babylon for two weeks of commercials.

  “While in Babylon, we decided to take a tour of the city. The first place the guide took us was to the Hanging Gardens. He stated back in Babylon, in 600 B.C., the Hanging
Gardens were one of the Seven Wonders of the World. The cost to reconstruct the Hanging Gardens must be huge. The guide said that Dr. Messenger and an unknown donor by the name of Diabolos had given over $1 billion to rebuild the city of Babylon. He said other donors were giving hundreds of millions of dollars also. With the new religion in Babylon, the tourist industry was bringing in hundreds of millions of dollars that would be used to help rebuild the city. The cost of the Hanging Gardens was said to be $100 million. While we continued our tour, I asked the guide, 'When did the government start to rebuild Babylon?' He said the industrialization of Babylon occurred overnight. One day there was nothing, the next day there were men and equipment working to restore the city.

  “I asked him about the government rebuilding the military after the Gulf War in the early ‘90s. He said the government did rebuild, but when Michael became the Prince of Peace, all that stopped. The guide said that Michael talked the government into disbanding most of the military and having a peaceful agenda. If they did what he requested, Babylon would become one of the greatest cities in the world, and within years Babylon would become the trade Mecca of the world, also.

  “The guide took us all over Babylon. The last sight he took us to was the 20-story building for the World Council of Religious Beliefs. The building was made of marble on the outside, and the inside was a masterpiece of work. It was the most beautiful building I had ever seen. While we were taking our tour, Dr. Messenger came by and asked if we would like to take a personal tour with him. He showed us things in the building that very few people knew about. There were hidden cameras and microphones in almost every room. There were also rooms with beds, just in case anyone would have to stay overnight. Dr. Messenger said that Michael trusts us with his life, and if Michael feels that way, he does also.

  “After our commercials in Babylon were finished, we flew back to Rome. Michael had business to take care of, so we did not see him for over a week. I asked if anyone knew where he was, and they said that only Dr. Messenger could get in touch with him. When Michael arrived, I asked, ‘How was business?’

  “He said, ‘Things went just the way I had figured. I have been working with a man I met in California, back in 2001. He had plans on building a robot that walked, talked and looked just like a man. I bought the plans from the man and told him I was going to make a company that sells robots to the general public.’

  “I thought to myself, ‘When you have as much money as Michael has, you can play with different ideas and toys.’ I would find out later how serious the robot plans would be.

  “July 23, 2008, at two in the afternoon, Michael received a call that upset him enough to cause him to cry. He said his grandmother, Kim, had died of a heart attack. He said he loved her more than anyone in the world. ‘God has taken another person that I love from me.’

  “I told Michael I wished there was something I could do other than say I am sorry. He said he wanted to be alone for the rest of the afternoon. I asked Debbie if she would mind fixing Michael’s favorite meal, marinated veal. When he finally decided to come down, I asked if he was hungry, and he said he was starving. When Debbie set the food out, he could not believe she would take so much time in preparing his favorite meal, just to make him feel good. He said, ‘I only have two people left in the world that I love, and if God were to take either one of you from me, I don’t know what I would do.’

  “I told Michael we would go with him to Ireland to help with the funeral and anything else that might come up.’

  “At the gravesite I noticed the inscription on the head stone. It said, ‘My grandmother, Kim, is at peace without God.

  “I thought about that for many days, and one day I asked Michael about the headstone.

  “He said, ‘The last time I saw my grandmother, she told me what she wanted on her headstone. She said she did not want any part of God or anything on her headstone that would give God glory. That is what she wanted on her headstone, and that’s what she received.’ The grief from losing Kim made Michael more and more coldhearted about the things of God.

  “The commercials kept my mind off the things of the world. I was so old; I often wondered how much longer I could last. The year 2008 was almost over, and we would be back in Dallas at the end of October. It seemed like it was just year after year of the same thing. You might say, I was getting a little burned out. The year 2008 came and went, as did 2009. Michael told us in September 2009 we would be doing the last of the commercials next year. I thought, ‘How great it will be not doing commercials anymore!’

  “On March 30, 2010, we arrived back in Jerusalem just in time to see Dr. Messenger leave to go back to Babylon. The new religion was on the verge of taking over the whole world. In two or three years it would be the religion of choice. Michael said he was not that fond of the new religion, but if people needed to believe in something, they might just as well believe in something that they could relate to.

  “Before we had left that previous year, Michael said this would probably be our last year for making commercials. There was only one other credit card company remaining and it would be out of business before the end of the year. ‘There will be no need to make commercials since the only credit card company in the world will be the ICAN card. If a person does not want to use a credit card, that is fine. They can do without or use cash.’ He continued, ‘In the near future, the only way to do any type of business will be with the credit card because money will be outlawed.’

  “Michael was so busy, we only saw him once or twice a week. When he was in Rome, we had time to talk and discuss different aspects of his businesses. The only company the general public knew that Michael owned was the stock exchange. All the other companies were owned by the person known as Diabolos.

  “That first year Michael paid us $1 million for making commercials was the least amount we earned. This year we would make $3 million. What a way to retire. We were looking forward to living in Dallas year round. Well, that did not last for long. Two weeks later we were back in Rome, talking to Michael about moving to Dallas for the last years of our lives. He stated that he was expecting us to stay in Rome as consultants.

  “I said, ‘Since the commercials will be over, we are anticipating a quiet retirement before we die. I am 91 and Debbie is 92 years old. How much time do we have left? Plus, we are not consultants.’

  “He said, ‘The time that I spend with you gives me the guidance and direction in almost every decision I make. This would be a full-time job that pays $2 million a year, with a three-month vacation.’

  “When he told me how many months we would have for a vacation, I knew he really did not have a consultant’s job for us. He was lonely and needed someone around him whom he could trust and confide in. I thought how it must be for a person to have as much money as he had and not to have any friends or family. We were the only ones that he called family. A statement he had made one day I hadn’t thought about until later. He had said, ‘If anything ever happens to you, I don’t know what I will do. There is no one that could fill the void in my heart if you were to die.’

  “With our age, death was a constant companion. I told Michael when the commercials were over in October, we would go back to Dallas, but we would be back as consultants in April. With that he sounded a sigh of relief.

  “As I said earlier, Michael was gone a lot. Most of the time, he was at peace meetings between two or more countries. There was not one meeting that he went to that ended in war. Every possible way to bring peace to the warring countries was used.

  “In May, he used his computer company to bring peace between France and Spain. It started out as a small misunderstanding, but turned into a quarrel that almost brought both countries to war. Michael put together a peace plan that both countries could live with. The small piece of land that was in dispute would be under French dominion for five years and then Spanish rule for five years. Both countries would have
access to his computer company for 10 years at no charge. This plan saved both countries $20 million.

  “After Michael would bring peace to the warring countries, the news media always stated, ‘The Prince of Peace worked out another plan that brought peace to the area.’

  “One day when Michael was home, he asked if he could talk to me about something very serious. He said the reason he wanted us to stay in Rome most of the time was that things were about to turn for the worst. He stated sometime very soon the undesirables that all the religions had been talking about were going to be taken off the face of the earth by aliens. ‘When that day comes, it will cause total chaos in the world. But chaos will not last for long. Something will happen that will cause people to think about other things. Also, with the undesirables gone, the world will be able to attain the place it has been reaching for, for hundreds of years, TOTAL peace. The undesirables are the ones that have kept the world in chaos and confusion. It will be a great time in world history, a time of unimaginable peace!’ He said he would protect us from anything that may occur. We would have to depend on him for protection.

  “The commercial year flew by quickly, and October was almost over. We were excited about going home, but more excited about our new job of the so-called consultants. On our last day in Rome, Michael said he was very distraught about us leaving. He felt the time was very, very close for something to happen. He said he did not know the time or the month or the year, but it was close. ‘If there is a great disappearance of people in the world, you need to get back to Rome immediately.’

  “The holidays were great; we had a chance to see all of our relatives on both sides of the family. We shared with everyone about our 70th wedding anniversary celebration and distributed invitations to all our relatives at Thanksgiving and Christmas. Everyone was excited about our anniversary, including us.

  “I know some of our family members were hoping we would both make it to February 17, 2011. To tell you the truth, I was hoping the same thing also. The time went so quickly, before I knew it, it was February 16, one day before our anniversary. We went all out with everything money could buy. When we were first married, we did not have a lot. The 70th would be different. I spent over $10,000 on food and other things to prepare for that great day. I even bought Debbie a new diamond ring worth $21,000.

  “I did not think I would be able to sleep the night before, but at eight I fell asleep and did not wake up until seven the next morning. We were supposed to be at the morning breakfast at eight-thirty and back at the house by ten. At ten, we would have pictures taken of children, grandchildren and great-grandchildren. Then there would be a time of socializing, and at twelve, I had a meal catered in that was fit for a king. I had everything planned. Nothing could go wrong. Well, I might say I did not think anything could go wrong.

  “We arrived at the restaurant right on time for breakfast, and at ten we were back at the house. My family and Debbie’s family were looking at pictures of our early years and joking about our age. Everyone was having a great time, including Debbie and I. I told her, ‘I have really enjoyed the time together and hope it will last another 70 years.’ She said that would be nice, but we both knew that was impossible.

  “I was getting anxious for twelve to get here so the caterers could serve us the meal of a lifetime. I looked down at my watch and saw it was seven minutes after ten; we still had almost two hours to go before lunch.

  “Everyone was talking and laughing and then, all of a sudden, there was dead silence. What had happened? Everyone was gone. They just seemed to disappear. Debbie looked at me, and I could see the fear in her eyes. She asked, ‘What has happened?’

  “I told her I was totally confused. At that time I could hear sirens coming from all over. The sirens were not coming to our house. I could hear women screaming and saying someone had kidnapped their children. Debbie asked, ‘Do you think it could be the rapture that Charlie always talked about?’

  “I thought about it for a while and tried to remember what Charlie had told me, but I was so confused, my mind was not clear. I asked Debbie if she could remember what Charlie had said about the rapture. She recalled, ‘One day, everyone that is called a Christian will disappear.’ That was the key! You had to be a Christian.

  “I told her not everyone on both sides of our family are Christians. ‘Remember Ben, how he used to smoke and use every name in the book when he was mad? That’s not what I call a Christian. And what about your great niece? She has been in almost every bar in Dallas and went home with any guy who asked her to go with him. You call that a Christian? And what about Sammy? He’s in prison for murder. Christians are not murderers. Surely he is still there.’

  “Debbie looked at me and said, ‘Remember, Ben changed. He quit smoking and you never heard a bad word out of his mouth again. Nancy stopped going to bars and started going to church. She said she was sorry for the way she had lived and she said she repented. While in prison, Sammy told the story of an old inmate who was in for life. But he was happy and content. He said the reason was that he had become a Christian while he was in prison. Sammy could not believe anyone could be happy in prison, but that old man was very happy. Sammy asked if the guy could help him, and he led Sammy in a prayer for salvation. Everyone you have mentioned all became Christians.’

  “I told her, ‘We have to know what has happened.’ I thought it was best for us to turn on the TV.

  “In the family room, I turned on the TV and the news men were totally confused, just as we were. They told everyone to stay inside their homes and not to leave for any reason. They said there were cars, trucks, trains and planes that were in wrecks or had crashed. Some planes had collided in mid-air, while others crashed on take-off. The reporter said more reports were coming in from all over the world with the same news. Millions of people had just disappeared.

  “At ten fifty-two, I told Debbie I thought the rapture had occurred. I did not know if we could become Christians, but it was the only hope we had. We did not know what to do, so I thought it would be best if we were on our knees. I thought back about Charlie and the day he said all I had to do was to ask Christ to come into my life. While on our knees, I told Jesus that we were wrong and that we wanted to be Christians, but I did not know what to do. It seemed as if a light had come on in my head. I could see for the first time what we had to do. I told Jesus that we were sinners and we wanted to accept Him as our Savior. We knew that He died on the cross for our sins and we acknowledged him as our Lord.

  “When we stood up, the despair and fear had left both of us. I thought back to what Michael had said before we left Rome. If millions of people disappeared off the face of the earth, he’d told us to get back to Rome as fast as possible. I told Debbie we must try to get to Rome any way possible.

  “I called the airports, but all the lines were busy. It could be days before there was some kind of order put back into the world that had been turned upside down. I tried calling Michael in Rome, but the same problem we were having, Rome was having.

  “I thought about the things Charlie had said about the rapture and the things that would occur after the rapture. He said 45 days after the rapture, a person the Bible calls the Antichrist will sign a peace treaty with Israel. That will begin the seven years of Tribulation. He told me to mark that date, because 1260 days or 3 ½ years after that date, the Antichrist would go into the Tribulation Temple and proclaim himself to be God. That day would begin the Great Tribulation. The Great Tribulation would be a time in world history that was so bad that if Jesus did not return, there would be no flesh saved. In other words, mankind would be annihilated off the face of the earth.

  “At five in the afternoon, a man came to our house and asked if we were the Hales. I said I was Tom Hale, I thought for sure he was going to tell us some of our relatives had been killed in some of the accidents. Instead, he said he had been sent by Michael Glispbe.
We were to go with him to the airport. There was a special jet that would take us to Rome.

  “At the airport, a Lear jet was waiting for us to arrive. We boarded the plane and took off for Rome. Once we were in the air, one of the pilots stated that Michael was very concerned about us. The pilot said there would be one stop for fuel and the next stop would be Rome. I asked the pilot if he could tune in to any radio stations. He said, ‘You can watch TV if you want.’ He pushed a button and down came a screen. The controls were in the chair in front of us.

  “The stations were in the same chaos as the whole world. No one knew what had happened. They were reporting on wrecks in which the drivers of cars had just disappeared, one report told of a head-on train collision that totally destroyed a small town when the cars carrying fuel blew up.

  “Debbie asked if we were doing the right thing by going to Rome. I told her Michael was a very important person, and if we were going to make it through the tribulation, our best bet would be with Michael. We watched as one report after another told of the disasters all over the world. Suddenly, one report caught my eye. It was reporting that the ECU jet carrying nine of its top 11 officials were killed when it collided in mid-air with a British Air Bus. It went on to say the founder of the ‘Fellowship of Believers’ religion, Dr. Mohammed, was on board the jet and was killed, along with all the others. I couldn’t believe it. We had met Dr. Mohammed many times when we were in Babylon and now he was dead.

  “That meant someone would have to take over his position. There was no doubt in my mind it would be Dr. Messenger. I remembered what he had said as he took us on a personal tour of his headquarters in Babylon. I had told him how beautiful his headquarters were and he must be proud to show off what he had accomplished. He said, ‘This is nothing compared to the headquarters I will have in the near future.’

  “I asked where that might be?

  “He said, ‘The Fellowship of Believers’ headquarters. I wondered at that time if Dr. Mohammed was going to sell the building? But now, with everything that had just taken place, I could see that Dr. Messenger knew something would happen to Dr. Mohammed.

  “When we arrived in Rome, Michael was gone on a very important trip. I inquired about his trip and was told that Michael was in Jerusalem. When the disappearance occurred, Michael made the statement it was the exact time he had been waiting on. Peace in the Middle East was at hand. One person I talked to said Michael was negotiating peace between Israel and the surrounding Arab nations. Michael had stated as soon as the undesirables were removed there would be peace in the world. The peace Michael was negotiating was just the beginning of the greatest time the world would ever know, according to Michael. He would be what everyone had been calling him, ‘The Prince of Peace.’ “