September Skies
Rodger Arrives
At sunset the lights around the lake started to glow, reflecting off the calm water. Seth fished for trout with Rick and Danny. They hadn’t eaten since the execution of the Two Witnesses, but they weren’t hungry. They were only fishing for mental peace. They released anything they caught. Everyone understood that time was running out. They knew the Bible said three and a half days after the Two Witnesses were killed that Christ would return.
Seth looked over to Rick. “This must be what it feels like in the last two minutes of the Superbowl. Time is so slow!”
“Yeah.” Rick added. “But those guys go on vacation after this. What’s in store for us?”
Seth responded. “Dude! Are you crazy? We go on vacation too.”
Rick heard distant catcalls. He turned to see one of Randy’s scouts escorting someone toward the lake. They cleared the trees and came down to the water. Randy’s warrior moved effortlessly across the loose shale.
The other person following him wasn’t quite so graceful. He slipped and caught himself from falling. Another slip and he almost dropped whatever he was carrying. “Aarrgh! I should have worn my boots.”
Seth yelled. “Rodger. Is that you?” At the same time he hooked a trout. He started to real it in, but was more focused on Rodger, so he handed the fishing pole to Danny. “You take it. That’s Rodger, I know it.”
Seth and Rodger met along the shore fifty yards past the others. Rodger handed Seth a simple goldfish bowl. Seth held it up in the dim light. “My Fish! How did you get him up here? How did you get up here?”
“After you left things really fell apart. I went by your house and found your landlord loading all your things into one of those giant dumpsters. I asked him if I could take the fish.”
“Wow, all our stuff is gone… not that it matters anyway. What about getting up here though?”
Rodger tapped himself on the temple. “I can read and listen at the same time you know? I saw your secret handshake, and I saw the instructions on your website. But mostly I was able to get here because Bert and Angela were flying to Idaho and agreed to drop me off in Truckee.”
Seth was shocked. “That’s who circled the lake earlier! I was just waiting for some purple hat to start shooting at us. How did they get permission to fly?”
Rodger explained. “After Morning Star killed the Two Witnesses he opened the airways so people could get home in time for the celebration. He wants all people to return to their roots so they can be raptured with their families. You watch, by morning highway 80 will be a steady flow of people acting in a very joyful and celebratory mood.”
“What?” Seth tilted his head like Aizu would. He didn’t understand Rodger at all.
“They aren’t coming after you. They think you will be left here to inherit a hell on earth. They are going to distance themselves from you like a leaper. They’ve already passed judgment on your whole camp.”
Seth’s heart sank. “I thought we’d make a difference.”
“You did Seth. We flew over hundreds of camps like yours. And there are many streams of people coming your way. It’s not over yet.”
“That’s a great report!”
Without hesitation Rodger replied. “Hey, I got here before the three days ended, didn’t I?”
“I’m really glad you came.” Seth held the bowl up and stared at his fish friend. “I remember once, when we just moved to Napa, I was walking through the house and noticed something on the floor in front of the bathroom. I thought Aizu got sick and threw up. As I got closer I realized it was this dude. He jumped out of the tank, bounced around enough to turn the corner, make it out of the office, and down by the bathroom door. He wasn’t moving when I saw him, so he must have just given up.”
“What did you do?”
“I grabbed him and tossed him back into the tank as fast as I could. He torpedoed to the bottom. Dog hair from the carpet peeled off him leaving a stranded trail. When he hit the rocks, he bounced up a bit, and then he started swimming. I couldn’t believe it. He really survived a close one that day. That’s when I upgraded his twenty-gallon tank to the fifty-five gallon one, and now it’s even too small. Except he’s here now… Look at this lake man. I’ve got the best tank for him now.”
The sun glimmered through the fishbowl in Seth’s hands. Radiant beams surrounded the massive silhouette of his pet. Seth turned toward the lake. His eyes started to well up as he set the fish bowl into the water. At first he just floated it, giving his fish a view of what’s to come, and slowly tilted the bowl until the fish could swim out.
It shot ten feet along the shore, then stopped and made a few circles. Seth pointed to it as it started to eat the vegetation by a fallen tree in the water. They watched in silence for a moment as the fish worked his way down along the tree. In minutes it faded out of sight into the depths of the lake.
Seth and Rodger looked at each other. Nothing else need be said.
Rick called out as he approached. “Rodger? Is that really you?”
Rodger walked toward Rick, reaching his hand to shake. “Rick. It’s great to see you.”
Rick grabbed Rodgers hand with both of his. “You made it just in time. The gang is not going to believe it when they see you walk back into camp with us.”
*****
Seth sat by the fire after dinner. He watched Rodger and Rick chat it up about old times.
Cruz tossed a log on the fire and sat next to Seth. “Look at those two. You’d think we were at the Oak Barrel.”
Seth turned to Cruz. “That’s a great idea! That’s just what we need.”
“What are you talking about man?”
“Help me pull that picnic table closer to the fire. Then you go get Bruce. I’ll get those two. We might as well go back in time for a while.”
Rick ran over to help move the table. “What’s going on guys?”
Cruz nodded towards Rodger. “Bring Rodger on over. We’re getting the boys back together for a bit, Oak Barrel style.”
“I like it.” Rick turned to Rodger. “Hey, let’s sit by the fire with those guys.”
Seth ran to his truck and grabbed four bottles of wine. Megumi sat in the tent and read, but Aizu wanted to join Seth, so he unzipped the tent and let her out.
Megumi turned and looked at Seth.
He smiled. “It’s just me. I’m going to have a few drinks with the boys one last time. I’ll take Aizu. We should only be a couple of hours.”
Megumi nodded.
“Don’t worry, I saved a special bottle for us. We’ll have it when I get back.” Seth zipped up the tent, and looked through the screen. “Hey, we’re at the fire pit if you want to join us.”
He returned to the picnic table, and placed a few bottles of wine in the middle. “This should get us started.”
Cruz started pouring a bottled beer into a chilled glass. “Thanks Seth, but I’m going to start with a beer.”
Everyone’s eyes locked on the beer Cruz was pouring.
Seth almost knocked a bottle of wine over when he realized Cruz had beer. “Where did you get that?”
Cruz smiled. “Don’t you know me? I have a whole case I’ve been saving for a night just like tonight. Now do you want one, or do you want wine.”
“Right now, I could really use a beer!”
Bruce stood up. “Cruz. I want a beer, please.”
Rodger chuckled. “Hey, has it been that long?”
Rick picked up the empty bottle. “Yes, I want one too Cruz.”
Cruz handed Seth a beer. “Bet you’d like one of these. Have a seat. We’re just getting started.”
Rodger waited until everyone had a glass, then picked up his glass and toasted. “Well, cheers. To old times.”
“Cheers Rodger.” Seth replied. “Here’s to your arrival.”
Cruz kept the beers pouring, and Rick kept the table clear of empty bottles. Those boys talked for hours.
Rodger put his beer on the table, and pointed at Seth. “Even though I didn’t understand everything you said, I could see that you had a definite opinion about what was happening. I just can’t get myself to believe something like that would be possible.”
Seth gave it some thought. “I understand where you were coming from. It does seem kind of like a fairytale, but we’re drinking here tonight and not at the Oak Barrel in Napa.”
Cruz poured a beer for Rodger. “I prefer it out here, to be honest.
Rodger took a deep drink. “It’s true we’re here, but are we here because the Bible says so, or because those guys with Morning Star are really here to do as they claim? They are obviously real. How do we know they are not just a smarter race from a neighboring planet who had been guiding us along all the time.”
Rick snapped his finger. “I got it Rodger. Maybe they were breeding us to a point, and now they are going to harvest the ones who are obedient. Maybe the Armageddon is to till the soil for the next batch?”
Rodger smiled at Rick. “Now you’re thinking.”
Seth looked at Rodger. “I hear you Rodger, but your conclusion is based on mankind’s current level of provable knowledge. What if you had Columbus’ maps? You would have made conclusions based on a flat world.”
“Yeah, but they weren’t going to blow up the earth back then.”
Cruz tilted his beer towards Seth. “He’s got you there.”
Seth chuckled. “Yeah. That’s a good one. They weren’t surrounded by UFOs trying to prepare them for an afterlife either. Look, we’re just five hundred years smarter. That’s not enough to understand the math and science behind all of this, so I’m not ready to conclude we have accurately interpreted all the evidence we’ve seen.”
Rodger smiled. “We’ve seen enough to size up the situation. Even if they didn’t breed us, even if they just happened to stumble upon us in their heavenly travels, I still think they are a species subject to the same rules as us. They are just more evolved and are expanding faster than we are.”
“I don’t know Rodger. There are a lot of differing opinions on who these guys are, but the source I’ve followed has been accurate to the T. It’s a map from long before Columbus, but it reconciles things beyond man’s comprehension and it accurately accounts for these guys.”
“That’s your conclusion.” Rodger held up his glass and stared into it, moving it around, trying to catch a glimpse of himself. “If enough nuts read the same book, and if they interpret the endings a certain way, what’s to stop it from becoming a self-fulfilling prophecy?”
“Does it matter if prophecy happens magically, or if it comes to pass over time through man’s actions? The fact is it was penned long before any of our technologies or globalization occurred.” Seth held up his glass closely to his face, his beer was half full. “They seem pretty equal to me. Prophecy doesn’t always say how it gets done, it tells us what will get done.”
Rodger’s face turned frustrated. “So God set up a course for us to destroy each other, and He did it just so He could come back and save some of us? What a wonderful God… I don’t think so.”
Seth held his hand up. “Hold on Rodger.”
“I want to know why does God need a tragic end if He is a God of love?”
“I’ll show you.” Seth pulled a folded paper from his pocket. “Hey Cruz, let me borrow your pen.” He unfolded the paper, and started to draw on the back. He made three squares, side by side by side.
“What’s that?” Rodger asked.
“These three boxes represent the past, present, and future on a very large scale.” Seth started to draw a dotted line in the middle of the page from the left edge toward the right. He stopped half an inch before entering the third box, and drew a little circle. “This is the earth traveling through time. All three of these boxes represent a different major era of time that we experienced, or will experience. I call them the three earth ages.”
“Three earth ages?” Bruce repeated.
“Yes. Even though most Christian churches don’t teach this, there is more scripture and physical evidence to back me than any court of law would require.” Seth pointed to the first box on the left. “This is the first earth age. You know it as the time of the dinosaur. As you can see by my timeline, the earth already passed through that period. After the extinction of the dinosaurs we crossed into this middle box, or the second earth age.”
Rodger asked. “So from the start… here on the left, to the end of the first box accounts for the dinosaurs? Where does the Bible say that?”
Seth answered. “For the sake of moving on, let me simply say that the thirty-eighth chapter of Job addresses it very nicely, even giving a great description of the brontosaur in chapter forty. It’s very detailed. Some churches will try to make it a hippo, but that doesn’t work because the hippo’s tail is too small. This animal had a tail like a tree trunk. Others try for an alligator, but it doesn’t fit either because they don’t eat off the tops of the trees. Only a brontosaur fits the description, and we also have their bones. Besides, in the context, God is asking Job where he was when God made all those things. Let me tell you, it was a very long time ago.”
Rick laughed. “Are you trying to tell me we were here with God and the dinosaurs?”
“Sure. A spiritual body wouldn’t be on the dinosaur menu anymore than you would want to, say, eat plastic.” Seth took a drink, and continued. “If you know where to look in the Bible you can find tremendous descriptions of a previous time, including cities. Plus we have plenty of physical evidence verified by modern science that the earth is much more than six or seven thousand years old. That historical first earth age has to be accounted for. We are living in the second now, and everyone knows it is written in the Bible there will be a future heaven age here on earth, so that’s three total. Like I said, many churches don’t teach it, but the Bible does.”
Bruce looked uncomfortable. “So, I was here? Me. Bruce.”
Seth chuckled. “I don’t know if they called you Bruce, but God and His children were here. If He created your soul, that would make you His child.”
Rodger tapped on the first box on the napkin. “Let’s say you’re right. What did we do then?”
“Same thing we do today, and the same thing we’ll be doing in the third heaven age. We tend the planet. The earth is the culinary garden of the universe. You see, back then Satan was one of God’s, um… bodyguards, if you will. When he turned bad he was sitting closer to God than you might want to accept. Everyone knows pride was his problem, but they haven’t learned how he tried to take God’s seat, and that is why God had to end that age.”
Bruce looked at the drawing. “Are you telling me the end of this first box is when Satan drew a third of the stars to follow him?”
“That is exactly what I’m saying. Protecting the throne wasn’t a high enough position for Satan. The point we have to consider closely is Satan being that high up. It makes it easy for him to twist scripture to his advantage. He had many followers in no time, even if they didn’t know it.”
Rodger asked. “What do you mean they didn’t know it?”
Seth put the pen down and looked at Rodger. “How many people do you see following Morning Star? They really believe they are serving God. It was their doctrine that allowed them to drift off course, and doctrine is Satan’s favorite tool. Don’t forget it was scripture that he quoted and twisted to tempt Christ. He knows the word more than any of us.”
Rodger swirled the remaining beer in his glass. “I knew it was his pride that took him down. I just didn’t think about anyone else being involved.”
Seth continued. “Most people don’t consider who Satan convinced to follow him. Satan was there, God was there, and they weren’t alone. There’s a word used in Genesis called Elohim. It implies there had to be other eternal souls. The same exact souls you say look in the mirror and contemplate self. Maybe that’s why man has a natural instinct to seek God? I remember when you said worker bees were programmed to behave a certain way. Who programmed them? Nature isn’t conscious.”
Rodger nodded. “Good point. I can’t say nature because programming implies design… and there’s too much definitive commonalities to think everything fell together out of chaos into what we have today.”
Seth toasted to Rodger. “The answers are there, just often buried under previous misconceptions, and I mean that for science, religion, and any mythology to escape man’s mouth.”
Bruce nodded. “I guess it doesn’t really matter what you label it, whatever calls upon your acceptance or belief becomes your faith.”
Seth picked up the pen and tapped the first box on the napkin. “Back in the first earth age we occupied the same spiritual body we will have when we return to heaven, but don’t confuse this with reincarnation into someone else. God came as Jesus because Jesus was God. You come as you because you are you. God said to the children in Genesis, let us make man in ‘our’ image, and ‘replenish’ the earth. Here we are… again.”
Rodger held his hands out. “But you still haven’t told me why God had to end it so catastrophically?”
Seth replied. “It was all out war, and God needed to ‘corral’ all the souls to bring the war to an end. Since we’re eternal He couldn’t wait for everyone to die off, so He leveraged an apocalyptic ending back then, just as He leveraged the flood to recall fallen angels during the time of Noah. If you ask me, that is why there is a subconscious fear within mankind.”
Bruce nodded. “Okay, but what about Armageddon in Revelation?”
Seth pointed to Bruce. “It will happen, but that battle happens over Jerusalem. There will be another battle over Alaska that is called Hamon-gog. These two battles will be witnessed by the world, but they won’t destroy the planet. Here, let me set the stage and show you something to consider, back in this first box of time. Imagine we are all here. The earth is surrounded with a thin veil of water, like the glass around a light bulb. When the sunlight hit the glass it refracts throughout the whole bulb, illuminating the entire earth. With no night it was a twenty-four hour greenhouse. That’s why the plant life and other natural creatures bloomed to such magnitude, and with so much of today’s oceanic water up there, the sunken ruins we find weren’t always sunken… but I’ll get to that.”
Rodger’s ears perked up. “Atlantis?”
Seth winked. “Could be. We are finding underwater structures all the time now. There was much more useable land than we see today. Let me also propose that animals, birds, and fish, all have living souls. In the first earth age they were created in the flesh, whereas we were in our spiritual bodies. We got to see and study what happens when nature goes untamed. For us it was wonderful. It was Jurassic Park without the fear. It looked like we were here forever.”
Cruz grabbed Seth’s glass for a refill. “Why did anyone choose to go against God back then?”
Rodger answered before Seth could. “Because man knows himself, and under freewill some will choose bad.”
Seth nodded. “Nice one Rodger. God knew during the first earth age that at some point an apple was going to go bad. Otherwise we would all just be puppets. That’s not true love. He knew that the first age had to represent a believable eternity, but it was just the incubator stage for the soul. God knew He had to end that age. He also had to consider that even though a third of His children stood against Him, many of them were deceived. Some simply followed their brethren. Everyone has a reason or excuse, but it still happened.”
Bruce shook his head. “No… I think it would be obvious if you were fighting against God or not.”
Cruz reached around for a cold beer in the cooler. “Hey, why didn’t God just hold trial and kill the bad ones?”
Seth shrugged his shoulders. “Maybe because if He did, time would have continued and heaven would be tainted with murders and executions. Besides, with the carnage of the dinosaurs, a lot of souls living in the flesh already came and left, and they too are going to share in the eternity. God’s plan already started, and He knew what He was doing.”
Seth lifted his glass, but Rodger stopped him. “You still didn’t tell me how it ended?”
Seth put his glass down. “Okay, but this is my supposition. I can point to a lot of scriptures, but there are many people who think I’m way off track. Personally, I find science agrees with me, and in fact supports my scriptural explanations.”
“Try me.”
Seth drew a circle with a smaller circle in the middle. “This center circle is the earth, and this bigger one around it is the veil of water refracting the sunlight. From the earth, the refracting light would have hidden the stars just as they are to us during the day.” Seth shaded in the earth. “At that time the major continents were one giant land mass. Of course there were small oceans or water masses like lakes, but most of the water was in the firmament above, surrounding the globe.”
Cruz asked. “So we could more or less go anywhere on the planet?”
“Yup. That’s one of the reasons why we have cattle bones here in America that are the same as in Africa. They sure didn’t swim.”
Bruce tilted his head. “We do?”
Rodger nodded. “In Nebraska.”
Seth drew a line curving in from the edge of the page to the side of the outer circle. “Anyway, back then a large meteor crashed through the veil of water. Nobody believed it until it broke the water, slowing the impact, and pulling all the water in behind it. It demolished everything.”
Seth drew a slightly angled line through the top of the earth and out the bottom. “The impact also knocked the earth off its axis by fifteen degrees. That’s why pilots say ‘east is least and west is best’. We’re talking about moving the earth ninety miles. That tilt caused the earth to wobble, and some of the water that came crashing down and flooded the earth retreated to the poles. Because the earth was exposed to space, when the water reached the poles it instantly froze. That’s why we find mammoths with buttercups in their mouths, and how our drills were able to bring up palm wood from under the ice. It didn’t happen slowly like a winter. It was instant. Most of the water created our oceans and lakes, but a good portion of it remains at the poles today.”
Rodger rubbed his chin. “That’s a pretty fantastic story. I wish I had that kind of imagination. So if that ended the dinosaur age, tell me how Genesis comes into play?”
Seth pointed to the drawing where the earth timeline crossed from the first box into the second box. “The creation of Genesis starts here.” He moved the paper around to find a clean spot to write on.
Cruz tore a panel of the beer case off and slid it across the table to Seth. “Here you go.”
“Thanks.” Seth drew numbers one through eight down the left side. “This will lock it in. These are the days of creation. But before I begin I want to tell you the second verse of Genesis says that in the beginning the earth ‘became’ void and without form. Most Bibles have been translated to say the earth ‘was’ void and without form, including the King James. That’s where a Strong’s concordance can help you correct poor translations.”
“Okay, let’s say the earth ‘became’ void like you described.” Rodger smiled and took a drink.
Next to the first day Seth wrote ‘Darkness and Light’. He looked at Rodger. “After the meteor hit there was nothing left. All living things were destroyed. They still existed in the heavenly realm just like our souls instantly returned to God, but not in this physical realm we understand as 3-D. Because of the impact, the earth’s atmosphere became a blanket of black ash. After time it started to settle, and because the earth was now exposed to space without a refracting light, we had night on one side and day on the other. That’s the darkness and light.”
“Okay.” Rodger shrugged his shoulders. “Nothing big there.”
Next to the second day Seth wrote ‘Waters’. “Now, whether you want to count a literal thousand years, or the spiritual equivalent of ‘a long period of time’, eventually the waters were going to react according to the new conditions. The temperature differences between the light and dark side of the earth helped start the cycle. Changing all the more according to the time of year, like summer and winter, or how close the waters were to the equator, verses the frozen waters near the poles. So it’s very natural and believable it would only be a matter of time before the water started cleansing itself and the planet. Over a period of time the process would result in the separation of our oceanic and pneumatic zones.”
Bruce put his hands on his hips. “I don’t know Seth. It would have been quite a mess for a long time.”
“Like I said, not everyone thinks it’s one thousand literal years, but then again, even a thousand years would seem like God took His time. He likes things to happen naturally, so I guess it took as long as it took.”
Next to the third day Seth wrote ‘Dry Land’. “With another time period, the continual rinse cycles allowed the air to clear to a haze. The continents started to come back into view. Crazy storms and showers filled the air. With sunshine and air, the land would dry in spots. It was still too hazy and dirty to see very far, but the process was well under way.”
“Interesting.” Rodger said. “I can’t say that isn’t possible? But I’m not there with you yet.”
Seth smiled. “It’s only day four sir.” Next to the fourth day he wrote ‘Sun, Moon, and Stars.’ “The fourth long period of time would see the jet streams develop. They would lead to a consistency in the weather patterns… relatively speaking of course. Nonetheless the result would be a cleansing of the air, and eventual removal of enough dust particles to reveal the stars and moon for the first time.”
“So the moon was always there?” Rodger asked.
“Well I think it’s possible, but some people think the moon is made up from the remains of the comet’s impact. I don’t see why the moon couldn’t have been there, acting like a swimming pool vacuum, rotating around the earth and drawing the hits of space debris. I don’t know? It could be either, or both? Obviously the Sun was there more than thirteen thousand years ago. What else made the dinosaurs and vegetation flourish?”
Rodger smiled. “That’s weird. Interesting, but it’s weird. Please, continue.” He pointed to the checklist.
Next to the fifth day Seth wrote ‘Waters of Life’. “With each period of natural storms the water was getting purer. The earth eventually became ready to support life again.”
“You mean the primordial soup?” Rodger asked.
“Something like that.” Seth wrote ‘Mankind’ next to the sixth day. “On the sixth day God created man and woman. According to the scriptures, He created them both at the same time, and He was very pleased. They were told to ‘replenish’ the earth. Two things I want you to keep in mind as we move down our checklist: first He ‘created’ man and woman together, second you can’t replenish something that wasn’t plenished before.”
Rick rubbed his chin. “He didn’t say to populate the earth? He said to repopulate the earth.”
Seth smiled at Rick. “Yes. There is a big difference.”
Rodger raised an eyebrow. “Go on.”
Seth drew a few stick figures around the globe. “So I’m saying this sixth day point is when God placed all the different races in their places around the earth. They were hunters, fishermen, and gatherers, but there was nothing scriptural from God for them to go on. They were every bit as smart as us today, but they were trying to figure things out as their cultures developed. There’s even a school of thought that certain angels visited them and established a lot of their foundation. They obviously had some help. There are too many common elements, and there are many physical things like the pyramids and artifacts to support this.”
Bruce shook his head. “No. Adam and Eve were the first people.”
“Really? Give me two more days on this list and tell me that again…” Seth circled the sixth day. “We’ll come back to this if needed.”
Rick started to nod his head. “Wow. You took what most people see as God floating in space and magically creating the world, and you made it seem like it should be in a third grade earth science class.”
“Hold on, it gets much better.” Next to the seventh day Seth wrote ‘God Rested’. “So here we had a thousand years of rest after the creation.”
Bruce shrugged his shoulders. “So?”
Seth wrote next to the eighth day: ‘Eth Ha Adam Formed, then Farm Animals, followed by Eve’. “Genesis says God formed Eth Ha Adam. When you see Adam by itself, like on the sixth day, means mankind. Eth Ha Adam means this very man. So God drew a distinction between the Adam created on the sixth day and the Adam formed on the eighth day. Another distinction is the sixth day man was created, and this eighth day man was formed. Think about that a bit. Anyway, after God formed Eth Ha Adam, together they made more animals. God even let Adam name them. You could call them the farm animals of today. And as everyone knows, later He caused Adam to go to sleep and took his curve.”
Cruz jumped in. “You mean his rib?”
Seth shrugged his shoulders. “Up until a few decades ago I would say yes. The thing is… the original Hebrew word translated to rib was ‘curve’. The rib would have been the only thing we knew about that really dealt with a curve, so rib made sense at one time. But science has revealed to us the Helix curve. Now if you consider that God took Adam’s DNA and formed Eve it makes a lot more sense on several levels.”
“Okay.” Rodger paused. “Why do all the Christians believe Adam and Eve were the first people?”
Bruce put his beer down. “Come on man. It is written that Eve is the mother of all living.”
Seth clarified. “Yes she is, because Christ came through her, not because all flesh came through her. It didn’t. When God formed Adam and Eve He established the lineage that would trace to Christ. Everyone who makes it into the eternity will do so through Christ. It’s His eternity. Your Bible is basically a historical account of His heritage. Adam and Eve started at least two thousand years after mankind was already here. Lest there be any doubt, you can read how Cain married a woman from the land of Nod. That has to be explained, and it is if you read it with discernment. God created the people of Nod on the sixth day. Cain didn’t marry some undocumented sister. That’s beyond ignorant.”
Rodger put his elbow on the table and rested his chin in his hand. “Hmmm. That makes some sense.”
Rodger put his elbow on the table and rested his chin in his hand. “Hmmm. That makes some sense.”
Rodger sat up straight. “You seem to have your bases covered.”
Seth smiled. “I think so. You know, Satan was a scripture lawyer if there ever was one. Since the word never changes, he knew just as much about end time scenarios then as he does now. And he knew it when man was just getting started. Men around the earth were seeking for basic answers, and they got a variety of them. It would be no big thing for him to set up the Mayan’s. How about Egypt? Interesting how they all seem to point to a common theme.”
Rodger looked at Cruz. “I think you should cut him off now.”
They all laughed.
Seth grabbed the paper with the three earth age boxes. He started to color the little space left between the circle representing earth, and the line representing the last box. “When the earth enters this little area before the next age, it will mark the time when all souls have come to this middle box. This is the time when Christ returns and sets up His Kingdom for the Millennium, or The Lord’s Day. It will be a time when many souls who never had the chance to hear the scriptures will be taught with clarity. At the end of the Millennium is the great white throne judgment. Those who graduate will move into the third box. The others won’t get past this last filter. God will use a global event just like He did in the first earth age to get us from our time into the next. So there will be something that God uses to get all the souls back into the same condition, and it happens rather instantly. You can call it Armageddon, Hamon-gog, or even the rapture if you want? We will transition, but we aren’t going anywhere.”
Rodger contended. “That doesn’t seem very compassionate.”
Seth folded up the paper and put it back in his pocket. “I think it’s quicker and more compassionate than dying of aids, or cancer. I think it’s better for some who are stuck in a life of hell in their current situation. And I think it’s compassionate in that it takes just long enough for any last minute malefactors to join the right side.”
Bruce looked up to the stars. “And that next step is what we’re waiting for now.”
“The killing of the Two Witnesses locked it in. I don’t think I’ll sleep a wink tonight. Besides guys, there have been a lot of souls who have come and gone. They’re all waiting to get back on the game board with us. We have to wrap this up.”
Cruz held his finger up like he got it. “So in the first age we all were here at the same time, now we are here spread out over a human lifetime, and later we will all be here again, all at the same time?”
“Those who make it will.” Seth said. “From the moment the first dinosaur was made flesh we passed the point of no return. God is fair and just.”
Bruce asked. “You don’t think man will nuke the earth? What about what the prophets saw?”
Seth thought for a second. “Well what they saw sure seems to accurately describe where we are with weaponry today. And it is true there’s going to be a transition. But while most people think the world is going to end, I don’t. Even the Mayan calendar addresses a transition… not an end. I’m sure the transition will be dramatic. It’s God’s work. If He chooses painless, don’t you think He can do it?”
Rodger said. “That’s dancing with faith.”
Seth replied. “That’s dancing with trust. Father leads. We follow.”