Stampede
Here They Come
Early in the morning Randy’s students escorted the first few groups into camp. Rick met them on the street to welcome them. “Hi everyone. Thank you for coming. I’m sure you’re pretty tired, so I’ll be brief and we’ll get you to a resting spot.”
The lead scout handed Rick a paper with everyone’s name. Rick scanned the paper. “Okay, this is a list of who joined up on the way in, so I want to take a quick roll call to make sure we didn’t lose anyone.”
Rick read the list and all were present. “Your first stop is in that roped off area in the field right beside the shack.”
A voice from the group spoke up. “What about bathrooms? I have to go soon.”
Rick pointed to the far side of the welcoming area. “We roped far enough to commandeer the toilets and water from one of the campgrounds. You can run up now if you can’t wait.”
*****
Most people simply needed a place to put their things down. Debbie and Amy walked around answering their questions, handing out bottles of water, and camping tubes that look like toothpaste, but were filled with peanut butter and jelly.
Trent gave three scheduled welcoming presentations per day, with the first at nine o’clock. Forty-five people listened as he told them about the general layout, things to look out for, and things we need to all abide by.
Trent paused. “Before I send you over to register, I want to share our camp participation policy. Every family in our camp must participate in one of the programs. This isn’t a homeless camp… This is a can do camp! If you ‘can do’ eight hours, do it. If you can only do four, do it. We’re not building careers here and we’re not going to be watching over your back.”
“We are here to baptize people into the truth, and we are making our final stand. Make no mistake about it people, we are here to fight a battle. Each one of you is expected to participate one way or another to help us in our fight.”
“Each of the major campsite sections has a bulletin board. That’s your community outreach. Reach out, please! Find something on the board and sign up to help. We welcome you, but we need you too. Thank you for joining us.”
“Those of you who find this awkward can go camp down the hill at Boca, we’ve rented all the available campsites here. If you are here just to be baptized and plan on leaving, you can get in the line to the boat launch. Everyone is welcome here to the level they feel comfortable, and everyone is free to come and go as they please.”
Everyone applauded. Trent bowed and wiped the sweat from his brow. “Thank you, we’ll see how I feel after a hundred of these.”
They laughed.
“Okay, if you want to enter our camp, right over there is a line to the entrance. One of five family assistants will greet your party when you get to the front of the line. The family assistant is going to start a folder like this.” Trent held up a sample folder. “What’s inside your folder? The first page to go in is the one you are working on now. Mostly we want to know basic information, like everyone’s ages, and what they can or can’t do? Then based upon a combination of your religious background and personal preferences, you will be assigned an area to set up camp. Don’t forget, one person from each family needs to be designated as our primary contact.”
A hand rose from the crowd. “What if we are here alone?”
“Singles are placed in groups of ten according to their section. They meet a couple of hours a week for training, and daily to check in with each other. One person is elected from each group as the primary means for the camp to pass information back to the others… Okay, if there are no more questions, I’m going to get some water.”
All but six people got in line to enter the camp.
The second group started at noon, with a hundred and ten people. In the afternoon the last group totaled two hundred and five. They grew over three hundred and fifty people that day. Most in family units, although a surprising number of young singles came too.
People who missed the last welcome at three o’clock were invited to setup camp for the night across the street in the field. A large tent by a campfire provided basic medical and food supplies for those with real needs, and one of Randy’s students being a doctor, tended to those with medical concerns. The goal was to make sure they were safe, give them some basic information, and keep their water full. One of the in-camp chores was to maintain a continuous supply of water jugs for them. They filled the plastic jugs from their campsite water spigot, and ferried them to the side of the road.
*****
Two days of steady classes and new encampments surprised the whole team. The continuous flow of people started to fill in the areas around the lake.
After dinner Seth sat with his team around a campfire to discuss how the day went in an effort to stay one step ahead of the crowd. Seth kept warning them about the ‘fragments’. It wasn’t a matter of if? It was only a matter of when?
Andrew emerged from his tent and sat near the fire. “Hey Seth. The President just ordered a highway curfew from sunset to sunrise. It supposed to be enforced by local law enforcement.”
Seth leaned back in his seat and took a deep breath. “We don’t need any trouble up here, so let’s play along. Our campsite will be subject to the same rules. When it gets dark people need to hang by their campsite.”
Cruz asked. “What about the road coming up, and across the dam?”
Seth shook his head. “I don’t know how they’ll enforce it up here? People might have to set up their tent and call it home for the night? They obviously can’t turn around. We better make sure those of us in camp chill and set the example.”
Nico tossed a fresh log on the fire. “Do you want us to take a walk around the lake and tell the squad leaders? There’s a good hour before it gets dark. We’ll tell the people on the dam to camp where they are, then we’ll tell the first squad leader on the other side. They can relay to the next group, all the way around the lake. I need to burn off some of this food anyway. I ate way too much.”
Seth smiled. “Sure. What’s going on over there? Something caught your eye?”
“Uh…” Nico’s face turned red. “I don’t know what you’re talking about? I just thought…”
Seth cut him off. “Just teasing Nico. Go ahead. Take your brother with you. He needs the walk a lot more than you do.”
Everyone laughed.
Cruz shot back. “What? Me? Take my cousin. He needs the walk more than I do.”
Everyone laughed again. Nico grabbed a bottle of water, and pointed to his cousin. “Let’s roll.”
Cruz stood up. “Hang on bro. I want to speak with you a minute before you run off. Come on… we’ll be right back.”
*****
Nico and his cousin made it halfway across the crowded dam. People already started setting up their tents. A few fires flickered from the center of the road. Nico stopped at each one and wrote down the name of a person who promised to ensure the fire was completely out before they go to sleep.
He tapped on the side of his cousin’s head. “Keep track of these fires. There will be more when we come back. I also want to make sure the people who gave me a name are still there.”
His cousin asked. “What was Seth talking about… something over there?”
Nico laughed. “Oh, that? It’s nothing. There’s a girl over there who reminds me of my girl.”
“What? I thought you loved your girl? That didn’t take long.”
Nico pushed him on the shoulder. “What are you talking about?”
“Are you crazy Nico?”
“What do you mean crazy? Dude, this girl’s pregnant.”
His cousin stopped in his tracks. “You got a girl pregnant!”
“It’s not what you think.”
“I don’t believe it. I looked up to you.”
Nico put his hand on his cousin’s shoulder. “I’m telling you, you got it all wrong man. Listen. This girl looks like my girl. She is up here all alone, and she is eight months pregnant.”
“Eight months? We’ve only been here for…”
“Hello.” Nico held his arms out, as if presenting the scene around them. “Look around you. She is going to give birth up here. I just want to make sure this girl has everything she needs, and I’m passing information back to the doctor.” He put his hands in his pockets and kicked the dirt. “My girl is only three and a half months along, but she’s at home with family while I’m up here. I’m telling you Cuz, as soon as I found out I was going to be a daddy… well, it changed things for me.”
His cousin asked. “Is that the real reason she went to Mexico?”
Nico smiled and nudged him to start walking. “Now you’re getting it. She wanted to share our plans with her family. We might spend the first ten years down there so our baby can learn our culture first, before becoming a part of this American soup. There’s no flavor in it here.”
They heard a pop, followed a few seconds later by another pop. Nico turned as it happened. Leaning back, he reached across his chest as if to grab a gun. Instantly he recognized the pop came from a sappy log someone tossed in the fire. A third pop, smaller and somewhat boring made the people around the fire laugh.
Nico shook his head. “Did you see that? I was reaching… Good thing I didn’t bring Cruz’s gun.”
His cousin stopped. “No way! Cruz has a gun?”
Nico put his finger up to his lips. “Shhhhh. People can hear you. That’s why he wanted to talk to me before we left. There’s no telling who’s hanging outside of camp and across the dam. He asked if I wanted to take it?”
His cousin whispered. “Why didn’t you?”
Nico shook his head while grinning. “Last year I would have. That’s what I was talking to the guy about way back in Knights Landing, on the bridge. Remember?”
“Oh yeah…”
“So I told Cruz I didn’t need it to be a man. I’m cool with myself.”
His cousin smiled. “Wow Nico! You’re a lot different than before. You used to always have some kind of weapon.”
“Yeah. Not anymore man. First my girl, now this trip. It made me think about a lot of things. Things my parents use to talk to me about. It’s weird.”
His cousin smiled as he listened.
Nico put his arm around him. “Hey! You know what? I’m going to ask Cruz to baptize me. Seth liked the idea. He told me ‘any Christian can baptize another’, and when I turned to walk away he said ‘welcome to the good side’.”
“The good side huh?”
Nico held up his fists. He showed them to his cousin. “See these? They will become the hands of a humble father.”
They started to laugh, but a sudden flash of purple startled him as a kid jumped in front of them wielding a knife. Nico’s hands started bleeding and squirting blood as he tried to figure out what was going on?
A teen in a purple hat asked him. “We’re you in the Camaro that killed my twin?”
Nico pulled up his shirt and wrapped his fingers. “No. I was in a white truck.”
The teen stabbed him in his stomach and started to pull up. “My father fell off your roof and was run over!”
Nico said. “I was in… I…” He fell to his knees. “I was in the other truck.”
His cousin stumbled backward in shock. People gathered around, backing up slightly as the blood puddle grew on the street. The attacker started to run, so Nico’s cousin cried for him to stop.
The attacker made it thirty feet when someone pushed him off the road. Everyone watched him stumbled down the side of the damn toward the water. He almost ran it out, but the rocks proved too big and awkward. He twisted his foot on a boulder. The snap of his ankle popped louder than any of the sappy logs from the fire. He turned backward and screamed as he fell. The crowd started to laugh, but instantly silenced when his head hit the rock, sounding like someone threw a watermelon. Silent, his purple hat stayed on his head and covered his face. It turned maroon from the blood. He was gone. No question about it.
A couple of people helped his cousin get Nico to the entry gate. They ran him over to the makeshift medical area, but he lost too much blood. Cruz came running into the roped off area, screaming for his brother. He saw Nico’s limp body and ran to him.
Cruz cried. “Why? Why? Not Nico! Why?”
Nico coughed up blood. “Cruz…”
Nico clutched his cross, trying to smile. His teeth surrounded by blood. He let a series of tears go, bleeding out in Cruz’s arms. Tears rolled off of Cruz’ face and mixed with the blood on the ground.
Several others started to cry.
*****
Seth walked with Cruz to the crime scene where Police were asking several people questions. A fire truck crew hosed the leftovers of the boy off the rocks, while paramedics loaded the gurney into their ambulance.
Seth patted Cruz on the shoulder. “Hey. There’s nothing else here. Let’s head back. I need a drink.”
Cruz swallowed hard, fighting back his tears. “What happens to people who are not Christian when they die?”
Seth stopped walking. “Well. First, you don’t know he wasn’t Christian. A lot of tough guys front. You should know that. He was holding his cross when he went… that’s good enough for me. I’m telling you Cruz, he was really coming around. Don’t worry about him on that level. He was here with us doing the Father’s work, right? He’s an All Star, man.”
“Yeah, but he’s still dead.”
“Only in the flesh. Look, all people who die basically go to the same place. In the book of Ecclesiastes it tells us that as soon as we die, our soul instantly goes back to the Father. Only the flesh part of the body goes back to the dirt.”
Cruz looked up, blinking several times to clear his vision. “Ashes to ashes and dust to dust.”
“Don’t forget, only the flesh, not your soul. It lives.” Seth started walking. “Have you heard of the parable of the rich man? It’s in the book of Luke. It tells us that all the souls are basically in the same place. There are two sides and they can see each other. On one side are the non-believers, and on the other side are the believers with God.”
“Where is this place?”
Seth stopped. “It’s called paradise by Jesus. A lot of people call it heaven. The best way I can explain it is I believe it’s right here.” He held his arms out to show everything around them. “It’s in a higher dimension than we can see. They might be in 4-D or 5-D, whatever, but we’re stuck in 3-D until this part of the game is finished.”
Cruz looked around. “So, can they can see us?”
Seth thought a moment. “I have to think so. In the book of Job, God and Satan talk about Job as if they were watching a movie. Plus angels have been sent here with messages before, and they would have to see us to know the timing, where to go, and why? And I know God and Satan both have interacted with people on the earth for a long time. Guess what? I’d even say there are a lot of us who have had experiences where we should have experienced a tragic outcome and somehow made it through.”
“Yeah, I’ve had a few.”
“Maybe your angel helped?”
“Then why didn’t they stop Nico from getting stabbed.”
“I can’t answer that for sure, but I can tell you that when Christ returns at the seventh trump He is bringing an army with Him. They can’t come back with Him unless they are there with Him first. Maybe Nico is part of that army?”
Cruz cried. “I love my bro.”
Seth put his arm around Cruz and pulled him close by his side. “I know you do. He knows you do. I know this is hard Cruz. When I lost my mother it really set me back. I was even on the phone with her when it happened. I really know what you’re feeling, and you will have to experience this emotion, and emptiness… it’s in you. Let it out. It took me a long time, and a sign, to be able to talk about it without welling up.”
“What sign?”
“Well… it was a sign to me anyway. The morning after I was trying to water the lawn. It was only seven or so in the morning, but I wanted to get done and back inside before the neighbors started milling around. I got hit with a rush of emotion and started crying, pondering about the same questions you have for your loved one right now.”
“What happened?”
“I took a deep breath and mumbled how I wish she could have been here. I looked up to clear my thoughts and there was a hot air balloon directly above me. It had a black circle on the bottom, followed by a thick light purple ring around it, and the rest was white. It looked like an eyeball staring right at me. I laughed a little. Purple was my mom’s favorite color. I thought I should run in and grab my camera, so I could look later and see if I was just caught up in emotion… but I couldn’t move.”
“What did you do?”
“I watched it for bit. I know it was only a balloon, but sometimes circumstance can feel much deeper. It gave me some peace.”
Cruz picked up a rock and threw it in the lake. “Maybe He’ll give me a sign?”
Seth picked up a rock and threw it down by the water’s edge. “What I can’t imagine is people like Lazareth standing and waving at the rich man across the gulf for the past two thousand years. They must be doing something. The fight is between good and evil. I’m sure it carries there as well. Just think about who’s on each side. The soul of every evil man who has lived is on one side or the other back there. Could you imagine what that‘s like?”
“Hey man!” Cruz said. “Nico might be there!”
Seth handed him a rock. “I told you that you don’t have to worry about him. We had a good talk this morning. He knows who Dad is. I believe they’re straight.”
Cruz threw the rock, but it fell short of his last throw. “When do I get to see him again?”
Seth took a deep breath and blew out his air. “That depends. You’re obviously here doing the election’s work. If you have a trial, and if you get on the stand and the Holy Spirit speaks through you, it will put a good chance of you being here during the Millennium as a teacher.”
“Teaching who? Teaching what?”
“Teaching all those souls that didn’t make it, or that follow Morning Star now thinking he is God. The whole world is going to follow him just like so many did at the end of the first earth age. They will have the Millennium to get their facts straight.”
Cruz shrugged his shoulders. “I don’t get it Seth.”
“Cruz, you are only a snapshot of the real you inside. Your short life allows God to put you in a ‘reality’ where you make up your own mind. How you handle your situation allows Him to judge who continues on and who doesn’t.”
“So this is kind of like a trial of all souls for what happened when Satan tried to overthrow God?”
“Yes.” Seth pointed up to the sky. “Do you want to know another name for Morning Star?”
“What?”
“Lucifer. There was a time when the Morning Stars sang together, it was before the overthrow.”
Cruz snapped his fingers. “I get it. The people of today are about to go through a rerun of what they did before.”
“Yes. And the flesh is weak, and man is weak. That’s why in the millennium we will be back in our spiritual bodies. We will be in the same condition we were in before the overthrow, and we will have our short lives to reflect on how we played this game. The millennium is the last hope for a soul to get right with God. The great judgment isn’t until ‘after’ it. The millennium the thousand year Lord’s Day.”
Cruz asked. “So people on the bad side have a second chance?”
Seth replied. “Not exactly. I bet most of the people on the bad side today were also bad in the first earth age. Maybe they stood with Satan against God? So this flesh age is already a ‘second chance’ for those who missed it during the dino days. The upcoming Millennium will be strike three.”
Cruz laughed. “People are pretty stupid, huh?”
Seth shook his head. “Somebody who was against God in the first go round, and also terrible in this flesh life, will most likely be terrible in the Millennium as well. It’s just like that for some people, but not for all.”
“I hope I pass my test.”
“We all do Cruz. The circumstances and scenarios are unique for everyone. The greater the hero the greater the test, or you could say the greater the over comer the greater the reward. That’s why we don’t judge. You never know until it’s over.”
“Okay…”
Seth picked up another rock. “Listen. When Jesus was in the tomb His soul went to the ‘bad’ side of paradise where the rich man is. He freed many, and I bet most were the people who lived before Him. They never got to learn about Him. The important point is He freed people who had already lived. Doesn’t that go against what the church is trying to teach?”
“Because they are saying everything is based on how you live your life in the flesh?”
“Well if Jesus freed people who didn’t make the cut when they were here, I don’t see any difference in the souls living today having a similar opportunity in the millennium. How many of these people that follow Satan are going to blame someone else? You know, ‘I was born into that religion.’ Or, ‘My wife was one of those so I converted.’ I mean, everyone has an excuse, but it’s the millennium that gives a last hope for the soul to reconcile. Otherwise heaven is going to be pretty empty. After all, about six billion people are about to commit spiritual suicide by following Morning Star. We’re watching it happen right before our eyes.”
Cruz ran his fingers through his hair. “We’re in pretty deep right here, huh?”
“Dude, we’re on the front lines.” Seth nodded toward the top of the hill.
Danny’s silhouette waved from the crest as he called out. “Seth… The police have a few more questions.”
Seth tossed his rock over his shoulder. “Let’s go back to camp. Sorry, if this gets me a little preachy, but it’s very important. It’s why we’re here at Lake Stampede. The Bible makes it very clear that the whole world is going to follow the ‘instead of Christ’. If God was going to destroy everyone that followed Satan now, He would have to destroy more than if He would have just destroyed the 1/3 following Satan back at the Katabole. That doesn’t sound like salvation to me?”
Cruz asked. “What do you think will happen?”
Seth shrugged his shoulders. “I think the world will follow Satan as it is written, and pockets of people like us will continue to spring up everywhere. Millions will attain their salvation by staying with the True Christ, and staying away from the false one. But sadly, many, many more will ride with Satan than don’t. They truly think he’s Jesus of course, at least until just after the two witnesses get zapped. Then they’ll understand, but it will be too late for this age. I tell you, the millennium is going to be a real busy time.”
Cruz tried to laugh. “I never heard about the millennium before.”
Seth smiled. “There have been variations of it taught, but I’ve only heard it taught this way from Pastor Flynn. It’s very possible this information is part of what Daniel was told to seal up for a future time, and now we’re there. You know… AmEricaans have been doing everything they can to remove God from their public life, and the church denominations are stuck in their fur lined ruts, so who’s God going to reach if nobody is listening? I say the truth is available, if you have ears to listen.”