September Skies
Russia Floods Alaska<
In a cabin deep in the Alaskan woods an entourage escorted an Air Force General into the room. The President of the United States held her coffee with both hands and blew to cool it before taking a sip. To her right a flat screen television hung above the fireplace with a satellite feed showing thousands of Russians on the border, starting to cross the ice bridge.
The General cleared his throat. “Madam President. The Russians are making their way across the Bering Strait. Depending on how well they’re outfitted, it’s possible they will be here within four days.”
The President stared out the window. “I want you to establish a line from Kiwalik Lagoon up north, extending south to Norton Bay, to a little town called Koyuk.”
“Yes Ma’am. Bombers are on stand by in California. How many land forces can I mobilize? We can pull troops from…”
She cut him off. “Bombers? You don’t need bombs. You need medical and reception facilities. We are building a net to pull in the people who make it to safety. They are about to experience the closest thing to a living hell that ever existed.”
His mouth dropped open. “Madam President, please? They aren’t coming here to have tea! They want to take our land. If we act quickly we can blow the ice bridge into a violent storm of frozen shards. The rest of the world will take note and leave us alone.”
She took a sip of coffee and continued to stare through the window panels covering the length of the wall from floor to ceiling. “I love the sunrise bouncing off the mountains across the valley. Isn’t this the most beautiful view of Alaska you have ever seen?“
The General was a little impatient, but he kept his cool. “It is. I do agree. It really is.”
She turned to him. “General? Your bombs will completely ruin this view. Now, I can’t have that… I live here.”
“But…”
She put her coffee down hard enough to stop him. “But nothing General. Those toy bombs you want to play with would be so boring compared to what is about to happen… Besides, they leave a residue that takes forever to go away. God is natural, He’s going to till the soil, and it will come back rejuvenated. Don’t worry. The world will take note. They will see God is very real.”
“God is going to protect you Ma’am?”
“General, do you think I chose Alaska for the moose? Do you think I fell into office by chance? Haven’t you ever read your Bible? This is where Hamon-gog happens.”
“General, do you think I chose Alaska for the moose? Do you think I fell into office by chance? Haven’t you ever read your Bible? This is where Hamon-gog happens.”
He rubbed his temples with both hands. “Haman what?”
“If you read Ezekiel thirty-eight and thirty-nine you can find out all about it.”
The General looked down at the carpet. “I haven’t read my Bible for a long time ma’am. Not since my wife passed anyway.”
“I’m sorry to hear that. It’s never too late to pick the book back up General. Take a look out there. My family picked this spot a long time ago. We have been prepared for a while now. Here, let me show you something.”
She tapped on the center windowpane, turning it into a web browser. The General’s eyes lit up, and even her entourage took notice. She opened her Favorite Bookmarks.
She tapped on the center windowpane, turning it into a web browser. The General’s eyes lit up, and even her entourage took notice. She opened her Favorite Bookmarks.
“You have internet access?” Asked the General.
“Sure. This cabin has everything.”
He held his hands up and shrugged his shoulders. “Why aren’t you watching the broadcast?”
She turned and looked at him, tilting her head. “Now why would I want to watch that silly commercial, or those trials?”
“To stay current.”
“This is like the forth of July General… until the fireworks start it’s just a bunch of garbage to keep you occupied.” She turned back to the screen. “My men are monitoring the channels downstairs. If anything changes, or if Armageddon starts, they’ll let us know.”
The General rubbed his chin. “And… and we’re going to watch Armageddon live on television?”
She paused, and turned her head halfway. “The whole world is General. Doesn’t everyone have Jerusalem on television right now? The world may think Christ is there, but the reality is that’s where He is going to return.”
“I don’t follow. I thought Morning Star is Christ. He’s giving Alaska back because we turned our back on him.”
“I would argue that what you have been told in inaccurate, General. Besides, if that were true, why would you try to defend against Him?”
“We split paths a long time ago. I serve my country now.”
She stepped back and beheld the view out the windows. “Look out there. When Armageddon happens we’ll see everything right here. Then you will know who God is. And it’s not this guy parading around. General, you’re going to see Armageddon on the left window, and Hamon-gog live on the other two. Only God can do what you’re about to witness.”
“Alaska is huge ma’am. What makes you think this is the right spot?”
She tapped on the center window and pulled up Yahoo Maps in satellite mode. The display zoomed to show the tip of Russia on the left, a little island toward the middle, and Alaska on the right.
She waved her hand over the land projecting out from the side of Alaska. “This is the Seward Peninsula. It’s one hundred miles thick, and it projects two hundred miles from Alaska’s main body. It stops only fifty miles from Russia.”
She grabbed a few markers with little light bulbs for tips, took the blue pen and drew a line from Russia to the tip of the peninsula. “The ice bridge is a straight path. The precision in the craftsmanship of those ice blocks is twice that of all the pyramids put together. It even has running water in several bathrooms along the way.”
“It won’t take them long to cross the ice bridge, why don’t you establish a welcoming committee on our side of the bridge?”
She drew a yellow X where the bridge meets Alaska. “That would be here, in Wales.”
“Why not take them there?”
“First of all General… not all of them are bad. Second, this isn’t our battle. When they step on American soil, I want them to be as prepared as they can for their test.”
“What do you mean?”
With the black pen she circled a mountain region below the yellow X and colored it in. “You can see there’s a solid set of mountains starting here, twenty-five miles south of Wales. They run for a hundred miles I’d say. Everything below them would make for a terrible journey, because this whole lower part is also mountainous.”
The General approached the map. “So they stay high and come across the top?”
In the upper right part she made another black circle, coloring it in. “This area here has big enough hills to stop them from staying too high. They either follow the Bering Land Bridge National Preserve, and stay on the upper half until they get to Imuruk Lake, or. . .”
“A middle route?”
She erased a little path fifteen miles into the mountains below Wales, and switched to the orange pen. “There is a tiny pass they can take through here. It will bring them right across the middle and within a few miles of Imuruk Lake. It depends how much stuff they are trying to bring with them.”
She circled the lake with a yellow pen. “This lake will be a key regrouping place for them.”
The General asked. “Because of the water?”
“Oh my! Goodness no…” She turned and put her hands on her hips. “There’s plenty of water along the way.”
“What is it then?”
“Remember that Treadwell kid and his girlfriend?”
“No.”
“Well, you’ve never seen a hungry bear have you? They can be very grumpy. Just imagine running from hungry bear that’s angry too. Let me tell you something… You would soil your pants mister. It will try to eat you. Gobble you right up! Once they get the taste of humans it’s bad enough, but once they realize all you can do is run and scream? Well… they’re going to have a picnic. With the number of people coming through it will be an all you can eat buffet.”
“Bears…”The General looked around the map out the window, across the valley, to the hills.
“Even if somebody does get lucky enough to get away, they better hope a pack of wolves doesn’t pick up on their new ‘pamper’ scent.”
“Wolves?”
“I tell ya, if you’ve ever seen how a dog takes to diapers, I’m sure you’ll understand what a wolf will do to soiled pants. Oh gee, they are going to need a lot of medical attention. My bet is many of the Christians will stay by the lake and provide services for the others who come through. The Father has His players everywhere.”
“Yes ma’am.” The General scanned the map around the lake for a landing zone. “Should we drop supplies, or setup a supply line?”
“No. That’s their battle. We can only help the chosen who get completely across.” She pointed to a valley to the lower right of Imuruk Lake, and switched to the red pen. “This is their only logical path.”
She colored in the valley until it opened into a large plane, and ran the pen along the mountains up to the ocean above, across the plane, and back down to the ocean below, where she circled back up to the valley. “This ‘red zone’ is the final plane of death. It covers the width of the peninsula.”
“The plane of death… Wow.” The General rubbed the back of his head.
She pointed at the narrow valley below the lake. “They will funnel through here…” She opened her hand to present the plane. “But they will scramble here.”
The General grinned. “You have done some incredible homework.”
She smiled. “Oh, it gets better General.” She took the green pen and circled by the ocean at the top. “This is Kiwalik Lagoon.”
At the bottom of the screen she made another green circle. “And this is Norton Bay.”
She drew a green line from the bottom circle to the top circle. “This is the finish line. If they get past here they’re free! We will establish our medical facilities along this green line.”
“And where are we?”
She circled a ridge across from where the valley pours into the plane. “We’re on top of this ridge.”
She handed him the pens, put both hands on the window, and slid the video display to the left windowpane.
The General’s eyes followed the screen. He turned back to the President.
She pointed out the window to an opening in the hills across the valley. “There is your battle of Hamon-gog, General. Eighty-five percent of Russia is going to come across, and they will filter though here.”
“What’s going to stop them from reaching us?”
She shook her head. “Haven’t you been listening? This is God’s war, God’s battle. He told us about it so we would recognize it and let Him be. There are a lot of people that don’t believe God is real, and this battle will make it very clear He is.”
“So you’re here to watch God lure them in and kill them?”
She laughed. “Oh dear! Of course not! That’s like watching a car race just to see them crash? Who would do that? No sir. I’m here to welcome the winners of the race, because God isn’t going to kill them all.”
“How do you know that the bad one’s won’t get through?”
“God is very thorough, and leaves no hanging chads. I know most of those coming across have every intention of doing the harm as you say, but God also has a few of His own within them. There are a lot of Christians in Russia who never turned their back on God. It was their country, their national system that pushed God from them. Well, you know what? You can push God out of public life, but nobody can ever take God from your private life. It is a personal relationship everyone is entitled to.”
“You’re saying some of them will be protected?”
“Those who are Christian have nothing to worry about. He will see His children through. Of course it will be rough. That’s part of their test. We all have our tests General, but I trust God will take care of His own.”
The General smiled. “You sure are different in person than on television.”
She smiled back. “Ever since Reagan you had to be a good actor to play our game. I have many sides. Today you get to see my biblical scholarship. If you hang around you will also see my motherhood kick in. I did mention you we’re more than welcome to stay and watch the show… didn’t I? But if you have any other family within two days reach I suggest you go be with them.”
He looked at her. “No ma’am. It’s just me these days. The Air Force is my wife.”
She nodded. “If that’s so you’ve been a great husband to your country. Now ease your pack Airman and, well, you know what? I’m going to pour you a glass of Napa’s finest wine!”
He relaxed his shoulders. “Thank you, ma’am.”
“And stop calling me ma’am. We only have two days left. I do have a name you know?”
He straightened back up. “Yes ma’am. Hey, do you by any chance have those chapters in Ezekiel?”
She walked into the other room, but he heard her say. “Sure I do. I’ll set them up for you on the television above the fireplace. I’ll even put a browser on the big window by it so you can search the Bible, check definitions, or whatever helps you study?”
*****
Cruz found Seth washing his hands in the bathroom. “Hey. Randy wanted me to tell you there is a guy with about fifteen people asking to see you. He said his name is Bizzy?”
Seth turned and wiped his hands on his shirt. “What? Really?”
Cruz shrugged his shoulders. “He said he sent you a couple of emails over the years. He said he was watching your website.”
Seth smiled. “He never answered any of my replies. Set him up with our best VIP treatment. Put Rick in charge personally. Make sure Bruce talks to him directly. This dude came from the Claire. His works got me started, and several of my tattoos trace to his group. I tell you man… If I had time I could write a book about my tats. I’d call it ‘Five Smooth Stones’… you know why?”
Cruz eyes got big. “Wait a minute… you’re not saying that’s, Bizzy from…”
Seth asked. “Did he say why he wanted to see me?”
“He wanted to make sure he dunked his son in Stampede. It was his mother’s dying wish. He said it took him over two months to get here.”
“Two months! I bet he has some stories to tell.”
Cruz held the door open for Seth. “Hey, why would you write a book about rocks?”
“Because David took five smooth stones, worn over time, to slay Goliath… even though it only took one.”