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Chapter 8

The Christ Clone Trilogy 03 - Acts Of God

By

James Beau Seigneur

CHAPTER EIGHT

Necessary Risk

June 5, 4 N.A. (2026 A.D.)

The next day Decker awoke much later than the previous morning. Just as before, he awoke to find Petra covered in white. There were far fewer people out gathering and the many bare spots revealed that most had already gathered the manna for the day. Also as before, it seemed to Decker that the number of KDT had significantly increased.

Rosen did not return until after lunch.

"Good afternoon, Mr. Hawthorne," Rosen said as he came in. His black eye looked every bit as bad as it had the night before, a fact which Decker found quite satisfying.

Decker folded his hands over his stomach and leaned back on the bed, electing not to respond to Rosen's greeting. As always, Decker's response or lack of one did not deter Rosen from saying what he had come to say.

"Yeshua told a story about a farmer who had two sons," Rosen began immediately. "The younger of the two sons decided that he wanted to be on his own, so he went to his father and asked for what would be his inheritance. Reluctantly the father agreed, and the son left. On his own, the younger son fell in with people who were only too happy to help him spend his money. And, of course, before very long his money and his 'friends' were both gone. He found himself with nothing, far from home and working on a pig farm — which, incidentally, is not a good place for a nice Jewish boy to be. Looking at the mess he had made of his life, the son remembered that his father was much more generous to his servants than was his current employer. It occurred to the son that it would be better to admit his failure, go home, and ask his father for a job rather than stay where he was. Along the way, as the son neared the farm that had been his home, his father saw him coming. To the son's surprise, his father ran to meet him on the road, and received him, not as a servant but as a son.

"But though he was welcomed back by his father, remember I said he had already taken his part of the inheritance. Everything that remained of the inheritance belonged to the older brother. The father couldn't change that. He couldn't just take what was left and split it in half again — that wouldn't be fair to the son who had stayed with him. And I think it's safe to say that, human nature being what it is, if the father had done that, the younger brother would not have learned much from his experience.

"Your friend, Tom Donafin, had an interesting way of putting it. He said it was like in the movie The Wizard of Oz,51 where the good witch of the north, Glinda, tells Dorothy that all she has to do to go home is to click her heels together and say 'There's no place like home.'" Decker smiled despite himself as he recalled Tom Donafin's penchant for describing everything in terms of a movie. "When Dorothy asked Glinda why she hadn't just told her that to begin with, Glinda answered that she wouldn't have believed it. The point was, that until Dorothy experienced life away from home, she wouldn't truly understand and believe that there really is no place like home. The way Tom Donafin put it was that in order for Dorothy to learn her lesson, she had to earn her lesson so that she could appreciate how true it really was.

"The same was true for the farmer's younger son. Like almost everything else in life, Mr. Hawthorne, wisdom has a price. Lessons bought too cheaply seldom stay learned. If there is no price there is no value, and consequently nothing is learned. Of course, some lessons cost more than others."

Decker could not deny the truth in what Rosen said nor could he tell where he was going with it, so he stayed silent.

"When God created the earth," Rosen said, "he gave Adam and Eve a perfect paradise to live in and nearly total freedom to do as they wished. The only thing he told them not to do was eat from a particular tree — the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. But of course, as soon as you tell someone not to do something, that's exactly what they want to do: it's human nature. So sure enough, before long Adam and Eve were checking out the tree, where they met Lucifer in the form of a snake. Lucifer told them that the reason God didn't want them to eat from the tree was because it would make them like God. Now when you think about it," Rosen said, "that's got to be the greatest temptation in the world. Everyone wants to be in charge, to make their own rules, to be their own god. It's certainly proven to be a successful drawing card for Christopher and the New Age movement."

"Twice now you've blamed human nature for the way people act," Decker interrupted, "and I don't really disagree with you on that. But explain to me, if you can, why this god of yours, who you think is all-powerful and all-knowing and all-loving, made human nature so imperfect to begin with. And, while we're on the subject, what kind of an idiot is this god of yours to put the tree in the garden, within easy reach of Adam and Eve, if he didn't want them to eat it? Unless, of course . . ." Decker said, pausing to make his point, "he wanted them to fail. And if that was his intention then surely you have to admit that he's every bit as evil as Christopher says he is." Decker hoped that his questions might catch Rosen off guard, but as always, Rosen had a ready answer.

"People have struggled with that question and questions like it for thousands of years, Mr. Hawthorne. But the answer is really pretty simple."

"Oh brother," Decker said, already regretting that he had asked the question.

"But to understand it," Rosen began, despite Decker's protests, "you need to look at what it was that Adam and Eve actually did. It wasn't the fruit itself that was the problem. The real problem was their defiance. They defied God and his law because they wanted to be like God. That's really not so unusual, though. We all want to have our own way, to be in effect, our own lawgiver, our own god.

"So far all you've done is to restate the problem. You still haven't answered why."

"I'm getting to it," Rosen said. "Because we are made in God's image, it's our nature to want to be God."

"Oh, I see! You're saying Yahweh made a design error," Decker interrupted with a verbal jab.

"Not a design error," Rosen countered, "for now let's just call it a necessary risk. It's the same risk every parent takes when they have children. Just as a child is created in the image of its parents, God created us in his image to be his family. Anything less and we would not be his children — we'd be his pets or slaves. But God did not create us to be his pets or slaves, he created us to be his family, his children! Now it's up to us to decide whether we want to be his children or not —just as the decision was up to the farmer's two sons, and just as it was up to Adam and Eve. And though, like Adam and Eve, we all may want to be gods, there can be only one God. A wheel with two centers will not turn. A universe with two gods cannot function."

"Let's get back to what you said about God creating us to be his children," Decker said. "There comes a time when children need to leave the nest, to go out on their own. And whether the parents like it or not, they have to be willing to let go"

"That is true, Mr. Hawthorne. The child must be given more and more responsibility for himself as he grows. But we should clarify our terms. The term 'child of God' does not speak of immaturity on our part, but of unceasing love for us on God's part. A child will cease to be a youth, but a parent never ceases to be a parent. The relationship goes beyond the ages of the individuals involved. Being a child of God denotes a relationship of love, trust, and respect — not of oppression."

"Yeah, sure," Decker said, "just as long as we're willing to obey his laws and follow his orders."

"I know that Christopher says that Yahweh's laws are designed to oppress people, to keep them forever unable to reason for themselves. But God himself said to mankind, Come, let us reason together. If you really take the time to consider God's laws, you'll find that they are as reasonable and beneficial and indeed as necessary to our very survival as are the law of gravity and the other laws of nature. God's laws are designed not to oppress but to sustain. Jesus was asked by one of the religious leaders what God's greatest commandment is. He answered that the greatest commandment is 'Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.' And he said the second greatest commandment is like the first: 'Love your neighbor as yourself.' Not only are those the two greatest commandments, Jesus said that every other law in the Bible is wrapped up in those two commands."

"Yeah, but those aren't the only things Yahweh said we had to do," Decker answered. "The Bible includes a lot more laws than just the Ten Commandments."

"Six hundred and sixteen laws, to be exact," Rosen replied. "But all of those laws, every one of them, has as its foundation the two laws Jesus talked about."

"So what if I disagree that something is wrong in a particular situation?"

"Making a decision about whether something is right or wrong based on the situation would be fine if you could be sure you knew everything that there is to know about the situation. But can you really know all of the consequences of your actions? Can you look into the future to determine every outcome of your decisions? You'd be a liar or a fool to say you could. Very little in life turns out as we expect it to. It's Murphy's law: 'If something can go wrong, it will.' And of course, something almost always can go wrong. At best, those who depend on their individual judgment to determine right and wrong end up making a 'best guess' based on the known data and the range of anticipated possible outcomes. At worst, they ignore the obvious consequences of their actions, telling themselves everything will work itself out, just so they can do what they wanted to do in the first place. And somewhere between the best and worst cases are the decisions which, despite our intentions, find their origins in judgments unavoidably clouded by our self interests. God's laws are the standard established by the only one who knows everything — past, present, and future — so that we don't have to rely on our own limited knowledge of situations."

"So we're just supposed to put our brains on hold and follow blindly along the path that God has set for us!" Decker responded.

"Not at all, Mr. Hawthorne. Remember, Jesus said that the greatest commandment is to love God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind. He included your mind. He doesn't want us to blindly accept what somebody tells us; he wants us to consider the evidence, to use our mind as well as our heart in coming to him and in following him. Blind faith is an alien concept to the mature Christian. It's the New Age religions that tell their adherents to put their minds on hold and let some spirit guide or unknown force direct them. It's the New Age religions that tell us that our future is determined by such things as the location of certain stars on the day we were born."

Rosen had hit upon two things that had always made Decker a little uncomfortable about the New Agers. He had never had any difficulty with anything Christopher said and only a little trouble with most of what Milner said, but some of those who followed Christopher and Milner held what seemed to Decker to be very bizarre and unscientific beliefs and practices that he would rather not try to defend. Spirit guides and astrology were two of them. And since he preferred not to dwell on these things, he did not mind at all when Rosen went on to what seemed to be another subject.

"When Jesus was crucified," Rosen continued, "there were thieves crucified on either side of him. One of the thieves, even though he was dying on a cross, taunted and insulted Jesus. But the other thief realized that while he deserved punishment for the crimes he had committed, he knew that Jesus was innocent. Somehow, by the grace of God and despite the circumstances, he also recognized Jesus as the Messiah.

"You might think that a condemned man doesn't have much to lose, but even then a person may still cling to his pride. Even as he hung there on the cross, the first thief wanted to be accepted by the crowd. I suppose he thought he could make himself appear better by tearing down someone else. The other thief, though, was willing to give up his pride and dignity, admit his guilt and, there in front of everyone, turn his fate over to the Messiah, saying, 'Jesus, remember me when you come into your kingdom.'

"Jesus' response to the thief s request was very unusual. He didn't give him a list of things to do so that he could be accepted by God. He didn't tell him he had to be baptized, or sanctified, or take communion, or do good works, or walk across burning coals, or make a pilgrimage, or chant, or anything. He simply said, 'I tell you the truth, today you will be with me in paradise.'"

"It may seem like the thief didn't do anything except ask, but we should not miss the point of what he did do. Just like the farmer's younger son, who admitted his failure and returned humbly to his father, so the thief recognized his guilt and turned humbly to Jesus.

"You see, Mr. Hawthorne, just like the fanner's son and the thief on the cross, people don't become Christians because they're good people; they become Christians because they realize that they've failed. They know that they've broken God's laws, and that they are sinners.

"When you get right down to it, Christianity is like bankruptcy. To accept Yeshua is to admit defeat and throw yourself on the mercy of the court because you realize that justice demands more than you can possibly pay. The down payment alone would cost you your life; and what good is learning the lesson, if the cost of earning your lesson leaves you dead?

"I remember reading in school about a bizarre practice used by royalty in Europe to punish a prince. Instead of punishing the prince himself when he was bad, a boy of the prince's same age — called a whipping boy — would bear the punishment for the prince. It always seemed both incredibly unfair and incredibly stupid to me — incredibly unfair because a boy who had done nothing was punished for what someone else did, and incredibly stupid because the prince had no motivation for changing his behavior. More recently, though, it occurred to me that it was not so stupid as I had assumed. Properly administered, it could be a very effective deterrent against bad behavior by the prince."

Decker shook his head. "You've lost me on that one, Rosen."

"If the prince did not know the whipping boy or did not have to watch the boy being punished for what he had done," Rosen explained, "then of course it meant little or nothing to the prince and the punishment did no good. But if the prince knew the boy, if they were friends and playmates, then even though the prince did not bear the physical marks of the lashing, he would feel the pain of knowing the suffering he had caused to his friend. Do you have any brothers or sisters, Mr. Hawthorne?"

"One older brother, Nathan. He died in the Disaster," Decker answered, though after he had, he could not understand why he had been so forthcoming.

Rosen raised an eyebrow in surprise at this revelation, but did not allow it to distract him. "Then you can probably understand that, if your parents punished your brother whenever you did something wrong, you might think it was a pretty nice arrangement for a while. Soon, though, if you cared for your brother at all, you would start to feel bad about it. So that even though it was your brother who had been punished, you would suffer, too, and pretty soon your behavior would change.

"The practice of sacrificing animals is similar to the concept of the whipping boy. Christopher has said that the animal sacrifices required by Yahweh prove that he is a bloodthirsty god. But God didn't tell us to sacrifice animals for our sins because he's bloodthirsty. God doesn't like to see suffering; he doesn't like to see animals die. According to the Bible, originally animals didn't even kill each other. They were all vegetarians; and they will be again after Jesus returns. The reason God told us to offer animal sacrifices was so that we would realize just how terrible our sin is. As bad as you would have felt about your brother being punished in your place, imagine how much worse you would have felt if your parents made you administer the punishment. That is what God intended with animal sacrifices. He wanted us to understand in no uncertain terms that the price of sin is death.

"In the story that Jesus told about the farmer and his two sons, there was no inheritance left for the younger son: everything the father had left was the inheritance of the older brother. There was one way, however, that the younger son could have gotten an inheritance and yet still have earned his lesson: that is, if his brother died and left no heir. If that happened, he would receive the older brother's inheritance because there was no one else for it to go to. But he would still have learnedand earned'his lesson because he would know that what he received came at the price of his brother's life." Rosen paused a moment to make his point. "Well, our brother did die," Rosen continued, finally, "not because Yahweh is a bloodthirsty God, but because the only way for us to understand the seriousness of our sin without paying the price for that sin ourselves is to understand the magnitude of the price that Jesus paid by dying for us.

"I said earlier that when God created us in his own image he took a 'necessary risk' because only by being created in his image could we truly be his children. Actually, since God knew in advance that Adam and Eve would sin, it would be more accurate to call it not a 'necessary risk' but an 'accepted cost.' God knew we would sin and he knew that he himself, in the person of his son Jesus, would have to be tortured and die to pay the penalty for that sin. Yet despite all this, he did it anyway. His own death was a price he was willing to pay because his love for us is so great that he would rather die than live without us.

"The inheritance is ours, Mr. Hawthorne. To claim it, all we have to do is what the farmer's younger son did: admit we've made a mess of our lives without God, swallow our pride and ask him to forgive us and take us back. Like the younger son, we must be willing to come back as a servant, but like the father in the story, God waits anxiously to accept us as sons.

"Jesus told the thief on the cross that he would be in paradise. And, you know, that thief was the only person Jesus ever directly made that promise to. I believe Jesus used that situation, where the one he was talking to could not possibly have done anything to earn God's forgiveness, so that in the centuries to come no one could ever read that story and honestly believe that being forgiven and accepted by God was something that could be earned.

"It's up to us to decide which role we will play in life: the proud, mocking thief or the humble, repentant thief. That's just how simple it was then, and it's just as simple now. All that you need to do to be forgiven and accepted by God is to recognize that you need to be forgiven and then ask. Come humbly to God just as the farmer's son returned humbly to his father and he will accept you with open arms."

"That's quite a story, Rosen," Decker said. "But you haven't changed anything. As I said last night, no matter how convincing a story you might tell, there's no way I'm going to trust the word of a kidnapper over Christopher."

"And I told you last night that I would not try to convince you otherwise. What I have attempted to do today is to make it clear to you what it is that we believe.

"Now, there's just one other item we need to cover before you leave. I told you earlier that God had taken his people from the earth so that they wouldn't have to suffer through the times in which we now find ourselves. The Bible calls these times the 'Tribulation,' a period which would begin with the signing of a treaty with Israel and last for seven years. That treaty was the one between the United Nations and Israel arranged by Christopher Goodman when he returned the Ark of the Covenant. It went into effect September 30th of 2019, meaning that of the seven years, less than four months remain."

"As far as I can tell," Decker interrupted, "things have been going pretty well since Christopher got rid of John and Cohen three years ago — no asteroids, no plagues of locusts, no homicidal madness, not even any wars. The whole world has been at peace. The only 'tribulation' that I'm aware of is the killings and violence by the fundamentalists at the communion clinics. I guess you could also throw in the appearance of the three angels," Decker added, "but they just made empty threats."

"Nevertheless," Rosen said, "over the next three and a half months things are going to get much worse fast. Of course, Christopher will blame Yahweh, the KDT, and the fundamentalists."

"And you just can't imagine why he'd do that, can you?!" Decker said sarcastically. "Are you trying to say that Yahweh is not responsible for the death and destruction that plagued the earth before Christopher killed John and Cohen?"

"What God has done to this point," Rosen answered, apparently denying nothing, "has been designed, for the most part, to get our attention. The plagues which befell Egypt in the days of Moses were designed to demonstrate God's supremacy over the false gods of Egypt. The Egyptians worshiped the Nile River, so God turned it to blood; they worshiped flies and frogs and so he gave them plagues of flies and frogs; they worshiped the sun and so he blacked out the sun over Egypt. In the same way, God has selectively struck the earth with plagues which demonstrate his supremacy over the false gods of this age. People worship the heavens and look to the stars to guide their futures, so God used asteroids — falling stars — to plague the earth. People worship nature, so God used nature to afflict mankind with storms, volcanoes, and locusts. People seek the guidance of spirits, so God allowed spirits to bring madness and death upon the earth. But what is coming in the next three months is designed not to get our attention, but to punish.

"To strike back at Yahweh, Christopher will order the arrest of all who oppose him, and ultimately the execution of all who refuse to take the communion and the mark. When the plagues continue, he will call for the people of all nations to gather and march on Petra to destroy those who still pledge their allegiance to Yahweh. He will justify his actions by saying that it is necessary to destroy the opponents of the New Age just as you would destroy a disease or cancer — so that the rest of the world can break the final hold that Yahweh has on the earth. And of course, it will be argued that killing Yahweh' s followers is really for our own good since in a few years or so we'll all be reincarnated, free of our past 'prejudices' and 'bigotries.'

"Do you understand why we are called Koum Damah Tatare, Mr. Hawthorne?

"Yeah," Decker answered. "Because there's supposed to be 144,000 of you kooks, and the consonants from Koum Damah Tatare are the numbers used to write 144,000."

"There is an additional reason — a prophetic reason," Rosen said. "In English, Koum Damah Tatare means 'arise, shed tears, and be free.' In the book of Zechariah, speaking through the prophet, God said:

pour out on the house of David and the inhabitants of Jerusalem a spirit of grace and supplication. They will look on me, the one they have pierced, and they will mourn for him as one mourns for an only child, and grieve bitterly for him as one grieves for a firstborn son.

"The time is coming soon when these words will come to pass, when all Israel will arise as one and shed tears for the one they have pierced. As Christopher marches on Petra, the people of Israel will understand that Yeshua, whom they have rejected and their ancestors pierced, is indeed their king and Messiah. When that happens, Messiah will return to save them from Christopher, just as Moses returned to rescue their forefathers from Pharaoh, and they will at last be free"

"And then you'll all live happily ever after, right?" Decker said dryly.

"That is so much more true than you could possibly imagine," Rosen answered without embarrassment. "The Bible says that God will establish his kingdom on the earth and Yeshua will reign as king on the throne of David. The earth will be restored to the paradise that it was in its Edenic state. As it was in the Garden of Eden, the Bible says:

The wolf mil live with the lamb, the leopard will lie down with the goat, the calf and the lion and the yearling together; and a little child will lead them. The caw will feed with the bear, their young will lie down together, and the lion will eat straw like the ox. The infant will play near the hole of the cobra, and the young child put his hand into the viper's nest. They will neither harm nor destroy on all my holy mountain, for the earth will be full of the knowledge of the Lord as the waters cover the sea.

Decker groaned and shook his head.

"I've done all I can. I've rolled away the stone — the rest is up to God," Rosen concluded, referring to the biblical story of the events preceding the resurrection of Lazarus. "I assume you'll want to leave as soon as possible," he added without ceremony.

Decker was momentarily taken aback, unsure he had heard correctly. "Just like that?" he asked after a moment, wondering if this ordeal could really be ending so simply.

"Just like that," Rosen repeated. "You see, God has not instructed me to be successful, only to make the effort. It's not my responsibility to change your mind, only to present you with the truth. What you do with the truth is up to you."

Decker wished that for just one moment he could read Rosen's mind. Was Rosen serious or was this just a trick?

"I've made arrangements for you to leave the day after tomorrow."

That did not sound promising. "Why not right now?" Decker asked, suspicious of any delay. He knew that if the KDT intended to kill him it would probably happen soon. Or this might just be a transition into a second phase of a longer brainwashing program. Would they now lock him in solitary confinement for a few weeks or months to 'consider' what Rosen had told him over the past three days? He could only guess which it would be. Whatever happened, Decker determined that he would endure it with dignity. He would not let them break him. He reminded himself of his nearly three years as a hostage in Lebanon. So far, this was a cakewalk by comparison.

Of course, there was also the possibility that Rosen really intended to let him go, but Decker didn't put much hope in that prospect.

"You'll be taken to Israel and released," Rosen continued. "I'm sure that from there you can get back to Babylon on your own."

"Why can't I leave right now?" Decker asked again more forcefully.

"It's after 4:00 on Friday afternoon," Rosen answered. "There is not enough time for anyone to take you to Israel before sundown when the Sabbath begins."

Of course, devout Jews would not travel on a Sabbath. Rosen's answer was just plausible enough to be either the real reason or a well-considered lie. "And so I'm just supposed to sit and wait?" Decker prodded.

"You're free to go wherever you like in Petra."

"And if I choose to go farther?" Decker cringed that he had asked such a stupid question. Petra was in the middle of the wilderness. Where else could he possibly go?

Whether it was the look of embarrassment on Decker's face or Rosen's ability to read Decker's mind, Rosen did not answer. "There's just one last thing," he said instead. "Somehow, Mr. Hawthorne, you have avoided the communion and the mark this long. I don't know if you can continue to do so, but if you can, and if you believe that there is even the smallest, most outside chance that I might be telling you the truth, then I urge you to do everything in your power not to take the communion or the mark."

"I'll keep that in mind," Decker answered with obvious insincerity. Decker found possible encouragement in what Rosen had said, though. It might have been an indication that Rosen really did intend to let him go. Why else would he take the time to urge him not to take the communion and the mark?

"I must leave now," Rosen said. "I pray that you will consider what I have said and what the Spirit of God is saying to you even now, and that our next meeting will be as brothers and fellow heirs in Messiah's kingdom."

"Yeah, sure," Decker answered. The tone of his voice was so disingenuous it surprised even him. The fact that Rosen had once again referred to something that would necessitate his living for a while longer, however, did not escape Decker's attention.

Rosen sighed and left the room, leaving the door open behind him.

Chapter 8

The Christ Clone Trilogy 03 - Acts Of God

By

James Beau Seigneur

CHAPTER EIGHT

Necessary Risk

June 5, 4 N.A. (2026 A.D.)

The next day Decker awoke much later than the previous morning. Just as before, he awoke to find Petra covered in white. There were far fewer people out gathering and the many bare spots revealed that most had already gathered the manna for the day. Also as before, it seemed to Decker that the number of KDT had significantly increased.

Rosen did not return until after lunch.

"Good afternoon, Mr. Hawthorne," Rosen said as he came in. His black eye looked every bit as bad as it had the night before, a fact which Decker found quite satisfying.

Decker folded his hands over his stomach and leaned back on the bed, electing not to respond to Rosen's greeting. As always, Decker's response or lack of one did not deter Rosen from saying what he had come to say.

"Yeshua told a story about a farmer who had two sons," Rosen began immediately. "The younger of the two sons decided that he wanted to be on his own, so he went to his father and asked for what would be his inheritance. Reluctantly the father agreed, and the son left. On his own, the younger son fell in with people who were only too happy to help him spend his money. And, of course, before very long his money and his 'friends' were both gone. He found himself with nothing, far from home and working on a pig farm — which, incidentally, is not a good place for a nice Jewish boy to be. Looking at the mess he had made of his life, the son remembered that his father was much more generous to his servants than was his current employer. It occurred to the son that it would be better to admit his failure, go home, and ask his father for a job rather than stay where he was. Along the way, as the son neared the farm that had been his home, his father saw him coming. To the son's surprise, his father ran to meet him on the road, and received him, not as a servant but as a son.

"But though he was welcomed back by his father, remember I said he had already taken his part of the inheritance. Everything that remained of the inheritance belonged to the older brother. The father couldn't change that. He couldn't just take what was left and split it in half again — that wouldn't be fair to the son who had stayed with him. And I think it's safe to say that, human nature being what it is, if the father had done that, the younger brother would not have learned much from his experience.

"Your friend, Tom Donafin, had an interesting way of putting it. He said it was like in the movie The Wizard of Oz,51 where the good witch of the north, Glinda, tells Dorothy that all she has to do to go home is to click her heels together and say 'There's no place like home.'" Decker smiled despite himself as he recalled Tom Donafin's penchant for describing everything in terms of a movie. "When Dorothy asked Glinda why she hadn't just told her that to begin with, Glinda answered that she wouldn't have believed it. The point was, that until Dorothy experienced life away from home, she wouldn't truly understand and believe that there really is no place like home. The way Tom Donafin put it was that in order for Dorothy to learn her lesson, she had to earn her lesson so that she could appreciate how true it really was.

"The same was true for the farmer's younger son. Like almost everything else in life, Mr. Hawthorne, wisdom has a price. Lessons bought too cheaply seldom stay learned. If there is no price there is no value, and consequently nothing is learned. Of course, some lessons cost more than others."

Decker could not deny the truth in what Rosen said nor could he tell where he was going with it, so he stayed silent.

"When God created the earth," Rosen said, "he gave Adam and Eve a perfect paradise to live in and nearly total freedom to do as they wished. The only thing he told them not to do was eat from a particular tree — the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. But of course, as soon as you tell someone not to do something, that's exactly what they want to do: it's human nature. So sure enough, before long Adam and Eve were checking out the tree, where they met Lucifer in the form of a snake. Lucifer told them that the reason God didn't want them to eat from the tree was because it would make them like God. Now when you think about it," Rosen said, "that's got to be the greatest temptation in the world. Everyone wants to be in charge, to make their own rules, to be their own god. It's certainly proven to be a successful drawing card for Christopher and the New Age movement."

"Twice now you've blamed human nature for the way people act," Decker interrupted, "and I don't really disagree with you on that. But explain to me, if you can, why this god of yours, who you think is all-powerful and all-knowing and all-loving, made human nature so imperfect to begin with. And, while we're on the subject, what kind of an idiot is this god of yours to put the tree in the garden, within easy reach of Adam and Eve, if he didn't want them to eat it? Unless, of course . . ." Decker said, pausing to make his point, "he wanted them to fail. And if that was his intention then surely you have to admit that he's every bit as evil as Christopher says he is." Decker hoped that his questions might catch Rosen off guard, but as always, Rosen had a ready answer.

"People have struggled with that question and questions like it for thousands of years, Mr. Hawthorne. But the answer is really pretty simple."

"Oh brother," Decker said, already regretting that he had asked the question.

"But to understand it," Rosen began, despite Decker's protests, "you need to look at what it was that Adam and Eve actually did. It wasn't the fruit itself that was the problem. The real problem was their defiance. They defied God and his law because they wanted to be like God. That's really not so unusual, though. We all want to have our own way, to be in effect, our own lawgiver, our own god.

"So far all you've done is to restate the problem. You still haven't answered why."

"I'm getting to it," Rosen said. "Because we are made in God's image, it's our nature to want to be God."

"Oh, I see! You're saying Yahweh made a design error," Decker interrupted with a verbal jab.

"Not a design error," Rosen countered, "for now let's just call it a necessary risk. It's the same risk every parent takes when they have children. Just as a child is created in the image of its parents, God created us in his image to be his family. Anything less and we would not be his children — we'd be his pets or slaves. But God did not create us to be his pets or slaves, he created us to be his family, his children! Now it's up to us to decide whether we want to be his children or not —just as the decision was up to the farmer's two sons, and just as it was up to Adam and Eve. And though, like Adam and Eve, we all may want to be gods, there can be only one God. A wheel with two centers will not turn. A universe with two gods cannot function."

"Let's get back to what you said about God creating us to be his children," Decker said. "There comes a time when children need to leave the nest, to go out on their own. And whether the parents like it or not, they have to be willing to let go"

"That is true, Mr. Hawthorne. The child must be given more and more responsibility for himself as he grows. But we should clarify our terms. The term 'child of God' does not speak of immaturity on our part, but of unceasing love for us on God's part. A child will cease to be a youth, but a parent never ceases to be a parent. The relationship goes beyond the ages of the individuals involved. Being a child of God denotes a relationship of love, trust, and respect — not of oppression."

"Yeah, sure," Decker said, "just as long as we're willing to obey his laws and follow his orders."

"I know that Christopher says that Yahweh's laws are designed to oppress people, to keep them forever unable to reason for themselves. But God himself said to mankind, Come, let us reason together. If you really take the time to consider God's laws, you'll find that they are as reasonable and beneficial and indeed as necessary to our very survival as are the law of gravity and the other laws of nature. God's laws are designed not to oppress but to sustain. Jesus was asked by one of the religious leaders what God's greatest commandment is. He answered that the greatest commandment is 'Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.' And he said the second greatest commandment is like the first: 'Love your neighbor as yourself.' Not only are those the two greatest commandments, Jesus said that every other law in the Bible is wrapped up in those two commands."

"Yeah, but those aren't the only things Yahweh said we had to do," Decker answered. "The Bible includes a lot more laws than just the Ten Commandments."

"Six hundred and sixteen laws, to be exact," Rosen replied. "But all of those laws, every one of them, has as its foundation the two laws Jesus talked about."

"So what if I disagree that something is wrong in a particular situation?"

"Making a decision about whether something is right or wrong based on the situation would be fine if you could be sure you knew everything that there is to know about the situation. But can you really know all of the consequences of your actions? Can you look into the future to determine every outcome of your decisions? You'd be a liar or a fool to say you could. Very little in life turns out as we expect it to. It's Murphy's law: 'If something can go wrong, it will.' And of course, something almost always can go wrong. At best, those who depend on their individual judgment to determine right and wrong end up making a 'best guess' based on the known data and the range of anticipated possible outcomes. At worst, they ignore the obvious consequences of their actions, telling themselves everything will work itself out, just so they can do what they wanted to do in the first place. And somewhere between the best and worst cases are the decisions which, despite our intentions, find their origins in judgments unavoidably clouded by our self interests. God's laws are the standard established by the only one who knows everything — past, present, and future — so that we don't have to rely on our own limited knowledge of situations."

"So we're just supposed to put our brains on hold and follow blindly along the path that God has set for us!" Decker responded.

"Not at all, Mr. Hawthorne. Remember, Jesus said that the greatest commandment is to love God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind. He included your mind. He doesn't want us to blindly accept what somebody tells us; he wants us to consider the evidence, to use our mind as well as our heart in coming to him and in following him. Blind faith is an alien concept to the mature Christian. It's the New Age religions that tell their adherents to put their minds on hold and let some spirit guide or unknown force direct them. It's the New Age religions that tell us that our future is determined by such things as the location of certain stars on the day we were born."

Rosen had hit upon two things that had always made Decker a little uncomfortable about the New Agers. He had never had any difficulty with anything Christopher said and only a little trouble with most of what Milner said, but some of those who followed Christopher and Milner held what seemed to Decker to be very bizarre and unscientific beliefs and practices that he would rather not try to defend. Spirit guides and astrology were two of them. And since he preferred not to dwell on these things, he did not mind at all when Rosen went on to what seemed to be another subject.

"When Jesus was crucified," Rosen continued, "there were thieves crucified on either side of him. One of the thieves, even though he was dying on a cross, taunted and insulted Jesus. But the other thief realized that while he deserved punishment for the crimes he had committed, he knew that Jesus was innocent. Somehow, by the grace of God and despite the circumstances, he also recognized Jesus as the Messiah.

"You might think that a condemned man doesn't have much to lose, but even then a person may still cling to his pride. Even as he hung there on the cross, the first thief wanted to be accepted by the crowd. I suppose he thought he could make himself appear better by tearing down someone else. The other thief, though, was willing to give up his pride and dignity, admit his guilt and, there in front of everyone, turn his fate over to the Messiah, saying, 'Jesus, remember me when you come into your kingdom.'

"Jesus' response to the thief s request was very unusual. He didn't give him a list of things to do so that he could be accepted by God. He didn't tell him he had to be baptized, or sanctified, or take communion, or do good works, or walk across burning coals, or make a pilgrimage, or chant, or anything. He simply said, 'I tell you the truth, today you will be with me in paradise.'"

"It may seem like the thief didn't do anything except ask, but we should not miss the point of what he did do. Just like the farmer's younger son, who admitted his failure and returned humbly to his father, so the thief recognized his guilt and turned humbly to Jesus.

"You see, Mr. Hawthorne, just like the fanner's son and the thief on the cross, people don't become Christians because they're good people; they become Christians because they realize that they've failed. They know that they've broken God's laws, and that they are sinners.

"When you get right down to it, Christianity is like bankruptcy. To accept Yeshua is to admit defeat and throw yourself on the mercy of the court because you realize that justice demands more than you can possibly pay. The down payment alone would cost you your life; and what good is learning the lesson, if the cost of earning your lesson leaves you dead?

"I remember reading in school about a bizarre practice used by royalty in Europe to punish a prince. Instead of punishing the prince himself when he was bad, a boy of the prince's same age — called a whipping boy — would bear the punishment for the prince. It always seemed both incredibly unfair and incredibly stupid to me — incredibly unfair because a boy who had done nothing was punished for what someone else did, and incredibly stupid because the prince had no motivation for changing his behavior. More recently, though, it occurred to me that it was not so stupid as I had assumed. Properly administered, it could be a very effective deterrent against bad behavior by the prince."

Decker shook his head. "You've lost me on that one, Rosen."

"If the prince did not know the whipping boy or did not have to watch the boy being punished for what he had done," Rosen explained, "then of course it meant little or nothing to the prince and the punishment did no good. But if the prince knew the boy, if they were friends and playmates, then even though the prince did not bear the physical marks of the lashing, he would feel the pain of knowing the suffering he had caused to his friend. Do you have any brothers or sisters, Mr. Hawthorne?"

"One older brother, Nathan. He died in the Disaster," Decker answered, though after he had, he could not understand why he had been so forthcoming.

Rosen raised an eyebrow in surprise at this revelation, but did not allow it to distract him. "Then you can probably understand that, if your parents punished your brother whenever you did something wrong, you might think it was a pretty nice arrangement for a while. Soon, though, if you cared for your brother at all, you would start to feel bad about it. So that even though it was your brother who had been punished, you would suffer, too, and pretty soon your behavior would change.

"The practice of sacrificing animals is similar to the concept of the whipping boy. Christopher has said that the animal sacrifices required by Yahweh prove that he is a bloodthirsty god. But God didn't tell us to sacrifice animals for our sins because he's bloodthirsty. God doesn't like to see suffering; he doesn't like to see animals die. According to the Bible, originally animals didn't even kill each other. They were all vegetarians; and they will be again after Jesus returns. The reason God told us to offer animal sacrifices was so that we would realize just how terrible our sin is. As bad as you would have felt about your brother being punished in your place, imagine how much worse you would have felt if your parents made you administer the punishment. That is what God intended with animal sacrifices. He wanted us to understand in no uncertain terms that the price of sin is death.

"In the story that Jesus told about the farmer and his two sons, there was no inheritance left for the younger son: everything the father had left was the inheritance of the older brother. There was one way, however, that the younger son could have gotten an inheritance and yet still have earned his lesson: that is, if his brother died and left no heir. If that happened, he would receive the older brother's inheritance because there was no one else for it to go to. But he would still have learnedand earned'his lesson because he would know that what he received came at the price of his brother's life." Rosen paused a moment to make his point. "Well, our brother did die," Rosen continued, finally, "not because Yahweh is a bloodthirsty God, but because the only way for us to understand the seriousness of our sin without paying the price for that sin ourselves is to understand the magnitude of the price that Jesus paid by dying for us.

"I said earlier that when God created us in his own image he took a 'necessary risk' because only by being created in his image could we truly be his children. Actually, since God knew in advance that Adam and Eve would sin, it would be more accurate to call it not a 'necessary risk' but an 'accepted cost.' God knew we would sin and he knew that he himself, in the person of his son Jesus, would have to be tortured and die to pay the penalty for that sin. Yet despite all this, he did it anyway. His own death was a price he was willing to pay because his love for us is so great that he would rather die than live without us.

"The inheritance is ours, Mr. Hawthorne. To claim it, all we have to do is what the farmer's younger son did: admit we've made a mess of our lives without God, swallow our pride and ask him to forgive us and take us back. Like the younger son, we must be willing to come back as a servant, but like the father in the story, God waits anxiously to accept us as sons.

"Jesus told the thief on the cross that he would be in paradise. And, you know, that thief was the only person Jesus ever directly made that promise to. I believe Jesus used that situation, where the one he was talking to could not possibly have done anything to earn God's forgiveness, so that in the centuries to come no one could ever read that story and honestly believe that being forgiven and accepted by God was something that could be earned.

"It's up to us to decide which role we will play in life: the proud, mocking thief or the humble, repentant thief. That's just how simple it was then, and it's just as simple now. All that you need to do to be forgiven and accepted by God is to recognize that you need to be forgiven and then ask. Come humbly to God just as the farmer's son returned humbly to his father and he will accept you with open arms."

"That's quite a story, Rosen," Decker said. "But you haven't changed anything. As I said last night, no matter how convincing a story you might tell, there's no way I'm going to trust the word of a kidnapper over Christopher."

"And I told you last night that I would not try to convince you otherwise. What I have attempted to do today is to make it clear to you what it is that we believe.

"Now, there's just one other item we need to cover before you leave. I told you earlier that God had taken his people from the earth so that they wouldn't have to suffer through the times in which we now find ourselves. The Bible calls these times the 'Tribulation,' a period which would begin with the signing of a treaty with Israel and last for seven years. That treaty was the one between the United Nations and Israel arranged by Christopher Goodman when he returned the Ark of the Covenant. It went into effect September 30th of 2019, meaning that of the seven years, less than four months remain."

"As far as I can tell," Decker interrupted, "things have been going pretty well since Christopher got rid of John and Cohen three years ago — no asteroids, no plagues of locusts, no homicidal madness, not even any wars. The whole world has been at peace. The only 'tribulation' that I'm aware of is the killings and violence by the fundamentalists at the communion clinics. I guess you could also throw in the appearance of the three angels," Decker added, "but they just made empty threats."

"Nevertheless," Rosen said, "over the next three and a half months things are going to get much worse fast. Of course, Christopher will blame Yahweh, the KDT, and the fundamentalists."

"And you just can't imagine why he'd do that, can you?!" Decker said sarcastically. "Are you trying to say that Yahweh is not responsible for the death and destruction that plagued the earth before Christopher killed John and Cohen?"

"What God has done to this point," Rosen answered, apparently denying nothing, "has been designed, for the most part, to get our attention. The plagues which befell Egypt in the days of Moses were designed to demonstrate God's supremacy over the false gods of Egypt. The Egyptians worshiped the Nile River, so God turned it to blood; they worshiped flies and frogs and so he gave them plagues of flies and frogs; they worshiped the sun and so he blacked out the sun over Egypt. In the same way, God has selectively struck the earth with plagues which demonstrate his supremacy over the false gods of this age. People worship the heavens and look to the stars to guide their futures, so God used asteroids — falling stars — to plague the earth. People worship nature, so God used nature to afflict mankind with storms, volcanoes, and locusts. People seek the guidance of spirits, so God allowed spirits to bring madness and death upon the earth. But what is coming in the next three months is designed not to get our attention, but to punish.

"To strike back at Yahweh, Christopher will order the arrest of all who oppose him, and ultimately the execution of all who refuse to take the communion and the mark. When the plagues continue, he will call for the people of all nations to gather and march on Petra to destroy those who still pledge their allegiance to Yahweh. He will justify his actions by saying that it is necessary to destroy the opponents of the New Age just as you would destroy a disease or cancer — so that the rest of the world can break the final hold that Yahweh has on the earth. And of course, it will be argued that killing Yahweh' s followers is really for our own good since in a few years or so we'll all be reincarnated, free of our past 'prejudices' and 'bigotries.'

"Do you understand why we are called Koum Damah Tatare, Mr. Hawthorne?

"Yeah," Decker answered. "Because there's supposed to be 144,000 of you kooks, and the consonants from Koum Damah Tatare are the numbers used to write 144,000."

"There is an additional reason — a prophetic reason," Rosen said. "In English, Koum Damah Tatare means 'arise, shed tears, and be free.' In the book of Zechariah, speaking through the prophet, God said:

pour out on the house of David and the inhabitants of Jerusalem a spirit of grace and supplication. They will look on me, the one they have pierced, and they will mourn for him as one mourns for an only child, and grieve bitterly for him as one grieves for a firstborn son.

"The time is coming soon when these words will come to pass, when all Israel will arise as one and shed tears for the one they have pierced. As Christopher marches on Petra, the people of Israel will understand that Yeshua, whom they have rejected and their ancestors pierced, is indeed their king and Messiah. When that happens, Messiah will return to save them from Christopher, just as Moses returned to rescue their forefathers from Pharaoh, and they will at last be free"

"And then you'll all live happily ever after, right?" Decker said dryly.

"That is so much more true than you could possibly imagine," Rosen answered without embarrassment. "The Bible says that God will establish his kingdom on the earth and Yeshua will reign as king on the throne of David. The earth will be restored to the paradise that it was in its Edenic state. As it was in the Garden of Eden, the Bible says:

The wolf mil live with the lamb, the leopard will lie down with the goat, the calf and the lion and the yearling together; and a little child will lead them. The caw will feed with the bear, their young will lie down together, and the lion will eat straw like the ox. The infant will play near the hole of the cobra, and the young child put his hand into the viper's nest. They will neither harm nor destroy on all my holy mountain, for the earth will be full of the knowledge of the Lord as the waters cover the sea.

Decker groaned and shook his head.

"I've done all I can. I've rolled away the stone — the rest is up to God," Rosen concluded, referring to the biblical story of the events preceding the resurrection of Lazarus. "I assume you'll want to leave as soon as possible," he added without ceremony.

Decker was momentarily taken aback, unsure he had heard correctly. "Just like that?" he asked after a moment, wondering if this ordeal could really be ending so simply.

"Just like that," Rosen repeated. "You see, God has not instructed me to be successful, only to make the effort. It's not my responsibility to change your mind, only to present you with the truth. What you do with the truth is up to you."

Decker wished that for just one moment he could read Rosen's mind. Was Rosen serious or was this just a trick?

"I've made arrangements for you to leave the day after tomorrow."

That did not sound promising. "Why not right now?" Decker asked, suspicious of any delay. He knew that if the KDT intended to kill him it would probably happen soon. Or this might just be a transition into a second phase of a longer brainwashing program. Would they now lock him in solitary confinement for a few weeks or months to 'consider' what Rosen had told him over the past three days? He could only guess which it would be. Whatever happened, Decker determined that he would endure it with dignity. He would not let them break him. He reminded himself of his nearly three years as a hostage in Lebanon. So far, this was a cakewalk by comparison.

Of course, there was also the possibility that Rosen really intended to let him go, but Decker didn't put much hope in that prospect.

"You'll be taken to Israel and released," Rosen continued. "I'm sure that from there you can get back to Babylon on your own."

"Why can't I leave right now?" Decker asked again more forcefully.

"It's after 4:00 on Friday afternoon," Rosen answered. "There is not enough time for anyone to take you to Israel before sundown when the Sabbath begins."

Of course, devout Jews would not travel on a Sabbath. Rosen's answer was just plausible enough to be either the real reason or a well-considered lie. "And so I'm just supposed to sit and wait?" Decker prodded.

"You're free to go wherever you like in Petra."

"And if I choose to go farther?" Decker cringed that he had asked such a stupid question. Petra was in the middle of the wilderness. Where else could he possibly go?

Whether it was the look of embarrassment on Decker's face or Rosen's ability to read Decker's mind, Rosen did not answer. "There's just one last thing," he said instead. "Somehow, Mr. Hawthorne, you have avoided the communion and the mark this long. I don't know if you can continue to do so, but if you can, and if you believe that there is even the smallest, most outside chance that I might be telling you the truth, then I urge you to do everything in your power not to take the communion or the mark."

"I'll keep that in mind," Decker answered with obvious insincerity. Decker found possible encouragement in what Rosen had said, though. It might have been an indication that Rosen really did intend to let him go. Why else would he take the time to urge him not to take the communion and the mark?

"I must leave now," Rosen said. "I pray that you will consider what I have said and what the Spirit of God is saying to you even now, and that our next meeting will be as brothers and fellow heirs in Messiah's kingdom."

"Yeah, sure," Decker answered. The tone of his voice was so disingenuous it surprised even him. The fact that Rosen had once again referred to something that would necessitate his living for a while longer, however, did not escape Decker's attention.

Rosen sighed and left the room, leaving the door open behind him.