Infringement Page 9
“The Lone Ranger” was the only possession of his dad’s Declan had wanted when he died. His mom finally gave it to him on the day he’d graduated from the Academy, and he’d kept it in perfect condition. For whatever reason, holding it gave him a sense of calm and he often resorted to cleaning the gun when he felt out of sorts. As he cleaned “The Lone Ranger”, Declan turned on one of the cable news channels.
“The retaliatory strikes continue here in Israel as the situation here in the Middle East seems to be quickly spiraling out of control,” the reporter began. “It began earlier in the week when Israel unilaterally, and without provocation, struck Iranian nuclear facilities. Almost immediately, rocket and missile fire began coming from Gaza, Lebanon and the Syrian border. Syria then initiated prolonged missile fire into Israel, inflicting serious damage on outlying parts of Tel Aviv, and ISIS fighters based in Syria and Jordan began engaging in skirmishes with Israeli Defense Force troops along the borders. Reportedly, two Israeli soldiers have been taken captive in the fighting. With no end in sight to the ongoing Syrian civil war, some have speculated that the Assad regime saw an opportunity to deflect the attention and recent momentum of the various rebel groups, if only temporarily, and draw the Israelis into a wider regional conflict.”
“The Syrian government’s assault began when a series of Tishreen medium range missiles were fired from a location near Damascus into Israel. The initial missiles were intercepted by the Iron Dome missile defense system, but were quickly followed by other Tishreen’s and, reportedly Iranian made Shahab 3 medium range missiles, many of which reached parts of Tel Aviv and Hebron, inflicting some casualties and serious damage.”
“The Israelis have responded with precision air strikes on military targets in and around Damascus, which, instead of quelling the conflict, appear to have prompted quick retaliation in the form of numerous, apparently coordinated, rocket and missile attacks from Gaza, Lebanon, the West Bank and ISIS held areas in Jordan. The United States, the EU and Russia have all condemned Israel’s unprovoked attack against Iran.”
“As I stand here on the roof of my hotel, the rocket and missile barrage, seemingly from all sides, continues into the day, as do Israeli Air Force strikes into Gaza, Lebanon, the West Bank, and Syria. Sources tell me that IDF troops have been deployed on the Golan Heights and the Jordanian border and are on the ground in Gaza as well. In addition to the reports of skirmishes with ISIS fighters, we’ve received reports of firefights between IDF troops and Hamas fighters in Gaza. It appears that Israel is literally coming under attack from all sides.”
“Just over an hour ago, the Prime Minister released a brief but pointed statement saying, ‘The Israeli people will not succumb to the attacks currently being directed at us from all sides. As we’ve stated on numerous occasions, Israel will not tolerate a nuclear Iran, whose leaders have repeatedly called for the destruction of Israel and the total eradication of the Jewish people. We will continue to defend our nation and, if necessary, will meet aggression with aggression and force with force. Be warned that any use of chemical or biological weapons of mass destruction against Israel will not, I repeat, will not be tolerated. Any such act will be treated as an attempt to fulfill the stated goal of eradicating us and shall be responded to accordingly. Again, to be absolutely clear, the use of weapons of mass destruction against Israel will leave us with no choice but to employ any and all means at our disposal to protect our nation and our people.’”
“The not-so-subtle implication being that Israel’s nuclear weapons would be on the table as an option in the event of chemical and biological attacks against it, which, despite a prior agreement requiring Syria to surrender and destroy their chemical and biological weapons cache, Syria is believed to possess.”
Declan got up and took his Bible from the bookshelf, turning the pages until he again reached the 17th Chapter of Isaiah and reread the first two verses:
“1An oracle concerning Damascus: ‘See, Damascus will no longer be a city but will become a heap of ruins.”
Chapter 23
December 24th
Early the next morning, as the sun began to rise, Declan woke up on his sofa, sore and tired, but with a sort of renewed mental energy. He looked at his watch and, knowing his brother would be awake despite the early hour, picked up the phone to call Evan.
“Declan, is everything okay?”
“Everything is fine. I need to talk with you and wanted to see if you’re up for an early breakfast or some coffee or something.”
“Sure. Do you want to come over or do you want to meet me somewhere?”
“I’m starving. Let’s meet over at the diner dad used to take us to on Sunday mornings.”
“Kempton’s?”
“Yeah, Kempton’s. Does thirty minutes or so work?”
“I’ll see you then,” Evan replied.
Declan hung up, rinsed his face and brushed his teeth. He wrote out a quick note for Megan, who was still sleeping peacefully, and headed out.
_______________________
The waitress brought Evan’s pancakes and Declan’s country breakfast to the table and refilled their coffee and water. Declan watched as Evan closed his eyes and made the sign of the cross followed by three quick kisses to the index finger on his loosely-balled right hand. Evan opened his eyes to see Declan staring at him and asked, “What?”
Declan was silent for a second, then answered, “Nothing, I was just thinking about how dad did that after every prayer.”
“Where do you think I picked it up?”
“Oh, I know. It just reminded me of him. What did he used to say about the three kisses?”
“A kiss for the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit.”
“That’s right.”
“I remember adopting it shortly after he passed. I guess it’s just stuck with me. Doing it just gives me a feeling of peace, like still having a part of dad in this world and a reminder to myself that it will all be okay in the end, that I’ll see dad again one day standing next to Jesus.”
“I can see that.”
“So, what would you like to talk about?”
Declan hesitated, and said, “I saw something last night, Evan, something evil. The feeling it gave me, coupled with all the things you and mom have talked about lately, have prompted me to start thinking about the world. I just feel like the world is beginning to spin out of control. A part of me feels like there’s more going on than I’m seeing.”
“That part of you is absolutely right. What did you see last night?”
“I’m not entirely sure. It seemed almost demonic, like a man overtaken by a force I wanted nothing to do with. I had a dream about it, a nightmare really, and couldn’t go back to sleep so I sat up watching the news and everything that’s going on in the Middle East right now. It’s just crazy to me, but you and mom don’t seem surprised by it at all.”
“As we’ve talked about before, God’s told us all what’s coming.”
“The Isaiah 17 thing right?”
“Among others,” Evan replied, dipping a piece of sausage into some syrup.
“I’ve read it, but how does it relate to what’s happening today?”
“Isaiah 17 tells of an event that hasn’t happened yet. We know this because it speaks of the ultimate destruction of Damascus, specifically that it will no longer be a city but a heap of ruins. Damascus is widely considered the oldest continually inhabited city in the world, so this battle, this prophecy, is clearly still to come.”
“And you believe we’re seeing it take place now?”
“I believe we’re finally witnessing the early stages of the event described in Isaiah 17, along with the battle described in Psalm 83. I’ve studied this stuff for a long time now, and I’ve always been of the opinion, like many prophecy scholars who know way more than I do, that the two battles will be related.”
“What’s Psalm 83 say?”
“Psalm 83 tells of a war between Israel and her immediate neighbors,
which, like Isaiah 17, has not taken place yet. Israel defeats its neighbors, but is badly damaged in the process. Given the events taking place in the region right now, these things could happen at any moment.”
“It just seems crazy. I mean I see it and agree that what I’m seeing appears to correspond with what you’re telling me the Bible says, what I’ve read for myself, but it’s hard to really believe. I just have trouble taking the Bible literally, trouble believing there’s a God at all after watching dad die the way he did and seeing all the evil in the world. It all just seems like a fairy tale, all the stuff about the whole world following one man and the mark of the beast and all that stuff. I know you believe in God, but do you really believe all that stuff is to be taken literally?”
“Without a doubt.”
“Do you really believe the world is going to end soon?”
“Absolutely not,” Evan replied. “However, I am confident that we’re living in the last days before Jesus returns. The signs are all around us and increasing in frequency, duration and intensity, just like Jesus told us they would.”
“So you really believe the whole world is going to eventually follow one man?”
“That’s what we’re told in Revelation and in Daniel. This man, the antichrist, will appear on the world scene offering peace to all, but particularly Israel, and deceiving many. In truth, he’ll be exactly the opposite of what he says. But, before this happens things have to be put into place. I mean a world government, and all of the systems, mechanisms and infrastructure can’t just pop up overnight. We’ve been witnessing this shift for a long time now and the plans by a very small elite group have been in play for hundreds of years to bring it about.”
“Assuming there is a God, and that all this prophecy stuff is real, my question is why? That’s what I don’t understand. Why would anyone want to rule the world?”
“Honestly, I really don’t know. I’m sure power, greed, and control play a large part. I also think, in many cases, there’s a knowing and intentional worship of Satan. That’s what all this stuff we’ve seen is about. The federal government has been selling us out to the globalist elite for decades now, and the ironic thing about it, through all this additional taxation, and the squeeze on the middle class we’ve been experiencing, is that ‘We The People’ have been funding our own demise.”
“I don’t know, Evan. I work for the federal government and I don’t see it that way necessarily.”
“Declan, look at me and tell me, honestly, that our rights in this country haven’t been systematically decimated since at least 2001. I mean, you know from experience that the government tracks everything people look at online or say on the phone and every email they send or thing they buy with their credit cards. What’s worse, since the whole NSA whistleblower thing, they aren’t even trying to hide it anymore, and, sadly, the bulk of the population doesn’t really seem to care. The IRS has been used to harass those who dissent or oppose the agenda, the media is either bought-out or too scared to print the truth, and the government is even telling people how much soda they can drink and what kind of medical procedures and treatments they are allowed to have.”
“Fine, some of that is true, but the data thing and other aspects are necessary for security.”
“Whose security? This stuff isn’t random, it’s intentional and every day they find another excuse to take away more and more rights. The end result is going to be the loss of our sovereignty and, ultimately, a world government, with a single world currency and economic system, and a single world religion, which will eventually morph into worshipping the antichrist. These are some of the things John described in Revelation, the things revealed to him by God.”
“Okay, maybe we are moving in that direction, but maybe it isn’t a bad thing. Maybe it will actually turn out to be good thing. How do we know the bad stuff in Revelation is all true, Evan? I mean, I get the parts of the Bible that talk about love your neighbor and all that. I even understand Jesus dying on the cross to pay for our sins, even though I’m not certain I believe it. But, some of the rest of it just seems so unreal, so far-fetched.”
“We know it’s true because it’s given to us in the Bible, which is God’s word. Think about it this way, Declan. If God is perfect and sinless in all respects, which I believe He is, He cannot lie.”
“If that’s true, then I agree.”
“So, if the Bible is God’s word and God is incapable of lying, then the entire Bible, down the very smallest word must be the truth. There’s no exception. That’s why we can’t believe or accept certain parts and deny or disregard other parts. He didn’t give us that option. To do so would mean God is lying to us, and, quite simply, He never lies. It’s either all true or it’s all false. There’s really no in between.”
“That’s essentially the same thing a Christian Jewish guy I met at the airport the other day said.”
“He’s right. God’s not trying to hide anything from us. In fact, He’s put it all there in the Bible. God tells us the end from the beginning, and He’s the only one who can.”
“So, what if I don’t believe it all? What if I don’t believe God exists at all? I mean, you saw him too, Evan. You saw dad go from being this vibrant wonderful man to a sickly shell of himself and finally to a corpse in less than a year. How could a supposedly-loving God allow that to happen to someone? How could he take a father from his kids, who needed him? Why would he?”
“Declan, losing dad hurt us both. It hurt mom too, but God didn’t take him from us and dad surely wouldn’t have wanted his death to cause any one of us to doubt our faith or turn away from God. God isn’t responsible for all the ills in the world.”
“If he isn’t, then who is?”
“How is everything?” the waitress interjected.
“Great, thank you,” Evan replied.
“Can I get those plates out of your way?”
“Yes, please.”
The waitress cleared away the plates and left. Evan picked up the conversation again, “Honestly, sin is. In a way, we are because of our sin. The world isn’t a wonderful place. It’s a place filled with selfishness and evil and glimpses of love. That’s why Jesus said that while we have to live in the world, we shouldn’t be of the world. Do you remember what dad always used to say?”
“What, you mean about running the race to win and all that?”
“Exactly. Do you remember where that came from?”
“Not really.”
“Do you know what he meant?”
“That we should approach life, everything, like we want to win, to do things the best we can.”
“Not exactly. He was paraphrasing the Apostle Paul’s words from 1st Corinthians, Philippians, and 2nd Timothy. Paul essentially said that every believer runs his or her own race and we shouldn’t run it aimlessly, or not run it at all, but run it with the goal of finishing or running it to the very end. That’s what dad did. That’s how he lived his life and that’s what he wanted for us, which is why he harped on that expression so often. Belief in Jesus as our Savior, or, in other words salvation, is only our entry into the race, it’s not the finish line. The finish line is to grow in faith. It’s to put our trust in God alone in all circumstances, to trust Him to bring about good when, to us, everything looks horrible. That’s what dad was talking about and that’s how he lived. To the very end, his faith was strong and he never wavered. He never questioned God’s existence or why he was sick, why he wouldn’t get to grow old with his wife or watch his sons grow up. That’s biblical faith, trusting God in the face of every challenge and giving up one’s self and selfish interests to follow the Lord.”
“What if I just don’t believe that, Evan? What if I want to, but I just can’t?”
“Honestly, this may sound harsh, but whether you or I believe is totally irrelevant to everyone but us.”
“What do you mean?”
“Tell me about something that happened this week,” Evan said.
“Li
ke what?”
“Anything. Tell me something that took place this week.”
“Megan came into town,” Declan replied.
“I don’t believe you.”
“What?”
“I don’t believe you.”
“That’s stupid. I told you this earlier. She’s at my apartment now.”
“I don’t believe you.”
“What are you talking about?”
“I’m proving my point, Declan. You told me the truth, which is that Megan is here in town. Does my disbelief change the truth in any way whatsoever?”
“No.”
“Exactly. It doesn’t matter whether I believe it or not, the truth is that Megan is at your apartment. It’s the same with God. He gave us His Word in the Bible. His Word is the truth, and whether we believe it or not, it remains the truth. In other words, my belief or disbelief is only relevant to me. Likewise, whether you believe or not is, ultimately, only relevant to you. It’s between you and God.”
“I see what you’re saying,” Declan replied.
“I’ll say this too, which is that if you’re blaming your disbelief on dad’s death, I can’t think of a worse way to honor him. That’s truly the last thing in the world he’d have wanted, Declan.”
“I just can’t see how a loving God would allow that to happen. I don’t understand why.”
“It happened when sin entered the world, it’s that simple. That wasn’t God’s doing, it was ours or, more specifically, our ancestors. The thing is, God in his love for us gave His Son’s blood, innocent blood, to pay the price for our sin, for our selfishness. That’s the truth, that’s the depth of His love for us.”