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Chapter Thirty-One--Forecasting

Chaim took a final look in the mirror, almost laughing at his rough handiwork. The wig was one he had found discarded in the rubbish almost a year before, and he had saved it for just such a time as this. He had forced tissue up into his nostrils to change the shape of his nose. He wore dark glasses, dark make-up on his very light skin, and his beard had been shaved off and replaced with two clumps of black hair that he had cut from the back of the wig. They were glued, one under his nose to look like a comic imitation of Hitler's moustache, and one on the end of his chin.

He made a final check of the tripod where the video camera was mounted, started it running and then moved to a seat in front of it, with a blank wall behind himself.

"My name is Judah," he said. "I have been sent by God to give a message of warning to the whole world. I know that it's hard to believe someone just because they make such a claim, and so I will give you a sign. It will not rain throughout the whole of Asia for the next week. Not one drop. When this happens, I want you to seriously consider whether what I am saying can be regarded as coming from God."

Just then, the clump of hair that was to be his moustache broke free on one side and dropped down, hanging over his upper lip. Chaim grinned slightly, and quickly pressed it back into place. It was a strange moment of comic relief in such a deeply serious video, but he decided to leave it, rather than take time for a re-run. He continued:

"And now for my message.

"God loves you. Many of you have heard that before, but you have never really believed it. It was a convenient doctrine for you to use, to allow yourself freedom to disobey him; but you didn't really believe that he loved you. When he would make demands on you or when he would allow you to go through painful experiences, you would turn on him. Nevertheless, he does love you, in spite of all that you dislike about his discipline. Until you can believe that, you will never have true peace."

Chaim was speaking with earnest compassion now, and it came across to those who watched the video later.

"The world is now being led by one who is the son of the devil; but we cannot put all the blame on him. You are each free to make a choice. Will you follow Xu Dangchao and all that he now stands for? or will you follow God? If you choose to follow God, it is going to cost you everything... even your life. Please think about that over the next week, as you listen to the weather reports."

Chaim did not offer any "plan for salvation". He gave no pitch for people to contact the Twelve Tribes. In fact, he did nothing to direct them in any way. There did not seem to be a need for it. If the sick perversions of Dangchao were not enough to make people cry out to God personally, then they were not going to find their answers in what the Twelve Tribes had to offer.

The amateur video went up on the website, and responses started coming in almost immediately. Over the next seven days, as the rains dried up in Asia, the hit counter spiked even more dramatically.

Throughout that week, weather forecasters gave various explanations for the sudden mini-drought over all of Asia. Most of the explanations sounded reasonable, but what was not so reasonable was that Chaim knew ahead of time that it would happen.

Although Dangchao himself was frantically using his considerable influence to get the media to boycott any information coming from Chaim or Rayford, there were still enough independent newspapers and radio/TV stations drawing attention to what had been said by Chaim, that the word had spread to just about everyone.

In many parts of the world, the message had been shown with subtitles in the local language. Anyone who missed the reports could go to the Twelve Tribes website and see the video there for themselves. With the help of tribal members from around the world, Chaim's speech could be heard in every major language. Teachings also had been translated into dozens of languages by now, and so they were there waiting for enquirers. The Twelve Tribes were being talked about everywhere, and people were starting to see the issues more clearly as Dangchao turned gradually more insane.

The world leader himself responded with a campaign of terror against all believers. Each time he was able to track down individual believers, he would add their torture and cruel execution to his Temple entertainment. Yet their numbers increased. He went further, and called for the construction of guillotines in major cities all over the planet, so that believers could be publicly beheaded. This new wave of martyrs came to be known amongst the believers as Tribulation Saints.

Ironically, the more Dangchao persecuted them, the more the number of Tribulation Saints grew. They were almost queueing for the privilege of being executed for their faith. People who had never been more than lukewarm in their convictions were galvanised into action by Dangchao's evil machinations. And this, of course, angered him even more, forcing him to think of new ways to make life (and death) miserable for the believers.

Chaim and Rayford went on record as declaring a drought on all of Israel as punishment for Dangchao's actions, and that drought continued over the next three years, forcing the country to import water just for drinking. Crops failed and many local industries folded for lack of water.

Dangchao made certain that he did not suffer personally from the water restrictions, but people living in Israel were less inclined to sing his praises after the drought started to take effect on them and their businesses.

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Chapter Thirty-Two--An Open Confrontation

It was time for yearly meeting once again, and this was to be the last yearly meeting of The Religious Society of Friends in Australia... ever.

In future, they, like all other religions on earth, would become a part of Xu Dangchao's new all-embracing world religion. Already many Friends had left the Society in protest, and joined the 'Tribulation Saints'. Some had already lost their lives, and their deaths had been a powerful reminder of the suffering that early Quakers had endured for their faith.

But, sadly, the majority found the message of the Twelve Tribes more distasteful than that of Dangchao. He continued to tolerate worship of Gaia and other gods and godesses of the various world religions apart from Christianity, so there were many Friends who convinced themselves that there was still room for improvement if they just went with him for now. Of course they were required to recognise Dangchao himself as the God of gods (because of his supposed power over death), but that was just a cultural thing that these people believed could be worked around. Love and patience would achieve more than the intransigence of the Twelve Tribes people.

The debate on how the Society was to finish up was a bitter one, which was ironic considering that the end result was a foregone conclusion. As an organisaton, they had no choice but to become corporately linked to Dangchao's superchurch; but they did have the individual right (if it could be called a right), to go it alone. Of course anyone joining the superchurch was morally obliged to report those who chose to worship outside of Dangchao's prescribed boundaries. As good law-abiding citizens, a surprising number of Friends felt it their civic duty to report those who spoke out against the merger with Dangchao. They saw such co-operation with Dangchao as being consistent with the Quaker testimony of 'honesty'.

Reports of Quakers being executed by Dangchao's forces saddened many Friends, because these were people they had known and loved for years. Nevertheless, there was also talk of how these martyrs could have avoided execution if they had not been so open in defying Dangchao's orders. Friends believed in speaking truth to power, but some felt there were better ways to do it than announcing that one had joined the Twelve Tribes, as some Friends had foolishly done. Some members of the Society were further offended that people becoming Tribulation Saints were taking the high moral ground over those who did not feel 'led' to choose a similar path.

The whole world, and all of its religions had been forced to take a side -- Dangchao or the Tribulation Saints -- and neither side fit neatly into anyone's previous ideas about religion, ethics, or spirituality. Gone were the days when one could pick and choose their own bits of theology to create a god and a religion that was comfortable and yet smugly superior to lesser gods and lesser religions. Friends could believe whatever they liked inwardly, but outwardly, they had to choose between two strongly authoritarian religions. The Authority demanding their allegiance in one on these religions was invisible, while the other authority represented 'the laws of the land' and had a powerful army with which to enforce his decrees.

The session on dissolution of the Society ended with many Friends shocked at the serious differences that had been revealed as a result of the choice they were each being forced to make. It reminded many of the time, more than a century earlier, when Friends had parted ways with each other in the United States, after throwing chairs and throwing insults which were entirely inconsistent with their reputation for peace. Those choosing to join the Tribulation Saints left the conference quickly and quietly, realising that their decision ended forever any further contact with those who had joined Dangchao. It was also a decision which was going to ultimately cost most, if not all, of them their lives.

By this time, Chaim himself had severed all contact with Friends, and so he was not there to witness the debate.

Chaim's skill at creating disguises had improved since the time he did the "Hitler speech" with the faulty moustache. He was planning his movements more carefully these days, too, to avoid discovery. The general public had been warned to be on the lookout for vagrants. Because of this, Chaim took to wearing a business suit and timing his comings and goings to minimise detection by neighbours.

He and Rayford together had made several appeals to the rest of the world, with each one attracting a huge website audience. Through the Internet they had been able to carry on their ministry fairly anonymously. But Chaim felt that he needed to put his life on the line in order to make a special plea to Australians.

Molly had a contact who was a truck driver, and she arranged for Chaim to get a lift to Melbourne for a day, before catching a ride back to Sydney with the same driver the following day. Chaim announced to the media that he would be addressing the nation live on the banks of the Yarra in Melbourne's Alexandra Gardens, not far from Flinders Street Railway Station. He knew this would attract more than the media, but he also knew that he had to face his fears. By scheduling it in Melbourne, he would be directing authorities away from Sydney in their search for him.

A crowd of media personnel was on hand well before the appointed hour. A few bystanders were hanging around, and almost a hundred soldiers, sent there by the U.N., were positioned around the area. Without a stage or microphone, people had no idea where to look