Survivors by Dave Mckay (the speed reading book .TXT) 📕

So, as people saw what was happening in Jerusalem, they would turn to Rayford and Chaim for explanations. In a very short time, literally millions of people were visiting the web site, which had become the official mouthpiece of God's two endtime Witnesses.

A few people had cracked Neville's email code and they had been able to get letters straight through to the tribes. These people were being dealt with personally. Most of them had still not received the Mark, and so they were quickly taken into fellowship, on the assumption that God had both protected them from taking the Mark and been instrumental in helping them to work out the email code. Based on this theory, such people did not represent a security risk.

Between the email code and the anonymity of the website, the 144,000 had, indeed, escaped into a "wilderness" of safety from the authorities. God himself controlled who would have access to them, and the rest of the world was locked out.

With the exception of isolated individuals and some of the most rural and primitive villages in the Third world, virtually everyone on earth had received the Mark by this time. It was impossible to do business without it. Those Twelve Tribe members who had not been successful in getting free rent from personal friends in the system were being forced out onto the streets, or into tents and other makeshift accommodation. But, overall, they were surviving without undue hardship, using the principles of begging, bartering, and stealing the most basic necessities of life in this insanely evil new world order.

The people who were in the worst predicament were the ones who were now contacting the Twelve Tribes out of desperation. What they had read about the curse on those who took the Mark had virtually put them into a hopeless situation spiritually. They were without any means of salvation, and they were living in a world that was growing rapidly more evil every day.

Dangchao brought back gladiatorial sports, the ultimate reality games, where contestants fought to the death. He had also arranged to televise public tortures and executions in Jerusalem as a form of entertainment. But many people who had never given God much thought before, were becoming sickened by it all, and they wanted out.

So Chaim and Rayford released the plan of salvation that they had hinted at in a previous message to the 144,000. It had become the lead article on the website, and it shocked the world.

Here is what it said:

"God's plan of salvation today is really no different to what it has always been. You need only accept Jesus Christ as God's Son, and as your only hope of salvation.

"The difference (for those who know something about what used to pass as Christianity) is that we are not talking about some cheap pretence at faith this time. Accepting Jesus means accepting everything that he has said. His teachings are a necessary part of God's plan of salvation for you. Read his teachings and you'll see that he expects total faith, and total obedience. His standards are high, but what he offers is eternal life. No price could be too high for that."

Rayford explained that his sacrificial death on the cross had bought Jesus the right to give salvation to whomever he chose; but it did not obligate Jesus to choose just anybody. He had certain standards that he was looking for first.

"Some of your religious leaders have taught that a loving God cannot set standards, make demands, or put a 'price' on what he offers," he said. "But where have they led you? They have brought you to the brink of hell. What they taught sounded like 'good news' at the time, because it was so cheap and easy. But it has turned into the worst possible disaster.

"In contrast, the gospel that Jesus preached really is good news, even if it is not cheap. It is good news because he could see what each of you have tried to ignore all your life. He could see your utter hopelessness. He could see that, with or without the events that are happening in the world today, you are going to die one day, and you are going to be punished for your failure to obey God. He knew that whatever price he might put on his plan of salvation, the price would be incidental by comparison to what he was offering... a total pardon, and eternal life in a world that is infinitely more beautiful and more satisfying than the one that we now live in.

"So what is the price that he asks? He asks that you forsake all, i.e. that you give up everything that you now have... your possessions, your livelihood, your family and friends, and even your own life. Take it or leave it. That is his price. It has always been his price, and it still is his price. The offer is still open to you now. But there will be no cheating on the rules this time.

"Most of you who are reading this message have already accepted the Mark of the Beast, either in your right hand or in your forehead. Most of you also know that the Bible says that anyone who receives that Mark will experience the undiluted wrath of God, and that you will be tormented with fire and brimstone in the presence of Jesus and in the presence of his holy angels. You will be cast into the lake of fire, which burns forever and ever. These are real threats. You may not think that it is 'loving', but remember... you don't make the rules; God does. Until you accept that, you will never be able to discover just how loving he really is.

"Now here is what the good news of Jesus Christ means in practical terms for those of you who have already taken the Mark of the Beast. It means that you must cut off your right hand, or allow yourself to be beheaded for the sake of the gospel!

"That's right. Jesus said that if your right hand offends you, you should cut it off... that it would be better for you to enter into heaven without a hand, than to go to hell because of what your right hand represents. For years people have pointed to that very teaching of Jesus as proof that he never seriously meant for us to take him literally. But now it is time for believers everywhere to prove their faith by their actions.

"Many of you never heard the warning about the Mark of the Beast. But you did hear the voice of God speaking to you through your own conscience, and you rejected it. For one reason or another, you chose to go your own way, to move gradually away from the ideals of your youth and the ideals of your various religions. And it is because of your insincerity and double-mindedness at those times that you have ended up where you are now.

"Remember, God is not asking anything of you that he hasn't asked of everyone else. The difference is that we who are writing to you now... we took the still, small voice of his spirit seriously before accepting the Mark of the Beast, and we refused to take it. We responded to God speaking through our conscience as well as through his Son.

"Sure, we were inconvenienced, and even now we are being inconvenienced for our decision to put God first. But, overall, we have come out ahead. You who are reading this chose to delay your decision, thinking it was too difficult or too inconvenient to put God first, and you have brought this situation upon yourselves as a result.

"We can conclude by telling you that the offer is real. God is real. Heaven is real. Jesus really is God's Son. And what he offers is genuine. Eternal life. Eternal happiness. Eternal peace.

"But the full terms of the offer require you to turn loose of your present life to get it. It's your choice."

Zion Ben-Jonah Writes

A number of theories are going around about ways that Christians can accept the Mark of the Beast and still escape punishment for doing so. They mostly centre around the "grace of God", and how a loving God would not punish anyone who says "Lord, Lord" to Jesus... whether or not they ever get around to even trying to obey him. But, of course, such a teaching is a perversion of the grace of God, and it makes a mockery of all that the Bible (and Jesus in particular) say about obedience.

It may well be that merely accepting the Mark (as the Revelation technically teaches ) is enough to land one in the lake of fire eternally, without any hope at all. However, what Jesus said in the Sermon on the Mount about cutting off your hand if it offends you (Matthew 5:30) at least presents a sobering picture of what would be the terms of a gracious "second chance"... if there is to be such a thing as a second chance.

The bottom line is that the longer one delays in obeying God, the harder it is going to be. Who knows for certain that there is not hope for repentance even in hell itself? But then who wants to go there to find out?

The Bible says, "Now is the accepted time. Today is the day of salvation. Today, if you hear his voice, do not harden your hearts as the Israelites did in the wilderness, thus provoking God's wrath." (II Corinthians 6:2, Hebrews 3:7-8, and Hebrews 3:15)

(Table of Contents)

19. Tribulation Force

Fifteen tribal members crowded into the lounge room of the main teaching house in Sao Paulo. Furniture had been removed to make space for them, and for the large legless table-top that lay on the floor in the middle of the room. It had strong leather straps attached to it at each side.

Luis had arrived back from Rio that same morning. In Rio, he had watched a proper doctor do this only twice, before he was given the task of operating on his own. Now, less than two weeks later, he was to teach others how to do it. There was a long waiting list in Sao Paulo, as more and more people were cracking the email code and begging for help to escape the Mark.

"You have two choices," Luis had said to his first patient earlier that day, while ten others had listened to the same speech. They had all been brought there blindfolded. "We can take the skin off the back, or we can take the whole hand. We're ninety percent certain of getting the transponder by taking the skin, but it could have worked its way down under the ligaments too."

"No, please, amigo! Take it all off!" pleaded the patient, a poor farmer in his 40's, named Joaquin.

"The demons, they are everywhere," he continued. "I cannot sleep. I cannot think. Please take it all off. God, help me!" and his eyes looked heavenward.

Now Joaquin was being strapped to the contraption on the floor, like a prisoner on a cross. The front door opened a crack, and Francisco peeked in. "I got 'em," he said, as he entered the room and closed the door behind him. He pulled a fistful of Stanley knives out of his sleeve. "Had to steal 'em. May God forgive me." His head dropped in a posture of repentance.

"I think that, under the circumstances, God will understand," Luis said comfortingly.

Fran raised his head and let a little grin escape. "I'm glad you see it that way, Luis," he said, "'cuz I didn't feel guilty at all when I took it. Felt kinda good, actually!"

The others smiled only slightly. The scene was far too tense for anything more frivolous than that.

Joaquin, who had been given a handful of pain killers to swallow ten minutes earlier, was firmly strapped in. Two men kneeled on the floor, straddling his legs. Two women moved closer to his head. They too were on their knees, but they were holding Bibles. They would take it in turns reading Psalms in Portuguese, while Luis performed the operation.

When they were ready to start, a heavy piece of leather was placed in Joaquin's mouth, so that he could bite into it. It was important that they not arouse the suspicions of their neighbours, and because of that, Joaquin could not afford the luxury of screaming out his pain.

A ball of rags was placed in his left hand. He was instructed to hold his right hand as still as possible throughout the operation.

"The Lord is my shepherd. I shall not want," Felicidad began in Portuguese. She continued softly as Joaquin focused intently on her words.

The first razor blade knife had been cleansed with alcohol. Luis applied a rough tourniquet, gripped Joaquin's lower arm to steady it, and then made his first