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The following is a fiction story written by my son, Steven, and entered in the Word of Life Teens Involved competition. Steven placed at both the Area and Regional level and the story was entered at the Word of Life International Teens Involved Competition.
The Final Revelation
By Steven Syme
The apostle John sat on the beaches of Patmos where he'd been exiled because of
his faith. But he wasn't the only one being persecuted. With the exception of himself,
all of the apostles had in some way been martyred (except for Judas who committed
suicide). Stephen, the first martyr, was stoned. Others had been beaten to death. Peter
had been crucified upside-down. John was the last one, and now he sat waiting for his
death on Patmos.
But why does he have to go through this? Why did any of the apostles have to
suffer for following Christ? Why doesn't salvation guarantee peace on earth?
As John pondered these questions, suddenly the sky opened up, an angel came
down, and through this messenger, God answered.
Two-thousand years later, in downtown New York City, Jason stood by an
electronics store looking at the Empire State Building. His friend Mike was with him.
For some time now, Mike had been witnessing to Jason and trying to get him to go to
church with him.
"Jason, I've shared with you before about your need for Christ. He loves you, died
for your sin, and He lives so that you can have eternal life. When are you going to ask
Him for forgiveness?" Mike asked.
"Mike, I just don't know, maybe some time, but not right now."
"Well Jason," Mike said, "this Sunday at our church, we are having a special
dinner. I thought you would enjoy coming."
Jason didn't want anything to do with church. So again, today, he came up with
another excuse not to go. "Oh, I have too much homework to do," Jason replied. The
truth is Jason had a friend in school, a few years before, who said that he was a
"Christian." However, he was constantly getting into trouble for things such as smoking
or drinking in the school bathroom. Jason felt his friend was a hypocrite. He didn't want
to be like that. But, he thought Mike was okay.
"Are you sure?" Mike asked one more time, "The door of salvation is not always
open. The Bible says, 'Now is the accepted time'."
"Yeah, I'm sure," Jason replied.
As Jason looked out onto the street he noticed a car spinning out of control. It
slammed into another car going the other direction
"Hey Mike, did you see that!" Jason yelled, but there was no answer. He turned
around to see what was wrong. But Mike wasn't there! Jason looked back toward the accident,
and he noticed something he hadn't noticed before. There was no driver! In fact, all around him
there seemed to be fewer people.
He noticed the television in the window of the electronics store. The TV had
breaking news. "...Millions of people around the world have disappeared in the last five
minutes," the reporter began. "The disappearance of some air traffic controllers in the
Philadelphia Airport has caused havoc all over the city. Similar occurrences are
happening all around the nation.
"In New York, because of the disappearance of a flight crew of a passenger plane,
the plane is on auto pilot, heading straight for the Empire State Building..."
Jason looked up toward the top of the Empire State building. Suddenly a large
airplane appeared behind it. It struck the top, then bounced off the building and began
falling toward the ground below. On contact with the building, the right wing flew off,
heading straight toward the street where Jason stood. Jason ran for his life, getting out of
the way just in time.
For the rest of the day, disasters were reported from all over the world, especially
in the United States. Different people were speculating as to what happened. Some said
it was UFO's, while others said it was a communist plot to take over the nation.
Jason began to read the Bible. He sensed one of the prophecies that Mike had
told him about came true. He did serious Bible study over the next three years and he
saw more and more predictions coming to reality.
A new leader took power in Russia. Because of the years of Communism,
Russia's poverty was so overwhelming that people welcomed the new president who soon
became their dictator. From reading Scripture, Jason recognized this as the Northern
Kingdom.
China's Communism continued causing problems for its own people that could
only be solved by conquering other nations. It soon conquered neighboring countries like
India, Bangladesh, and Burma. It also continued its alliance with Iran, who also soon
began conquering it neighbors. Jason realized that this must be the Eastern Kingdom.
Soon the Arab nations joined together to protect themselves from China and Iran,
and to attack Israel. Jason decided that this must be the Southern Kingdom.
The nations that were part of NATO joined together in a treaty to protect
themselves from the other empires. They accepted the leadership of the Vatican who
was both the political and spiritual head of the European Union. He was the King of the
West which was prophesied by Daniel. He claimed to be the Messiah. This leader made
a peace treaty with Israel. Jason believed the prophesied Tribulation had begun.
On that same day, two men appeared out of nowhere. They claimed to be Enoch
and Elijah, two men in the Bible who never died. They told the world that the leader of
the western kingdom was not the Messiah. Many followed Enoch and Elijah, but many
more did not.
Six months went by. Then, one day, the Western Secret Service knocked on the
door of Jason's home. They asked him if he believed their leader, the King of the West,
was the Messiah. Jason told them he did not. From his reading in the Bible, Jason
believed this leader was the Anti-Christ. The Secret Service Agents arrested him and
sent him to prison.
In prison, Jason made friends with a man named William. William claimed to
know Elijah. He told Jason that Elijah was, even now, nearby. Elijah had to remain
hidden because the Secret Service was looking for him.
A few days later Jason and William were scheduled to be executed. They were
taken outside the prison walls to be executed by a firing squad of about twenty soldiers.
At that moment, they were attacked by people who called themselves The New
Resistance, one of many bands involved in the civil wars fighting the Western ruler. A
fierce battle ensued. During the battle, Jason was killed.
William ran from the battle scene to find Elijah and bring him back to the prison.
He asked Elijah, "Can you bring Jason back to life just as you brought the widow's son to
life?"
"He's just sleeping," Elijah told William. Elijah laid him down flat and began to
pray. After a few minutes Jason opened his eyes.
"What happened?" he asked.
"You were killed in the battle," William said, "But Elijah brought you back to
life."
It took Jason a few minutes to figure out what happened. "It really is too late."
"What do you mean?" William asked.
"After all I've done, it wasn't enough," Jason said with a scared look in his eyes,
"I've just come back from Hell." Now he understood how Esau sought repentance with
tears, but could not find it. He decided to stay with Enoch and Elijah hoping that maybe
he'll get to Heaven that way.
Over the next three years Jason stayed with Elijah and Enoch wherever they went.
He saw them do many incredible miracles, and saw thousands come to repentance. He
saw many demons cast out and many people raised from the dead. In the Congo Swamp
of Africa the water supply which would have dried up in a few days lasted a year while
Enoch and Elijah preached to the natives. In Europe the Angel of the Lord delivered
them from the armies of the Western Empire on several occasions. But while they were
in Israel the Western Kingdom broke it's peace treaty and attacked. During the battle
Enoch and Elijah were captured and killed. At the end of the battle the European Union
took control of Israel.
Jason ran and hid in the land of Ethiopia where he lived for the next three years.
When a famine came into the land, Jason was forced to leave the area. He went up into
Egypt to get food but the famine had engulfed that land also. Traveling up to Israel,
Jason was again captured by the Western Secret Police.
He was put in a prison camp near the foot of Mt. Carmel, in the Valley of
Megiddo. Late one night he heard a great commotion. Many of the soldiers were
removed from the camp to join the army in the field. While the camp guard was thinned
he slipped out and went to the top of the mountains surrounding the valley. From there
he saw the four great armies of the four major empires of the world converging in the
valley.
The fighting went on for days, but suddenly in the sky a great light appeared.
Jesus Christ and his army came down from Heaven and with a great ball of fire wiped out
the other four armies. Christ established His kingdom on earth.
Jason went to see Jesus. A messenger stopped Him at the gate of the palace in
Jerusalem.
Jason said to the messenger, "Let me see Jesus."
The messenger answered, "No you cannot go in."
Jason pleaded, "Please, I want to ask forgiveness."
"For months Christ tried to reach you through Mike, but you would not listen to
Him."
"Please," Jason pleaded.
"No!" The messenger replied, "It's too late."
On Patmos, John rose up from his vision. Now he knew the answer. He
understood why painful things happen to God's people. This world is not a friend of
Christ, or of His Gospel. Whatever it takes, he needed to reach people like Jason before
it is too late. Christians need to remain in this world and spread the gospel even if it
means pain and death.
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