ANGELS IN ISRAEL

By KathyG.

What would Tess, Monica, Andrew, and Gloria do, if they found themselves during the end-times scenario prophesied in the Bible, prior to Jesus' coming? What kinds of assignments would they receive? How would they handle their assignments? This alternate-universe series is my attempt to answer that question, to surmise how the angels would handle the events of the Rapture and the Tribulation.

The first story in this ongoing series was written by Robin Day and myself. The rest, I am writing on my own.

In story #4 of my end-times series, the angels are sent to help an angry American Jew who wants to murder the two witnesses prophesied in the Book of Revelation, Moses and Elijah. With the help of some old friends, will they be able to get through to him in time?

Author's Note: Since the beginning of the "Angels at the End of Time" series is set in between the 8th and 9th seasons, I am inserting the premise that the events of the series finale, "I Will Walk with You," never took place. There will be references to the deaths of the children in the boiler explosion, but no reference to Monica visiting the town of Ascension afterward.

The physical descriptions of the two witnesses, Moses and Elijah, and the names they go by, were borrowed from the Left Behind series, co-authored by Tim LaHaye and Jerry B. Jenkins. K.G.

PROLOGUE

A Jewish man in his early 40s stood in the crowd on the Temple Mount, glaring fiercely at the two witnesses who stood next to a wire fence, preaching at the multitude gathered there. A tall, muscular man, he had brown hair, hazel eyes, and tanned skin. A prayer shawl lay draped over his shoulder. Overhead, the afternoon sun blazed down.

The two preachers had long gray hair and long beards. They wore ragged robes and were barefoot. Lines crisscrossed their faces.

"Repent! And turn to Jesus your Messiah!" the one who called himself Moishe shouted in a deep voice. "Why will you die? God does not want you to perish! Turn to Him and live!"

The man ground his teeth. "I'd love to see you die," he whispered. "Both of you! You are traitors to the Jewish faith!" Wiping his sweaty face, he pushed his way out of the crowd and stalked toward a car nearby. He paused to press his hands against the trunk of the car and raise his face toward the sky. "God, help me! Please, Jehovah God, help me."

Shaking his head, he took a deep breath, then approached the left side of the car and opened the door. It pleased him no end that ground for the new temple had finally been broken and that construction had recently started, but it infuriated him that these two men should stand there day after day, preaching against it, warning against the resumption of daily sacrifices, and ordering the Jews to turn to Jesus for salvation.

As the man climbed into the driver's seat, four angels, unseen by the man and anyone else, watched him. "Did you hear him?" Andrew asked. "He wants to kill Moses and Elijah." Folding his arms across his chest, the angel of death shook his head. "If only Daniel Rosen knew the truth, he would not be allowing his bitterness to boil into a murderous rage toward the two witnesses."

Tess pursed her lower lip. "Daniel is a man filled with deep pain and an even deeper rage." She sighed. "Unless we get through to him, that pain is going to lead him to make some very costly choices-choices that could well cost him his freedom and even his life. One of them being the choice to attempt to murder the two lamp stands."

Monica nodded agreement. "Unless he's stopped, he will only get himself killed. And then, he will spend eternity in Hell." She paused, as she clasped her hands in front of her waist. "At least he had the strength of heart to pray for help. He needs it desperately."

"That's right." Tess crossed her arms across her chest. "That's why the Father has sent us to him. And with the help of some friends of ours, we will do just that."

"Friends of ours?" Gloria tilted her head as she gazed at the supervisor angel quizzically.

"Yes." Tess nodded toward a small group standing toward the end of the crowd. A familiar woman turned to smile at a man next to her. She straightened her blouse as she did so, then wiped beads of sweat off her forehead. The man cradled a pair of binoculars against his chest.

Gloria squealed. "Christina Daly! So, she's here!"

With a chuckle, Andrew inserted his hands into his pants pockets. "Yep. She and her whole family. The Whittakers are on their honeymoon trip, and the Dalys are here with them."

"Yes, and the Father has work for them, too, even as they're enjoying their trip. But they will need our help to succeed." The other angels nodded agreement.

Ryan Whittaker, and Richard and Christina Daly, were lifelong residents of New York City whom God had sent the angels to minister to, in the Rapture's aftermath, back in July of that year. Richard had been-and still was-a commercial pilot. His and Christina's baby daughter, Jessica, had been taken when the Rapture occurred, devastating her parents. (Furthermore, Christina and Ryan had lost their mother in the World Trade Center attack, the year before, and Richard's teenage sister had been kidnapped and brutally murdered years prior to that. So all three had had deep issues to work through, even before the Rapture.) Ryan had been hired by Antonio Puccini, the leader of the soon-to-be-formed new world government, as his private pilot; he had since moved to Rome and fallen in love with the leader's secretary, whom he had recently married. Richard had been-and still was-a commercial pilot.

Andrew, who had served as an angel of death since the assassination of Abraham Lincoln, had been sent back into Ryan's life once since then, and all four angels had been sent into the Dalys' life on one other occasion, when they took in a recently orphaned child whose mother had been brutally murdered. They Dalys had adopted that child during that time. Privately, Monica wondered if the Father was going to send them to these same people again and again, during the Tribulation.

As if reading her thoughts, Tess said, "This will probably be the last time, for a while, that the Father will involve them in our assignments. They will need plenty of angelic help for the next several years, but much of that help will come from other angels." A diamond brooch on her chest sparkled in the sunlight as she shifted her gaze from Monica to Andrew, then to Gloria.

Monica nodded. "Even without them, we're going to have our hands full. Daniel Rosen, for instance." Tess nodded agreement.

Andrew drew his pocket watch out of his pocket and gazed at it for a long moment. "Unless we can get through to him, his days-his very hours-are numbered." He slipped it back into his pocket and shook his head, sorrow in his eyes.

The car engine roared; inside, Daniel turned the steering wheel. It skidded into the right lane, then disappeared from view.

END OF PROLOGUE

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