"Mommy, I'm scared," said Mercy, trying to hide behind her mother.

"It's all right, darling," said Annie. "Jesus is here, and he won't let anything happen to you."

Annie, David, and the other adults watched as the three creepy looking beings knelt before Jesus and begged forgiveness for their many wrongs. Solemnly, He shook His head, and a moment later, the three literally burst open, then caught fire and burned up.

Concerned for the effect on her small daughter of having witnessed such a gruesome scene, Annie looked down at Mercy and was astonished to see the little girl giggling hysterically.

"That was so funny, wasn't it, Mommy?" the little girl crowed. "Jesus turned the scary looking things into cute little bunny rabbits, and they hopped away!"

Relieved, Annie realized that Jesus, in his mercy, had altered the vision of those too young to comprehend what was going on so that they saw not a horrible sight, but an amusing one. Realizing that she didn't have to worry about shielding Mercy's eyes or trying to distract her, Annie's focus turned once again to the events at hand.

Next to stand before Jesus and be condemned were Leon and Nicolae. As David and Annie watched, fascinated, a hole opened up in the ground, the worst odor Annie had ever smelled emanating from it.

"Oh!" she gasped, holding her nose. "It smells like there must be about a thousand rotting corpses down there!"

"Sulfur," David said quietly. "Brimstone." A blue flame erupted twenty feet in the air from the gaping hole, and Annie felt the accompanying heat blister her face. Right away David's hand was grasping her own, holding it comfortingly. As they both watched, unable to tear their eyes away, the archangel Michael pushed Leon and Nicolae into the hole. It closed up after them, leaving the ground looking just as if there had never even been a hole there at all.

Yet the most spectacular event of all was yet to come, as the next being to be judged and sentenced was Satan himself. Satan morphed several times, becoming first a huge lion, then a dragon, and finally a beautiful, glowing angel. It was in this final state that Michael bound him in chains and tossed him into yet another hole in the earth, this one belching forth black smoke.


"What do we do now?" Annie asked her husband.

David shrugged. "Go home, I guess. That's what it looks like everyone else is doing."

"But where's 'home' now?"

"Good question." David watched the scattering crowd silently for a few minutes. "There seem to be plenty of vacant homes. I guess we can just take our pick."

They found one they liked, a red brick three-bedroom, two-bathroom with a patio and porch swing, garage, and swing set and tree house in the back.

"We never know when we might have a guest," David reasoned. "I'm also hoping we'll add to the family soon."

"I'm all for it." Annie smiled and kissed his lips.

"Mommy, I'm hungry," Mercy whined.

"Is manna still going to fall from the sky twice a day?" Annie asked her husband.

"I don't think so," David replied. "But look!" A young family was just now passing them. The father held a huge rack of beef, and the mother and children carried fruit and vegetables.

"Where did you get all that?" asked David.

"They're giving it away for free over there!" The woman pointed toward an open-air market.

"I wonder whether there's any left," Annie mused.

"We just returned from there, and there was still plenty when we left," the man told them.

"Well, what are we standing here talking for, then? Let's go!" David lifted Mercy up onto his shoulders, and he and Annie headed for the open-air market, from which delicious smells wafted.