(4)-The Second Warning And False Teachings.
On Saterday, Irene, Chloe, and Raymie had picked up 11-year old Ryan Daily and Clare had picked up Tommy and they met up with Andrew at the beach riding on the ocean in a motor boat, with Andrew driving the boat, Irene, Chloe, Raymie, Clare and Tommy sitting in the passenger seats and Ryan holding the skying rope that was tide to the back of the boat, as well as wearing the water-skies on his feet. Followed by Raymie taking his turn skying, then Clare, who lost her balance with the skies and fell into the water, letting go of the rope, Then Andrew, with Clare driving the boat, then Chloe took her turn,then Tommy took his turn, wearing nothing but a pair of blue swim-trunks that went down to the calf of his legs.
Later, after skying, Irene, Clare, Andrew, Raymie, Chloe, Ryan and Tommy went for a walk on the beach, with their sneakers on.
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Later on, after taking Ryan and Bryson home and saying goodbye to Irene and Raymie, Clare and Tommy were now sitting in the park at the picnic table with Chloe, who had decided to go to the park with them.
"Hey, you know, that new boyfriend of your's isn't such a bad guy." Said Chloe to Clare, referring to Andrew.
"He isn't my boyfriend. He's a friend that's a guy." Said Clare.
"Well, isn't he the guy who works for the guy at the carnival who was making all that scary talk about the end of the world and all?" Chloe asked.
"How do you know about that, Chloe?" Tommy asked.
"My friends told me." Chloe answered.
"Oh. 'Nough said." Said Tommy.
"So...what do you think about that whole end of the world stuff?" Chloe asked.
"That's just something christians believe in." Said Tommy.
"Well, do you believe all that?" Clare asked.
"I really don't know nothing about it." Tommy answered.
"Hey, Clare, how are things with you and Andrew working out?" Chloe asked.
"Oh, just great, i really like him." Said Clare.
"Well, if you really want to keep him, child, maybe it's time i tought you a few of the facts of life." Said Chloe.
Tommy then stood up from the table.
"Where are you going?" Chloe asked.
"Just for a walk." Said Tommy.
"Why don't you stick around, you may learn something." Said Chloe.
"I'm sorry, Chloe, i just don't wanna hear that kind of talk." Said Tommy.
"Well...maybe we'll have our little talk later...after the children go to bed." Chloe mocked.
"Hey, be nice." Said Clare.
Tommy then walked off.
"Hey, didn't you tell me Andrew was working in a Zoo?" Chloe asked.
"Not in a Zoo, at the Zoo. He's one of those vet-doctors, so it's a really good deal for the summer." Said Clare.
"Hey, that's wild, one of my friends' boyfriend's a pre-med student. You got yourselves a couple of doctors." Said Chloe.
"Well, what's your friend's boyfriend doing?" Clare asked.
"He's an ambulance attendent." Said Chloe.
"Ugh, gross." Said Clare.
"Well, he says his Dad says it's kinda goary sometimes, but a lot of the time, he just sits around all day, just waiting to be called. He says you never know when it's going happen." Said Chloe.
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Three days later, at the park, Tommy, Clare, Raymie and Chloe were sitting on the ground on a blanket under the tree with several teens, listening to pastor Billings talk about an event known as the Rapture.
"No one knows when it's going to happen. But when they asked him, Jesus said even he didn't know the exact time. But it's going to happen. One of these days-and it could be any minute now-Christ is gonna come back for his own. After that, it's gonna be pretty awful here on Earth." Billings explained.
"Like what?" Tommy asked.
"Well, for example...the Bible says that right now the spirit of God is holding back the full force of evil in the world. But after the believers go, the spirit will too. That means a whole new ballgame. Only this time without rules. Evil will just take over. And the evil one-the Bible calls him the Anti-Christ or the Beast-will rule supreme. See, we just don't know what it would be like to live in a world like that. The good around us still has the support of the spirit of God. After he goes...wow." Said Billings.
"Do you really believe all that?" Chloe asked.
"Yes, i do." Said Billings.
"Lots of luck." Said Chloe.
"I'll say one thing. Anybody that's left here is gonna need it." Said Billings.
"If you really believe that, you couldn't even look at your watch without wondering if it was gonna happen now." Said Tommy.
"Yeah. But to the Christian, it's something we look forward to. The non-christian is waiting for the end of life and doom. The believer is waiting for the one who gave us life." Said Billings.
"The beast you talk about...was he the one who goes around marking people? Raymie's mother, Irene, told me about a lot of terrible things that are suppose to happen." Clare asked.
Tommy's eyes then glowed gold.
...
Tommy could see millions of people around the world getting beamed up into the gold-yellow-glowing cloud-covered sky by gold beams of light, leaving their clothes and shoes behind, followed by the beams of light blinking out and people screaming and panicking and vehicles, both empty and occupied, crashing into each other and planes and helicopters crashing into buildings and cities, in the ocean and town, as well as ships and boats crashing into docks or into each other.
...
Tommy's eyes returned to normal and he focused back on what pastor Billings was saying.
"The mark of the beast is talked about, Clare. It's probably some kind of chip implant based on the number 666. It says in the Bible that people won't be able to buy or sell anything without it. Kind of like a super evil credit card. Only it'll be on your right hand or forehead." Said Billings.
"I wouldn't let anybody chip my hand or forehead." Said Chloe.
"Chloe...you know you don't have to be around when it happens." Said Billings.
"Yes, yes, you do." Said a 19-year old boy.
"Do i?" Chloe asked.
"Sure, because, uh...i like you, sweetheart. Can't you see that? And i am the Anti-Christ." Said the 19-year old boy.
Chloe giggled. "Good, i was always a sucker for beasts." She said before she and the 19-year old boy hugged each other and laughed.
"Well...i don't know if that's true or not. But if it really is in the Bible, then why doesn't the pastor at my church talk about it?" Said Clare.
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On Sunday morning, Clare was attending church, sitting in the congregation. The same church that Irene and Ramie use to attend with her. But for some reason they had stopped attending this church and started going to another one called New Hope Village.
"And so when one embarcks on an incory of this time...plain old-and i might add God given common sense-shows us immediately that those differences which men have all deam worthy of death...are really dead horses." Said the male heavy-set pastor Anderson in the pulpit behind the podium and into the microphone, with gray hair and brown eyes and glasses.
Clare sat in the congregation looking at the male pastor, taking in every word.
"Now to illustraight this for yourselves, ask yourself the simplest of questions. "Do these so-called basic tenent of Christianity really affect me at all"? For instance, ask yourself..."Would i appreciate beauty any less if Jesus were not vergin-born"? Or ask yourself "Would i respect the rights of others less if he had not gone about the countryside performing miracles?" Said pastor Anderson.
Clare, meanwhile, flipped through a Bible that was lying open in her lap.
"Or ask yourself "Could i really be considered so horrible as to somehow be responsible for the death of the Son of God"? "Would i be so harsh as to condemn humanity to a firey pit"? "Could i be more merciful than God, who is reported to be love"? No. You can see we are led by these simple obvious questions. To insist that the Bible is anything more than the poetic expression of those greater princeples by which man lives with man is to box oneself in with wealth of oppenion and counter oppenion, which really doesn't matter. Because it really doesn't affect the way we are. What matters, my friends, is what we can know about. Man's relation to man." Said Anderson.
Clare looked at her watch to see what time it was.
"Create the universe in six days if you like. But don't force me to accept that myth as fact and make our relationship depend upon it upon my accepting it. Believe in a real Adam. Believe in a real Eve. Believe in a real serpent." Said Anderson.
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