Armageddon’s Woman First Two Chapters

Foreword

     This end-time alternate-history novel, is based on the doctrinal belief, that the woman described as riding the Wild Beast in the biblical book of Revelation represents the World Empire of false religion, and that the Beast she rides represents the satanically-controlled political systems that she indirectly but effectively controls.

     That her riding this beast thus represents an unholy alliance

     That the wild beast’s attack on the Woman is understood as a worldwide political attempt to destroy all organized religion, and that such an event is followed by Armageddon and the start of the Millennial rule of Christ.

     The Purgers mentioned in the story, are people who have been specifically trained to wipe out all organized religious activity in human society. The two main protagonists in the story are two men, the religionist Zeke Rodriguez, and the atheist in charge of the anti religious Purging campaign in Harrisburg PA, Nathan Stanford. They are described as living during those eventful final days and how their lives become inextricably intertwined as both are guided by their personal beliefs and their conscience.

    The first chapter begins after the effort to stamp out all organized religion is well under way, and the first graduation of the Purger Academy in the United States is taking place.

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Table of contents

1. Purger Graduation and the Angel

2.The Inquiry and Trial




Quotation:

   

Graduation

     A tall slim, white, elderly man in a dark-blue suit slowly made his way to the auditorium’s podium. After a brief apology for his lateness, he placed his notes on the lectern, adjusted the microphone and calmly surveyed the one-thousand strong assemblage of black-leather uniformed Purger Academy Graduates and who sat silently and attentively awaiting his first words. The whole event was being televised worldwide via satellite and cameras had been positioned to capture the event from the best possible angles.

     It was the international audience composed of mostly religionists which concerned the United Nations most and for whom the graduation speech had been specially modified.

    “I am honored to be among such distinguished company!” the elderly man said.

     “The first graduating class of Purgers in the United States is definitely a very momentous occasion!” He paused in order to permit the tumultuous applause to die down.

     “A group which is totally dedicated to the higher cause, a better future for all mankind!” Once more he paused for the ovation.

     “Unfortunately,” he continued, “our noble motives are still misunderstood and largely misrepresented as an unnecessary reaction to a situation that could have easily been resolved differently. But that definitely isn’t so.”

     There was a murmur from the audience in response to the unexpected deviation from the graduation subject-matter. They all knew the story. After all, it was required knowledge for all those accepted into the academy, So why a detailed repetition? The speaker gave the graduates a stern reprimanding stare. The murmuring stopped and and then he continued.

    “Prior to our drastic decision to intervene,” he continued, “history had provided ample evidence of how religious meddling in political affairs often resulted in innumerable bloody wars that might have been resolved otherwise. The so-called Crusades, The Islamic Jihads, The inquisition of Heretics and extermination of Native Americans for their supposed salvation were all fueled by irrational religious fervor. Japan and its divine Emperor for whom millions sacrificed their own lives and which encouraged warfare is a modern example.

     All this harmful imbecility had been tolerated for centuries, but there is a limit to patience and as destiny would have it, that limit arrived with the Twin Tower incident!”

   The auditorium lights dimmed and the large rectangular screen suspended behind the podium above the stage brightened

     “It was the infamous and cowardly September Eleven Twin-Tower Terrorist attack that set everything into motion. Under intense interrogation, the perpetrators proclaimed it as part of the irreligious jihad against the great Satan, the United States and extolled it as a justifiable retribution for aid given to Israel. As you all know a declaration of war against all terrorism and an invasion of Iran and Afghanistan followed in order to bring things under control. .

     The screen displayed each momentous event that the speaker was mentioning.

     “Of course, both campaigns were expected to level off, but instead, Christians and Muslims went for each other’s throats with unprecedented fervor. Embassies were targeted, neighborhoods became armed camps and places of worship were turned into centers of organized rebellion with full clergy approval.”

Scenes of crowds clashing with riot police and men firing automatic weapons from rooftops and apartment windows and the wounded and dying writhing while crying out and shouting religious slogans appeared on the screen.

     “Government efforts failed and the bedlam continued unabated. Limited at first to the Middle East,the religious madness spread to all continents. Everyone marched to the beat of an irrational religious drum. Clergy had become willing pawns in a struggle they considered essential to the survival of their faith. Soon, as you all know, after, the problem was brought before the United Nations Security Council.”

     As the events were being graphically displayed on screen. The speaker’s haggard face and apologetic worried eyes reflected the severe emotional strain he had been under.

     “Gentlemen, these last few months have been very difficult for all of us! This has definitely not been a labor of love, but there was no other way. Because of their blatant past and present hypocrisy in instigating needless death and suffering, and because we see no reason why we should allow these institutions to continue, it is the recommendation of this international assembly that all organized religion be declared illegal worldwide.

     That both its clergy and layman with their extravagant edifices and their constant TV campaigns and radio ministries and printed propaganda be made illegal. All in agreement say aye.”

     There was a unanimous "Aye!"

     Then the elevated screen went blank and the Academy speaker faced the audience once more.

    "Ever since that historic occasion we have made significant strides my friends. Paramilitary agencies commandeered by trained atheists, such as yourselves, have been established throughout the world in all major cities and outlying areas. All religious real estate has been confiscated and nationalized and the profits used to help the poor.

     The rectangular screen flickered to life once more revealing black-uniformed men carrying shields and batons stripping gold and silver ornamentations from temples and cathedrals. Sacred statues were being toppled and sledge-hammered into dust or being carried off to be melted. All religious structures were divested of their facade so that they were no longer recognizable as places of worship.

     The audience’s uncanny silence made the speaker uneasy, but he managed to hide it.

     “Religious buildings are becoming schools, health clinics, and used for subsidized housing. The clergy have resisted, of course." he added smugly as military copters were being shown swerving and hovered over the Vatican grounds like apocalyptic gargantuan dragon flies seeking human prey. with their illuminated bulbous heads full creatures who gleefully dropped tear gas on hastily-constructed barricades. scattering the clergy and their supporters in all directions.

     From his sacred balcony from which he had previously addressed thousands, the Pope appeared briefly only to retreat in horror as a hail of rubber bullets ricocheted off a nearby wall. Then the ground troops moved in, and soon the episode was over. Once more the speaker halted the video in order to face the audience and have its full attention:

    “The vermin involved were arrested and are presently interned in social rehabilitation centers for their own, how shall we say-edification. A re-socialization that will readjust their flawed thinking so they can return as productive members of society. ” he uttered smugly with a wide smile of deep satisfaction on his ruddy narrow face. Then, as he was about to continue. the auditorium lights suddenly flicked sporadically and then began to dim.

     “Liar! A tall white-bearded, bronzed-skinned man wearing what appeared to have been a monk’s white robe said while standing at the center isle in the back of the auditorium. He was holding an open black the leathered covered book in the palm of one glowing hand while he pointed an accusatory glowing finger at the speaker with the other. The two young burly security guards that had been posted at the rear of the auditorium remained weirdly motionless. It was as if they had been transformed into living stone and the speaker struggled to utter words but couldn’t.

    Meanwhile the man, or the apparition as some later chose to describe him, had paused until all the graduates' eyes had turn in his direction and were held seemingly spellbound by his presence. Then he continued calmly:

    “You blame religion and religionists for Earth’s woes. But you know full-well that atheists and agnostics have proven morally no better. All who are present and of normal intelligence here are fully aware of this. So you are inexcusable.” he said as he walked down the center aisle past the two immobilized guards toward’s the podium. He was clearly visible now despite the low lighting. Full bearded, the typical idea of how an Old Testament prophet was imagined to have been.

     Meanwhile the auditorium continued to darken until he stood out glowing softly in the semi darkness. Then suddenly his voice rang out even louder than before as if assisted by some hidden preternatural amplifier.

     “The religious Harlot rides the political beast no longer and her total destruction draws near! Gloat while you can. You will not prevail. You have been weighed in the ballance and have been found wanting. Nineveh repented and was spared. But as for you..."-he pointed a glowing finger at the immobilized speaker,

     “for such as you there will be no repentance. The wind you have sown and the whirlwind you shall reap.” Then he sighed deeply lowered his head and vanished.

     Gradually the lighting was restored and the sound-system came back to life with whistles and with a squeal. As those present regained their ability to move, a brief silence ensued that was followed by a growing murmur and then a tumult of voices.

     The once smug and supremely confident speaker was wiping copious perspiration from his pallid face with a quavering hand and clumsily readjusting the microphone with the unsteady other.

     “Now we’ve all heard this a thousand times before, haven’t we?" he tried to joke, but the tremor in his voice indicated a barely controlled panic as terrified graduates were still glancing back nervously as one would at death personified, while others appeared ready to bolt for the exit. One graduate had feinted and was being carried out on a gurney. Another sat convulsively retching in his plush seat.

      “The intruder has been apprehended and there will be no further interruptions. I assure you!” the speaker lied in order to appease but to no avail. It was useless to continue. He was told to terminate the ceremonies and on his signal the Alma matter was hastily played, diplomas were hastily and unceremoniously distributed, and the lavish and to be televised live post graduation celebration was hastily canceled.

     Meanwhile outside, on the academy grounds, police helicopters were focusing their searchlights all along the asphalt roads and narrow foliage-fringed wooded area walkways. Below them, barks echoed in the darkness and canine noses eagerly tested the cold evening winter air in a vain effort to track the intruder. But he had left no detectable scent. In fact, it was as if he had never actually been there.

     Above it all, a dark turbulent cloud fringed by the crimson of sunset seemed to droop earthward like some gargantuan clutching hand. Then thunder boomed, lightning forked and a stiff wind swept drizzle relentlessly against the academy ground trees. Some trees were struck and others were toppled. Some helicopters were losing control and crashing The howling and keening of panicked police dogs only served to add to the mayhem.


Chapter Two

The Inquiry and Trial

     Government censors had prevented the television viewers from seeing the Purger Graduation debacle and mention of it among Purgers had been strictly forbidden. But despite the precautions, the details had been leaked to underground religious publications. The culprit, a red curly haired freckled faced young Anglo American disgruntled security guard, had sold the information for a hefty sum after he had been promised anonymity.

     Unfortunately for him, the promise of total anonymity wasn’t kept. Someone, perhaps some covert Purger agent, of which there were many at all levels of society, had obviously accused him. He was soon apprehended and after a brief imprisonment, was taken to the Purger Court where his sentence would be pronounced

     There, at the trial, a tall slim, gray-haired man in a black suit solemnly stood before him as a determined executioner testing the sharpness of his ax with the side of his thumb might stand before a prisoner about to be hung.

    “Gentlemen he uttered emotionlessly, we have here a man charged with purposeful dissemination of superstitious lies for monetary gain. A man who had been entrusted with a sacred responsibility to maintain security and had taken an oath never to divulge information that might harm our sacred cause. That man sits before you here today and it is he whom we are about to judge. If indeed you are someone other than the person just described, he said to the accused, “then this is the time to make it known!”

     The security guard, a young man in his early twenties, remained silent with eyes lowerd. There were telltale bruises on his face as if he had been beaten immediately after being discovered and arrested. But the intervening time between capture and trial had allowed most of it to heal. He sat somberly with a downcast gaze at the courtroom floor with handcuffed hands and dressed in the orange attire.

     “First, what were your orders in reference to unauthorized intrusions?” the prosecutor said pacing the floor a few feet from where the accused sat.

    “Were you not specifically instructed to apprehend and detain anyone attempting to disrupt the graduation ceremony?” he added before the accused could respond.

    “Yes sir I was!”

     “Is it not a fact, that you did not follow those clear and specific instructions on the aforementioned occasion?”

     “Yes sir, I didn’t. But it was because I couldn’t.”

     “You couldn’t? He couldn’t he says!” the prosecuter said turing briefly towards those in attendance.

     “Well son, your medical record shows absolutely nothing that could have prevented you physically fom taking appropriate action. In fact, you were given a bill of good health when you were hired for the job, weren’t you?”

     “Yes sir!” the guard responded still with downcast eyes. '

     “So please explain to this jury exactly what it is you mean by you couldn’t.”

     “That intruder had supernatural powers sir.” he said finally raising his head and meeting the prosecuter‘s accusatory gaze.

     “Supernatural powers?” the prosecutor sneered to show his utter contempt.

     “There are far more logical realistic explanations for your behavior.”

     “Maybe sir, but those other explanations just don’t wash!”

     “Then what explanation washes, as you say?”

     “That guy just wasn’t human sir. That’s what washes sir.”

    There were gasps, murmurs and a brief flurry suppressed laughter from the jury and others which caused the prosecutor to become even more impatient, He was;t going to allow the proceedings to become some kind of a comedy routine. It might happen at others trials, in fact he had witnessed it on various occasions, but definitely not on his watch!

     “And exactly what do you mean by not human?” he continued, “ An extraterrestrial alien of some kind? Some aberration of nature?”

     “No, not exactly sir.”

     "Then explain yourself son. Speak freely. You are among friends.”

     “Well sir, he appears out of nowhere. Nobody sees him come in and nobody sees him leave. He seemed like some kind of a spirit or angel sir-not an extraterrestrial. You know, because of his message. Who else could do something like that?”

     The whispers and murmurs grew louder forcing the interrogator to restore order via a stern look and upheld palm of the hand. The pounding of the judge's gavel added to the authority, of course. Once things had settled down, the prosecutor continued as he paced the floor back and forth in front of the accused like some predatory feline sizing up his prey before an attack.

     “Is that why you didn’t detain him as was your moral duty? Because you considered him divine messenger of sorts?”

     “No sir! That was not the reason.”

     “Because you were afraid of divine retribution?” he added sarcastically as he feigned to review the incident report.

    “Sir, with all due respect, but everyone there, the speaker, the faculty, and the graduates, they were all just as helpless as I was. If I could have moved, I would have, sir.”

     “You? Move? Really? Move? Against someone you just admitted that you consider a holy angel?”

     “No sir. At first I thought he was just some harmless, homeless, weirdo who had just drifted in and was looking for a handout or was merely curious.”

     “So how are we to explain the serious discrepancy between how you perceived this exotic and obviously mentally deranged individual and the way the others did?”

     “Discrepancy sir?”“

    “Yes, discrepancy. You see, the dean considered him a serious risk as soon as he laid eyes on him. The graduates and the speaker all have testified that he indeed appeared to have been very dangerous. Even the other guard on duty that evening, who recently mysteriously disappeared, and whom you claim was also paralyzed contradicted your evaluation of this person. Doesn’t’that strike you as rather unusual son? Do you actually expect us to give more credence to your testimony as opposed to the testimony uynder oath of loyal Purgers who weere present?”

     “They are lying sir! They are telling you only what you want to hear.”

     “And you are being honest, of course.” he smirked.

    “Yes sir!” the accused responded with a steady composure.

     “So are we to believe that your idea of an angel is reasonable? Do you really expect us to give credence to this religious drivel? Isn’t it far more likely that your superstitious religious upbringing is forcing you to interpret an otherwise naturally explainable phenomenon as a religious experience?”

    “Sorry sir, I am just honestly telling you how it went down. My religious upbringing has absolutely nothing to do with it.”

     “Alright son. You might feel entitled to that opinion based on your unfortunate childhood. But you also felt entitled to sell that information to an unscrupulous underground pro-religion tabloid magazine dedicated to restore what we are sworn to eradicate-the abuse of freedon via the propagation of religious propaganda! ”

     "Tabloid Magazine?”

     “Are you denying it? We have evidence son. Don’t dig yourself any deeper by denying it or tye severity of the sentence can be far greater than it would need to be if you had been forthright.”

     “I don’t consider that a tabloid sir--”

     “Then what else do you call a magazine that caters to sensationalism at the expense of the state’s sacred truth? Furthermore, you were well aware that the information of the events that transpired that evening had been declared top secret for the sake of societal tranquility. Were you not?”

     “Yes sir I was.”

     “Then why did you go ahead and reveal it to the enemies of the state?”

     The young man remained silent under the withering accusatory stare of the prosecutor, jury and others in attendance.

     “Do we need continue?” the prosecutor asked the jury.

     Then the members of the jury, all black unformed Purgers with the Purger silver crescent emblem prominently displayed on each shoulder, secluded themselves very briefly in order provide the illusion of a fair trial via discussing the issue. But they and everyone else knew that the verdict of guilty as charged was far-gone conclusion. Once they had returned to the courtroom a few minutes later, the verdict was formally announced.

    “Verdict is reached! the Purger-judge said:

     “You, young man, by your irresponsible behavior are deemed to be a very serious threat to our new world order. Of course, such threats cannot be tolerated. Otherwise they will fester and spread like a plague that they are. But we don’t give up on our citizens that easily. Especially when the motives are financial. Therefore the state will provide you with an opportunity to make amends. You will spend five years in the Pennsylvania Penal Re-Socialization Center where hopefully you will become to appreciate the importance of loyalty and the absurdity of religious your notions. Have you anything further to say?”

     The accused remained silent, as if he knew that it was useless to argue any further. Whereupon the Purger prosecutor blared:

     “Good. Get him out of our sight!”











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