The Vision, pp. 24-36<\/strong><\/p>\n So. Cheyenne Freeman is helping her mother, Hope, make magical mystery cure brews out of berries, while an awful man\u2014Derek\u2014is sitting out back plotting to steal their brew and rape Cheyenne, and listening in via a device of some sort planted in their workroom. Meanwhile, Asher is wandering all around on the ridges above the valley with a strong feeling that something is very, very wrong.<\/p>\n This part is almost painful to read because\u00a0everything would be better if Asher would just come down from the ridge to the house.\u00a0<\/em>The only people in the compound are Cheyenne and Hope. If Asher is so very worried, why doesn\u2019t he come down and stay close to them?\u00a0Asher has been in the area for a few months, by the way\u2014I had a couple questions about that last week. He works for The Last Publishers. (Remember, they\u2019re creating graphic novel retellings of a fundamentalist interpretation of the Bible, and shipping these books all over the world to win insta-conversions.)<\/p>\n So. When we left off, Hope was telling Cheyenne that when the China factory comes online, they\u2019ll be able to sell their magic potion brew and make\u00a0bank.\u00a0<\/em>She calls it \u201cthe most amazing cure the world has seen since the Garden of Eden\u2019s Tree of Life.\u201d And remember, Derek is listening in!<\/p>\n So then we get this:<\/p>\n The Eavesdropper gave a soft whistle as he listened to Hope outline the properties of the brew. \u201cThat\u2019s pretty good, Hopey-Dopey. So this is why the judge is working so hard to take control.\u201d<\/p>\n Whispering, he sneered his mockery. \u201cCan\u2019t have a bunch of Jews who pretend to be Christians getting filthy rich. Boy, has the Brotherhood got a surprise coming for you clueless dummies.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n Malachi Freeman\u2014the book\u2019s Michael Pearl character\u2014is not Jewish. He\u2019s just named Malachi, because some Christian parents give their kids names from the Old Testament. But we\u2019re told several times that some people think<\/em> Malachi is Jewish, so that must be what Derek is referencing here.<\/p>\n The guy who is<\/em> Jewish is Rob Cohen, their contact who is working on the China side of things.\u00a0We\u2019re not given much background on Cohen, except that he had cancer and was about to die, and then Hope put him on a heavy dose of her brew, and he miraculously recovered. He then used his business connections (because yes, he was a businessman of some sort) to start get a plant in China up and running to mass produce the brew for them. That project is currently in progress.<\/p>\n Oh, you know who else is Jewish? (Or was,<\/em> at least.) Asher Joel.<\/p>\n Anyway!\u00a0Derek is a white supremacist and he\u2019s in the Ku Klux Klan. The judge is related to him, and is also in the Klan. Everyone who is anyone in this county is in the Klan. The Klan is trying to use the legal mechanisms of the town to gain possession of the Freemans\u2019 land\u2014and the magical brew<\/em>.<\/p>\n The rumor around town is that Malachi was very sick and then was cured by one of Hope\u2019s brews. I think it\u2019s known that Cohen was also cured? The point is this: Hope has some magic brew, and the local heavyweights\u2014Klan members all\u2014want it. Which is why Derek is here.<\/p>\n This<\/em> Derek:<\/p>\n \u201cThe judge won\u2019t mind if I help myself to Hope\u2019s private stash. The old man knows my arthritis has been acting up. He\u2019ll understand. And he won\u2019t care what happens to that hot little squaw.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n Why\u00a0<\/em>is Asher still up on the ridge??<\/p>\n So. Cheyenne and Hope go back to talking about the magical brew.<\/p>\n \u201cSomehow, I think by the will of God, we have happened upon a combination that closely approximates the properties of the Tree of Life.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n If someone had said this to me back when I was evangelical, I would have said they were blaspheming. The Tree of Life was destroyed for a reason. It was destroyed because after the fall, God did not\u00a0want\u00a0<\/em>humans to be able to live forever. Would it not be wrong try to recreate what God intentionally destroyed?<\/em>\u00a0This whole subplot of Debi\u2019s book is just bizarre<\/em> to me.<\/p>\n I think what\u2019s going on is that Debi has an herb fetish and would like to\u00a0imagine\u00a0<\/em>that she could create an herbal remedy this powerful, so since this is fiction and all, she threw that fantasy in.<\/p>\n There\u2019s a lot of swapping back and forth in here. We switch to Asher, who is having flashbacks of a \u201cbombed-out Spanish church just two blocks down from Louise\u2019s diner\u201d:<\/p>\n The strong jaw clenched with anger and repulsion as the memories of the odor of scorched human flesh assailed him. Americans were not as proficient at gathering up the scattered remains as were the Israelis. \u201cGod Almighty, there\u2019s going to be a judgement! God \u2026 I\u2019m glad.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n Whoever said Asher read like a white supremacist getting ready to bomb some Mosques was right. His statement here sounds downright threatening.<\/p>\n Back to Hope and Cheyenne. Hope says that if all goes as planned with the brew, they\u2019ll have plenty of money to fund their printing and other operations, and that they\u2019ll \u201cprioritize\u201d converting Muslims.<\/p>\n At the mention of Muslims, Cheyenne\u2019s knees felt weak. A cold shudder shook her insides. She looked down at her hands, trying to hide her dread. Daily there was news of bombings, personal assaults, and even poisoning from the hands of Muslim terrorists. Muslims were now focusing more of their attacks on churches and prominent Christians. Certainly this was nothing new. It had been happening all over the world; it was just new to America.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n These people are definitely not white supremacists. Definitely<\/em>.<\/p>\n For the last three weeks she had noticed an Arabic looking man hanging around. He seemed to be watching her local store, the Herb Den. Now, with her parents on the verge of spreading the gospel to the entire Muslim world in their own language \u2026 it was tantamount to a death sentence.<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p><\/blockquote>\n I am baffled by this apparent assumption that there are no Arabic translations of the Bible in Muslim countries. And no access to Christian websites. Look, I understand that in some Muslim countries, leaving Islam is punishable by death. I get that there are honor killings. But this is just so<\/em> over the top.<\/p>\n I knew a Muslim girl when I was little, in an immigrant family. She lived next door. I looked her up a few years ago. After college, she got a job at an NGO doing civil rights work. This painting of all Muslims as evil dangerous thugs who stalk people and blow them up\u00a0is racist.\u00a0<\/em>Period.<\/p>\n But! Back to Cheyenne\u2019s musings:<\/p>\n Just this past week Main Street Market changed hands. It now was owned and run by a Saudi family.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n Oh noes\u00a0<\/em>they own\u00a0the grocery store!\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n Cheyenne\u2019s breath came in shallow gulps as she remembered the Muslim men who sat around a table at the back of the store, watching her as she walked in for a purchase. She hadn\u2019t been back. Driving 15 miles for gas was not practical, but it was what had to be done.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n Yep. Our heroes are the furthest<\/em> thing from white supremacists.<\/p>\n Quick point of order. Didn\u2019t we already establish that the town is run by the Klan? Wouldn\u2019t white supremacists and scary brown terrorist Muslims just \u2026 self destruct? Why in the heck are both groups focusing on these Christians in their little out of the way valley and herb store, instead of, I don\u2019t know,\u00a0each other?\u00a0<\/em>There are white supremacists in town who later\u00a0burn down a black family\u2019s home,\u00a0<\/em>but they don\u2019t care about Muslims buying up the whole town? Or at least the grocery store?<\/p>\n I don\u2019t know, man, it\u2019s\u00a0weird.\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n \u201cMom, I need to know \u2026 will there be time for me to have what you and Dad have had? There\u2019s just so much bad stuff going on, like the Muslims bombing everything and everybody. Will I have time to enjoy being loved and loving like you and dad?\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n I, too, had this question!\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n Well, not about Muslims. It was about the rapture. I used to worry the rapture would happen before I had time to grow up, get married, and have kids, since everyone said it would happen any day now. What I didn\u2019t realize is that people had been saying that for 2,000 years.<\/p>\n Ok, back to Asher. As he looks over the valley, his eyes keep coming back to Cheyenne\u2019s pink truck.<\/p>\n \u201cLord God, I have committed myself to seeing that the gospel is published to every tribe and nation. Lord, I know that with a wife comes a baby carriage. Those things would slow me down, but, God, I really would like to have a good wife. God, you know my heart. If I need to stay single, so be it. But, Lord, that gal \u2026 it\u2019s getting harder and harder to resist her.\u201d Smiling as he treated in a deep shaky breath, he threw back his head and shouted in the morning stillness, \u201cLOVE TO HAVE THAT WOMAN!\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n Uh. Okay dude. Find a hobby.<\/p>\n Back to Derek. Uh. Nothing happens. He\u2019s annoyed with their dog. He offers it a donut. He chokes on the donut? He being Derek. I don\u2019t know, it\u2019s weird, man! Nothing happens.<\/p>\n Oh wait, something does<\/em> happen\u2014Asher hears Derek\u2019s cough and shout an expletive. He\u2019s trying to figure out where the noise came from.<\/p>\n And that\u2019s all you get from Asher, because we\u2019re back to Hope and Cheyenne now! And it\u2019s going to get\u00a0weird!\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n Correction:\u00a0weirder.<\/em><\/p>\n This section is titled \u201cSeven Women, One Man,\u201d in case you were wondering. Which, you probably weren\u2019t. Anyway, Cheyenne has a question:<\/p>\n \u201cSo if a lot of your research information came from Israel, and the best berries can be find there, why haven\u2019t they come up with a brew that can bring healing like the one you have?\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n Frankly, the only reason these questions are being asked on this random morning when Cheyenne has already been working for her mother for years is that you, the reader, are here to be instructed.<\/p>\n Hope answers:<\/p>\n \u201cWho\u2019s to say they haven\u2019t? They have the added advantage of being in the part of the world where the Garden of Eden was located, which is where the Tree of Life once grew. There could be seeds or even a tree still growing that no one has discovered.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n No<\/em>. No, there could not.<\/p>\n And this woman calls herself a Bible believer?<\/p>\n The young woman was shaking her head in disbelief. \u201cNo \u2026 I can\u2019t believe the Tree of Life could still be here on earth. God kicked Adam and Eve out of the garden to keep them from eating, and \u2026 well, it doesn\u2019t say it was removed from earth. But it is too fantastical to believe.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n Thank you!<\/p>\n \u201cWhy not?\u201d Hope challenged. \u201cI have pestered Malachi to take me to northern Iraq so I could nose around. I almost think I could recognize it, because I would know how the leaves would smell. I have worked with so many healing herbs, you just get where you know the healing chemistry by the smell.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n Sure, lady. Sure.<\/p>\n \u201cYou\u2019re probably right, Shy, but at least we have a blend that in some small measure approximates the healing power of the Tre of Life. I bet the Jewish scientists have what we have, at the very least. Yo know the Israelis. They are always two steps ahead of the rest of the world in so many areas. They must \u2026 in order to survive.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n Why do I suddenly feel really uncomfortable?<\/p>\n \u201cBesides,\u201d Hope continued, \u201cif they did have something as life-giving as what I\u2019ve found, why should they give it away? Most of the world wants to blow them to smithereens. WHwy let their enemies know about something that is guaranteed to keep them alive and healthy? Good health is the most valued treasure, far greater than oil.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n Oh. That\u2019s<\/em> why.<\/p>\n I\u2019m reminded of the setup of the Left Behind books<\/a>:<\/p>\n Dr. Rosenzweig is named Global Weekly\u2019s<\/i> Man Of The Year due to his development of The Eden Project<\/a>, a new synthetic fertilizer that causes the dry Israeli<\/a> deserts to become rich, fertile croplands. The development of this fertilizer promises to end world famine and pushes Israel as a chief exporter of rare and henceforth expensive agricultural products; thus, the formula becomes a highly sought commodity. The enormous wealth brought by the fertilizer and related agriculture-led export boom also lands Israel in a far better bargaining position than the oil-rich Arab world in the Middle East peace process, and Israel has made peace with all immediate Arab neighbors on Israel\u2019s terms.<\/p>\n Unfortunately, Rosenzweig\u2019s scientific breakthrough has made Israel a target for hostile states eclipsed in power and influence, particularly the Russians, who joined with the Libyans, Ethiopians and some other Middle Eastern countries to launch an all-out strike<\/a> just months before the Rapture<\/a>. However, fire from the Russians proves perfectly ineffective and the attackers were repulsed and destroyed by God<\/a> without causing one casualty in all of Israel, while the invading military is completely eradicated.<\/p>\n Eventually, United Nations<\/a> Secretary-General and Antichrist<\/a>\u00a0Nicolae Carpathia<\/a> brokers a worldwide peace treaty<\/a> for Israel in exchange for making The Eden Project available to other nations. This helps usher Carpathia onto the world political stage, and officially inaugurates the Tribulation.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n The idea that Israel could develop a magic fertilizer that turns deserts into fields of grain\u2014or a magic herbal brew that heals any ailment\u2014and then either keep it to themselves or hold it as a bargaining chip feels at least vaguely anti-semitic. When there was even a whiff of the idea that Trump wanted to keep a COVID vaccine exclusively for the United States, people freaked out. It\u2019s widely considered unethical to keep discovery that would vastly improve the world\u2019s health and wellbeing to yourself.<\/p>\n When I talked this through yesterday with Petticoat Philosopher, a reader and moderator on this blog, she said that the idea that the Israelis might be hiding a wonder cure for all the world\u2019s ailments suggests plays into the anti-semitic idea that while the Jews \u201chave the best scientists and doctors and everything, but you can\u2019t trust them. They are sneaky and shifty and tribal.\u201d So, yes. That.<\/p>\n And now it gets \u2026 weirder.<\/p>\n The young girl quickly scanned the Scripture that was on the screen while her mother continued to talk.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n To be clear, \u201cyoung girl\u201d refers to Cheyenne. She is sometimes referred to as a \u201cyoung woman\u201d and sometimes as a \u201cyoung girl.\u201d She is twenty-two. This is interesting editing.<\/p>\n \u201cSome of the more religious Jews believe the second half of Isaiah 28 indicates there will be a scourge over a good portion of the world that seems to sicken mostly just the male population, but will not touch the Israeli men. Kinda like what happened when all the firstborn males of Egypt died, but the destroyer passed over the Jews, leaving them alive.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n Cheyenne asks how a disease could affect men, and not women\u2014and how it could spare Jewish men. Hope is not put off! She has Answers.<\/p>\n \u201cHow indeed? Hormones could be the key facto rotate causes a disease to affect only the male population. As far as not hitting Jewish men, it is my theory that blood type has something to do with it. Unlike the rest of the world\u2019s population, many Jews are B-positive, especially those from Germany. Different blood types have certain strengths and weaknesses. It is known that B-positive has stronger immune properties, which would protect against strange diseases.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n This sounds like bullshit.<\/p>\n \u201cOn the other hand, there is the possibility hat the berry brew is the deciding factor in the survival of the Jewish males. It is possible that the Jews will have the berry brew readily available to them. Maybe it\u2019s both the blood type and the brew that helps them survive.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n Uh. Sure. Sure, Debi. Sure.<\/p>\n Anyway, according to verse 19, this consumption kills in one day. There appears to be so much death and blood that it takes a flood to cleanse the land.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cDoes it say why God sends this plague?\u201d Cheyenne asked.<\/p>\n Hope bit the inside of her cheek, trying to remember what Malachi had taught her.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n How very typical.<\/p>\n \u201cThe Scripture suggests that it has something to do with a covenant or agreement between two political groups that decide to take over Jerusalem. God says this covenant will be disannuled due to the overflowing scourge.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n I don\u2019t like the sound of any<\/em> of this.<\/p>\n \u201cHey, here it is; look at this. Isaiah chapter 4 talks about seven women taking hold of one man.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n Long story short, Hope explains that the verse says that seven women will take hold of one man and demand to be polygamists, so that they will have a husband, due to the shortage of men. They must be talking about this plague! But here\u2019s the thing. Weren\u2019t we already told that the mysterious plague comes from Isaiah 28? Now we\u2019re going back to Isaiah chapter 4 and somehow claiming it\u2019s about the same thing? This is the problem that happens when evangelicals get all up in Bible prophecy.<\/p>\n Hope next turns to Zechariah 8. She tells Cheyenne that it says the Jewish people \u201cwere a curse to the whole world, but now they will be considered a blessing.\u201d Hope explains:<\/p>\n \u201cWhen has Israel ever been considered a blessing to the world? But if they had a way to bring healing to the world \u2026 like a berry brew \u2026 and their men were in good shape when a goodly portion of the world\u2019s male population had been decimated? Well?\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n Oh. My. GOD.<\/p>\n Something just feels so wrong about all of this.<\/p>\n It reminds me of all the books written in the 70s about the role the Soviet Union was to play in the end times. And we all know how that<\/em> went.<\/p>\n I\u2019ll leave you with this:<\/p>\n \u201cI read yesterday that the President said Jerusalem is the International City. He said that the middle 3 letters of Jerusalem are USA, like that somehow made America responsible for seeing to it that Jerusalem becomes the international capital city.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n