The Vision, pp. 299-309<\/strong><\/p>\n So, Magdalene is dead, and we\u2019ve moved past that. She might as well not exist now, for all that she is mentioned. Everyone is at TLP having some sort of Bible study meeting, talking about Revelation and using it as a roadmap for what is to come. It\u2019s predictable. The passages were assigned and before the meeting, which is then led by Malachi, who positions himself as the final authority as others ask him questions. Malachi says all Christians will definitely be raptured\u00a0before\u00a0<\/em>the tribulation.<\/p>\n But then he adds this, regarding the period\u00a0after\u00a0<\/em>the rapture:<\/p>\n \u201cGod intends for the people who rejected Jesus Christ before the rapture to be deceived. God helps the Antichrist to deceive people by sending a strong delusion so that they might believe a lie.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n Yep, you read that right. The claim is that anyone who heard the gospel but did not become a Real True Christian before the rapture will be unable\u00a0<\/em>to become a Christian\u00a0after\u00a0<\/em>the rapture, because God will deliberately deceive them specifically to ensure they don\u2019t get another chance. This is definitely\u00a0not\u00a0<\/em>what I was taught growing up.<\/p>\n Debi makes a big deal out of this, too:<\/p>\n Cheyenne could almost hear anew Julie\u2019s scathing response to Bobbie Jo\u2019s wild Bible story on the subject. Julie\u2019s face was red as she stopped Bobbie Jo, saying she would quit her job before she would listen to someone accuse God of purposefully deciding people into believing a lie. The verses stating the fact only made Julie angrier.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n Well. Yeah. It\u2019s kind of a dick move.<\/p>\n Yancey Has a Question<\/strong><\/p>\n Malachi explains as follows:<\/p>\n \u201cAll believers are taken with Christ before the beginning of the Tribulation, but some people who never heard the gospel will become Christians during the Tribulation. The final publishers \u2026 preachers \u2026 the 144,000 will be the ones who preach the gospel to them.\u201d<\/p>\n Yancey jerked, making everyone look over toward him. He then leaned forward,d pressing his point with an intense look on his face. \u201cSo that means if a person does not get saved before the rapture, but knows about salvation\u2014when he sees that the rapture has occurred\u2014then\u00a0<\/em>he could get saved? Right?\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n No, Yancey. That is literally\u00a0the opposite\u00a0<\/em>of what he said.<\/p>\n And Malachi is not impressed. Not one bit.<\/p>\n Malachi\u2019s gaze rested on Yancey. The old man\u2019s face was stern. The group glanced around at each other, surprised at the absence of the Old Gent\u2019s usual levity. Those listening had no clue that Malachi was remembering the video Omar had shown him on the internet a few weeks earlier. In the video Yancey was bowing before what the media referred to as \u2018His Holy Mother.\u2019 Malachi had hoped Yancey would open up to someone about this previous activities, but he had not said a word.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n In other words, Yancey is worshiping the coming antichrist\u2019s mother. Omar knows this, and Malachi knows this, but they\u2019re hiding it from everyone else, including Julie, whom Yancey is clearly dating. And while they\u2019re hiding this information, they\u2019re allowing Yancey into their inner sanctum.<\/p>\n This makes complete sense.<\/p>\n As in\u00a0no\u00a0<\/em>sense.<\/p>\n \u201cNo, Yancey,\u201d Malachi declared emphatically, \u201canyone who has heard and rejected the gospel before the rapture will be completely deceived into believing in the antichrist, and will thereby be damned.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n This reminds me of some theology I latched onto after converting from evangelicalism to Catholicism years ago. As an evangelical, I\u2019d believed that anyone who didn\u2019t hear the gospel was automatically damned to hell. As a Catholic, I latched onto Catholic theology suggesting that those who didn\u2019t hear the gospel but tried to live good, upstanding lives would make it into heaven (albeit possibly via purgatory).<\/p>\n Of course, this created a problem: what about those who\u00a0did\u00a0<\/em>hear the gospel, but didn\u2019t convert? Were they de facto damned? This seemed bad\u2014and in fact it created an incentive\u00a0not\u00a0<\/em>to tell people the gospel. After all, what they didn\u2019t hear they couldn\u2019t reject. I decided that those who \u201cheard\u201d the gospel but didn\u2019t convert hadn\u2019t actually \u201cheard\u201d the gospel\u2014because it hadn\u2019t been explained to them in a way they understood, or clearly, they would have converted. That got me around that<\/em> problem!<\/p>\n It strikes me that you have a similar problem here: anyone who hears the gospel before the rapture and doesn\u2019t convert is automatically doomed to hell, while those who don\u2019t hear the gospel before the rapture can convert and be saved after the rapture. The rapture itself ought to be a pretty strong statement in favor of the validity of Christianity: it would be rather curious if all the Christians just \u2026 disappear. So you could argue that the best path is to not share the gospel now at all, and to write some sort of letter and broadcast to be sent in event of the rapture detailing the gospel, and then leave it at that.<\/p>\n Christian theology is trippy.<\/p>\n Anyway, Malachi is pissed at Yancey, and wants to make sure he knows that if he doesn\u2019t convert\u00a0now\u00a0<\/em>he\u2019s damned to hell. So that\u2019s fun.<\/p>\n \u201cGod has a plan that those two wait for evidence before believing will find evidence that the Antichrist is the true Christ. With God\u2019s help they will believe a lie.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n Julie\u2019s right that this is messed up.<\/p>\n Just, yikes.<\/p>\n All\u00a0the Jewish Virgins<\/strong><\/p>\n At that moment, Malachi looks up and sees Asher walk in accompanied by another man. Malachi concludes that this is probably Levi, but nobody else notices, and Asher & co stay in the back.<\/p>\n Meanwhile, Dusty asks about the 144,000. Malachi responds:<\/p>\n \u201cTake note of the good numbers; chapter 7 and 14 are where we read about the 144,000. Look first at chapter 7 where it names the twelve tribes of Israel, telling us that 12,000 from each tribe are sealed. It tells us that no harm can come to them until they are sealed on their foreheads. meaning God providentially protects these 144,000 young, male, Jewish virgins.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n What what. Virgins?<\/p>\n Also, I\u2019m pretty sure Jewish people today don\u2019t keep track of what \u201ctribe\u201d they\u2019re originally from. I guess God just sorts that out? What about people who can trace their ancestry back to multiple tribes?<\/p>\n \u201cSo,\u201d Ben summarized, \u201cThe 144,000 will be young virgin men from the twelve tribes of Israel who love and honor Jehovah God.\u201d<\/p>\n From the back of the room came a loud, clear bass voice. \u201cSounds like me to me!\u201d<\/p>\n Everyone in the room startled. \u201cLevi?\u201d Malachi questioned.<\/p>\n The handsome young man standing beside Asher made a slight bow to the crowd. \u201cThe same.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n I am not making\u00a0this up.\u00a0<\/i><\/p>\n I. What.<\/p>\n No. No to all of this.<\/p>\n Even if Levi were<\/em> a virgin, why would he out himself as one? Especially when it\u2019s very clear that they\u2019re discussing Christian interpretations of the New Testament, and he\u2019s already made clear to Asher that he\u2019s not interested in anyone so much as mentioning Christianity to him?<\/p>\n This makes no sense.<\/p>\n There are a bunch of other weird things in this section, such as Yancey being there but Julie being absent, and another weird tidbit is that Bobbie Jo slipped out and reentered just at this moment, wearing an evening dress. We\u2019ll find out the why of that next week, but for the time being:<\/p>\n Cheyenne\u2019s jaw dropped in bewilderment. Sometime in the last few minutes Bobbie Jo had managed to slip out of the meeting and change into an elegant peach-colored, floor-length evening dress. Now she stood erect, her skin blowing with a blush, her glorious hair pulled high, yet hanging in curls down past her waste, and her eyes shining like lights.<\/p>\n Levi turned toward Bobbie Jo in polite acknowledgement. It was as if lightening struck. Everyone watching felt the jolt.<\/p>\n Bobbie Jo was aglow, and her eyes sparkled as she stared transfixed. Levi\u2019s response was all male, embarrassingly so, as he stared back at the beautiful girl.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n Uhhh \u2026 wow.<\/p>\n All. Male. What.<\/p>\n She stood unabashedly staring at Levi with such a tender newfound vulnerability. The effect struck Cheyenne as breathtakingly beautiful.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n Oh boy.<\/p>\n This book is so weird.<\/p>\n I\u2019ve noticed this phenomenon, actually. Some fundamentalist Christian women are tight-lipped about sex and refuse to even mention it, but others are downright bawdy. Provided all of their jibbing points toward marriage\u2014or sex within marriage\u2014it\u2019s all in good fun, and it\u2019s godly and virtuous to boot. Debi clearly falls into this camp, with lots of sexual tension at a distance and secret-glancing moments between the young women characters she has created and virile, impressive specimens of manhood.<\/p>\n Although really I mean just Asher and Levi, who seem to be the only virile, impressive specimens of manhood available. Omar is married; Yancey is Yancey; and Ben and Dusty are too young.<\/p>\n Secret Ops in the Warehouse<\/strong><\/p>\n After Asher and Levi leave the room, Omar slips out and follows them. He follows them all the way to the far warehouse, where he sees \u201cstrange men with military bearings\u201d packing everything up. He about freaks out, but when he runs up to stop them a man grabs a pressure point in the small of his back, until Asher calls him back. \u201cDon\u2019t slip up on these guys unannounced,\u201d he tells Omar.<\/p>\n Asher and Levi explain that Malachi told them they could do whatever they want whenever they want to if they deemed TLP security to be at risk, and that they\u2019ve received a credible threat, so they\u2019re packing up the whole compound in trucks that will arrive in a few minutes.<\/p>\n \u201cWho are you people?\u201d he demanded. \u201cI thought you were some kind of volcano specialist, not secret agents. What do you think you\u2019re doing coming in here and messing with our stuff?\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n I\u2019m with Omar. This is weird.<\/p>\n \u201cOne of my fellow militia members works for the government in counterterrorism. You guys are targets.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n Lovely.<\/p>\n Omar isn\u2019t satisfied. Good on Omar.<\/p>\n Levi remained patient as Omar continued to glare. \u201cOkay, Omar, a little background. When we,\u201d he motioned to the people packing, \u201cmy friends from all over the world, started getting ready for a possible Yellowstone event, we also started organizing and planning as a private military. We are all experts in one area or another, some as scientists, like me, and others are special forces of some kind or another. We count ourselves as patriots.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n No no no, he does\u00a0not\u00a0<\/em>get away with this. A patriot is someone who is loyal to or loves a specific country. Levi just said these are his friends \u201cfrom all over the world.\u201d Words actually mean things.<\/p>\n \u201cWe knew the government would not come to your aid, even if they suspect an attack\u2014\u201c<\/p><\/blockquote>\n Hey wait a minute, why the heck not? <\/em><\/p>\n The feds came in after the Super Center bombing, and again to investigate a suspected honor killing, and a third time to clean up the local white supremacists. The feds spend an awful lot of time<\/em> in this small east Tennessee town. So why exactly would the feds not come to their aid this time?<\/p>\n \u201c\u2014so we, our militia, voted to let this be a training exercise as well as a rescue. There are militia groups forming all over the country, and none too soon.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n This is a world with really good federal law enforcement, based on what we\u2019ve seen thus far. But suddenly they need militias because law enforcement is inadequate? Since when?<\/p>\n To be fair, Levi does add this:<\/p>\n \u201cFinancially, many governments of the world are failing, including the U.S. With financial failure comes a breakdown in all areas of government, health, social, civic, and basic law and order.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n