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Authors: Tim Lahaye, Jerry B. Jenkins
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it.
“Meanwhile, I have a specific message from a cooperative attending spirit. If it applies to you, accept it for what it is.”
Marilena was convinced Viviana glanced directly at her again before sitting at her table and pressing her fingers to her temples.
“Daughter,” she said softly, then briefly raised her head with a smile, as if surprised. “So we know this message is for a female.” She lowered her head again. “Daughter, you need not seek a substitute solution. Your longing cannot be assuaged by contemporaries. You need what you need, and that need will be filled.’-
----
Ray Steele listened more intently in Sunday school and church. He asked questions of his Sunday school teacher that seemed to rattle her. Ray raised the questions his father had about the God of the Old Testament, who seemed judgmental and fearsome.
“I… uh … I’m certainly not an expert on the Old Testament,” Mrs. Knuth had said. “Our quarterly lessons are on New Testament stories and parables, so maybe you should save those questions for—”
“Well, but I was just wondering. I mean, what do you think? Does that sound fair? Does that sound like a loving God?”
“I really need to get back to the lesson, Ray. We have a lot to cover in a short time. Okay?”
Ray found the pastor’s sermons just as confusing. He seemed to preach only from the New Testament, and he used the stories and accounts as jumping-off places to support his points. And his point usually was that “believers in Christianity ought to exemplify godly virtues in this world.”
That was fine with Ray, except that if God was God and God was perfect and God was love, what about all that ugly stuff in the Old Testament? If Ray was a “believer in Christianity”—and he was starting to wonder if he really was or if he had just been dragged to church all his life—was one of those godly virtues murdering people who disagreed?
At Sunday dinner Ray raised the question, and as usual, his dad tried to give the final answer. “Look, Ray, your mother believes I shouldn’t have gotten into all that with you the other day, and I have to say she’s probably right. At your age you don’t need to be thinking about the major issues of life and God and all that.”
“But I just want to know—”
“I know you do, but listen, I was born and raised a Christian, and I don’t understand it all. All we can do is the best we can and try to be good people. Respect other people. Don’t talk politics or religion with them. I mean, you’d rather be a good person than a bad one, right?”
“‘Course.”
“And you are a good person, Rayford,” his mother said.
“And that’s all you need to worry about,” his dad said. “Some stuff just isn’t for us to know.”
“This side of heaven,” his mother said.
----
Sorin absolutely refused to go to another Tuesday night meeting, and he expressed shock that Marilena wasn’t “over this silly pursuit. Surely you’re not swayed by this woman.”
“Of course not,” she said, feeling like a liar. All the way home that evening, as Sorin crowed about having fulfilled his obligation, she had labored to convince-herself that the message Viviana had shared could not have been for her.
It could have been for anyone. Again, no specifics. A dozen others could have applied it to their own situation.
Yet had she not, just moments before the message, been wondering whether friendships with colleagues or even people from this class might fill the need she saw no other way to fill?
Chapter 5
The Le Havre meeting was held at a clandestine villa belonging to one of the secret council, and no one—not a friend, a spouse, or a blood brother—even knew it was taking place, let alone what transpired there. Mr. S. ran the meeting, which was brief and to the point. Powerful men of finance and commerce from around the globe swore themselves anew to common goals, to confidentiality, and to Project People’s
“Meanwhile, I have a specific message from a cooperative attending spirit. If it applies to you, accept it for what it is.”
Marilena was convinced Viviana glanced directly at her again before sitting at her table and pressing her fingers to her temples.
“Daughter,” she said softly, then briefly raised her head with a smile, as if surprised. “So we know this message is for a female.” She lowered her head again. “Daughter, you need not seek a substitute solution. Your longing cannot be assuaged by contemporaries. You need what you need, and that need will be filled.’-
----
Ray Steele listened more intently in Sunday school and church. He asked questions of his Sunday school teacher that seemed to rattle her. Ray raised the questions his father had about the God of the Old Testament, who seemed judgmental and fearsome.
“I… uh … I’m certainly not an expert on the Old Testament,” Mrs. Knuth had said. “Our quarterly lessons are on New Testament stories and parables, so maybe you should save those questions for—”
“Well, but I was just wondering. I mean, what do you think? Does that sound fair? Does that sound like a loving God?”
“I really need to get back to the lesson, Ray. We have a lot to cover in a short time. Okay?”
Ray found the pastor’s sermons just as confusing. He seemed to preach only from the New Testament, and he used the stories and accounts as jumping-off places to support his points. And his point usually was that “believers in Christianity ought to exemplify godly virtues in this world.”
That was fine with Ray, except that if God was God and God was perfect and God was love, what about all that ugly stuff in the Old Testament? If Ray was a “believer in Christianity”—and he was starting to wonder if he really was or if he had just been dragged to church all his life—was one of those godly virtues murdering people who disagreed?
At Sunday dinner Ray raised the question, and as usual, his dad tried to give the final answer. “Look, Ray, your mother believes I shouldn’t have gotten into all that with you the other day, and I have to say she’s probably right. At your age you don’t need to be thinking about the major issues of life and God and all that.”
“But I just want to know—”
“I know you do, but listen, I was born and raised a Christian, and I don’t understand it all. All we can do is the best we can and try to be good people. Respect other people. Don’t talk politics or religion with them. I mean, you’d rather be a good person than a bad one, right?”
“‘Course.”
“And you are a good person, Rayford,” his mother said.
“And that’s all you need to worry about,” his dad said. “Some stuff just isn’t for us to know.”
“This side of heaven,” his mother said.
----
Sorin absolutely refused to go to another Tuesday night meeting, and he expressed shock that Marilena wasn’t “over this silly pursuit. Surely you’re not swayed by this woman.”
“Of course not,” she said, feeling like a liar. All the way home that evening, as Sorin crowed about having fulfilled his obligation, she had labored to convince-herself that the message Viviana had shared could not have been for her.
It could have been for anyone. Again, no specifics. A dozen others could have applied it to their own situation.
Yet had she not, just moments before the message, been wondering whether friendships with colleagues or even people from this class might fill the need she saw no other way to fill?
Chapter 5
The Le Havre meeting was held at a clandestine villa belonging to one of the secret council, and no one—not a friend, a spouse, or a blood brother—even knew it was taking place, let alone what transpired there. Mr. S. ran the meeting, which was brief and to the point. Powerful men of finance and commerce from around the globe swore themselves anew to common goals, to confidentiality, and to Project People’s
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