Operation Wolfe Cub: A Chilling Historical Thriller (THE TIME TO TELL Book 1) (45 page)

He swallowed then wiped his temple with his handkerchief. “God does it through the seven angels, it says…it’s right here in the scriptures. This is how it starts. They say that fornication by women will be widespread, as written in the scriptures, and will be the first calling for God’s rapture…at least we have a clue. We know the rapture can’t happen too quickly. Fornication isn’t happening on every street corner.”

Some of his audience looked puzzled, so he tried clarifying, “Forni—
uh
fornication? You understand? That’s, you know,
uh
sex between singles,
um
…well, look it up. I need to move on
um
, so this is it…the answer…women have to be careful, unlike their boyfriends having fun. You know, women make men righteous.”

Eddie stood up, shouting, “
He he
yeah! Halleluiah!
Yahahaa
, amen!”

Everyone around him glared as if he smelled.

Suddenly, Eddie realized he was the one they were looking at, so he sat back down softly. “Oh, sorry…excuse me… excuse me. Just getting into it, sorry.”

Pastor McKoowey offered him a subtle glare too. “Thank you for your support, Mr. Coolidge, but that won’t be necessary…everyone, please turn to Revelation thirteen, seven through ten.”

Everyone fanned their pages as he started to read: “One of the angels said, ‘Saying with a loud voice, Fear God, and give glory to him; for the hour of his judgment is come: and worship him that made heaven, and earth, and the sea, and the fountains of waters. And there followed another angel, saying, Babylon is fallen, that great city, because she made all nations drink of the wine of the wrath of her fornication. And the third angel followed them, saying with a loud voice, If any man worship the beast and his image, and received his mark in his forehead, or in his hand. The same shall drink of the wine of the wrath of God, which is poured out without mixture into the cup of his indignation; and he shall be
tormented with fire and brimstone in the presence of the holy angels, and in the presence of the Lamb.’”

He then put his finger on his place before glancing up to continue, “Then the seven angels with their seven plagues poured them down on earth…
ahem
…excuse me… we’re going to skip around. Go to Revelation sixteen, sixteen through twenty-one, and I quote, ‘Then they gathered the kings together to the place that in Hebrew is called Armageddon.’”

He continued reading, “And the seventh angel poured out his vial into the air; and there came a great voice out of the temple of heaven, from the throne, saying, it is done. And there were voices, and thunders, and lightnings; and there was a great earthquake, such as was not since men were upon the earth, so mighty an earthquake, and so great. And the great city was divided into three parts, and the cities of the nation fell and great Babylon came in remembrance before God, to give unto her the cup of the wine of the fierceness of his wrath. And every island fled away, and the mountains were not found. And there fell upon men a great hail out of heaven, every stone about the weight of a talent and men blasphemed God because of the plague of the hail; for the plague thereof was exceedingly great.’ ”

He then glanced up, checking his audience. Even though they showed signs of boredom, he still went on, “Now this is the part that grabs me…it’s the women. Women cast away their righteousness of conception, then traded it for pleasure. Do you see this sudden change taking place? Do you see it? Yes, it’s true…fornication starts this whole mess. You know, sexual consent—with anyone—for fun? Says here…it starts the clock ticking to the end of the world as we know it.”

Before he knew it, a number of women in the audience scowled, glanced at each other, and then glared back at him.

Nervously, he muttered, “Not good.”

He grabbed up his handkerchief, tending to a trickle of sweat that now seemed to be falling from more places than just his temple: “I know what you’re thinking, ladies, don’t… it’s not that. Men are always ready since the dawn of time. It’s the women’s decision that tips the scales. It-it-it’s devastating. It-it eventually brings a chain reaction of other evils which go along with it. Then, you know…it’s time to kiss the world good-bye.”

Nerves seemed to get the best of him. When he took another sip from his glass, he couldn’t stop shaking. Quickly, he put it down so no one would notice: “I started this, so I’d like to finish… let’s skip forward again to Revelation seventeen, one through five. It says, ‘And there came one of the seven angels which had the seven vials, and talked with me, saying unto me, Come hither; I will—shew—unto thee the judgment of the great whore that sitteth upon many waters. With whom the kings of the earth have committed fornication, and the inhabitants of the earth have been made drunk with the wine of her fornication. So he carried me away in the spirit into the wilderness and I saw a
woman
sitting upon a scarlet coloured
beast
, full of names of blasphemy, having
seven heads and ten horns
. And the woman was arrayed in purple and scarlet colour, and decked with gold and precious stones and pearls, having a golden cup in her hand full of abominations and filthiness of her fornication. And upon her forehead was a name written, Mystery, Babylon the Great, the Mother of Harlots and Abominations of the Earth.”

He paused with his finger in the Bible as he divided up his audience. Disaster had begun to unfold in two ways: The men notably yawned, while the women had become restless. Some of the women were whispering to one another across the aisles, looking more irritated than ever.

Still, he continued, “Y-y-you see? The whore we are talking about? It’s symbolism. Symbolism, that’s right…the whore is two things at once: she’s the representation of all
women literally and she is the mystery nation too. Sorry, but she is where the hellish beast resides. It resides, waiting to unleash itself in the woman’s decision and her nation to
conquer everything
.”

He clamored for support from his audience, but it didn’t happen. If there was any support, nobody smiled to show it. If anything, most of them swayed away as he dragged on, “Please, don’t do this to me, ladies. Just calm down and hear me out. I know this sounds like—
uh
. We’re not just talking about a
prostitute
. The lady I’m speaking of is the symbol of the women as a majority. It’s about gifting sex without thinking of children. That starts greed, lies, intoxication, thievery, fraud, and indulgence…all of it. Men are already there. Imagine us both, thinking the same thing. What can this do to all of us?
Poof
, just like that and we’re all gone.”

Julie Johnson, along with quite a few other ladies, looked downright infuriated. Chantain, however, wasn’t affected by the pastor’s comments whatsoever. The way she gazed at him up at the podium was the reason. Her eyes must have deafened her ears clear down to the center of her brain. In short, she looked as if she had just been struck in love by the mythological Cupid. Nothing was left of her except for a frozen body, stuck in place on the pew, smiling up a bunch of dreams.

Nevertheless, other women made up for her. In growing numbers, they became annoyed until eventually, a good half of the women had become upset. Wildly, the half who didn’t grow upset became upset at those who
did
.

Above the argument of the crowd, Pastor McKoowey’s speech looked as if it were going to come to a screeching halt. If he didn’t stop, something was going to happen.

Boldly so, he continued where no man should go, “Look here…the purple and scarlet colors decked in gold and precious stones and pearls could be our greed. And the golden cup she holds…that’s gold because it’s precious what she’s
drinking. She’s drinking the filth of abominations and the filth that later comes along with-with—”

One lady in the far back of the rows tugged on her husband’s arm, suggesting she wanted to leave and another woman did the same.

Pastor McKoowey said, “Hey, don’t go, please…sit down. Come back. At least let me finish.”

He continued, “You need to hear this. Oh, the beast? The beast the woman is sitting on? That’s consensual…that’s the kings! Thousands—no wait
millions
…great men following right along like idiots. Why tie the knot? Why settle down? It’s free love. Why is this? Because we aren’t thinking about children!”

Instantly the crowd drew silent, so Pastor McKoowey slowed down. “Yeah, us men…We don’t have the burden of children…the women become beasts, like the men already are. Women’s guidance isn’t there anymore. Their partners who are—it’s all a lopsided mess!”

Two more women headed for the door as he continued, “What about the seven heads? The mystery place of Babylon has mastered the art of lies through her not telling about all these-these
partners
. They never tell, are you kidding me? The men don’t tell either.
Nobody tells
. They all say they they’re good as gold! We’re all two-faced, but when
she
frees herself, she grows seven heads, meaning—she’s ready to do it sevenfold, over and over again. That’s why the ancient prophet guys say what they say!”

Another group of women grabbed their purses and headed for the door, but still, he refused to stop his lecture. “Thu-there’s the ten horns…they represent her very defiance. She
horns
, all ten of the commandments back into men’s face in all this defiance: Multiple heads, multiple horns, multiple stories, and lies, deceit, greed, and openly doing it too!”

He paused, watching a few more members leave. “That’s when the clock starts ticking to end everything. There it is, folks…staring at us right between the eyes.”

Julie leaned across Al’s lap, glaring at Chantain. “Don’t ever say anything about our church
again
. You and Eddie can
have
this place.” She yanked Al’s arm. “Come on. Get up, Al. We’re outta here.”

Chantain still seemed to be caught up with Pastor McKoowey. In a belated fashion, she shrugged her shoulders, letting Julie and Al step by while she said, “Well, at least he’s not some ugly, hairy guy like at some churches I know.”

Just then, Julie triggered a huge wave of walkouts. Others gathered their belongings, pulling their spouses out the door.

Pastor McKoowey went on, “Please, everyone stay put. I have just a few more verses. I have to read—”

Quickly, he closed his Bible to think. Sadness molded the sag of his expression, but by then the damage was done. He folded his handkerchief neatly then wiped the sweat from his neck. He slowed way down, gazing across the pews of his half empty church. “I guess this wasn’t…don’t hate me for saying, but let’s just say for a moment that Babylon
is
America. Good news…the end isn’t happening anytime soon. You know why? Maybe it doesn’t matter. Half of everyone’s gone anyway.”

Nobody answered, so he said, “Because we haven’t figured out a good way to stop having kids.”

He saw two more couples sneaking toward the doors, so he stretched over his podium. “There’s more!”

Just as they left, he humbled himself. “Really…it could be any country. If God named a specific place, we would fix it immediately, wouldn’t we? That would change prophecy, which would render this here Bible as false.”

He lowered his face in disgrace. “It’s ridiculous to think that a country could kill itself off this way.” He paused then continued, “So why didn’t the rest of you leave?”

The sparse numbers between the empty pews didn’t answer, so he hesitated. “Nobody wants to talk? Well, I’ll just finish up by disagreeing with my talk then. Sounds like I should after tonight.”

Suddenly, he tried to get the attention of two others heading for the door. “I know you can hear me! Revelation twenty-two, eighteen through twenty-one…God warns me that if I add or take away anything in Revelation, God will strike me down.”

He went on, “Hey! I’m still here, aren’t I? Where you going? I could’ve said the whore was sitting on top of the beast who’s another woman!”

One old woman thought she heard his last comment. Several seconds later, she woke up gasping, “Oh my God, Preacher! For cryin’ out loud, that’d be worse! What if
that
ever came true?”

Pastor McKoowey half-heartedly snickered, “Oh, don’t believe me, just a wild comment…just letting my anger do the talking…I mean, you know.”

The old lady sputtered in relief, “Holy be-crickets…thank God you made it up. Never heard of that one before.”

Pastor McKoowey grabbed his old, wrinkled paper next to his Bible and threw it in the garbage basket nearby. “No more, never again…I go and lose my attendance with one speech. I knew it…never should’ve talked about it.”

He looked back at his remaining audience, realizing they were looking back at him in stark silence. He straightened up then carefully placed his hands back on his podium. “I-I guess I should be pleased with the few of you. Oh well, that’s it for the evening.”

Quickly, he turned around. “Excuse me, Sister Thelma? There won’t be a closing hymn tonight. I’ve done enough damage. I’ll say the closing prayer, and we can just let everyone go.”

Sister Thelma jumped up. “Wait! I’m sure the rest of us would like to sing. What do you say, everyone?”

A very old man with suspenders and a belt buckled just below his chest, stood up the best he could. As he gained balance with his handmade cane, he raised his hand as high as he could.

Pastor McKoowey pointed to him. “Yes, Clarence?”

“Wait a second…I want to hear more about the men going to pot because-a-women! What’s ‘n your hymnal f’r that?”

Clarence’s wife bickered, tugging on his arm, “Sit down, honey. There’s been enough commotion f’r one night. Y’r makin’ it worse.”

Pastor McKoowey sent a sorry smile to everyone, then paused before finally saying, “Sure, why not…Sister Thelma, please lead the rest of us with the hymn ‘Hear Your Country’s Call.’ It’s on page one ninety-one.”

He then looked at Clarence still wobbling in his stance. “Sorry, Clarence…my talk wasn’t about any of this happening right now. It was about the future. You don’t have to worry about a thing.”