THE DAY: A Novel of America in the Last Days (The End of America Series) (2 page)

Press
Briefing Room – White House West Wing

Washington,
DC

              
Normally
when a President plans to address the media in the Press Briefing Room a media
advisory goes out with at least two hours’ notice. The advance notice
allows the most visible talking heads to be in the press room so they can
appear on camera. Today the President’s Press Secretary broke the
informal rule. Media in the area had ten minutes’ notice that the
President would be doing a no question ‘presser’. Some speculated
that the President was not anxious to have maximum coverage, but nevertheless
felt it necessary to address the media in person.

              
The
President strode briskly into the Press Briefing Room on the lower level of the
west wing of the White House. He stepped behind the podium on which was hung
his Presidential seal. Reporters noticed that there were no
teleprompters
in use, which was not the norm for this President. He had what appeared to be a
three by five card in his hand. During his brief statement the
President’s eyes only looked up briefly, returning to the prepared text
on the card which he held with both hands.

              
The
text was read by the President in what one Fox reporter called a
"somewhat low mumble". The President read, "Thanks for
coming. I have a brief statement….
No
questions
….It now appears that
the joint Russian, Iranian and Libyan military training exercises north of
Israel may have taken a different turn. We have intelligence sources reporting
that these troops may be under orders to enter into Israel. If true, the United
States does not favor this incursion. We call on the nations involved to stand
down their men and equipment before violence commences.

              
"I
have just finished a conversation with the Secretary General of the United
Nations. I requested that he convene an emergency meeting of the Security
Council to discuss this potential threat to world peace. I have also been in
communication with the Prime Minister of Israel. He has demanded that the United
States enter this potential armed conflict on the side of Israel. I have
thoroughly discussed this request with our nation’s Secretary of Defense,
who is in complete agreement with my decision. I have decided that honoring
Israel’s request would not be advisable. Let me be clear, the United
States will
not
honor Israel’s
request. Our entry into any military conflict could be de-stabilizing in this
inter-regional disagreement. Again, we urge these nations to work out their
differences for the best of all concerned. That’s all I have. Thanks
again for coming."

              
The
Fox reporter turned to the CBS reporter and said, "
Good bye
,
Israel
. Your
only
true friend in the world just
kissed you adios
,
suggesting that you
should
just get along
with your
attacking enemies….the Rodney King School of International Diplomacy.
Since when did an armed invasion become an
inter-regional
disagreement?
The
SecDef
hates Israel, so his
lack of support for a military response comes as no surprise. What about our
treaty to defend Israel if it’s attacked? Julie, CBS better get ready to
start airing video of dead bodies,
lots
of dead bodies
. What a
betrayal
of
our ally!"

Office
of the President,
The
Kremlin, Moscow, Russia

Office
of the President,
Sepah
Square, Tehran, Iran

                  
 
Sheba and
Dedan
(Saudi Arabia today)…will say to you,
‘Have you come to seize spoil? Have you assembled your hosts to carry off
plunder…to seize great spoil?’
(Ezekiel 38:3)

              
"Mahmoud?
Vladimir here.
Did
you just hear the President?"

              
"Yes,
Vladimir, Allah
be
praised. You were right about him
all along. You said you had looked into his soul….you knew he would
flinch. His weak reaction to your takeover of Crimea also proved it.
There’ll be no American involvement in our, what did he call
it….our inter-regional disagreement? If the American President only knew
that we would have stopped, instantly, had he just said the word – just
one word that his country would fight us. We couldn’t continue this
invasion of Israel without either America’s consent or its cowardly
refusal to oppose our Coalition forces. Vladimir, we’re finally on the
brink of getting rid of the Zionist pigs and apes."

              
"I
told you. It’s in his background and his beliefs that America is the
world’s problem maker. In his heart he looks at America the same way we
do…..And don’t forget, Mahmoud, we’re also on the brink of
grabbing the Middle East’s largest supply of natural gas just off
Israel’s coast. What a coup. The only push back worthy of our attention
is the protest by the Saudi King. Can you believe that the King seriously asked
us if we’re coming into Israel to take a great spoil? What kind of
question is that? Why else would we invade…
.
"

              
"To push Israel into the sea, of course, and to get rid of
the Little Satan.
Don’t neglect that goal, Vladimir. Are your
people in the Great Satan ready for our signal?"

              
"Yes.
More than ready, Mahmoud.
As you know, we’ve had
our special gifts to America in the ten cities we discussed in place for some
time. My secure lines are ready to transmit, when you are ready to do the
same."

              
"Let’s
do it, Vladimir, as soon as we capture Tel Aviv. As we discussed, before
America is destroyed I want the Great Satan to watch as we push Israel into the
sea. Let them watch Jewish blood flowing in the streets of Israel on their
large screen TVs. Then we’ll light up our special gifts for the American
fools. Allah
be
praised.
Death to
Israel now….and then….soon….very soon….Death to
America."

Israel Defense Force War Room

 
(
Tzva
Hahagana
LeYisra'el
)

HaKirya
Compound, Tel Aviv, Israel

              
Israel’s
Prime Minister was sick at his stomach. He had just watched a televised US
President reading from a small card in the White House press room, announcing that
America would not come to Israel’s military assistance. The PM was
incredulous that the President described the recent invasion of Israel by
Russia, Iran, Libya and other Nations, most of which were Muslim, as ‘an
inter-regional disagreement’. The leader of the western world at least
acknowledged, the PM bitterly thought, that Israel had demanded that the United
States come to Israel’s aid. But the President revealed that he had
decided not to do so, facetiously arguing, the PM angrily reflected, that to do
so might ‘destabilize the region’.

              
Shaking
his head, the PM said to no one in particular of the twenty military advisors
gathered in Israel’s war room, "Did you hear what he just
suggested? That we ‘
work out our
differences’
?
How
exactly
do we work out our
differences
with
what looks like well over a hundred thousand land-based invading troops?
Differences?
I
should take advice from a man who extorted me into signing a peace treaty with
our enemies? How did
that
work out
for us?
Look….look at our drone video
feeds….we’re
staring at our extinction as a people.
Differences?
"

              
Lieutenant
General Abraham ‘Benny’
Walzer
responded
to the Israel’s leader’s outburst, "Sir….do
not
forget that we have the big stick.
We can selectively target
our nukes
on
the invaders, as we can….."

              
"Benny….Benny….
listen
to yourself.
We
can’t nuke
the invading forces….they’re on
our own
soil. Selectively target? Are
you suggesting we nuke Moscow….or Tehran? Do we want to bring
Russia’s many nuclear weapons down on our heads? Face it, Benny,
we’re stuck
….We have only
one move….now that America
has
betrayed us
. We have to throw everything we can at the invading forces.
We’re about to be in a straight up conventional war against a huge armed
force. Our odds are no better than 50/50.
Damn
the Americans….damn
them….
damn them
."

              
"Sir,
if the evangelicals and some of our own people are right, that’s exactly
what’s about to happen."

The
Moshe and Sophia
Guttman
Home

Petah
Tikva
, Israel

              
Moshe
loved Sophia and vice-versa. Moshe and Sophia originally met as students at Tel
Aviv University, where Moshe was pre-med, leading eventually to dentistry
school. Sophia loved children, leading her to obtain her degree in elementary
education. Moshe was described to friends by Sophia as "tall, dark and
handsome". This always caused Moshe to smile, as he was
under
five feet seven inches tall, slightly portly and
prematurely bald. Moshe referred to Sophia as his "beautiful Jewish jewel
of a woman", which she was internally, though her looks were quite a bit
shy of movie star level.

              
Soon
after Moshe and Sophia were married, the
Guttmans
moved to Petah
Tikva
, a comfortable suburb located
east of Tel Aviv. They liked the fact that the name of the Israeli city was
chosen by its founders from the prophecy of Hosea 2:15, which referred to
"an opening of hope" in the Valley of
Achor
,
with vineyards and singing. Once they moved, Moshe launched his dentistry
practice, which prospered due to Moshe’s friendly and caring demeanor
with his patients. Some even told Dr.
Guttman
that
they didn’t mind going to the dentist because he was so kind when he
worked on their teeth. Sophia was soon hired at an elementary school not far
from their small apartment in Petah
Tikva
. Within a
year of their marriage Sophie conceived their first child, a beautiful girl
whom they named Golda, in honor of Israel’s only female Prime Minister.
Within another two years the
Guttmans
welcomed into
their family a second child, whom they named Yitzhak, after Israel’s
martyred Prime Minister.

              
Once
the
Guttman
family had grown to four, Moshe and
Sophia decided that it was time to move into a larger living space. After
carefully calculating how much they could afford, Moshe and Sophia made an
offer on a four bedroom flat in a new development on the far eastern edge of
Petah
Tikva
. The apartment tower was located at the
edge of the
Milkhemet
Sheshet
HaYamin
Garden and looked across at the
Shilo
River
wadi
. From their flat
east they had a great view of the open fertile plains of central Israel, south
of the Sea of Galilee, with hundreds of acres of citrus trees. Residents of
Petah
Tikva
knew well its history, that in the late
1800s the area was a malarial swamp, which was drained by early Jewish
settlers, with funds supplied by Baron Edmond de Rothschild. In 1886 the first
recorded attack on Jewish residents by Arabs took place in Petah
Tikva
.

              
Over
time, Moshe, Sophia, Golda and Yitzhak grew and prospered in their community.
Golda entered high school, with
Yitzak
two years
behind in the local middle school. Both youngsters were athletically inclined,
a fact that never ceased to amaze their parents, who were definitely not. Golda
and Yitzhak, though, were skilled at soccer and spent many hours a week at the
Pais
Sports facility just north of their flat. The
Guttman
children were playing soccer at the facility when
they first heard reports from a late-arriving teammate that he had just heard
on his car radio that Russia might be invading Israel. Yitzhak found Golda on
an adjoining soccer field, breathlessly suggesting that they needed to get
home, immediately.

Our
Redeemer Baptist Church

Richmond,
Virginia

              
In
his twenty three years in the pulpit of one of America’s leading
evangelical churches Pastor Harold "Hap" Atkinson had never been so
stressed. As a believer he was well aware that he was to cast all of his
worries on the Lord. How many times had he preached to his four weekend
services and through his television ministry that God’s people need not
worry, only trust? How often had he counseled with members of his congregation
in his office, advising them against stress arising from doubting that God
would work out the problem, no matter how serious? Knowing what he was supposed
to do with his worry-induced stress, though, just made his worry all the more
difficult.

              
His
best friend in seminary, Jack Madison, had warned him almost two years ago to
flee the country and re-locate his family outside of the United States. How
often had he replayed Jack’s final words which he left on Hap’s
voicemail as he was leaving America, saying
"Hap,
my brother, just a final word before we leave the
country.
I know you want to stay. I know you think you’re supposed to stay here
and minister to the sick and dying. All I ask is that you re-read God’s
ten warnings to flee the Daughter of Babylon, pray as hard as you’ve ever
prayed and then let me know what you’ve decided. Believe
me,
I know what it’s like to give up a growing church
and a thriving ministry. But, Hap, God’s commands are God’s
commands. I’m so hard-headed he had to almost put me in federal prison to
convince me to give it all up, grab my family and get out while we still could.
But, a final word before we depart. I know that God’s blessings are no
longer on this land, the culture war is over, and we lost. I believe without
any doubt that America will betray Israel, and when it does it will be
destroyed as a result. When the US turns
its
back on
Israel someday, stabbing it in the back and refusing to come to its defense,
millions will die. Don’t be here when it happens. God bless you Hap, my
dear brother."

              
Pastor
Hap’s problem was not that he didn’t believe his friend
Jack’s warnings. He now knew that everything Jack had said would happen
had either already taken place, was happening right now or was about to happen.
The Pastor had warned his congregation, in the sanctuary and nation-wide by
television, that America was almost certainly the nation that the prophets
described when they foresaw what would happen to the Daughter of Babylon, also
named in prophecy as Babylon the Great. Many had accepted what he said,
researched what scripture said, prayed about it and fled offshore. Most had
said they appreciated what he had to say and that they would think and pray
about it, but then stayed in the U.S.

              
Pastor
Hap’s stress was not caused by refusing to warn his flock. No, he was in
intense anxiety because he was about to confront the most important and
powerful man in the world, let alone the most famous public figure on the
planet. As a leader among evangelical pastors Hap had come to the attention of
the President of the United States. When the nation’s Chief Executive had
attempted to force religious organizations to issue insurance policies to the
employees including abortion coverage, Hap had publicly called on the President
to re-consider,
to back
down. The President had
refused to do so, resulting in numerous law suits by religious groups.
Following the fracas, Hap was called by a White House staffer tasked with
trying to put out the fires caused by the President’s attacks on First
Amendment guarantees of freedom of religion. He was asked to be a member of an
informal group of religious leaders of all faiths to advise the White House on
religious issues.

              
Hap’s
first reaction was to refuse, to turn down the flattering offer. But after the
fourth call back, and much prayer, along with his wife’s nudging, Hap
reluctantly agreed. As he expected, though, the President’s Religious
Leaders Advisory Group, as it was labeled by the media, was largely window
dressing. The group had no power, only that of persuasion, which it could only
offer when the President called them together to meet in the Cabinet Room,
which was increasingly infrequent. Because Pastor Hap was better known than
most of the twelve leaders, the mainstream media usually contacted him for
public comments when religious issues hit the nation’s news rooms. Hap
had gone out of his way to appear fair in his reported comments, so as not to
unduly embarrass the man who had asked him to serve on the advisory group.

              
Hap’s
diplomacy, however, had caused many of his evangelical peers in the pulpit to
suspect that Hap had trimmed his sails a bit, in order to go along and get
along. Hap didn’t think of it that way. He knew if he kicked the
President too hard, he would most likely not be asked back to the Cabinet Room,
thus terminating any chance he had to influence the President. So, Hap bit his
tongue on occasion, choosing to stay in his advisory role instead of lashing
the nation’s leader when Hap thought he was wrong.

              
By
what some in the advisory group said was a coincidence, but Hap saw as
God’s providential timing, the group had been scheduled a month
previously for a Cabinet Room meeting the day after Israel was invaded. As the
day for the meeting approached and as events heated up in the Middle East Hap
was certain that the White House would cancel the meeting. He waited for the
cancellation call that never came. Before driving to DC the night before the
Cabinet Room meeting his staff confirmed with the President’s staff that
the meeting was still on the schedule, the White House not wanting it to appear
that it was operating under a siege mentality.

              
Hap
enjoyed coming to the White House’s Cabinet Room, recalling the
newsreels, newscasts and newspaper photos of the nation’s top leaders
assembled in this historic room. Today was no different. Hap looked around the
room as he sipped the diet drink that he preferred, provided by the Navy Mess one
floor below. Only one member of the group was missing, due to a death in his
church. The President was late, which was normal. When he walked quickly into
the room he looked like a man who was dealing with a crisis. His Chief of
Staff, who came in with him, apologized to the assembled leaders and told them
that due to the crisis in the Middle East the President’s time would be
limited to twelve minutes.
Strictly enforced.
A short
three point agenda had been placed in front of each member of the group, but
Hap noticed as he looked it over that there was no mention at all of Israel and
its invasion yesterday.

              
One
of the longer-winded members consumed the first six minutes filibustering on an
arcane issue limited only to his denomination and of little interest or
application to others in the room. Hap watched the President during the
monologue and decided that he was purposely giving body language that he was
about to cut the meeting short. Hap couldn’t blame him as he would have
done the same. When the windy speaker took a sip of coffee, Hap saw his chance,
and jumped in, saying, "Reverend, that’s all quite interesting, but
with all due respect, and in light of the President’s tight time
schedule, I’d like to change the subject, if we may."

              
The
President looked slightly relieved and took his arms off of his chair where
they had been poised to bolt the meeting. He glanced at his watch, saying,
"Pastor you’ve got two, maybe three minutes. What’s on your
mind? Another
abortion issue
got you
cranked up?
",
he asked with a sardonic half
grin.

              
Hap
said a quick silent prayer, smiled back and said, "No, Mister President,
though it is a matter of life and death. Israel is under attack. America must
come to her aid. If we don’t help,
millions
may die and they…."

              
Now
starting to rise from his chair, the President snarled, "Deaths in Israel
are
their
problem. I’m
not
the President of Israel, I’m
the
Pres
…."

              
"Mister
President," Hap interrupted, "I’m not talking about the
deaths of millions of people in Israel, as sad as that would be, I’m
talking about deaths of many, many
Americans
if you don’t intervene and
keep our
word
to support Israel militarily if it’s attacked. Genesis 12:3
promises that we are cursed if we curse
Isra
….."

              
"We’re
done
here. I don’t need a Bible
lesson, Pastor. I have a lot of…."

              
Hap
would not be intimidated, raising his voice, and responding, "
Sir.
With
all due respect
you apparently could use
a lesson from the Bible. If we betray Israel, we will be
destroyed
as a nation. Prophecy says in
one day, one hour,
one minute
.
Please, sir,
re-consider
…."

              
At
the mention of prophecy the President was out the door to the adjoining Oval
Office, as Pastor Hap threw out his last words of advice. Most in the room were
looking at Hap with distinct disdain.

              
Outside
of the entry to the West Wing the religious leaders met with the media. Though
the media occasionally covered what was given them, they normally stuck the
brief article on the last page and usually only quoted the most liberal of the
spokesmen. Today was different. Pastor Hap and three other evangelicals
approached the microphones, the others having slipped away to Executive Avenue
to their cars.

              
Pastor
Hap stepped up to the bank of microphones, swallowed hard and said,
"Ladies and gentlemen of America’s media, today, on behalf of
American Christians we formally called on the President of the United States to
militarily intervene and
save Israel
from being destroyed by the invading armies storming into Israel. I cited
God’s promise that he will curse a nation that curses His chosen people,
Israel. If we betray Israel and the people of Israel shed their blood, what
will happen here will be similar to, but much worse than, what happened when we
forced the Jewish settlers of Gaza from
their
homes
.
The
next day America was struck, forcing many tens of thousands from
their
homes. God is a God of Justice who
keeps His promises. If we fail Israel in this her hour of greatest need, God
will remove His hand of protection and we will be
gone
, finished as the greatest nation on the
globe…..That’s essentially what I told our nation’s leader
just minutes ago….Any questions?"

              
As
most of the media walked away, murmuring to each other about what they had just
heard, the AP White House reporter said, "Yeah, Pastor.
Just
one
question.
Did the President
change
his mind?
Are we going into Israel?"

              
Pastor
Hap considered his answer. Was it time for diplomacy….or truth? He chose
the latter. "The President walked out of our meeting
without
committing to support Israel. He may change his mind later,
but it appears that America is about to
betray
God’s chosen nation.
May God have
mercy on us
all
.
"