BEWARE THE COUNTERFEIT RAPTURE! - Sandra Ghost

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Jesse the same night he had seen the craft come over the Drive. "Do UFO's have anything to do with the biblical signs you told us about?" he had asked.

      "I don't think so...I don't know, but I'll pray about it, bro. Let you know." Jesse had told him.

      Lance was taken aback by the response. The thing that impressed him the most was his older brother's positive assurance that if he prayed and asked, he'd get a definite answer. "That's pretty awesome," he told Demian. "Guess we'll just wait for the answer, boy. Must be nice to have 'connections' that solid."

      Horace, however, didn't want to even think about his encounter anymore. He still belonged to Rotary Club, which met on Friday's for lunch each week. When the local businessmen, who had been his cronies for years, asked for his opinion based on his personal observation, he waved them off abruptly.

      "But, Doc, you saw it...what'ya think it was?" Morey Simpson, the owner of the local hardware store had baited him for two weeks.

      "Probably something they dreamed up at Andrews Air Force Base. I told you I don't want to talk about it." Horace had standardized his answer by now. What he did want to talk about was the stock market's radical fluctuations now. He watched every daily stock return as though through the magnifying eyepiece of a jeweler. "All this far-fetched propaganda's started affecting the market. The Dow's been acting like a yo-yo."

      "Not 'far-fetched', Horace, it's near-fetched...gonna' happen," Harvey the pharmacist announced to the table of Rotarians. "Better circle the wagons. Batten down the hatches, get in provisions." He took another mouthful of beef tips, and let the words sink in with those around the table. "We need to start preparing right now to survive without any outside assistance."

      "That statement just shows your ignorance, Harvey. The government's going to fix this thing." Horace abruptly left the table and stomped out of the restaurant Stop the world I want to get off... Thoughts began to bombard his mind as he drove the large Chevrolet Caprice through traffic. Apparently, Jesse wasn't the only one holding the viewpoint that the country was in jeopardy. Even old conservative Harvey thought it would happen. He stopped for a red light by the stone courthouse. The American flag and royal blue Virginia flag flapped and rippled in the early afternoon breeze. He looked down Main Street. How could this possibly be disrupted? The light changed, and he continued down Royal Avenue passing by Randolph Macon up on the hill. He rubbed his forehead; the thoughts were giving him a headache. Should he buy a generator? No way...he wouldn't be sucked in by all this. Frankly, he thought that Marianne and Jesse's church was going off a cliff trying to relate all this stuff to end time signs.

      Marianne had dragged him to Victory Family Worship Center one time to hear Lee sing. He liked the music, but thought they were all a bunch of fanatics. Had Horace been able to see inside the courthouse as he passed it, however, perhaps his good mood would not have returned so quickly. At that time, a combined emergency meeting of the County Board of Supervisors and Town Council was in session. The subject of discussion was an assessment report by the utility engineers. The report revealed the sewers, pumping stations, switching and water sourcing for the town of Front Royal would place the town in a radical state of emergency were large grids to cascade and shut down servicing to this destination. The town had its own electric company, which bought electric from Blue Ridge Power in bulk and re-sold as a supplier.

      While Horace might have waved aside sewers overflowing into homes in town, since he lived in the county and had a septic system, the power would ultimately affect Lee's bank. This was where all his money was deposited, including his monthly automatic social security deposit--and Marianne's.

      CHAPTER FOUR

      California now sustained massive raging forest fires surpassing any former by historic proportions. Thousands of people lost their homes, some lost their lives.. The state of Texas had suffered temperatures of over 100 degrees for three straight weeks, then storms with torrential rains stalled over the area causing many deaths and flooding. Two hurricanes back-to-back struck the east coast of the United States. There was flooding in China and It was estimated at least 5,000 were dead and missing. Tornadoes ripping through the center of the U.S and terrorist bombings had the world on edge--where would they strike next? But what seemed to stoke fear more than world-wide terrorism and the savage attacks of nature was the now blatant display of UFO's in so many countries.

      Horace watched CNN, wincing with each new disaster. The weather had upstaged much talk of a prospective EMP attack; however, Lance continued to prepare. He bought gray metal shelving at Wal-Mart, and lined the perimeter of the basement walls. Canned goods were stacked alphabetically. One entire unit was stacked with vitamins, over-the-counter drugs, toothpaste, shampoo, soap and bandages. He stocked up on batteries, candles, sterno and lamp oil in case the generator should fail. Two shelves held gallon jugs of bleach to treat the well should there be flooding.

      Lance bought two identical chainsaws. Should one break, the other could be cannibalized for parts. Each newscast he saw served to light another fire under him. Demian watched all the feverish activity, and wondered why his master didn't play with him much anymore. Something was happening to Lance, as though he were being drawn toward some destiny he didn't even understand. Something seemed to be pulling, tugging at him. Could it just be that he felt the responsibility to be the custodian of his family, he wondered?

      He began to put up cyclone fencing, with concertina wire on top, to solidly secure the property. The day after the second earthquake in California, Lance called the National Earthquake Center to find out just how safe the Front Royal area was. He was told it was on a "blue crystalline base", one of the safest places to be should earthquakes be occurring. It wasn't until he made that call that he had a sudden realization . Apparently, what Jesse had said that day at Sunday dinner had taken root in him. The roots apparently had been growing--branching out within him. It was going to get "hairy". It was the "beginning of sorrows", the prelude to the return of Jesus.

      The realization broke over him like a brilliant sunrise, illuminating everything in sight with a warm, golden glow of curiosity, a new excitement and expectation. Was this really the cause of the tugging he had felt? What in the world was happening to him? He vowed to get some quality time alone with Jesse, and straighten out some of his thinking.

      The hurricane which had lashed the coasts of North Carolina and Virginia sent heavy bands of rain deluging those states. It stalled over the state of Virginia for days, causing turmoil and havoc. At first, the creeks and streams began to rise, then bloated and overflowed their banks. Walls of water and mud washed away campgrounds on Route 340, in a snarl of tumbling travel trailers, propane tanks, lawn chairs and picnic tables. Fortunately, the Warren County Sheriff's Department and local volunteer fire companies were able to get everyone evacuated in time. Then, as the overflow from the creeks and other tributaries reached the Shenandoah River, it too began to rise rapidly.

      The residents of Shenandoah River Estates were accustomed to flooding. It was taken in stride as one of the small deficits to be endured in order to be able to enjoy the wonderful life on the deep water. Usually there was plenty of time to evacuate. Everybody knew the drill. They had weather radios which remained tuned to the weather service, and understood the gauge readings taken from the bridges at Front Royal, broadcast every twenty minutes--17 feet above flood stage would impact their subdivision. The evacuation plan was always the same: when it got to 15 feet above, they would help each other load trucks and cars; tie down oil and propane tanks; shut off the power.

      Kelly Norton had just finished scrubbing the kitchen floor when the telephone rang. It was Brian calling from the store. He was on his morning break. "How bad's the river up, hon?"

      She leaned against the dining room table, and saw a spot on the floor she'd missed. "It was over the dock the last time I looked. We've seen it that high plenty of times."

      "Have any of the neighbors started to evacuate?"

      "Really, Brian! I have better things to do than to keep tabs on the neighbors."

      "Don't get mad, baby. Have you got the weather radio on?

      "Yes,

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