The Teacher

The Teacher: Part III Day of Declaration, Chapter 55

CHAPTER 55

WITH HOLDEN NO LONGER THE DRIVING force behind the movement, the Guardian's Legion as a global political force quickly dissolved into obscurity. All the ministers went back to their home countries having agreed on the basic principle to rebuild their societies by allowing tolerant freedom of religion combined with a democratic form of government, meaning one in which the people had a say in what their leaders decided to do. It didn't have to be a Western style democracy, just a representative form of government that respected the inherent human rights of the people it governed.

A month passed before word filtered back to our camp in Israel that Holden was dead and the Guardian's crusade to rule the world had died along with him. With that terrible threat finally behind us, we were now free to spread our Good News, and I was free to carry out my Great Commission to lead the rebuilding of the Creator's Church.

In reality, an aspect of the Creator's Spirit, Mother God, the feminine divine aspect responsible for creating new life and nurturing the living things already in existence, was truly leading this modern reformation. Unfortunately, planet Earth, still coming apart at the seams, was still going through its geological Time of Troubles making progress on every front slow and difficult.

Earthquakes were being unleashed in waves with lethal regularity all over the globe. It was no longer safe to live in buildings that could collapse, so everyone was camping out or constructing makeshift dwellings out of whatever was available. Most people had also become nomadic as the intense scale of the seismic upheaval would often render vast areas uninhabitable in minutes.

In some places on the globe, huge sections of land had either risen up, or sunk down below sea level. There was now a vast inland sea reaching into North America from what was California, as far east as Illinois. In Jerusalem, a recent quake had demolished the Islamic Temple Mount.

IN THE BEFORE TIMES, A SECT OF JEWS living in Israel was desperate to find a way to gain access to the Temple Mount location, the most sacred Muslim mosque in the world, so as to replace it with a replica of the second Temple of Solomon which existed there until 70 A.D. when it was torn down by the Romans. This sect felt compelled to resume the blood sacrifices that were such an integral part of their Old Testament religious practices.

They had been preparing in secret, constructing every block, brick, bolder, and ceremonial accessory that would be needed to restore the temple and carry on blood sacrifices. The Temple Mount was now a heap of rubble, the Moslems were no longer a political force to be reckoned with, but the reconstruction couldn't begin because the earth was so unstable.

It was as if God had decided to wipe the civilization slate clean and start over hoping we, humanity, would get it right this time. Whether it was God's Hand, or just the natural course of cosmic events, like the comet that struck the earth 65 million years ago ending the reign of the dinosaurs, or the glaciers that build up every 35,000 years or so, there wasn't much we could do but focus on making sure the new seeds of human civilization sprouting up all over the world would be well grounded in the Kingdom Age spiritual principles which besides spiritual fundamentals, included admonitions to care for the planet.

Using the original American Peace Corps as a model, we organized the 100,000 soldiers who came to fight in Israel into small groups and sent them back to their home countries so that the Kingdom Age Good News would in time be brought to every place where people were living.

I WENT TO AMERICA AND ANTONIO headed back to Italy with his band of believers. Like the apostles of old, we would find food, shelter, and sometimes clothing among the families in the small communities we were ministering to. The global devastation had turned the technological clock back to barely what was available during the time the first apostles went out to spread the Gospel; horses, donkeys, wagons, and lots of walking.

The infrastructure that provided what little fossil fuel was available had been destroyed, and reserves were all but depleted. The world's urban landscape was littered with abandoned vehicles of every size and type. Like the pioneers who first settled the American West, with basic tools and hard manual labor people had to hack a living out the stubborn and unforgiving land.

Most of us had taken for granted that the supermarket shelves would always be stocked with food. Without fuel and ships, planes, or trucks—without chemical fertilizers and drug company antibiotics, all industrial farming operations ground to a halt. It was back to hunting, fishing, foraging, growing what you could in season, preserving food for the winter, and not letting anything go to waste.

I remembered driving through the area during yearly trips to take in the spectacular fall colors in early October. When I drove down along the southern shore of the Upper Peninsula to Marinette, a short drive to Green Bay, and a half hour to Sturgeon Bay, then it was over the bay bridge to Door County. Following the east-side route along Highway 57 to Bailey's Harbor, up a few more miles, then due west, passing by Kangaroo Lake, to Ephraim—the last stretch of road descending down to the shoreline of Lake Michigan.

In the Before Times there had been an extensive collection of bluffs all along the shoreline drawing tourists to take in the breathtaking vistas. In those days everything seemed so pristine and unspoiled, giving anyone who there the feeling that theirs were the first pair of human eyes to gaze upon the panoramic beauty. Spots like Peninsula State Park drew visitors back year after year after year as did unique places like Al Langdon's Swedish Restaurant, well attended for its authentic cuisine, but even more renown for the goats living on the sod roof, munch-mowing the grass all summer.

Once a thriving tourist destination, a series of earthquakes and tornadoes destroyed all the facilities that used to attract visitors by the droves. Even the rugged steep bluffs were reduced to sloping jagged rubble. The few remaining year-round residents found shelter in the small log cabins that during the affluent heyday were mere rustic reminders of past pioneers. Unlike a complex modern home, the log walls could easily be reset after a quake, much like the Lincoln Logs kids would construct, knock down, and rebuild again.

THE EPHRAIM RESIDENTS GATHERED at the rocky shoreline by their scenic horseshoe bay for a sunset worship service. During a baptismal ceremony, some of the people were complaining about the hard times, which inspired me to pass on some comforting words.

"Good people, I see that life is difficult, and especially this far north winters must be harsh, but I can tell you that no one anywhere on our planet has it any better, and during my travels I have seen this to be true with my own eyes. Yes, the large modern homes you used to live in made life so much simpler. When it was cold, you turned on the furnace and the air conditioner when it was too hot. Well, I don't have to tell you that those days are over, perhaps never to return. Still, we are blessed. God's greatest blessing for these challenging times is that we are once again free to worship in freedom. Earth's upheavals were necessary to defeat the Guardian's stranglehold on our planet and everyone living on it. Before the Guardian took over, we, as custodians of Mother Earth, had failed miserably. In the Kingdom Age to come, we must commit to living in harmony with the natural world. This will be the new Salvation all people must strive for. The Christian cross has always symbolized the suffering that every person experiences in life.

"These hardships are the Creator's way of making sure we don't lose our connection to the earth this time. For those of you who were raised on Bible stories, this is not unlike the hard times that fell upon God's chosen people, the Israelites, after being freed from slavery in Egypt. They wandered in the wilderness for 40 years. While Moses was up on Mount Sinai, the Israelites backslid and began worshiping idols. God kept the Jews wandering until all who had committed this sin died. It was the younger generation that was finally able to begin their new life in the Promised Land of Israel. And so, my brothers and sisters, persevere knowing that though the road be long, and the tasks ahead difficult, we are all walking in the palm of God's guiding Hand, and, like the historical Israelites, although it may be many years before we see better days, I have the Creator's promise they will come, and with them God's Son, Jesus, the Teacher we've all been waiting for, will return as He promised over 2,000 years ago. Now, would anyone like to be baptized?"