New York, New York

THE CHINA-INDIA-PAKISTAN WAR lasted only a day but the dead numbered in the hundreds of millions. Millions more would die from radiation poisoning, disease, and starvation. Nature, too, demanded her toll as wild animals, driven from their natural habitats, attacked weakened human survivors fleeing the holocaust. At the UN, the ensuing days were filled with endless meetings working to provide relief to the war's survivors. Because providing food was a major priority, Christopher's experience with the Food and Agriculture Organization put him at the center of much discussion and he showed himself to possess both skill and untiring drive. There was no mourning for Albert Faure as there had been for Secretary-General Hansen and Ambassador Lee. Even if there had been time, there would be no tears for one who had caused so much misery. France quickly named a new ambassador and an election for a successor to Faure on the Security Council was scheduled for the following week.

The return of former Assistant Secretary-General Robert Milner was celebrated with great excitement at a reception held by the Lucius Trust, which was attended by several hundred members and supporters, including many UN delegates. Milner took advantage of the opportunity to express his sincere approval of Ms. Gaia Love as Alice Bernley's successor as director, and he encouraged the members to be diligent in advancing the work of the Trust. He concluded his address to thunderous applause by confirming the rumor circulating among the Trust's supporters that his return from Israel was evidence that the "time" was very near.

Decker Hawthorne spent the next three days responding to a deluge of requests for information on the war and its consequences; the meetings of the Security Council; the investigation of Albert Faure's records; and, as Decker was pleased to see, a growing number of requests for information about Christopher.

It was four days later before Decker, Christopher, and Milner were once again able to meet together in Christopher's office. The three men sat in comfortable high-backed leather chairs around a low table as coffee was served. "Do you have the article you told me about?" Christopher asked. Decker nodded and reached into his briefcase to retrieve a copy of The New York Times. "I think you should hear this, Mr. Secretary," Christopher told Milner.

"This is from yesterday's paper," Decker began, "page 16, dateline Jerusalem."

While the attention of most of the world focuses on the still unfolding tragedy in the East, two men in Israel, one claiming to be the 2,000-year-old Apostle John, the other to be "one who comes in the spirit and power of the prophet Elijah," are predicting far worse tragedy to come. The men, leaders of a large and very active cult in Israel called the Koum Damah Patar (KDP), say that the earth is about to undergo such cataclysmic events as fire falling from the sky, the collision of a large meteor or asteroid with the earth, poisoning of one-third of the earth's fresh water, and the blacking out of one-third of the sun and stars.

While most Israelis consider the two men simply an annoyance, there are some who take them very seriously and claim that they are responsible for causing the drought that has stricken Israel and the rest of the Middle East for the past 17 months. Their followers believe that one of the men, whom they call Rabbi Yochanan -- the Hebrew equivalent of John -- is actually the Apostle John of the Christian New Testament and that even though he appears to be in his late fifties, he is actually more than 2,000 years old. The other man, who says he comes as did John the Baptist before him, "in the spirit and power of Elijah," is a former Hasidic rabbi named Saul Cohen. Like Israel's High Priest Chaim Levin, Cohen was originally a follower of New York Rabbi Menachem Schneerson. Cohen was disowned by the rest of Judaism nearly twenty years ago when he began to teach that Jesus was the Jewish Messiah.

Dressed in robes made of burlap or sackcloth, John and Cohen walk through the streets of Jewish towns and cities proclaiming their message of God's wrath on the earth. Adding to their general unkempt appearance, reportedly the two men seldom bathe and cover the tops of their heads with ashes and soot in accordance with ancient religious traditions for those in mourning. They refuse to be interviewed by members of the press, preferring the endless recitation of their warnings.

Members of the KDP, which reportedly number exactly 144,000, have been a constant irritant to their fellow Israelis and tourists alike and have been blamed for a major drop in the already flagging tourist business in Israel. KDP members approach their unsuspecting targets and accuse them of acts or thoughts that the cult considers immoral, and then threaten eternal damnation to any who do not repent. Even High Priest Levin has been assaulted by their verbal harangue.

Membership in the KDP is apparently limited to single Jewish males, though the group also has a large number of additional followers. Actual KDP members are easily identified by the blood-red Hebrew lettering that each bears on his forehead. Many in Israel believe the KDP possess psychic abilities, and most say that the KDP who have approached them had very detailed personal information about their lives. KDP members were generally uncooperative when questioned, choosing instead to demonstrate these apparent psychic talents on this reporter.

It was learned from KDP supporters, however, that the group believes that defamed United Nations Ambassador Albert Faure and Gen. Charles Brooks are spiritual portrayals of the first and second "horsemen of the Apocalypse" spoken of in the New Testament book of Revelation. The famine, which has resulted in the deaths of millions, is said to represent the third horseman, while the fourth horseman is believed to be the prophetic representation of the 17 months of war, which ultimately led to the devastating nuclear exchange.

According to the proclamations of the two KDP leaders, the events they prophesy will befall the people of earth because mankind has "refused to follow God's laws and to accept God's mercy." They say the reason that the prophesied punishment will come from the heavens is because instead of worshiping the "true God," men have instead worshiped the sun, moon and stars -- an apparent reference to astrology.

Should their prophecies of a collision between the earth and an asteroid prove true, it would not be the first time such an event has occurred. Many scientists believe that it was just such a collision with an asteroid that caused the extinction of the dinosaurs 65 million years ago at the end of the Cretaceous Period. According to Dr. Jean Spring of the Palomar Planet-Crossing Asteroid Survey at Mt. Palomar Observatory in the U.S., there are several thousand asteroids whose orbits intersect the earth's orbit, approximately 950 of which are one kilometer (.6 mile) or more in diameter. She is quick to add, however, that the chances are extremely small of a large asteroid colliding with the earth anytime in the next 2 million years.

When KDP members first began appearing in Israel, police arrested hundreds on charges of disturbing the peace. Very soon, however, it became impossible to find sufficient jail space. According to sources inside the Israeli government, police have attempted to arrest the cult's two leaders, but despite help from Israel's intelligence service, they have found it impossible to infiltrate KDP ranks. Even though the two men have now come out into the open, police have been unable to arrest them because of their uncanny ability to quickly slip away whenever police, even undercover police, come near.

As Decker read the last paragraph of the article, Christopher rose from his chair and went to one of his bookshelves. "Listen to this," Christopher said, as he walked back from the bookshelf with a leather-bound book open in his hands. It was a Bible.

The first angel sounded his trumpet, and there came hail and fire mixed with blood, and it was hurled down upon the earth. A third of the earth was burned up, a third of the trees were burned up, and all the green grass was burned up.

The second angel sounded his trumpet, and something like a huge mountain, all ablaze, was thrown into the sea. A third of the sea turned into blood, a third of the living creatures in the sea died, and a third of the ships were destroyed.

The third angel sounded his trumpet, and a great star, blazing like a torch, fell from the sky on a third of the rivers and on the springs of water -- the name of the star is Wormwood. A third of the waters turned bitter, and many people died from the waters that had become bitter.

The fourth angel sounded his trumpet, and a third of the sun was struck, a third of the moon, and a third of the stars, so that a third of them turned dark. A third of the day was without light, and also a third of the night.

"That sounds frighteningly similar to what John and Cohen are predicting," Christopher concluded, as he flipped to another page.

"You mean that stuff is in the Bible?" Decker asked.

"Yes, in the book of Revelation," Christopher said. "But there's more."

And I will give power to my two witnesses, and they will prophesy for 1,260 days, clothed in sackcloth. These are the two olive trees and the two lampstands that stand before the Lord of the earth. If anyone tries to harm them, fire comes from their mouths and devours their enemies. This is how anyone who wants to harm them must die. These men have power to shut up the sky so that it will not rain during the time they are prophesying; and they have power to turn the waters into blood and to strike the earth with every kind of plague as often as they want.

"So everything they're predicting will happen?" Decker asked, his voice filled with concern.

"I believe they may have the power to make it happen," Milner answered. "This is what I told you about that morning in the hotel lobby in Jerusalem."

Decker looked at Christopher and suddenly a sick look came over Christopher's face. "What's the matter?" Decker asked.

"According to what I just read," Christopher said, "John and Cohen -- if they are the 'two witnesses' referred to -- they're prophets. They're servants of God."

"Yeah, but wasn't it John who wrote Revelation?" Decker responded.

"That's right!" Christopher agreed, the realization apparently occurring to him only an instant after it had to Decker.

"Is it possible," Christopher asked, turning to Milner, "that what John wrote in Revelation, he's now attempting to carry out?"

"It would certainly appear so," answered Milner. "And as I said, I think that he and Cohen may have the power to make these things happen. Whether this is what John had in mind all those years ago when he wrote the Book of Revelation is highly unlikely. His psychic and telekinetic abilities have only recently grown to the magnitude that they are now. And I doubt that two thousand years ago he had any idea they'd ever grow to this point. It's more likely that now, finding himself possessed of such powers, he's chosen to use what he wrote then as a blueprint. It wouldn't be the first time Bible prophecy was used in a similar manner. Cult leader Charles Manson did much the same thing back in the 1970s, combining the words of Revelation and lyrics by the Beatles. But Manson's crimes will pale in comparison to what John and Cohen have planned."

"Okay, hold it a minute," Decker said. "Perhaps I'm a little slow," he began self-effacingly, "but obviously there are a few things here that I'm not catching. Would somebody please explain to me why these guys have all this power and why they want to cause all this destruction?"

"I'm sorry, Decker," Milner responded. "All of this has been happening pretty fast. I'll try to explain. As I told you at the hotel in Israel, humankind is about to enter the final phase in its evolutionary process. At the completion of this final phase -- which we call the New Age -- humans will have evolved as far beyond what we are now, as we now are above the insects. The KDP are the first to enter that phase.

"Decker, haven't you ever wondered what it is about the Jewish people that allowed them to survive for nearly nineteen hundred years without a country? They survived dispersion and literally dozens of attempts by kings, governments, and bigots to wipe them from the face of the earth. They have flourished despite the cruelest discrimination, and most amazing of all, they have avoided assimilation into the civilizations around them. No other nationality in history has ever done that. Decker, they really are different from non-Jews. Now, I know that may sound like a racist statement, but what I'm saying is that they are actually slightly farther along on the evolutionary scale. The difference is so small it's not measurable by any known standard, but it explains why the first concrete manifestations of the New Age are being seen among the Jews. The KDP are the spearhead of the evolutionary changes to come. Soon the changes will spread throughout the world, to people of every nation and race."

"So how do John and Cohen fit in?" asked Decker.

"Like the biblical Jewish prophets before them," Milner answered, "both John and Cohen were born with certain psychic abilities. I suspect that Jesus recognized that ability in John and that is why he chose John to be among his disciples, even though John was much younger than the other apostles."

Decker looked over at Christopher, thinking that perhaps Milner's supposition would spur a memory from his former life. Christopher shrugged to indicate he had no recollection of the matter.

"Thousands of years ago, men like John and Cohen would have been acclaimed as major prophets. A few years ago, they would have been just two among hundreds of moderately successful psychics. Now, as the New Age approaches, they have been catapulted beyond anything the world has previously known. And yet the power they have now will soon seem like nothing at all. I cannot begin to tell you the magnitude of what lies ahead for humankind. As the potential of the human mind is revealed, we will begin to see our fellow humans not only through our physical eyes but also through the mind's eye. We will begin, as the members of the KDP already have, to see the innermost part of those around us: their needs and desires; their hopes and their fears; their pain and their joy; their true selves! We will all be stripped bare of the facade that makes some of us seem beautiful and some of us ugly, some of us seem charming and others dull, some of us attractive and others repulsive.

"When we can truly see those around us, when we are forced to see not just their outward appearance but into their very souls, then we will begin to truly understand each other. Certainly, all that we see will not be pleasant; indeed, much will be dark and corrupted. But we will also be able to see beyond the corruption to its root cause. And as we learn to understand what has made each of us what we are, we will quickly lose our desire to hate."

The excitement in Milner's voice grew with every sentence and it was contagious. Milner picked up the Bible that Christopher had closed and put on the coffee table. "The Apostle Paul put it beautifully in First Corinthians."

For we know in part and we prophesy in part, but when perfection comes, the imperfect disappears. When I was a child, I talked like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child. When I became a man, I put childish ways behind me. Now we see but a poor reflection as in a mirror; then we shall see face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I am fully known.

Milner put the Bible down and continued. "For a while, a short while, the embarrassment of having others see our innermost thoughts will be more than some of us can bear. But soon, as we and all around us are stripped bare of pretense and deceit, we will begin to understand that those around us are really no different than we are, that they share the same hopes and fears, the same needs and desires. And when we see that, we will come to realize that understanding others is just as great a blessing as being understood.

"As we learn to speak and listen with our hearts, true cooperation among people will begin. There is no end to what we will be able to do when we really work together! But even this is only the beginning! All of this will happen in just the next few decades. It is merely the foredawn of the glorious New Age!" Milner was nearly out of his seat with enthusiasm.

"As the transcendent dawn becomes full, we will grow beyond the realm of our own bodies. Now we know only matter and energy, and we operate within their constraints. Then we shall know a whole new form. To call that form 'spirit' would not be inappropriate, but that term would limit it to what we can now imagine it to mean; and it is so much more. The solar system, the galaxy, indeed the very universe, will be ours! We will travel to places, times, and dimensions unimaginable! There will be no end!"

Decker's eyes had grown wide and his eyebrows arched halfway up his forehead. Never had he imagined the awesome magnitude of the promise this New Age held. In that brief moment, Decker swore himself to its fulfillment.

"And yet," Milner continued, "it is possible that all of this could be torn from us. The next five to six years will determine whether we boldly enter the glorious light of the New Age or retreat into the darkness of our hatred and fear. If the latter course is chosen, on that day we will surely begin to die as a species. It may take a hundred years, perhaps even two, but man will certainly destroy himself and the earth with him."

" 'Man must evolve or perish,' " Christopher said, introspectively. "That's what my father told me in the desert: 'Man must evolve or perish.' "

"Even as we see the emergence of so great a promise as the New Age," Milner continued, "we also see the specter of a hideous and macabre threat. History, it has been said, is the record of man's inhumanity to man. Our history since the Disaster certainly bears grim witness to that: the destruction of Russia, the China-India-Pakistan War. And even where there is no war, there is individual brutality. Violent crime has risen dramatically each year since the Disaster," he said, referring to the day seventeen years earlier that saw the mysterious sudden deaths of nearly one-fifth of the world's population.

"Does the Disaster have something to do with all of this?" Decker asked.

"No, not at all. I use it only as a point of reference. What I'm saying is that as the New Age approaches, the old age struggles to hold on. It is not that the age in itself has any power, but rather that humankind, sensing the coming of anything new and unknown, foolishly grasps onto what it knows, no matter how self-destructive it may be. We cling to our past like a man clinging to the mast of a sinking ship rather than swimming to a lifeboat a few feet away. By appealing to man's fear of the unknown, John and Cohen have perverted the role of those in the KDP."

"If the KDP is just misled," Decker asked, "then the real threat to mankind's future is from John and Cohen. Could you," he said, looking at Christopher, "just do something like you did with Albert Faure? If they're really going to cause the destruction they're claiming in that newspaper article, then surely they deserve it. And even if they don't deserve it yet, can't we take some kind of preemptive action?"

Milner answered for Christopher. "Unfortunately, it is not that simple."

"No, I didn't think it would be," Decker said with a sigh of resignation. "Still, humor me: Why not?"

"Entry into the New Age must be a conscious choice. No one can be forced or dragged into it. In that way, this step in the evolutionary process is entirely unlike all that preceded it. Evolution, as the world has experienced it to this point, is 'material evolution.' That is, the force of evolution has caused physical changes, with creatures progressing along divergent paths of advancement. There was never any choice involved: Those species that adapted and evolved survived; those that did not, perished. The path of material evolution followed by the human species has achieved its full realization; the next and final step is not material evolution but spiritual evolution. That is why there must be a choice. Choice is the impetus and catalyst to allow the change to begin. We must each choose for ourselves either to enter the New Age or to remain in the past.

"Eliminating John and Cohen would not facilitate a correct decision; it would simply remove the possibility of choice. It may seem ironic, but without the option of choosing to remain in the present age, it is impossible to enter the New Age."

"So, in effect, John and Cohen are a necessary evil?"

Milner nodded. "I admire your succinctness," he said. "Had it not been John and Cohen, it would have been someone or something else. The 'evil' is necessary for the 'good' to emerge."

"But if choice is required, what about the KDP? By following John and Cohen, they've obviously made the wrong choice, yet they've already entered the New Age."

"No, Decker. No one enters the New Age apart from everyone else; the threshold must be crossed as a species, not as individuals. Certain manifestations will appear before that time. Just as the dawn is preceded by the brightening of the night sky, so we see the signs of the coming of the New Age manifested in the KDP. But the day begins not with predawn brightening of the sky, but rather with the first appearance of the sun."

Milner continued. "Just because the manifestations are most evident in the KDP does not mean they have entered the New Age. The choice of entering the new day or of turning back into the darkness still remains for them. The choice is theirs to continue to follow John and Cohen, or to follow Christopher. The same choice will be offered to everyone else in the world."

"But how will they make that choice? When will they know?" Decker asked.

"I don't know the exact timing. The opportunity to choose will come only when the world is ready to decide. I do know that until that time, John and Cohen must be given full reign to do as they will."

"You mean we just have to sit by and let them do their worst?"

"I'm afraid so," Milner answered. "Only in that way will humankind be prepared to take the step of volition that is required."

"So, basically what you're saying is that Christopher can't give the world the choice to stop beating their heads against the wall until they've so bloodied themselves that they're willing to stop?"

"Uh . . . yes," Milner said, with a hint of a smile. "Once again I compliment your ability to cut to the heart of the matter."

"Okay," Decker said, "just one more question . . . for now anyway."

"Yes?"

"How do you know all this?"

"Well, that's a very long story. Suffice it to say that we can be sure that despite John and Cohen's prophetic abilities and their ability to cause the things they prophesy, there is at least one thing they have claimed in that article which is patently false: Saul Cohen does not come in the power and spirit of the prophet Elijah. . . . I do."

"What do you mean?"

"You may remember that Alice Bernley had a spirit guide whom she called Master Djwlij Kajm or sometimes 'the Tibetan.' " Decker nodded. "Well, when Alice died, Master Djwlij Kajm came to me. During the sixteen months I was in Israel, before you and Christopher arrived, I went through a period of preparation under Djwlij Kajm's guidance. At the conclusion of that period, in a process that's a bit difficult to explain, I received into myself the spirit of Elijah. We are both here." Decker blinked back his astonishment.

"Jewish prophecy says that the prophet Elijah, who was perhaps the greatest of all of the Jewish prophets, and who, according to his successor, Elisha, did not die, but was taken up alive into heavenpp, will return.pp That is why Saul Cohen claims that he comes in the spirit and power of Elijah. He intends to counterfeit the return of Elijah to the Jewish people. But, in fact, that is impossible because the spirit of Elijah dwells here within me. We are one. I am his mouth and he is my eyes."

"So, do you know everything that is going to happen?" Decker asked.

"The knowledge is within us," Milner said, referring in the plural to himself and the one who possessed him. "But there is a veil beyond which I have been forbidden to look. I suspect that beyond it is something which will prove personally very painful for me and from which Elijah seeks to protect me for as long as possible. When the time is right, the veil will be lifted."

"So where do we go from here?" Decker asked. "Do we just sit and wait while John and Cohen wreak havoc with the earth?"

"Not at all," Milner answered.

"Well then, what? Do we reveal who Christopher is and put the religion of the New Age on the fast track, or what?"

"No!" Christopher answered abruptly, as if scolding Decker. "I'm sorry," he said after a moment. "I didn't mean to bark at you. It's just that, despite Secretary Milner's magnificent explanation, there's still so much that remains unclear. It's one thing to talk about what may lie ahead; it's another altogether to bear the responsibility for making it happen. My time with my father was so brief. There is much I still don't know. But of one thing there can be no doubt: The New Age is not about replacing one religion with another. In fact, it's just the opposite. This is about humankind coming to rely upon itself, upon the god that is within all of us.

"Karl Marx said that religion is the opiate of the people, but he was wrong. Religion is not the opiate, it is the incendiary of the people! Never is evil done so well as when it is done in the name of religion! Never is cruelty so absolute as when it is empowered by self-righteous anger! Never has so convenient an excuse as religion been found for one man to rob or murder another! Religion has been the cause of more wars, more crusades, more pious inquisitions, more discrimination, more inequity, more prejudice, more injury, more intolerance, more fanaticism, more narrow-mindedness, more injustice than any other cause known throughout history! Hindus murder Muslims, Muslims murder Jews, Catholics murder Protestants, Buddhists murder Hin . . . there's just no end."

For a moment there was profound silence as Decker pondered, amazed that he had never realized these things himself. Now it all seemed so obvious. It was, after all, religious differences that had served as the line of demarcation in the war between India and Pakistan and as a key factor in China's support of Pakistan.

"In answer to your question, Decker," Milner interjected, "what must be done is not religious but political -- though I hesitate to use that word because of its negative connotations. The first step is Christopher's election as the primary from Europe. Much has been done toward that goal already. We require the votes of eighteen countries in the European region. I believe he has that many votes already."

"That's great!" Decker said. "But how can you be sure?"

"Over the past three days, since our return from Israel, I've met with several European members. They're quite impressed, as are most of the members, with Christopher's handling of the situation with Faure. Their logic constrains them to believe Faure's confession was simply the result of his unbearable guilt and that Christopher merely exposed that guilt. No one seriously thinks Christopher had any direct involvement in Faure's death. But even more important," Milner continued, "has been the magnificent way Christopher has stepped into the position of acting-primary. The eyes of the world have been on the televised meetings of the Security Council and -- as the man of the hour -- on Christopher. At a critical time such as this, following such a senseless war, the world needs a hero, and Christopher neatly fits that role." Decker was well aware of that sentiment, but he enjoyed hearing Milner say it. "In fact, I would not be surprised if he were elected unanimously.

"At the proper time," Milner continued, "the second step will be Christopher's election as secretary-general. Much of the foundation has already been laid through years of work by myself and by the Lucius Trust. I believe we can already count on the support of more than a third of the general membership and at least four of the members of the Security Council."

"You mean that all those people know about Christopher?"

"No. Of course not. Only a very small group outside of this room knows about him -- only those in whom I have the utmost trust. The rest have only nebulous imaginations of the New Age and a vague knowledge that a mighty leader of that age is coming, one whose right and destiny it is to rule the earth as a benevolent and compassionate sovereign."

Copyright © 1988, 1997, 2001, 2003 by James BeauSeigneur