Frantic (39 page)
Judd and Lionel explained what they had seen to Mr. Stein and the others. Mr. Stein put his head in his hands and prayed.
“I have feared this type of thing would happen to
us,”
Yitzhak said. “The GC is offering rewards to those who turn in rebels.”
Someone knocked at the door. Yitzhak put a finger to his lips and turned off the lights. He ruffled his hair, put on a bathrobe, and opened the door. “I'm sorry it took so long for me . . .” Suddenly, Yitzhak threw his arms around the person at the door and pulled him into the darkened room. Judd stood.
“We must have a celebration,” Yitzhak shouted. “Our wayward lamb has come home.”
Lionel turned on the lights, and Judd couldn't believe his eyes. It was Sam Goldberg.
Vicki took a call from Mark as they drove into Arizona. She told him about the success of the Chula Vista meeting.
Mark's voice quavered. “I'm afraid I have some bad news.”
Vicki immediately thought of Judd and Lionel. Had something gone wrong?
“We got an e-mail from Tsion this morning about Chloe Williams. Buck's still not back from Israel and she's about to give birth any day. I know how close you two were.”
“Yeah,” Vicki said, stunned.
“Tsion says there may be something wrong with the baby too. Tsion asks us all to pray.”
“I will.” Vicki remembered when Chloe had first shared the news of her pregnancy. Everyone was excited, and Vicki had wanted to be nearby so she could baby-sit. That clearly was impossible now. Vicki longed to talk with Chloe and ask her questions.
Mark told her about the schoolhouse and how many of the new people had become believers. Some had left as soon as the effects of the stings were over, but most had stayed.
“What about Janie and Melinda?”
“Melinda is back to normal. She helps Lenore a lot with Tolan. Janie's another story. She won't do anything. She says she still has pain and can't help.”
Vicki shook her head. “Sounds like Janie.”
Mark explained that their next meeting was near Tucson, Arizona. “The meeting is small, less than a hundred,” Mark said, “but the pastor who started the house church there begged for a visit after seeing our Web site.”
Vicki sighed. “OK, but we sure are tired. I wish we could just come home.”
Judd and the others were so happy to see Sam that none of them could speak. They simply hugged him and laughed and wept. Mr. Stein was the most moved. He kept calling Sam, “My son . . . my son.”
Finally, Sam told how he had met with his father at their home. “He didn't question me about where I had been or who I was staying with. He just listened. I explained the message clearly and even showed him verses from the Bible. I was so excited. Then GC officers arrived and I realized I had been tricked.”
“Your father may have listened more than you realize,” Mr. Stein said. “I believe God is working on his heart.”
“You talked with him?”
Mr. Stein nodded. He told Sam about his father's dreams.
“What happened at GC headquarters?” Lionel said. Sam smiled. “Woodruff kept asking where the Tribulation Force was and who I had been staying with. I told them nothing.”
“Why did they let you go?” Judd said.
“Three reasons. They wanted to follow me. I found a tiny transmitter in my wallet. I've been out three days, and I'm sure they have no idea where I am.”
“Good,” Judd said. “Why else did they let you go?”
“It may have something to do with my father. I overheard someone at the front desk mention his name as I was released. Perhaps he convinced Woodruff to let me go. But the best reason they wanted me out of there was the number of people who believed in Christ while I was there.”
“In the prison?” Mr. Stein said.
Sam nodded. “I never stopped talking about God to the guards and other prisoners.”
“Wonderful,” Mr. Stein said.
Sam looked at the floor. “There's only one bad thing to report.”
“What?” Judd said.
“Before I was released, I saw them bring in Nada and her family. The GC have them.”
Vicki met with the pastor in Tucson, a thin man in his early thirties. He had set up the house church after becoming a true believer, and many in his congregation were starting their own groups.
“We have about twenty teenagers who really need some good teaching,” the pastor said. “But there will be others here who don't know Christ. And a few adults as well.”
“My normal presentation just deals with believers, but we'll make it work.”
Vicki followed the man to his basement. Walls had been knocked out to make room for chairs. About fifty people were scattered throughout the room.
Conrad motioned for Vicki and told her she had a phone call.
“Thought you'd want to know,” Mark said. “We got an e-mail early this morning from Tsion.”
“Oh no,” Vicki said. “Chloe and the baby?”
“Relax,” Mark said. “Chloe gave birth to a son this morning. Kenneth Bruce Williams. He's doing fine and Chloe is too. Oh, and get thisâBuck made it back before he was born.”
Vicki sighed. “Thanks for telling me.”
When Vicki hung up, the pastor introduced her. People applauded politely. She tried to concentrate and give the message, but she kept thinking of Chloe and the baby. When she came to the subject of how much God can change your life, she told the story of Buck Williams and how he had been a hard-nosed newspaper reporter. As a journalist he searched for the truth about news stories. Finally, after a long time of searching and many questions, Buck believed and accepted God's forgiveness. His life changed forever.
Vicki ended her time of teaching before 10
P.M.
, and the pastor invited anyone who wanted to accept Christ as Savior to pray with him.
As people filed out of the meeting, a middle-aged man came up to Vicki and shook her hand. He looked slightly familiar, but Vicki couldn't place him. He was not a believer.
“I want to thank you for coming and talking,” the man said. “I was especially interested in the journalist you talked about.”
“Mr. Williams has a great story,” Vicki said.
“Yeah, I've heard it before. Too much, as a matter of fact.”
Vicki folded her arms. “What do you mean?”
“My name is Jeff Williams. Buck is my brother.”
Jerry B. Jenkins
(
www.jerryjenkins.com
) is the writer of the Left Behind series. He owns the Jerry B. Jenkins Christian Writers Guild, an organization dedicated to mentoring aspiring authors.
Former vice president for publishing for the Moody Bible Institute of Chicago, he also served many years as editor of
Moody
magazine and is now Moody's writer-at-large.
His writing has appeared in publications as varied as
Reader's Digest, Parade, Guideposts,
in-flight magazines, and dozens of other periodicals. Jenkins's biographies include books with Billy Graham, Hank Aaron, Bill Gaither, Luis Palau, Walter Payton, Orel Hershiser, and Nolan Ryan, among many others. His books appear regularly on the
New York Times, USA Today, Wall Street Journal,
and
Publishers Weekly
best-seller lists.
Jerry is also the writer of the nationally syndicated sports story comic strip
Gil Thorp,
distributed to newspapers across the United States by Tribune Media Services.
Jerry and his wife, Dianna, live in Colorado and have three grown sons.
Dr. Tim LaHaye
(
www.timlahaye.com
), who conceived the idea of fictionalizing an account of the Rapture and the Tribulation, is a noted author, minister, and nationally recognized speaker on Bible prophecy. He is the founder of both Tim LaHaye Ministries and The PreTrib Research Center. He also recently cofounded the Tim LaHaye School of Prophecy at Liberty University. Presently Dr. LaHaye speaks at many of the major Bible prophecy conferences in the U.S. and Canada, where his current prophecy books are very popular.
Dr. LaHaye holds a doctor of ministry degree from Western Theological Seminary and a doctor of literature degree from Liberty University. For twenty-five years he pastored one of the nation's outstanding churches in San Diego, which grew to three locations. It was during that time that he founded two accredited Christian high schools, a Christian school system of ten schools, and Christian Heritage College.
Dr. LaHaye has written over forty books that have been published in more than thirty languages. He has written books on a wide variety of subjects, such as family life, temperaments, and Bible prophecy. His current fiction works, the Left Behind series, written with Jerry B. Jenkins, continue to appear on the best-seller lists of the Christian Booksellers Association,
Publishers Weekly, Wall Street Journal, USA Today,
and the
New York Times
.
He is the father of four grown children and grandfather of nine. Snow skiing, waterskiing, motorcycling, golfing, vacationing with family, and jogging are among his leisure activities.
