A Patriotic Nightmare. Don E. Post

know you’re agit’n close when ya start seein’ them big ‘No Trespass’n’ signs. Ya better keep an eye out careful like from thar on. All them folks carry high-powered army guns and you may not see ‘em, but they’s a watchin’ ya from behin’ the cover of rocks. They’s liable to shoot ya! Yeah, they sure as hell will!”

      “And don’t tell nobody we told ya how to get out there. We don’t want no trouble,” Robbins said. Both men eyed each other, and then gazed down the street in hopes the stranger would go away.

      The family filled the church this frigid Sunday morning to hear John Chudders’ report on his trip to Thailand. A virus caught in Asia had kept him abed since returning, so all were eager to hear about the trip.

      The males wore a mixture of military camouflage khaki-colored clothes and military-style combat boots. The women sported denim jeans with heavy wool-plaid shirts, while others wore pants or old-style men’s bib-overalls. All wore fleece-lined, military jackets and coats.

      Sara Chudders, John’s senior wife, led the singing this snowy morning, as usual. One of Chudders’ daughters played the piano. Son-in-law, Jeb Harris, read the scriptures. Everyone present was related either by blood or marriage. When asked how many wives and children Chudders had, members of the group laughed saying, “Oh, dozens.” Or, “It’s nobody’s business.”

      Chudders asked Jeb to read from the Book of Revelation, chapter 11:15-19:

      Then the seventh angel blew his trumpet, and there were

      loud voices in heaven, saying,

      ‘The Kingdom of the world has become

      the kingdom of our Lord and of his

      Messiah, and he will reign forever and ever.

      Then the twenty-four elders who sit on their thrones before

      God fell on their faces and worshipped God, singing

      We give you thanks, Lord God Almighty,

      who are and who were,

      for you have taken your great power and

      begun to reign.

      The nations raged, but your wrath has come,

      and the time for judging the dead,

      for rewarding your servants, the prophets

      and saints and all who fear your name

      both small and great,

      and for destroying those who destroy

      the earth.

      Chudders’ sermon lasted for almost three hours and seemed to excite everyone except the children. The network of kindred revolutionary spirits had been established worldwide, and they looked forward to the second coming of Jesus Christ. Finally, about the Thailand meeting, Chudders, looking exhausted as he leaned on the pulpit, said, “The time is a comin’ my family, when this nation will be cleansed of its sin and the wicked punished. I went with some other dedicated Christian men last month to meet some folks from other countries who might wanna help us in this fight.” He stepped back, took his handkerchief from his left rear pocket and wiped the sweat from his face.

      After a few seconds, he leaned back on the pulpit and continued, “We had men from the Aryan Nations, Jubilee, Scriptures for America, The Order, KKK, Police Against the New World Order, and a lots a others. We share many things. We believe our White race is in critical danger, and we need to cleanse our nation of all them inferior races by whatever means. Second, we agreed there is a plot by big international companies and Jew families to create a single world government.”

      Chudders paused for emphasis. After a few seconds he used his right finger in a stabbing motion, as he said menacingly, “Which they’ll control. Third, we agreed that our own gover’ment is the enemy of our race and is guilty of treason.” Again he paused for emphasis, then leaned over the pulpit and yelled, “And the penalty for treason has always been death!”

      He straightened up, wiped the sweat from his increasingly red face, then continued, “Our foundin’ fathers unnerstood this, for they wrote the Declaration of Independence, saying it’s the ‘right’ and ‘duty’ of the people to throw off a wicked and ungodly gover’ment.”

      Chudders motioned to one of his sons to bring him a chair, which he placed on the edge of the dais. He continued, “The A-rabs seem to wanna help us with arms and money. We told them we didn’t want them meddl’in in our cause in any other way. We can share information and resources, but we told ‘em that when we succeed we don’t want no meddling in our business. We hope they’ll eventually kill each other off over there.”

      At that moment, a sudden wind hit the building. It whipped the church with such force that windows shook and the little church rattled. While mothers calmed their children and the teens and older youth looked at each other for reassurance, John Chudders railed on.

      “When the arms start cornin’, we’ll be only one of many hiding places. They ought a start showin’ up here on a regular basis in March. They be packed in from Mexico.” He wiped his face, scratched vigorously behind his left ear, stared off to his right for a moment, as if trying to remember what he had to say, and then continued.

      “Them Germans skin-heads wuz gangsters, in my opinion. I wuz ag’inst havin’ em there, but they wuz invited anyhow.” He shook his head in disbelief, then said, “Some a our people believed they could be put to good use. They wanted to help, which is no problem to us as long as they kill off the sick elements of their country and leave us alone.”

      The storm intensified outside. Chudders continued to sweat as he ranted on. “Some a our group believed we may have problems with them skinheads in the future, I don’no.”

      Then, he stood up and paced back and forth on the dais, hands clasped behind his back and head down. “As we’ve discussed so often, that stuff at Ruby Ridge, Waco and the daily abuse by the government against ordinary, good Christian folk, have showed us that the gover’ment’s working as fast as it can to destroy us.” He jerked his right arm from behind his back and shook his fist in the air to emphasize his point.

      Then, he stopped, looked directly at his little congregation and said, “We are told by good sources that they’s buildin’ prison camps to put us in. We also know the gover’ment’s supporting city gangs, like them Bloods and Crips, so they’ll kill whites and create…” Here he paused and stammered as he searched for the right words, then said, “terror in the cities.”

      He stopped, wiped more sweat from his face, rubbed his eyes and started pacing the dais again. After a few strides he said, “This gives the gover’ment the excuse to do martial law. They’s tryin’ to disarm us, so they can slaughter us like innocent lambs.” At this point he sounded like he would cry, but after a few seconds of silence he composed himself, and with a fist flailing the air, screamed, “But we’re Yahweh’s loyal disciples, and we’ll join with others of his children to make a new creation where all will live by Yahweh’s laws.”