there was no answer, the door was forced open, and the police entered as trained, setting up fields of fire and making sure they were ready for a fight. They immediately dispersed throughout the house, quickly doing a visual search for anyone remaining inside. They saw plenty of evidence that people had been there, but no current occupants. The refrigerator contained spoiled food, and there was trash strewn everywhere.
“We’ll watch it,” Sergeant Thomas said, “but it looks like we’re a little late. This place has been abandoned.”
“Jeff, you and Steve tear this place apart and see if you can find any evidence of who was here or what they were doing. Make sure you give whatever you find out to Mr. Wilson to help with the national investigation.”
Unknown to the frustrated crowd of lawmen present in Carmen that day, the decision had been made some time ago to abandon the house. No more drivers for MD were being brought into the country. The required number were already positioned and prepared for the attack. The men that had been coordinating the distribution activities had returned to Mexico to help with the truck invasion, which would commence immediately before MD was launched.
The Answer to the Question Not Asked
After lunch, the Bookseller stood and turned to the friends and families and said, “Before you leave, I’d like us to share in the Lord’s Supper together. But first, I need to answer the questions I know all of you are secretly asking — why did God allow this, and why did it happen to my loved one?”
Every eye in the room was attentive to the Bookseller, and there was absolute silence as people strained to hear the answers.
Speaking slowly and deliberately, the Bookseller continued. “There are no accidents in God’s economy, particularly when it involves His children. This tragedy is not a case of good people being in the right place at the wrong time. This is a case of people being exactly where God wanted them to be, at the exact time He wanted them to be there, for His purposes.
“The first question is actually easy. Jesus Himself provided the answer immediately before He served what we have come to call the Lord’s Supper. Do you remember what He shared with the disciples in those moments? John wrote about it in great detail starting with the thirteenth chapter of his book, continuing all the way through Jesus’ prayer in the seventeenth chapter.
“Jesus spoke words of warning and hope. They were what we as believers must expect because of our association with Him. Do you remember?”
Searching their memories or grabbing for their Bibles, the group sought diligently to find the answer. They somehow knew that it was important — not just to them in their difficult circumstances, but to the greater family of God around the world. It was a subject that they had never heard any pastor address.
“Not once, but on three separate occasions during those moments, Jesus warned of suffering simply because a believer was associated with Him. It was even one of the subjects He specifically addressed in His closing prayer after serving the Lord’s Supper. Let me read those three passages.
If the world hates you, keep in mind that it hated Me first. If you belonged to the world, it would love you as its own. As it is, you do not belong to the world, but I have chosen you out of the world. That is why the world hates you. Remember the words I spoke to you: “no servant is greater than his master.” If they persecuted Me, they will persecute you also. If they obeyed My teaching, they will obey yours also. They will treat you in this way because of My name, for they do not know the One who sent Me.16
… a time is coming when anyone who kills you will think he is offering a service to God. They do such things because they have not known the Father or Me. I have told you this, so that when the time comes you will remember that I warned you. I did not tell you this at the beginning because I was with you.17
“And in His prayer,
I have given them Your Word and the world has hated them, for they are not of the world any more than I am of the world… As You sent Me into the world, I have sent them into the world.18
“The Father allows believers to share in the sufferings of Christ. The answer to the second question tells us why these particular brothers and sisters were chosen to suffer in this way.
“Shortly before he was to be killed by the Romans, Paul answered the second question in a letter to his young student Timothy. You may not like the answer, because it speaks of the future of which Jesus warned. Paul wrote, ‘In fact, everyone who wants to live a godly life in Christ Jesus will be persecuted.’19
“The real question we should be asking today is not ‘why them’ or ‘why was this allowed,’ but rather, ‘why not us’ and ‘why not more often,’ for we too are part of the ‘everyone’ Paul referred to. It applies to us if we truly want to live a godly life in Christ Jesus.
“In the Book of the Revelation, there is a repeat of the warnings of Christ. There, Satan is pictured as a dragon, defeated in his attempts to destroy Jesus. The twelfth chapter describing that event ends with this chilling reality.”
Then the dragon was enraged at the woman and went off to make war against the rest of her offspring–those who obey God’s commandments and hold to the testimony of Jesus.20
“Have you thought about those who were killed or wounded last Sunday? Every one of them fits within the warnings of Jesus, the statement of Paul and the conclusion in the Revelation. These men and women were selected by God because of the purity of their faith to suffer as a witness to the rest of us. They were not Christians by name only; they were men and women whose lives were identified fully with Jesus Christ.”
Pausing at the sound of weeping, the Bookseller cleared his throat, wiped tears from his eyes and continued. “Now beloved, as we turn to celebrate the Lord’s Supper, I want you to remember something else Jesus said before He served the first such supper.
Do not let your hearts be troubled. Trust in God; trust also in Me. In My Father’s house are many rooms; if it were not so, I would have told you. I am going there to prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come back and take you to be with Me that you may be where I am.21
“Last Sunday, the Lord Himself came and fulfilled that promise for your loved ones. It was sealed by His blood on the cross for them — and for us — and for all who will ever be born again. It is the sacrifice we remember as we share the cup and the bread together.”22
Chapter 5
Seeking Answers
Thursday, February 14–MD minus 25 days
As Air Force One went wheels up and arched its way toward Washington, Williams’ Police Chief Thompson was concluding a press conference regarding the Kingdom Daycare attack and Susan Stafford’s note and journal. He had waited patiently for Officer Sally Johnson to be able to participate after the Memorial Service. The effect of her standing in describing the attack and Susan’s death was only enhanced by Tom Campy’s presence in his wheelchair, and the news that Sam Will was out of surgery and resting in ICU with a good prognosis.
“I frankly cannot explain the note or the journal,” Chief Thompson responded to reporters’ questions. “It is beyond my understanding how anyone who was such a cold-blooded killer could completely change, but she obviously did. I will have to leave that analysis to others. All I know is that the Williams shooter is dead, and that threat is removed forever.”
“I know how,” Barnabas smiled in the invisible, turning to the gathered Lucius, Niger and Manaen. “It is just as Gabriel said to Mary so long ago, ‘nothing is impossible with God.’”23
“Yes,” Lucius responded, “and did you see the light inside burning brightly as Samantha prayed for Paul before he left with the presidential party? Her search has been answered.”
“I did see,” Barnabas answered excitedly. “It is a great