Story Prologue

The Great Grandfather Offers A Warning

I watched as God descended from the heavens in glorious light. I watched as His mighty angels weeded out everything that caused sin and those who did evil upon the Earth. I watched the remnant of humanity crawl out of holes in the ground and begin to build again.

I saw the teachers, when they first appeared, like characters from a storybook, magical beings of wondrous power. They were not as they are now. I warn you; believe this. Walk in faith, as those who walk on water. Do not listen to the lies of the foolish who think they speak in shadows. The teachers are not weakening, nor is the power of God.

My words are trustworthy. I have been here since the beginning. For ten long centuries have I walked in the ways of righteousness. I bear witness that the teachers and their angels, by the power of God, hold back the darkness, even now. Things are not as you've been told.

But you don’t fear the darkness. You don’t understand it. You have not beheld its horrors. You have only known an Earth at rest. Your eyes have not witnessed a tornado or the fury of a hurricane. Your feet have not felt the rumble of an earthquake. But a fearful storm is coming, not one of nature, but a storm of warriors going to battle.

But you say, how will we do battle? The scriptures say that we shall learn war no more, and has it not been this way for centuries? How, then, shall we learn this thing we have sworn ourselves never to learn? I tell you: It comes out of the seed of discontent.

We who walk in the ways of God know not pestilence, famine, or death. Even I, in my great age, know only vigor. It is the resurrection power of God. But, for those who resist the teachers, life is hard, and they hate God for it. They hate us as well because they believe we walk easily in the ways of God. I tell you this, they need only spend one day with this old man to know the stupidity of that thought.

Sadly, their hatred is so great that they'd rather live and die outside of His protection. They writhe in the wilderness, where their sin corrupts the ground so greatly that we must pray over it with tears and fasting as we work to reclaim it. But their suffering will come to an end soon. The time of testing is at hand, and the words written by John on the Isle of Patmos will soon come to pass.

Satan will be released, and he will go out to deceive the nations in the four quarters of the earth, Gog and Magog, and gather them together to battle as he did before.

Believe my words, Gabriel. As it was before the flood, so shall it be in the time of the end; angels shall walk the earth as gods, and Satan shall lead them. But do not listen to the whispers carried upon the wind. The power of God is not waning. He and His servants retreat so that some might be saved as one saved out of the fire. 

Don't let your heart grow cold. Believe as the waterwalkers. You are never alone, even in the valley and even in the hurt. If you cannot believe now, how will you believe when you are engulfed in the darkness? Be strong, and have faith. Most assuredly, I tell you, the armies of the evil one are at the gate. The war is here.