In Israel, near the new temple recently built on the Temple Mount in Jerusalem, a group of young Jewish men are talking among themselves as 24 year old Shem Kolb leads the discussion: “My Christian friend had often told me about this day. It happened just as he said. He told me it would be the event which would cause many Jews to believe in Jesus Christ as their Messiah. He gave me this Bible and asked me to read a passage from 1 Thessalonians:
"For the Lord himself will come down from heaven, with a loud command, with the voice of the archangel and with the trumpet call of God, and the dead in Christ will rise first. 17 After that, we who are still alive and are left will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. And so we will be with the Lord forever. "
Shem Kolb continues: "My Christian friend had also said the Church Age believers would just vanish and be gone, their bodies missing, and people would wonder what happened. He said this would motivate evangelization especially among Jews as their blindness toward Christ as the Messiah would be lifted by the Rapture. I cannot get my Christian friend to answer my texts or posts where he always hangs out, so I assume he has gone to be with his Lord, as he had always said he would. It all seems very real to me right now."
A young man from the group asks Shem: "But what does that mean for us? What are we supposed to do?"
Shem: "My Christian friend also said 144,000 Jews would immediately believe in Jesus Christ then become evangelists who are set apart to evangelize the entire world. It is very sobering to remember his words. The Book of Revelation discusses these 144,000 Jewish evangelists in detail. Here, let me read from Revelation:
"Then I saw another angel coming up from the east, having the seal of the living God. He called out in a loud voice to the four angels who had been given power to harm the land and the sea: “Do not harm the land or the sea or the trees until we put a seal on the foreheads of the servants of our God.” Then I heard the number of those who were sealed: 144,000 from all the tribes of Israel."
"My friend said this means before the Tribulation gets really bad, and he told me it surely will, God calls out 144,000 Jews to be evangelists. That will be necessary since all believers will be gone after the Rapture happens. Therefore a new group of evangelists must come forward very quickly and fill the need. That is what he told me. What do all you think?"
Shem's Jewish friends agreed that all this seemed to be true. They agreed to meet back at the Temple Mount the next day to discuss what to do next.
Back in LA, LANX News anchor Jill Stein continues to provide fast-breaking updates on freeways which remain shut down, airplane crashes, widespread looting being reported, police unable to deal with all the calls, 911 is clogged, cell phone coverage is limited, people on social media looking for loved ones, etc. After continually saying "More breaking news" she stops and asks herself "Why am I even saying the words "breaking news" anymore?" She stops as her Producer is talking through her earpiece, and the look on her face is one of disbelief: "We are just now receiving a report...is that confirmed...that the President is missing? He was last seen in the Oval Office reading through briefing papers and now he cannot be located. Also just in to us...can this even be true? We are being told that the Vice President cannot be located, either. He was in his residence getting ready to travel abroad and now the security staff cannot locate him either. So what does this mean for our national leadership situation?" Jill listening to earpiece.... "We are joining our LANX affiliate in Washington as an expert there tries to shed some light on this issue..."
LANX joins Wash., DC station affiliate DCNX as a Constitutional lawyer is speaking on air:
(TV feed cuts into the middle of expert talking) ...."so as I was saying, if the President is deemed to be unable to fulfill the requirements of his office, in this case he is missing and cannot be located, the Vice President would normally take over. If the Vice President cannot be located to fulfill the functions as President, and so far he has not been, then the Speaker of the House would take over as Acting President. Someone must always be in the position as leader of the country and Commander-in-Chief of the armed forces. So as I understand it, the Speaker of the House is now on his way to the White House to be sworn in as Acting President. That is all we know right now. I'm sorry, but that is all I have to say, and I need to run to a meeting on this issue now..."
Reporters shout questions as the expert leaves in haste, and the local news station reporter comes back on air. TV feed cuts off and LANX on-air anchor Jill Steiner continues to try to make sense of what is happening for her viewers.
Jill: "Scary times. Is this the beginning of the End Times or is this all just random? Was the book writer correct about the Rapture or Resurrection or "Vanishment" as some others are calling it? Is a time of Great Tribulation just beginning? It is just too much to fathom all at one time." Co-anchor Sarah Boswell has now joined Jill at the anchor desk to help with all the fast-breaking status. Jill turns to Co-anchor Sarah: "But how could both the President and Vice President be randomly missing? As most viewers know, both have made their Christian faith a matter of public record, and their campaigns have emphasized it as an important part of what they believe and who they are as people."
Sarah agrees and listens to new inputs through her earpiece from the producer, then says "Breaking..." but catches herself and then simply continues "We have just received word that Speaker of the House Antivon is about to arrive at the White House, so we now re-join our Washington DC news affiliate for a report..."
Video begins of Speaker of the House Dan Antivon arriving by limousine at the White House. Reporters rush the car as the door opens. A crowd of news reporters are yelling questions with their microphones thrust forward in his face:
Speaker Antivon: "No questions please -- please, not right now. I need to be briefed on the situation and then I will address the nation." He hurries inside amid a swarm of Secret Service agents and staff members as reporters are left behind. The DCNX news anchor comes on and reports "Speaker Antivon's Chief of Staff has informed us there will be a press briefing shortly after the White House meeting concludes. With both the President and Vice President missing, we can only conclude that Speaker Antivon will emerge from the meeting in charge of the country, at least for now. That is about all we can tell you at this point."
Inside the White House door the missing President's Chief of Staff John Breen is waiting and escorts Speaker Antivon into the Oval Office where the Supreme Court Chief Justice, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, and several Senators and House Members are already assembled.
Chief of Staff Breen: "Mr. Speaker, we believe the President and Vice President are not going to be located. Those assembled here have discussed the issue and see no other option except to swear you in as Acting President. Chief Justice Robins concurs that this is the proper approach given the extremity of the circumstances going on in the world. Chief Justice Robins will now discuss the Constitutional issues with you.
Chief Justice Robins: "Since only the Vice President can automatically become President under an emergency succession situation, you would be sworn in today as "Acting President" until the Congress votes and finalizes the succession issue. Of course, the Speaker of the House is stated to be third in line under the Presidential Succession Act, so we are proceeding as it directs. If neither the President nor Vice President are located within a very short time, then Congress would need to vote on final succession and the Acting part will be dropped. With that, Mr. Speaker, I will now administer the oath of office as the Acting President of the United States to you. "Please raise your right hand. Do you solemnly swear....."
After the swearing-in is complete, Acting President Antivon exits the White House for the Rose Garden where swarms of reporters are gathered to interview President Antivon. He strides out to meet the assembled reporters and states only that he has just been sworn in as Acting President, and will soon give a speech to the nation. He then goes back into the White House without taking any questions. On-air reporters from the various news networks begin to try to explain to their audiences what is going on, but without much information. They relay that Speaker Antivon, now Acting President of the United States, will address the nation, likely later in the day.
Back inside the White House President Antivon meets with the former President's Chief of Staff John Breen, who begins the conversation: "Mr. President, I know that you were opposed to most of the former President's policies, but I will help you however I can during this transition. I and my staff are at your service."
President Antivon: "Assemble all current White House staff members immediately to start the transition process." Breen: "Will do, Mr. President. I will round up the staff. They are waiting for orders."
As John Breen leaves, President Antivon thinks to himself how he relishes being called "Mr. President" by the former President's Chief of Staff. Power is what he has always wanted, and it has driven every decision in his life. He is anxious to use that power to its fullest extent.
After several minutes, the staff is assembled in the West Wing. President Antivon enters the room and speaks to current White House staff members: "Your services are no longer required. You are dismissed. My Congressional House staff is now my White House staff." White House staffers look at each other in bewilderment and then shuffle out in disbelief as President Antivon takes all his House Speaker staff members aside and installs them as the new White House Staff. He then addresses his new Presidential staff: "This has been a fortuitous set of circumstances, and now I have the power to change the world. The Vanishment has cleansed the nation of many unwanted people who have prevented progress for a long time. It appears they were Christians -- good riddance. Their religion had no tolerance for someone like me. They held to their singular beliefs in only one God, and only one way to reach their God. They held to their Bible and guns and moralism, and stood in the way of the progressive agenda. Now they are gone, so we can move forward in a highly accelerated manner. And I do mean highly accelerated. We must not waste this crisis opportunity by slow action or timid policies. The harmonics of the universe have converged to give us this moment in time, and we must take advantage of what this creative force is offering to us. I see it as a sign that we are the ones the universe has been waiting for. We are the ones destined to heal the wounds it has suffered under capitalistic greed and excesses, and the moralism of Christianity. The universe screams out to us to save it. We are the ones it has sent to answer that call. Now, we will take every advantage, seek every opportunity, ignore any rule or law, and take extreme and bold actions to heal the universe which has suffered from so much harm done to it by humanity under millennia of Christian rule. From this moment on, there are no rules for us to follow except that we will push progressiveness to the maximum and we will not tolerate anyone who stands in the way. Now that the Christians are out of our way, we will make sure they stay out of the way. Permanently! I will be implementing every form of emergency declaration possible while there is chaos. The timing is perfect. We must seize this great opportunity and use it to our advantage. I was born for this day!" The staff breaks out in cheers of approval as President Antivon departs to the White House private quarters to work on his speech to the nation.
As President Antivon enters the private quarters, the belongings of the former President are everywhere. He yells down the hall: "Maid, or someone, anyone?" "Yes, sir?" a running staff member says. "Get this junk out of here! All of it! Now!" As staffers comply, President Antivon sits down and starts typing his speech.
A few hours later at LANX news:
Jill breaks in as the new Acting President is about to address the nation. "We will now join the news feed from the White House to hear from Acting President Antivon:"
Acting President Antivon addresses the nation from the Oval Office: "My fellow Americans. I come to you in a time of great turmoil. I have just been sworn in as your Acting President. Despite the Vanishment our nation is secure and your government carries on without interruption....(he continues for five minutes).... At this time I am declaring both Martial Law and a National State of Emergency which will allow me to have much greater powers to deal with this situation. All I can do is assure you that your government will continue to function and I promise you that we will get through this, whatever it is, together."
A Washington, DC reporter provides a report from the White House:
"We have just witnessed the swearing-in of a new Acting President under the most unusual circumstances possible. The President and Vice President were apparently part of the "Vanishment" as some are now calling it. What or why it happened is not yet clear. But the relatively obscure Speaker of the House who had only recently come to that position, and whose past is clouded in mystery, is now our Acting President. But where did he come from? What is his background? What are the underpinnings of his belief system? These are all questions which deserve answers. As for now, we just hope he is the right man for the job. Back to you in the studio."
Jill comes back on-air at LANX, and she has brought in an expert to fill in some details for the audience:
"Those are good questions posed by the DCNX news reporter. We have in our studio a political consultant who has worked with the new Acting President. Mr. Holland, you have worked with him, so what can you tell our viewers about his background, and what we might expect him to do? I mean, most people have barely heard of him. And now he is the Acting President at a most unusual time of crisis."
Joe Holland: "Well, Jill, he is an enigma. I have dealt with him on several occasions yet I still do not know what to think about him. He rose to power very quickly and out of nowhere, going from State office to Speaker of the House after a series of highly unusual circumstances, including a couple mysterious deaths which eventually were ruled suicides. He seems to have been launched out of a cannon into his current position, and it is especially significant that he is from the opposing party to the former President and VP, which changes the political landscape dramatically. He is a hard-core and committed progressive-leftist, and I mean extreme left, which makes him a political disrupter. He is an environmental activist, even to the point of worshiping nature, although he is otherwise an atheist. He brings a deep distrust of religion into the position, especially Christianity, something which brought him into conflict with both the previous President and VP. Acting President Antivon is extremely ambitious and even brash, so I would expect him to take full advantage of the crisis caused by the Vanishment. His eloquence can be riveting, which enables him to convince the masses to follow him. That is something very surreal about him, that he can be so convincing to great crowds of people. There is something "other-worldly" about it, and..."
Jill: "I'm sorry to interrupt, but you just said 'other-worldly'. What do you mean?"
Joe Holland: "I am not even sure what I mean. I suppose there is simply something eerie, even supernatural, about how he can sway people. They find him mesmerizing in a Svengali sort of way. Otherwise I just cannot explain it."
Jill: "OK, please go on, Mr. Holland."
Joe Holland: "Anyway, since he has now been catapulted to the highest office in the land, it is unclear how he will use his power to further his ambitions, but it is certain that he will use every bit of power he can accumulate to himself. I personally view him as someone who wants to accomplish big things. I mean really, really big things. World changing things. He is not a patient man, and will act quickly and decisively to put in place policies to carry out his aggressive agenda. I worry about what he might do under Martial Law emergency conditions, which gives him immense power. And one more thing I must add about him, he gives me a very uneasy feeling, especially his stare, which is unnerving. There is something about him as a person which I do not understand, but it leaves me feeling unnerved. He is a very different type of individual. Almost like talking to more than one person -- I mean it is like there is something inside of him which defies worldly explanation. That is the only way to say it."
"OK, thanks for those insights Mr. Holland." Jill says as she turns toward the camera: "We will seek to provide a more in-depth profile on Acting President Antivon and attempt to answer some of these questions about him as soon as we have more information to report. After a break we will provide an update on what has happened so far today. A most unusual day, indeed."
After a very long day which began with many millions of people simply vanishing, LANX anchor Jill Stein turns over anchor duties to Sarah Boswell who continues with the news, trying desperately to keep up.