Out of Time
Encounter at Mid-day
"This know also, that in the last days perilous times shall come." The Bible
(2 Timothy 3:1)
Out of Time - Encounter at Mid-day.
In the summer 2031 an organisation that went by the name of the Joanne Markson Research Trust uncovered an advanced communication system that dated back many thousands of years and some ancient video and audio recordings that showed that God existed. In the course of the investigations, and excavations, the JMRT team discovered and retrieved the Ark of the Covenant, which was placed in the care of Israel. The finding of the Ark prompted the Israeli Government to commence the building of the third Temple.
The recordings showed that the God of the Jews and Christians did indeed create the universe, instigate the Flood of Noah and that the Bible was essentially a factual book as it traced the history of the Hebrew nation up to the resurrection of Jesus the Christ.
The Trust issued a press release a few weeks after the main discovery in Crete, which was met with an astonished silence.
“. . . I have actually seen many hours of the virtual recordings, I was there when some of the discoveries were uncovered, and I can vouch that both the discoveries and the recordings are genuine, and date back many thousands of years,” continued Declan Brook during a news night special, the day after the announcement. “It is often said that no one can understand the present, or prepare for the future, without understanding the past. Well viewers, we have certainly misunderstood the past, but hopefully we can understand what is happening today and, more importantly, prepare for whatever the future has in store for us. This is Declan Brook and you have been watching 'The World Today'. Good-night.”
As the world digested the news the only tangible reaction was the endless stream of TV programs that spewed out of every video production company across the Earth. Each of the world's great unions viewed the news with a different slant. The SAU (South American Union) was possibly the most upbeat as the lower half of the American continent continued to be home to a high proportion of the world's Roman Catholics. In Rio huge celebrations were staged and queues formed at the confessionals. Europe was muted in its response, and the EU president announced an investigation into the Trust that had made the discovery, and the EU government threatened to expel the Republic of Cyprus over irregularities in the funding of the Trust. The Moslem world accused Christians of perpetrating a hoax aimed at discrediting Islam, and one Mullah ordered Islam to completely ignore the find; an order that would prove impossible.
As would be expected the media coverage in the USA was wall to wall, especially in the deep southern Bible- belt, where many churches suddenly found they did not have enough seats to cater for new members. President Orwell, only the third independent president after Washington and John Tyler in 1841, publicly accepted the find and advised all Americans to “Embrace the new proof of God's existence, and to reunite as “one nation under God.” The President's appeal was met with mixed response from the established parties, who had been busy secularising over the past three decades. Supposed Christian militia called for a taking up of arms, and an increase in attacks on gays, Moslem’s, and known atheists were reported in local news reports. The National Guard were called out to an all out battle that exploded between the Alabama Salvation Militia and a large abortion clinic in Tyler, resulting in eleven deaths.
China gave the most surprising response of any national government, the Central Committee announced that it was taking the evidence under advisement and invited the Christian League of China [CLC] to advise and authenticate the finds and recordings. Chairman Lu Son Pen, the most liberal Chairman since the cultural revolution made a statement to the Chinese people saying that he had a great interest in the Christian faith and that “If the recent discoveries are proved to be genuine, there may be a case for Christianity becoming the official religion of the People's Republic of China,” he added that “after a study of the person Jesus, He could be regarded as a true communist.”