■ Steven’s Amazing Adventures, and the Future of the World ■ (PART 5) - "The Concern" / “Break In” - (A STORY about the END TIMES, with Messages from God) (PART 5)

Steven’s Amazing Adventures,

and the Future of the World

(A Story about the End Times 
with Messages from God)

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(Click to Read PART 1.)

(This story chronicles the adventures of Steven O'Neill, his wife Sarah, and their friends during the End Times. Judgment has already struck the U.S., and Steve and his friends have reached the vast continent of Asia. Witness the amazing things God will reveal about the coming kingdom of the Beast (or the Antichrist), the Mark of the Beast, and the Tribulation period. This story should keep you fascinated, as a realistic account of the future unfolds in the form of a fictional story.

But, this story is not just a story. It contains messages from God and prophecies that actually shall happen. It is written as fiction with fictional characters, but the message of the story is very real, and the cataclysmic events, touched on in this story, will actually impact this earth as God’s Holy Bible and its prophecies unfold. The world will soon enter a time much like that portrayed in this story. I encourage you to seek God about this to see what He will show you.)

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Chapter Five

(Click here to see The Table of Contents.) 

PART 5: “The Concern”

While the huge piles of snow and blizzard conditions lasted, Sergey began teaching the people in his home from the Bible. He gave a Bible to each adult and to each child who was old enough to read. As some days passed, several more people committed their lives to Jesus and trusted in Him only for salvation. While he taught them, Sergey noticed that Vasily remained in his bedroom and never wanted to hear the Bible being read. He had told Sergey that he wasn’t feeling well, but when Sergey offered to pray for his physical healing, Vasily muttered, “I don’t need your prayers. I will improve in time.”

After four days had passed since the group of fifteen had arrived at his izba cabin, most of the guests had trusted in Jesus for salvation. Sergey was amazed at the results of his teaching and prayers. He thanked God every time he thought about the new believers.

One night, after a group Bible study time, and after the families had retired for the night, a man came down the stairs and approached Sergey, who was sitting on the side of his bed. The man had short, dark hair and appeared to be in his thirties.

“Sergey,” the man said.

“Yes, Ivan?”

“I want to talk to you about something,” Ivan said quietly.

“What is it?” Sergey leaned forward, glancing at the stairway briefly.

(This section takes place in Russia.)

“My roommate, Vasily, says he is sick and can’t come down for the Bible study, but I think he is faking it. He doesn’t cough or act sick until it is time to have a Bible study or eat dinner as a group. Then, he makes a show of coughing and acting tired. He asks me to bring cheese and sausages up to him for lunch and dinner, but he never eats it in my presence. I don’t think we can trust him.”

After they had talked a little longer, Ivan left and returned up the stairs.

Sitting on the bed, Sergey knitted his brows, in thought. ‘What should I do about Vasily?’ he thought to himself. ‘Should I confront him about his strange conduct? Lord, Jesus, what should I do?’

“My son, Sergey,” Jesus said to his spirit and soul, “I am with you. I love you very much, even more than you can know. But, I will show you what to do about this man. Go to him and tell him that you are praying for him, and that you want him to feel welcome in your home. Give him a gift of ten rubles, an apple, and a meat sandwich. Then, wait for his response. If he says to you that he is not interested, just leave the gift with him, and leave. I will guide you in what to do. Trust Me. And, I the Lord your God have spoken.”

‘Thanks, Lord Jesus. I will do that. It is only possible through you,’ Sergey said in his thoughts.

Sergey stood to his feet and stretched. Out of the corner of his eye he saw someone descending the stairs. He turned to see that it was Ivan. As Ivan reached the halfway point on the staircase, Sergey said, “Ivan, God has shown me what to do about Vasily.”

“What did God show you?” Ivan asked.

“I will treat him with kindness,” Sergey replied, “and that will cause Vasily to question his intentions.”

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“But, Sergey,” Ivan said, “what if Vasily seeks to do harm to you and to us?”

“There is no need to fear, Ivan. Abba Father God will take care of us. Let us just seek to know God and follow His voice.”

Ivan nodded, in thought. After a pause, he said, “It is hard to walk this walk of faith.”

“But,” Sergey said, “it is easy when we depend on God for the power and wisdom we need. And, it is easy when we realize that God is our Abba Father. He is for us, and loves us very much. Get some sleep, Ivan. I will speak with Vasily tomorrow.”

____________________

Vasily’s Story

While the others were eating breakfast, Sergey climbed the stairs to the second floor, carrying a sandwich on a plate, an apple, and ten rubles, which had gained in value after U.S. had collapsed. Walking down the hallway, he fought with an inner fear that his gift would be rejected. ‘It will amount to nothing, Sergey,’ a nagging thought said. ‘You’re wasting your time.’ But, Sergey decided to give that fear to God and trust that God knows what He is doing.

He knocked on the door to Vasily’s room. There was no response. He knocked again. Finally, the door opened and a sullen face stared at him. “What do you want, Sergey?” Vasily said coldly.

“I want you to feel welcome in my home, Vasily. It is not often that I have guests. Will you accept this gift as a token of kindness.” Saying that, he extended the food and cash to Vasily.

But, Vasily held up a hand and shook his head. “Sergey, I cannot accept your offer because… I think you are just trying to buy my friendship.”

“I care about you, Vasily,” Sergey said with warmth in his voice. “Please accept this gift. I am not trying to buy anything from you.”

Vasily shook his head. “You are just playing the old trick of bating your hook. I know what people are like, Sergey. You want me to become a Christian so you can get me to join your side. What’s in it for me, anyways? A concentration camp? Hard labor? Losing my family and friends? I don’t think your religion is worth it. I’ve got enough problems to think about. I don’t need to add more to my plate. Let your God save other souls. I’m willing to die knowing that I am not anyone’s slave.”

“What do you mean?” Sergey asked.

“I’m not a slave to any religion, Sergey,” Vasily said. “Religion is about slavery. But, having no religion makes you a free man.”

“Knowing God as your Abba Father and best Friend is not slavery,” Sergey said. “It is a very good friendship.”

“Then,” Vasily said, “why do Christians suffer for their faith? Right now in this country and in other nations many Christians are suffering in concentration camps and prisons. In America, there are thousands of concentration camps full of Christians. They have nothing to show for their faith. They are miserable souls. But, I am free.”

“God allows difficult things to happen to call out to His people, if they are turning their hearts away from Him. God does not desire His people suffer, but if they turn away from Him, He will do what it takes to call out to them to repent and seek His will, and His way, and to follow His guiding hand.”

Vasily was taken aback. He squinted at Sergey as if he has said that the world was going to blow up one minute from then.

“You are saying that God allows Christians to go into concentration camps because they are turning away from Him?”

“Not all Christians in concentration camps,” Sergey said, “were turning away from God, but God has shown me that almost all the ones in America were turning away from God prior to entering the camps. Some of the ones in the camps did not follow God’s voice because they were being a little self-reliant. Others didn’t listen to God’s call to flee and go where He sends them. But, God gives them grace through their experiences, and will certainly deliver them if they call upon Him and trust Him to deliver them.”

“How will your God deliver them?” Vasily asked.

“In the book of Acts, chapter 12, God delivered Simon Peter from a prison,” Sergey said, with some excitement in his voice. “He was to be executed the next day. Angels unlocked his shackles and opened prison doors so he could walk out, unharmed. They also kept the guards asleep.”

“Interesting,” Vasily said.

“So,” Sergey continued, “God can and will do similar things to cause Christians to be able to escape from prisons and concentration camps today. In Hebrews chapter 13, verse 8, God says through His Word: ‘Jesus Christ the same yesterday, and to day, and for ever.’ That is because God never changes. What He did back in the Bible’s Old and New Testament books, He certainly does today.”

“So, if I became a Christian, and if I was put in a camp, God would deliver Me?” Vasily said.

Sergey replied: “God will deliver you if you seek Him, and trust Him, and depend only on Him. David wrote in Psalms 18 how he cried out to God for deliverance from evil men, and David describes, poetically, how God actually delivered him from them and figuratively drew him out of deep water. God really did deliver David from his problems, but David’s problems didn’t actually involve drowning in deep water. But, if you were drowning, God would certainly rescue you, if you call out to Him.”

“You are an interesting man, Sergey. But, I can’t accept your religion.”

“Why can’t you?” Sergey asked.

“My father was a very religious man,” Vasily said. “He strictly followed the Russian Orthodox faith, but he didn’t seem to have any peace. He always gave us a list of things we should not do before he allowed us to go to college or before we went to a friend’s house. The list was very long and arduous. But, it wasn’t as bad as the list he gave us to follow when I and my siblings were growing up. Back then, he would expect us to recite his made up family rules.”

Vasily paused and lowered his eyes to the floor.

“He expected us to be impeccably dressed and always answer ‘yes, sir’ if we were addressing him. When we went to college, I found out later, he paid our roommates to report to him on our behavior. One time when I stayed out late at a bar, my roommate secretly told him about it. When I visited him on a weekend, he yelled at me and gave me a stern lecture about drinking, and threatened to see that I get expelled from the school if I visited a bar ever again. He knew the president of the college from earlier days. One time, when I was a boy, he spanked me because I had forgotten to wear my shirt tucked in.”

“That is sad,” Sergey said, starting to feel compassion for his guest.

“So, if God is like that,” Vasily said, “I want nothing to do with him. I don’t want to know a God that treats His children with cruelty and strictness.”

“I feel for you, Vasily,” Sergey said. “That is very sad what you went through. But, I can tell you that God is not like any man. God’s Word says in Numbers 23:19 that God is not a man. Psalm 103:8 says that God is merciful, and gracious, and slow to anger. Psalm 103:11 says that God’s mercy toward those who fear (or respect) Him is higher than the Heaven is above the earth — Heaven is where His throne is.”

Sergey paused to let the words sink in, but Vasily just grunted and folded his arms.

“Vasily, a verse that I look at often is Psalm 107:6. It says that when God’s people cried to Him in distress, He delivered them. Psalm 63:3 says of God: ‘Because thy lovingkindness is better than life, my lips shall praise thee.’ And, 2 Corinthians 1:3 says that God is ‘…the Father of mercies, and the God of all comfort;’”

“I don’t need to hear all this stuff. Just leave me alone,” Vasily said, reaching for the bedroom door.

Sergey backed up into the hallway, and Vasily closed it slowly but firmly.

Standing in the hallway still holding the food and money, Sergey felt downcast and discouraged. It seemed that his gift and conversation with Vasily had been to no purpose.

“My son, Sergey,” Jesus said to his soul and spirit, “why are you downcast? You have done well. Vasily is thinking about what you told him. Don’t feel discouraged. Give these feelings to Me. I will take them. Rest, My son. You have caused him to think about Christianity and about Me. I will now tell you that very soon you will need to get the group together and tell them that they will need to prepare to leave the house because it will no longer be safe here.

“The Russian government knows that you are witnessing to these new Christians. They have sent a team to a forward post to be ready to come and arrest you once the snow is plowed away. That will happen tomorrow. They will arrive by nightfall to arrest you and the others. So, follow My instructions, and you will be safe. If you have to leave some behind, if they are unwilling to come, I will be with them and will keep calling out to them. Now, go, My son. And, I will always be with you to guide you, and provide for you, and protect you. And, I the Lord your God and Abba Father have spoken, because I and the Father are One.”

“But,” Sergey said, “Lord Jesus, where will I take these people? I only have a car with four seats and two snowmobiles. There are fifteen people. Well, they have some older cars, but where would we go and how would we get there?”

“Just leave those details to Me and I will bless you, My son,” Jesus said.

“Okay, Lord. I will trust them to you. You will not fail us. Just please don’t let those soldiers arrive here before we can get loaded up in the cars to head out. But, I choose to give you these fears I’ve been feeling.”

Saying that, Sergey felt peace enter into his heart and the assurance that everything will work out.

____________________

“Break In”

Bang! A loud thump came from the first floor, waking Vasily from his slumber. He groaned and stood to his feet, squinting. Bang! The thump was followed by a splintering crack. Vasily saw his cell phone lying on the bedroom floor. Picking it up, he read the time. It was 11:02 P.M. Bang. Crack. The sound of wood shattering came from below. Vasily winced and hurried to the staircase, wondering who it could be. He quickly descended the stairs to the first floor, but his jaw dropped when he saw the scene before him.

The front door had been smashed open by way of a metal, hand-held battering ram, shaped like a cylinder with handles. A team of soldiers had broken through and were scanning the room with their machine guns.

“Raise your hands!” a soldier ordered.

Reluctantly, he raised his hands.

Then, Vasily remembered the text message and earlier phone call he had made some time ago. The team sent to arrest the Christians had arrived sooner than Vasily thought possible. What Sergey had told Vasily about God did not leave his mind as he had settled into his sleeping bag two hours ago.

Waking from sleep, being groggy and tired, Vasily had forgotten that a team of soldiers was on its way to arrest the Christians. He hadn’t thought that they would arrive this soon due to bad weather some days earlier.

A soldier shoved him to his knees and shouted, “Get on the ground!”

As he fell to the ground, a new thought struck Vasily. His roommate wasn’t in the bedroom on the single bed and Sergey was nowhere to be seen in the house. Surely, the people would have woken by now, having heard the loud thumping sounds and the splintering crack of the door breaking open. Sergey would probably be terrified to see the soldiers in his home and probably would try to hide in a bedroom since the house was likely surrounded by soldiers.

From the ground, Vasily exclaimed, “I’m not a Christian. I was the man who reported on these Christians.”

But, the soldiers did not listen to him. One remained behind to guard him while several hurried carefully up the staircase and into the second story. Room by room, they cleared the building until they had reached all five bedroom, the closets, and one bathroom. After a short time, the soldiers descended the staircase and looked at Vasily coldly. He was still forced to lie on the ground, face down. (See "Footnote").

“Stand up, Christian,” a soldier ordered gruffly.

“I’m not a Christian!” Vasily said angrily as he stood to his feet.

A soldier slapped him across the face, stinging him. “You will not speak that way to us.”

Pain shot up his cheek.

Another said, “Where did you hide the other Christians?”

“I don’t know what you’re talking about,” Vasily said. “I called a friend at the Department of Religious Affairs to report these Christians to him. His name is Alexander Lukov. I can confirm that I am telling the truth.”

“Sure you are. Stand against that wall,” a soldier ordered.

Another shoved him up against the wall while a different soldier snapped handcuffs around his wrists.

“You don’t believe me? I am friends with Alexander Lukov!” Vasily screamed.

“Come with us,” a soldier said, shoving him forward.

Vasily, protesting and screaming, was shoved out into the snow. He fell face first into a pile of white powder. Coughing and spitting snow from his mouth, he cursed the soldiers and cursed God. A soldier slapped him in the face and ordered him to be silent. But, he wouldn’t stop cussing at them.

Then, a soldier drew out a truncheon and clubbed him over the back of the head. Vasily fell to the ground unconscious. The soldiers dragged him up to a six-wheeled military truck with a canvas top, and hauled him into the truck bed. Others loaded into two other six-wheeled trucks. With a guttural roar, the diesel engines revved up and the trucks roared off through the recently plowed streets. 

The few cars and trucks on the streets pulled over to let the small convoy pass through. A few hours later, they arrived at a small military base in a pine forest and quickly passed through the guarded entrance.

Vasily, who had come to during the drive to the base, was ushered into a small jail on the base designed for misbehaving soldiers. Sitting in the cinderblock cell on a hard, metal seat, he screamed at and cursed the men who brought him there and at God for allowing it to happen. But, they had already left the prison and were handling the paperwork to admit a civilian into a military prison. This would be a temporary holding place.

Breathing hard and sputtering with saliva dripping from his lips, Vasily calmed himself down, and wiped his lips with the back of his hand. He did not understand how the people had left the building while he was still asleep. Surely, he should have heard people talking. He should have heard doors shutting.

‘How did Sergey know that I had reported his evangelism?’ Vasily thought.

Time passed. Vasily paced his cell, thinking about what Sergey had told him. God would deliver him from trials, according to Sergey, but only if he became a follower of Christ. ‘But, why would the soldiers arrest me and blame me for the Christians’ escape?’ he thought, feeling confused and troubled.

A soldier approached the iron bars that constituted his cell door. “You are now permitted to speak for twenty minutes on a phone.”

‘Great,’ Vasily thought, ‘now I can get this misunderstanding straightened out.’

In the room designated for making phone calls, Vasily dialed a number. He waited for the party on the other end to answer. After several rings, a voice said, “Hello, this is Alexander.”

“Alexander,” Vasily said, “you remember me?”

“Who is this?”

“Surely, you remember who I am?” Vasily said, coyly.

“I don’t recognize your voice. Who are you?”

“This is Vasily Volvakov, your old friend.”

A long pause followed. After some long seconds passed, Alexander said: “According to our information, you are considered to be a mole, who is secretly working for the Christian underground.”

“What?” Vasily gasped. “I, a mole?”

“That’s what our information says,” Alexander said coldly. “It is now believed that you assist Christians in escaping capture by sending our soldiers on wasteful missions while the Christians escape. Last year, you told me that you knew of non-conformist Christians meeting in a basement every Sunday.

“When we sent a team to apprehend them, no one was to be found. The person who owned the building had no knowledge that the basement was being rented out by non-conformist Christians. While our teams were busy with that diversion, we learned that a sizeable group of Christians had been seen driving in some vans toward the wilderness up north. They were known to be Christians because they stopped at a gas station and some of them were seen carrying King James Bibles.

“They escaped because you provided a diversion for our teams. At that time, we were not entire sure you actually assisted those Christians, but now that it has happened a second time, we know that you did assist both groups of Christians. You sent Sergey and his friends away, before we could arrive, while you planned to get a reward for supposedly ‘notifying’ us of their illegal, Christian activities. You are a traitor to your country and a two-faced fraud.”

“What? This is outrageous,” Vasily sputtered, trying to grasp what he was being charged with.

“Tomorrow, you will be shipped to an internment camp to reeducate you,” Alexander said before ending the call abruptly. 

____________________

(Click to Read PART 6.)

(Click here to see The Table of Contents.) 

[Footnote: Russians are not the enemy, neither are the Chinese. Both are people just like you and me. But, God will use Russia and China to judge wicked nations, which will not repent from their rebellion against Him. And, the devil will seek to stir up men to persecute the Church. But, God will deliver all who seek Him and trust in Him.]