One Wasn't Ready

In this futuristic setting, many years have passed since the 2008 Great Recession, and strong economic growth has returned, but only briefly. A new financial meltdown is bringing stagflation, and higher interest rates are not subduing it. We get to know a number of people who are profoundly affected by the sweeping global changes which emerge.

Through their lives, we see the world moving towards the creation of a one world government and the emergence of a figure who could very well be the Antichrist. In marked contrast with the more esoteric, fast paced stories of the end-times, this tail provides down-to-earth details, in between periods of drama. It serves to show, realistically, how close we may be to this final scenario predicted in the Bible, and why.

Yet, all this isn’t preventing two couples from falling in love, or continuing their long romance. John has a fascination with Linda, stronger than anything else that his highly driven personality has endowed him with. They are spending more time together, but she doesn’t let them take the next step. Something is keeping Linda back, yet she won’t tell him what it is. But, unable to coax her around this restraint, John never looses his patience… something pleasantly mysterious about Linda just won’t let him. So much in control of herself, yet so gently feminine and gracious… he knows he has somehow met his match in this tantalizing contest with her.

Another couple, Carl and Katie, still have a devoted relationship even after 16 years of marriage. Carl is a highway patrol officer with a deep faith in God. Katie is a New Age progressive thinker, always endeavoring to grow her spiritual consciousness. She deeply loves her strong, confident, and mild tempered husband, despite his concise, simple way of speaking. She knows he is wise beyond his years and easily puts up with his take-charge personality and penchant for few words. But she will be eternally changed by something about his love for her, after he is gone from her life.

The price of crude oil is skyrocketing faster than during the 1973 Arab oil embargo, and is rising even more rapidly in Europe. A new cold war is brewing over depleted world resources, but the players are different. Some of the story is drawn from the Bible, itself, and involves controversial, after dinner discussions about the end-times. These come from events that are taking us to the very doorstep of World War III, and they finally lead to some very riveting, unexpected news.

Another sudden turn of events, derived from obscure descriptions in the Bible, dramatically impacts our characters. A critical choice by one of them, leaves her unready for it, and places her in unfathomable danger. Not appreciated by her until it is needed, she finds that someone has provided a way to eventually join the others.