~/*\~ Leahe ~/*\~
Moses had returned to the Camp with fury, seeing what his people were doing in his absence. He’d rallied the Levites and put the ringleaders of the Idol Worship to death. The casualties were in the thousands.
Those that had joined the Festival were still a minority. There were rumors that Jehovah had directed His servants to take more extreme measures. There were murmurs of fear for the future, since they’d been living under The Law for less than a month before they broke the first rule by their thousands.
It was the first time that the Law had been broken, and the first time there had been repercussions. It wouldn’t be the last time, and they all knew it.
The mood in the camp was dour at failing the first test so quickly. Leahe felt it harder than most. Her father had been one of those slain. Takarut was feeling the same. Ten Plagues and the Exodus had not broken their friendship, but the Golden Calf had cost Satau and Ashura their lives.
Moses had delivered a message of reproof, and had gone back up the mountain, while the people were in mourning. There were rumors that Moses had gone to plead for their lives. That Jehovah had commanded Moses to start again with his own offspring, and essentially become a new Abraham for the future. Moses hadn’t been seen in weeks, and some believed that he was still pleading for Jehovah to spare them all.
Of course, these were only rumors.
~/*\~
Moses returned from the Mountain. Everyone saw him coming this time, because his face shone with rays of light. There were rumors that he hadn’t even known it, until his waiting followers and family had pointed it out to him. There were rumors that he had seen God in person, high up the mountain.
After addressing the Chieftains and Elders, Moses had gone into seclusion. There were rumors that he was talking to God. It took a while for the instructions to filter through the whole camp. Some of the Elders and Judges were gone now, and replacements hadn’t been picked yet.
The first instructions from Moses included instructions on the creation of a Tabernacle, and an Ark, to carry the stone tablets that Moses had brought down the mountain. There was a formula for holy oil, and incense. Instructions on daily offerings. Instructions on a uniform for the High Priests; and a list of the craftsmen chosen to make everything, who would be imbued with holy spirit to complete the work.
(Author’s Note: I’m adjusting the timeline a little here. Moses got many instructions during his stay on the Mountain, and related them later. The chapters of Exodus are written according to things as they happened to Moses, not as they were announced to Israel. The exact timeline is thus a little harder to follow from a plain reading. It’s mostly written this way to conclude the ‘story arc’ of the Golden Calf. To draw your own conclusions about how the sequence played out, look to Exodus 24-35.)
It’s not a Temple, or an Idol. But it’s what we need. A place of worship, and a way to do so properly. Leahe looked over at her friend. “What are you thinking?”
Takarut bit his lip. “When I first left my post and came to Goshen, Satau quoted Tzioni. He said ‘the true children of Abraham are not necessarily those of fleshly descent, nor those who depend on their own works, but those of the faith of Abraham’.”
Leahe nodded sickly. “Abraham didn’t have idols, or statues of gold. He just… gave all his trust to God. To his Friend…” She rubbed her eyes. “What am I supposed to do now? Without him?”
Takarut rested a hand on Leahe’s shoulder. “Absolutely everything about my old life is gone from me now, Leahe. There wasn’t one part of Egypt that wasn’t struck in some way. Literally everything I knew was judged as lacking. I’m sorry for what happened, but-” He stopped himself. “No, never mind. I’m just sorry for your loss.”
“You were about to say ‘but even with him gone, so much of your people, your life, and your way of thinking is unchanged’.” Leahe said flatly.
“Terrible thing for me to think about right now.” Takarut nodded. “It isn’t a competition.”
“Takarut, you passed a test that my own kin lost. You haven’t got nearly as much to learn as you think you do. Certainly not more than the rest of us.” Leahe admitted. A moment later, she gave him a tight hug. “I’m sorry you lost Satau.”
He smiled, despite himself, and hugged her back. “I’m sorry about Tzioni.”
The hug lingered a long, long time. Long enough that when they parted, she leaned in impulsively to brush her cheek against his gently.
~/*\~
Finally, Moses made his address to the whole assembly, his face shining with the light of whatever divine holiness he had been privileged to spend time with.
“This is what Jehovah has said.” Moses declared to all Israel. “‘Here I am making a covenant: Before all your people, I will do wonderful things that have never been done in all the Earth or among all the nations, and all the people among whom you live will see the work of Jehovah, for it is an awe-inspiring thing that I am doing with you’!”
“Amen.” The crowd responded.
Takarut and Leahe held hands tightly as they shouted the pledge. Whatever came next, they would face it together.
Afterword: A Note From The Author.
When I first sat down to turn ‘Just See Yourself’ into an actual book for publication, instead of a private bit of personal study, I had one desire above all else: To keep it accurate to what we knew, according to the literature and reasoning from the Organization.
There remains a lot of ‘day to day’ information that we don’t have, about life in Paradise. A lot of things didn’t occur to me until I started writing. That was how the plot unfolded. One question suggested another question, and answering them was how it grew to two different series, totaling a dozen books and counting.
My worry was that I might be so far off base that nobody could ignore my error. I expressed these thoughts to a local Elder in my Congregation, and he said ‘Go ahead and write it. We can’t say you’re wrong until we get there.’
The parts where I have to invent things are always detailed in my Author’s Notes, along with my reasoning on the subject. With a few important exceptions, when I was on shaky ground, I steered the plot away from those points.
I’ve always been proud of the fact that our organization changes course when something is in error. Hebrews 4:12 says “The word of God is alive, and exerts power.” The Bible is a living document, and our understanding of it has to be too.
But the next part of world history is the most pivotal one since the Bible began. As a result, the clarifications and reasoning about it changes frequently. For obvious reasons, I’ve tried to be as ‘up to date’ as possible when I write books set during the near future. Most of the changes that have come out in the last few years don’t affect the stories I’ve published too much. I’ve written multiple stories about the ‘Last Day’, set in different parts of the world. In some, the brothers were hiding in Kingdom Halls, in others they were in Prison, in some, private homes. There’s always speculation, but nothing has actually happened yet, so I covered as many bases as I could.
My mortal fear was that one day something new would come out that would be in direct opposition to a major part of my writings, in a way that couldn’t be ignored or overlooked. I’ve said repeatedly that I’m not part of the official organization, beyond being a baptized publisher; but I want my storytelling to be true to it.
When I wrote ‘You Will Know’, I made the ‘point of no return’ a major plot point for all my characters. In fact, it was their motivating force for most of the book. This was taken from the most definitive, and recent information I could find on the matter. The quotation I used in my reasoning was from Chapter 16 of the book ‘Pure Worship of Jehovah -- Restored at Last!’.
Quote: “[Individuals] need to react favorably to the preaching work that is being done today, to continue putting on a Christlike personality, to get baptized in symbol of their dedication to Jehovah, and to support Christ’s brothers loyally. Only those who pursue such a course now—and who enter the great tribulation as pure worshippers— will be in a position to be marked for survival.”
It seemed a pretty clear statement of the Society’s position at the time. But it seems that ‘only’ is a big word to use when speaking on behalf of God.
Six months after the release of ‘You Will Know’, the Annual General Meeting for the 2023/2024 Service Year was held. These meetings often have clarifications and new reasoning, as well as the announcement of newly released literature. It was released online to the general public in hundreds of languages in January of 2024
In that meeting, Brother Jackson of the Governing Body gave the talk: ‘Trust in the Merciful ‘Judge of all the Earth’”, which clarified our position on who would survive Armageddon. In addition to several scriptural thoughts, he said: “Could it be that once the Great Tribulation starts, many who have heard the message […] may be in a position then to make the right decision, the right choice? Well, we can’t be dogmatic, but we certainly hope that would be the case.”
Scriptural evidence was offered to support these questions, and the overall point of this talk was summed up in this way: “What’s the answer? We simply don’t know. We can’t be dogmatic, and we shouldn’t be dogmatic, because we don’t know. Rather, let’s take comfort in what we do know. And what do we know? We know that Jehovah and Jesus are merciful, that they will always do the right thing […] And we know that Jehovah and Jesus will judge each individual in a balanced, righteous, and merciful way.”
This is surely wonderful news to the thousands, perhaps millions of Witnesses who were worried for friends and family members. But it did make my most recent book obsolete, and blatantly incorrect less than six months after it was published.
Luckily, ‘You Will Know’ had a direct sequel, following all the same characters on their journey. That is the book you are currently reading. Because of this, I had the opportunity to ‘retcon’ the major plot points that were no longer valid. I was actually close to publishing this book when the new reasoning was announced, and I had to make serious edits, essentially backflipping on my whole last book. Given that the theme of this book was ‘facing the unexpected’, it worked out. It’s not a perfect fix, but given the circumstances, I hope that my audience will be forgiving.
There’s still a lot we don’t know about that time of Tribulation. Brother Jackson’s talk also made the point: “We know that the closer we get to the Great Tribulation, the clearer our understanding is of what will occur. Yes, our understanding is clarified according to the proper time, and also in a way that will help us not only endure, but to prosper...”
Doubtless, there will be more to discover in the future. But above all else, we know that Jehovah God, and his appointed Judge over the Earth, Jesus Christ, will make the right choices; and temper their need for perfect justice with their quality of love and compassion.
As with all things in my books, we’ll only know for sure when we get there and find out for ourselves.
~/*\~~/*\~~/*\~
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