Jeremiah Smith was flipping channels when he came across a science program called The Living Earth which happened to be showing the Yellowstone Caldera. The narrator was saying that it could blow at any time, and when it did, not if, it would bury the western half of the United States under dozens of feet of sizzling volcanic pumice. He scoffed at this in particular, as he often did at science in general, then moved on to a religious channel.
Should the Caldera erupt tomorrow and the wind blow east, Fort Rapture, situated at the end of a long unpaved road branching west off Hwy-120 at a point about half way between the north Wyoming town of Cody and the Montana border, and practically backed against the eastern edge of the Yellowstone National Park, would become a veritable New Pompeii. But to be buried in scorching volcanic ash would of course not be survivable in the physical sense, and therefore, where Smith was concerned, who preached that he was meant to live forever, it simply could not happen, at all. And even if it did blow, he would miraculously rise above it, for whether he himself believed it or not, he proclaimed that he was the one and only "Son of God", sent back to Earth to cleanse it of Heathens, before, during and after the Rapture, which therefore by heavenly decree he was destined to live through.
"FOLLOW ME AND YOU WILL COME TO NO HARM,..." he exhorted his followers.
"HALLELUJAH!"
"... AND BE SAVED TO FULFILL A DIVINE PURPOSE..."
"PRAISE THE LORD!!"
"... TO EXECUTE GOD'S PLAN ON EARTH!!"
"AMEN!!!"
The "divine purpose in God's plan" was concocted in the recesses of his human mind, though it was rooted within, based on and derived from one single title among the hundreds of thousands in any given library. Where truth was concerned, the Holy Bible, its Old Testaments to be specific, was the only book containing any of it as far as he was concerned, in which every word was to be taken literally as the verbatim Word of God. The only book in the New Testaments worth any salt to him was the Gospel according to John, which was esteemed for its prophetic value. The name of Jesus was shouted out a hundred times per sermen, but the Gospels according to Mathew, Mark and Luke, the only three books in the entire Bible about the life and teachings of Jesus, were never once invoked.
Fort Rapture was a square-shaped walled fort containing dozens of crude log-cabins inhabited by hundreds of souls. The cabins were all backed against the external wall using it as their own back walls. They surrounded a large central square in which the largest building of all stood - the Church of Deuteronomy. The church, doubling as Smith's own personal palace, or was it Smith's personal palace doubling as a church on Sundays, were built by the residents without pay, but who were not allowed to enter six-and-three-quarter days out of seven. It was adorned with a tall and narrow cone-shaped spire reminiscent of the head-gear of a Ku Klux Klan clansman, even without which the church/palace would still remain the tallest building in the compound. The "clansman" reference wasn't all that far fetched, since the residents of the fort referred to themselves as the Rapture Klan.
The Church was so named due to its emphasis on the Book of Deuteronomy, Chapter 13 to be exact, which, word for word, read as follows:
3 Thou shalt not hearken unto the words of that prophet, or that dreamer of dreams: for the Lord your God proveth you, to know whether ye love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul.
4 Ye shall walk after the Lord your God, and fear him, and keep his commandments, and obey his voice, and ye shall serve him, and cleave unto him.
5 And that prophet, or that dreamer of dreams, shall be put to death; because he hath spoken to turn you away from the Lord your God, which brought you out of the land of Egypt, and redeemed you out of the house of bondage, to thrust thee out of the way which the Lord thy God commanded thee to walk in. So shalt thou put the evil away from the midst of thee.
6 If thy brother, the son of thy mother, or thy son, or thy daughter, or the wife of thy bosom, or thy friend, which is as thine own soul, entice thee secretly, saying, Let us go and serve other gods, which thou hast not known, thou, nor thy fathers;
7 Namely, of the gods of the people which are round about you, nigh unto thee, or far off from thee, from the one end of the earth even unto the other end of the earth;
8 Thou shalt not consent unto him, nor hearken unto him; neither shall thine eye pity him, neither shalt thou spare, neither shalt thou conceal him:
9 But thou shalt surely kill him; thine hand shall be first upon him to put him to death, and afterwards the hand of all the people.
10 And thou shalt stone him with stones, that he die; because he hath sought to thrust thee away from the Lord thy God, which brought thee out of the land of Egypt, from the house of bondage.
11 And all Israel shall hear, and fear, and shall do no more any such wickedness as this is among you.
12 If thou shalt hear say in one of thy cities, which the Lord thy God hath given thee to dwell there, saying,
13 Certain men, the children of Belial, are gone out from among you, and have withdrawn the inhabitants of their city, saying, Let us go and serve other gods, which ye have not known;
14 Then shalt thou enquire, and make search, and ask diligently; and, behold, if it be truth, and the thing certain, that such abomination is wrought among you;
15 Thou shalt surely smite the inhabitants of that city with the edge of the sword, destroying it utterly, and all that is therein, and the cattle thereof, with the edge of the sword.
16 And thou shalt gather all the spoil of it into the midst of the street thereof, and shalt burn with fire the city, and all the spoil thereof every whit, for the Lord thy God: and it shall be an heap for ever; it shall not be built again.
17 And there shall cleave nought of the cursed thing to thine hand: that the Lord may turn from the fierceness of his anger, and shew thee mercy, and have compassion upon thee, and multiply thee, as he hath sworn unto thy fathers;
18 When thou shalt hearken to the voice of the Lord thy God, to keep all his commandments which I command thee this day, to do that which is right in the eyes of the Lord thy God. ]
Accordingly, the Reverend Jeremiah Smith had no philosophical objection to killing, from one person to an entire people. Neither did he question the stark self-contradiction of the book he held so dear, as to how this could possibly not violate the Sixth Commandment - "Thou shalt not kill!" Instead, he focused on strategy and tactics.
"Of course times are different now," his voice booming through one of his sermons. "Back in the Golden Days, things were clean cut and straight forward. There were so many nations, each with its own religion. Within each nation, everyone abided by its own god. It would be so much simpler and easier, to just build up your army, invade, rape, plunder, destroy, eradicate from history. No victim is innocent, no invader is guilty. May the most wrathful war god win. End of story. It is far more complex today. Within a 'free' country, like ours, there are a dozen different religions, and everyone is trying to convert everyone else, or else, be led by the nose by whichever ungodly religion into which they happen to be born. It's a cesspool, but a structured and organized one. So, it will have to be in the form of surgical strikes. And as in all surgical strikes, there will be collateral damage. Innocent lives will be lost, including those of children. But we will enact the permanent will of God, and clean up later. Now, brother and sisters, the Lord your God is calling upon us to actively pursue this course of action throughout this nation, from coast to coast. And He has given us the means for this execution. No, not the stones on the ground. No, we are beyond stoning people – only the Hippies and Muslims do it to themselves! We have been given something that is formless, shapeless, colorless and odorless, with which we shall cleanse and purify this land. And we will begin soon, brothers and sisters, for soon the opportunity shall be presented to us, and we must seize the moment and act! Why us? Because we can, and, in truth, there is no one else. May God see us through this Holy War and grant us Divine Victory. In His Name. Amen."
"AMEN!"
"Any questions?"
There of course was none.
After the sermon, he got on the phone.
"Rebecca, you know that time capsule of that Chinaman - what's his name?"
"Dr. Mark Lee. He's a Chinese Canadian."
"Yeah, like I said, a Canadian Chinaman. I want you to insert an item into that time capsule of his."
"What item?"
"A sealed bottle."
"What's in it?"
"Some white powder."
"What's this white powder?"
"Crystalline morphine."
Should the Caldera erupt tomorrow and the wind blow east, Fort Rapture, situated at the end of a long unpaved road branching west off Hwy-120 at a point about half way between the north Wyoming town of Cody and the Montana border, and practically backed against the eastern edge of the Yellowstone National Park, would become a veritable New Pompeii. But to be buried in scorching volcanic ash would of course not be survivable in the physical sense, and therefore, where Smith was concerned, who preached that he was meant to live forever, it simply could not happen, at all. And even if it did blow, he would miraculously rise above it, for whether he himself believed it or not, he proclaimed that he was the one and only "Son of God", sent back to Earth to cleanse it of Heathens, before, during and after the Rapture, which therefore by heavenly decree he was destined to live through.
"FOLLOW ME AND YOU WILL COME TO NO HARM,..." he exhorted his followers.
"HALLELUJAH!"
"... AND BE SAVED TO FULFILL A DIVINE PURPOSE..."
"PRAISE THE LORD!!"
"... TO EXECUTE GOD'S PLAN ON EARTH!!"
"AMEN!!!"
The "divine purpose in God's plan" was concocted in the recesses of his human mind, though it was rooted within, based on and derived from one single title among the hundreds of thousands in any given library. Where truth was concerned, the Holy Bible, its Old Testaments to be specific, was the only book containing any of it as far as he was concerned, in which every word was to be taken literally as the verbatim Word of God. The only book in the New Testaments worth any salt to him was the Gospel according to John, which was esteemed for its prophetic value. The name of Jesus was shouted out a hundred times per sermen, but the Gospels according to Mathew, Mark and Luke, the only three books in the entire Bible about the life and teachings of Jesus, were never once invoked.
Fort Rapture was a square-shaped walled fort containing dozens of crude log-cabins inhabited by hundreds of souls. The cabins were all backed against the external wall using it as their own back walls. They surrounded a large central square in which the largest building of all stood - the Church of Deuteronomy. The church, doubling as Smith's own personal palace, or was it Smith's personal palace doubling as a church on Sundays, were built by the residents without pay, but who were not allowed to enter six-and-three-quarter days out of seven. It was adorned with a tall and narrow cone-shaped spire reminiscent of the head-gear of a Ku Klux Klan clansman, even without which the church/palace would still remain the tallest building in the compound. The "clansman" reference wasn't all that far fetched, since the residents of the fort referred to themselves as the Rapture Klan.
The Church was so named due to its emphasis on the Book of Deuteronomy, Chapter 13 to be exact, which, word for word, read as follows:
Deuteronomy 13
King James Version (KJV)
[ 13 If there arise among you a prophet, or a dreamer of dreams, and giveth thee a sign or a wonder,
2 And
the sign or the wonder come to pass, whereof he spake unto thee,
saying, Let us go after other gods, which thou hast not known, and let
us serve them;3 Thou shalt not hearken unto the words of that prophet, or that dreamer of dreams: for the Lord your God proveth you, to know whether ye love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul.
4 Ye shall walk after the Lord your God, and fear him, and keep his commandments, and obey his voice, and ye shall serve him, and cleave unto him.
5 And that prophet, or that dreamer of dreams, shall be put to death; because he hath spoken to turn you away from the Lord your God, which brought you out of the land of Egypt, and redeemed you out of the house of bondage, to thrust thee out of the way which the Lord thy God commanded thee to walk in. So shalt thou put the evil away from the midst of thee.
6 If thy brother, the son of thy mother, or thy son, or thy daughter, or the wife of thy bosom, or thy friend, which is as thine own soul, entice thee secretly, saying, Let us go and serve other gods, which thou hast not known, thou, nor thy fathers;
7 Namely, of the gods of the people which are round about you, nigh unto thee, or far off from thee, from the one end of the earth even unto the other end of the earth;
8 Thou shalt not consent unto him, nor hearken unto him; neither shall thine eye pity him, neither shalt thou spare, neither shalt thou conceal him:
9 But thou shalt surely kill him; thine hand shall be first upon him to put him to death, and afterwards the hand of all the people.
10 And thou shalt stone him with stones, that he die; because he hath sought to thrust thee away from the Lord thy God, which brought thee out of the land of Egypt, from the house of bondage.
11 And all Israel shall hear, and fear, and shall do no more any such wickedness as this is among you.
12 If thou shalt hear say in one of thy cities, which the Lord thy God hath given thee to dwell there, saying,
13 Certain men, the children of Belial, are gone out from among you, and have withdrawn the inhabitants of their city, saying, Let us go and serve other gods, which ye have not known;
14 Then shalt thou enquire, and make search, and ask diligently; and, behold, if it be truth, and the thing certain, that such abomination is wrought among you;
15 Thou shalt surely smite the inhabitants of that city with the edge of the sword, destroying it utterly, and all that is therein, and the cattle thereof, with the edge of the sword.
16 And thou shalt gather all the spoil of it into the midst of the street thereof, and shalt burn with fire the city, and all the spoil thereof every whit, for the Lord thy God: and it shall be an heap for ever; it shall not be built again.
17 And there shall cleave nought of the cursed thing to thine hand: that the Lord may turn from the fierceness of his anger, and shew thee mercy, and have compassion upon thee, and multiply thee, as he hath sworn unto thy fathers;
18 When thou shalt hearken to the voice of the Lord thy God, to keep all his commandments which I command thee this day, to do that which is right in the eyes of the Lord thy God. ]
Accordingly, the Reverend Jeremiah Smith had no philosophical objection to killing, from one person to an entire people. Neither did he question the stark self-contradiction of the book he held so dear, as to how this could possibly not violate the Sixth Commandment - "Thou shalt not kill!" Instead, he focused on strategy and tactics.
"Of course times are different now," his voice booming through one of his sermons. "Back in the Golden Days, things were clean cut and straight forward. There were so many nations, each with its own religion. Within each nation, everyone abided by its own god. It would be so much simpler and easier, to just build up your army, invade, rape, plunder, destroy, eradicate from history. No victim is innocent, no invader is guilty. May the most wrathful war god win. End of story. It is far more complex today. Within a 'free' country, like ours, there are a dozen different religions, and everyone is trying to convert everyone else, or else, be led by the nose by whichever ungodly religion into which they happen to be born. It's a cesspool, but a structured and organized one. So, it will have to be in the form of surgical strikes. And as in all surgical strikes, there will be collateral damage. Innocent lives will be lost, including those of children. But we will enact the permanent will of God, and clean up later. Now, brother and sisters, the Lord your God is calling upon us to actively pursue this course of action throughout this nation, from coast to coast. And He has given us the means for this execution. No, not the stones on the ground. No, we are beyond stoning people – only the Hippies and Muslims do it to themselves! We have been given something that is formless, shapeless, colorless and odorless, with which we shall cleanse and purify this land. And we will begin soon, brothers and sisters, for soon the opportunity shall be presented to us, and we must seize the moment and act! Why us? Because we can, and, in truth, there is no one else. May God see us through this Holy War and grant us Divine Victory. In His Name. Amen."
"AMEN!"
"Any questions?"
There of course was none.
After the sermon, he got on the phone.
"Rebecca, you know that time capsule of that Chinaman - what's his name?"
"Dr. Mark Lee. He's a Chinese Canadian."
"Yeah, like I said, a Canadian Chinaman. I want you to insert an item into that time capsule of his."
"What item?"
"A sealed bottle."
"What's in it?"
"Some white powder."
"What's this white powder?"
"Crystalline morphine."
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