The Ark of Apocalypse

CHAPTER TWELVE

The Response of the World

In America, Philip’s speech was rebroadcast on all national stations. Fox News did a special on Him, tracing his background through his great grandfather, and concluding that he was the Don Quixote of the Twentieth Century and was probably nuts. On the 700 Club, Pat Robertson dedicated three hours to Philip von Habsburg. He declared that Philip was the Beast of Revelation, and that the New Pope was the Antichrist, and that Christians should prepare for the second coming of Christ. He told all his followers to prepare themselves for the “Rapture”.

“At any moment now we will all be raptured up to Heaven. Christ will then destroy this Antichrist and the Beast, and purify this world. We will then be brought back to this world to rein a thousand years with the living Christ. Prepare to be raptured, and pay no attention to this Antichrist.”

The PTL followed suit, Jerry Falwell declared that God spoke to him and said that “The Antichrist is alive and gathering his army in France.” The Rex Humbard Foundation announced that the Second Coming of Christ would be within three months. Swaggart told all his listeners to sell all they had and to go to the mountains with him to await Christ. James Bobson went to the desert with his followers. Oral Roberts pleaded with all his followers to petition congress to use all American forces to fight against this Antichrist.

The Catholic Spiritualists declared that Pope was the Antichrist because he had re-stated that Catholic Dogma takes precedence over spiritual revelation, therefore they wanted nothing to do with his other sword.

They announced to all their followers not to worry about the civil wars because private revelation had declared that there would be a warning from God before the chastisement. The fact that half the world was already dead did not seem to bother them. They still were waiting for the prophesied warning that all would see and be converted.

The Liberal Catholic Church had hoped for a democratic Pope, and now they were in disarray. The American Bishops had Conferences after Conferences but could not figure out what to do about Philip and his authority from the Pope.

The Traditional Catholic Church, who had refused to accept the changes in the Church after Vatican II, argued amongst themselves, and decided to wait and see if the New Pope would restore the Old Ways before they would be willing to obey him. They had their own price for obedience.

Most of the Bishops of the world had already received letters from the Pope and were quietly informing priests, nuns and brothers of the Pope’s will. They were informing the people and the people were talking to everyone.

The American President called an emergency meeting of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. All Chief Admirals, Generals, Senators and heads of State attended.

President Thomas addressed his audience, “Gentlemen, you have all been watching television and know about this man called Philip von Habsburg, who calls himself King of France.”

Senator Park: “Yes, and most of our clergy call him the Antichrist.

President Thomas: “Please, Senator, we are not here to discuss his merits or flaws. We are here because he plans to invade Germany. Now, the problem is this … We have air bases in Germany, 4000 nuclear warheads, hundreds of missile sites, 25,000 soldiers, and a treaty with Germany to protect them from any outside invasions.”

General Lee: “May I remind you, Mr. President, that Germany hasn’t had a government in a year, and we have been fighting off mobs and protesters ever since. What government do we have a treaty with? There is no government. If we had protected the government in the first place there would be one.”

President Thomas: “Yes! But we have no right to interfere in a civil war of Germans against Germans. There is a German General that has some authority but not much.”

Senator Grimes: “Bull ####! That is exactly why all these wars have happened all over the world, because we have done nothing, and you know that Moslems are behind the mobs and the economic crash. And what do we know about this General? Is he going to be another Hitler?”

“President Thomas: “We know now that it was the Moslems, but it’s too late. It takes all our efforts to keep peace at home with all the mobs here. But an invasion of one country into another is something we have never tolerated. The Moslems were German citizens.”

Admiral Williams: “Mr. President, why should we try to stop this King Philip? With no more than a speech on television and no deaths that we know of, he has totally restored order to France. In only a few days, he has created probably the only peaceful country in the world. If he does the same to Germany, our bases there will be a lot safer. After Russian Communism fell, we thought the world would be safe, but we never expected a world wide economic crash that would bring governments to total anarchy.

General Lee: “What if he comes after our bases also?”

General Macarthy: “He wouldn’t have a chance. He has no planes, no tanks, just some farmers with almost no weapons.”

President : “That’s beside the point. We don’t know his intentions and we don’t know what other countries will do.”

Senator Pane: “What other countries? All are in anarchy. If we stop him and I’m sure we could easily,” he looked around at the Generals and the Generals nodded, “but we would have the entire Catholic Church against us. Let me remind you that 40% of this country is still Roman Catholic, and 85% of South America. He took over a country that had only 3% Catholics that actually attend services. Maybe you have not been in the streets, but some are talking about him as the new Moses or David. How will we look wiping out a Moses with an army of farmers and priests? I, for one, will not vote to stop him.”

Silence prevailed for several minutes. Senator Mills leaned forward over the table and looked around at everyone with a very serious look. Quietly he said.

“What if he is the Antichrist?”

No one answered, and again there was silence for a time. Finally, President Thomas broke the silence:

“I don’t know what he is up to, but we had better find out. General, send out a representative from one of our German bases to meet with him and find out his intentions. If he will leave our bases alone, we will not try to stop him.”

Two days later, the Joint Chiefs of Staff met again. President Keys held two letters in his hands.

“Gentlemen, I have a reply from Philip von Habsburg, I have placed a copy on your desk. I would like you to read the letter of the general who met with Habsburg. I will read it out loud and you can follow along.

Mr. President,

I met with Philip von Habsburg after flying from Mainz to Lorraine. I was met by four jet black war choppers that were well armed. They escorted me to the grounds of a castle but did not land with me. Six men in white robes with gold forked crosses met me and escorted me to a small library where I met Philip. I thought I was in the Fifteenth Century. An old, old man in a very ragged monk outfit asked my name and mission. When I told him, he introduced me with these words, ‘This is the King of Jerusalem.’

Habsburg is a very plain-looking man with a large nose and curly hair. He was wearing, if you can believe all this, tennis shoes and blue denims. He was very polite and asked how he could help me. I gave him your message. This is his reply.

“I am going into Germany to restore peace and bring freedom of worship back to the Churches. Whoever points any kind of weapon at us will be our enemy. I will give Germany back to Germans. I want nothing except peace and I have always been in favor of American soldiers being in Germany since it alone has kept Russia out of Europe. Your bases will always be safe from me as long as your weapons point east. If not, do not think that God’s army will so easily be stopped.”

I then asked how he could possibly expect to take over Germany without weapons and with such an untrained army of farmers. I reminded him that most of Germany was not Catholic. He then opened a large leather box that was on a table. In it I saw a beautiful solid gold Chalice with precious stones around a brown pear-shaped glass cup. Inside the cup I could see that it was half full of something. It liquefied right before my eyes. Philip said, “With this!”

Sir, I believe that is the real Holy Grail. I for one will not fire any weapon against him, and if you ask me to, I will resign.

And, Sir, I am not a Catholic.

Respectfully Yours,

General Planck

P.S. Two months ago, over 150 Cardinals met with the Pope right here in Mainz at St. Stephen’s Church, but he has since disappeared, and we don’t know where he is.

President Thomas looked coldly at his staff. When all had finished reading, he said, “I think we have a problem.”