The Gulag and the Dell

By Robert Alan Ward

In this stirring sequel to “Through Fear and Trembling,” Athena Arnold becomes the new President of the United States in the wake of a hotly disputed election. Veiled in her rhetoric, but undeniable by her actions is a determination to stamp out all vestiges of biblical Christian faith in America, which she regards as toxic to society. Her aim instead is to force America into the global socialist New World Order.

William Walter Cunningham, her head of the Bureau of Government Affairs in New Washington State, dispatches the young, arrogant Ahmad Salazar to bring to heel the citizens of Green Valley, a small, God-fearing, mid-western community. Salazar ruthlessly forces his “control and compliance” policy on its citizens. Local Christian pastors Brandon Mills of the Green Valley Community Church and Roland Spafford of the Harvest Temple push back, setting up a clash between two diametrically opposed and irreconcilable worldviews.

Pastor Brandon’s rebellious teenage daughter Patricia finds herself pregnant out of wedlock, with the local family planning clinic determined to force her into an unwanted abortion. The resulting chain of events causes some believers to flee to the Dell, a hidden refuge deep in a dense forest northwest of Green Valley. Pastor Brandon is forcibly separated from his ailing wife Lisa and sent to the “Rough Acres Reeducation and Rehabilitation Camp,” a gulag in North Dakota that specializes in forcing hard cases into conformity with the edicts of the New World Order.

Courage, cowardice, treachery, heartbreak, healing, romance, and the sovereign hand of God; “The Gulag and the Dell” is a powerful story of redemption and of the ultimate victory of God and His people over the forces of evil.

• Language: English
• Publisher: WestBow Press
• Release date: Jun 16, 2021
• ISBN: 9781664235922

Robert Alan Ward

As a woman born in post-Holocaust Germany, Margrit is keenly aware of how a burden of guilt and shame can act as a barrier to reconciliation between people groups. Margrit actively builds bridges to Jewish people by guiding them towards the hope found in Jesus the Messiah.

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Copyright © 2021 Robert Alan Ward.

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be used or reproduced by any means, graphic, electronic, or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, taping or by any information storage retrieval system without the written permission of the author except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles and reviews.

This is a work of fiction. All of the characters, names, incidents, organizations, and dialogue in this novel are either the products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously.

WestBow Press

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Because of the dynamic nature of the Internet, any web addresses or links contained in this book may have changed since publication and may no longer be valid. The views expressed in this work are solely those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of the publisher, and the publisher hereby disclaims any responsibility for them.

Any people depicted in stock imagery provided by Getty Images are models, and such images are being used for illustrative purposes only.

Certain stock imagery © Getty Images.

Scripture quotations taken from the (NASB®) New American Standard Bible®, Copyright © 1960, 1971, 1977, 1995, 2020 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission. All rights reserved. www.lockman.org

ISBN: 978-1-6642-3591-5 (sc)

ISBN: 978-1-6642-3590-8 (hc)

ISBN: 978-1-6642-3592-2 (e)

Library of Congress Control Number: 2021911104

WestBow Press rev. date: 6/10/2021

CONTENTS

Acknowledgments

Introduction

Prologue

Chapter 1 The Assignment

Chapter 2 The Lost Sheep

Chapter 3 Anxieties

Chapter 4 Social Credit Scores

Chapter 5 Lavrentiy Beria

Chapter 6 Troubled Hearts

Chapter 7 The Ultimatum

Chapter 8 The Dell

Chapter 9 A Parasitical Mass

Chapter 10 Fugitives

Chapter 11 Deep Fake

Chapter 12 The Flight

Chapter 13 Enemies of the People

Chapter 14 The Vision

Chapter 15 Two Schools

Chapter 16 Triumph and Trauma

Chapter 17 Courage and Cowardice

Chapter 18 The Calm before the Storm

Chapter 19 The Exodus

Chapter 20 Out of the Dungeon

Chapter 21 A Camp to Reform

Chapter 22 New Beginnings

Chapter 23 Catchers of Men

Chapter 24 Sparking

Chapter 25 The Encounter

Chapter 26 A Warrior’s Heart

Chapter 27 The Pearl of Great Price

Chapter 28 Pens and Paper

Chapter 29 In Love and War

Chapter 30 The Spin-Meister

Chapter 31 Two Ways to Die

Chapter 32 The Sweet Air of Freedom

Epilogue

About the Author

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

I wish to thank my wife Gisela, who listened patiently as I developed the story and the wordings. She listened and then gave me many helpful suggestions that made their way into the story.

I also wish to thank my daughter Joanna Endermann, who did the cover artwork on two others of my Westbow books. In this work she wrote the artist/vandal part of Pastor Brandon Mills’ sermon to the Harvest Temple Church congregation and graciously gave me permission to use it.

INTRODUCTION

Way back in my college days when dinosaurs still roamed the earth, one of my professors hosted a class debate. Which is the more important, love or truth? Most of my fellow students advocated for love. Contrary that I be, I chose truth. We debated and kept things cordial. To my memory, the professor never took a side.

I have since moderated my view. Which side is right? Both. Why? Because God is love and God is truth. Both are attributes is His nature.

How does that work out in our place in this world as servants of Christ? We must unyieldingly stand for the truth, but always in a spirit of love. We are to love our enemies. We are to feed them if they are hungry and give them drink if they are thirsty. But that does not mean we have to agree with them.

We are in a war, dear people. There is God and there is Satan. There is truth and there is error. There is right and there is wrong. There is light and there is darkness. The war is fought in the physical realm, the world we can see with our eyes and the war is fought in the heavenly realm, the unseen world where angels and demons clash.

In the seen world this war is being relentlessly waged in what are called the seven pillars of society: in the family, in religion, in business, in the arts and entertainment, in education, in the media, and in government. In each of these areas there is God’s truth and there is Satan’s attack upon His truths. If we are going to be fit warriors for Christ, then we must put on the full armor of God (Ephesians 6:10-20) and wage war on His side. Expect to be attacked. Don’t forget the armor. The nice thing to know is that in the end, God, His angels, and His people win. Satan and his dominions lose. (Revelation 21:7-15)

In The Gulag and the Dell, the sequel to Through Fear and Trembling, which I cowrote with my friend David Ross a number of years back, I have endeavored to portray this war in story form. I hope you enjoy the read. More importantly, I hope you’ll make sure you’re on God’s side, with His armor on. I hope you’ll discover your place in the battle and go for it.

PROLOGUE

Six years have elapsed since the collision of wills between the Christ followers of Green Valley and the schemes of Justinian Lubinecek, former head of the local Bureau of Government Affairs. Though all ended well at the time, the enemy has regrouped for another assault upon the people of God.

In the ensuing years the American people, wanting a return to freedom and an end to violence, voted President James Hays out of office at the end of his single four-year term. With the inauguration of a new president more favorable to traditional values came a rebirth of the American spirit.

But after the completion of President Chad Billingsley’s first term, he was removed from office in a hotly disputed election. With her party now in control of both houses of congress, the new president, Athena Arnold, is determined to reverse President Billingsley’s accomplishments and to sustain one-party rule in perpetuity. Veiled in her rhetoric, but foremost in her mind is the determination to destroy biblical Christian faith, which she regards as toxic to society. She and her administration have plotted through the Bureau of Government Affairs to create a purely atheistic, socialist society. Their ultimate goal is to eventually merge America with the rest of the world into a single global nation, a New World Order, where all belief in God is eradicated in favor of a ruling global elite.

CHAPTER 1

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The Assignment

"But you said in your heart ‘I will ascend to

heaven; I will raise my throne above the stars

of God, and I will sit on the mount of assembly

in the recesses of the north. I will

ascend above the heights of the clouds; I

will make myself like the Most High’."

ISAIAH 14:13-14

T hirty-one-year-old Ahmad Salazar bounded his way up the stairs, two steps at a time, to the twenty-fifth and top floor of the Bureau of Government Affairs building on Capitol Heights in New Washington State. A multi-tasker to the core, it was his way of getting in needed exercise, while accomplishing important business. He was a man on the move. Everything he did was purposed and important in his mind.

Upon reaching the summit, he paused to catch his breath. It wouldn’t do to appear breathless before important people. Slowly he made his way down the long, richly carpeted hallway, which was entirely on the west side of the massive monolith.

With a single spike pointed skyward at the top, the Bureau of Government Affairs building was easily the tallest edifice in New Washington State at 350 feet. It had been purposely built to eclipse The Basilica of the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception, which had formerly claimed the title. The top floor was also five feet taller than any of the other floors in the building. All Bureau buildings in every city of any significance were cube-shaped, with one-way green-tinted windows covering their entire exteriors, suggesting the motif that Big Brother is watching over you.

At the end of the hallway, Salazar came before the entrance to the shrine room, as the inner sanctum of the Bureau was called. He stopped before the highly polished mahogany double door that reached all the way to the ceiling and swung outward in both directions. It had been purposely designed to lessen the perceived significance of outsiders who entered and to increase that of those who worked within.

One day I will rule this room, this building, and the lives of all four hundred million Americans, including whoever is president. And then I will rule the world. But for now, I will tread lightly. The current occupants don’t know about me yet. Salazar pressed the doorbell a single time, as was the established protocol.

He waited. It was also established protocol for the weighty people inside to take their time in answering. He needed a little more time to settle his breathing anyway.

Hearing footsteps, he composed himself. The great double door swung open, forcing him to step back. At the door stood Mr. Francois Dupont, a man somewhere in his forties, whose severe face conveyed calculated condescension. Salazar knew him only slightly, as those who worked in the shrine room had their exclusive elevator to the top and seldom mixed with the serfs who worked below, as he knew they referred to him and his co-workers.

What do you want, sir? Dupont intoned formally in his carefully cultured French accent.

I am Ahmad Salazar. I work on the sixth floor. I wish to see the commander, please.

What is your business?

I wish to discuss my assignment.

Dupont frowned. Wait here. I will see if he will see you. He closed the massive doors, leaving Salazar outside and alone, seething at his perceived disdainful treatment. Someday I will put Comrade Dupont in his place.

He turned to survey the city through the one-way window. All New Washington State was blanketed in snow. Some six miles distant he could make out the White House, the Capitol Building, and the recently renamed New World Order Monument, formerly known as the Washington Monument. To the northwest lay the Smithsonian International Zoological Park, beyond which flowed the Potomac River.

Again hearing footsteps, he turned before the doors swung open. You have two minutes, said Dupont haughtily.

Salazar bit his tongue and followed Dupont through a maze of cubicles, swinging right and left. The immense room reminded him of a gambling casino, which he suspected was deliberately designed to make it hard for customers to find their way out. Though well illuminated, it also had the dark feel of a casino. He knew that once people made their way into this inner-sanctum of power, only death or dementia were tickets out.

Finally, they came to the office of Commander William Walter Cunningham, the current director of the BGA, at the far corner of the building. Evidently, the commander did not want anyone working behind him.

A single knock on the door from Dupont brought a terse, booming response from the other side. Enter.

Two minutes, Dupont repeated.

He opened the door, gestured Salazar in, and closed it behind him. Cunningham remained seated, leaning back on his swivel chair and eyeing the younger man with a certain wariness. Somewhere in his fifties, he was attired in a Brioni business suit, with vicuna threaded fabric from Australia, a silk tie, and golden cufflinks that thundered his perceived significance. But it was his penetrating eyes more than anything else that unnerved Salazar.

Comrade Salazar, am I to understand that you are dissatisfied with your assignment to the city of Green Valley? The question seemed more accusation.

As if he were staring into the face of Medusa, Salazar broke eye contact and glanced down slightly. I had hoped for an assignment more commiserate with my capabilities, he answered in his carefully rehearsed response. Inwardly, he shook.

Cunningham stared long and hard at the man who stood before him. We don’t yet fully know your capabilities, Comrade Salazar. But you’ll have ample opportunity to demonstrate what you’ve got with this assignment. You ought to be pleased with our show of confidence. It’s a new year. Green Valley has been highly problematic to us for years. It is the epitome of God-fearing, gun-toting, mid-western values. We sent one of our top agents there six years ago to bring to heel what we thought were a few Christian simpletons. It seems that we underestimated them. They ended up destroying Justinian Lubinecek instead. He was forced to resign in disgrace from the BGA. The man who replaced him, a Byron Bell, turned out to be even worse. He is no longer in the picture and you will replace him. We think you are capable of delivering the results we want.

Where is Comrade Bell now?

The commander shook his head slowly. That is no concern of yours. Let us just say that he is no longer capable of answering the bell. He chuckled at his joke and again turned dead serious. Do not worry about former Comrade Bell. You had better worry about the job you will do.

Perceiving the implied meaning, Salazar sought to remove the focus from himself. What is it about the Christian simpletons in Green Valley that makes them so problematic? We’ve had good success in neutralizing the vermin in most other places.

The commander scowled. They seem to actually believe their malignant nonsense. He leaned forward in his chair. We underestimated a couple of their leaders, a pastor named Brandon Mills of the Green Valley Community Church and another pastor named Roland Spafford of the Harvest Temple Church.

Though he endeavored to conceal his outward demeanor, inwardly Salazar’s attitude began to change. Maybe this won’t be such a bad assignment after all. Small city, but worthy opponents. I like a challenge.

He changed course. Do you have any suggestions as to how I am to crush those troublemakers?

The commander shook his head. That I leave up to you, Comrade Salazar. You have that lean, hungry look that I like to see in my agents. Just deliver me the desired results. That’s how you move up in the BGA. You are dismissed.

CHAPTER 2

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The Lost Sheep

"What man among you, if he has a hundred sheep

and has lost one of them, does not leave

the ninety-nine in the open pasture, and go after

the one which is lost, until he finds it?"

LUKE 15:4

T he two pastors stood side by side, marveling at the spirit of cooperation between the people of their respective churches in holding a yard sale on the large front lawn of The Living Waters Pregnancy Center. Gone were the disputes of the past on what constituted spirituality between the Harvest Temple Church, a charismatic fellowship, and the Green Valley Community Church, an essentially Baptist congregation, sans the label.

I am so glad to see God’s people working together, spoke Linda Raines, head of the pregnancy crisis center. Though in her late thirties, her wholesome countenance and commitment to personal fitness made her appear much younger. Protecting defenseless, innocent human life is a ministry we can all support.

Glad to help out, spoke Roland Spafford, the fifty-five-year-old pastor of the Harvest Temple. We are grateful for your work. We have quite a few kids in our children’s and youth departments who are alive today because of your presence in our community.

Our church too, added Pastor Mills. And we have learned quite a lot from Pastor Spafford here and the people of the Harvest Temple about worship and hearing the voice of our Savior.

Pastor Spafford nodded in approval. As we have better learned about discipline and the importance of God’s written word. I guess you can say we’ve sort of met in a ‘bapticostal’ middle. We’re actually going to do a pastor swap three Sundays from now, with Brandon speaking at my church, while I speak at his.

What has brought you so close together? asked Linda.

I guess it’s the simple realization that we worship the same Savior and that Satan and the surrounding world hates us both the same, answered Brandon. It started six years ago when Justinian Lubinecek, the head of the local Bureau of Government Affairs at the time came after us. We realized then that we’re not enemies. We need each other. Christ prayed that we would be one, as He is one with the Father.

Brandon gazed at his sixteen-year-old daughter Patricia, who was seated, with a long line of children awaiting her expertise. Currently, she was working on Linda’s four-year-old daughter Amy, who wanted to be a rabbit. She was painting faces of different animals on the children, according to their choices, for five dollars each, also to raise money for the center.

Though he was proud of her, he was also worried. In the past few months, he and his wife Lisa had noticed troubling signs. They had prayed and discussed together how to help their daughter navigate her awkward teenage years. So far, nothing they had tried seemed to work.

Leaving the conversation, Brandon strolled over to where Alexander Joldersma, the new principal of the fledgling Stony Point Christian High School had come dressed as Abraham Lincoln. He was alternating between Lincoln’s famous Gettysburg Address and his equally famous second inaugural speech near the conclusion of America’s great Civil War. A group of captivated listeners stood or sat on the grass before him, listening to the latter speech.

"With malice toward none, with charity for all,