A Sheep’s Tale: Book 3 of The Seventieth Week Chronicles

By David Allen Campbell

A Sheep's Tale, book 3 of The Seventieth Week Chronicles, is a work of fiction that intersects with the paths of the protagonists, John and Techie, of the first two books: The Making of a Martyr and The Journey of a Martyr's Companion. It is a two-part tale of a young woman with a checkered past trying to turn her life around when she is caught up in a world gone insane. Fleeing a major metropolis, she finds her way into the rural Midwest where she attempts to live a quiet life. Renting a small bungalow, she befriends her new neighbors Techie and his new companion who work at newly constructed prison. She soon finds herself confronted with a decision whether to become involved or not in a clandestine operation. Her decision finds herself, along with some new friends, as fugitives of the state. Living off the grid, she and her friends are alive when the Lord returns in judgment.

Part two of the book finds her standing on a sea of golden glass awaiting the judgment of the sheep versus the goats. Being found among the sheep, they are introduced to a new world created for them and the nation of Israel. What follows is the author's imagination based on multitudes of scriptures contained in an appendix named "A Sheep's Tale--Index of Scriptural References."

Eternity with God is beyond our imagination, but the Word has plenty to say about a new world and the lives of those who will reside upon it for a thousand years.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Christian Faith Publishing, Inc.
• Release date: Jan 24, 2023
• ISBN: 9798886859478

Book preview

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A SheepaEUR(tm)s Tale

Book 3 of The Seventieth Week Chronicles

David Allen Campbell

ISBN 979-8-88685-946-1 (paperback)

ISBN 979-8-88685-947-8 (digital)

Copyright © 2022 by David Allan Campbell

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, distributed, or transmitted in any form or by any means, including photocopying, recording, or other electronic or mechanical methods without the prior written permission of the publisher. For permission requests, solicit the publisher via the address below.

Christian Faith Publishing

832 Park Avenue

Meadville, PA 16335

www.christianfaithpublishing.com

All scriptures taken from the KJV bible unless otherwise noted.

Printed in the United States of America

Table of Contents

Part 1

The Final Days of a Doomed Creation

A Survivor's Checkered Past

From the Frying Pan into the Fire

Let the Reign of Terror Begin

Best-Laid Plans

Destiny Awaits

Clara and Edith's Disappearing Act

Terror Takes on a Whole New Definition

The Unimaginable Begins

Water, Water Nowhere, Nary a Drop to Drink

Real Global Warming Comes to Pay a Visit

Darkness Fit for the Wicked

Angels Versus Demons

A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum

The Dying Breath of the Old Creation

Part 2

A New Heaven and New Earth

Dividing of the Sheep from the Goats

The Sheep Are Welcomed to the New Earth

To Describe the Indescribable

A King's Speech

A Most Amazing Journey

The Dawn of a New Life

Introduction to a King

Elnaam and Yasha, Life Begins Anew

A New World and a New Way of Life

An Amazing Lesson in the Word

An Epidemic of Pregnancy

The King's Speech

The Pilgrimage

Lost in a World Within a World

A Population Explosion and a Call to Holiness

Death and Imperfection in a Perfect World

The Epilogue

A Sheep's Tale—Index of Scriptural References

About the Author

And the King shall answer and say unto them, Verily I say unto you, Inasmuch as ye have done it unto one of the least of these my brethren, ye have done it unto me.

—Matthew 25:40

Part 1

The Final Days of a Doomed Creation

A Survivor's Checkered Past

Clara was born into this world as Clara Mae Hardin. Her mother was the madam of a high-class call girl service in Chicago to which she once was one of their top revenue assets. Time eventually caught up with her mother; that along with periodic battles with both drugs and alcohol, she was eventually moved into middle-management, so to speak. Still comparatively young, she always wanted to have a child, but that was always bad for business. When she found herself pregnant for the seventh time, she decided to have the child rather than abort. Voila, Clara was born and would grow up never knowing her father.

Clara was a peculiar-looking young child; when young, people would ask her mother if she had Down syndrome. Her face was very round, and her eyes were set farther apart than that of the average person. As she matured, she never lost the round face, but it would be her smile that would set her apart. When she smiled, her face lit up, disarming any objections one may have had in their first impression when meeting her. Her smile camouflaged the fact that she was one with little or no empathy, for neither her actions nor body language ever betrayed the secret blackness that was the real Clara. She never was very popular nor did she seek popularity during her school years but carried herself with a poise and confidence about her that made people comfortable in her presence. Her circle of friends was limited mainly to loners much like herself but always keeping a distance when it came to her personal life.

When Clara was old enough to understand what her mother's occupation entailed, along with the reason money was never a problem, she sadly became interested in following in her mother's footsteps. Growing up, morality was always subjective in the home, coupled with her mother having a distorted moral compass; it seemed like an easy path to money and a comfortable lifestyle. Her mother, who never had any solid ground on which to object, thus began grooming her for her future profession during Clara's late teens: as an escort. First impressions did not fit the call girl profile, but her outward charm, love of fine dining, plays, and books made Clara a very adaptable escort for the more discriminating clients, as her mother put it.

By her late twenties, she was successful, much in demand. It was a select few: high rollers who wanted the company of one who, when accompanied in public, would never be taken for someone of her profession. As an escort, plays, expensive restaurants, extended trips, and the like were her bill of fare. Her day job gave her an added air of respectability, working the cosmetic counter for three or four days a week in an exclusive women's apparel shop in North Michigan Avenue.

Her two forms of employment were her only breaks from a deep-seated loneliness that was her constant companion. Her only friends were her mother and a fellow worker from the apparel shop named Amy. Amy was the first person in Clara's life to whom she opened the deep, dark recesses of her nature. Only they knew the private life she worked so hard at keeping secret; though others may have surmised that she had a sugar daddy because of her address being a very exclusive high-rise. She worked hard at keeping her appearance and makeup very conservative, but again, her passion for clothes also let others know that she had money, lots of it.

Her mother had been living in the same building, but with her health declining significantly over the past few years, she had moved in with Clara. Clara's life was not what she had envisioned it would be, and it was beginning to take its toll. She did not resent her mother but was growing weary of being her nursemaid and sole support. That ended abruptly one day when she came home, found her lying in bed unresponsive. The police found no note or any sign of drugs which then ruled out suicide as the possible cause. One of the paramedics quietly mentioned to Clara that she may have had a heart attack given how weak she appeared, and that she most likely died very quickly. The coroner verified that it was due to heart failure, finding no drugs to note in her system. She had died that morning soon after Clara left for work, being that her death was approximately four to six hours before Clara discovered her lifeless body.

Now she was alone again, angry, and when her lease expired, she quit her day job. She then moved further out into the suburbs leaving no forwarding address, changing her phone number, and trying to cut off all ties to her former life, including Amy. It was a small bungalow, at one time a caretaker's residence, old but nice, on the street near the entrance to an estate of a wealthy business magnate. They were not looking to rent it to just anyone but someone dependable of good character. Her charm had won the day. She was attempting to start her life over, thinking that a fresh start was what the doctor ordered. She had a large bank account, figuring that she could live comfortably for years off it alone. But when boredom sat in, she found another job working the cosmetic counter in a large department store nearby. She pared down her wardrobe to middle-class but could not bring herself to trade away the BMW. She stayed busy, kept a very low profile, and made a few friendly acquaintances but the loneliness bordering on depression remained. Little did she know that the clock was ticking; her entire life and the whole world would soon be turned upside down leaving her with more questions about life than answers.

From the Frying Pan into the Fire

For the next seven years or so, Clara had kept hoping that it would eventually get better, but the locust creatures from hell would quash her hope DOA. First, it was the very strange news of a few people just vanishing from the face of the earth then came the invasion of Israel followed by fire and brimstone from the skies destroying most of the Middle East. The peace that followed was a shaky period of relative calm at best. The United Nations was replaced by the new world order, same building but a new concept. This new form of government seemed to be a great idea as far as she was concerned, but there were a great many people opposed, sometimes violently, to the new political system imposed upon the world. It seemed to her that a lot of the news during those days was centered around Israel, always in a favorable light which was quite a turnaround from just a few months prior. She tried to avoid the politics of the day as much as possible and avoided anyone who would try to impose their political views in her direction.

Though it appeared that the world was coming together for the common good, the streets told a different story. Crimes of all types were on the rise to the point she bought an unregistered handgun from a coworker as it was becoming scary to go shopping, to work, and to most any place alone. The idea of moving out into the countryside did not appeal to her as she felt more comfortable knowing that she, at least, had a few neighbors close by whom she was certain she could trust. But the day the young Jewish men came on the scene was when everyone's world was soon sent spinning out of control.

Being that she was living in the greater Chicago area, they appeared to be everywhere, drawing crowds from a few to dozens or more. In the beginning, she basically paid no attention to them, but one day, as she listened in on some of her coworkers discussing the Jewish boys, some felt that they were telling the truth while others thought it was just a lot of gloom and doom. What she heard was the part about the gloom and doom; that was the last thing she wanted to hear. Shortly after their arrival on the scene, the entire world was shaken by a massive thunder and lightning display; the gloom and doom became the new way of life, and she joined the masses looking for a ray of hope.

When, as per the news, a massive meteor strike set much of the world's forest and crop lands ablaze, she was thankful that part out of the doom and gloom she heard was to stock up on food and water. Her home became a food bank; later, it would become an invitation to home invasion. She would click on the TV news channel to see if anything hopeful was happening, but it was always the same: more bad news. When a great area of the oceans was turned to blood, she did not feel the impact immediately as that would have a life of its own in the future. When the freshwater supply was crippled by being poisoned, her last trip to the grocery store proved to be futile as everything that contained water was missing from the shelves. That included canned fruits and vegetables, soups, soda, power and diet drinks as well as frozen juices and all milk products. She could afford all she wanted, but there was none to be had.

When the murky darkness descended upon the world; it was as if she was living in the Arctic during the late fall. To add to the world's oppressive condition was the news being filled with stories of increased suicides daily; it was of epidemic proportions. She could feel that something like the thumb of a giant hand was trying to crush her, but she was determined not to give in. The news went quiet for a while as nothing new appeared to be on the horizon until…the locusts from hell. They came out of nowhere; one morning, they just appeared and began a worldwide reign of terror such as the world had never witnessed. Most everyone she worked with and her neighbors were all stung by these little beasts which were about the size of a large bat but a million times uglier. She felt so lucky that she was never stung because everyone she knew that were stung had wished they were dead. Many stories on the news told of botched suicide tries everywhere of those seeking a quick escape from the excruciating pain. It became clear to her that no one was allowed to die during all those months the little beasts plied their trade.

Clara set her mind to go to work one morning even with the threat of those evil little beasts ever present. She was part of a crew of about a dozen others that had eluded being stung as they were attempting to keep the doors open. On the