Combining Both Worlds

By Kim Cousins

Asteroids, wars, volcanoes, and earthquakes continue to plague the earth. In spite of the incessant warnings to repent, a vast majority of people choose to turn away from God's salvation and pursue their own destinies; but the Lord is not one to be mocked by unbelievers or withhold his justice from the world. Ultimately when God ushers in the millennium, he establishes a righteous global government and restores creation to its original design of peace and abundance. With Satan in bondage, humankind flourishes under God's bountiful care and provision without any demonic influence to upset the balance.
Yet after a thousand years, humanity corrupts God's creation. How can people fall so far from grace when given upright leaders and a perfect environment? Read this story to discover the answer. Biblical prophets predicted the millennium's outcome thousands of years ago and now you can unravel their prophetic teachings through the characters in this book. Be strong. Be courageous. Push aside the writings of Nostradamus or Rasputin and read what John, Isaiah, and Ezekiel describe as God's final strategy for heaven and earth--and humankind's place in this future world.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Resource Publications
• Release date: Jun 20, 2023
• ISBN: 9781666767803

Kim Cousins

Kim Cousins is a retired instructor who worked as a librarian, an extension educator, a high school counselor, and a university academic advisor. She received undergraduate and graduate degrees in horticulture and education, ultimately earning a PhD in educational leadership. She wrote Of the Earth (2021), the first book in the Clashing Kingdoms trilogy. Kim lives with Woodie, her husband of thirty-five years, and a host of delightful animals.

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Combining Both Worlds

Book 3 of the Clashing Kingdoms Series

Kim Cousins

COMBINING BOTH WORLDS

Copyright @ 2023 Kim Cousins. All rights reserved. Except for brief quotations in critical publications or reviews, no part of this book may be reproduced in any manner without prior written permission from the publisher. Write: Permissions, Wipf and Stock Publishers, 199 W. 8th Ave., Suite3, Eugene, OR 97401.

Resource Publications

An Imprint of Wipf and Stock Publishers

199 W. 8th Ave., Suite 3

Eugene, OR 97401

www.wipfandstock.com

paperback isbn: 978-1-6667-6778-0

hardcover isbn: 978-1-6667-6779-7

ebook isbn: 978-1-6667-6780-3

Scripture quotations marked (NIV) are taken from the Holy Bible, New International Version®, NIV®. Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984 by Biblica, Inc.™ Used by permission of Zondervan. All rights reserved worldwide.

version number 091715

Table of Contents

Title Page

Preface

Acknowledgments

List of Characters

Autumn

chapter one

chapter two

chapter three

chapter four

chapter five

chapter six

chapter seven

chapter eight

chapter nine

chapter ten

chapter eleven

Winter

chapter twelve

Spring

chapter thirteen

Summer

chapter fourteen

Autumn

chapter fifteen

chapter sixteen

chapter seventeen

chapter eighteen

chapter nineteen

Spring

chapter twenty

chapter twenty-one

chapter twenty-two

chapter twenty-three

chapter twenty-four

chapter twenty-five

Early Millennial Years

chapter twenty-six

chapter twenty-seven

chapter twenty-eight

chapter twenty-nine

chapter thirty

chapter thirty-one

chapter thirty-two

chapter thirty-three

chapter thirty-four

chapter thirty-five

Middle Millennial Years

chapter thirty-six

Late Millennial Years

chapter thirty-seven

chapter thirty-eight

End of the Millennium

chapter thirty-nine

chapter forty

chapter forty-one

chapter forty-two

Eternity

chapter forty-three

For Woodie:

May the Lord turn his face toward you and give you peace.

Preface

C. S. Lewis once wrote that Jesus Christ was either a madman or the son of God. Christ’s teachings of love, mercy, and reconciliation set the world on its ear. Instead of humankind trying to approach God with individual good works, God reached down from heaven to offer the only pure and acceptable sacrifice for sin: his son. A radical change of thinking.

In this final installment of the Clashing Kingdoms series, I cited the Bible extensively. God says that he won’t do anything without first revealing his plans through his prophets so I mined his prophetic teachings to uncover a mother lode of promises. You’ll learn of God’s promises through his prophets Isaiah, Ezekiel, John, Daniel, and Zechariah.

As you read this book, I suspect you’ll think I’m a madwoman. You might tell yourself, These things will never come true but it makes an interesting story. Although I have an imagination, I lack the depth of wisdom, righteousness, and love that God pours into his teachings.

It’s no wonder the world thought God’s prophets were crazy because God’s plans are crazy. I can’t begin to count how many times I read Scripture—finally grasping a prophet’s words—then leaned back in my chair in awe of God’s design for the future. That’s why I cited Scripture so often in this series. You can believe the Bible or disbelieve it but you can’t discount the absolute wonder of its words. So I invite you now to explore the most fascinating subject I ever studied in my life: God’s perfect plan for the future as revealed by his biblical prophets thousands of years ago.

Acknowledgments

So many people deserve recognition for their help with this book. I thank those who consistently prayed for the project: Woodie and Sam Cousins, Deb and Reece Matoy, Dave and Sharon Conover, and John and Patty Southwick; and my illustrator, John Collado, who patiently drew a new world for me. To the outstanding professionals of Resource Publications: Matt Wimer and George Callihan thank you for your prompt attention, professional advice, and supportive guidance. You set the standard of publishing excellence which others in your organization—Karl Coppock, Rachel Saunders, and Shannon Carter—exemplify with quality editing, typesetting, and cover design.

And my faithful assets, Matt Higgins, John Southwick, Tim Hughes, and Verla Lockard, who volunteered their time and editing expertise to my book; your suggestions improved the story immensely and I appreciate your individual contributions. To everyone else who helped with this project, I thank you so much for a job well done!

List of Characters

1. Brant and Toynell Matthews, former valley residents

2. Brian and Lin

a. Dr. Chen, Lin’s father

3. Caleb and Wendy

4. Elizabeth, Beth, former valley resident

5. Emanuel Garcia, former valley resident

6. Gabriel and his wives, Alicia and Fana

a. Griz, black bear

b. Mary and Joe, Percheron horses

7. Jeremiah Miah and Nicole Rubinstein

a. Michele, infant daughter

b. Nora, toddler sister

c. Shadow, Border Collie

d. Sydney, Border Collie

8. Jim and Sara Wilkins, former valley residents

a. Mattie, Australian Shepherd

9. Juan and Rosa Peña, former valley residents

a. Ben, grade-school orphan

b. Juanita, infant daughter

c. Happy, Newfoundland

10. Marcus and Constance Washington, former valley residents

a. TJ, teenage son

b. Talia, teenage daughter

11. Monica, Army veteran and former valley resident

12. Nellie Markwell, former valley resident

a. Carl, orange tabby cat

13. Pastor Greg, former valley resident

14. Rick and Anna Perkins, lodge residents

a. Penny, teenage daughter

15. Ryan and Shirley McGuire, former valley residents

a. Jason, teenage son

b. Destiny, teenage daughter

16. Sean Mac and Patricia McFadden, former valley residents

a. James, preschool son

b. William, toddler son

Autumn

chapter one

With sweat beading on her forehead, the young woman clenched her fingers into fists. Tormented, wanting to scream, she bit her tongue to refrain from saying harsh words. When the pain subsided, she took a deep breath and opened her eyes. She studied a focal point attached to the ceiling above her head—an old photo of her family standing by the ocean. When the pain came upon her, she concentrated on the picture as a distraction. She usually kept her eyes open but now fatigue crept into this struggle, compounding the situation with daydreams. Probably as a result of her family photo, she imagined a battle between her and a sea monster: a conflict of vacillating pain and relief.

I’m going to live through this, she reminded herself. Grinding her teeth, I am going to live. Then the monster squeezed her with its tail. Not easy nudging in the gut, but extensive, sustained contractions—several minutes long—with short periods of rest in between.

Childbirth: a common killer of women and children before the onset of modern medicine. Unfortunately in the absence of modern medicine, women once again fought through the toil without epidurals, anesthesia, or surgery. But Rosa Peña was a determined fighter, a monster slayer.

During a break between contractions, Jim said, Alright, Rosa, stop panting. You can start pushin’ on the next contraction.

She exhaled heavily, Thank God!

When that next contraction began, Rosa tackled it, full force. She strained with all her might. She pushed to rid herself of this excruciating pain, she pushed to relieve her husband of his unrelenting worry, and she pushed to release her baby from her confining body. Using every muscle in her abdomen, Rosa fought with determination.

During her first push, she heard Juan whisper in her ear, You’re doin’ great, baby, we’re almost there . . . She groaned, bearing down on her abdomen.

Rosa caught her breath and pushed again, straining with the effort. This time she heard Jim say, Keep it up, Rosa, the baby’s head is coming through . . .

She gulped another breath—a swimmer gasping for air in this turbulent ocean—and suddenly she felt an abrupt surge of euphoria. The room exploded with cheers, laughter, and crying.

Rosa, you did it! rang Jim. You gotta a girl. A healthy, feisty, little girl!

Rosa dropped her head back against the pillow. She closed her eyes momentarily then snapped them back open to look at her baby. She reached her arms up, wiggling her fingers, beckoning to hold her child. After Jim neatly cleared the baby’s breathing passages and removed the umbilical cord, Sara placed the infant next to Rosa’s chest. Instinctively, the baby began to suckle her mother’s breast as both mother and daughter looked into each other’s eyes.

It was love at first sight. A love so strong that Rosa knew she would not let anything—absolutely anything!—harm her precious, perfect daughter. When this tigress of a woman glanced into her husband’s eyes, she laughed because she saw the same steely resolve shining from Juan’s dark eyes.

His baby girl. Juan beamed at his beautiful, strong wife and his baby girl. Juan sighed deeply; he thought his heart would burst with ecstasy. Juan leaned over his wife and child, gathered them into his arms and held them, murmuring fondly into their ears.

Smiling, Jim put his arm around Sara’s shoulders. Let’s give ‘em a minute; then we’ll clean up Rosa and the baby. Speaking a bit louder, Jim added cheerfully, Juan’s on his own. He knows where to bathe.

In a secluded, mountainous area eighty miles northwest of Jim’s lodge, Marcus Washington attended to his daily tasks. He and his group of valley refugees (his daughter, Talia, Ryan and Jason McGuire, Toynell Matthews, and Pastor Greg) now lived with a group of elderly Christians in a cluster of connected caves. Marcus started to brew a pot of tea in campfire coals before he walked the perimeter of rugged terrain around their home.

After steeping the leaves, Marcus—a robust figure once more—sauntered down to the livestock area. He commonly carried an extra mug of tea for his friend, Ryan, because Ryan cared for his animals before he considered his own needs. Ryan and his son, Jason, would be either milking their six cows or moving the large livestock to an adjoining meadow for grazing. This morning was no exception.

Mornin’, Ryan, greeted Marcus. He passed the hot mug to his friend.

Hey there. Ryan set his tea mug on a flat rock. Thank you, he said as he resumed milking his last cow. This morning the herd acted edgy, so Ryan spent extra time with each cow. How’re doin’, Marc?

Good. Marcus looked left and right. Where’s yer boy?

We heard some strange noises farther down the hill so Jason went to check it out.

Concerned, Marcus asked, Do you want to me to go down to see if Jason needs any help?

Yeah, why don’t cha? I’d feel better knowing that he had backup if there’s any problem.

Do you think it’s another group of looters?

No, I’d never send Jason by himself if that were the case, but the sounds were weird. Crunching, crackling sounds. Ryan stopped. He looked sheepishly at his friend, contemplating Marcus’s reaction to his next statement. "It wasn’t like anything living made the noises; it was like the mountains talked to each other."

Marcus stared at his friend, baffled. Mountains talking?

Yeah. One mountain would screech. Then across the hollow, another mountain would drop a few boulders, kinda groaning. Remembering the incidents, Ryan started talking slower. It was like . . . they were . . . talking to each other. Ryan’s eyes widened with fear as he imagined another explanation for the sounds. Without speaking, he jumped up, knocking over the milk bucket, scaring the cow. And Marcus.

Ryan ran out of the cave, screaming Jason’s name. As both men ran down the incline, Ryan continued calling Jason. When they heard Jason’s faint reply they ran toward his voice. The men quickly overtook Jason on a footpath leading to the milking area.

Ryan, shaking with fear, grabbed his son’s shoulders and stared into the young man’s face. Jason looked at his dad, puzzled. What’s wrong, dad?

Then, confirming Ryan’s greatest fear, the earth broke open. Again. But this earthquake far exceeded the previous quake that split the valley; this earthquake toppled mountains and opened a gaping hole which excreted lava. This earthquake formed a breach in the earth’s surface which released clouds of white steam and sulfuric gases.

The hills that provided caves for shelter and forests for fuel now became the enemy of all living creatures. Initially, the quake thrust a steep wall of granite through the existing mountain range, increasing altitudes by hundreds of feet, but the unstable granite towers tumbled into a parallel mountain ridge, wreaking greater havoc. Plumes of dust, ash, and debris swelled over the small mountain range, creating a suffocating atmosphere. Eyes and throats burned from gases and ears pounded from the deafening noise of mountains colliding together with tectonic force.

For terrified souls caught in the middle of this cataclysm, escape was futile. Crags collapsed on top of each other, filling the ravine with tons of crushed boulders, severed trees, and mounds of earth. From the fault, lava slowly oozed over the landscape burning vegetation and overtaking ground. Within this once-cloistered nook, every breathing creature—all animals and human beings—perished, entombed in granite and sandstone, shrouded with lava and ash. No one survived.

Although the earthquake’s epicenter occurred over a hundred miles away, Jim and Sara’s place in the Smoky Mountains sustained considerable damage. The lodge, an architectural masterpiece, withstood the tremor and its aftershocks; but many of the farms’ supporting structures—barns, sheds, fences—collapsed under the surges. Because of the earthquake’s morning arrival, animals penned in stalls and chickens in their coop suffered the most injuries. Almost everyone in the house, now a group of ten adults, rushed outside to rescue animals. Fortunately, only a few animals died but many needed medical attention.

In addition to the typical assortment of livestock (horses, geese, goats, and pigs) this farm also included llamas, a family of raccoons, and a bear. Remarkably, edging the property lived a host of wilder animals that stayed in the vicinity but maintained a guarded distance from humans. These untamed cousins appreciated the unusual protection granted by people but still preferred to live in hillside dens, obscure caves, or under roots rather than stay too close to the lodge. Despite their wildness, whenever strange phenomena happened, these woodland creatures huddled near the barns seeking safety, unafraid of people within the house.

Hours after this most recent earthquake, lodge residents spied emboldened forest animals intermingling with their domestic animals. Three skunks shared a bowl of milk with the cats; a wild boar ate slop with the pigs; and a mother fox stole a bone from the dog’s dishes.

Initially Sydney chased the fox away from her bowl but the pup only wanted to prove her brass to Shadow. Aware of the puppy’s motivation, the fox momentarily skipped away from the yard, but the wily, red mother slipped back into the gate, snatching the bone while Sydney flaunted her bravado to Shadow. Neither puppy could outrun a fox so the mother fox won another round of tag, and a juicy bone to share with her kits.

Miah smiled as he observed the interplay between the dogs and fox. Next to him stood Mattie, a full grown Australian Shepherd, who registered the action with her eyes but obeyed Miah’s command to stay. When the fox ran away with the bone, Mattie sat down resignedly; almost any dog could see that trick coming.

"Puppies," Mattie groaned.

When the two border collie puppies ran over to Mattie, they licked her nose, congratulating themselves on their bravery. Sydney yipped, I almost touched her tail! Did you see that, Shadow?

Yeah, he panted, prancing light-footedly, and if I hadn’t tripped in that hole, I woulda caught her!

Mattie tried to be as patient as her old friend Happy used to be with her but puppies could be so frustrating. Mattie stood up, turning her head impatiently to restrain their incessant kissing but the puppies continued to lick her face and nip her ankles for recognition. Mattie stepped away from their foolishness, glancing up at Miah for reprieve.

Miah bent down to pet all three dogs. Laughing, he pulled Mattie’s face close to his own. They love ya, Matilda! Mattie huffed. The puppies stepped back, their tails wagging and tongues lolling out of their mouths.

Come on, guys, let’s get busy. There’s a lot to clean up today. As Miah stepped toward Jim, the dogs ran nearby: Mattie trotted dutifully next to Miah’s heels and the puppies tumbled behind them, growling playfully.

Miah hailed, Hey, Pa! Whatta you want me to do first?

Jim looked over his shoulder at the young man. Standing in a half crouched position, Jim propped a horse’s bent leg on his knee. Having just finished suturing a cut on the horse’s ankle, Jim began applying an antibiotic ointment and dressing to the wound. Bring over any animals that need some doctorin’. Check the stables first; those guys got hit the hardest.

Will do.

Miah and the dogs followed a twisty route to reach the barn’s interior. First they crawled through a broken, split rail fence surrounding the barn then squirmed between mangled machinery. Although Miah couldn’t see anything, when he reached the barn doors, he heard the soft nickering and hoof stamping of horses. Miah climbed over fallen ceiling timbers and through a maze of bent or smashed tools before he reached the center of the barn.

Miah exhaled, Oh man, Joe. You took a real beating.

Joe looked at Miah with the pleading posture of an anguished giant. An adolescent Percheron, Joe required a lot of stall space, and his mother, Mary, required even more. Fortunately, Mary only suffered minor injuries but Joe needed a lot of medical attention.

Miah guessed a ceiling joint buckled and collapsed on the corner stall housing Joe. As the roof and walls crumbled around the helpless horse, wood caught in the downfall, splintered into a thousand pieces and scattered in every direction. A lot of those splinters flew into Joe’s face, cutting his nose to the bone, but fortunately his eyes remained unharmed.

Rather than bringing Joe to his father, Miah planned to bring the others into the foal’s stall. Although standing, Joe couldn’t move; but realizing the extensive surgery needed on Joe’s face, Miah assumed the less the colt moved, the better. Miah supposed that after Jim tended to the foal’s primary needs, they’d also need a team with saws and crowbars to remove lumber trapping the young horse. Miah sighed; he figured that helping Joe would demand almost everyone’s time today.

Miah climbed on top of a high mound of ceiling timbers inside the barn and yelled for help. Within minutes, he heard Juan respond. Miah described the situation to Juan and before long, Miah saw Jim climbing through the debris wearing his medical backpack trailed by Juan’s team of excavators. Throughout the day, everyone spent time in the barn helping Joe.

By evening, the rescuers moved all the living livestock into the newly repurposed four-car garage attached to their house. The garage was now a barn. They reasoned, Without gasoline, who needs a car anyway? So they pushed all the dusty vehicles out of the garage and carried in straw and fodder for the stock.

Exhausted, lodge residents stretched out in front of the living room’s massive fireplace, thankful to relax. Famished but comfortable. Almost everyone thought they’d fall asleep in their chairs without eating dinner.

But Sara revived them in her quiet, unassuming manner with the greatest surprise of the day. She carried out a round, flat dish covered with a tea towel. Mind if I slide this pizza into our fireplace oven? Each tired, hungry person sprawled over living room furniture nearly drooled at the thought of pizza, too shocked to speak. Is this some kinda cruel joke?

Finding his tongue, Jim exclaimed, Pizza? Where did you find stuff to make pizza?

She tossed the towel off the pizza stone to reveal a round, homemade crust topped with goat cheese and vegetables. You’d be surprised what I found buried in that astonishing kitchen, she noted. But I actually have another pizza waiting to be baked so let’s get started.

Energized by the promise of tasty food, not leaves or seeds, the group jumped out of their chairs to prepare for dinner. While they waited impatiently for their meal to bake, a few men rearranged furniture into a circle around a wooden coffee table and women poured glasses of water or milk. After Sara placed the first hot pizza on the coffee table, she said grace and dinner began. No one could remember a more satisfying meal! Working to the point of exhaustion then eating incredible food can make even the most bone weary