You know as well as I do that the Last Day will find each one of us facing either the reward of Paradise to enjoy the company of our family and friends for the next one thousand years and beyond, or the misery of the Dark Deserts to endure the torture of knowing we failed to do His will.
When that Last Day comes, no one knows but our Creator, and its arrival will surprise those that fight against the Creator’s people.
On that day do not be one of those surprised to find yourself on the wrong side.
On that day do not find yourself with a blade in hand ready to charge your brother or sister.
On that day be one of the many standing with the guide, having seen the signs and recognizing what is coming.
Before the Last Day will be a land tremor more powerful than any ever experienced. It will awaken the largest mountain and change all that we know in the world. Those changes will bring famine, death, and desperation to the world. And that desperation will cause the world’s army to seek to destroy the faithful of the Creator.
Be among those faithful to the Creator!
Be among those standing firm for what you know, having not so quickly forgotten His words to us!
Be among those who see the marvelous deliverance from the enemy the Creator will send us! For He will send deliverance before He sends destruction to those who fight Him!
Don’t destroy His structure for our survival. What you’re planning to do will ruin—
There was more he was trying to say, but he wasn’t allowed to. Mahrree read the following account of those who rushed the Great Guide—as he was remembered—while he stood on a large rock to address the people who came to him demanding changes to their world. With knives and stones they attacked him, shoving him off the boulder, then stabbing and beating him as he cried out for understanding and faith in what they had learned not so long ago. They didn’t like his words, so they silenced them.
No one came to his aid. Everyone else fled in fear, hiding in caves to avoid the confrontation. It was the first violence their ancestors had ever experienced, and bravery wasn’t something they had yet learned. They hadn’t yet made the connection that faith and courage were opposite ends of the same stick.
Each man who attacked Guide Hierum had personally known the Creator, had sat at His feet and learned from Him. But they chose to ignore all His teachings and words, as if overtaken by the power of the Refuser, and wanted to destroy the man who wouldn’t let them forget. The Last Day, they had reasoned, would be thousands of years away. Now was the time to live the way they wanted to live. If necessary, they could apologize for any wrong-doing later. It would be easy to get forgiveness, they rationalized. After a slap on the hand for their disobedience, the Creator would surely allow them into Paradise. He said He truly loved them, so why would He deny them what they truly wanted?
The only witness to the horror was one of Guide Hierum’s assistants, Clewus, who eventually became the next guide. He was hiding silently and safely in a tree by Guide Hierum’s command. The assistant wept as he wrote the Great Guide’s last words and watched his death. It was the first murder, and it was the end of the gloriously perfect peace they had enjoyed for the six years they had existed in the world.
The men who attacked the guide created a secret order of oaths they developed to control the most coveted piece of land they found. It was “eastward,” the only specifications The Writings gave to its location.
Mahrree was always intrigued by that. Didn’t that mean they used to live “westward”? Might their people actually have started in Terryp’s discovered land in the far west, beyond the desert of Sands? Might that have been one of the amazing discoveries Terryp made, that the king didn’t want known? The Writings were vague about the location of where the Creator had first placed them, and all of the other records kept from that time were destroyed in that fire so many years ago. So much lost, Mahrree sighed again in frustration. So many details about their origins and first years, gone forever.
Their ancestors had a better way of living, she was sure of it. But no one knew it now or even cared to rediscover it. There were hints and suggestions scattered all throughout The Writings, but no one bothered to put them all together. Mahrree frequently tried, as she did again that morning, but knew she was missing key pieces to an intriguing puzzle.
Perrin didn’t know any more than she did, and Rector Lunting actually skipped that section when he covered it a few weeks ago. Everyone always seems more interested in what the “awakening” of Mt. Deceit might mean, so useless speculation was all that was discussed that Holy Day.
Mahrree occasionally wondered if Shem might have any insights about how their ancestors first lived. He was constantly surprising them with his understanding and knowledge. Among other things.