#3 Johnny: Possession of The Left Behind
Johnny is brought to utter regret as he reads his father & mother's journals.
Johnny, The Day After, is a flash short story series. Join Johnny in his degenerate journey into the mystic world of the new global Chancellor. Experience his loneliness, pain, sorrow, and rebellion as he adjusts to being one of many who are left behind after the Rapture.
New to Johnny? Read chapter one HERE and chapter two HERE.
As Johnny sat on the front porch of Angra’s home, the two began plotting the best method of joining forces with the new world Chancellor. Angra revealed how he is a direct descendant of the worshipers of Diabolus, a group who mastered the art of summoning spirits for power. Johnny being young and naive, found this idea to be intriguing.
Angra explained his family’s history regarding what he believed to be the real story behind Diabolus being removed from God’s heaven, claiming God & Diabolus had disagreements, and God settled on giving Diabolus his domain, the earth. Since that day, Diabolus has been developing his empire. He was telling Johnny that the day for Diabolus’s success had arrived. He further explained that Diabolus had to remove all the believers of the God of Heaven to rule the new world order of this kingdom. Johnny immediately had one of his questions answered.
He told Angra he was tired and needed to think about their discussion.
After Johnny returned home, he made a beeline to his father's notebooks on Biblical prophecies. He opened the notebook titled “The Time of Tribulation.” At the top of the first page was the notation of “The Final Season of Human History.” Well, that certainly piqued his interest for Johnny. The first paragraph read:
The Tribulation is a brief, brutal seven-year period immediately after the Rapture filled with unprecedented horrors, upheavals, persecutions, natural disasters, massive death tolls, and political turmoil, lasting until Jesus Christ’s physical return to earth.
Under that paragraph, Johnny's attention was captured. It read, God, please open the mind of my little Johnny to accept the things yet to come.
Even though guilt was overpowering Johnny, he continued to read.
The Tribulation is a time of blistering judgment and withering destruction as God pours out His judgment on rebellious humanity.
Again, Johnny reads a personal plea from his father’s notes: Lord, all of my household believes your immovable truth except my Johnny. What will become of him? Will he ever accept the immovable Truth of your warnings and end-time pronouncements? God save my boy!
In the back of Johnny’s mind, he admits that such a Tribulation is a natural consequence of the Rapture. He saw with his own eyes that the moment after this devastating event, every person he talked to slipped into a vestige of spiritual and moral decline and withdrew from all knowledge of Truth, which included himself. Johnny likened it to a broken dam; the world has become engulfed with evil and swamped by selfishness, self-opinions, and self as god. Amid this revelation, an inner voice spoke over Johnny’s thoughts. I am he. Your father’s words are for not. He is gone. He left you to fend for yourself. I am here, and he is not. Instantly, Johnny’s heart was hardened.
He dropped his father’s notebook and got his mother’s private journal. Opens it to page one. Front and center was the statement, “My Johnny’s Tribulation.” The paragraph under this quote was, Father, I implore You to encourage my boy to have a strong passion for reading Your Holy Word. Please show him the major players of this evil world. Cause him to be sickened by his lust for rebellion. Open his eyes to the prophets of Your Word. Reform my Johnny into a man like Daniel, who can decern the real Christ from the Antichrist of our times. Move my son to confirm the New Covenant of our Savior in his heart.
Johnny began to sob uncontrollably. He missed his mother. He missed her hand stroking his hair, holding him close in times of despair, and offering him sweet words of encouragement. But yet, his heart seemed to be darkening by the moment. As he got up from the couch, he roamed his empty house. Touching the things that had fawn memories attached to them, each item produced more and more loneliness; after that, loneliness ushered in more temptations to detach from his heritage.
Coming up next: FROM BAD TO WORST