Apocalypse of Jude

Caul sits before an old woman, in a circle among others. This is not the first time he has seen her in his dreams. He has often seen her praying alone. But this time she is speaking.

“If only this town knew whose union it is so blaspheming. But people here are fools despising both wisdom and discipline. If they knew, they would see the birds slowly gathering for great supper of God, so that they might eat the flesh of kings and mighty men and of men, free and slave, small and great. But they do not know, because they have chosen to obscure the Spirit’s counsel that to fear the Lord is the beginning of knowledge. Otherwise they would have known that Enoch, seventh from Adam, prophesied that the Lord is coming with ten thousand of his saints to judge everyone and to convict all the ungodly of all the ungodly acts they have done, and of all the harsh words ungodly sinners have spoken against Him.

“If they knew this then, they would see that heaven even now stands open before their fornication, with the white rider called Faithful and True about to spit out the faithless bride, and host this feast of the birds with the faithful bride dressed in white, riding out behind Him, His robe dripping with the blood of ten thousand saints. And for their blood, he will give his faithful the blood of those that slew them. He will tread the winepress of God’s fury upon them, for He is called King of Kings and Lord of Lords.

“If this town had knowledge, then this is what they would see. But they don’t know because they do not seek to know. With red sullen faces they sneer and snarl and shout out in vanity from the doors of their mudcracked houses, where is God that we should give Him witness? But beware. The four angels that for eternity have been bound at the Euphrates will soon be released and be given authority to kill a third of man with plagues of sulphur, fire and smoke.

“Now to the remnant who have remained faithful, who have not worshipped the beast or his image, who have through their faith enabled their offspring to fill the earth with God’s glory; your time to rule and judge the nations is coming to a close, after which you will go to your first death over which the evil one has no power. This then is now the time of your final hour, during which it will be given you to bring forth through your faith, the true visions of the One who created you, so that He can complete the great work begun in you, and so that the world may know the I AM.

“Soon you will see the sun become like sackcloth and the moon dim the tides with blood. A great earthquake will split the great city into three. Stars will tumble like ripe fruit from a tree and the sky will close as a book snapped shut. No more will man seek to read in the narrative of God the vanity of his own fortune. No. All men of every status will be made alike to cower in caves of mountains begging to be hid from the wrath of the Lamb.

“But we do not need to be afraid. For we are the faithful and most beautiful of brides. We are indestructible, for our salvation was sealed even before the four horsemen rode out and covered the world with conquest, strife, scarcity and death. Even now we stand before the throne of God in robes washed white by the blood of the Lamb. Neither can we hunger, nor can we thirst, the sun cannot burn us, nor death overcome us, for we have been led by the Lamb at the centre of the throne of God to ever living springs of water.

“In these then, our final days, let ill be to you no ill, but only grace in the form of Christ’s mystery. And by this grace let loss enrich you, let sickness heal you and ridicule be your honour. For to your death you will go and it will be to your gain.”

Wasteland Mix: Fragment 89