When Carl and Nicole arrived at El Refugio, Lori was at the head of the pack, as more than a dozen of their friends gathered around praising the Lord and clinging to the two weary travelers. Questions were flying faster than Carl could think or speak, but when he paused to introduce his new friend and fellow adventurer, he got the greatest surprise of all.

John Edwards, who had seen the commotion from the upstairs window, came down and joined the group on the lawn. He approached them with his hands together at his waist, almost as if he had been praying. But from that moment on, no further introductions were needed. The crowd seemed to separate on cue, and the whole scene moved as if in slow motion. As John approached Carl’s friend, Nicole, she saw his face, saw his outstretched arms, and ran to meet him.

“Daddy,” she cried as she embraced him.

“Nicole,” John Edwards sobbed into her long brown hair. “You’re here. Thank God, you’re safe! I was afraid I’d never see you again!”

Over the next two hours, the crowd in John Edwards’s spacious den continued to grow until the room was packed. Sitting side by side on the long sofa, the beloved pastor and his long-lost daughter told of the differences that had separated them years before, and how Nicole had simply disappeared and stopped writing or calling home. What made the moment so touching was that they had not spoken to each other from that time to this, and they were learning about each other while surrounded by, and being supported by, people who had given their lives to the Lord. John Edwards and his daughter were rebuilding a relationship that only God could have put back together again.

At one point, Carl interrupted, “Nicole, back there in Dallas . . . I had no idea!”

“Me either,” said the young woman. “I didn’t know my father had moved out here after Mother died. I didn’t know anything about El Refugio. And all I knew about the Voice of the Mountains was those few pamphlets I read—I guess I was too busy with other things! So this was all a surprise for me too. But, Mr. Throneberry, I thanked you before for writing those words that brought me back to Jesus. How can I ever thank you now for bringing me back to my daddy?”

No words were needed. That moment said it all.

FORTUNATELY FOR THE COMMUNITIES helped by Carl and Lori in the weeks that followed, the Antichrist was focusing his attention more and more on his own debauched lifestyle while ignoring minor seditions in the hinterlands. A systematic approach to worldwide terror became less and less a viable option for the leader of the corrupt Babylon.