Suddenly it was Charley’s turn to ask the questions. “Why not, Carl?”

“Very simple,” he replied. “When Mount Krakatoa, a volcano in Indonesia, erupted about a hundred years ago, the sky was so full of smoke and ash that the sun’s rays didn’t get through to much of the earth for nearly two years. If the meteor sets off volcanic activity throughout the Pacific Rim, from Central and South America all the way around to Borneo, then I have no doubt there will be enough ash in the sky to shut out the sunlight for a year or more—or several years, for that matter. And if that happens, the earth will enter a long winter, a global night.”

“I don’t want to think about that, Carl,” Lori said, shuddering as she closed her Bible.

“I’m afraid we don’t have a choice,” Charley said. “Carl is right on track.”

“But just think,” Carl continued. “Think how that will destroy agricultural production. It means millions of people will starve. Talk about hell! There will be hell on earth, not to mention what it will do to the economy of the whole world. If I’m right, Charley, I bet there won’t even be one of the present governments standing three years from now.”

There was silence in the room as the group considered the implications of Carl’s words.

“Listen, Charley,” Carl continued, “you, Dave, and Lori’s aunt Josephine know about all these things that I’ve never even thought about before. But I’ll tell you right now, in my opinion the Bible simply could not be this accurate unless it was written by someone with intelligence beyond anything we know as human. And if that’s so, the Bible has to hold the mystery of what’s next. So, are you guys gonna help us to find out what’s next?”

Charley sat forward on the edge of his chair and replied softly, “You have my word, Carl.” Then he stood up, and as if on some unstated signal, the others stood up too.

“Are you an investor, Carl?” Charley asked.

“Yeah,” he answered. “You know . . . a little of this and that, but I’m not a pro at it.”

“Dave is a pro at it,” Charley said. “At least, he has some good pros working for him. But when I first began to see that times were going to get tough around here, I bought fifty thousand bushels of soybeans and rented a storage facility to hold them. I went long a thousand contracts of September beans, and it looks like I’ve turned a pretty good profit. We should have enough supplies and extra cash to help a lot of God’s people.”

As they walked back toward the center of the house, Carl threw an arm around Charley’s shoulder. “I don’t believe you and Dave! One minute we’re talking prophecy and worldwide disaster, and now this! Sure, Charley, you’re just a poor, simple, barefoot ex-coach—who just happened to pick up a cool ten million dollars on one phone call. You two guys amaze me!”