.. . And then shall arise a contemptible one whom royal majesty has not been given. He shall come by counterfeit means and obtain the Kingdom by flatteries. Armies shall be swept away before him and broken ... and he shall act deceitfully and he shall become strong with a small people. Without warning he shall come into the richest parts; and he shall do what neither his fathers nor his fathers' fathers have done, scattering among the people plunder, spoils, and goods. He shall devise plans against strongholds, he shall exalt himself and magnify himself above every God, and shall speak astonishing things against the God of Gods. He shall prosper until the indignation is accomplished, for what is determined shall be done.

Thorn rummaged through his desk and found a cigarette, then poured himself a glass of wine. He wandered about the room, forcing his mind to deal with his research, to shut out the uneasiness of what he had seen upstairs. When the Jews returned to Zion, Christ was again to be born. And as Christ would be born, so would the Anti-Christ, both growing separately until their final confrontation. Thorn stood over his books, thumbing through them again.

Behold the day of the Lord, a cruel day, a day of wrath and burning fury which will reduce the earth to solitude ... and I shall make men more rare than fine gold ... more rare than the gold of Ophir.

Then, in the Book of Zechariah:

One will seize the hand of the other and they will lift up their swords against each other. He will call for a sword against them unto all his mountains, and every man's word will turn against his brother.

Thorn sat down again, gripped by the violence of what the prophecies foretold.

Behold the fury with which the Lord will strike all the peoples who have made war against Jerusalem! Their flesh will fall in rottenness while they are standing on their feet. Their eyes will rot in their sockets and their tongues will rot in their mouths.

Thorn knew the tide of the world was turning against Israel; the Arabs, with their oil, were now too powerful for anyone to stand against. If God's wrath were to turn against the nations that made war on Jerusalem, it was destined to turn against them all. It was prophesied that Armageddon, the final battle, would take place in the arena of the Israelites, with Jesus standing on one side, on the Mount of Olives, the Anti-Christ on the other.

Woe to you, Oh Earth and Sea, for the Devil sends the beast with wrath, because he knows the time is short. . . . Let him who hath understanding reckon the number of the beast, for it is a human number, its number is six hundred and sixty-six.

Armageddon. The end of the world. The battle over Israel.