The Last Judgment by Craig Parshall Read Free Book Online Page B

kitchen table with his plate and coffee cup in his hand. He put them on the counter next to the sink and wrapped his arms around his wife.
    â€œI think those days are over,” Will said. “I’m very content with the quiet life of a country lawyer in Monroeville, Virginia…herein the scenic shadows of the Blue Ridge Mountains…with my lovely gospel-singing wife at my side…”
    Will had a bit of a smirk on his face as he started sounding like a cheesy TV ad.
    â€œI can always tell when you’re being sarcastic,” Fiona said. “You get that nasty little twinkle in your eye. You get the same look that Andrew does when he’s trying to weasel out of some of his chores on the weekend.”
    â€œOh—I meant to ask you, when are you going to talk to Angus next?” Will asked.
    â€œActually, I was going to stop about five today and head over to the care center to see Da, which means that I won’t be around for dinner. Want me to pick something up?”
    â€œNo, don’t worry about it. I’ll get something on the way home tonight.”
    Mentioning Fiona’s dad brought something to Will’s mind.
    â€œYou know, with the news about this Deuteronomy Fragment and all the discussion in the media about whether it’s authentic—what it means for the geopolitics of the Middle East, all the interviews with the archaeologists on TV—I just wish your dad could be more aware of what’s going on. If things were different, I would love to see him take this one on.”
    â€œYou know, before his stroke and heart attack, Da chased the rumors about the Deuteronomy Fragment for years. In Israel. Into Jordan and Egypt. He was looking at the possibility of traveling up into Syria. He really wanted to be the person to expose it…because he had this feeling it was going to be another example of fraudulent archaeology. I appreciate your not talking to Da about it, though. I really don’t want to get him overexcited.”
    â€œYeah—and he’d sure get excited about what Len said at the Institute for Freedom banquet the other night. One of his cryptic remarks from the podium.”
    â€œWhich one? There were several.”
    â€œThe one about the Temple. The business about the ‘son of perdition.’ You remember it?”
    â€œYes. How could I forget? Dear Len, bless his heart…have you talked with him since then?”
    â€œI did try to call him the next day. I feel a little guilty that we haven’t had much contact lately. I wanted to take him out to lunch. Catch up on things. But he’s not answering his voice mail. You know he’s up there in the mountains, in that cabin—alone. I’m hearing all kinds of things about him. He’s pretty much abandoned any work in the legal field. He’s not writing any more law-review articles. Not publishing any legal treatises. Not teaching at the law school anymore.”
    â€œWhat about the Temple?” Fiona prompted.
    â€œIt took me a while, but I found the reference. Len was talking about the ‘son of perdition’—that he would be ‘sitting in the temple of God’—that’s what I wanted to check on. I had read it before. I knew it was somewhere in the New Testament. I thought to myself, Book of Revelation? No. Then I remembered that it was in the epistles of Paul.”
    â€œSo, what was the verse?”
    â€œLet me read it to you,” Will said. He walked over to a Bible that was on an end table next to the couch in the great room. “Here it is. Second Thessalonians, chapter two, verses three through five. Paul is talking about the second coming of Jesus Christ…and the signs of the times—
    Let no one deceive you by any means; for that Day will not come until the falling away comes first, and the man of sin is revealed, the son of perdition, who opposes and exalts himself above all that is called God or that is