An incarnation story for one of Revelation 11’s two witnesses
The Beginning: Prelude to the Apocalypse
Author: Bruce S. Campbell (www.brucecampbell.com)
Publisher: Carpenter’s Son Publishing
Pages: 201
Revelation 11 identifies two witnesses that will prophesy at the end of time. Who are they and could they be alive today?
In The Beginning, author Bruce Campbell imagines a present day story for Enoch (Genesis 5), one of the suspected candidates for this high calling. In Genesis he is described as the man who walked with God, and was not, because God had taken him. Like the Old Testament prophet Elijah, He never tasted death.
Initially unaware of his past and having no clue as to his destiny, Enoch grows up agnostic and becomes a successful carpenter in New Orleans. With knowledge and science as the means by which he views all of life, he is content to spend free time in the bars with his drinking buddies, engaging in philosophic discussion.
Unbeknownst to him, two opposing forces are at work in relation to his unrealized vocation. Along the way he can’t help but notice strange events peculiar to him. A firm disbeliever in the supernatural, he finds it increasingly difficult to reconcile his experiences through rational explanation. Even so, he stubbornly clings to what is knowable through the senses.
Ultimately, he must make a choice: hold to a rationalistic interpretation of events and enjoy the freedom to chart his own course, or acknowledge what he cannot yet understand but must accept, in part, by faith.
Eventually, as the struggle for his allegiance intensifies, temptation becomes more pronounced. He receives an offer that will give him a life of ease but will be the equivalent of selling his soul. The alternative is becoming a spokesperson for a being that he has never acknowledged. Just the thought of it is inconceivable. Acceptance of this call will involve sacrifice and eventually death. His soul hangs in the balance, being persuasively swayed one moment by one side and then the other.
An interesting theme is the rise of the feminine at the expense of the masculine towards the end of the age. It’s not hard to read this into today’s news. Is this one of the signs of the times? Some might think it sexist. How does the feminine/masculine play out in the Godhead?
I’m not sure about some of the theology, and this could benefit from additional editing, but I appreciate the original thought. The intrigue kept me turning the pages.
How will Enoch escape the allure and trap of temptation? What will lead him to accept that which transcends knowledge and goes beyond analysis?
It may be a familiar dilemma, but I was wondering what would happen. Thinking through the issues raised can lead to wisdom, which in large part is what this story is about.
A 61 page companion study guide with space for notes is available separately.
Michael Dalton
