“Thankfully, that world is now behind us,” Sheila said. “I did contribute a little. I introduced Thomas to the aura glasses.”
Wiley gave Sheila a hug. “Just another part of the lameness. Although they were quite clever really. They did indicate who was considering crossing over to the other side.”
“Like traffic lights.”
They looked at Jack as if unsure his comment was an attempt at humour.
Jack raised his hands. “Just aligning to real life examples. Old life examples, anyway.”
“I remember those strange glasses,” Sally said.
Wiley’s attention was elsewhere, on the other lady.
“Well, it was nice touching base with you all again and in better circumstances. I need to say hello to someone.” He looked in the direction of a lady, her arm resting on the shoulder of a young boy. “Yes, I need to say hello to someone special.”
“That’s Camellia and Wiley’s son.”
“The world, Jack. It was in such a mess.”
“It’s been fixed, Cath. I’m just not sure about this timeline detective thing. Do you think they were just having us on?”
“Nope. I often wondered if déjà vu had something to do with parallel worlds. I would love to find out and I believe I will.”
“Do you think what we saw with Wiley is something that occurs regularly? You know, lives getting rewound and people getting another shot?”
“I don’t know but the biggest thing I learned is the importance of prayer. Maybe prayer had the power to turn back time. I wished I knew that back there.” She laughed. “I could go back along the timeline and rectify a few things.”
Leo appeared next to Jack. His mode of transport: thought travel.
“Jack, Cath, got a minute? I have something to show you.”
Eschatology glossary
I hope you enjoyed the story about the last days—the greatest event in history, the ending of history as we know it. The study of the last days is referred to as eschatology and presents many differing views and ideas. I have provided a summary of these views in the terms section below.
My story outline was different to those presented by the popular end times books such as The Late Great Planet Earth, and the Left Behind series. Those books were massive best sellers and introduced readers to dispensational premillennialism (definition below). Many readers will have their own views of the last days which may be different to that presented in my story. By all means, hold on to your own view, but focus on the key message: Christ is returning for his church. On that point, nearly all Christians agree.
Here is a summary of terms for you.
Terms
I researched both Protestant and Catholic glossaries and decided on the following for its simplicity. Unless otherwise quoted, the following definitions have been sourced from Carl E. Olson, Will Catholics Be “Left Behind”? A Catholic Critique of the Rapture and Today’s Prophecy Preachers (San Francisco: Ignatius Press, 2003), 359-366
Amillennialism (‘a’ being a negation prefix): The belief that the millennium of Revelation 20:1-7 refers to a time of fullness such as the current Church age and not to a literal one thousand year period of time. While amillennialists disagree about what the millennium is or will be, they do agree it will not be a future, earthly reign of Christ.
Apocalypse: From the Greek word meaning ‘unveiling’ or ‘revelation’. In Christian doctrine, it refers to the unveiling of Jesus Christ as King and Lord that will occur at the end of time at the Parousia, the Second Coming.
Churchage: Pertains to a period of God’s people in the history of God’s people. The current Church age could be considered the period of time from Pentecost to the rapture (author’s definition).
Dispensation: An era of history with a distinct beginning and end. Dispensationalists commonly believe there are seven dispensations in history, each beginning with a test from God and ending with man failing the test.
Dispensationalpremillennialism: Generally, holds that Israel and the Church are distinct entities. It also widely holds to the pretribulation return of Christ, which believes that Jesus will return to take up Christians into heaven by means of a rapture immediately before a seven-year worldwide tribulation.
(https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dispensationalism#Premillennial_dispensationalism, accessed 05/11/2020).
Eschatology: Study of ‘the last things’, especially death, judgment, heaven, and hell (individual eschatology). This branch of theology also examines the nature of the Kingdom of God, especially as it relates to history, the Parousia, the end of time, and the Last Judgment (general eschatology).
Futurism: The belief that all or most of the book of Revelation describes future events and provides readers with a detailed explanation of those approaching events. Premillennial dispensationalists are futurists, but not all futurists are premillennial dispensationalists.
LastJudgment: The belief that Christ, at his Second Coming, will ‘judge the living and the dead’ (Catechism of the Catholic Church [CCC], 1997, para. 682). Jesus spoke of this future event in various ways, using images of wheat and chaff being separated (Matt 13:24-40, 36-43), the sorting of the good and bad fish (Matt 13: 47-50), and the separation of the sheep and the goats (Matt 25:31-46).
(Catechism of the Catholic Church (2nd ed.). (1997). https://www.scborromeo2.org/catechism-of-the-catholic-church.)
Millennium: Variously used as a thousand year, or a very long, reign of Christ, usually situated on earth. Literally, ‘a thousand years’. Based on Revelation 20:1-10, the meaning of the millennium has been disputed among Christians for many centuries. Dispensationalists believe it refers to a future, earthly reign of Christ, while most other Christians, including Catholic, Orthodox, and many Protestants, believe it represents the current Church age.
Parousia: Literally, ‘presence’, It refers to the Second Coming of Jesus Christ, the end of time, and the surrounding events.
Premillennialists: The return of Jesus will occur prior to the millennium, which is envisioned to be an earthly, utopian period, usually a thousand years in length.
Postmillennialists: The belief that Jesus Christ will return after a millennial period, which will be a time of unknown length during which the majority of the world is Christianised.
Preterism: The belief that the events depicted in the prophetic texts of the New Testament—especially the book of Revelation and Matthew 24—have already transpired. Partial preterists believe most, but not all, of those prophecies have been fulfilled. Preterists regard the destruction of the Jerusalem Temple in AD 70 as a key event in New Testament prophecy.
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About The Unseen Series
Thank you for reading The Last Gentile - the fourth book in the series exploring the supernatural.
Well history has come to an end. But there are stories to be told about those that travel the timeline. In preparation for my next series, I needed to prepare the reader for the next journey. Narratives of the Guardians is a novella complementing The Unseen Series. The narratives is an in-between book revealing the background workings of unseen entities in some of the story scenes you've just read. The narratives then move into the future with glimpses of stories yet untold.
Here’s a snapshot of the characters featuring in the narratives and where they appeared in The Unseen Series:
Ollie Fernshaw is first encountered when he appears briefly in The Last Gentile.
Aaron Fitzpatrick is one of the main characters in Dead Man’s Journey. He also makes an appearance in Demon Whispers.
Lucas Fell is the villain in Dead Man’s Journey but becomes a good guy in Demon Whispers.
Buddies Chris ‘Churchie’ and Wally entertain us in Dead Man’s Journey and Under a Blue Moon.
Mackenzie Gordon is encountered in Dead Man’s Journey and Demon Whispers.
Isabella Rose is one of the main characters in Demon Whispers.
Detectives Jack Kinnaird and Catherine York appear in Under a Blue Moon and The Last Gentile.
Ruby Fisher is one of the main characters in Under a Blue Moon.
