Birth Pangs of the Coming Age | Chapter 17

The gate is narrow and the way is hard that leads to life, and those who find it are few. (Matthew 7:14)

Previously . . . Satan and his followers were cast down from heaven to earth. The La Palma volcano and earthquake produced a 150-foot mega-tsunami that destroyed cities all around the Atlantic basin. Satan’s last-ditch plan is to unite all mankind in rebellion against God, as in the Tower of Babel. The United Nations commanded every person to pledge allegiance to the UN’s 17 Sustainable Development Goals or be cut off from the global economic system.

Chapter 17

What To Do?

Ketchikan, Alaska, October 11th

The morning after Lilith’s speech, Katie and Ethan arrived for their 24-hour shift at 5:50 am. She pre-flighted her helicopter and checked the weather while Ethan inventoried his medical equipment and supplies.

By 0730, they were both heading indoors to the ready room. She went directly to the computer to research the UN SDGs.

With the painful consequences of her vaccine mandate experience fresh in her memory, she wanted to sign the pledge. She didn’t want to lose her job, be cut off from the economic system, and have Lilith hunting her as an outlaw.

At https://sdgs.un.org/goals the 17 SDGs all sounded lofty and admirable, aim to end world hunger, poverty, and wars, etc. She read the high-level description for each SDG and saw nothing she disagreed with. She heartily agreed with ending world hunger, treating everyone with respect, and striving for world peace, etc. To her surprise, she didn’t see any language that opposed her faith.

Maybe we’ll be able to sign the pledge after all.

But she kept hearing Uncle Andy’s voice in her head, saying, “Read between the lines.”

Then she noticed the icons for SDGs 5 and 10 incorporated an equality ‘=’ symbol, the symbol homosexual advocates like to use on bumper stickers.

That’s a bad sign. Could be a problem.

Even though the SDG descriptions avoid explicit references to the LGBT community, these symbols are an obvious signal to them, communicating that these two SDGs will support their interests.

Within minutes, she discovered a website that details how the LGBT community can promote their agenda through the SDGs. https://ocm.iccrom.org/documents/sustainable-development-goals-and-lgbt-inclusion.

Okay . . . but just because homosexuals plan to promote their agenda through the SDGs, and the symbols on SDGs 5 and 10 seem to pander to that crowd, that doesn’t mean straight people can’t support the stated SDG goals too.

Ethan sat nearby, reading the Wilderness Long-Term Survival Guide. She asked, “What do you think about the UN pledge of allegiance? Are you going to sign it?”

“I don’t know. I haven’t looked into it yet. Are you?”

“I want to, but I don’t know. I feel pulled in two directions about it.”

After a minute, he asked, “What would Uncle Andy do?”

“He’d do what I’m doing. He’d research it to see if there’s any problem complying with it.”

“There you go then. You’re on the right track. You’re smart, and you’ll figure it out.”

She smiled at him, but she was thinking, You’re no help. I was hoping you’d tell me what to do.

After lunch, she went to Bill Cassidy’s office. His door was open, and she could see he was reading at his desk. She gently knocked on his door frame.

He looked up and gestured with his hand. “Come in, Katie.”

She sat across from him. “Bill, I assume you know about the mandate for everyone to pledge allegiance to the UN SDGs. What do you think about it?”

“It’s all politically-correct hooey.” After a pause, he continued, “But the America we grew up in is gone. Our new overlords are a steel fist in a velvet glove. The guidance I just received is to immediately terminate any employee who doesn’t sign by the 20th. And, as soon as I fire them, I have to send their social security number to the new government so their CBDC account can be frozen.”

Katie said, “That’ll be a death sentence for most people. They won’t be able to buy food, pay rent, or heat their houses.”

“Yep. That’s the steel fist part. The velvety glove is all the flowery, do-gooder language they wrap it in. I don’t like it, but if I don’t enforce their fascist dictates, they’ll either replace me or shut down KMS. And they don’t even need to send their DHS goons in to do it. They can simply type into a computer and freeze our company’s CBDC account. We couldn’t buy fuel or make payroll. Within two weeks, we’d be totally out of fuel and out of business.”

As she got up to leave, she said, “Thanks, Bill.”

That answers my question about the consequences of not signing.

***

Two hours before sunset, Katie and Ethan got dispatched to rescue a fisherman mauled by a bear. He and a companion were in a forest service shelter at Wolf Lake, a short, overland flight from Ketchikan.

When they took off, the ceiling over Ketchikan was at 500 feet, in steady drizzle and one mile visibility. But the ceiling and visibility were forecast to get worse, and it would be dark soon.

Their Cassidy-approved plan was for Katie to fly low, below the clouds, up to Wolf Lake. They’d triage and load the patient, then climb into the clouds for a night instrument approach into Ketchikan International Airport. An ambulance would then transport the patient from the helicopter to the hospital.

Their route would take them to Ward Cove, then northeast up a valley to Harriet Hunt Lake, then straight north to Upper Wolf Lake. The shelter was at the northwest tip of the lake.

As they passed Harriet Hunt Lake, the weather deteriorated worse than forecast, with the clouds coming down to the ground. To stay in visual contact with the terrain, Katie had to keep descending until they were barely 15 feet over the treetops. She was thankful for her GPS. It made navigation easy.

It was like driving a car through a heavy fog. As long as you can see the white line on the right and the yellow line on your left, you know you’re in your lane. But you can’t see very far ahead, so you follow the tail lights of the car ahead, hoping they don’t make a sudden stop. Katie didn’t have any tail lights to follow, so she slowed her airspeed down to 40 knots to give her enough reaction time in case a tall tree suddenly appeared in their path. Ethan sat in the copilot’s seat, with his finger close to the intercom button, in case he saw something she didn’t.

After ten tense minutes, they flew over the Wolf Lake shelter at treetop level. Ethan said, “I see a guy waving at us down there.”

“That’s good,” Katie said, “I’ve gotta find a place to land.”

The lake’s shoreline had towering trees that went all the way down to the water’s edge.

Hovering over the lake and facing the shelter, Katie and Ethan saw two men, one prone and one standing. Their float plane was anchored to the shore nearby. The pilot must be the one that got mauled or they would’ve flown themselves out.

Katie slowly hovered around the shoreline, searching for a place big and flat enough to land, but not too far from the patient.

Finally, she found a small clearing in the forest, 200 feet north of the patient, and hovered straight down into it.

From above, it looked flat, but it wasn’t level. For Ethan’s safety, Katie turned the chopper so Ethan’s door would face downhill, making the spinning rotor blades higher on that side.

As soon as they touched down, Ethan jumped out, grabbed his medical bag and a folding stretcher, and headed into the forest toward the men. Katie reduced the throttle to idle to save fuel as she planned her return flight.

Forty-five minutes later, Katie saw the three men approaching. Katie got out and opened the sliding door.

The bear had peeled back about 8 inches of the man’s scalp and hair, exposing his bloody skull. He also had deep punctures and gashes in his face.

Don’t look back.

Ethan and the other man helped the patient lay onto the gurney in the rear cabin. As Ethan wrapped him in a blanket and started an IV, Katie slid the cabin door closed.

To his companion she yelled above the idling turbine, “Are you coming with us?” When she turned toward him, he momentarily fixated on her scar.

“I can’t fly the plane, so I guess so. I’ll have to come back for our stuff.”

She opened the copilot door for him. “Okay, hop in.” The rain was cold, and she was getting soaked. She helped him strap in, then secured his door.

Back in her pilot’s seat, Katie turned up the heat, then gave the man a headset. After he put it on, she said, “Here’s the button to talk on the intercom. Make sure you don’t touch anything else.” Gosh, I hope that didn’t sound too harsh.

“Okay.” He said, sheepishly.

It was almost dark.

Katie switched on the searchlight and adjusted it to point forward and down at a slight angle to prepare for takeoff. She turned the red cockpit instrument lights up to their full brightness.

She tried to contact ATC, but no luck. That’s not good. If we have any problems during takeoff, nobody will know where we are, or that we need help. But, in these conditions, even if they knew we needed help, they couldn’t send it until tomorrow. So, let’s not have any problems. Think positive!

Katie adjusted the windshield wipers and defroster controls. Darkness, fog, and rain limited her outside visibility to 50 feet. I sure don’t want to be looking inside to change something after we get in the clouds. She double-checked that her communication and navigation radios were all correctly tuned, and did one last check of all the other cockpit switches.

When she was satisfied everything in the cockpit was set properly, she turned toward the man in the copilot’s seat and casually said, “Sorry, I forgot to ask. I’m Katie. What’s your name?”

He looked at her like a whipped dog. Fumbling with the intercom button, he said, “Chuck.”

He looked familiar, but she couldn’t place where she’d seen him before. She held out her hand to shake hands with him. In a calming voice, she said, “Nice to meet you, Chuck. First time in a helicopter?”

“Yes. It’s really different from Howard’s float plane.”

“Yes, it is. I like to fly float planes too, but they are quite different. We’re just about ready for takeoff, Chuck. We’ll have you and your buddy back in Ketchikan within thirty to forty-five minutes, depending on air traffic control. Do you have any questions before we take off?”

“He’s not my buddy. He’s my husband.”

“Oh, okay.”

Then she remembered where she’d seen him before. Chuck was on Lilith’s security detail.

Concerned, he blurted out, “Yes, I have one question. How can we take off when we’re surrounded by all these trees?”

Katie and Chuck heard loud, incoherent groans from the rear cabin.

“Good question Chuck. That’s the advantage of a helicopter. We don’t need a runway to take off.” Pointing up at the rotor blades, she said, “These rotor blades make it possible for us to climb straight up. It’ll feel different from riding in an airplane, but don’t worry, it’s a normal maneuver and I’ve done it a hundred times.”

She smiled at him confidently, but she was thinking, Yeah, but I’ve never done this maneuver in the dark, in a narrow, hundred-foot hover hole, with low visibility, in ice-cold rain and fog.

“Okay, Chuck, I think we’re all ready up here. Try to sit back, relax, and enjoy your first helicopter flight.” Chuck smiled in response, but he looked nervous. I don’t have time for any more coddling. Time to ‘man up’ Chuck.

“Ethan, let me know when you’re ready.”

“We’re Ready.”

As her left hand twisted the throttle, both turbine engines spooled up, doubling the aircraft’s noise and vibrations as their RPM came up to full speed. The rotor blurred overhead.

“Okay, pulling pitch in 10 seconds.” She scanned her instruments, making sure everything was ‘green’ for takeoff.

“Comin’ up.” She looked straight ahead, focusing on the trees that were barely visible through the windshield wipers. Her left hand smoothly pulled up the collective pitch control, increasing the main rotor’s lift, bringing the downhill skid up first, until the aircraft was level. The uphill skid still touched the ground.

Out of the corner of her left eye, she saw Chuck cross his arms and tighten his jaw. He’s really tense. I’m glad he doesn’t know how dangerous these conditions are.

She carefully increased power to lift the aircraft up to a three foot hover. With her left thumb, she slightly adjusted the direction of the searchlight. Perfect.

Focusing straight ahead, she pushed her left foot pedal to slowly pivot the aircraft’s nose around until they were facing south. Then, she slowly hovered forward until they were within twenty feet of the treeline in front of her. They’d arrived from the South, so she knew it was a safe direction for their return.

This takeoff would be the most dangerous part of the entire flight. She planned to climb straight up, facing the trees, which she’d illumine with her searchlight. She’d keep her rotor blades about ten feet away from the trees until she saw the treetops disappearing below the aircraft. From that moment on, until they landed in Ketchikan, they’d be in the clouds and unable to see anything outside. No trees, no ground, nothing—except darkness.

The critical moment would be when she lost visual contact with the trees. She’d have to immediately transition her focus from looking outside at the trees to looking inside at her cockpit instruments. This moment was also the point of no return. As soon as she lost sight of the trees, she’d be committed to completing the flight using her cockpit instruments, surrounded by clouds. Once she made this transition, there was no going back.

After her transition to instruments, she’d maintain their rate of climb, heading south, as she slightly lowered the nose to accelerate to cruising airspeed. Finally, in a Southbound climb, with everything under control, she’d call air traffic control on the radio.

Still hovering, she visualized this sequence of events in her mind, like an Olympic high jumper visualizing herself going over the bar.

“Here we go.”

She glanced quickly at the engine instruments one last time, then focused outside as she smoothly increased the main rotor’s power to the maximum. They climbed straight up. The tree trunks were a good reference, telling her which way was up.

After eight seconds, she saw the treetops disappearing below her feet.

She immediately focused her attention on the flight instruments, simultaneously switching the searchlight off to kill the blinding glare off the milky cloud soup outside.

After five more seconds, when she was confident they’d climbed well-above the treetops, she gently pushed the stick forward to slowly accelerate while maintaining a southerly heading over the valley toward Harriet Hunt Lake.

She cross-checked her instruments.

• Attitude level and slightly nose-low to gain airspeed

• Heading 174, correcting to 180 degrees

• Climb rate is 1100 feet per minute.

• Airspeed increasing past 50 knots

When her airspeed reached 120 knots, she raised the nose to hold that airspeed. She decreased power to maintain a 500 foot-per-minute rate of climb.

With airspeed, heading, and climb rate steady, Katie transmitted, “Ketchikan approach control, this is KMS two-three, five miles north of Harris Hunt Lake, heading south, climbing through 1,200 feet. Request IFR clearance and radar vectors to Ketchikan.”

As soon as she was under ATC control, they were responsible for keeping her safe from terrain and other aircraft.

Is Chuck freaking out?

She stayed focused on the instruments, resisting the urge to look at him. Everything outside was blackness. Being inside clouds at night is like being blindfolded. There’s no light from the moon, no stars, and no horizon or ground lights to indicate if you’re level or upside-down. There’s no sense of movement. You can hear the rain and wind noise outside, but you can’t see that you’re moving. It’s easy for your imagination to run wild, if you let it, telling you there’s a mountain hidden in this cloud, or that you’re about to spiral into the ocean like JFK Jr., or that you’ve entered the twilight zone.

Being in a helicopter at night, in the clouds, with a young female pilot, is fertile ground for a panic attack. He’s probably thinking, “What did I get myself into?”

Keeping her eyes scanning the instruments, in a deliberately calm voice she said, “How you doin’, Chuck? I hope you’re enjoying the flight. Everything is perfectly under control, and we’ll be on the ground in about twenty minutes.”

Chuck said, “Thanks. I needed that.”

Smiling, she said, “No problem.”

Do airline pilots give their speech for the same reason I just did?

As her eyes adjusted to darkness, she incrementally turned her cockpit instruments down to a minimal level to help her night vision. She’d need her night vision to hover at the airport.

During their final approach, they didn’t see the runway lights until they were at their minimum approach altitude, 200 feet over the end of the runway.

As they hovered to the waiting ambulance, Ethan said, “Chuck, now that we’re back, I can tell you about the first time I rode with Katie in Kygyristan. She had a sign on the back of her pilot helmet that said, ‘Stop screaming, I’m scared too!’ She was a lot nicer to you.”

Chuck looked at her in disbelief. Katie just smiled and nodded.

After landing and delivering Howard and Chuck to the ambulance, Ethan rode in the copilot seat as Katie hovered the copter to the KMS parking area. “How’s the patient? What’s your prognosis?”

“His vitals stabilized after the IV and getting him warm, so I think he’ll live. Plastic surgeons are going to have a lot of work repairing what that bear did to him, though.”

“On another topic, that was really considerate the way you calmed Chuck down.” Ethan chuckled. “I’ve never seen anyone so glad to get back on the ground!”

“Thanks. A person’s imagination can go wild at night in the clouds, especially if it’s their first time in a helicopter and their friend just got mauled by a bear. I wanted to make sure he didn’t freak out. I had visions of him yelling, ‘Let me outta here!’ and then opening the door and jumping out.”

Ethan laughed out loud. “I envisioned that too. But on the positive side, just think of all the creative nicknames your old Army buddies could invent for you after that.”

She laughed. “Speaking of buddies, did you recognize either of these guys?”

“No. Chuck looked a little bit familiar, but the patient was so messed up, he could’ve been my brother and I wouldn’t have recognized him.”

“I recognized Chuck as one of Lilith Thornblood’s security guys. Your patient is his husband.”

“His husband? What? That’s a contradiction. I’m confused. How does that work?”

“I don’t know. It confuses me too.”

Arriving at their parking area, Katie landed, then twisted the throttle down to idle to start the shutdown sequence.

In her idling helicopter at the end of the mission, with her hands and feet on the pulsating controls, she realized how much she loved this feeling. She controlled a powerful and beautiful machine that enabled her to fly and save lives. Katie loved flying. She loved flying medevac. She loved flying medevac in her hometown. It doesn’t get any better than this.

Ethan placed his hand on hers. “Katie.”

She turned to look at him.

“Speaking of husbands, I’d like to be yours. Katie Whitefeather, I love you. Will you marry me?”

Dumbfounded, her mouth dropped open. After ten seconds she said, “I love you too. But there are some things about me that you don’t know.”

***

Ethan's proposal, though joyous, added another layer of complexity to her decision about the SDG pledge. As the days ticked by, she couldn't reach a decision that felt right. As much as she rationalized that it was okay to sign it, something about the SDGs nagged at her. On October 15th, she started fasting to gain more clarity in prayer.

On the evening of October 18th, Katie sat in her rocker, wrapped in a blanket, praying. A fire danced in the woodstove. Her Bible lay open in her lap.

The SDGs didn't seem inherently wrong—ending poverty, promoting peace, and protecting the environment. Yet that nagging feeling persisted.

"Lord," she whispered, her voice hoarse from fasting, "show me what I'm missing."

Exhausted from days of internal debate and soul-searching, Katie drifted into deep sleep.

Just before sunrise, she experienced a vivid dream. She was standing on a vast plain. Millions of people surrounded her, all moving towards a massive stone tablet in the distance. Its surface glowed with an alluring blue light, reminiscent of the UN logo.

As people approached, they etched their names onto the tablet. With each signature, a faint shadow passed over the signer, and a wispy thread extended from their wrist, leading off into the distance.

Uncle Andy appeared beside her, his expression grave. Gesturing towards the tablet, he said, "It looks like progress, but look closer."

Katie squinted, focusing on the threads. As her vision sharpened, she gasped. The threads were actually fine chains, all leading to a dark, ominous figure on the horizon, a figure that seemed to grow stronger with each new signature.

"They think they're pledging to make the world better," Uncle Andy explained, his voice heavy. "But they're unwittingly binding themselves to something far darker."

Katie watched in horror as the long line of kindhearted, smiling people signed the tablet, their chains glinting in the eerie light. She felt a chill down her spine when she realized this wasn't just a political agreement. It was a spiritual contract, with dire consequences.

She jolted awake, her heart pounding. The dream felt more real than any she'd ever experienced.

Rays of light were beginning to peek over the Eastern mountains. The woodstove’s fire had died down, making the cabin cold. Katie blew on the few remaining coals, reviving them, then added kindling, sticks, and logs into the woodstove. Within minutes, she folded her blanket and put the teapot on to boil.

She savored steaming mint tea and private worship until 8 am, when she was confident Ethan would be awake.

She radioed Ethan: "We need to talk. I’ll come up there at 9am. Please gather Moses, Rachel, Juan, and Catalina."

“Roger that.”

They gathered in Moses and Rachel's cabin. Katie shared her dream, her voice trembling slightly.

When she finished, silence fell over the room. Then Moses spoke. "Thank you for sharing your dream with us Katie. It aligns with what I've been feeling in my spirit since Lilith’s broadcast. Something is definitely not right about this pledge."

Katie responded, "I know it sounds crazy, but I believe people who sign it will be siding with darkness, against God."

Moses said, “No, Katie. We’ve all been struggling with this decision, but we didn’t exactly know why. Now, God has spoken to us and given us guidance through your dream, so it’s not crazy. I agree with you. We can’t be faithful to God and also sign the UN’s pledge of allegiance. Each of us must choose which path we’re going to follow.”

After a brief discussion, they achieved consensus. They couldn't in good conscience sign the pledge, regardless of the consequences. They all supported ending poverty, promoting peace, and protecting the environment, but they couldn’t pledge allegiance to the anti-Christian global government behind the SDGs. With God’s help, they all committed to work together to survive, to be faithful to each other, and to God.

***

Afterward, Katie and Ethan stood silently in the garden, holding hands and enjoying the pristine panorama spread below them.

Ethan said, "The utopian goals of the SDGs remind me of Obama’s ‘hope and change’ message. We all believed he meant to bring in positive changes, but his plan was to ‘fundamentally change’ America into a godless, socialist node of the UN. He intentionally deceived us. And the UN is doing the same thing with the SDGs. The SDGs promise what good people want to hear, but their real goal is world domination, death, and the destruction of everything that’s free, healthy, and good.”

Katie squeezed his hand. "Wow. Now you sound like Uncle Andy."

“Thanks. I’ll take that as a compliment.”

Embracing him, she said, “Whatever comes, we’ll face it together."

With her head on his shoulder, Katie reflected on her younger self. Years ago, worldly success and public respect were my goals in life, my driving ambitions. Now, I’m on a different path—one that cost me the very things I once craved. But this path has already given me far more precious things.

Uncertainty clouded their future, yet a deep calm settled over Katie. She recalled the words of Uncle Andy and Rachel. Their visions promised a time when God’s light will overcome darkness. Though the path ahead would certainly be challenging, a confident hope flickered within her. She knew their future would be bright.

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Coming Next Week . . . Chapter 1 of the next book in the trilogy.

The next book will cover Katie’s experiences from now, through her experience as a Christian overcomer in the great tribulation, to the end of the age at the Second Coming of Christ and the Battle of Armageddon. Will she be on earth, in heaven, or both?

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