[Note: The following is an excerpt from my chapter in the book, Deceivers: Exposing Evil Seducers & Their Last Days Deception, edited by Terry James. Order your copy on Amazon (Paperback and Kindle)].

Her Reward

Sunbeams blazed blindingly though the grand doorway of an opulent Etruscan room, silhouetting the hour-glass shape of a most tall and beautiful woman. Her vigorous youth radiated more brilliantly than the noon-day sun. Her lithe form was draped in finery as bejeweled as her marbled seaside villa. Her posture poised as perfectly as an elegant vase.

The maiden inhaled a deep draught of salty air that had wafted in from the Italian Bay of Naples. Brimming with assurance, the noblewoman smiled confidently from her lofty heights overlooking her magnificent city. No city named after the stalwart Roman hero Pompeii could ever perish, she thought. Roman might must always prevail, whether the enemy be man or nature. National pride strengthened her fortitude.

But then, another shudder of ground tremors shook her fortitude yet again. Her composure cracked just a little as she attempted to regain her balance.

The warm summer of August 79 A.D. attracted wealthy vacationers who for centuries had traveled to Pompeii to soak up the sun and scenery in this idyllic jewel on the Mediterranean Sea. That is, until their voyaging ceased. Her vantage point confirmed the beaches were barren. Vesuvius made sure of that. The rumblings of the soaring mountain, clearly visible on the horizon a mere five miles away, rebuked the vacationers to keep their distance and struck terror in the towns inhabitants, causing them to flee. Cowards! As a little girl she had survived the quake of 63. This would be no different. And so she, along with the remaining 2,000 out of the regular 20,000 residents the town once held, stayed behind, defiant and unafraid. Well, mostly unafraid.

Her thoughts were interrupted as yet another violent rumbling toppled the mighty god, Apollo, off of his mantle. She turned abruptly back towards the chamber at the sharp cracking sound of the ornate statue shattering into a thousand pieces across the tiled floor. She shuddered visibly at the loss of such an expensive sculpture.

The smashing sound of the statue instantly paled in comparison to what immediately followed. A deafening sonic boom so powerful that she, much like her idol, toppled to the floor. Tearing her eyes away from the broken shards, she twisted her gaze back out of the open doors and witnessed a nightmare. Mount Vesuvius had finally erupted!

Millions of tons of superheated lava, scorching-hot volcanic gases, grey ash, and rock debris spewed a towering 12 miles high. The blast sent a plume into the sky double the height of the tallest mountain in the world; so high that people could see it for hundreds of miles around. The brilliant sun was blotted into a hazy, blood-red hue. The town plunged into darkness.

Whatever fortitude this brave young woman maintained melted instantly away at the horrific sight. She screamed her lungs out in abject terror.

Time stopped. Over the next 24 hours, the volcanic ash gently falling down like snow calmed the maiden’s nerves all the while deceiving her into complacency. The woman’s mind was made up to leave, temporarily, but she just couldn’t vacate without taking as much of her great wealth with her as she possibly could. Some vagabond might loot her prized possessions while she was away, she worried. Jittery slaves packed her cart to overflowing as she pointed to this or that valuable and barked out orders.

Despite the frantic packing, no man or beast remained standing as Vesuvius’ second blast wave shook Italy to its foundations. The mountain turned volcano belched lava as hot as 1,300 degrees Fahrenheit. The surge of superheated poisonous gas and pulverized rock poured swiftly down the mountainside, swallowing everything and everyone in its destructive path.

The panicked slaves instantly dropped their loads and fled in terror through the city’s main gate. The woman, focused absently only on her wealth despite the wall of death tumbling towards her, choked back dust to bellow for the slaves to return. Left alone, and unused to manual labor, she grabbed a light silken bag of pearls off of the top of the cart, hiked up her fine robes, and made a mad dash after the slaves.

The earth rocked like a boat in a sea storm and she lost her footing, as well as her bag. The sack of pearls skittered across the ash-filthy ground. The iron gate remained a mere few feet away, but she just couldn’t leave the last of her earthly wealth behind. She reached back hungrily towards the bag with outstretched, grasping fingers.

Destiny failed to unite the sylphlike maiden with her beloved possessions. The wall of soot and darkness deluged down upon her like a tidal wave, burying all of Pompeii 16 feet deep under millions of tons of volcanic debris. The opulent city, along with the surrounding 200 square miles, were erased from the landscape.

The noblewoman, along with hundreds of its other naïve inhabitants, remained entombed under the ash for hundreds of years. Not until 1748 did explorers discover the lost city.¹ And what they found amazed the world! Frozen in time, the pumice and ash perfectly preserved buildings, everyday objects, household goods, even food preserves, and most interestingly, skeletons. The remaining inhabitants had been flash-frozen right where they’d fallen, embalmed as if Egyptian mummies.

Excavators marveled at a particularly profound scene. One of the skeletons unearthed was that of a young woman, located so very close to escaping through the city gate. Instead of fleeing away, she had turned toward the town, desperately reaching back for a bag of pearls. Upon looking down at her anguished corpse making its last dying grasp for material wealth, it was said of her that, “Though death was hard at her heels, and life was beckoning to her beyond the city gates, she could not shake off their spell. She had turned to pick them up, with death as her reward… frozen in an attitude of greed.”²

Resource

Indoctrination disguised as education. The religion of climate change enshrined. Witchcraft and the occult made mainstream. Fake news. We live in a world where deception is rampant and true agendas are rarely revealed. Jesus foretold of this time as He answered His disciples’ question: What will be the sign of your coming and of the end of the age? Bible prophecy experts present analysis of today’s issues and events in Deceivers, revealing that Christ’s prophecy is literally unfolding before us today.

Order the book, Deceivers: Exposing Evil Seducers & Their Last Days Deception, edited by Terry James, on Amazon (Paperback and Kindle)]!

References

1. “Pompeii,” History, (2010), http://www.history.com/topics/ancient-history/pompeii.

2. Robert J. Morgan, Nelson’s Complete Book of Stories, Illustrations & Quotes (Nashville, TN: Thomas Nelson Publishers, 2000), pp. 575-576.