How Pontifex Maximus Was Born
Back in 2004 I had a great opportunity to travel to Chicago, Illinois on a working project. I stayed with an amazing family in the suburban village of Elk Grove. My daily routine was to rise early, do what was needed for work in the morning and then explore the city and its districts in the afternoons and evenings. I fell in love with the Windy City.
Anyhow, I was invited by the family I was staying to join them at their local church for Sunday evening prayer, and I happily went along to Elk Grove’s Lutheran Church. On the first evening the minister preached about a concept called the rapture, having studied theology myself it was a concept that I hadn’t heard of until that moment. Basically, those who are chosen, because of their loyalty in faith, will be taken up into heaven before the 7 year tribulation at the end of the time begins.
After the service I had to check this out. Turns out, the rapture is an evangelical concept, and not a catholic one. The more I researched into this I came across the Left Behind Series by Tim LaHaye and Jerry B. Jenkins. The beginning of these books was an incredible plot. Basically, on an overnight transatlantic flight from New York to London, the captain leaves the cockpit to use the toilet. When in the toilet cubical he hears a woman scream that someone has taken her baby, then other people scream because their loved ones have disappeared from the seats beside them and much to the captain’s horror so too has his co-pilot. While no one can explain what has happened or even find the people who have gone missing, it becomes clear that this event has happened across the whole world and that people have been raptured and taken up into heaven. As the books progresses it deals with the rise of the Antichrist etc…
Then, on the following Sunday back at the church, the preacher talked about the Antichrist and how he will deceive the world into believing that he is Jesus returned. That evening, as he talked, I had a moment… what if the Antichrist used religion to secure his power?… What if the Antichrist rose to the top of the worlds largest religion to deceive the world?
For the duration of my stay I found myself travelling each night to a little cafe in the neighbouring town of Crystal Lake, and there in a black Moleskin book I penned and planned the whole book. The ideas just kept on flowing and I knew I had something worth writing. At the end of the summer I returned home to Ireland, with a book within me that needed to be written.
So, thanks to Elk Grove Lutheran Church, because two small sermons planted within me an idea which has become a printed reality.
