When Steve and Sandy's world suddenly changed, along with millions of others across the land, several patterns emerged in the lives of multitudes. The government edict regarding the "church situation' and the "temporary" closing of churches in America set into motion several distinctive trends.

As the days went by the news was spread via word-of-mouth, by phone, and by mail. The internet was now strictly controlled and monitored.  All websites, email, instant messaging, including text-messaging by cell-phone were monitored by GOOGLE, which had been taken over by the government the same as General Motors, Chrysler, Sears, Marriot, and dozens of other large corporations with government appointed "czars" as directors.

Many Christian websites were blocked or shut down, only those approved by the authorities were allowed to continue as long as they conformed to the State of Emergency "Hate Speech" laws enacted by Presidential Executive Order #200011666. 

This Executive Order banned  any real or percieved wording that could cause "emotional duress or psychological or physical pain" to any group or person of any sexual lifestyle, racial group, religious group, nationality, or sub-culture with harsh penalties which included confiscation of property and/ or imprisonment. 

Surprisingly, TBN was still on the air, although their programming lineup had changed. To their amazement, their pastor and Apostle, Phil Abrams, D.D. now had his own show: "GOD WANTS TO BLESS YOU!!"

However, Steve and Sandy, and millions of other "Christians" like them now found themselves with some crucial choices regarding their spirituality which would put them into one of the emerging trends:

1. Play it safe, protect their jobs and finances by full cooperation with the new laws, avoiding any outward display of anything "Christian", including getting rid of their Bibles in case of a house search.

2. Stay very neutral and see what happens.
Steve knew phones were monitored and possibly he was under close observation at his job as a California Division of Land Resource Protection administrator.  His job was now only part-time due to the mandatory job furoughs and his work allotment was now down to 28.5 hours per week.  Steve also ran a small retail software business which he and Sandy had started 12 years earlier.  With the economic recession in full stride, it too had been downsized and they had long ago laid off their 5 employees.  

3. Go back to one of the official, government-licensed, sanctioned, 501c3 churches that had re-opened under the new North American United Church (NAUC), Department of Religious Authority.
(The Department of Religious Authority was the new cabinet position headed by Richard Wolfsen, "Pastor Rick" as he was called jokingly by department workers). 

 Although they were not attending, their church, Loving Life Fellowship, was one of the re-opened ones proclaiming a "non-judgemental", "positive message of love, tolerance and diversity".  They had noticed the church had re-opened and the new gold-trimmed 3x5' sign at the entrance gate, under the existing one, "A DRA approved ministry!" 

4. Forget Christianity altogether because God would never allow the USA to become like this.  Just make the most of each day and try to get what pleasures were still out there. They had always been good, moral people, they thought, never committing adultery, being honest, and helping others. But some of the people they had known from church were now partying it up in an attempt to escape the growing pressures of life. Some immersed themselves in work and business, some turned to drugs and alcohol. Some filled their lives with people, friends, and family.  Indeed, with the growing number of homeless, many families had already doubled up and others had taken in or rented out parts of their homes to outsiders.

5. Try and find some other Christians for fellowship, which was very dangerous because you simply did not know who might denounce you to authorities as there was a $500 Reward for information leading to the arrest of "Christian subversives" as they were now referred to daily in the news media. Christian subversives were those who believed the Bible literally, believed in prophecy and the book of Revelation, believed that God healed apart from doctors, and believed in the Old US Constitution instead of the new Revised Standard Constitution of the US Federation of North America.

6. Steve wondered what became of "brother Ralph", who had mentioned going "underground" and was still rumored to be in the area, although there were also many stories of Christians being arrested and taken to one of the many "Detention and Re-education Centers" operated by the Wackenhut security corporation, which had also been absorbed into the government as part of the FBI-CIA-NSA consolidation in Dec. 2010. 

These choices and the thoughts relating to them were all constantly swirling around in the mind of Steve and Sandy. Then there were people were suddenly disappearing and no one knew what happened to them.

Steve felt the weight of these whispered stories and also the nagging fear and paranoia regarding the new laws, the detention camps, their finances, and who could be trusted. In his confusion, and in his anxiety over their debts (they had $8,000 credit card debt, a car loan of $12,250.00, and and a mortgage of $158,000 on their home which was now worth only $55,000 but they loved their home and were determined to keep it), Steve could not get a firm grip on a course of action. This bothered Steve greatly as he had always been a man of goal-setting and planning out his future.

But now the future was murky because his world and the world of millions of Americans had changed with suddeness.  The "business cycle" of a temporary recession had become an economic quagmire with no end in sight, even his 401k and his government retirement pension were not his but were now shown as "credits" in his government "Benefits Account". 

Another shock came in the mail one day (mail deliveries were now on Tuesday through Thursday only), when Steve and Sandy were notified that they owed the government $4,592.00 for "non-approved charitable giving", retroactive to 2005, relating to what they had given to a chuch they once attended before moving over to Loving Life Fellowship. The letter stated:

"In an audit of your reported giving to Bible First Independent Church, aka BFIC, as recorded in the  IRS 1040 Income Statement years 2005, 2006, 2007, 2008, and as verified by our examination of  BFIC financial records and your Income Tax records for those years, you have an outstanding balance due. 
As BFIC is not a Department of Religious Authority approved institution and was permanently closed by Executive order on March 13, 2011 you are hereby notified that this amount has been automaticaly deducted from your Personal Benefits Account credits and any shortfall will be attached on future earnings as needed. 

The amount due from you, retroactive to the years 2005-2008 is $4,592.00.

Only approved Institutions may receive tax benefits. (see government website).  
By law, there is no appeal of this notification and all judgements are final.
Thank you for your cooperation,"
s/
Dept. of Religious Authority in full cooperation with the IRS-Federal Reserve" 

This letter effectively wiped out Steve and Sandys savings from their last really good income year back in 2006, and put a dent in what they had put aside in their 401k (now in their Federal Personal Benefits Account). 
When Steve read the letter his face turned red as he struggled to control his anger, and he sarcastically said to Sandy "at least they didn't hit us for what we tithed to Loving Life, it could have been worse".  But Sandy was shaken and through her tears said "but Steve, we gave that to GOD! How can they? Now they're robbing our savings too!"  Steve replied they would just have to work harder and longer, but Sandy did not want to give up any more of her parenting time with 2 year old Louis. They also wondered what happened to the pastor of  Bible First, and thought he had moved away as the church was closed and the property auctioned off with the proceeds going to the DRA.

 When the Federal Reserve Bank merged with the IRS, the tax laws had radically changed in 2010. The Fed now had total control over the economy and the IRS was now operating as the enforcement arm of the Fed, which also controlled the Department of the Treasury.  This completely consolidated all financial institutions, the Treasury Dept., the IRS, all banking, lending, commerce, the stock market, savings accounts, investing accounts, and all purchasing under the auspices of one gigantic governmental regulatory power. 

All transactions were by law, computerized and instantly reported.  The conversion to the electronic reporting by all business was required by law and any not in compliance had their business license revoked. There were harsh penalties for non-reporting, and even cash was monitored by a special scanner that would wirelessly transmit to the internet and was used by mobile vendors, service industry people, and sales people. The system was able to track each and every dollar bill via an implanted barcode and any "lost" or "stolen" bills were traceable and became unspendable if someone tried to spend unreported cash.

Businesses such as local gardeners, yard maintenance, and handyman services were forced to comply as there were also $500 rewards for information and arrest of anyone caught trying to barter or use unreported cash. Some of those radicals and fundamenalists had said the only step missing was the "identity chipping" of people which they called "the mark", but this was already being done by upper level Federal employees, military, and some law enforcement agencies. 

This had all happened with the money changeover in 2010.  ALL "old" Federal Reserve notes in every dollar denomination were turned in and exchanged for new ones at a rate of ten old dollars for one new dollar, which also contained the electrinic bar code that was read by the Logiscan scanners.  Although this defacto devaluation of the dollar hurt those that had not transferred their money overseas into other currencies, there was a temporary lift in the economy as foreigners flocked to the US to purchase anything of value.

Steve wondered if his job with California Division of Land Resource Protection would fall into the "identity and security" chipping requirement as was being adopted by so many government and even many of the larger private organizations. Now that California had gone into full-blown bankruptcy, a financial bailout agreement was being forged that would transfer all State owned assests, including all buildings, State parks, and property, over to the Federal government. 

While this protected the Employee Union Contracts, retirement, and benefits from a catastropic loss, due to the State of California's insolvency, it also meant that California was now the property of the Federal government and all State employees now worked for the Federal government.

The cities would soon find themselves in the same position as the political dominoes fell and the parade of mayors going to Congress begging for bailouts was a long one. All roads led to D.C., as the Federal Government was the only entity with the ability to create the money needed to bailout every bankrupt entity.   

Steve and Sandy were soon to come to a clash of the life they once knew and the spiritual realities prophesied long ago in the Bible.  The choices they would make would determine where they would spend eternity.

Almost every evening included a discussion between them regarding the near future and what they should do in light of the events rapidly developing around them. 
"Why not go back to Loving Life Fellowship?" Sandy suggested one Saturday evening, "I really need some encouraging, and remember, GOD wants to bless you!!, right?" 

...to be continued.