And unless those days were shortened, no one would be saved; but for the sake of the elect, those days will be shortened.

The Ships Arrived Before the Fire | A Science Fiction Story Inspired by Ancient Texts. █

“The following is a science fiction story and philosophical reflection set in a distant world… very similar to our own. Any resemblance to past, present, or future realities of Earth is part of the imagination.”

On a world similar to Earth, in a distant galaxy, human society there was very much like Earth; just as one mandarin resembles another, so that world resembled ours.

And so, they had a book very similar to the Bible that said:

“Revelation 19:19: I saw the beast and the kings of the earth gathered together to confront the righteous who ride white horses…”

Their book also said:

“2 Peter 3:7: But the heavens and the earth which now exist are reserved by the same word, kept for fire on the day of judgment and destruction of ungodly men.”

The scattered righteous read the book, read messages like that, and reasoned and asked themselves:

“If the unjust are condemned to perish, are they not condemned by their inability to live in peace with one another?”

“If they wage wars, is it just that they force others to fight them?”

“If they launch atomic bombs, is it just that peaceful people must suffer the radiation?”

“That is like being a non-smoker on a bus full of smokers, suffering because of others.”

“How could it be possible that a righteous man would have asked people to love their enemies, if it is the enemies of the righteous who destroy the earth?”

“That seems like an adulterated message.”

“Doesn’t it say here that God does not love them?”

“How would His faithful messenger say otherwise?”

Indeed, that book said:

“Revelation 11:18: The nations were angry, and Your wrath has come, and the time to judge the dead, and to reward Your servants the prophets, the saints, and those who fear Your name, both small and great, and to destroy those who destroy the earth.”

Then they understood that, if their world was doomed, God would send ships to rescue them.

And so it happened.

But it was not in their Bible.

That was not written in their Bible.

But they were discerning; they had the intelligence to understand that the same ones who adulterated the original message also concealed something like that.

But they did not conceal everything, because God did not allow it.

God allowed clues so that the discerning would understand that, if there are chosen ones, God’s love was never universal:

“Matthew 24:22: And unless those days were shortened, no one would be saved; but for the sake of the elect, those days will be shortened.”