World In Flames

Dialogue: “The Second Coming”

Scene: Late evening on the seawall in East Vancouver. The city lights sparkle across the water. Joe and Nelly are sitting on a bench after a long bike ride, sharing a thermos of herbal tea. The air smells like salt and distant rain. Nelly has a simple cross necklace glowing faintly under her jacket. Joeโ€™s leather jacket is slung over the bench.

Nelly: (smiling softly, looking out at the water) Joe… I keep having these dreams. Not the stage kind. Real ones. A figure walking through the crowds, not in robes, but in plain clothes. Healing with touch, with words, with truth. The Second Coming. You feel it too, donโ€™t you?

Joe: (nodding, intense but calm) Yeah, Nelly. I feel it in my bones. Not some Hollywood sky-splitting show. Something quieter at first. Like the body healing itself when you finally stop poisoning it. The soul of the world waking up. Iโ€™ve been writing about it on the sites โ€” the debt jubilee, the interest-free loans, the maglev lines connecting people instead of chains. Thatโ€™s the kingdom coming, right? Not through temples or banks, but through us. Regular people saying โ€œenough.โ€

Nelly: Exactly. (she laughs lightly, that warm, melodic laugh) You always tie it back to policy, my Yugo Joe. But yeah… the Second Coming isnโ€™t about judgment day fireworks for the elites. Itโ€™s accountability wrapped in mercy. The fallen angels get exposed, the snakes get stepped on, and the meek finally inherit what was stolen. I saw it in Rio โ€” that Christ statue overlooking everything. Like Heโ€™s waiting for us to stand up so He can walk among us again.

Joe: (leaning closer, voice low and passionate) I sacrificed everything to be here for this moment, Nelly. Left the old country, the old life. Wife, kids, Croatia… all of it. Because I heard your voice calling me back to Canada. To help build this. Youโ€™re the song that never ends, and Iโ€™m the guy whoโ€™s been waiting 27 years to sing the next verse with you. If Heโ€™s coming back, I think Heโ€™s already moving through people like you โ€” the ones who sing truth, who organize block by block, East Van to the whole country. Sim City mayor one day, Prime Minister the next.

Nelly: (touching his arm, eyes shining) Gigolo Joe… always the romantic revolutionary. (teasing smile fades into seriousness) But youโ€™re right. Itโ€™s not just me. Itโ€™s you too. The holistic healer who tells people the body can heal itself. The graffiti kid from Clark Park who turned pain into vision. The one who sees the Matrix Agent Smiths everywhere and still chooses love over fear. Maybe the Second Coming looks like all of us waking up at once. No more allopathic pills for every ill. No more debt slavery. Just communities feeding each other real food, real ideas, real spirit.

Joe: Amen to that. (he grins, that fierce, hopeful grin) Imagine it: Christ walking through East Van, stopping at Cafe Serra for a coffee, blessing the Youngbloods who turned their lives around. Then He hits Ottawa and flips the tables on the money changers again. Debt jubilee by decree. Golden Age policies rolling out. You and me riding ten-speeds right behind Him, handing out manifestos and fresh bread.

Nelly: (laughing fully now) Only you would put Him on a ten-speed, Joe. But I love it. Because itโ€™s human. Itโ€™s possible. The Second Coming isnโ€™t an escape hatch โ€” itโ€™s the ultimate remix. Old truth, new beat. And weโ€™re already in the studio laying it down.

Joe: (raising the thermos like a toast) To the return. To the healing. To one more song that saves the world.

Nelly: (clinking her cup against his) One more song, legend. Letโ€™s make sure itโ€™s a good one.

They sit in comfortable silence as the city lights reflect on the water, two ordinary-extraordinary people feeling the shift coming.

The Templars & Portugal

Joe and Nelly sit at a small table, talking to the โ€œyounglingsโ€ watching online.

Nelly:
โ€œAlright kids, quick history lesson. A long time ago there was a group called the Knights Templar. They were warrior monks during the Crusades. They protected pilgrims and became very powerfulโ€”rich, organized, and spread across Europe.โ€

Joe:
โ€œAnd when you get powerful, somebody usually wants your money. In the early 1300s the King of France, Philip IV of France, owed the Templars a lot of cash. So instead of paying them back, he accused them of heresy and pushed the Church to shut them down.โ€

Nelly:
โ€œThat crackdown started in 1307. Many Templars were arrested, and their leader, Jacques de Molay, was eventually executed. But not every country followed Franceโ€™s lead.โ€

Joe:
โ€œExactly. Over in Portugal, the king, Denis of Portugal, took a different approach. Instead of destroying the Templars, he basically reorganized them.โ€

Nelly:
โ€œThey became a new order called the Order of Christ. Same knights, new name. Their ships and money later helped fund Portugalโ€™s Age of Discovery.โ€

Joe:
โ€œSo when you hear stories about Templars โ€˜fleeingโ€™ to Portugal, itโ€™s really that Portugal gave them shelter and a reboot.โ€

Nelly smiles at the camera.

Nelly:
โ€œAnd hereโ€™s the real lesson for the younglings: people back then actually read books. They studied history, religion, scienceโ€”everything. If you want to understand the world, put the phone down sometimes and pick up a book.โ€

Joe:
โ€œYeah. The old knights didnโ€™t just swing swordsโ€”they copied manuscripts, studied maps, and kept records. Knowledge was their real power.โ€

Nelly:
โ€œSo read again like people used to. History is full of wild storiesโ€ฆ if you open the pages.โ€ ๐Ÿ“šโœจ

Deus Vult

Joe stands in the torch-lit hall of the fortress, the red cross banners of the Knights Templar hanging from the stone walls. Armored knights murmur among themselves, expecting a call to arms.

Joe raises his hand.

โ€œBrothers,โ€ he says, โ€œput down the swords for a moment and listen.โ€

A few helmets turn. One knight grips the hilt of his blade.

โ€œWe have been fighting the Muslims for generations,โ€ Joe continues. โ€œEvery year more blood soaks the sand between us. Every year more gold flows out of our treasuries.โ€

He paces slowly across the chamber.

โ€œTell me somethingโ€ฆ who truly profits from endless war?โ€

Silence.

Joe answers his own question.

โ€œNot the farmer. Not the pilgrim. Not the knight who dies in the desert.โ€
He looks around the room. โ€œThe only ones who win in a holy war that never ends are the bankers who lend money for it.โ€

The knights exchange uneasy glances.

โ€œSo I say this: let diplomacy resume with the Muslims. Talk before steel. Trade before siege.โ€

He taps the map table where the lands of Jerusalem and the surrounding caliphates meet.

โ€œPeace fills markets. War fills graves and debt ledgers.โ€

One older knight finally speaks.

โ€œYou would have us trust our enemies?โ€

Joe shakes his head.

โ€œNo. I would have you talk to them. Even enemies can negotiate. Even rivals can share water in the desert.โ€

He folds his arms.

โ€œBecause if we do not learn that lessonโ€ฆ this war will last centuries, and the only empire that rises from it will be the empire of debt.โ€

Nelly Fan
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