Tribulation Force: The Continuing Drama Of Those Left Behind by Tim Lahaye, Jerry B. Jenkins

you the richest nation on earth for its size and solved myriad problems, but it was the exclusivity that made it work! Why do you think the Russians attacked you? They don’t need your land! There’s no oil to be found! They wanted the formula! Imagine if all the vast reaches of that nation were fertile!”
    Dr. Rosenzweig held up a hand. “I understand that, Cameron. But money has nothing to do with this. I need no money. Israel needs no money.”
    “Then what could Carpathia offer that is worthy of the trade?”
    “What has Israel prayed for since the beginning of her existence, Cameron? And I am not talking about her rebirth in 1948. From the beginning of time as the chosen people of God, what have we prayed for?”
    Buck’s blood ran cold, and he could only sit there and nod resignedly. Rosenzweig answered his own question. “
Shalom
. Peace. ‘Pray for the peace of Israel.’ We are a fragile, vulnerable land. We know God Almighty supernaturally protected us from the onslaught of the Russians. Do you know that there was so much death among their troops that the bodies had to be buried in a common grave, a crater gouged from our precious soil by one of their bombs, which God rendered harmless? We had to burn some of their bodies and bones. And the debris from their weapons of destruction was so massive that we have used it as a raw resource and are refabricating it into marketable goods. Cameron,” he added ominously, “so many of their planes crashed—well, all of them, of course. They still had burnable fuel, enough that we estimate we will be able to use it for five to eight more years. Can you see why peace is so attractive to us?”
    “Chaim, you said yourself that God Almighty protected you. There could be no other explanation for what happened the night of that invasion. With God on your side, why do you need to barter with Carpathia for protection?”
    “Cameron, Cameron,” Rosenzweig said wearily, “history has shown our God to be capricious when it comes to our welfare. From the children of Israel wandering forty years in the desert to the Six-Day War to the Russian invasion to now, we do not understand him. He lends us his favor when it suits his eternal plan, which we cannot comprehend. We pray, we seek him, we try to curry his favor. But in the meantime we believe that God helps those who help themselves. You know, of course, that this is why you are here.”
    “I know nothing,” Buck said.
    “Well, it’s part of why you’re here. You understand that such an agreement takes a lot of homework—”
    “What agreement are we talking about?”
    “I’m sorry, Cameron, I thought you were following. You do not think it was easy even for me, despite my stature within my own country, to persuade the powers to release a license to the formula even to a man as attractive as Nicolae.”
    “Of course not.”
    “And you are right. Some of the meetings went long into the night, and every time I felt I had convinced someone, another was brought in. Every new ear had to be convinced. Many times I nearly gave up in despair. But finally, finally, with many conditions, I was empowered to hammer out an arrangement with the United Nations.”
    “With Carpathia, you mean.”
    “Of course. Make no mistake. He is the United Nations now.”
    “You got that right,” Buck said.
    “Part of the agreement is that I become part of his senior staff, an adviser. I will cochair the committee that decides where the formula will be licensed.”
    “And no money changes hands?”
    “None.”
    “And Israel gets protection from her neighbors from the United Nations?”
    “Oh, it is much more complex than that, Cameron. You see, the formula is now tied into Nicolae’s global disarmament policy. Any nation even suspected of resisting the destruction of 90 percent of its weapons and the surrender of the remaining 10 percent to Nicolae—or I should say to the U.N.—will never be allowed to even be considered as an