"My text today is from the First Book of Kings Chapter eleven verse thirteen: 'and Solomon had three hundred concubines'." Pastor Tony Grifman paused to let the congregation ponder his chosen text. "Just think, three hundred concubines. Three hundred! What a CAP score Solomon must have had! Do we not read in First Kings 3:9 that Solomon asked God for wisdom and it was granted to him? We can see why Solomon had the CAP score he did, because God granted it to him. Once again the Holy Word of God is shown to be correct. Solomon had all those concubines because God granted them to him as a reward for his wisdom, as a reward for his CAP score. No other man was as wise as Solomon and we can see why.

"When the Swarm arrives on Earth to signal the start of the Tribulation spoken of in John's Apocalypse, there will be years of suffering for those left behind. Yet, brothers and sisters in Christ, we need not despair for as it says in the First Epistle to the Thessalonians, those of us who are faithful, those of us who are chosen of the Lord, will be taken up into the Confederacy with our concubines safely away from Earth so we will be able to fight as mighty men of valor against the Satanic army of the Swarm.

"Those who are chosen of God, just as Solomon was chosen of God, will be rewarded with concubines as they fight for the Lord. Just as Solomon fought against the forces of evil and was rewarded for his fight so we shall fight the forces of the evil Swarm and be rewarded for our fight.

"And for our next hymn we shall sing 'Onward Christian Soldiers'."

After the service was finished and Pastor Grifman had talked briefly with the regular members of the departing congregation he spoke to his Church Secretary. "That looked like a good congregation Mike."

"Yes, just over one thousand. The Church is still growing."

"Excellent, it is good to see the word of the Lord is spreading wider and wider."

"Praise the Lord," responded Mike. "That woman from the local Christian Radio station is here to interview you when you are ready."

"Good, good. Make sure she has a coffee or whatever she wants and I will be with her directly."

Abigail Bradford rose to her feet as Tony entered, "Thank you for agreeing to see me Reverend Grifman. I just need to record a short interview for broadcast. It should only take a few minutes of your time." She put her laptop on the table between them and connected up the microphone. After a quick check of sound levels she began the interview. "Reverend Grifman, some have accused you of following an unusual theology. Would you like to explain where your ideas come from?"

"All my ideas come from the Bible, of course, Abigail," Tony replied. "When the arrival of the Swarm was announced I prayed to God for guidance. What He told me was that I did not need to ask for any extra guidance because all that I needed to know was already in the Bible. The Bible is a complete guide to life, so of course it tells us how we are to deal with the Swarm. I went back and reread the Bible to see what it said about the new situation we are all in and I found everything God wanted to tell me right there in the Good Book."

"And what did you find Reverend?" prompted Abigail.

"Well, obviously the Swarm is the army of Satan bringing the Tribulation upon Earth. It was all clearly there in the Bible long before the scientists told us about it. Now if the Swarm is bringing the Tribulation, those of us who are alive in Christ will be Raptured up into the clouds before the Swarm arrive. That is precisely what the Confederacy are doing, lifting us up into the clouds to help in the Godly fight against Satan's minions -- the Swarm."

"How do you know that the Confederacy is acting for God, Pastor Grifman? Many Christians expect the Rapture to be a miraculous event."

"Well, that Confederacy technology looks pretty miraculous to me," Tony smiled. "We cannot expect God to perform miracles just because we want Him to. He will do things in His own way. If it takes a miracle then He will use a miracle. If it takes the Confederacy then He will use the Confederacy. Let me tell you a story as an example.

"A man is living by a river, and there comes a warning that the river is going to flood. Buses are arranged to evacuate people. A bus stops outside his house and the driver asks the man if he wants a ride.

"'No thank you, the Lord will save me from the flood.'

"The waters rise and he is forced to move upstairs. A rescue boat approaches and offers a ride.

"'No thank you, the Lord will save me from the flood.'

"The waters rise further and he is forced into the attic. A second rescue boat approaches and offers a ride.

"'No thank you, the Lord will save me from the flood.'

"The waters rise further and he is forced up onto the roof. A helicopter flies over and offers a ride.

"'No thank you, the Lord will save me from the flood.'

"The flood rises further and he goes to heaven.

"He asks, 'Lord, why didn't you save me from the flood?'

"The Lord replied, 'I sent a bus, two boats and a helicopter; what more did you want me to do?'"

Abigail smiled at the joke.

Tony continued, "God does not have to use a miracle to do His work, He can also use ordinary means like a bus, a boat or the Confederacy. Do you think that He who sees all things does not see the Confederacy? Do you think He who knows all things does not know what the Confederacy is doing? Of course the Confederacy is doing God's work. How could it be otherwise?

"It is the duty of all good Christians to take up arms and battle against the Satanic forces of the Swarm. We should give thanks to the Lord for sending us the Confederacy in time to help us in that good fight."

"What about Earth First, Reverend? Some anonymous threats have been made I believe."

"Unfortunately some people do not see the plain truths that are written in the Bible. We can only hope to peacefully persuade them that they are mistaken and need to turn to the Lord before it is too late. I do not expect any trouble at our services. Our Church is a house of peace and we require that all guns be checked at the door as the congregation enters. I have every trust in our excellent local police, who are dealing with those anonymous letters and e-mails."

"Thank you Reverend Tony Grifman. This is Abigail Bradford signing off." Abigail packed up the microphone, put away her laptop and said, "I expect your segment will go out in a couple of days time. I will drop you an e-mail to let you know when it has been scheduled."

"Thanks for that Abigail." Tony responded. They shook hands and he let Mike show her out. He needed to prepare some good sermons for the services after the radio broadcast as it would no doubt bring in many more lost sheep to be saved.

In orbit two days later one of the AIs monitoring Earth communications noted the broadcast and passed the information on a possible pickup site to the Extraction Planning section. Pastor Tony was going to get some unexpected new faces in his congregation.