The communists said they hoped for that, too. And part of their vision—rooted in the atheistic ethos of communism—was to “re-educate” all religious citizens in antireligious campaigns.

It’s why they pull a pregnant Neng from her teaching job for questioning. She’s married a man from the British colony of Hong Kong, and her parents sent her to Christian schools for education, so they’re concerned about her commitment to Mao’s vision for China.

Neng adamantly tells them that, though she may have gotten swept up in a Christian bandwagon when she was younger, she grew out of her beliefs as she got older.

But as she thinks about those beliefs she had had as a child, Neng begins to realize that, though distant, perhaps she still does believe in the Christian God.

“Are you a Christian?” A government official demands.

Slowly, the thoughts in her head racing, Neng opens her mouth to respond.

The post China Cry: A True Story appeared first on Plugged In.

It’s a realtor. Despite your presence, she’s selling the place to a family of four.

Then painters come in and coat your bedroom in a new color. The family unpacks their things. They begin living there.

They don’t notice you, because you’re dead. There’s no physical part of you that they could notice.

Until the daughter, Chloe, starts to sense you nearby. Her brother, Tyler, thinks she’s finally starting to lose it—what with the recent death of her best friend and all. And the mother and father haven’t sensed you at all, either.

But you’re here. You’re watching. You’re listening.

And sooner or later, they’ll all know it.

The post Presence appeared first on Plugged In.

The ex-British Army window cleaner woke up late for work, earning the anger of her superior. And she was forced to come in even later when she learned that her autistic brother, Michael, had just gotten kicked out of his 9^th care home. (This time, he’d hacked their system and exposed some of their unsavory records.)

Because Joey was running late, she didn’t have time to take Michael back to her house, so he had to wait in the lobby of the Agnian Energy skyscraper while she worked. And because she got to work late, her supervisor is forcing her to work an extra hour later than scheduled.

And that’s why she was still working dozens of floors above the streets below while the company hosted a celebratory gala for investors. It’s also how she witnessed the event—and the building—being taken over by a group of anti-humanist terrorists. They claim that Agnian Energy is killing the planet, and they want to expose its corruption.

As the police catch wind of the situation, they’re informed by the terrorists that they’ve strapped their hostages in bomb vests; should any of their officers attempt to enter the building, they’ll blow the people and the building sky high.

But with her brother still inside, Joey can’t just wait for the cops to resolve the situation.

And despite her occupation, this window cleaner isn’t afraid to make a mess.

The post Cleaner appeared first on Plugged In.

In fact, when she and Josh first met, it was as rom-com, meet-cute adorable as possible. It was, in a sense, the right way someone like Iris might meet a guy and quickly fall in love.

Their meeting was an awkward, funny, and oh-so-sweet moment at the supermarket. A memory worth holding on to. In fact, Iris and Josh’s first accidental meeting was one of those clear-the-grey-cloud moments.

Iris has always thought that people tend to stumble through life in a sort of fog: They see the world around them but don’t really see it. And then some special happening clears that cloud. It lets the sun in, and it helps them recognize that life can be filled with hope and happiness.

Meeting Josh was the first time one of those special moments ever happened to Iris. Their relationship has been loving and supportive. They fit. They work. He makes her feel good about herself and good about the world.

Truth be told, one of the only drawbacks to their relationship is Iris’ doubts about herself. The two of them are heading up to a weekend retreat with some of Josh’s friends, for example. And Iris is feeling a bit weird about it.

Iris knows that Kat, the girlfriend of the getaway estate’s owner, doesn’t like her. Maybe it’s because Iris is kind of plain next to Kat and the others. Maybe it’s because she’s awkward or too openly sincere about things like love and devotion. She isn’t sure.

But when Kat and some of the others look at her, Iris feels self-conscious. Which in turn makes her want to cling more to Josh. And that can be a problem, too.

What Iris doesn’t know is that there are bad things being planned for that weekend. Cruel and hurtful things are about to happen. And in the process of it all, Iris is about to learn something very important about herself. She’s going to understand more about how she’s, uh, programmed, if you will.

People sometimes have those clear-the-grey-cloud moments in life. The first one for Iris was when she met Josh.

The second of those moments will be … when she kills him.

[Note: The following sections contain spoilers.]

The post Companion appeared first on Plugged In.

The retired Marine sniper has no connections, no relationships. No one will miss him if he “vanishes” for a year to monitor a secret so big that not even the president knows about it.

And what is that secret?

Well, no one really knows. But the monitoring station there is made entirely of concrete. And the cliffside is covered in suspended mines, automatic sentries and “cloakers” that prevent satellites from finding the location. And deep in the fog below, Levi can hear unworldly screeches. The soldier whom Levi is set to relieve from the duty, J.D., tells him the task: to restock the mines and ammo every day, and prevent whatever creatures make those sounds from getting out.

With that simple task explained, J.D. leaves Levi to his own devices.

Except, he’s not fully alone. Because across the gorge, there’s another tower like his own, similarly equipped with sentries, mines and a lone guardsman. And despite being told not to communicate, it’s not long before the two sentries start talking.

Her name is Drasa. She’s from Lithuania. And she, like him, is an expert killer.

Despite being separated by a gorge full of ominous fog and screeching unknowns, she makes Levi feel a little less alone in the world.

Especially when she warns him that something is crawling up his tower.

The post The Gorge appeared first on Plugged In.

Fortunately, her current job is pretty simple. She’s tracked a weaselly little embezzler (who stole money from the mob, no less) down to his crusty hiding spot somewhere in Alaska. His name is Winston. And he’s about as threatening as that name would suggest.

Now, all she has to do is transport this nervous little dude from Nowhere Alaska to some city with an actual courthouse. There he’ll become the government’s witness against a mob boss and his connections.

Easy-peasy.

In fact, as Madolyn and Winston climb into the small cockpit of a single-prop airplane that will fly them to Anchorage, then Seattle, the marshal is feeling fairly good about the whole case. (She still takes time to securely cuff and chain Winston to his seat. But frankly, he seems more apt to wet himself than to cause any trouble.)

Yep, it looks like her first assignment back in the field will go off without a hitch. In 90 minutes, Madolyn will be getting pats on the back from other marshals and the offer of a drink or two.

Except … the good-old-boy pilot, who just climbed into the plane, isn’t exactly who he appears to be. He may be setting his instruments, chomping his gum and drawling out stories of snowy mountain flights and moose hunts that went astray, but there’s something else on his mind.

You see, the mob has connections.

The post Flight Risk appeared first on Plugged In.

For nine months, Maya had cared for her dying mother. For nine months, she’d been trapped in her mom’s small apartment—feeding her, administering her medications, trying to make her as comfortable as possible.

Maya was happy enough to do it. Her mother was a saint; everyone said so. To help her mom who had helped so many? It was the least Maya could do.

But her mother’s gone now. And after nine months of Maya’s life revolving around one very wonderful, very sick woman, Maya must ask herself a difficult question: Now what?

Then, during her mother’s funeral, someone who’s almost a stranger walks in to pay his respects, to say goodbye.

Maya’s father.

She hasn’t seen her dad, Samuel, for years—not since she was still in school. Maya’s sister is appalled that he’d show his face at all. But Maya always felt a certain kinship with her father. He’s no saint, and neither is she. While Mom took care of everyone, Samuel and Maya were the family’s mischief makers. The rule breakers.

And let’s be honest; almost against her will, she missed the guy.

So when Samuel—full of apologies and regret—offers Maya a job, Maya’s interested. And the gig seems simple enough.

In the years since Samuel left his family, he’d become a dynamite—and apparently rich—international real estate mogul, selling property to Middle Eastern sultans and Asian oligarchs. He’s in the middle of a sale right now involving some wealthy businessmen from Cairo. And he’d like Maya to help close the deal. All she needs to do is come to Cairo for a few days and be her charming self. Easy money, Sam promises.

But after he and Maya board a plane for Egypt, Maya discovers that her father has, once again, been keeping secrets.

For starters, his passport is under a different name. When she asks him about it, he slowly confesses that he’s made some enemies, laundered some money—even served as a spy for a bit. Nothing bad, Sam assures her over a posh Cairo dinner: He always was on the right side of every deal and every conflict. But still, one can’t be too careful.

Just as he’s spilling these secrets, he gets a call that he walks away from the table to take.

He doesn’t come back.

A few minutes later, Sam calls her in a panic. She must leave the restaurant. Now.

She does. But it’s not the last job Sam has for her. He tells her he’s been kidnapped, and Maya needs to do exactly what his captors tell her to do. If not? Sam—who came back into her life so soon and so unexpectedly—will just as abruptly leave it.

The post Inheritance appeared first on Plugged In.

Sure, the bomb was—well, pretty bad. It’s not like the United States could just shrug off a nuclear blast off the coast of Los Angeles. But it’s not like the radiation was going to make its way to Arkansas, right?

But when the blackouts started hitting the rest of the country, well, the rest of the country knew it was trouble. Soon, the nation was in utter chaos: Video games were unplayable. Instagram was inaccessible. And if you owned a Tesla—well, heaven help you. And, of course, it marked the end of Plugged In as we know it.

But what marked the end of so many things proved to be the beginning of so many others.

And that new beginning began at Homestead.

Homestead was started by Ian Ross, an obviously fabulously wealthy guy who owned an estate somewhere in the Rockies. Ian and his family—wife, Jenna; and daughter, Gracie—lived what seemed to be a fairly comfortable life up there in their gated settlement, where for years perhaps their biggest worry was just how much it would cost to heat a 20,000 square-foot mansion.

But when the lights went out, Ian was prepared. He wasn’t just a wealthy man-about-town; he was a committed survivalist: grain stored in warehouses; generators humming around the property; enough guns to arm a couple of platoons.

He’s got the people to carry those guns, too. And when things go south, Ian calls in Jeff Ericksson, a former special ops leader, and his crack squad of mercenaries.  They’ll secure and guard the Ross compound from the chaos that’s coming.

But will it be enough? If this crisis is less a momentary blip and more the beginning of a dystopian nightmare, will Ian’s iron gate and Jeff’s iron will be enough to keep the chaos from sweeping inside? And even if Homestead does hold—at what cost?

“This might be the most prepared location in the Rockies,” Jeff tells Ian—not as  a compliment, but a warning. “Everyone’s going to want in. And I mean everyone.”

Soon enough, the hungry start hanging out by Homestead’s gate. Government officials ask why Homestead isn’t sharing. Ian has the people inside his compound to think about: his family. The people who bought into Ian’s plans. They come first, Ian firmly believes.

But what about the people outside the gates? Can he just watch them die?

The post Homestead appeared first on Plugged In.

That’s the nugget of wisdom that Nikolai Kravinoff imparts to his eldest son, Sergei, as they crouch beside a freshly killed antelope. (Nikolai’s handiwork.)

Nikolai is a ruthless gangster. A murderer. A criminal kingpin who holds the reins of his ill-gotten empire with an iron and bloody fist. And he feels it’s about time Sergei learns the finer points of the family business.

But first, they’re going hunting. And not just for antelope. Nikolai has his sights set higher. He’s after the King of the Jungle. After all, according to the Kravinoff patriarch, “The man who kills legend becomes legend.”

As fate would have it, the king, a massive lion, does appear, confronting Sergei and his half-brother, Dmitri.

Sergei has the shot. But he hesitates. He’s not like his father. He doesn’t want to kill needlessly, for crime or for sport. Moreover, he seems to have a connection with this mighty creature. They seem to understand that neither one wants to hurt the other.

Until Nikolai shoots the lion.

Instead of killing the beast, the bullet sends it into a rage. Sergei is mauled and dragged off while Nikolai and Dmitri watch in horror.

After the lion leaves him for dead, Sergei is found by a young girl, Calypso. She uses a mystical healing potion to save him—but it has other effects, too. He gains animalistic strength, speed and senses.

The last thing Sergei wants to do is use those newfound gifts in service of his father’s criminal empire. In fact, he wants to rid the world of people like his father, who pour evil into the world.

He’ll become a hunter after all. A man for criminals to dread: Kraven the Hunter.

The post Kraven the Hunter appeared first on Plugged In.

The faith in America, that is.

In Germany, Bonhoeffer grew up in the intellectual pursuit of God. He knew God was good. How could he not? He spent long hours specifically studying that fact.

But in America, under Rev. Adam Clayton Powell Sr., Bonhoeffer saw faith spill out into action. He saw a people who not only knew that the Lord was good—they actually believed it, too, so much so that it changed their lives. The experience had a heavy impact on Bonhoeffer, who returned to Germany an opponent of cheap grace and a proponent of costly grace.

“Cheap grace is the preaching of forgiveness without requiring repentance, baptism without church discipline, Communion without confession, absolution without personal confession,” Bonhoeffer wrote in The Cost of Discipleship. “Costly grace is the treasure hidden in the field; for the sake of it a man will go and sell all that he has […] Such grace is costly because it calls us to follow, and it is grace because it calls us to follow Jesus Christ. It is costly because it costs a man his life, and it is grace because it gives a man the only true life.”

But when Bonhoeffer returns to Germany, ready to revive a nation he saw stuck in stagnant faith, he finds a church under siege by the elected Nazi powers, in which churches are now commanded to fall in line under the consolidated Reichskirche or else face the consequences.

They tear down images of Jesus and the apostles. They add new regulations to the Ten Commandments. What’s more, they claim Jesus was Aryan rather than Jewish, and they call Adolf Hitler a “prophet and a true savior.” And much to Bonhoeffer’s dismay, many churches acquiesce to the blasphemous rule of the Nazis.

But Bonhoeffer’s life has been changed. Christianity is no longer about the mere study of God; it’s living for Him, too. He unites with the Confessing Church, a movement of Protestant pastors who oppose the Nazification of Germany and who speak out against the Nazi persecution of the Jews.

But Bonhoeffer believes he can do more. He could do things that go against his pacifistic convictions. In fact, if things go to plan, he could even help assassinate Hitler.

“Is Hitler the first evil ruler since Scripture was written?” a pastor protests when Dietrich considers the plot.

“No,” Bonhoeffer admits. “But he is the first one I can stop.”

The post Bonhoeffer: Pastor. Spy. Assassin. appeared first on Plugged In.