Page 108 - Hunter - The Vigil

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T THE LONG NIGHT (COMPACT)
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This world is mired in sin, and Christ cannot — will not — return until hu-
mankind proves itself worthy. In the meantime, that means war, famine, plague
and horrors beyond horrors. And many know these horrors aren’t metaphorical:
they’re real; they’re out there walking around and feeding from the innocent
and exploiting iniquity. It’d be great if God took the worthy ones away from
the horror, but that’s not the case. So it’s time to do something about it. They
spread the Good News to families and friends. They try to live good lives. And
they hunt the monsters.
The Long Night began some time in the 1970s, but as far as
its members are concerned, it’s always been around. This self-
styled Tribulation Militia has no record of its founder; aside
from a few web sites maintained by individuals, it has little
in the way of structure.
Its members have included Branch Davidian-style militarized
gun-cults, Family Values campaigners, paranoid survivalists, af-

fluent Southern fundamentalists and middle-class conservative
evangelicals. They’ve sprung up in the southern USA, the cit-
ies of Australia and the southeast of England. They have many
different takes on what constitutes the correct response to the
imminent, self-evident end of the world.
Individual members exist in a hundred fundamentalist
churches. Some attend more liberal churches, looking for the
troubled believers they consider — somewhat ironically — to be a
True Remnant among the godless liberals. They form small cliques.
They keep their eyes peeled for those fellow believers who can’t
seem to be at peace with the things they believe, take them to one
side, ask them a few questions, sound them out, and when they
know enough, they take them on hunts. Usually, the thrill and
danger of the hunt is enough for the newly minted member of the
Long Night to understand.
The hunters of the Long Night say the signs are there, that
Armageddon is on its way. But what if the apocalypse depends upon
those signs, the wars and the rumors of wars, the fall of the Worm-
wood Star, the rise of the Great Beast and the Whore of Babylon?
What if the devil’s agents do the work of the Deceiver by ensuring
those signs will come to pass? What if God cannot come until the
devil’s agents are dealt with?
Abstractly, they recognize the Tribulation is a necessity. But it
cannot resolve without work on the part of the faithful. The world
exists in eternal night, but the Second Coming will bring morning
(Revelation 22: 5, 16), if only we persevere. And so this is the Long
Night, and these are the warriors who know the world must endure
great horror before it can witness the glorious unveiling.

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B Blessed is he

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w who stays awake.
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L Let us all
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k keep watch.
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