Heiser-The-Facade - Sparkling Eyes

detected something unusual in the government's dairy cattle.""Cows, Neil? What do I know about cows? Is this about a Mad Cow Diseaseepidemic or something?" Brian asked."Actually it's something potentiallybut hopefully not inevitably much worse. And weof course know you don't have any expertise in the immediate area.""Well clue me in on what my field has to do with this at all. I'm an Old Testamentscholar and a linguist, not a scientist. How am I even remotely qualified to be here?""I can't provide you the specific answers right nownotbecause I don't know, mind you, but I'm not the one who's been authorized to tell you. It'sjust the way bureaucracy and protocol work, unfortunately. Even if I could tell youspecifically, the scientific aspects to the problem are well beyond me, too. Tomorrowmorning you'll meet the rest of the team and receive a preliminary briefing–whichreminds me, don't forget to set your alarm; the time's on a schedule in the folder. All I cantell you without making the issue more obtuse is that we're facing an environmental crisisthat's linked to roughly 40% of the nation's dairy and beef cattle.""I'm sure you won't be shocked when I tell you that none of this makes any senseto me," Brian confessed. "How could cows cause an environmental crisis or change theworld as we know it?""You'll find out soon enough. You've been given a very high security clearanceone that is necessary to even be admitted to this facility. For now we need to go over afew other items.""Such as?""For starters, this is officially a military operation, so your access within thefacility is still restricted to certain areas. The military often recruits outsiders like yourselffor specific tasks, although such recruitment nearly always targets scientists. When themilitary does this, they like to break people in gradually, and always under an extremelycareful watch. It's kind of a studied paranoia, really. Even though I have a fairly highgovernmental position, I'm still a civilian, and it's taken some of the people associatedwith this project a good deal of time to get used to having any civilian participation atall.""Aren't we all on the same side?" asked Brian."Of course," Neil answered with a smile, "but you have to realize that the militaryand the government are just like the business or academic worlds. There's a lot of internalcompetition, even mistrust, of colleagues. Rivalries, petty grudges, office politics—they're all part of the picture.""I see . . . are you sure you can't say any more? I feel totally out of place."Neil looked at Brian pensively. "I feel pretty confident saying that your faith willbe tested more severely than it has to this point . . . even with your circumstances," hisvoice trailed off as he broke eye contact."Why is that?" Brian asked, growing more apprehensive. He wondered how hisfriend could be so sure."To be honest," Neil began anew, "You'll hear things ... learn of things that willmake you wonder how . . . how God can truly be in control of our lives. That's all I cansay. I know you don't understand now, but your contribution will be vital, first to yourcountry, but also to me personally.""Have these `things' created doubts ... about your faith, Neil?" Brian could hardly21