Lori awakened late Sunday morning feeling sluggish. Her head throbbed like a drumbeat beneath her thoughts, and her mouth felt dry. She checked her mechanical clock and saw that it was just after nine. Despite the fact that it was Sunday, Lori knew that the chances of her getting dressed and attending church were next to nonexistent. Unlike ninety-nine percent of the families in the Great Southern Baptist City of Atlanta, the Zaslow's were never a very religious clan. And ever since the death of her father, church was a place that neither Lori nor her mother could stomach more than twice a year. Why bother singing and shouting over a God that kills fathers in construction accidents and lets children suffer under alcoholic mothers. Lori wanted no part of it. She wasn't even sure God existed. Maybe they were all here by accident, or maybe God died a long time ago. She wondered if Frank Waid could answer that question.

Frank Waid.

Lori thought back to the night before. Had that been real? It certainly seemed real at the time, but now Lori wasn't so sure.

"Frank, you there?"

She felt the silly even before the echoes faded. She was talking to no one. A figment of her imagination.

Lori rolled out of bed and showered as quietly as she could. When she got out, she heard her mother talking on the telephone.

"Uh-huh. Yeah.... Yeah, I'll send her right over." She hung up the phone and yelled: "LORI!"

Lori leaned out of the hallway.

"Huh, mom?"

"I talked the Robinsons into lending us their spare TV 'til we get another one. Go next door and get it."

"Mom, I'm not dressed..."

"Well I didn't say go NAKED, I just said GO! Hurry, before they leave for church... I'll be damned if I'll spend another day in this house without a TV."

"Fine..."

Lori threw on a T-Shirt, some old jogging pants, and a pair of furry slippers. She walked over to the apartment directly across from theirs and rang the bell. Mr. Robinson answered the door... he was wearing a navy blue suit and a hideous striped tie. Behind him stood their little three-year old daughter, Sarah, who was dressed in her new white dress. She waved at ??Lori.

"Hi."

"Hi, Sarah. Ummm... mom sent me for the TV?"

"Yeah, sure. Wait right here. Mr. Robinson ushered his daughter away from the door and then went to the bedroom. He knocked.

"Honey... Lori's here for the TV."

"Come on in..." replied Mrs. Robinson.

<<Now who knocks on their OWN bedroom door? GEEZ, these people are so perfect it's disgusting...>>

Mr. Robinson entered the bedroom and returned carrying a 13" color television. The cord was neatly wrapped around the antenna so that no one would trip on it.

"Sure you can carry this, Lori?"

"Yeah, yeah" Lori held out her arms.

"How about I carry it over for you?"

"Ummm... mom is... like... naked and stuff."

<<Boy, I'd love to see that>>

"Excuse me?"

"What?"

"What did you just say?"

"Nothing."

"But you just said....never mind." Lori forced the thought out of her mind. She obviously didn't hear what she thought she heard. Not from Mr. Robinson. Never.

"Oh, well... here ya go." He gave Lori the TV.

"Thanks, Mr. Robinson."

"Nooo problem... anything for a neighbor. You know what the Good Book says-"

"Uhhh, this is getting heavy. I'd better go..."

As she walked back to her apartment, Lori noticed that Mr. Robinson didn't close his door. She felt his eyes running up and down her back. She got a sudden image of herself from behind. The image focused on her buttocks, where her hips were hugged by a pair jogging pants that couldn't POSSIBLY be as tight as they appeared. Her waist was incredibly small, and her butt was distorted out of all proportion to the rest of her body. It was like seeing herself in a fun house mirror.

Lori looked back at Mr. Robinson, and saw his eyes snap back up to her face..

"You okay?" he asked with a smile.

<<God she's hot. Look at that hot little ass. Just like her momma...>>

"Uhhh.... yeah, Mr. Robinson."

<<God DAMN, I'd love a piece of that...>>

Lori shuffled back to her apartment and kicked the door closed behind her. She felt dirty. No... FILTHY, like she had been rolling around in fresh manure for the past ten minutes.

"Good, you're back." said her mother. She was in the kitchen making an attempt at breakfast.

"Mom, uhhh... has Mr. Robinson ever-"

"Put the TV on the stand and plug up the cable."

"Mom, did Mr. Rob-"

"Go ON! We could be missin' something!"

<<Little brat. I need a drink.>>

"Okay."

Rose had already moved the old broken television off of the stand and cleared off a space for the Robinsons'. Lori sat the set down and plugged it in. Then she grabbed the cord for the cable service and started screwing it into the little nub on the back.

"Mom, do I have to take this set back over there?"

"Well they ain't gonna let us keep it forever."

"Could YOU take it back?"

"Why?"

"I just... He's weird."

"They're all weird, honey. All those bible-thumpin' loonies. Got that cable in yet?"

"Gimme a MINUTE, mom, geez..."

She made the connection and then pushed the power button. The TV came to life. It was tuned to a local channel showing a church service. It was being led by sharply dressed preacher with a bad hairpiece.

"... for that excellent scripture reading. And how true and relevant it is that-"

Lori changed the channel. Sunday mornings were always grim when it came to television, especially since they couldn't get any of the expensive movie stations. However, there was always SOMETHING on besides the preachers, even it was just cartoons or cooking shows.

"What's on?" called Rose. Lori turned the volume up so her mother could hear, and began flipping the channels. She started from the lowest numbered stations, which tended to be local.

"Weirdo...weirdo... commercial...weirdo...Hey!"

She stopped at channel seven, which was a cable station out of Atlanta. Usually it showed cartoons and wrestling on Sundays, but today they had something different. It was a church service. The camera was focused on the pulpit, which was framed on either side with matching, subtle bouquets of purple and white flowers. A thin, white-haired was walking up to the podium. It was Reverend Jericho.

"Hey mom, check this guy out!"

Jericho wore a plain black suit with a crisp white shirt underneath. His thin black tie was tied in the most perfect knot Lori had ever seen. It lay in a straight line down his chest, and looked like an arrow pointing to his face.

"Who is that?"

"It's Jericho, mom."

"That Sovereign guy?"

"Uhhhh... yeah." Lori didn't bother explaining that calling Jericho 'That Sovereign Guy' was like calling Hitler 'That Jewish Guy.'

"What's he sayin?"

"Nothing yet..."

Jericho looked down at the podium before him. Lori couldn't tell if his was looking at his notes or praying. He paused dramatically, then looked back up at the camera. Even without smiling, his face seemed to radiate friendliness... like a jolly old grandfather. The little wrinkles around the old man's eyes bunched up as if he were laughing... but his lips hadn't even moved.

<<He's cute for an old man.>>

"Mom!"

"What? I didn't say nothin'"

"Ladies and Gentleman," said Jericho. "Children of the Lord. I'd like to thank you for joining us on this glorious Sunday morn." Jericho spoke like a fine, southern gentleman. His voice was smooth and rhythmic... almost hypnotic. His deep southern drawl added to the effect... and it fit him so well that it was uncanny.

"I'd like to send special thanks and blessings to the congregation of the Church of Holy Light. Your gracious donations have enabled us to purchase air-time on this blessed network... so that we may send our message across the firmament of this great nation. May those who hear these words be not only blessed BY them, but driven to act ON them, so that in God's name, we can fight this terrible blight that threatens our homes and children."

Lori reached for the button to change the channel.

"Wait," said Rose. "Leave it there for a minute."

"What?"

"Leave it. I want to hear."

"...and what is this threat?"

"Let me guess," said Lori.

"Shhh!"

"...Sovereigns."

"I win!"

"Lori, be quiet."

"Mom, you can't be serious about listening to this guy."

"Shhh!"

Jericho looked out into the camera, and his friendly non-smile vanished. It was replaced with a stern, stony glare.

A chill went down Lori's spine.

"Now what I will say this morning may surprise or shock you... but the Lord's Truth is often surprising. And it is always shocking to those who have been blind and deaf to his wondrous Word. Out of decency and respect, we have held our tongues... but we can afford that no longer. This is not a time for the quiet musings and accommodating excuses of my contemporaries. This is the time for Truth... a time for Resolve. Ladies and gentlemen, this is a time to pick up the Sword of Righteousness... to don the Armor of Faith and strike out at God's enemies. This is a time... for war..."

---

Now ladies and gentlemen, some of you may be surprised by what I'm saying. Some of you may be shocked, confused or just plain frightened. There are people out there right now wonderin' if this old man on TV has lost his mind. People right now are thinkin' that I'm crazy... or dangerous... or worse. But I'm tellin you that if listening to God is crazy... if speakin' His words is dangerous... then I'm just gonna have to BE crazy. I'm just gonna have to BE dangerous. Because that's what's going on here this morning, people... Reverend Jericho is doin' the Lord's will, and imploring you to do the same.

And what is God's word? What's ole' Jericho talking about this morning? What's he mean by "it's time to go to war"? I'm talking about THE war. The war against the forces of evil that are right NOW reaching into our lives and communities, clammoring for our very souls! The war that GOD has ordained as a test of OUR will and OUR faith! My children, our enemy gains ground every second of every day... soul by soul... child by child, while WE do nothing... while WE stand back and watch... while WE bow down before them like the gods they proclaim to be! Are we deceived? Are we afraid? No... we're WEAK! YES, my children WE are WEAK! As Christians in this great country of America, we haven't had to endure the hardships... the pain...the persecutions that our brothers have had heaped upon them throughout history. We haven't had to STARE evil in the face day after day. We haven't had to STAND toe-to-toe with the devil's minions. We haven't had to HIDE our women and children from the footsoldiers who'd rape and murder them in the night. We've had it EASY... until now. That's right, my children, until this very day. Because now, the enemy has taken a form that knows no boundary or nationality. Satan's footsoldiers have come to OUR shores... to OUR cities, JUST as he has come to every other country and nation in the world.
     
Some of you didn't know that, did you? Some of you thought that maybe... just MAYBE this was a local problem and that it would just go away. No. Oh no, my children, it's everywhere. In Russia, a man with WINGS of FIRE flies to the top of the Kremlin and demands the blood of their leaders. In South America, a woman with scales like the DEVIL HIMSELF fights on the side of the murdering dictators. Right across the waters in Cuba, Castro consults a woman who claims to see the FUTURE written in the blood of animals. No, children... this is not just a Georgia problem... not just an American problem... it's a problem for ALL of creation! Satan's grasp is WIDE and far-reaching... he has spread his seed across the globe, and now he does what some of YOU want to do...he sits back and watches while the fools among us fall all over themselves to WORSHIP these false gods. But WE cannot afford to DO that! We cannot sit idly by while the SEEDS of EVIL sprout among us.

It says in the book of Deuteronomy that "There shall not be found among you any one that maketh his son or his daughter to pass through the fire, or that useth divination, or an observer of times, or an enchanter, or a witch. Or a charmer, or a consulter with familiar spirits, or a wizard, or a necromancer. For all that do these things are an abomination unto the LORD" Not MY words, children... GOD'S words. And I ask you... have we seen these things? Have we SEEN these Sovereign pass through fire? Have we SEEN them use divination and enchantment? Have we SEEN them consult with spirits? YES, my children. We see it every hour of every day and we'll see it MORE AND MORE the longer we stand by and do nothing! GOD HIMSELF has called these... these THINGS abominations! They are abominations to His eyes, which means that they have NO place in our lives... in our communities... ANYWHERE where God-fearing men and women dwell! For God has said that "Neither shalt thou bring an abomination into thine house, lest thou be a cursed thing like it: but thou shalt utterly detest it, and thou shalt utterly abhor it; for it is a cursed thing."

Ladies and gentlemen, the Sovereigns are evil. There's just no other way to say it. They are evil not because Reverend Jericho said so, but because God said so. They are evil because they are NOT of the Holy Spirit. Evil because they are NOT of His divine creation. Evil because they are sent here to deceive us... to lure us AWAY from the one, true God. They have already placed themselves above MAN'S law. How long will it be before they set themselves above God's law? How long before they openly declare themselves AS gods and DEMAND that we worship them! How long? Today? Tomorrow? They're planning it even now, children. William Donner and his demonic brethren will not stop until we bow down before them and FORSAKE our Lord Jesus Christ. That day is coming! It gets closer and closer every time one of us condones these demons. Every time one of us sits by and watches while they lure our neighbors and our children away.
     
So what are we to do? What does God want us to do? God wants us to "fight the good fight of faith." We must pray. We must stand strong in Jesus. We must force the truth upon the deceived among us so that THEIR souls can be saved, as ours have been. We must DRIVE these abominations from our midst by the force of our voices and by the strength of our convictions! We must show Satan that we are not deceived by his demons. Show him that we do not fear them... and that we will fight against them for as long as he sends them into our homes and towns and communities! And we WILL fight! And we WILL prevail for our Lord God stands with us, and he carries the sword of righteousness in his hand! Blessed be the LORD, my children. Blessed be the LORD my strength which teacheth my hands to war, and my fingers to fight!

We will-"

*CLICK*

Lori Zaslow turned the television off.

"Hey!" protested her mother.

"I've heard enough mom. No... I've heard WAY too much. That guy's a nutcase and so is everybody in that congregation."

"Hey, he makes a lot of sense."

"Geez, mom. How could you even stand to listen to that crap."

"You're young, Lori. There's a lot going on in the world that you don't understand."

"Oh, and you do?" Lori glanced at her mother's glass, which held orange juice with more than a small amount of vodka added.

"Don't get smart with me. Turn it back on."

"YOU turn it on. And when you're finished drooling over Reverend Jericho and his loonies, YOU take it back over to that slimeball, Mr. Robinson."

Lori got up and stormed into her room. Just before she slammed the door, Lori heard her mother turn on the television.

 

[To Be Continued]