by Miller, Tim
“And just what is he?”
“He’s evil.”
“No kidding. And you’re going to fix Katie?”
“I didn’t say that. I said I want to help. If I can stop the Bishop, I think it might help Katie.” I wasn’t even sure what was wrong with her, but I needed this woman to trust me. “Are you her mother?” I asked.
“Yes. I should have never taken her to that stupid revival.”
“I understand. Please give me five minutes. If you don’t like what I have to say, I’ll go.”
She unlocked the chain and opened the door all the way. We walked up a flight of stairs and to a small bedroom. When I stepped in, Katie was sitting in a chair watching TV. She didn’t look at all like she had when I last saw her. She no longer was the smiling young woman who had just been miraculously healed in front of thousands of people. She looked like she’d aged ten years. Her eyes were sunk in as if she hadn’t been sleeping, and her hair was messy and appeared to be thinning. She still had two legs, though. I stepped in and her mother introduced me.
“I knew someone would come.” She said.
“How’d you know?”
“It had to be God’s will. He wouldn’t heal me just to let me suffer like this.”
“Well, maybe. What’s been happening?”
“Of course, the Bishop healed my leg. I thought it was a blessing.” She sat up but kept her eyes down. “I truly thought God was finally gonna heal me for good. Everything was great for a few days. After the service, the Bishop came by and spoke to me. He was kind and friendly, but then he told me not to speak to any reporters or anything about what happened. When he told me that, he didn’t seem warm and friendly at all, he turned dark and scary.”
“Go on,” I said, “I’m listening.”
“So, since that night, I’ve had blackouts. I’d wake up and not remember things for hours, sometimes days. I woke up one day with blood on my hands and clothes. Many nights I have dreams of the Bishop, except in the dreams he doesn’t look like himself. He’s taller, has darker hair, his eyes are black and he is surrounded by light. He tells me things, terrible things. He says the Beast has arrived and I must help destroy him or go to hell.” She stopped and began crying.
I had a feeling the blackouts and blood were due to him, just like what happened with Lee. The Bishop had healed him, but then he could take control of him and even turned him into that thing. It was as if people he healed became susceptible to being his minions or something. What better way to do his dirty work? Unlike me, the Bishop didn’t like to get his hands dirty.
“I don’t know why I always feel so tired and weak,” she went on. “And my hair and skin are getting bad. I don’t know what to do.” She wiped tears from her face.
“I think what he’s doing to you is taking its toll. I’ve suspected for a while he’s not what he appears to be. I’m trying to stop him.”
“So why haven’t you? He keeps having services, getting more famous with more followers. What are you waiting for? If you could have stopped him, you would have by now.”
“I know I can,” I said with more confidence than I actually felt.
“How do you know?”
“Because he keeps sending people to kill me, but they’ve all failed. I need him face to face, so I can kill him.”
“What about me? What if he knows I talked to you? Will he do something to me now?”
“I have an idea. Do you remember anything else about your dreams?”
“Just what I told you, I’d rather not remember.”
“I have a feeling some of them weren’t just dreams. They might tell me something.”
“How? I don’t remember.”
“You don’t have to. I can find out your dreams, but it might hurt.”
“Bad?”
“Yes, but only for a few minutes. Then I will be done. There won’t be any after effects like with the Bishop, I promise.”
She looked to her mother who was standing in the door way the whole time. I hadn’t noticed she was still there. Her mother shook her head and walked out of the room.
“She is just trying to protect me,” Katie said.
“I know. It’s fine.”
“So you really think it will help?”
“I won’t know until I try. But for now, I have nothing else to go on. The Bishop moves around a lot and is surrounded with security. I need to find an edge. You might be that edge, Katie. And if you believe God sent me, then he would want you to help me do his work.”
I couldn’t believe I went there, but it seemed to work for the Bishop, and I didn’t have much time.
“Well, okay. We can try. Just try not to make it hurt too much.”
“Oh, it will hurt a lot. I won’t lie. But I’ll try to be fast.” I said, as I placed my hand onto the top of her head.
Chapter 32
The drive back to my apartment gave me plenty of time to think. I was getting more used to my “gift”. I was able to see Katie’s thoughts and memories without hurting her too badly, or killing her. She did scream a little, but not as badly as I had feared she would. The information I got was helpful, but her blackouts were very real and ran deep in her mind. There were several blank spots in her memories, as if they’d been removed completely. I did see a lot of images of the Bishop and I could see Katie’s dreams as well. The imagery looked like stuff out of the book of Revelation. There were dragons, women riding on serpents, beasts with several heads, and the Bishop of course; albeit a larger than life and glorified version of him.
A couple things I was sure of: being healed by the Bishop put a person under his control, and the Bishop was making these people do some awful things during their blackouts. I don’t imagine Katie wound up covered in blood on accident. Once I reached my apartment I flipped on the TV. The Bishop was on the Today Show talking to Matt Lauer. He sat with his trademark smile and commanding presence. Lauer sat across from him, skeptically asking questions about his ministry. The Bishop didn’t flinch at all. He seemed to welcome the skepticism.
“So, you believe you have actually brought people back from the dead?” Lauer asked.
“I don’t believe I have, my friend. I know I have. I’m sure it sounds crazy and I wouldn’t expect you to believe it. But Jesus said, “Blessed are they who have not seen but still believe.”
This guy sure was good. I had to give him that. I wasn’t that smooth even on my best day. Then the Bishop dropped a bombshell.
“I also want to announce, Mr. Lauer, that we are constructing a new church in San Antonio for I Am the Way Ministries. It will be ready next year. This will be a grand sanctuary worthy of praising our Lord. It will rival any facility in the country, maybe even the world.”
“Wow,” Lauer said. “That sounds like quite a project.”
“It is. But with God’s will it will be ready by next year. In the meantime, we will be holding services in the Alamodome every Sunday morning at 9am, 10am, and 11am. The services will be recorded and televised on cable and satellite TV.”
Lauer nodded and still appeared skeptical as he sat with his legs crossed. Through the interview he made several attempts to rattle the Bishop, but he didn’t even break a sweat. Tom Cruise he was not.
“That sounds very exciting, Bishop. Will you be doing more miracles at these services?”
“God’s miracles are not limited to the confines of church walls my friend. In fact, I would like to do one now if you would allow it.”
“Right now? What kind of miracle?”
“Well, the Lord doesn’t need someone sitting right here to heal them. He knows all. I can heal someone sitting out there watching right now.”
“Okay, then, go ahead,” Lauer said. I could tell he was curious.
The Bishop leaned forward and looked straight into the camera.
“Very well. To my friends at home, I know there are those of you out there who are hurting, suffering, sick, in pain or just tired of dealing with life. God knows your affl
iction. Whatever you are suffering, no matter what your religious beliefs are, place your hand onto your TV screen.” His gaze never shifted from the camera, his voice speaking in perfect cadence. It was almost hypnotic. It felt like he was speaking to me personally. I almost put my own hand on the TV.
“Now, for those of you touching your TV, right now you have just taken a step of faith. In the name of Jesus Christ, Father in heaven and the Holy Spirit, I command any sickness to leave your body at once. I command any wounds to heal themselves. I command your body, mind and hearts to be healed fully and completely. Amen.” He smiled and sat back in his seat as the camera pulled back, showing both men again.
“So that’s it?” Lauer asked.
“That’s it! Although I do encourage anyone who was healed today email the Today Show with records from their doctor showing what their condition had been before, and what it is now that they are healed. I’m sure you won’t believe them Mr. Lauer, but either way, if a few people’s lives are changed from this interview, then it was well worth it.”
“Could be, Lauer said, wrapping up. “ Thank you for coming to visit us, Bishop. It was good meeting you and definitely a learning experience.”
“And I thank you, sir,” the Bishop nodded while clasping Lauer’s hands as the show went to a commercial.
I flipped the TV off as I realized what just happened. In light of my new knowledge about how the Bishop controlled those he healed, I had no doubt he could heal people through the TV. If that is the case, then every person he just healed through the TV would become his slave, like Katie. This time, it wouldn’t be just a few people in an arena, but hundreds of thousands, maybe millions across the country or even worldwide. With the new church he was building there was no telling where it would end. I realized I was fighting a losing battle. The Bishop had kept me occupied with his thugs while he went on his conquest.
I needed a game changer. After a minute an idea came to me, a good one. Maybe it was divine intervention, or just my own twisted mind at work. Either way, God put me on this fight for a reason, to battle evil with evil. It was time to show the Bishop who the darker force was.
Part III:
The Second Coming
Amos 5:18 Woe unto you that desire the day of the LORD! To what end is it for you? The day of the LORD is darkness, and not light.
Chapter 33
The first place I headed was back to Katie’s house. As I pulled up, there was another car already there. It was a black SUV. The Bishop or his men were there. I was sure they knew about my visit earlier. No telling what they were doing to her and her mother now. Whatever it was, I wasn’t going to let the Bishop hurt her anymore.
I jumped out of my car and ran to the door. I tried looking in the window to see anything. There was a scream from upstairs, so I kicked in the door and ran in to see what was going on. When I got up there, two men in suits were in the hallway. Katie was crouching in a corner in a fetal position while her mother lay dead on the floor in a pool of blood. The two men both had shaved heads and wore suits. That must be the Bishop’s official uniform for his goons. One of them turned and looked at me.
“Who are you?” He asked.
“I’m the Angel of Death,” I said and squeezed his forehead. His partner hit me, which hurt, but I was able to do my thing as the first goon began screaming and wailing. He fell on the floor and rolled around in the blood, kicking and screaming. Goon #2 took a swipe at me with a knife, slicing through my suit and part of my arm. A sharp sting went up my arm and shoulder as I jumped back. He came at me again, but this time I was able to grab his knife hand, spin him around, and thrust my fingers through his head. In my anger, I pushed a little too hard. I felt his skull crumble in my fingers as he fell over. I was left standing there holding part of his brains. I threw them on top of his partner, and walked over to Katie.
“Come on, we gotta go,” I said, putting my hand out to her. She cowered into the corner, shaking her head at me and staring at my bloody hand. I wiped it on my pants and held it out again. “I’m serious. You know I won’t hurt you. Please?”
She grabbed my hand and I pulled her up. We stepped over the bodies and ran down the stairs, out to my Tahoe. Once we climbed in, Katie was breathing so hard, I thought she would hyperventilate.
“Oh my God! My God, I don’t believe this. This isn’t happening!” she said.
“Katie, please, try to calm down. What did they want?”`
“They wanted to know what I told you. I told them I said nothing, which I really didn’t. They wouldn’t believe me, so they started to cut my mom until she died.” She stopped to wipe tears from her eyes. “Then you came in and did whatever that was. And you’re supposed to be a preacher?”
“Yeah, I’m like, a special preacher.”
She looked at me without speaking. I began to drive. I knew exactly where to go. The first goon I killed had the location of a large mansion in his mind. It was in the north part of the city, and in that mansion, was the Bishop. I let my instincts take over and I just drove. This would be my chance to get to him, finally. I had to make sure Katie was safe, though. She had already been through enough.
After being on the road for fifteen minutes, I saw red flashing lights in my rearview mirror. This was not good. I was covered with blood from the goon’s head, and Katie looked like hell. I didn’t want to do my thing to a cop, but if I had no choice, I would do what I had to. Then, I saw the officer approaching my Tahoe. It was Stanton.
“Pastor Charlie, you’ve been up to no good.”
“Look, detective, I can explain, okay? Please, we need to take care of something important.”
“Oh, I’m sure. I was just at this young lady’s house. We found the bodies. You left quite a mess.”
“I know. Those guys came to kill her and her mom. They work for Bishop Hoover. There’s a lot going on you don’t know about.”
“Well, then, why don’t you enlighten me?”
“I can’t. I tell you what. If you let me deal with this, and take Katie somewhere safe, I’ll turn myself in later and tell you everything.”
Stanton looked over at Katie.
“Ma’am, are you okay?”
“Yes, sir. Those men tried to hurt me. Charlie stopped them. The Bishop really is dangerous.”
“Dangerous how?
I didn’t have time for the questions. I decided to prove to Stanton what was going on without hurting him. I grabbed his forehead and let my fingers sink in, took in some of his thoughts for a second and then let go. He stumbled back, shaking his head.
“What the hell was that? What did you do to me?”
“Long story. It’s something I can do. What the Bishop can do is much worse. Now do you believe me?”
He looked to Katie, who just nodded. Rubbing his forehead and looking confused, he finally spoke.
“Okay, I’ll call for a uniform to take her to a safe place. Then I will go with you to find this Bishop.”
When the squad car arrived, Katie left with the officer while Stanton got in with me. I felt like convincing Stanton had been rather easy, but after what I’d just done to him, he might have been curious as to how this goes.
“Just so you know,” he said. “If you try anything weird, like that head thing again, I will shoot you.”
“Understood.”
“Is that what you did to the guy who was screaming his head off? Or the guy whose head you bashed in?”
“I didn’t bash his head. Hard to explain. The screaming guy is the usual end result, depending on how long I do it.”
“Beautiful. So what are you? Some kind of witch doctor? I thought you were a preacher.”
“You’ll understand more once we find the Bishop. After a run in with him, you’ll wish you didn’t know.”
Chapter 34
The Bishop’s mansion was at the end of a long, gated driveway. I knew there was no way they would just let us in. He had some goons up front working security. They stood in front of a la
rge wall with plants growing along the top. The large metal gate was probably opened by remote from the inside. I pulled the Tahoe around the corner where we sat and waited.
“So what are we doing?” Stanton asked.
“I’m thinking. We can’t just go in, the Bishop won’t allow it.”
“I’m a cop. I bet they’ll let me in.”
“Don’t be so sure.”
“Come on. I’ll show you.” He jumped out of the Tahoe, and I had no choice but to follow him. We walked along the wall until we reached the front gate where one of the goons was standing. I noticed there was a camera at the top of the wall pointed at the entrance. Stanton approached the one of the men, also with his head shaved and wearing a suit.
“Can I help you sir?” The man asked.
“Yes. Detective Jim Stanton, SAPD,” he said as he held up his badge. “I need to speak with Bishop Hoover please.”
“Speak to him about what, sir?”
“About a couple of his employees we found dead.”
“If you leave me your card, I can have someone from our legal department contact you, Detective.”
Good Lord, the Bishop had a legal department? Stanton wasn’t going to give up.
“Look, no one is being accused of anything. I just wanted to ask him a couple of questions is all.”
“I’m afraid he is busy right now. As I said, if you leave a card, he or his attorney can contact you.” The man’s expression never changed through the whole conversation. It was like talking to a recording. I got tired of doing it Stanton’s way, so I stepped in. I elbowed my way past Stanton and placed my hand on the man’s head. I made sure I looked up at the camera the whole time. The other man ran to stop me, but Stanton drew his gun and held him off. Within minutes, the man Stanton had been talking to was on the ground, screaming and crying. Even Stanton looked horrified at what he’d just seen.
“What did you do?” He asked.
“I’m not sure. You,” I said, pointing at the other man. Go tell the Bishop what you just saw.” He stood there staring at me. “Go!” I said. He went over to the gate, and pushed in a number on the keypad so the gate opened part way. He walked in and the gate closed behind him. His partner remained in the ground writhing in pain and crying.
