Chrismafio

By Ronald E. Crumpton

This is a story about the creation of a Christian Mafi a. Of course there is
nothing that is Christian about the Mafi a. How could a Christian individual
begin something that is truly devoid of Christian principles and, yet, call it
Christian? As the story unfolds, you will read about a man who succeeded in
some measure to do just that. He includes Christian principles in diabolical
schemes. He does whatever his mind wants to do with no awareness of right or
wrong. And, he believes God is behind it all.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Xlibris US
• Release date: Oct 21, 2010
• ISBN: 9781453575161

Book preview

Contents

Preface

Introduction

Chapter 1

Christopher’s Young Ministry

Chapter 2

The Early Years of Education

Chapter 3

Life Just Isn’t Fair Or Is It?

Chapter 4

Getting Caught

Chapter 5

Imprisonment Personified

Chapter 6

A Friend Indeed

Chapter 7

The Trial Of Fire

Chapter 8

The Double Release

Chapter 9

The Entrepreneur

Chapter 10

The Trumpet

Chapter 11

The Launch of a New Era

Chapter 12

CHRISMAFIO

Chapter 13

The Bishop’s New Names

Chapter 14

What About Chris?

Chapter 15

The Rebuilding Process

Chapter 16

Chris On the Offense

Chapter 17

Jumping On The Bandwagon

Chapter 18

Show Me The Money

Chapter 19

Homeless in a Conference

Chapter 20

The Altercation Plan

Chapter 21

A Hidden Desire

Chapter 22

The Long-awaited Meeting

Chapter 23

What The Bishop Knows

Chapter 24

The Bishop And Delia

Chapter 25

Doc And Delia

Chapter 26

Infringement of Privacy

Chapter 27

A Bold Move

Chapter 28

Delia in Danger

Chapter 29

Delia’s Dilemma

Chapter 30

The Doc and His Departure

Chapter 31

A New Beginning for Jake

Chapter 32

Dr. Walker and Katrina

Chapter 33

Singapore

Chapter 34

Katrina’s Whereabouts

Chapter 35

The Get-A-Way

Chapter 36

The Truth

Chapter 37

What Now?

Chapter 38

A Proposition

Chapter 39

England

Chapter 40

Rendezvous With The Bishop

Chapter 41

Bishop Trumps Queen

Chapter 42

Going Home

Appended

Preface

A special thanks to my wife, Faye, whose first name is Delia, and whose inspiration was a big help in making this manuscript possible.

Thanks to Christine Bowman who in the early days of this writing read my first 40 pages and gave me tips to get me started.

Thanks to Nedra Ellerbruch who was the first to read my book all the way through and gave me the courage to finish the task and to get it published. And, to Joe and Pat Alenduff for proofreading and additional encouragement.

Thanks to Adam Mayefsky for his journalistic talent in correcting a number of mistakes. Special thanks to Lisa Hurley for her revisions that helped create a better flow to the reading.

Acknowledgements to my mom, Carolina Crumpton who has approved my writing and to my dad, the Rev. Syrrell Crumpton, who was here during my early days of the book but passed on and was not able to see the finished product; and, to another special family member, my grandson, Austin Williamson, who was around when I started the project but went to heaven before he could read the book; and, to his mother, my daughter, Tisha Williamson, and to her husband, Van and their other sons, Kyle, Andrew and Tyler.

Acknowledgements to my son, Chad, and his daughters, Caylee and Ellington, and the memory of their mom, Mara, along with his youngest little girl, Emma.

A special acknowledgment to my church, Word Of Life Assembly Of God in St. Petersburg, Florida for their faith in me to accomplish this adventure.

My family and my church mean all the world to me and to them I dedicate this book.

Introduction

Part of this book is slightly biographical, although some creative imagination was necessary to expose possibilities in a field of action unknown to most. But, it is a story about a man, his family, his life and the events surrounding his involvement in an unbelievable scheme.

Though this is a fictional novel, the facts are that such events could be happening right under our noses and we wouldn’t know it. We would certainly not expect it. Some persons, names and events have been altered so that no individual would be identified.

People who are usually good, like the clergy and the priests of our society are the epitome of what we believe to be decent.

Anything is imaginable and possible, especially when someone desires it enough to do whatever it takes to fulfill one’s fantasies. Behavioral depravity is an area where the mind and desire are parallel forces that boggle the most liberated individual with a diverse mentality.

What is so hard to accept, as well as believe, is the bizarre activity behind what is now known as CHRISMAFIO. We all know about the members of the Mafia. Or at least we think we know. The Mafia deals in criminal activity, is organized and has a chain of command. The Chris portion has to do with the name of a man you will come to know, and, is linked to the word mafio. It’s similar, yet different from the Mafia. And, it is linked to the Christian faith.

In a way, it can be related to Christmas. Christmas is the giving and receiving of gifts, while relating it to a religion which celebrates an event in history, the birth of Christ.

Contrast that to CHRISMAFIO which is criminal in nature because it is willing to break the law, if need be, to satisfy a desire to be benevolent for personal gain.

What’s really new about it? Sounds like Robin Hood, doesn’t it? It is an old concept, but with a new twist. Rob from the rich and give to the poor as well as to yourself. But while you are benefiting others in the process, make it a Christian thing. Exhibit Christian principles as you carry out criminal intent. To some degree, you overcome greed and ego by establishing a righteous cause and, then, carry out your intended purpose with all the humility necessary to hide the criminal avenue through which you are able to achieve your goal. Take from others who are less deserving, give to those who are more worthy. Pocket some good-size change while you are at it. This is what one man did and he taught his trade to others.

This is a story about the creation of a Christian Mafia. Of course there is nothing that is Christian about the Mafia. How could a Christian individual begin something that is truly devoid of Christian principles and, yet, call it Christian? As the story unfolds, you will read about a man who succeeded in some measure to do just that. He includes Christian principles in diabolical schemes. He does whatever his mind wants to do with no awareness of right or wrong. And, he believes God is behind it all.

The man who develops this new process of criminal thinking, and to which the story’s center piece is dedicated, is the Rev. Dr. Christopher G. Howard. This man appears to go from minister to sinister to mobster. He comes to know this new concept as he fosters converts in his own way of thinking.

This guy becomes someone altogether different than the Corleone family we saw in the Godfather trilogy; yet, who may be considered as diabolical and hideous as any other criminal. Why? Most bad guys are truly bad and everyone knows it. Even those who try to pretend to be good through their philanthropy, you know they are evil anyway. And the bad guys could care less whether you believe them or not, just as long as they can get away with their performance.

Their desire for greed projects an outward display of character that typically demonstrates who they are and what they are. It is, usually, unmistakable in giving away that they are criminal in nature. Their make-up and mindset glorifies self. Money and power feeds their ego. CHRISMAFIO members, however, hide it very well.

The connection between Christianity and the mafia sounds sacrilegious, and, it may be. However, haven’t you seen movies that depicted mobsters as being very religious? They attend Mass and make confessions to the priests about their sins and sometimes even about their crimes. Yet they continue to perform activities that are immoral and criminal to fulfill the demands of the mafia. Then, there are movies that depict a mobster being soft and having a decent heart about some things. Even the mafia comedy movies such as Analyze This and Analyze That have this scenario.

But, what if a Christian believed it was alright to murder someone, if it was for a good cause? Now I know you may be thinking of those who, for instance, kill a doctor who performs abortions.

This is not about that type of person. There is something mentally challenging about the kind of criminal who believes he is a Christian. Most criminals who are leaders in their division of crime have developed ideas that suit their own set of values.

You could call these extremists as being Taliban Christians. The Taliban are known as Muslims who are religious zealots that believe in destroying others who do not share their same beliefs.

The Bishop, as he is called, is slightly different in that he uses fake humility as an advantage to captivate those whom he will eventually allow to become his pawns. They will carry out meaningful purposes, but with a diabolical method. He does not openly project his beliefs in order to establish his agenda. He hides his true opinions; a secret cause; a secret order: CHRISMAFIO. It’s a belief system that patterns itself in doing good and being benevolent, but in an undermining way. It can grow into action, producing a determination to get what we want at any cost. How can a true minister of the Christian faith be so twisted in his ideology as to succumb to this euphemism?

This writing is about one such man, the founding member of CHRISMAFIO, the Christian mafia. He learns the art of acting and becomes misguided in his deceptive conduct as a minister.

He is similar, in a way, to the pre-civil war criminal, John Brown. You might recall, historically, that he was a religious man. He received, what he felt, was a divine call to kill, steal and destroy everything in his path that hindered his cause.

But, it is different in that there is no real ‘cause’ involved. However, deceit, deception and greed filters through this new concept of doing good, not for evil, but by evil.

Allow the excitement and adventure of a preacher who desperately needs a miracle provide a whole new concept of what it is like to be a member of CHRISMAFIO.

Chapter 1

Christopher’s Young Ministry

Christopher George Howard was born into a family of clergymen. His great great-grandfather, on his father’s side, was the first high school principal in Taledega, Alabama. Education and religion had nothing in common back in that day. He was told that he should deny himself a formal education and felt that it was a sin to be taught in society by worldly teachers of philosophy with anti-religious thinking.

He soon became a preacher, rather than give in to the threat of what he thought that education in schools would do to true believers.

His great-grandfather became a Primitive Baptist preacher who rode on horseback to preach revival meetings in the early 1900’s. That religious belief system was the beginning of clothes-line preaching in the early days of the 20th century. That kind of speaking behind a pulpit involved dealing with outward appearances. The way women dressed had everything to do with how spiritual a person was. It was sinful to wear lipstick, earrings and short hair.

His grandfather, too, became a preacher and was called a Holy Roller. Many preachers who were demonstrative and emotional in their preaching were labeled as such. They did a lot of hell-fire and brimstone preaching. He was dubbed as having gotten old-time religion in a renovated theatre, which was turned into a revival center. He traveled all over the state of Alabama preaching revivals in many different churches.

His father also continued the tradition as a clergyman, but saw the need to become educated, and obtained credentials in his church affiliation: Pentecostal. This was a belief in outward demonstrations of spiritual fervor and physical responses to the power of God. His father’s religion was similar to the Primitive Baptists except for two things. The Pentecostals believed in speaking in tongues (unknown, personal-prayer languages that are not known to the individual); and, living a holy life, without sin.

If you were a Primitive Baptist, you didn’t believe in the tongues experience. You couldn’t lose your salvation by sinning. Various differences of religious ideologies and practices separated them from their relatives for a number of years.

His father, eventually, became a pastor and settled down to preaching to just one congregation at a time. He reared up Chris to do the same thing in the way of preaching as their previous generations had done. However, Chris went a step further and received an earned doctorate degree from Emory University, Atlanta, Georgia, in Theology. He made his parents very proud.

It was a wonderful life for Chris. With his father only 5' 2, Chris was a little short for his age, but later grew to about 5'6. And because he and his father were close, he had a good attitude as a youngster, full of playful joy. His dad even allowed Chris as a four-year-old to stand against his right shoulder while driving the car (in those days there were no seatbelts). His dad would let go of the wheel and allow Chris to steer the vehicle.

At the age of six he was learning Bible verses. He quoted many of them verbatim. He would pretend for hours that he was preaching and praying for people.

His three younger sisters idolized their brother. They spoiled him by catering to