Promises

By Maurice Allen

What do you do when you realise that your church is more interested in profit than prophet?

This was the question facing Frank McIvor. The Shining Light Christian Church had told him that his finances would increase sevenfold if he tithed diligently. For ten years he tithed diligently, and not one cent of return had he received.

He hires lawyer Michael Henderson to explore the possibility of suing the church for not honouring their promises of financial increase.

To prove this, Henderson has to challenge the church and show that its promises were but one of the many examples of instant coffee theology, the contextually inaccurate use of scripture that the church used to justify its ideology, theology, and worship practises.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Xlibris AU
• Release date: Mar 5, 2015
• ISBN: 9781503502925

Maurice Allen

Maurice Allen is an aspiring author from Philadelphia PA. He has been writing since his childhood and this is his first book. The story and character were inspired by one of his sons. He has always enjoyed writing in his spare time and finally was ready to publish his first of many books. Maurice always wanted his first book to be about his children and was inspired to write a story based on his 2 children dealing with the physical and emotional side of stuttering. This story is his son's story and millions of other children who stutter, as well. Maurice's goal is to inspire all children to be themselves and embrace everything about them because every child is special in some way. Maurice lives with his wife and children in North East Maryland. He loves playing softball, reading, debating, watching politics, golfing, exercising and most of all being a father.

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PROMI$E$

MAURICE ALLEN

Copyright © 2015 by Maurice Allen.

ISBN:      Softcover   -1-5035-0293-2

                eBook        -1-5035-0292-5

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the copyright owner.

This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places and incidents either are the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously, and any resemblance to any actual persons, living or dead, events, or locales is entirely coincidental.

Any people depicted in stock imagery provided by Thinkstock are models, and such images are being used for illustrative purposes only.

Certain stock imagery © Thinkstock.

Scripture quotations marked NIV are taken from the Holy Bible, New International Version®. NIV®. Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984 by International Bible Society. Used by permission of Zondervan. All rights reserved. [Biblica]

Scripture quotations marked KJV are from the Holy Bible, King James Version (Authorized Version). First published in 1611. Quoted from the KJV Classic Reference Bible, Copyright © 1983 by The Zondervan Corporation.

Scripture quotations marked MSG are taken from THE MESSAGE. Copyright © 1993, 1994, 1995, 1996, 2000, 2001, 2002, 2003 by Eugene H. Peterson. Used by permission of NavPress Publishing Group. Website.

Rev. date: 03/03/2015

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CONTENTS

Introduction

Chapter 1:   The Proposition

Chapter 2:   The Case

Chapter 3:   Inside the Court - Trial Day 1

Chapter 4:   Trial Day 2

Chapter 5:   Trial Day 3

Chapter 6:   Trial Day 4

Chapter 7:   Trial Day 5

Chapter 8:   Trial Day 6

Chapter 9:   The final analysis - Trial Day 7

Chapter 10:   The wash up

Chapter 11:   Trial Day 8

INTRODUCTION

What do you do when the church that you go to is more interested in profits than prophets? That was the question that Frank McIvor asked himself.

Frank and his wife Joan had been members of the Shining Light Christian Church for 10 years. Over the past year or so, he had begun to question the theology and ideology of the church. The Scriptures that were quoted to support their teaching, and their worship practises, just didn’t ring true. He had begun recording the whole service as well as purchasing the CD’s, hot off the press at the end of the service, so that he could check these references. He found that, in the majority of cases, they had used short passages, and in some cases single words, claiming that because they were ‘Biblical’ they were therefore true. But when taken in the original context, the link between them and the message was tenuous at best, and non-existent at worst.

The final straw came when he noticed that the Senior Pastor’s son was pick synching his guitar solo during the pre-service praise and worship.

He approached Lawyer Michael Henderson to explore his options; should he just walk away, as so many had done before, or should he stand up and fight.

The decision is made to sue the Shining Light Christian Church, in a secular court, for failing to honour its promise that; if he tithed diligently, his finances would increase seven-fold. A message that was delivered often.

To prove this claim, Henderson chooses to allege that the church was guilty of misleading its congregation scripturally, spiritually as well as financially.

As the trial progresses, man’s most basic of emotions rise to the surface, lust and greed. This leads to the taking of life.

This story does not challenge man’s faith in God. It does not challenge the Christian faith in Jesus Christ. It does however, challenge some organisations among those that call themselves a ‘Church of God’. It does challenge man’s abuse of Scripture for profit; in particular, it challenges that section of the Christian church, the so-called ‘Prosperity Doctrine’ churches, which prey on their members’ greed and hopes of financial reward to be gained, not from hard toil, but from God’s generosity. It does challenge the use of ‘Instant Coffee Theology’ in its contextually inaccurate interpretation of the Scriptures used to support its teachings, worship practises, and promises.

The church service at the beginning of this story, as well as many of the references to teachings, was inspired by, but not limited to, my personal experience with several such churches.

But most of all this story explores human emotions. It is a story of greed, greed so powerful that it leads to the taking of life. It is a story of love in many forms. And it is a story of hope.

This story will polarise opinion, and for that I make no apology. There will be those who will read this, and say that I have thought this through, and researched it thoroughly, before formulating my arguments. Then there will be those who will read a small part of it and label it as a work of a heretic. To these people I will ask; ‘What are you afraid of?’ I paraphrase Paul in Romans (12:2) when he tells us that just because things are done in a certain way, doesn’t make them right, and that we should think about them and test them, so that we can know God’s will.

I emphasise that this is a work of fiction. The characters and situations, while many of them may appear familiar, are fictitious, and any resemblance to any specific person, either living or dead, is coincidental.

CHAPTER 1

THE PROPOSITION

If a church makes promises that it knowingly cannot keep, and these involve the collection of a large amount of money, can it be sued for dishonouring those promises?

Good morning, Shining Light Christian Church, bless you for calling us, how may I be of assistance? The voice of the receptionist had an earnestness that had been inculcated into her by much teaching.

Good morning. My name is William Vickary, would it be possible for me to arrange an appointment with your Senior Pastor, now what is his name again? Bill asked. He had a job to do, and that was to have a face to face meeting with Pastor Mayotte, the Senior Pastor. He had noticed that Mayotte’s car was not parked in its reserved park; he would have to entice him to the church.

That would be Pastor Mayotte. What is the purpose of your visit?

It is a personal matter that I am not at liberty to discuss with anyone else.

I’m sorry but Pastor Mayotte doesn’t see anyone without first knowing the reason for the visit.

I really don’t care much about your rules here; the purpose of this appointment is a matter that cannot be discussed with anyone else. This was a deliberately aggressive and confrontational approach, in contrast with the sweetness displayed by the receptionist.

Sir, you must appreciate that Pastor Mayotte is a very busy man, and if he had to make time for everyone who wants an appointment, he would never have time for God’s work. Surely you can discuss this matter with one of the other Pastors? She was beginning to get a little upset at the caller’s insistence, her job was to screen incoming calls and, if possible redirect them to one of the other Pastors.

I’m afraid that I just have to reiterate, this matter is for Pastor Mayotte only, and no-one else within your organization has the authority to discuss this matter. Now do I have to go over your head to a higher authority or will you arrange this appointment?

Please hold sir. She was replaced by a recording of the church’s worship team belting its way through a series of repetitive up-tempo choruses. Several minutes later, the chorus stopped abruptly and another female voice cut in.

Good morning Mister Vickary, I am Pastor Mayotte’s Personal Assistant, how may I help you?

And your name is?

Janine Elliot.

Janine, that’s a nice name and you sound like a very nice person, but I need an appointment with Pastor Mayotte and Pastor Mayotte only.

I appreciate that sir, but church protocol is that we must screen all calls and only schedule appointments with Pastor Mayotte if the matter cannot be dealt with by another Pastor. I’m sure that you appreciate the Pastor Mayotte’s time is precious to him, he is our spiritual leader and much of his time is taken up with spiritual matters, the administration of this church is handled by our Leadership team.

Very well then, it would appear that the only way that I can get to see Pastor Mayotte is to convince your leadership team that the matter is of such importance that he, and only he, can deal with it. Let me speak with whoever I need to speak with.

Please hold. Again, the worship team flooded his senses with upbeat music.

Mister Vickary, my name is Pastor Fenton, how may I be of assistance?

Pastor Fenton, the voice had an exasperated tone, You can be of assistance by getting off your backside and arranging the appointment I require with Pastor Mayotte.

I’m sorry sir, but our church policy is that there is a chain of command and no-one but no-one can get an appointment with Pastor Mayotte without first going through the formal lines of communication.

Tell me Pastor Fenton, if I was to tell you that the reason for my wanting to speak face to face with Pastor Mayotte has extremely important financial ramifications for your church, and that I can only discuss it with him personally, would I then be able to see him? He could almost hear the cash register spring into life.

In that case I will see what I can do. Leave it with me and I will speak to Pastor Mayotte and get back to you. May I have a number on which I can contact you?

Surely, I will be out of my office for most of the day so I’ll leave you my mobile number, do you have a pen and paper handy? When the affirmative answer was given, he recited the number, confirmed it correct, and hung up. Now all that he had to do was to wait. He knew what would happen next, a call would be made to the Pastor’s home number and the Pastor would then drive to the church office to discuss the call with his Personal Assistant, and his Associate Pastor, before making a decision on whether to take the appointment.

The Senior Pastor’s BMW (new 7 Series) pulled into his reserved parking space. Bill got out of his vehicle parked between the parking space and the staff entrance to the church complex, in his hand was an envelope. Pastor Mayotte?

What do you want? There was a smile on his face but his voice was brusque.

This is for you. He handed the Pastor the envelope and walked back to his vehicle. Mayotte stared at the envelope for a minute or two before opening it.

What the hell is this? He ran into the building. He stopped long enough at the reception desk to shout to the receptionist, I want all Pastors and senior staff in my office immediately! and ran toward his suite of offices.

Two Sundays ago:

It was time to begin, the last few stragglers entered the auditorium and the doors were closed. The music DVD that had provided background noise and clean cut images of clean cut singers while the audience had filed in, faded to a close. The house lights dimmed and the stage lights rose. The musicians were arranged around a stage designed to enhance the effect that everything about this church was beautiful. The lead singers were uniformly attractive, the two female leads were young and slim, one blonde, the other brunette, and the male lead was clean cut and conservatively dressed. The backing vocalists were on a raised platform at the rear of the stage, with the attractive arranged in front of the less so.

The musicians were arranged around the edges of the stage, keyboards to the left of the vocal trio, guitar and bass at the rear except for the lead guitarist who stood beside the blonde singer making minute tuning adjustments to his instrument, clearly a professional, and his every move drawing attention to his professionalism. Centre stage rear, behind a clear plastic screen sat the anomaly, the drummer. His hair was slightly longer than the other male musicians, his clothes a little more casual, a diamond glinted from his ear lobe, and he was ready for action.

The light show projection on the walls of the stage burst into life. The concert was about to begin.

The Praise and Worship Leader for the day stood behind his keyboard and moved his mike closer. I can feel God’s presence in the house today! He shouted. The congregation burst into loud cries, the spontaneity of which was a result of years of practice. He held up his hand and a spontaneously expectant hush settled over the crowd of worshippers. The Bible says to us; ‘Come let us sing for joy to the Lord; let us shout aloud to the rock of our salvation. Let us come before him with thanksgiving and extol him with music and song!’ He counted the musicians in before hitting a dramatic chord on his keyboard, the drummer bringing both hands down at the same time as his foot hit the pedal of the big bass drum, and the entire band and choir launched into a chorus from their latest CD, one that had become a favourite with the congregation.

Two repetitions later, the musicians moved seamlessly into the next chorus. After several minutes and another two repetitions, there was a guitar solo by Charles ‘Chuck’ Mayotte, Pastor Matthew Mayotte’s second son. Joan McIvor caught a puzzled expression on her husband Frank’s face. She tapped his arm and cast a questioning glance at him. Frank mouthed the words; ‘I’ll explain later.’ The solo finished to rapturous applause from the mosh pit of the faithful youth, who were arranged at the right of the centre bank of seats, and who were in awe of Chuck’s expertise as a guitarist. The Praise and Worship team led the congregation in a further repetition of the chorus.

A third chorus followed and continued until the obligatory forty minute set had been completed, it was then that an almost imperceptible signal brought proceedings to a halt. It was the cue for the Associate Pastor Graham Fenton to take the stage. The mood of the congregation changed. They all knew what was coming next; communion, a stalling of the feeling of well being as the communion elements were distributed by the horde of helpers.

At the Last Supper, Jesus took the bread and broke it. This was delivered in Pastor Fenton’s uncomfortably forced style, He said to His disciples, this is my body, eat this in remembrance of me. We take this bread, and remember that He died on the cross for us, and as we eat, we give thanks for His sacrifice, and that on the third day He rose from the dead to lead us into eternal life. He paused while the congregation ate the small bread cubes. He then took the cup and blessed it and passed it to His disciples, telling them, ‘This is my blood, shed for you, take this cup and drink in remembrance of me.’ As we drink of the cup, we give thanks that His blood was shed on the cross for us. We give thanks to God that He sacrificed His only Son so that we may receive the gift of eternal life. Again, a pause while the small plastic cups of grape juice were consumed and the cups passed to the end of the row for collection.

We have many new friends in our church today, I would ask them to stand so that we can all extend the hand of friendship to them. He paused while around twenty people rose to their feet. Those nearest to them, I want you to take their hands and welcome them into our church family, while the rest of you can give them a warm welcome. Those not nearest to these new friends cheered and clapped a welcome to them. After the meeting the new friends are invited to join our leadership team in our ‘new friends’ lounge for coffee.

The big screens lit up as the ‘Shining News’, a weekly program of amusing stories, interviews and general good news, put together by the Media Pastor, Michael Simon, that took the congregation through five minutes of ‘Gee aren’t we awesome, aren’t we in touch’, propaganda.

The attendants moved around the auditorium with the collection buckets ready to pass them from row to row.

The Bible tells us that when Abraham returned victorious from war he gave a tenth of the spoils of war to his king, Melchizedek, telling him that he was keeping nothing that didn’t belong to him. Now Melchizedek was a Priest King and, in doing this, Abraham was giving a tenth of what he had taken from battle to God. He did not have to do this, but he has set an example to us that we should willingly give a tenth of our finances to God. In the Book of Malachi, God tells us that if we bring our whole tithe into the storehouse, ‘test Me on this said the Lord God Almighty, and see if I will not open the floodgates and pour out so much blessing that you will not have room enough for it!’ If you give diligently of your full tithe, God will reward you, He will increase your finances seven-fold, a hundred-fold. This is His promise to you.

The buckets had completed their circuit of the congregation and the Stewards began the procession to the counting room, escorted by a team of black clad security guards. There was a lot of money involved, usually something like $50,000 plus.

His duty done, Pastor Fenton nodded to the Praise and Worship leader and left the stage. Another chorus burst forth until Pastor Mayotte leaned to his wife Cynthia, and brushed her cheek with his lips. He then rose during the second repetition, took the stage and launched into his impassioned message.

My friends, my message for today was meant to be a continuation of my series on prophecy, but during the week I was humbled when the powerful presence of God came to me and instructed me to bring to you a different message. I didn’t have time to write down everything that I have to say today, so I’m just going to rely on God to inspire me.

From the front row of the audience came cries of ‘Right on Brother’, Halleluiah, ‘Praise God’ and other carefully rehearsed ad-lib type supportive phrases. Under normal circumstances, these would have hardly been heard by the congregation, but strategically placed microphones fed the cries through amplifiers and into the stage speakers.

When I first came to the Lord many years ago, I was unsure what role He had for me. I was young and newly married and had a good job with a good future in the retail industry, but God encouraged me to give up that career and enter, willingly I might add, into His service.

While times were tough at first, I never regretted that decision, and by faith I was chosen to birth this church. Again, it was tough going at first. I had a family to consider, and let me tell you that there were times when I was close to giving it all up, to place my family first, but in those times God would come to me and say to me, ‘Have faith, you good and faithful servant, you have been chosen for great things.’ The auditorium erupted in supportive shouts.

I had faith and things got better. I gathered around me a team of awesome men and women of God, and together we have built this church into the magnificent building that you see around you today, a church whose influence has reached out to the four corners of the world. We have affiliate churches in England and America who call on me to talk to them. I have only to ask, and awesome men of God come to us to share their experiences and their testimonies. None of this would have been possible if it wasn’t for God’s plan for us and my faith, and that of all of you, in Him.

And now my friends, it is time for all of us to move on to a new level of service to God. We are going to literally move up to the next level of service to Him. A buzz of excitement spread over the audience. You are all aware that the upper level of this building has been under-utilized, it has only been used effectively when we have had special functions, special services, but we are rapidly outgrowing the area that we have available for us on this level.

The decision has been made that we should move up to the next level sooner rather than leaving it until we are forced by circumstance to move. So over the next month we will be taking up ‘Miracle Offerings’ so that we can begin the transition as soon as possible.

If you think that the Praise and Worship of this church can’t get any better, be prepared for an awesome experience, it will rock! Loud shouts emerged from the youth section of the congregation. Our music team led by Pastor Wayne and my son Chuck are busy writing new material for our next CD! Loud cheers erupted from the faithful youth. This CD will be recorded in our new church, on our new sound equipment! We will be recording it as well on DVD so that you can watch it as well as enjoy it!

In keeping with our ‘Spirit of Excellence’ we have gathered around us the very best sound and lighting engineers, who have volunteered their time and expertise, to set up a truly awesome system that will blow your minds! We have also negotiated with suppliers who have agreed to either donate the equipment that we need, or supply it at cost! We have tradesmen who will donate their time and expertise to carry out any necessary structural changes!

Our Finance Team have advised that, as this process fits the definition of a ‘Building Fund, any monies that you give are tax deductable, all that we ask is that you place the money in the special envelopes that we have had printed for the occasion and, if you require a tax receipt, just write your name and address on the envelope and we will post your receipt to you. If you are paying by credit card, include your card details on the envelope along with your address, and we will process the transaction as per your request.

The area that we are now using will be transformed into the most amazing Children’s Church that you have ever seen. There will be activity centres for all ages along with a mini-cinema where we can show Christian films. This cinema will also be used during the week as a part of our Bible School, and because of this, we have applied for development funding from the government to help us with the costs involved.

For those of you who are interested, we have models of the developments set up in the foyer.

Another development under consideration is, in addition to the coffee franchise that was so kindly donated and is set up in the foyer, a café where you can bring your friends during the week as well as on Sundays, sit down with them, have a cup of excellent coffee and light refreshments, and just chat. It will be a social space, but one over which God will look for the opportunity to tap into any revealed resources, so if you have any friends with skills that this church can utilize, by all means invite them to the café and God will do the rest.

As well as your financial gifts we would also call on you to join us in prayer for the success of these projects.

Mayotte paused and raised his arms over his head;

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The auditorium cleared at the end of the service. Mayotte stood at the main door shaking hands as the congregation filed out and acknowledging the praise of those who offered it. When the crowds had cleared, he headed for the new friends lounge to greet the new arrivals at his church.

With practised ease, he worked the room, moving from person to person, greeting them and listening tentatively to them as they told him of their spiritual walk thus far, and how they had arrived at this point. He handed each of them a ‘welcome pack’, a plastic bag containing a brochure on how awesome the church was, the aims of the church and a CD copy of the music team’s songs. Not the latest CD, it was still selling well, but the previous one, copies of which remained on the shelves.

The welcome packs were handed to him by Janine, his Personal Assistant, his wife Cynthia was also working the room with Pastor Fenton, talking to those who had come for the second and third week of the three allowed them.

Cynthia looked at Matthew and Janine and remembered that there was a time when it would be she that stood beside him and handed out the welcome packs. She understood that appearances were everything in this world, and that she no longer had the looks that spoke of perfection, while Janine did. She was sure that they were lovers, and that didn’t bother her. Their marriage had begun with so much promise, he had a good job in retail where his sales skills had the potential of promotion to managerial status, but he had ‘found God’ and had given all of that up.

At first he worked as a Pastor in a large church, he was paid a good salary, but he saw that there was much more to be gained by having his own church. He had taken over the premises of a church that had grown too big for its current building and moved closer to the city into larger premises. It was hard at first, but he slowly built it up, and Cynthia was happy to stand beside him at church and support him at home, looking after their two sons, Matthew Junior and Charles.

His church too, had grown too large for that site and a new one was sought. A large complex was found that, with some modifications, would suit the church’s purpose, so it was initially leased until, when the lease expired, Mayotte took up the option to buy it. It took some time before finance could be arranged to purchase it, but once that happened they were on their way to bigger and better things. This church was indeed, ‘blessed by God’.

Because Matthew had been so driven to succeed, he had not been the close, loving father that the boys needed, in particular Matt. Matt had begun to experience some unexplained illnesses, tests had proven inconclusive, but still he was sick. Cynthia noticed that he seemed to be a little improved when Matthew spent time with him, and had formed the opinion that the illnesses were more attention seeking than real. She couldn’t blame him for that, and decided to say nothing,

A penny for them. She turned to face Graham Fenton. Actually don’t bother, I know what you’re thinking, you should be there, and not that whore.

Please Graham, don’t say that. I don’t care what she has been, she is a very nice girl, and she does her job very well. In fact I believe that she does it better than I was ever able to.

I have no problems calling her that, after all that’s exactly what she was when Matthew discovered her.

She may have been then, but she has reformed.

I wouldn’t be so sure.

Please don’t, even if she and Matthew are lovers, I will always stand by him

You are a beautiful woman, he doesn’t deserve you.

I think that you should stop talking about now, don’t you, before you say something that you might have to take back.

Cynthia spoke to a few of the women catering volunteers, congratulating them on the cakes that they had prepared, and reminding them that the Women’s group would be meeting as usual on Wednesday morning.

She moved over to Mayotte and whispered that it was time for them to be getting home. Matthew said his good-byes to Janine, and followed her out of the new friends lounge, and the building.

Those outside the new friends lounge were divided into three groups. Those seated at the franchised café, drinking ‘proper’ coffee, and availing themselves of the varied cakes on offer. Those standing around drinking tea and coffee from a large urn and munching on supermarket biscuits, And the third group; those who were attracted to the merchandise stands, by the large array of carefully chosen publications, DVD’s and music CD’s.

It could have been any one of hundreds of Pentecostal churches, but it wasn’t. It could have been any one of hundreds of Assemblies of God churches, but it wasn’t. It was the Shining Light Christian Church; an AOG affiliated Pentecostal church in Adelaide, half a world away from the heartland of the Evangelical Christian. Its similarities to other AOG affiliated Pentecostal churches were in its glitz, and the promotion of its wealth and power, its ‘blessed by God’ facade, so necessary to attract new ‘converts’ to the church.

The Shining Light Christian Church boasted three thousand plus members, but on any Sunday only around five or six hundred attended each of its two meetings. This discrepancy is due mainly to the fact that, once on its Database, always on its Database. Like similar churches there was a floating population of the devout, all looking for the ‘right’ church, the one that fitted their ideology at all times, never willing to accept any teaching with which they didn’t agree, a reflection of the Pentecostal ethos, all about self.

It could have been a great day, but it wasn’t. The sun was shining and a gentle breeze kept the temperature at a pleasant level, and that was the great part. They could have been any couple, but they weren’t. They could have been like many couples before them, leaving the church for the last time, disillusioned by the message, delivered with such panache by the trained to deliver with panache Pastor, full of spin but lacking substance, full of promise but delivering little, doing little to prop up the wafer thin theology, but they weren’t. They had stayed at this church instead of seeking greener pastures.

Frank and Joan McIvor walked from the church with mixed feelings. What had promised to be a great church service wasn’t. The continuation of Mayotte’s teaching on prophecy didn’t happen, and Frank was disappointed that it was relegated by another plea for money. It was an anti-climactic failure in their eyes. The great part about that failure was that it propelled them ever closer to the stand that they were preparing to make.

That’s the last straw, it was a total waste of time, all we got was a forty-five minute diatribe about how great the church is and what a wonderful person Mayotte was, to have dragged himself from humble beginnings and reach his current exalted position of power and wealth. I know that we’ve heard that before, but I was almost expecting him to tell us that he used to be a carpenter. Then we got the regular refrain about how they need more money, this time to move on to the next level. The message being, that if we devoted ourselves to God’s work, as he has, and tithed diligently, as he has, we too could achieve his greatness. Where was the Spirit of God? Did you notice that when he spoke of moving to the next level of the work of God it was all about the physical church and not the spiritual church, or its non-existent social welfare agenda? To him the building is the church.

I feel the same way. This church seems to be losing its way in its quest for power. What was it that bothered you during the Praise and Worship?

You aren’t going to believe this, talk about adding insult to injury. Young Chuck was pick synching. They must think that we are totally under their spell, or idiots, or both, for us not to notice what was going on up there this morning.

What do you mean ‘pick synching’?

He wasn’t playing the guitar solo during the second chorus. His amp must have been turned off, because the music was coming from another guitar. I noticed that while he was supposed to be playing, another guitarist at the rear of the stage was also playing. And that caused me to look closely at Chuck, his fingering was out, and his picking, while close, wasn’t in time to the music, and that’s the reason that I got to the head of the queue and bought the DVD. I’m going to get an expert to have a close look at it to check whether I’m right or not. If I am, it is another reason why we have to do something. If they have to rely on deception with the music, how much more of what they do is reliant on deception?

Just changing the subject for a minute, has anyone approached you about the modifications to the building?

Yes, and I told him that I wouldn’t commit myself until I had seen architect’s plans and engineer’s spec’s so that I’m satisfied that any modifications are safe, I don’t think that compliance is a consideration just as long as it looks good and the lighting and sound systems work. It is a vision with no plans.

The Land Rover Discovery was much the same as any other vehicle in the car park except for one important point. In the luggage compartment, under the luggage blind, was a laptop computer attached to a radio scanner, the signals from the radio mikes used in the church having been downloaded onto the computer’s hard drive. Frank disconnected the scanner and powered down the computer, the recording would later be burnt onto a compact disc and filed away.

He had bought a DVD of the meeting from the merchandise stand in the foyer, the first copies already available minutes after the service ended, but these only carried the Praise and Worship and the message. The reason for the private recording was that Frank wanted a record of the whole service, because much of what he needed was said at different times, particularly when the faithful were being urged to tithe.

They drove home in silence and while Joan prepared a light lunch, Frank sat in his office busying himself with what had become a weekly task. Once finished, he added the CD to an ever-growing stack. It was close to time to put his plan into action.

His was a sense of purpose, of doing something positive about what he saw as a dangerous situation. He was putting in place a plan that he believed would save many people from the mercenary clutches of churches such as the one that they had recently left. Instead of just walking away from the church as so many people had done before, they had spent the past twelve months involved in evidence gathering. Not converting the disillusionment into positive action was, to Frank and Joan, a cop out, a washing of hands that would allow the practice to continue unabated, and unchallenged.

Frank was used to being meticulous in all that he did. A carpenter by trade, he had developed his business into a highly respected building company around his abilities in forward planning, and attention to details. His house reflected the same planning and attention to detail. Having been brought up in a small country town, he was aware of the environmental advantages of the homes in his town. Thick stone walls to keep the houses at an even temperature no matter the season, verandas all around to keep the sun and weather off the walls. The house he had built for his family was solid and comfortable, just as his life now was.

They followed their Sunday post-church ritual of lunch followed by a visit to their daughter, son-in-law and two grandchildren, which included time, spent in the nearby park tossing a ball to their daughter’s energetic dog. Dinner and a chat with the family followed before they drove home and crawled into bed.

The following morning Joan walked bleary eyed into the kitchen to find Frank sipping what was probably his third or fourth cup of coffee and contemplating a large writing pad on which there were several pages of scribble. How long have you been sitting here?

"I woke about two this morning and couldn’t get back to sleep. There were