The Struggle

By Anthony Corelli

A suburban South Denver family has recently moved to a beautiful neighborhood only to find that their lives have begun to fall apart. Strange knocking and other unexplained events began to happen almost immediately. After Jonathan Stout is asked to leave, his wife, Pamela, is forced to deal with the increasing activity on her own. Minor issues become terrifying occurrences that the family can no longer ignore. The three Stout children each have their own encounters, prompting Pamela to reach out for the help of an out-of-box pastor at a local church. Little Tony Corelli has been wrestling with demons since he was a young child. His earliest memories are of the spirits that haunted his childhood home. As a teenager, he is visited by a messenger of God who sets him on the path of fighting demons on behalf of the oppressed. At age seventeen, he comes face-to-face with the familiar spirits that were tormenting his family. Now, Pastor Anthony Corelli is an established exorcist who is often called upon to help those who are under demonic attack. Although he is frequently at odds with his superiors, he refuses to turn his back on those in need. In spite of his years of experience, nothing could have prepared him for the demonic forces tormenting the Stout family. His bravery does not take away from the fact that he is in over his head. A missing girl, an unsolved murder, and an angry detective all stand in the way of Pastor Anthony's efforts to free the Stouts from the most ancient of evils. Fortunately, his love for Christ and emotionally hurting people keeps him fighting for this helpless family. The ancient spirits are deceptive, as the determined exorcist seeks to expel them once and for all. Many twists and turns will have you continuously second-guessing your theories and theology. The ending will not only shock you, but it will also haunt your nightmares. Even though the demon appears to have the upper hand, the love of God shines through in this tale that will force you to solidify what you believe about the demonic. When all is said and done, those involved will never be the same. Skeptics have become believers, survivors have become wiser, and unbreakable bonds have been formed. Perhaps the most important result of this spiritual battle is the fact that a new team has formed. A team that is ready to live in The Struggle.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Covenant Books, Inc.
• Release date: Mar 27, 2019
• ISBN: 9781644711798

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The Struggle

Anthony M. Corelli

ISBN 978-1-64471-177-4 (Paperback)

ISBN 978-1-64471-178-1 (Hardcover)

ISBN 978-1-64471-179-8 (Digital)

Copyright © 2019 Anthony M. Corelli

All rights reserved

First Edition

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, distributed, or transmitted in any form or by any means, including photocopying, recording, or other electronic or mechanical methods without the prior written permission of the publisher. For permission requests, solicit the publisher via the address below.

Covenant Books, Inc.

11661 Hwy 707

Murrells Inlet, SC 29576

www.covenantbooks.com

Table of Contents

Forward

Chapter 1

Chapter 2

Chapter 3

Chapter 4

Chapter 5

Chapter 6

Chapter 7

Chapter 8

Chapter 9

Chapter 10

Chapter 11

Chapter 12

Chapter 13

Chapter 14

Chapter 15

Chapter 16

Afterword

Acknowledgments

About the Author

Forward

Many years ago, sometime after Adam and Eve were removed from the Garden, God sent a group of angels to earth to minister to mankind. This was a time before the Bible, a time after God stopped walking with mankind on the earth. These angels were called The Watchers and they possessed knowledge well beyond human comprehension. God equipped them with this knowledge in order to teach human beings how to inhabit the earth.

The Watchers were also to teach the ways of God so that humans would know their Creator. God loved His Creation very much, especially man who was made in His image. He wanted mankind to draw close to Him. The Watchers were to speak of God’s love and to teach the expectations for living a life that was pleasing to God. The cause of The Watchers was divine.

After spending time with the humans, The Watchers began to have agendas of their own. They began to lust after human women. Choosing to rebel against God, these angelic beings began having sexual relations with the women of earth. The original commission of The Watchers was forgotten.

As humans began to spread across the land, the message of God was lost. Instead of teaching the humans how to worship The One True God, the rogue angels set themselves up as gods over mankind. The Watchers also began to reproduce. The children produced by The Watchers and their human partners were hybrid beings. They were giants and were also considered gods to some. The humans began to worship these gods and their offspring. They were given names such as Zeus and Apollo in some parts of the world. In other lands they were called Molech or Chemosh or many other names.

Little by little, the humans began to forget about the Almighty God. Each region had its own gods and the humans worshipped the gods of the region. Very few people, in those days, held on to the truth about the real creator of the universe. Mankind exchanged the truth of the One True God for the lies of the false gods.

Meanwhile, Satan roamed the earth and he influenced The Watchers in their quest to be gods. After all, that was the sin Lucifer himself committed. Since Satan’s army of rogue angels were chained up in the pit, he saw this as his chance to recruit a new army. Soon, human blood was tainted by The Watchers and their hybrid offspring the Nephalim. This troubled God immensely. Satan, on the other hand, was pleased. He desired to set up earth as his kingdom.

While in heaven, Lucifer was commissioned to build the City of God. When Lucifer was cast out of heaven and became Satan, he still desired to have a mighty city to rule. Therefore, he influenced The Watchers to have the humans build monuments all over the earth. We see these pyramids and temple complexes all across the planet today.

The worship of the false gods angered The One True God. He looked down with both sadness and fury on the state of His creation. He decided to send a great flood, a cleansing. Yet, He found favor in one upright man.

God instructed this man, Noah, to build an arc. When the terrible flood arrived, God spared Noah, his family and the animals. At the conclusion of the flood, Noah and his family set out to repopulate the world. The animals did likewise. This was a new start.

But…what of The Watchers and their offspring? First, The Watchers sinned and were not allowed to return to the heavenly realm. They were sent to hell to wait for the Day of Judgment. The offspring of the Watchers however, were not cast into hell. Instead. they were cursed to roam the earth as spirit beings. They hated God for his refusal to take them into the heavenly realm. They were also jealous of mankind because God gave them a chance at redemption.

These evil spirits missed their human bodies. They took it upon themselves to become tormentors of the human race. They joined Satan in his desire to destroy the lives of those created in the image of God. From that point on the war between The God of the Universe and Satan’s army was fought through the pursuit of human souls. For thousands of years, these evil spirits have perfected their methods of war.

In the meantime, mankind was drifting farther away from the God who loves them. Throughout history, mankind’s pursuit of God has ebbed and flowed. In the twenty first century, man had drifted far from their Creator. As the end times draw near, these evil spirits are on the attack. Today we call these entities demons. Today we live in The Struggle.

Chapter 1

So It Begins

It was a warm evening in July of 1976. Southern Colorado has a very arid climate, so it was still an extremely hot and dry ninety degrees as the sun began to set on the city of Pueblo. This blue-collar town was built on the backs of steel workers who made their livings at the local mill. This was a tough and proud town with lots of culture. Many large families made up the city’s population.

On this day, one of those large families celebrated a birthday party at a local park. Little Tony Corelli celebrated his fifth birthday with countless aunts, uncles, cousins, and friends. This was one of those days that a child will never forget. He received many gifts and envelopes full of cash. Back then, five and ten-dollar bills were a lot of money. Tony thought he was rich.

Still, the many gifts and cash paled in comparison to receiving his first bicycle. It was the 1970s, so the red-and-white masterpiece with an upholstered banana seat was the coolest bike ever. Tony did not know how to ride a bicycle yet, but he was willing to learn. He would now be the coolest kid on the block.

As evening crept in, Tony’s excitement began to wane. Tony was a scared little boy who was also very shy. He was a skinny, awkward child who did not fit in well. There seemed to be a deep fear that resided inside of him. Tony was a gifted child to say the least. Although he was only five years old, most people who spoke to him would swear they were speaking to an adult. Therefore, he struggled to bond with kids his own age.

Today was the best day of young Tony’s life, yet that familiar anxiety began to surface. His anxiety was not normal. This young man was carrying a secret. Up to this point, the daytime hours were normal. Nighttime was altogether different. What he experienced when the lights went out was nothing short of horrific. Evenings were the transition between the normal days and terrifying nights. Each night he hoped the terror would not return. Most nights he was disappointed.

Tony lived with his mother, Jade, and his stepfather, Steven, although at this time in his life, he was unaware that Steven was not his biological father. Jade had decided that he was too young to know the truth about his biological father. The reality was that Tony’s mother had been date raped by her boyfriend’s friend at a party. This was not information that a five-year-old child should know, let alone comprehend.

Regardless of his lack of understanding, Tony noticed the difference in how he was treated. Steven was a drunk and a pothead. It wasn’t that he was abusive; he was simply self-centered. He was the kind of guy that got paid on Friday and would not come home until Sunday night.

Jade, on the other hand, cared about her children. She was a good person, but a victim of her circumstances. She had an alcoholic husband who magically made money disappear. She was forced to work hard to make ends meet. The stresses of her life took her away from the quality time her children needed.

Because Tony was loved by his mother’s family, life wasn’t too bad overall. He had spent his early years living with his maternal grandparents, Francesca and Silviano. When his mother married his stepfather, they moved out to a small rental home. Recently, they moved out to a bigger house. His parents were excited to have more space. Tony was not so excited.

Jade was getting the children ready for bed. She was the strong personality of the family, while Steven took a backseat. That meant that she did everything and complained about it the whole time. Rae, Tony’s baby sister, was still very young and therefore slept in a bassinette in her parent’s room. This left Tony with his own bedroom.

Most boys his age would love the idea of having their own room. Tony did not. He didn’t mind the room so much in the daytime, although he preferred to play in the living room or outside. Nighttime was a different story. The last place he wanted to be after dark was his bedroom.

As Jade was tucking him in, Tony asked, as he often did, Can I sleep in your room? She declined, giving him the same be a big boy speech. It is easy to blow off a kid when you have the belief that all kids are afraid of the dark. It’s curious that parents rarely ask why. When a parent does ask, they usually ignore the answer. For some kids, the fear of the dark may be an illegitimate fear. For Tony, there was definitely something to worry about.

There has always been a suspicion that children can see things that adults cannot. Parapsychologists suspect that sometime in the preteen years this ability begins to disappear. As for Tony Corelli, since birth, he had been able to see things that other people could not see.

Most people do not have a long-term memory that dips below five years old. Tony’s first memories were from age three. He had one extremely vivid memory from age four that he would never forget.

In this memory, he was spending the night at the home of his grandmother and grandfather. He enjoyed spending the night there because he got to stay up late watching television. His grandmother had made him a bed on the sofa and left him to watch what he wanted.

He remembered lying on the couch wide awake. He looked up at the picture window and saw a man standing outside in the snow staring at him. The man had a sinister look on his face and didn’t move. He just stared at the helpless little boy. After about thirty seconds of frozen terror, Tony screamed loud enough to wake the neighbors. His grandparents came running to check on his well-being. Of course, they saw no one outside.

Further investigation showed no evidence of an intruder. The squeaky gate usually alerted the household of visitors. There had been no such squeak. There were no footprints in the five inches of snow that was blanketing the ground. Tony was sure that he had seen someone. This event was attributed to a bad dream or an overactive imagination. This was no bad dream. He knew this was real.

That night had stuck with this young man ever since. Still, it did not prepare him for what he would experience in his new bedroom, in his new house on Jackson Street. With horrible memories, Tony lay in bed on his fifth birthday, waiting for his late-night visitor. He had explained to his mother that there was something in his room. It was easy to see that her patience was wearing thin.

She said, Anthony, you are going to have to be a big boy and learn to sleep in the dark. He would often wait until she had tucked him in before turning his light back on. This was an effort to deter his unwanted guest. His mother or stepfather would see the light under his door. They would lecture him and turn off the light.

Whatever it was lurking in the dark, it was patient. Where it went in the daytime, Tony did not know. Nighttime seemed to be its domain. It would wait until the house was quiet and sleeping then it would emerge. Its goal was to study little Tony Corelli.

Although bigger than the last house, this house was still relatively small. There was a small living room on the main level with a dining area, a small kitchen, and two bedrooms that shared a bathroom. Due to limited space, this house had a unique attribute. The bedrooms were joined together by a shared walk-in closet. Tony could enter the closet through his bedroom and exit through his parent’s bedroom.

The first time he saw his visitor, he assumed it was his stepfather coming in to his bedroom through the closet. When he heard the noise, he rolled over to see that it was not Steven at all. This realization resulted in a fear that froze him. What he saw was not something anyone should see, especially a four-year-old child.

What lurked in the dark was an even darker figure standing over him as he stared back at the shadowy form. Little Tony opened his mouth to scream, but no sound came out. The adrenaline that surged through his tiny body seemed only to help him focus his eyes on the creature. What he was staring at was obviously not human.

As his eyes adjusted to the dark, he saw what appeared to be scales all over the body of a creature that stood over eight feet tall. Although the being had scales, it also had matted patches of hair on random parts of its body. The piercing red eyes stared directly into his little soul. This entity exuded hate as it studied this small vulnerable child.

This encounter was too much for a four-year-old to process. Children’s imaginations tend to create monsters that can be terrifying. This was scarier than anything a child could imagine. Tony closed his eyes, hoping that when he opened them, the beast would be gone. Sadly, this did not work.

Like most kids who are afraid of the dark, he hid under his blanket. Tears began to stream down his tiny little face as the terror enveloped him. Frequent peeks outside of the blanket showed that the creature was not leaving anytime soon.

Somehow, he was able to catch his breath enough to scream that high-pitched scream only a child can muster. The sound pierced the darkness and alerted his parents. He feared the monster may attack him before help could arrive.

Soon lights came on, and his parents were in the doorway. His mother comforted him, explaining that it was a bad dream. Of course, he knew this was no dream. No matter how much he tried to plead his case, she would not listen. She stayed with him as he calmed down and eventually fell asleep. Then again, this was the first time. As the nights wore on, her patience wore thin.

Now, on the night of his fifth birthday he lay in the dark, trying to fall asleep before his visitor appeared. Sadly, he couldn’t even enjoy this great day. Little by little he saw lights extinguished and the household sounds diminished until there was silence. As the quiet increased, so did his anxiety. How could he sleep when his little heart was pounding in his chest?

As many other nights before, he heard the closet door knob begin to rattle. The door opened with a faint slow squeak. The black form appeared. As the creature materialized, it looked like a large mass made of static, like a late-night television channel signed off for the night. Once it fully materialized, Tony could see it was the scaly and hairy reptilian monster that he had seen many times before.

The large creature stared a hole into this little boy with its evil red eyes. Little Tony had often thought of how to remedy this dire situation. He still had no options. This little Catholic child decided to pray. At five, he only knew one prayer. He began, Now I lay me down to sleep….

Somewhere in the middle of his recitation, the being laughed at him. A deep, throaty voice said, Your God cannot save you. I am god. Even at his young age, he knew this monster was not God. This was something else, something awful.

Regardless of the mocking of his prayer, Tony had a revelation. This being could talk. This was new information. With every ounce of bravery he could muster, he asked the entity, Who are you? The creature seemed to enjoy the opportunity to converse.

It said, "My name is not your concern, tiny human. I am a child of the Watchers. I am here to teach you things. I am here to teach you the truth about God. Tony sensed that this being was not sincere. He explained that he already had a teacher.

The being continued. I am assigned to you, human. You will never be alone. I will always be with you. One day I may even live inside of you. You are mine. The words you are mine seemed to ring in his ears.

Tony felt helpless, yet he screamed, You will never live inside of me!

The creature laughed at him and said, I will either have you or I will destroy you!

Terror pierced Tony’s soul, as he contemplated his next move. He felt so vulnerable against the sheer size of the monster. He did the only thing he could think of to do. Little Tony closed his tear-filled eyes and instantly called on the one person who may be able to help him, one person that he was told was all powerful. He said, Help me, Jesus. His cry was sincere. When he opened his eyes, the being was gone.

The basement of the house on Jackson Street was partially finished. A bedroom had been built, but the rest of the basement was concrete. The goal was to eventually move Tony to the basement and give his baby sister, Rae, the room upstairs. Now, the basement bedroom was a toy room. His fear of the house prohibited him from being in the basement alone on most days.

On this day, Jade was down in the basement doing laundry. Tony tagged along and was playing on the floor in the bedroom. He was feeling safe, and his play time allowed him to relax and enjoy his toys. The basement was relatively dark, even with daylight peeking through the tiny windows. He felt the room get darker and instantly knew something was wrong.

He could see into the section of the basement where the washer and dryer stood. His mother was gone. He had not noticed that she had left him alone to play. Fearfully, he decided to make a break for the door and fly up the stairs. As he took his first couple of steps toward the door, a black figure crept out of the shadows and quickly blocked the exit. Tony was trapped and had no options.

Again, Tony’s attempt to scream was hindered by the terror that coursed through his veins as with previous episodes. He could not make out the features of this black figure, but he did notice that the creature was big enough to block the entire door. Now seven years old, he had vowed to stop being a chicken, always afraid of something. Today he was failing as the tears streamed down his cheeks.

He could only muster a whisper as he pleaded, Leave me alone! The being backed the young child deeper inside the bedroom to the corner, showing no empathy. Tony closed his eyes and winced, not knowing what would come next. Then the monster began to speak.

"Child, wherever you go I will always be close by. Your God or your family cannot save you from me. I am always watching you. Your God has made you a special child. That is why I want to live inside of you.

If you do not invite me in, I will hurt your family. I will hurt your baby sister. I will even hurt the baby that your mother is growing inside of her. Don’t tell anyone about me because they won’t believe you. They don’t believe that I exist.

Even if they knew about me, they wouldn’t save you because they don’t love you. I am the only one who cares about you. I am your friend. If you don’t let me in, we won’t be able to have fun. If you don’t let me in, I will make your life a living nightmare. You will never be happy."

Even at seven, Tony knew this being was evil. He prayed inside himself. He meditated on the same prayer he always prayed when the monster got too close. Jesus, help me. The being backed out of the room, and Tony screamed at the top of his lungs.

Jade came running down the stairs, not knowing what she would find. Seeing that her son was not injured, she became angry and yelled, This has got to stop. Anthony! I am tired of this. The entity was right—she didn’t believe him. He wondered if she really loved him. He also wondered if there was truth to the fact that the creature would hurt his siblings.

Although she did not believe him, he did catch her attention when he asked, Are you going to have a baby? An uneasy feeling crept over her because there was no way Tony could have known about the baby. She hadn’t told anyone, not even her husband.

This should have prompted her