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Category: Mainstream/Historical Fiction
Description: Oil shortages. Energy crisis. War in the Middle East. Political scandals. Doomsday prophets pointing to Armageddon. Is this today? No, it's the 1970s. Pastor Bill Renfrew comes back to his hometown Colter, Montana fresh from Bible college on a mission to save a holy remnant for God in America. To do things God's way is to do things his way. Tapping into the angst and malaise of the times, this sanctimonious preacher targets the vulnerable and the naive. When Samantha Matijevic turns eighteen and enters Colter College, Pastor Renfrew snares this disoriented girl from a small town into his fold. Will Sam ever wise up and extract herself from the Colter Church Conspiracy?
eBook Publisher: SynergEbooks, 2009 SynergEbooks
readerwise.com Release Date: August 2009

1 Reader Ratings:

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Available eBook Formats: OEBFF Format (IMP) [442 KB]
Words: 95717
Reading time: 273-382 min.
All Other formats: Printing DISABLED, Read-aloud DISABLED

Chapter One

"I have been saved many times!" the housewife snapped back.

"I see." Bill Renfrew marked the questionnaire form attached to his clipboard.

Melody Renfrew, his wife, glanced at the question, "Are you saved?" and noted that her husband had checked the "NO" box. She nodded without a blink.

Pastor Bill Renfrew, a dark haired man with a tonsured bald pattern, had identified himself as some kind of pastor, yet he did not wear the traditional clergy collar. He presented a clean-cut salesman-like appearance. A navy blue suit covered his egg-shaped physique and drew attention to his blue eyes.

Mrs. McKinney thought it seemed harmless enough that this self-proclaimed pastor and his frumpy wife only wanted a few minutes of her time to fill out a quick survey. They even pitched a free gift. That hooked her.

Pastor Renfrew glanced at his clipboard as he asked, "Do you regularly attend church?"

"I've been a member of St. Luke's Lutheran Church since I was child." Mrs. McKinney gave a firm nod with her lips pressed tightly together.

"But do you regularly attend church?"

Mrs. McKinney fidgeted, wondering why she felt that she had to explain herself to these strangers. "Of course! I was baptized in that church. I was confirmed in that church. And I was married in that church."

"Do you know for sure that if you died tonight, you would go to heaven?" Pastor Renfrew continued the interrogation.

Mrs. McKinney darted her eyes about. "Well, I hope so."

"Hope so?" Pastor Renfrew found the opening to witness to this apostate, whom he had already judged did not know Jesus Christ as her personal Lord and Savior. "Would you like to know so?" Then he added dramatically, "Beyond a shadow of a doubt."

Mrs. McKinney backed up from the doorstep into her enclosed porch. How symbolic, thought Pastor Renfrew. Out of the light into the darkness. Afraid that he was loosing her attention, he reminded her, "Remember that free gift?"

Mrs. McKinney's eyes lit up. The pastor grinned.

Bill Renfrew offered this poor lost soul The Roman Road to Heaven, a spiritual map, if followed, that would lead the lost to Christ. Mrs. McKinney looked askance at the tract, but took it anyway just to get these people off her doorstep.

Pastor Renfrew began reciting slowly selected verses from the Book of Romans in the New Testament: "All have sinned and have fallen short of the glory God, but the gift of God is eternal life through Christ Jesus our Lord."

Meanwhile, Mrs. Renfrew affected a "happy face" throughout the entire conversation as she continued to grin, exposing big teeth, whose edges were gilded with gold from old dental work.

Mrs. McKinney lost all patience. "This is the free gift?"

"Salvation! It's God's free gift!" Pastor Renfrew gave the punchline followed by a nervous laugh. "We would love to tell you more about it--"

"No, thank you!" Mrs. McKinney blushed, ashamed that she had been tricked by their gimmick into answering all their nosy questions. "God, I hope they don't ask for money," she muttered as she took another step back.

"Please stop by and visit us and learn more about God's free gift. Our church is a new church; it's right on Main Street near College Boulevard." Pastor Renfrew wound up his sales pitch. "We'll stop back in a week--"

"Please! Don't!" Mrs. McKinney shut the door. She thought of getting some No Soliciting signs real soon.