CHAPTER 17

I woke in a panic at 8:29 on a Sunday morning. I had to be at Leaders 2 at 9 a.m., and the drive was thirty minutes. My hair was a mop, I had to shower. Why did I sign up for this damn class!

I showered and dressed like lightning, jumped in the car and sped north, chain-smoking.

At four minutes past 9 I speed-walked from my car to Paul's front door, braced to hear the voice of Craig. Applause! Paul had just walked up front -- I didn't miss a word. I opened the door and swept in.

Everyone looked my way, still applauding. One of the girls I ate lunch with last time turned her clapping hands my way.

"Good morning and God bless," said Paul.

I closed the door quickly.

"Now, all of you Advanced Class grads know, and probably most of the rest of you know too, that there's a standard in the ministry that you show up for a meeting or a class ten minutes early, get in your seat and get ready to hear God's Word. Karl, you're a Corps grad, you should definitely know that."

I glanced at him once, smiling, then turned my butt to him and gave the girl handing me my nametag a winning smile. She smiled back uneasily.

"You shouldn't be dragging in late, you know better. We all do, right?"

He gave the room a big smile. I slipped into the empty seat in the second row, next to the clapping girl.

"So, what are you gonna do? Forgive yourself. God does, right? Welcome to Leaders 2."

Afterward I combed my notes, incredulous at what they contained. According to Craig Martindale, Chris Geer has sixteen categories of devil spirits: necromancer spirit, spirit of death, spirit of lying, spirits of bondage, spirit of fear or cowardice, spirit of slumber, spirit of error, spirits of jealousy and envy, spirit of emulation, spirits of strife, spirits of oppression and depression, sullen spirit, fallacious spirit, deceiving spirit, Python spirit, suborn spirit.

On one tape Craig was hot, defensive and angry, claiming: "I can't say I stood all the time, but at least I staggered. ... I'm still pissed off, but I'm not bitter. ... I just know. ... And this is not a fabrication. ... The devil spirits that functioned in Chris Geer and opened up others ... a lot of generals, all daimon, five-star, with categories of, entourages of, devil spirits under them."

"We never really succumbed," he said. "We staggered, but we didn't go face down. ... You're going to have to take spirits out of those who did succumb. ... The Corps that have resisted ... they got deep-seated problems."

© Karl Kahler 1999