“Come on, Bill! There has to be something we can do that’ll force even the hardest cases into line,” Oscar shot back.
“Well, we could get court injunctions against them. I doubt that anyone would buck an injunction,” Bill laughed.
“Then let’s do it!”
Bill looked at him quizzically. “Are you serious? Do you realize what’s involved in that?”
“I don’t care what’s involved. There’s a great deal at stake here. We have to do whatever it takes to insure that Saul gets at least one more Sunday on the air from every outlet we’ve got signed up. Let’s use every resource we have to get that result. Don’t let any consideration of effort or cost hold us back.”
“Hell, man, you’ve got 216 different contracts here. You expect me to get you injunctions for all of those?”
“Hire 215 more lawyers to help you if you have to. Just get the job done. We can’t lose this one.”
Bill sighed and thought for a minute. Then talking more to himself than to Oscar he said, “Of course, we could invoke the long-arm statute. If we did that we’d only have to go into the Federal district court here and claim jurisdiction over all the contractees, because they’re all parties to contracts with us. We also could allege a conspiracy by all of the broadcasters. The fact that they’re all moving against us simultaneously lends credence to such an allegation. We might hit ‘em all with a single complaint. It’ll still be a tricky job, but we might be able to do it.”
“What are our chances of getting the injunctions?”
Bill turned his idea over in his head for another minute before answering: “Actually, pretty good. The facts are not really disputed here. The broadcasters want to break clear, unambiguous contracts they have with you. You can credibly claim that you will suffer an irreparable injury if they do. They can hardly make a similar claim. I mean, they certainly wouldn’t dare to come into court and say that the Jews would retaliate against them if they gave you what’s due you under their contracts. And what else is there for them to say? I think we’ll get the injunctions if we apply for them in time. Now, you realize that going for injunctions against these folks will be regarded by them as hostile acts. If they’re not already mad at you they will be. Which ones do you want to enjoin?”
“Let’s not take any chances on the waverers changing their minds at the last minute. Enjoin them all. If we can get on the air next Sunday, I don’t care how mad at us they are after that.”
“You know, it’s a good thing that this is Monday instead of Friday,” Bill answered as he poured himself a cup of coffee and prepared for a long evening of work. “If the Jews had been smarter they would have waited until Thursday or Friday to apply the pressure to the broadcasters. Then there wouldn’t have been time for us to get into court.”
Oscar used Bill’s phone to call Saul and set up a meeting for five o’clock. Before he could leave Bill’s office Colleen called to tell him that four more stations had cancelled.
At Saul and Emily’s house he outlined what he had in mind for next Sunday: “We’ve got to hit them with our best shot. We came on a little too strong before and got ourselves into the present jam, but now we have to overwhelm them. We may he able to force most of our stations to let us stay on the air until our contracts are up, and we’ll use whatever time we get as effectively as we can. But this Sunday is the only thing we can be reasonably sure of. And because we may not have a chance for much follow-up, we need to use a little judo: we need to get other people to carry our ball for us, if we can. I think the Middle East is the issue which gives us the best opportunity for that.”
“So you think it’s time for Jesus to tell the faithful to stop sending their tax dollars to Israel to support the Christ-killers?” Saul surmised.
“Something like that,” Oscar agreed. “There are a helluva lot of people who’re already in favor of shutting off the pipeline to Israel. The Jews have been able to deny them an effective voice so far — and to control their representatives in Washington. We want to try to hit that issue hard enough to inspire some of the intimidated millions to speak up. It would also be good if we could tie into the boycott that some of the more liberal Christians in Europe are backing.”
“Well, I’m a little hesitant to get into economic and political complexities with my audience,” Saul responded. “I’m not sure that I could make them understand how buying Jap cars would hurt the Christ-killers without doing a lot of explaining, and I don’t think it would look good for Jesus to give them a lecture on economics. On the other hand, I might just keep Jesus’ part of it simple and apodictic, and then I could add a little explanation myself. Let me work on it. How much time do we have?”
“Hours, man, hours,” Oscar came back grimly. “Fortunately, we were a little behind schedule with the tape you’ve already recorded for next Sunday, and we didn’t mail the copies out last Saturday the way we usually do. Colleen was planning to take them to the post office this morning, when the cancellations began coming in. We really should record tonight and mail in the morning, although I suppose we could record as late as tomorrow morning and mail tomorrow afternoon. Remember, it’ll take us about four hours to make all the copies and get them ready for mailing.”
“That’s a little tight, but I’ll do the best I can. I already have a couple of ideas.”
“I’m sure you can do it, Saul. This is one time you won’t have to be subtle. You can minimize the subliminal hints and maximize the histrionics, which is your strong point. The harder you hit the Jews the better. We’d like to provoke them into helping us keep the pot boiling, and there’s hardly an issue on which it should be easier to make them blow their cool.”
That evening Oscar and Adelaide watched the news together. The big story was the rioting in Chicago by Blacks. Actually it had started Sunday afternoon but had been kept off the Sunday night network news. Ryan’s troops already were in action and were keeping the riot contained, but the Blacks were doing a lot more shooting than they had in Washington. Apparently they had some heavy weapons, because they had shot down one of Ryan’s helicopter gunships. Oscar had no doubt that Ryan would knock the fight out of the rioters pretty quickly, but the situation was complicated by the fact that White vigilantes were acting on their own. Barricades had been set up to control vehicular traffic through some White neighborhoods, and cars driven by Blacks were in danger of being fired on. In addition, other Whites had taken the initiative in reducing the potential for Black disorders in their neighborhoods by burning out Blacks who had recently moved in. Initially roving gangs of skinheads with Molotov cocktails had set fire to buildings inhabited by non-Whites in mixed neighborhoods. The idea seemed good to other Whites, who decided that the time was ripe for creating a little no man’s land around their own neighborhoods. Hundreds of buildings were ablaze in border areas.
XXXIV
“And now, my brothers and sisters, I must tell you this, even though it is very difficult for me: Our lord and savior came to me again seven nights ago, just after my broadcast last Sunday.” Saul had spent nearly 40 minutes of the broadcast working his way up to this statement and, in effect, setting the stage for it. His dignified, almost austere delivery gave him better audience credibility to start with than his more flamboyant and folksy rivals. Their supernatural claims — visions, miracle cures, and the like — nearly always coupled as they were to appeals for funds, came across rather like tailgate pitches for snake-oil remedies. Saul had avoided any such claims between his “visitation” during Caldwell’s Easter broadcast and tonight. And now he acted almost pained as he continued.
“I had gone into my library to begin preparing for tonight’s talk, and suddenly I felt another presence in the room. Then, before I understood what the presence was, the room filled with light so bright that I could see nothing else, and I felt him place his hand on my shoulder, and I heard his voice.” With these last words Saul’s own voice cracked. He sobbed, made an effort to regain control of himself, and then w
ent on, the strain clearly audible in his voice.
“He told me that his heart is heavy. He died for us on the cross, he said, in order that we might have eternal life. But nearly all of us have rejected this priceless gift he offered to us. We have rejected it by rejecting justice, by rejecting mercy, by rejecting decency, and by allying ourselves with the very ones who sent him to the cross — the very ones who today are crucifying other innocents in the land where he lived when he was on earth. He told me that we can be forgiven our sins if we accept his love, but that there is no forgiveness for those who reject his sacrifice and adhere to his enemies and even help them in the same sort of wickedness today that they were pursuing two thousand years ago.”
Here Saul paused for a long moment to give his audience time to grasp what he had just said before continuing: “He told me that I am among those who have rejected his love, because I have adhered to his enemies and have supported their lies and their false claims, and I have not spoken out against their wickedness. And, oh, my brothers and sisters, it is true! It is true!” The anguish and grief in Saul’s voice were overpowering. He broke down completely, sobbing uncontrollably.
It was a masterful performance, the best Saul had ever given. It brought tears to Oscar’s eyes as he watched. Adelaide sniffed and reached to the nightstand for a Kleenex. The tapes for the broadcast had been sent out by express mail the previous Tuesday afternoon, and Bill Carpenter had succeeded in obtaining the injunctions they sought two days later. Most of the broadcasters had put up no real opposition in court, and the Jews weren’t ready yet to reveal themselves publicly as the moving force behind the contract cancellations. The injunctions were good only for this broadcast, however, and the broadcasters would have a chance this week to present their arguments against making the injunctions permanent. The Jewish organizations certainly would come out from behind the scenes too and use all of their legal muscle.
The evening’s climax was yet to come. Saul, sufficiently recovered from his grief to continue, began confessing his sins: “I did like all the other evangelists; I praised Israel, and I knew it was wrong. I was careful never to criticize those who crucified our lord, when I knew they should be criticized. Like all the others, 1 said that it was a fulfillment of prophecy when the Jews murdered the rightful inhabitants of the Holy Land and stole their birthright, and I knew that I was blaspheming when I said it; like every other Bible scholar I knew that the Jews broke their covenant with God thousands of years ago and have been cursed for it ever since, that the Bible clearly says that they long ago lost any right they may have had to the Holy Land. I knew that, but I was afraid to speak the truth. We were all afraid. We knew that in order to stay on the air we had to praise Israel, we had to blaspheme, we had to lie about God’s word, we had to prostitute ourselves. We were afraid of the Jews and the power they have, their money power. The others are still afraid, and it’s for good reason, let me tell you! As soon as the word began leaking out last week that I wasn’t going to lie any more, that I was through protecting those who crucified our lord, they started trying to force me off the air. This very television station that you’re watching now tried to keep me from speaking to you tonight. I had to go into court to make them honor their contract with me. Because they’re afraid of the Jews too. And until Jesus put his hand on my shoulder last week and spoke to me, I was just as afraid as all the rest. I knew their power. But since Jesus spoke to me I’ve been afraid of something else even more than the power of the Jews. I’ve been afraid of losing the gift of love that Jesus offered to every man and every woman who would accept it. I’ve been afraid of losing my immortal soul.”
“God, what an actor!” Oscar exclaimed, momentarily breaking the spell cast by Saul’s magic. “He’s the most convincing liar I’ve ever seen. If he’d gone into politics, he’d certainly be President now.”
Adelaide, still enthralled, silently snuggled closer to Oscar, but her eyes never left the television screen.
After a pause Saul’s voice, which with his last words had become a hoarse whisper, began rising in pitch and intensity: “1 want Jesus’ love. I want the everlasting life that only he can give. I will no longer blaspheme to protect those who hate him. I will no longer praise those who crucified him. I will no longer justify their tyranny and murder. I will speak out against their wickedness. I will not fear their power, for Jesus is with me. And I call on each of you, my brothers and sisters in Christ, to stand with me. I call on you to turn away from those who hate our lord, to withhold your support from them, to condemn their wickedness as I do. And I also call on our government to break the chains with which the Jews have bound it. I call on the officials in Washington to stop sending our taxes to murderers and tyrants and haters of Jesus. I call on them to break all their ties to the abomination which is Israel!”
Saul’s voice, powered by righteous fury, was ringing out now. “Fear will not still my tongue, and those who serve Christ’s enemies will not silence me. I will give you the truth that you must have in order to be saved. I will tell you how we can break the power of the Jews over our lives and over our government. I will… I….”
There was a startled look on Saul’s face as his voice broke. Then he gasped out, “He is coming again! Our lord is coming!”
His hands clung to the lectern in a death grip, as if he were afraid of being carried away bodily. Then the same sort of transformation took place in his posture that had occurred during the Easter sermon. He relaxed and at the same time seemed to grow taller. Viewers thought they sensed a change in presence. Then his halo began to glow. The effect had been much easier to arrange this time, with their own studio facilities, and it was even more impressive. Saul’s voice, profoundly changed, rolled out over the recording studio, out over the television audience, out over the plains and the mountains, the fields and forests and cities of the nation, like an irresistible wave of power and serenity: “My children, I suffered greatly that you might live. Cleave not to those who persecuted me. Serve not those who hate me. Believe on me and walk in the paths of righteousness. Hearken unto my servant Saul and obey him, and you shall dwell with me in heaven forever.”
The light blazing from Saul’s eyes went out at the same time that the aura around his head died out, and he slumped forward onto the lectern, as if drained of energy. After a few seconds he made a visible effort of will, straightened up, and then tried several times to speak, but no sound came from his throat. Finally he found his voice again and, struggling to control his emotions, said haltingly: “I am so glad that he came again tonight and spoke to you. I was afraid that you might not believe me, but now he has shown himself to you too. Now you know. And now, my brothers and sisters, we must do as our lord has commanded us.”
The timing, the gestures, the changes of posture and of voice had been perfect. No actor could have done better. Saul used the remaining minutes of his sermon to explain just what it was that Jesus wanted the faithful to do. They were to protest in the strongest possible terms to the politicians in Washington about the continued sending of money and weapons to Israel. If the politicians did not respond immediately, then they were to withhold their taxes. They were to apply pressure to the government in every way possible. If they continued to allow their tax dollars to be used to pay for the evil deeds of those who had handed Jesus over to be crucified, then their souls were in danger of eternal torment. He did not ask them to boycott American-made automobiles, because he and Oscar had decided at the last moment that that would have required too much explaining. They would keep it simple and see how people responded. Then maybe a boycott would be feasible later.
“It’s a shame we have to use trickery to persuade people to do what’s right,” Oscar commented wryly to Adelaide after Saul’s sermon. “It makes me uneasy. My instinct is to tell them right out what’s wrong and what needs to be done. I know we can’t do that; I know it wouldn’t work. These people — most people — have to be tricked. They just aren’t developed enough to recogniz
e the truth or to distinguish between right and wrong. The Jews trick them, the government tricks them, the churches and the other evangelists trick them, the controlled media trick them, and we have to trick them too. They were born to be tricked all their lives. But I still think it’s a shame we don’t have the time to bring them around slowly to the right way of looking at things by educating them, even if we have o do it subliminally. I think Saul was getting somewhere with his sermons, helping his viewers to straighten out their thinking, before the Jews forced our hand.”
He looked hard at Adelaide, laughed, and said: “Of course, it’s ast that trickery runs against my grain. I’m also worried about how well it’ll work. What do you think? Do you think Saul convinced most of his audience tonight?”
Adelaide hesitated for a moment before replying. “Yes, I think we did. I haven’t been a Christian or a believer in the supernatural since I was a freshman, and I wasn’t much of a believer even before that. Yet Saul came very close to convincing me tonight that Jesus was speaking through him. He was really compelling. I’m sure that most of the people who were watching tonight were very deeply moved and that they really believe now that Jesus wants them to stop sending their taxes to Israel. But….”
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