The Puppet Master

by Stephen E. Crockett

On a south-eastern Virginia farm, a dirt-water, back-woods rendition of fundamentalist Christianity dares rear its ugly head. Spurred on by a little red book, written by a mysterious missionary, one man's brain is being cooked to a festering boil based solely on a deep misunderstanding of basic religion and Biblical principle. He uses his Bible and that little red book to terrorize his family in the name of religion and stews in a vat of ignorance and superstition from which springs forth his most unholy doctrine. He would readily inflict his insidious beliefs on his family were it not for his wife, who will have none of it, and stands ready to protect her children from what she believes is her husband's religious insanity. And then the puppet master reveals himself as the missionary in question, who comes to town with an extensive plan to build a network of church's based on the dictates of his little red book. The farm is sold and the family moves from Virginia to the North Carolina location where the first church is to be built. It is here that the shellacking begins. The church attracts its fair share of attention, however, nobody hangs around long as the church evolves from great hope and possibility; to empty pews and bankruptcy.

92 pages, Kindle Edition

Published January 9, 2017

Reviews

[Susan Keefe · Rating 5 out of 5]

A gripping story of how, with a little help from an unexpected source, religion can take hold and corrupt, fueling long buried superstitions, and changing lives forever…