Monty Sullivan, the only Pamelist who agreed to speak to me, is currently incarcerated in the North Infirmary Command Protective Custody section at Rikers Island, where he is awaiting trial. We spoke via phone.
EM: When did you first hear about Pastor Len Vorhees and his theory about the horsemen?
MONTY SULLIVAN: I guess it was right at the beginning. I was a truck driver back then, delivering chickens from Shelby County to all over the state. The CB was quieter than usual, and I’d started playing the radio dials, looking for a rock station. Back then, I wasn’t into those religious shows at all. Heck, I didn’t even like country that much. When I was crossing into Sannah County, I came across Pastor Len’s show. Something about his voice got my attention.
EM: Can you be more specific?
MS: He sounded like he truly believed what he was saying. A lot of pastors and preachers you hear on the radio and TV, you get the idea that all they’re after is poor folks’ hard-earned cash. I was never much into religion back then, got turned off it when I was younger because of my ma. She was a real believer, sent off a monthly tithe to one of those super-church preachers down in Houston even when we didn’t have food in the house. I could tell Pastor Len was different, he didn’t once ask folks to send him any cash. And what he was saying, it caught my attention straight off. Course, Black Thursday was all over the news, and lots of preachers, specially the evangelicals, were saying it was another sign that we were all heading for Armageddon. Said the same thing after 9/11, so that wasn’t new. But Pastor Len’s point of view hit home. What he said about Pamela May Donald’s last words… The evidence was just too strong. All those colours on the planes matching up with the colours of the horsemen that John saw in Revelation; the facts that those kids shouldn’t have got away unhurt. When I finished my run a couple of days later, I went straight on the Internet, found Pastor Len’s site, pamelaprophet.com. He’d put all the evidence right there, in black and white. I read it all, then dug out my ma’s Bible which was the only thing of hers I still had. I’d sold the rest, though she didn’t leave me much. Guess you could say I was pretty wild in those days. I wasn’t into drugs or anything heavy, but I liked a drink back then, so that’s where the money went.
After I heard Pastor Len’s show and read that website, I don’t think I slept for three days. I could feel something growing inside me. Course, Pastor Len told me later it was the Holy Spirit.
I sent him an email, saying how I’d been real impressed by what he was saying. I didn’t think there was much of a chance I’d hear back from him. But I’m damned if he didn’t send me a message within the hour. And a personal one, not one of those automated messages lots of people use. I know it off by heart. Must’ve read it a million times: ‘Monty, I sure appreciate you contacting me. Your faith and honesty proves that I am on the right path, the path to saving more good folks just like yourself.’
I waited till my day off, then I drove through the night, straight to Sannah County and Pastor Len’s church. Waited in line to get saved. Had to have been fifty people that day and there was a real festive atmosphere. We all knew we were doing the right thing. When I introduced myself to Pastor Len as he came along the line, thanking us for coming to his church, I never thought he would recall who I was, but he knew me straight off. ‘You’re the fella who wrote me from Kendrick!’ he said.
The way he explained things so clear, I realised that I’d been blind for years. It broke my ma’s heart that I turned my back on the church when I was younger, and I wished that she could have lived long enough to see that I went back to Jesus’ fold. How can I not have seen we were heading for the End of Days? How can the Lord not have been priming to bring down His judgement on us after what was going on in the world? The more I looked into it, the more it made my head spin. Do you know that children in America are made, made to read the Koran in schools? But not the Bible, no ma’am. Intelligent Design is banned, but not the handbook of the infidels? Then there’s the gays and the baby murderers and the liberals conspiring to turn America into a godless nation. Dr Theodore Lund was right about that, even if he did turn his back on Pastor Len’s truth afterwards. Turned out that Dr Lund just wanted all the glory that came from Pamela’s message for himself. He wasn’t dedicated to saving souls; not like Pastor Len was.
EM: When did you decide to move to Sannah County?
MS: After I was saved, I came home and wrote Pastor Len almost every day for a few weeks. I felt a calling to move closer to his church round about early March and become one of his Messengers. It wasn’t a hard decision, the Lord was nudging me in that direction. When Pastor Len invited me to move to the ranch, I didn’t think twice. Jacked in my job, sold my truck and hitched all the way to Sannah County. He needed me as his good right hand.
EM: Do you have a history of violence?
MS: Not really, ma’am. Just the odd schoolyard fight, couple of bust-ups back when I used to drink. Not saying I was squeaky clean, but I was never a violent individual. Never ran into any trouble with the law.
EM: Where did the weapon you used to shoot Bobby Small come from?
MS: That particular gun belonged to Jim Donald. Wasn’t the one he used on himself, but one he’d given to us for safe-keeping. But I knew how to shoot. My father taught me how to use a gun before he cut out and left me and my ma, back when I was twelve.
EM: Did you know Jim Donald?
MS: Not well, ma’am. I met him once or twice. Pastor Len said he was struggling to come to terms with the death of his wife. Pastor Len did what he could to help him, but you could see Jim was real cut up about that. He was a real martyr, just like Pamela. He saw the truth about the destruction the horsemen had wrought on the world, and how they’d murdered those innocents on the planes.
MS: I did what anyone who cares about saving souls would have done. I was acting as God’s soldier, doing what I could to eradicate the threat and give people more time to be saved before the Rapture. If we can stop the signs in their tracks, halt the horsemen’s work, then we have more time to spread Jesus’ message and bring more people into the fold. Now that they’ve found that fourth horseman, now that fire and brimstone is falling upon the earth with all those natural disasters–the floods in the Philippines and Europe, and those tsunami warnings in Asia–we don’t have long.
EM: But if you believe that the four horsemen are God’s messengers, weren’t you concerned that by attempting to murder Bobby Small you would be punished by God?
MS: Now wait just one minute, ma’am. No one’s talking about murder. When the Antichrist comes, when that sixth seal is broken, there’s no going back. There’s no guarantee that you’ll get a second chance during the Tribulation. I am on God’s side; He knows that Pastor Len and the Pamelists are working hard to bring more people into his fold. And those children were unnatural. Everyone could see that. After a while they started using their power and flaunting it. They may have started off as God’s messengers, but I firmly believe what Jim told us–that they became tools of the Antichrist in the end.
EM: Many people believe that you acted under Pastor Len Vorhees’s influence and that he should be as accountable as you.
MS: Jesus was punished for spreading God’s truth. It doesn’t matter to me what they say. I’ll be in Jesus’ arms soon. They can lock me up, they can put me in the chair, it’s all the same to me. And maybe it’s all part of Jesus’ plan. I’m locked in here with sinners, and here’s my chance to save as many of them as I can.