o fully appreciate what caused this remarkable departure from the relative stability previously enjoyed by the formerly respected Christian radio host, we must go back to the period when Craig was still associated with Christian Media.

During Craig's tenure at Christian Media, he repeatedly clashed with another show host named Chris Blodgett. When Blodgett left the ministry, he stole approximately 5,000 pounds of stored dehydrated food from a storage facility. He also 'liberated' a number of items from the network's studio - in addition to waging a vicious campaign of slander against Christian Media and myself that, in retrospect, is eerily similar to that which has occurred with Portwood. Oddly enough, Portwood and Blodgett both had ties to the same small town before they came to Christian Media.

These seemingly endless controversies have convinced me that Christian Media is very close to ground zero in the explosive spiritual combat that we continue to experience. Incidentally, the story of Chris Blodgett is recounted in the book Liars For The Lord: The Charade Of Chris & Sharon Blodgett.

After Blodgett was removed from the network, Chris Blodgett repeatedly accused Craig Portwood of smoking marijuana. This was incidental to the Blodgett departure as he was discharged from the network for financial improprieties and his part in surreptitious and manipulative efforts to undermine the ministry - not for his publicly announced hatred of Craig Portwood, nor the accusations he made against him. However, at the time I went to Craig and asked him if there was any truth to the allegations of substance abuse. Portwood pointedly told me that he was not smoking pot and that he had never been "stoned" during his involvement in broadcasting with us. I took him at his word.

During Craig's time with Christian Media, he had married a listener named Leslie Flory. In what would prove to be the beginning of a pattern, the "romance" started via the telephone - lengthy late night calls at that. After getting married, they rented a house in the vicinity and Craig commuted to the network to do his program and certain studio operations tasks. After a very brief period, the new Mrs. Portwood left Craig and fled back to her native California. She then wrote a letter that accused Craig of smoking marijuana openly in her presence. Because Leslie had just had her marriage to Craig collapse and she had come under the influence of Chris Blodgett, whom we had already proven to be a pathological liar, at the time I doubted the accusations made against Craig by Leslie. There is a lengthy examination of Leslie Flory Portwood's association with Chris Blodgett in the book Liars For The Lord.

In retrospect, it is now clear that at least some of the marijuana accusations had some basis in fact. Although Craig directly denied the drug abuse to me, there were some indicators that I chose to overlook. I wanted Craig to be telling the truth - partly because I needed him in the studio, as Blodgett had been removed for his unconscionable behaviour, and partly because I sincerely liked Craig. We do indeed reap what we sow, don't we?

Thus, in retrospect, I now see that not only did Craig Portwood directly lie to me in this matter, he also harbored some serious jealousies towards me personally. As previously stated, after Craig's wife left him, Chris Blodgett vindictively sought to use Leslie Flory Portwood's collapsed marriage as a cheap opportunity to embarrass me. I found his willingness to manipulate an emotionally vulnerable woman to be despicable, and sought to treat Leslie somewhat gingerly in the inevitable confrontation with Blodgett. Nevertheless, Leslie's letter is relevant to the present inquiry. Of Craig Portwood, she wrote the following:

"The last few months have been bad...When Craig came to my apartment January 1st, he brought some of that pot in a bag with him. He told me it was 4 ounces. Within 2 weeks or so he had smoked it all then he began scraping out his pipe after all his pot was gone."  (Leslie Flory Portwood letter to Steve Quayle, read on-air on the Q Files, 12/21/01)

Even after Leslie's accusations were made public, Craig continued to deny any substance abuse. Once again, I wanted to believe him, and since I had no direct evidence to corroborate Leslie's accusations, I foolishly continued my association with Craig Portwood. But clearly things were not right in paradise.

Craig's behaviour became more erratic, and he clashed with just about everybody. I managed to recruit Doug Hudson, the author of a patriot book to broadcast with Christian Media and cover some tasks in the studio. Craig was immediately suspicious of Hudson and even sought to convince us that Doug had not even written his book "How Government's Disarm Citizens." Craig suggested that Hudson was a government plant, who was placed here to spy on us. In addition to his obvious paranoia, Craig's jealousy of Doug Hudson's achievements was very transparent.

As Craig's attitude became more and more antagonistic, he also grew more and more melancholy. He broke his previously warm friendship with Francis Steffan, another host at the network, over seemingly petty issues. Craig began to make casual comments about me to Susan, and when I came to him to see if there was a problem, he would claim it was all a misunderstanding. He became more and more unmanageable.

As the various controversies with declared enemies of the ministry continued, Craig would make suggestions of things that could be done to harass our opponents. These "suggestions" were phrased in a humorous fashion, but there was always the hint that he might actually do something that was clearly over the line. Thus, when the 'dirty tricks' campaign against us erupted, the various tactics bore the fingerprints of Craig Portwood.

Because we've always been in the position of having great difficulty getting help, due to our remote location and narrow spiritual perspective, the network desperately needed Craig just to stay operational. Doug Hudson was only able to help part-time, and Susan was already overwhelmed with the order processing, her own radio show, and the livestock. I began to seek the Lord for a way out of our dilemma.

In late summer of 2001, I reluctantly embarked on another national speaking tour, thereby leaving Susan, Craig and Doug in control of the network for about a month. Traveling at a whirlwind pace, I spoke in 25 cities in just over one month. I later learned that during my absence, Craig became decidedly more arrogant towards Susan, and openly walked around the premises smoking marijuana with a pipe that is known as a "bong."

Craig knew that Susan had struggled with the temptation to smoke for many years, and that the Lord had given her the victory in this personal struggle. This activity on the part of Craig Portwood was a treacherous and intentional act that was carefully calculated to seek to entice her to secretly partake of the noxious weed. During this period, the largest forest fire in the history of the state of Oregon threatened our home and studio - all while I was 1,500 miles away.

As this horrible fire threatened our entire ministry for weeks on end, Susan pleaded with the Lord to preserve our home and forest. Fearful that this would destroy everything while I was away, she experienced a wonderful renewal of spiritual power during the ongoing threat of being completely burned out by a firestorm that quickly became the largest fire in the United States - a fire that burned so closely to our premises that Susan, Craig and Doug could see the flames directly across the road, and feel the heat of the flames, as ashes fell like snow on the studio and our small cabin.

During all of this intense activity, Craig was brazenly smoking marijuana openly at the Christian Media Network. In my absence, truly a serpent had slithered into the garden and was no longer hiding in the grass.

On my return to Oregon, before Susan could tell me about the disrespect being dished out by Portwood, the Lord made it clear to me that He would help us find a way to continue without Craig Portwood. Craig went back to his secrecy as he continued to hide his habit from me. Eventually he began justifying marijuana intoxication as not being prohibited by the Scriptures. Although Craig reverted to a low profile nature in this aberrant behavior, I became very unhappy with Craig on the premises, due to the darkness that had clearly gained a stronghold in all of our lives.

Over the next few months, I began aggressively looking for a replacement for Craig. He continued with us because the simple fact is, I can not run the radio network, the studio, the newspaper & newsletter, and Internet projects single-handedly - and I was unwilling to discontinue any aspect of the ministry because of my discomfort with Portwood. Something had to give, and after a couple of recruiting efforts of individuals that couldn't do the work, circumstances enabled Doug Hudson to commit to more hours at the network. With me adding a couple more hours to my already crushing daily schedule, it became clear that by dropping the live evening broadcasts, we could keep the network on the air without Craig Portwood.

At the same time, Craig announced that he would be taking a leave of absence to go to the Clifty Falls Conference in Rick Walter's home town of Madison, Indiana. He stated that he would be staying in the Midwest for an indeterminate period, and I realized this was the hand of God in diplomatically moving Craig out. As I did not want any more turmoil, and hoped to gracefully sever our association with Portwood, I decided to wait for Craig's departure for the Midwest rather than hurriedly eject him from the ministry. As previously stated, the last week before the event, Craig told me he would be meeting Linda Kristich and how they planned to return to Oregon together at some point after the event.

Knowing the spiritual condition of Craig Portwood, I wrestled with what to do about his appearance at Clifty Falls. The Bible says the Lord knows how "...to reserve the unjust unto the day of judgment to be punished" (II Peter 2:9). I came to see that Craig's choice to engage in the illicit relationship with a married woman while he was still married to Leslie was the Lord's way of catching Craig Portwood in the snare that he himself had constructed.

The LORD placed a peace in my heart that HE would reveal Craig's inner condition to all that had eyes to see, and I was to let the matter unfold with minimal interference. Without dealing in any specifics, I telephoned Ralph Haaff who was scheduled to be in attendance, and simply told him to be aware that things were not right with Craig. I did not provide any specifics about Linda or the substance abuse - only that some things were about to bring Craig into some serious changes in his life. The first day that Craig Portwood was gone, Susan and I both felt as though an enormous oppression had been lifted from the ministry.

PREVIOUS PAGE   |    NEXT PAGE