[3] Samuel "the Rev" Smith was born in Terre Haute and, despite being an atheist, attained recognition due to his faith healing, and blend of socialism and religious fervor, which led to him founding the Church of the Saved in Bedford–Stuyvesant.

As his congregation (which consisted primarily of downtrodden minorities) grew, the Rev prepared to move out of the "fascist, racist United States" and into Dutch Guiana.

The Punisher's first mission as a member of the cult sees the Rev ordering him and two others to obtain a videotape in the possession of an unstable reporter, who intends to create a documentary about the Church of the Saved.

The Rev keeps the local authorities and government officials appeased with his harem, while he and his sister draw up plans to assassinate a visiting American congressman, and to poison their followers with potassium cyanide for a "revolutionary" mass suicide.

Establishing a base in a Tepui temple, the Rev enslaves a village, and forces the tribesmen to cultivate a rare plant that can be used to create a sterility-inducing drug.

[6] The Rev breaks Jigsaw (whose face he promises to heal) out of Ryker's Island, and places him in charge of a shipment of the drug that is to be tested in New York City.