In 1985, a computer enthusiast noticed something unusual. Jerry Falwell Sr’s toll free prayer line had a system designed so callers did not pay anything. Instead, the organization paid for each incoming call. One man realized he could use this setup against them. With a simple program and an old computer, he automated nonstop calls to the hotline, sending a new one every few seconds. As the days passed, the phone network began to choke. The prayer line was overwhelmed, operators could not pick up real callers, and entire phone routes became jammed. The automated calls kept coming for months. Back then, toll free numbers worked on reverse charges, which meant the organization had to pay the cost of every call it received. Reports said the nonstop flood triggered more than seven hundred fifty thousand dollars in charges, all caused by one person with a computer and a bit of code. The incident became one of the earliest examples of a digital attack made without hacking into any system. The caller did not break in, he simply overloaded what was already available to the public. It exposed how fragile phone networks were at the time and showed how one determined person could disrupt a powerful organization using nothing more than timing, automation, and creativity!