Dear Fellow Believers,

This message was recorded in my living room in Greenwich, OH, in the summer of 1995. I was nearing the second anniversary of doing this work full time. I hear the beloved voice of Charlie Cronk in this audio, a beautiful brother in the faith who lived six miles from me in North Fairfield, OH, who died of cancer in 2012. Matt Rohrbach is also on here, who helped me launch my first newsletter, the Idle Babbler Illustrated, in the spring of 1994. Ted McDivitt springs up several times. Ted, along with Charlie, did the Grace Cafe broadcasts with me from the WCCD studios in Cleveland in the summer of 1999, along with four others. Ted has since, unaccountably, abandoned the truth of the sovereignty of God.

I apologize for the reminisce here—you probably want to hear something about the book of Acts. Well, you'll hear that on the tape. It's just that I haven't heard this in over twenty years, and it took me back to a sweet time, really. It seems sweet from my perspective in the absurd year of 2023, but those days were not without trial. Do I hear Marcia's voice on this tape? I do, although I had to listen three times to make sure it was her. My son Paul, who as you know joined the Christian religion three years ago and is now a rising pastor in that damnable organization (but still a beloved son) was three years old.

I also hear the voice of a believer named Mike (I can't remember his last name) who came to the faith...how? I have no idea A good man, young-ish in his late fifties, but he tragically died soon after this meeting of a heart attack.

There is an energetic argument at the end of this, between Charlie and me and Ted, about whether Judas will have a part in the millennial kingdom. I played it back a couple times and smiled throughout. At one point I say to Charlie, jokingly, "You want to take this outside?" As the argument continues in the background between Charlie, Ted, and Matt, I say, "What's that fly doing here?" Man, that really cracked me up. My presentation of the gospel has not changed one bit in twenty-eight years.

Content-wise, it doesn't get much better than this. Christianity makes the book of Acts the standard by which modern-day churches should be operated. That's strange, seeing as how the book of Acts records the tortuous, temporary casting away of Israel. "Hey, I know. Let's base our church on the failed ministry of Israel."

I always love to see the video magic that Rodney sprinkles onto the audio. The guy never disappoints, and he doesn't here either. This presentation is compelling, both in content and in the power to commandeer the eye.

Thanks to all of you who support this work, or who send me cards and letters, or who pray for me, or who just offer me an encouraging word, either on my YouTube comment section, via email, or text, or via good old snail mail. As Stevie Wonder would sing, "You are the sunshine of my life." It's true. Florida may be called the Sunshine State, but it still doesn't alleviate my low-grade depression some days, which I think is in reality my part in helping to shoulder the corporate suffering of the body of Christ. No pill's gonna touch that. The only cure for it is the snatching away.

I will love all of you to the end, and beyond. God be praised for all of this.

From the peninsula, I remain your friend and servant and brother,

Martin