Zender Interview page2

MARTIN: I’m really not. But things have gotten so far out of whack today that people do take that as a revolutionary statement. I suppose it is, in light of what people generally think. But if people would just look back and consider the way it was when Jesus walked the earth, they’d understand where I’m coming from. Where was the spiritual movement then? It sure wasn’t in the temple. It was on the mountaintops and down by the Sea of Galilee. It was at the tax-collector’s office. It was among the sinners, the so-called low life of society. This is where the seekers were. These people were looking for The Real Deal. They could smell hypocrisy ten cubits away. Where was the hypocrisy? It was in the temple. And where do you find it today?

ERICA: In the temple.

MARTIN: Yes! Hypocrisy runs rampant in the system.

ERICA: Do you actually say in your book that Jesus Christ is not a Christian?

MARTIN: Yes, but not until chapter four. Most people wouldn’t be ready for that until chapter four. God bless chapter four. I still get the shivers when I read it. It’s so true.

ERICA: I hope you assure people that you believe in Jesus Christ.

MARTIN: Of course. I make that apparent throughout the book. Jesus Christ is my Lord and Savior. I just don’t belong to the religion that uses His name.

ERICA: You probably better explain yourself on the subject of religion.

MARTIN: Religion is a bad word, even in the Bible. Paul used the word in Acts, chapter seventeen, referring to the Athenians, who were very superstitious. The Greek word translated religion is deisidaimon. It’s a two-part word that means dread-demon. Demons are busy today turning people from God; it’s their chief goal. The craftiest among them accomplish this, not through obvious evils, but through the agency of religion. That’s not me talking, it’s Second Corinthians, chapter eleven. Religious people

who think they chose Christ, or who work to impress God, think they’re understanding the true God. They think they’re hearing true things about Him, but in reality they are seeing a misrepresentation of God, and hearing lies about Him as presented by their religion. The people of the world do dread God today. They hear that God loves them unconditionally—as long as they love Him back. And if they don’t love Him back according to the rules of the particular organization—off to hell for eternity. Who taught the world this hypocrisy? The Christian religion has. This religion has made a caricature of God and Christ. That’s why I say that God and Christ are not in the system. They’re wildly misrepresented there.

ERICA: It’s been nice knowing you. Your book is going to rock some big boats.

MARTIN: I hope so.

ERICA: It’s also going to shock people.

MARTIN: Yes and no. Yes, what I’ve just said is shocking. But I say it in such a way in the book that it comes across naturally. I think it will thrill more than shock. I back myself up scripturally, and with other information that anyone can verify. For instance, I describe how believing in Jesus became an official religion in the fourth century, under Constantine. And I show the word religion in its scriptural context; anyone will be able to see the negative connotation. I do the same with the word church. People are getting shocking information, but they’re compelled to keep reading because it makes so much sense. They can’t really argue with it. I think that even antagonists will have to admit that my arguments make sense.

ERICA: People who have read your articles say that you help bring the Scriptures alive to them. This book will do the same?

MARTIN: Yes. That’s my passion. I have to reduce things to their basic, simplest forms before I can understand them. But once I do that, I can get to the root of things. This is a God-given gift. I seem to be able to get to the essence of a thing without getting lost in the details. If you can do that, people will beat a path to your door. They’ll stand in line for a book like that.

ERICA: So there are facts in your book…

MARTIN: There are facts in the book, and there’s good information, but the book is not overly crammed with that. I’m very careful that the reader never gets bogged down. I try to make everything applicable to real life. I want the book to read like an exciting novel and I think that, for the most part, it does. One person who read the manuscript said it read like an Alice in Wonderland adventure. I don’t know of too many theology books you could say that about. The key is that I apply what I say to the readers’ lives and keep them involved.

ERICA: Give us an example.