I come out of the block swinging on this one. A couple times during this program, Denise tries to slow me down. A couple times, she thinks I'm going too far. I plow ahead; run her over. I'm hotter than the fictitious flames of Christianity's hell.

And yet there is a moment of mirth, even joy, right at the beginning. I got tears in my eyes, TODAY, listening to this. The second-hour music ("Smelling Coffee" by Chris Rice) fades—but I don't want it to end. I like the song. So I tell Ricardo to bring it back up, and he does. And then all of us at the table begin singing the chorus together.

Tears well in my eyes as I listen to this. Charlie Cronk is dead. It is rumored that Mike and Denise Telep have forsaken not only Paul, but Christ. Ted no longer believes in the sovereignty of God. I haven't talked to Ken in years; I don't know where he is doctrinally. I feel like Elijah, "I, alone, am left." But no one can take away that moment, and so I suck whatever joy from it I can, thankful that it was recorded and that Rodney Paris has converted the analog tapes to a digital format, allowing another generation—and myself—to benefit from this important message. Truth is timeless.

In this show, the focus is the hideousness of the doctrine of Eternal Torment and how Christianity drives the word FROM God with its sick, satanic teachings. It really is a wonder we weren't shown the door halfway through this broadcast and had that door locked behind us.

This MUST have been the night when Ricardo gave up on us. The first week, he would come into our broadcast room from his control booth during commercial breaks with his Bible open and challenge us on certain points. But the further we got into the evils of Christianity and especially the diabolical nature of the doctrine of Eternal Torment, he visited us less and less. By the time of our last week, our sound quality diminished noticeably. Why? Ricardo was in the control room watching Cleveland Indians baseball games on a little black and white TV. This, during our broadcasts.

A guy named Harry called in—a kind of goofball guy, a Clevelander, who called in regularly. He thought we were TEACHING that God torments people consciously. He heard us reading sick "burning in hell" quotes from the likes of Johnathan Edwards. We assured him that we certainly did not believe this, but were reading the quotes in order to criticize the quotes. (Harry didn't pay attention much.)

Harry was relieved because HE believes that God merely KILLS people eternally. As I listened to this guy go on about how people die and stay dead, I told my WCCD, 1999 self, "C'mon, Zender. Lay him out. Don't let him get away with ONLY believing that people die and stay dead subsequent to Christ's sacrifice for sin. Don't give him any credit for NOT believing in Eternal Torment only to believe in Annihilation." At the very last, I told Harry that, no, he wasn't paying attention, and that we believed Jesus Christ was the Savior of the entire human race. This set Harry back a moment and he said, "No, that's not true." And I said, "Yes it is." I was happy with my 1999 self—but today I would have given Harry far less leeway.  

I already mentioned Rodney, so a big thank you to him. He works VERY hard at these, and then has to put up with my editorial demands, which he does with godly patience. And thanks to my sister Kelly who gets these shows to you on Sunday mornings.

Finally, thanks to YOU for supporting this work so faithfully all these years. It was because of the financial support of our friends that we were able to get Grace Cafe on the air in 1999. It is STILL by the financial support of the friends of this ministry that the Word of God continues to go forth with power. This is a big corporate 

THANK YOU to all those who keep the work and the worker afloat. Thank you from the bottom of my heart, from the bottom of the peninsula.

Yours because of the grace of God,

—Martin