102. Special Thanksgiving Episode | God's Story

A special episode of God: An Autobiography, The Podcast- to celebrate Thanksgiving day and genuine thankfulness for the task of sharing God's story.

We are grateful to all listeners and readers and hope to inspire spiritual journeys and a stronger connection to the divine.

With that gratefulness in heart, we revisit episode 9 of the dramatic adaptation of God: An Autobiography, As Told To A Philosopher, where God asks Jerry to write God's story. 

God shares with Jerry that religions do not tell the full story of God's development. It is time for a courageous messenger to carry this new message of an evolving God forward. Can this agnostic messenger shake his ego, and does he have enough faith to share God's story?

"I felt like Dorothy swept up in a whirlwind. And poor Abigail. Would she be swept up to? Her train had finally arrived. Over dinner, I broke it to her..."

Read God: An Autobiography, As Told To A Philosopher.

Begin the dramatic adaptation of God: An Autobiography, As Told To A Philosopher

Related Episodes: [Dramatic Adaptation] 9. God Asks Me To Tell His Story; [Special Episode] 50. Revisiting The Beginning

Related Content: [Video] Where God asks me to tell God’s story; What Does God Sound Like?

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Chapters

• 0:17 Introduction
• 2:21 God Asks Me To Tell His Story
• 10:52 Outro And Contact Information

Transcript

Scott Langdon [00:00:17] This is God: An Autobiography, The Podcast. A dramatic adaptation and continuing discussion of the book God: An Autobiography, As Told To A Philosopher by Jerry L. Martin. He was a lifelong agnostic, but one day he had an occasion to pray. To his vast surprise, God answered- in words. Being a philosopher, he had a lot of questions, and God had a lot to tell him. Episode 102.

Scott Langdon [00:01:02] Hello and welcome to God: An Autobiography, The Podcast. I'm your host, Scott Langdon. Exactly one year ago this week, we dropped our 50th episode of this podcast on Thanksgiving day, here in the United States. We took a break from our regular schedule in programming to look back in gratitude to God for giving us this work and to you listeners for tuning in and sharing your stories of God with us. Now, 52 episodes later, we again find ourselves dropping this week's episode on Thanksgiving day, 2022, and couldn't be more grateful for the timing. We are so thankful you're here and that you've continued to give us the opportunity to tell God's story simply by tuning in. In today's special episode, we take you back to episode nine and revisit what it was like when God asked Jerry to write God's story. In this episode. As is the case throughout the entire audio adaptation of the book, I speak the voice of Jerry and Jerry L. Martin, who heard the voice, speaks the voice of God. From all of us here at the podcast- have a Happy Thanksgiving. We hope you enjoy the episode. 

Dramatic Adaptation Episode 9

Jerry L. Martin- Voiced by Scott Langdon

The Voice of God- Voiced by Dr. Jerry L. Martin

Jerry L. Martin [00:02:21] Memorial Bridge was lit by the sun, white and bright. The Lincoln Memorial rose up in front of me, also white, but grave and rich in national meaning. For me, crossing the bridge was a daily call to purpose. But the voice broke today's silent entry by announcing, out of the blue...
Voice of God [00:02:44] Your work here is done.
Jerry L. Martin [00:02:47] My work here is done? I thought I was right in the middle of it. After teaching philosophy for fifteen years at Boulder, I had come to Washington on a Congressional Fellowship and stayed, working first on a Congressional staff, later at the National Endowment for the Humanities, finally at the nonprofit organization where Abigail had first reached me. When these prayers began, friends and associates were moving into the highest levels of government, and I was being asked to consider positions, just below Cabinet level, that would have crowned a career like mine. But now, suddenly, I was being told, "Your work here is done." Done. About that time, I felt guided to look at Matthew 16:13-14, where Jesus asks his disciples, "Who do people say that the son of man is?" "And they answered, 'Some say John the Baptist, but others Elijah, and still others Jeremiah or one of the prophets.'" Then I was directed to the very last verse of the very last book of the Old Testament. Malachi 4:5 promises that Elijah, the prophet who was taken up to heaven in a fiery chariot, will return with God's message. "Lo, I will send you the prophet Elijah…" Abigail's train was late. I had been waiting at Union Station for over an hour and stood to stretch my legs. Some now-forgotten images passed before my eyes, and then…
Voice of God [00:04:43] I want you to be my new Elijah.
Jerry L. Martin [00:04:46] Your new Elijah?  Lord, I am not worthy.
Voice of God [00:04:53] I will decide who is worthy.
Jerry L. Martin [00:04:56] I don't have enough faith.
Voice of God [00:04:59] You have more faith than you know.
Jerry L. Martin [00:05:02] Who is Elijah?
Voice of God [00:05:04] He is the prophet.
Jerry L. Martin [00:05:07] What is he to me?
Voice of God [00:05:09] He is you.
Jerry L. Martin [00:05:11] Lord, this is just crazy.
Voice of God [00:05:12] He is you.
Jerry L. Martin [00:05:23] There's a story Abraham Lincoln told about the man who was tarred and feathered and run out of town on a rail. "If it weren't for the honor of the thing," the man said, "I would rather have walked." I'd seen the war movies: "You will have the honor of leading the assault." Some honors aren't worth it. I did feel the honor. God was about to put his seal on his role for me, a role more suitable for a real Elijah. I felt a swell of pride, as I was being told this, and immediately the line went dead. Ego had broken the connection. Abigail's train still had not arrived. I paced back and forth, no longer seeing the other people in the station. What to think? What to feel? Finally, I forced a deep breath and, with irritation mitigated by resignation, asked, “Lord, what exactly do you want of me?”
Voice of God [00:06:45] I want you to describe the inner life of God, what it is like to be God.
Jerry L. Martin [00:06:52] The inner life of God? What it is like to be God? Why is that important for us to know?
Voice of God [00:07:01] Humankind sees God only from the outside, and that leads to distortions in its view of God, as it would of anyone--too distant, awesome, oppressive, Other. Even mystics are very one-sided. They experience oneness, but that is not the same as empathizing with my subjective experiences.
Jerry L. Martin [00:07:25] We think of God as being so infinite and ethereal that "subjective experience" doesn't even make sense.
Voice of God [00:07:34] Exactly--that's one of the distortions. Although I am much more than a person, I am a person, a soul, just like you. You--people--cannot relate properly, constructively, to me unless you understand that. Take love, for example. My love comes across as impersonal, generic, oceanic wallowing, but, in fact, it is quite specific, concrete, with feeling, with response to the particulars of your being, of your life. I want you to tell my story.
Jerry L. Martin [00:08:12] Hasn't your story already been told in the Bible?
Voice of God [00:08:16] Yes, but it is time for it to be told anew, and not in the same way. We are entering an unusual time in the history of the world. The old religions are coming apart. Yet there is a renewal of religious spirit. Many of the great religions rested on a relatively clear reception of messages from me. The new spirituality does not. It is aimless, made-up, impressionistic, psychologized, sometimes flaky and even dangerous and demonic. Not all *spiritual* forces are from God. Some are evil or distorted. A purity of message must be regained. But there is gain here as well. The old religions were limited. They fit the understanding of people at the time. The messages were sometimes garbled or misunderstood or distorted over time. Also, I have evolved since then. There is new information to impart.
Jerry L. Martin [00:09:29] There it is again: God evolves.
Voice of God [00:09:34] There is a long history, that has not been chronicled, of my development. I would like you to tell that story. My message is evolving over time. You will carry it forward. Do not credit this to your ego--it will be my voice. Focus on the task. The world's religions have spent themselves. They need renewal. Believe the inspirations I send you. Do not worry about any other standards than communicating correctly what I reveal to you. It may seem crazy to others; revelation always does. This is the courage of the messenger.
Jerry L. Martin [00:10:22] I felt like Dorothy swept up in a whirlwind. And poor Abigail. Would she be swept up to? Her train had finally arrived. Over dinner, I broke it to her. She just listened, unfazed.

Scott Langdon [00:10:52] Thank you for listening. To God: An Autobiography, The Podcast. Subscribe for free today wherever you listen to your podcasts and hear a new episode every week. You can hear the complete dramatic adaptation of God: An Autobiography, As Told To A Philosopher by Jerry L. Martin, by beginning with episode one of our podcast and listening through its conclusion with Episode 44. You can read the original true story in the book from which this podcast is adapted. God: An Autobiography, As Told To A Philosopher, available now at Amazon.com, and always at godanautobiography.com. Pick up your own copy today. If you have any questions about this or any other episode, please email us at questions@godanautobiography.com and experience the world from God's perspective as it was told to a philosopher. This is Scott Langdon. I'll see you next time.