Some Christians believe that in an end times
rapture events, young children automatically go to heaven
but what about the older kids? Older kids
like the at teen rebels who disobey their
parents and won't go to church and reject
Jesus.
Well, left behind the kids explore the exploits
of the young tribulation force, and it was
adapted for its own fantastic dramatic audio series
by today's guest, darby recurring.
Speculative fiction like no other genre
reflects the creativity of god. If you look
at the scriptures, you're gonna have to see
that God uses
imagination more than rash on this course.
We are supposed to be image bearer
for a vastly creative god.
Reading fans has
fiction opened a portal in my
imagination for a place other than just a
materialistic world.
I experienced the gospel story with the mind
of someone who loved adventure and loved the
idea of light conquering darkness.
We're wired for stories that reflect how we
see the world in ways that are true.
The story is either pointing to christ or
it's pointing to our need for christ.
Welcome back to fantastical truth, the scrappy young
podcast from lore haven dot com in which
we explore fantastical stories for god's glory. And
Burnett burnett a publisher of Laura Haven, and
I'm the author of a new science fiction
adventure novel releasing next year from On play
publishing.
And I'm Zachary Russell and 1 of things
I've always liked about the left behind series,
especially in the tribulation force book 2,
is that the main characters had jobs? They
knew the world was gonna end, but they
still went to work And I've always wondered
about the teenagers did they go to school?
We're gonna explore that today in an if
it's episode 220.
How did the left behind kids?
Audio drama, speed run the tribulation, and we're
gonna be joined by Darby Ke.
On just a few episodes ago, we talked
with Chris Fab, the main author there for
almost all the left behind the kids novels.
Jerry Jenkins brought him in as backup, and
they did a tag team effort to make
40 books
in this best selling series for older kids
and teenage readers. There wasn't audio drama about
that. And the audio drama
brought this story to life in a very
different way. I still remember the high points
of this audio drama, a fantastic cast and
crew similar to the left behind dramatic audio
series for grown ups. But the kids themselves
also got a series. It was about the
half the length half the episodes But our
next guest is the 1 who helped to
put that all together. And today, we're going
to celebrate
the joys of rebelling
against the antichrist. Because you know, Zach teen
rebellion, well, that's not good. You know, you
don't want rebel against your parents, but
anti authoritarianism comes in handy when the authority
taking over the world happens to be the
most satanic evil dictator, the global ever known.
Yep. I totally would have been in the
anti carp
league of my high school. If they allowed
it as a recognized club, but I doubt
it because as we all know, all school
are run by the Evil government. And in
the future it'll be run by Nikola nikolai
carp
himself from Babylon. Yeah. That part's actually aging
pretty well, actually. Hey.
Well at Laura Haven, we are spear
the resistance. You can subscribe free at Laura
Haven and get the best. Christian made fantastical
novel
recommendations with weekly reviews every Friday. We also
put out these podcast
episodes not just about end times or audio
drama, but about the best Christian made fantastical
stories we can find subscribe free at laura
haven dot com will also give you access
to join the Laura Haven Guild, our exclusive,
Castle in the cloud on discord where we
enjoy monthly book quests through these stories.
Our top sponsor by the way, once again
is returning champion enclave publishing.
1 of the famous elements of the tribulation
of biblical times prophecies is the 4 horsemen
of the apocalypse. The fourth horse is the
pale horse of death, which kills by various
means including plague, which makes me think of
the nightmare
virus a new novel releasing by nadine Brand,
who will also be on the podcast in
a few weeks.
Some viruses go after the body but the
nightmare virus goes after the mind.
When dream technology goes wrong, a virus spreads
across the globe trapping people in a universal
dreams scape. They call it the nightmare virus.
Hen cross is determined to find a cure
if he can decipher his brother's chicken scratch
formula notes.
But when he gets infected, he has only
22 days until he's trapped in the mental
prison forever.
Now every time he falls asleep, he must
fight in a nightmare arena,
until he earns his freedom to live in
the new world that exists only in the
mind.
Then he finds a way to manipulate the
nightmare, but change it by mere thought.
Forced to navigate a world of night beasts,
mis blades, and half truths,
kain turns his focus to survival. Will he
continue searching for a cure or will he
swear allegiance to the nightmare?
And the bigger question might be, will he
even have a choice?
Enclave escape presents the nightmare virus by award
winning author Nadine Brand.
Available now wherever fantastic books are sold on
July 16.
Order online or ask for it at your
favorite books seller or your local library,
Enclave publishing is a division of Oasis family
media, you can see that awesome cover in
our show notes for episode 220
or go to lower haven dot com slash
podcast.
Well, Zac, our guest is on time in
the studio, but he must have started journey
several hours ago because that giant turtle outside
is creeping ever closer, and I think he's
on its back.
Darby C, the creator of the Jake Mueller
Adventures has just arrived in the studio and
he's parked his giant turtle out side in
the specific turtles only parking space. He's been
a restaurant manager, medical writer, occupational health coordinator,
a pharmacist, a soda jerk
Now he an award winning filmmaker and the
writer of hundreds of radio dramas including left
behind the kids left behind the rising.
Kids corner back to God, lap lighter theater,
and Heir room audio the extraordinary
adventures of Ga a hen.
Is the writer of several stories and dramas
for the abide app and he lives in
Title town Usa, where he works as a
freelance, writer and part Time Turtle Writer, RIDER,
Darby. Welcome back to the Laurie Studios. Thank
you. I'm so glad to be here today.
Great to have you, Darby. I parked my
turtle. Yeah. He's outside resting comfortably. Resting comfortably.
Appreciate that. I don't know where you found
1 of these. It's rather prehistoric, but fantastical
creatures.
Are a staple of the left behind the
kids universe,
but it's mostly fantastical go plagues and fantastical
plot lines, and of course, you have now
moved on from that series after Jesus returned,
somehow Jesus returned. You've moved on also to
the Jake Mu adventures and you've got a
big update about that to share. So stay
tuned folks at the end of the shelf.
And we'll talk more about that too. But
first off Darby, we're gonna go pre mid
and post here. If you pick up or
when I'm laying down, pretty left behind mid
left behind post left behind, your intersection with
this series going back to the late nineties
early hundreds. First, I want to know pre,
what led you
to biblical faith
fantastic
imagination and then eventually playing in the left
behind Series sandbox.
I was fortunate enough to be raised in
a Christian family.
I had
grown up
hearing in the gospel, hearing the word being
taught in really good churches actually. But it
wasn't until later when I actually made a
a decision, made a choice to follow Christ
with my life. And that was actually long
before I started writing,
I was probably looking at a a lifetime
career in the restaurant business
And,
I, I probably wouldn't have lived as long
as I have so far had I stayed
in that because it was
not to my liking so much. But as
far as audio drama goes, when I was
a kid, I... And I remember this moment
pretty clearly. My dad would fly to a
Kansas city for business.
And when he came back,
the first time, I remember I was sleeping
on the couch in our house. It's was
the middle of the night. I waiting for
him to come back. Expecting him at, like,
07:00, and he got it a 2 in
the morning. So I'm asleep on the couch,
and he he just sets a a audio
cassette
by my head, which
is a very old fashioned statement to begin
with. When I woke up, I looked at
it and it was a gang,
old time radio show. And
you know, he he told me when he
was growing up, he listened to Gang buster,
and he loved this opening with the sirens
and the machine guns and all that. So
I listened to it, and I really enjoyed
it. I thought Gang was
Great. It was it was gang.
But, the next the next time he went
on 1 of those trips.
He bought me a Sherlock Holmes show, and
that
really sealed the deal for me. It was
John Gill and Ralph F as Sherlock Holmes
and Doctor Watson, it created a a love
of audio drama of voice acting,
which I'm not great at, but I'm so
much better than I used to be. And
and audio drama. So
I really just kinda fell in love with
the medium
and wanted to do more and more in
that. But in America, it wasn't happening. In
the 19 eighties, early 19 eighties Npr,
had
the Star Wars radio drama, which
I listened to that? Yeah. I have the
Cds right over here. Most people don't even
know about it. I I found it on
Youtube recently and found a way to play
for my kids so they could get there
star Wars radio. I'll say. I'll be the
1 who said it is... There was a
Star Wars radio drama. Lads?
Yes. George Lincoln sold the rights for, like,
a couple dollars.
1 1 dollar. Yeah. To his Alma mater.
Yeah. And Yeah. Mark Mark Ham and Anthony
Daniels were in the first 2, Star Wars
and empire strikes back.
Perry King who
auditioned to be hand solo back in 19
76 or whatever, played hand solo in the
radio. Right. It was pretty good. It's
almost archaic. The way we, you know, have
stuff now, but it was storytelling and went
into the story deeper than the movie's good
in 2 hours.
It just did a dynamite job with it.
So that
helped my my love of audio drama.
But at the same time, there was another
show that they played And this isn't in
the early 19 eighties, and the show was
on the Bbc back in the fifties.
And it was called the Goo show. I
don't know if you guys have ever heard
of it, but most people in America have
not, but it's where Peter Sellers got started.
Guy him Spiked Mill wrote it all, Another
guy, Harry Si. It was just these 3
guys
and they played every voice. Peter Sellers did
probably over 20 voices for the show.
But it was insane comedy. Because these guys
had just been through World war 2, and
there was a whole generation of people that
really just needed the laugh.
And Spike was... I think Spike actually was
insane. I think all 3 of them were,
but they really
created this these
pictures for you in your mind, and it
showed me
what audio drama could do.
And I mean, they would they would drive
a piano across the desert.
They would take the the Albert Memorial and
flight to the moon. You know? Oh, it's
I mean, it's su
insane and and impossible, but it created the
picture. So I really started getting into that.
So the 3 dramas you mentioned, each of
them sounds a little familiar. Gang there, obviously,
some crime and punishment and, action thriller type
stuff. The next 1, the Star wars audio
drama, a cosmic battle between a good and
evil. And then this last 1, the the
Goo thing,
some comedy in there. Kanye as well. So
all 3 of those darby sound like your
take on the left behind the kids
series or or the kids left behind if
you listen to the announcement at front.
I'm curious then how you went from being
AAA Christian and an audio drama fan, to
also being a nerd, you know, someone with
all those graphic novels on yourselves,
having an appreciation for paranormal legends and some
of the issues that Jake Mueller's gonna take
on, like, what where does your story lead
there? It was part of my search for
good writing,
especially script writing
and, on television, and some of the better
stuff and maybe the early 19 nineties was,
like, the x files
a show that at times was really good
and at other times is really bad. I
like this huge universe they were creating,
Chris Carter was creating, and they had some
writers on there that were fantastic.
And
it really created a mythology that ran through
everything that was to me interesting. And I'm
using a lot of that
type of writing in Jake Mueller.
Part of it was, and you guys can
probably attest to this. There were so many
bad Christian movies.
And most of that started at the script
level. It was just the storytelling was bad.
I wonder if they ever wrote a second
draft of any screen play.
Christian movie before
the resurrection of Gavin Stone. I I don't
know. But I wanted to do better. And
I thought Christians can do better and we
should be doing better. Bill Hyde, who produces
the
extraordinary ventures of G hen. This phrase came
up several times and sometimes he said it
and sometimes I did, but Christians seem to
do things 5 years later and not as
good.
And we were determined to turn that around.
You know, left behind when when I first
read the book, I I enjoyed it. Mid
19 nineties take on what might happen in
the future. Then I found out that Todd
Bust in Gap digital. We're producing the audio
dramas. So I sent him an email and
just said, hey, you're doing exactly what I'd
love to be doing. How does a fat
kid in Wisconsin get to be part of
this. He sent me an email back
in the middle of the night, it's like,
03:00 in the morning. I remember. I don't
know I remember that, But
he's he said, well, if you're interested,
you know, do this for me. And he
gave me an audition.
He liked what he read, but he didn't
have anything for, you know, a couple of
years, but I kept calling him and bugging
him saying, yeah. Hey. I have an idea
how to do the underwater stuff in in
Nick nikolai and soul harvest. You too. My
suggestion is for the demon locusts in Op
poly.
And then I felt really vin indicated when
it sounded just like I'd imagine.
It isn't that the best too. I mean,
that's audio drama. You you know, it creates
the picture in your head and, you know,
you were right on with the with that
idea? I was not. Had you already done
some some audio work before the left behind
series. Nothing professional. Just stuff that we recorded
on a on a a track recorder in
a friend's basement. And it's funny now because,
I always
sort of
you know, cast the 3 guys who recorded
something in their basement. And then they released
it on the Internet. But that's kinda what
we were doing without the Internet part. We
didn't release anything.
And a lot of acting in college and
and
doing live radio shows sometimes.
I I think when I heard
the left behind radio show,
It wasn't like, oh, my gosh. I could've
done that better because Chris did a great
job with that. Chris and Todd both did
a great job, and I was more thinking
How can I be part of this? How
does... How do I gl onto to this?
At the time it came out? I think
there were already 2 books and they were
talking about 6 at the time, and then
it became 12, and then 15 or 16.
But I saw that train, you know, kinda
pulling out of the station. I like, oh,
how do I get on that? Because it's
gonna pick up speed. I wanted to be
part of it, and, you know, finding something
that you wanna be a part of that
is also
designed to glorify God.
Those opportunities don't come around as often as
you like. Even today, So that was a
that was a big step and a cold
call to get your first big gig. That's
pretty cool. Yeah. So in this case, then,
the left behind grown up series train has
left the station and now has ultimately 12
stops until the end, at least the end
of the tribulation when spoiler alert somehow Jesus
returned.
In book 12, which released 20 years ago,
which is why we're celebrating the left behind
legacy series today with this series.
Darby though, when did you first learn that
there might be an opportunity for this spin
off series
left behind the kids and that dramatic audio
adaptation.
Todd emailed me, and
he just had 1 question. He said, do
do you think you can write for kids?
And,
of course, the answer was yes.
And I just use... I'd figure I'll just
use a lot of hyper and a lot
of slang. And the kids will get into
that, and it will sound
the same. How do you do fellow kids?
Yeah. Yeah.
And at the time, I was 31,
I think. So I was working with younger
people all the time.
And I was part of a improv comedy
group
that
you know, we we had to keep up
with the trends and the language and the
you know, the c colloquially
language of the day.
And
it was...
Not too bad.
I don't know. You tell me. How did
it sound did it sound real? Okay. I
have opinions on this because I remember being
a rest.
I... Know. I remember being impressed by the
left behind the kids series
because obviously, the bar been raised very high
by the grown up series. And although I
was more casually familiar with those books, I
think it was actually man your sister was
reading that the kids series.
I remember listening and thinking, wow. Like, this
is just the same quality,
yet also, obviously skew a little bit little
little bit younger.
I just remember the dialogue, I would describe
as cracking.
I I not heard like, kind of that,
earnest and sincere
yet also qui and fun dialogue approach. But,
Darby, there is a moment I remember to
this day. It's when Judd puts a vacuum
into the closet.
Judd puts a vacuum into the closet. I
think people are coming over and they're gonna
have a witnessing for them. But it's the
1 of the first,
evan attempts by the young Chip divorce. Judd
puts a vacuum in the closet. I remember
thinking like,
I'm I'm right there in that living room.
Like he's just goof off and putting a
vacuum cleaner in the closet, and it just
felt so realistic and it kinda jumped out,
just by how normal it sounded.
And and it's just little moments like that
that really helped to sell the realism it
even for this absolutely fantastical scenario,
with a younger cast of characters,
and,
presumably some younger actors as well. So now,
I've really enjoyed it, and I will continue
to hype
both of the left behind audio dramas to
this day. And I wanna ask more about
the making of that show in just a
moment.
Speaking of audio drama, you know all those
sounds that they make it. Sound like people
moving, getting up out of bed, walking around,
tram through the under brush, that's called Foley,
which makes me think of another foley artist.
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Alright, Darby. We're at the midpoint of not
this tribulation. It was a challenge. It was
a challenge to adapt now
40 books in the left behind the kids
series outlined by Jerry Jenkins based on the
grown up series, and then most of those
written up by Chris Fa.
And so now you get them, and you've
gotta make now 72 audio episodes. Maybe it
would have been a hundred 44 originally, I
like the Grown up series, but eventually, that
was 72, and I'll ask that in a
moment. I'm curious then about the challenges of
auditioning? Like, how did you all then go
in and go okay. We've got cast,
at least 4 members of the young trade
force
Ryan Lionel Vicki and Judd, plus all the
side characters and bringing back some of the
characters from the grown up series, What were
some of the challenges just starting out with
this?
For me, that was more of a Todd
problem than than a darby problem.
And I'm glad it was. But the biggest
thing, and I'm gonna I'm gonna give a
spoiler here for all those poor people who
haven't heard this yet. It it's been a
while. I think we're good for spoilers. Oh,
exactly. 1 doesn't want. Okay. Zach. Take your
headphones I'll let you know... I'm saying I
it's fine to what. I I haven't heard
it yet. So you're you're talking to me,
so that's spoil it. It's fine.
Well, there's there's 1 of the characters.
Beloved by everybody. The actor was beloved by
everybody too who
dies
in episode 37.
The hardest part of that was just the
fact that we had to do it. I
remember
when Todd read the script, and I think
he didn't... I'm sure he didn't read every
book. Because who's got time for that. But
he would just go through my scripts, and
he said, we'll, wait a minute. What do
Do we have to kill him?
Can we can we keep them alive?
And
I'd read ahead a few books and
it was it was sort of 1 of
those things that
you you can't not do it because, I
mean it... It's also part of the the,
you know, left behind narrative that at least
25 percent of the people who are Christians
at the beginning of it are gonna die
through the.
Or whoever is alive at the beginning of
the tribulation will die by the end. And
so it had the the the weight that
we had to add to it.
And
we we hated doing it. I... We actually
dragged it out 1 more episode. So he's
in 37
episodes instead of 36.
And
it was really
a tear jerk moment. I thought when when
we let this character go. But
that was the hardest kind of thing. Todd
took care of all the auditioning,
and he put together
an amazing cast. I I can't
I can't imagine
anybody else doing these parts.
And, you know, Jason Part was Judd. A
Dug and S was Ryan,
Raphael chest was Lionel
and Brooks Sanford.
Who was fantastic.
Was Vicki. And Mean, they were all fantastic,
But the the 4 of them together was
just incredible. And all also sudden we had
to get rid of 1 of them and
and the da character was already, you know,
sliding into the to fill that space as
Chris had written the books.
And that was the hardest thing for me
because all of a sudden, I'm like, okay.
I know how to write for this character,
and
that character's dead. Okay. Let's start picking up
with Da and I had to, like, create
the whole element of her, not only that,
but like you said before, there's 72 episodes.
And the first 36
episodes only covered the first.
Oh, is it 12 or 12 books. Yeah.
Yeah. Yeah. And there was quite the pace
increase about the midpoint of the audio drama
there. I remember when it started going Whoa,
we're... Yeah really condensing some stuff here. It's
already called the speed.
Yeah. Exactly. And what... Really the the... Just
to break down the numbers
for each
series of 12 episodes for the first 3
Each 12 episodes covered 3 books.
So
that was a 4 books. 4 bucks. It
was approximately 1 compact disc per book. So
we went from a compact disc of 3
episodes. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. You're right there. Yeah.
And then and then it was... I I
worked out the formula, actually, Darby, it was,
like, up approximately...
I think I think it was approximately 1
and 1 fifth episode per book. So instead
of 3 episodes per book is like, 1
and 1 fifth episode. So that's that's that's
and a decrease. Yeah. Well,
don't let me rein on your parade or
anything, but there was no formula. So it
was there was times, and I was I
was so
bothered by this that we had to... I
think there's 1 book we didn't touch on
anything from because it just didn't drive the
the whole thing forward.
And there were
tons of sub that Chris came up with
that that were good in the books that
we're just, like,
Okay. This is just gonna slow the story
down to a crawl. We just couldn't do
it. And and
I'm just blessed that I had
Todd, to teach me and guide me through
all this, because he is... He's just so
good. He's just naturally
a great
editor in his head,
that when
when I turn in a script that, you
know, kinda wandered a little bit, he would
Sometimes gently. Sometimes not gently rain me in.
Good then. Oh, he's he's amazing. He's and
he's he's a good friend too and I...
We we survived this project without, you know,
really,
choking each other. You survived good tribulation. Just
like we did and 3 quarters of the
young Trip force, beating the odds
because someone had a big heart and couldn't
off more of them. At least in the
audio drama, I hadn't read all the kids
books. But the audio drama, maybe y'all were,
saving them from getting fridge, but Yeah. The
other 3 do survive all the way to
the end, although 1 has an unfortunate limb
removal. Yes. Yeah. Yeah. Which
That was a... That was a nice dance
around that.
Yeah. I noticed I I wanted to how
how well the looks because around joke or
something?
No. No. It was 27 hours effect. Remember
the yeah Chap who was hiking who fell
down ravi and got his arms stuck under
a giant boulder, and then he kinda had
do things to free himself well, so did
the just happen have a pocket force. Yeah.
Either like, an asteroid or something that traps
someone?
No. You have to listen. You have to
listen
right. Yeah. And and not just because I
I forgot. I just remember, it's like, oh,
this is a hundred 27 hours thing. Not
that I've seen that ravi or anything, but
we we remember the story, and we remember
shiver and, you know, checking to make sure
our arms are still there.
But, fortunately, you know, when Christ returns, there
is there's is a resurrection effect. And so
you you do get to you do get
to get that back. So
Yeah. Quite ready for him to come back
now though, Darby,
1 thing that we we pointed out in
our conversation with or conversations with Chris and
Todd earlier in this series.
Is that, the left audio drama ended up
affecting
events in the left behind the kids series
because the overlap there was Chris Fab who
was
adapting the grown up books for the audio
drama and then also coming up with the
kids plots along with Jerry Jenkins. And so
there were opportunities to expand on things that
the grown up books couldn't cover. For example,
the meteor splash into the ocean. Now that's
a rather
societal altering event and yet it's High know
over and done with in the last few
pages of the Soul harvest volume. Yeah The
left behind the kids book spent a lot
more time with it, and you actually had
a scene
set out on the cruise ship, and that's
also in the the Grown up audio drama.
So there's opportunities for that kind of expansion,
especially for, for example,
what's going on in the schools? You know,
how's the global community taking over the schools
and then what sort of sub
you know, hi jinx do the kids get
into in order to fight the antichrist. Like,
how fun is that to do that adaptation.
That was great. We I... You know, what
I did is I took a time machine
to 20 24,
and saw the way,
the schools were going and and No, man,
it's worse. You you went back and you
corrupted the timeline with what you knew because
not even Carp came up with the sexual
Convert corruption that we're seeing now. I think
if Carp had been told, hey, Satan had
approached him, you know, to possess him and
say, let's let's let's train the kids next
Old call old old Saint, Nick, it'd probably
be, like, oh, I think that's going a
bit too far, Don't you think?
And yet here we are. I mean, as
we record this, there's debates in 1 couple
of states about can classrooms fly the trans
pride flag. In another states,
they're passing laws to,
require the 10 commandments
to be put in classrooms. So there's a
huge culture battle over that. So I imagine
in the kids story, there was what Nick
Nikolai or the statues or something that kids
had judge allegiance to in the in the
series. Was there something like that in the
school?
Yeah. We didn't have enough room to really
really get into it, but that stuff was
there. You know, Honestly, Steven, you probably remember
better than I do because,
hard to believe. You might be a bigger
nerd than me. I'm all kinda blur together
on the production side I don't remember statues
early on because the tim will hay understanding
of prophecy is that the statues go in
after the midpoint of the tribulation. And then
they're being animated by demons or An electronics
or something. I think it was just
revising which scarier and the global community takes
over early on. But... And that would be
the first thing that would happen in that
kind of scenario just like what happens in
the smaller countries taken over by dictators is
they go in after the education system. It
makes perfect sense that they do for them.
Yeah.
And it was... It's so funny because, I
mean, we're talking late nineties early twentieth century.
And the
the the electronics and everything are so they're
so quaint.
Back then, somebody had a sat phone And
we're like, oh, this is a great technology
as Sat phone. You can call anywhere from
there. And with video conferencing.
Right. Right. And we have
every every teenager in America probably has, you
know, a camera that they can talk to
somebody in in Vienna or, you know, London
with.
Without any difficulty. And and I think if
Jerry re rewrote this series, we'd see a
very, very different series, but you know, think
about the the technology that we have now,
you know, we're talking about, the antichrist animating
an an ina object. I mean, does it
really even need to be a possessed sort
of thing.
Cgi does this? And everybody in the world
can see it all at the same time
because, you know, everybody's got their phone and
and
can see. And, you know what? This... I
know this isn't a segue because we're talking
later, but that's what the next Jake Muller
I'm writing is all about too. So... Oh,
there we go. That's 1 way to update
some of those themes now for sure. So
I'd look forward to hearing more about that.
Yep.
My other question is know, speaking of technology,
how was this show distributed, you know, 20
years ago ish when it came out because
that was before
you know, spotify that was before everyone had
phones, where you could download a digital audiobook.
I mean, I know they had Cds back
in. I'm not not too... I'm older than
Steven, but younger than Darby, but
But, like, were they sold it like Christian
Bookstores or were they sold... I mean, I
guess it wasn't sold online. So where where
did people buy these? Where did they find?
You could You could buy them. I worked
at a Christian bookstore at the time.
And we we sold them there. You could
order them from Tin dale, the Christian book
distributor, which
you still get their catalog in the mail.
They sold them,
and it was broadcast on
I think the Moody network.
Which... Okay. So radio stations picked it up
and and did, I guess. Yeah. I think
Okay. I think before
before we were even recorded any
it had been sort of arranged for that
to happen. I mean, Chris is in with
the moody network.
Todd was in with the moody network.
Jerry was was very much a Moody guy.
Sorry. I didn't mean to say it like
that. He was a Moody bible institute guy.
And
I think that
there was probably some groundwork laid already there
for it. So
that was great. But the the kids show
didn't get the...
It it was...
My understanding is that it it was recorded
with
marketing money rather than
production money that that the
in air quotes adult show was. Yeah. Was
using.
Okay. And then how many years was this
recorded
over, like, 3, 4 or 5.
Good question. Let me look at the copyright
on my cd here. So... I mean because
I'm assuming that the actors is probably
I really just sore drill here. 2000
to 2004, man. I mean, the last 1
would it come out, I guess, in
September 20 years ago. Again, the 20 year
Finale. This is why we're doing it this
year.
Because... I'm assuming then that the actors weren't
teenagers or pre teens then that they were
probably adults
do doing younger voices?
Yeah. When we started, I know Dug and
Rafael were teenagers.
Doug is still a teenager by the way,
And he's 1 who plays Jake Mueller. He's
awesome. Yeah. They were young. I think Rafael
was maybe the youngest of them, who played
Lionel.
And
I'll tell you what though, that the first
time I sat in a studio
and heard these guys performed together.
I was just in awe because, you know,
like, I I acted in college and and
in
you know, small
video things that were produced in town here.
And
I, you know, at at 30, I was
listening to these guys at 15 or 14
and thinking.
They are so far ahead of me? Talent
wise that
why am I even trying? Oh, the interplay
is extraordinary. Just that you... The you could
just feel that these were kids who've been
thrown into a very rough situation and,
obviously, some from very rough backgrounds
not who often used dark humor, to diffuse
some things. And, you know, it didn't get
too dark in the series. There had to
be some levi, especially with audience considerations in
mind. And yet, this is the 7 year
tribulation, a time of god's judgment on earth
and okay. Great evangelist
explosions, but also a heck of a lot
of world wars and plagues And I mean,
it's the literal apocalypse everyone. So things can
get pretty dark and then characters are dying
every once in a while. A lot of
good things happening, but a lot of bad
things happening, including, but not limited to.
The demon locusts.
Army of eventually, you get to the return
physical, return, lori appearing of our Lord Say
Jesus Christ which you got to cover twice,
because I wanna ask about then your involvement
with the with a regular left behind the
audio drama. But not without first talking about
our third sponsor, the Lore haven open world,
I'm taking this open slot because coming this
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Laura Haven has a booth we always do
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this episode 220.
Okay.
Darby post left behind series,
from glory appearing to alien intrusion. Now, I
just wish to say that the end, of
the left behind the kids series. The kids
are all alright. If they repent and receive
Jesus, whether or not they get off in
the middle of the tribulation, ultimately,
our lord returns,
and the kids are alright. Everything sad comes
untrue when Jesus returns to renew all things.
Now,
You got to preview this. I think the
Fine kids series, audio series is still going,
and then they apparently what drafted you
you you got promoted. Like, from Youth pastor
to real pastor
to help wrap the the grown up series,
which also ended about 20 years ago, with
that 12 volume glorious appearing.
How did that work out? And what were
some of the challenges? We've already talked Todd
some about that. But what are some of
the challenges then of this impossible
story adaptation? Jesus returns
And Army explode and he's touching down on,
like, 3 and a half different mountains to
try to sync up all the prophecies, and
then he goes to Jerusalem Lemon.
Everybody shoots at him doesn't work.
Sword from his mouth picks out all of
his enemies. And then I guess was it
you or Todd who actually ended up explaining
the fate of Vi Ivan who got a
little lost in the original book 12.
I wanna go behind the scenes of Christ
return. How'd do you put that together it?
It it was like going from the minor
leagues to the big leagues. So was kinda
kinda fun that way. But the the short
answer is that Chris just got too busy.
He was...
I think he switched some some
jobs that he was doing.
And it might have been when he was
making his move
from Colorado to,
Arizona, but I may not have that timeline.
Correct? But he was
only available to do a a really
rough copy of the script that was really
just
beating out the the episodes
and
putting the dialogue directly from the book into
it. And,
I know he knew that wasn't what was
gonna be recorded,
and Todd asked me if I could work
on that. I actually worked on the 1
before the Armageddon. Oh Armageddon. Oh, okay. Okay.
I worked on that un credited.
Todd did me AAA solid favor and came
up the green bay and recorded some audio
for a short film that I was working
on. And just for a day and made
it so much better,
but it never got finished.
But that's not important.
Todd came up and did that for me,
and I I wrote these... Or re rewrote
these episodes for him. And
did that did
Armageddon un credited and then for glory appearing,
I said, hey, man,
can I get paid for this? And can
I get credit at least?
And I don't... I really I don't remember
how it all
came together, but I did get to work
on that. I really enjoyed that 1
but
most of it
was
just, you know, taking what Chris had done
and what was in the novel
and
giving it...
I think a little bit of my sen
about dialogue,
which is a little bit different from Chris's,
not better, not worse,
just different.
And John 4 off, and I have very
very different
types of dialogue too, and and he and
I are working on an un shack project
together right now. So
it's it's fun. But,
I kinda gave it the
I I darby it up a bit. You
you Darby Is. Yes. Yes. Yeah. Now there's
also John Nelson Darby, but... Gotcha.
Oh, there's your namesake there. Now there's also
a framing device in the audio drama that
does not exist in the book, but what
were some of the reasons why you all
created kind of this flashback narrative
from the now adult
son of Buck Chloe.
I
I think it was just
a way to
do things different. Just kinda changed it up
a little bit and keep it a bit
fresh.
And, you know, at that point, they'd already
done a hundred and 36,
a hundred and 32 episodes.
Obviously, when I get in there, I need
to
be contrary and do things different and do
it in a way that not reflects me
so much, but just challenges me a bit.
And I thought that
that was a way to do it.
Honestly, though, I think the idea came more
from Todd than me.
But
it it worked out. When I heard it,
I thought, okay. That's a great way to
do things a little different.
I really, I don't
remember coming up with that. I'm clever sometimes,
but maybe not that clever.
Todd is. So... Well, it's a team effort,
and it works not just to do something
different, but it works because obviously, the return
of Christ and all of the a Ph
signs that's a Jerry Jenkins word by the
way. Ph
signs surrounding
his glory appearing, they're so visual. And they
be so difficult to portray in an audio
drama. I don't think anybody has even tried
to do a movie version of it. You
know, that's why everybody's always sticking with the
rapture, and they're not actually trying to show
Jesus descending out of the clouds, you know.
Right. And and and throwing hands with the
Satan,
obviously,
completely epic postponing him to be true. But
it it helps to kind of paint that
picture because you are now not just hearing
these events play out in real time. But
you're hearing now these characters that we have
come to know and love, you know, First,
you're hearing them, like, they do okay. They're
fine. They survived. You know,
but they're looking back on it, and they
themselves are struggling to capture the event in
words. And then we flash back to what
has happened, after, you know, not just Kenny
Bruce talking about it, but he's talking with
Ray and, Mc mc and some of these
other heroes.
It works, and
that must have been a big challenge too
for the actors to put themselves in the
frame of
we are now in the millennial kingdom Jesus
returned maybe a few years ago, a few
dozen years ago,
and you can just hear the wonder in
awe in their voices, and I'm looking forward
to listening to that again because
there is such a sense of
fulfillment and new catastrophe.
Yeah. At the end of this series.
There's a feeling of awe.
That can't be equal. And and these actors,
man, they captured it, then you part of,
making that happen. So I I just really
appreciate that.
Yeah. It's... It it was great. It was
so much fun. And, you know, to be
writing stuff for,
people like Tom Mc roy and and Amy
Lilly,
who are just
outstanding.
It's an honor to in the first place,
but to get involved with something that it's
such a such a big cultural
reference point. You know, now we can look
at it and say, it's dated, and there's
plenty of people who are gonna argue the
es with you, which I'm not going to
do But,
they...
There was there there was something
that really touched
maybe on the Zeitgeist of that period.
And
you know what the Lord used it. He
didn't use me. He used the show.
And
you know, there's there's
what I've heard testimonies, and I think there
was a whole book of people who
you, came to Christ because of the books,
because of left behind. I don't know what
part the audio dramas played in that. I
don't know what part the the kids audio
dramas played into it.
But I know the Lord used it. And
you know,
that makes it worth it,
even though, you know, nobody had a cell
phone or anything like that. Well, and and
that's, again, that's the challenge of the era
that you were working and there there wasn't
like, oh, make sure to leave her view
on this podcast app or in this Youtube
video.
You didn't get that instant feedback and in
a way that's...
I don't know There there's something kind of
pure about that because you really are just
doing the work for the Lord. You're not
doing it for that instant gratification of
a review or a comment.
Yeah. You you're you're doing unto the Lord
knowing that you're you're planting seeds that will
will be watered and
spring to life aren't perhaps aren't in the
future. I mean, the fact that these Cds
are still floating around.
They're probably other... There probably places online. There
might be some radio broadcasts,
still still playing them. That's a really neat
thought. That the the impact continues even well
beyond. It's like you said, you've you've already
forgotten some of the things about it because
it's it's been
a few decades now since making it. But
you know, I... What I think
really was touching about the left pine series
as I said in the intro,
with how you would take these world changing
events of the tribulation, but then
how the books
and even the the the grown up audio
dramas, It brought it down into the everyday
life?
Like, what is this gonna mean for
my job is this or that. And then...
Yeah. For the kids series, I imagine that
that's what a lot... You know, a lot
of teams are probably hearing this as they're
parents are driving them to school
or picking them up afterwards or maybe listening
at night. And so they're thinking to themselves,
okay. The tribulation is not actually happening.
But, you know, there... There's some hostile attitudes.
There there's some persecution perhaps and, you know,
Jesus says that we'll suffer
persecution of all kinds. And we're not necessarily
in America facing the
type of persecution our our brothers in Christ
in the Middle East or at or in
China Right elsewhere are facing
or that we would face under an antichrist,
but,
it to to see how characters in these
stories
overcome that,
how they are bold for Christ, and they
take these big steps.
It gives us that encouragement in our own
lives and our own challenges
And so what I... I'm just curious Like,
what what was 1 of your favorite moments
of that of
of a character, you know,
living out in an everyday kind of situation,
but but in a with an internal mindset,
Can you can you think of something like
that that... Yeah. There we 1II
liked...
I liked 1 because it was it was
in the book, but
we did it a little bit different, and
we did a an
We took a different artistic approach to it.
And that was when the the kids are
in the high school,
and
they they are emboldened,
and they realize they have to do something.
And
what they do is they start an underground
newspaper that they sneak into the school. And
they sneak it into the school's newspaper, so
kids get it and they start reading it.
But we we wrote this...
I I started with it and Todd perfect
it
and
we really did it like an episode of
or now a movie version of of, mission
impossible.
Where somebody is explaining the mission
while you're hearing it in the background, which
I don't know if that had ever been
done before.
I I thought I was pretty clever
writing into a script that somebody
jumps off a cliff goes underwater and we
go underwater with them, and then they come
up and And then Todd said, yeah, We
did it 5 years ago. But I don't
know if anybody had
had
done a a scene quite like that.
I hadn't heard it, and I thought it'd
be fun, and Todd made it better than
than I could ever written it, and
it just became
1 of those moments where,
you know, this this is a defiant act,
but, you know, like you're saying, kinda go
along with that,
today, right now, yeah, We don't have the
antichrist learning over us.
We don't have
the global community,
you know, weighing us down. But
the
this world hates our kids.
They hate Christians
And they will do anything they can.
And, you know, if if you can encourage
hopefully more than 1. But if you can
encourage 1 person stand up and say, you
know,
alright.
You can say what you on, but I
got Jesus, and, you know, I'm better than
you in that way. You know, I'm better
off than you, I should say.
Just,
you know,
bold in someone's faith.
If we can do that,
we've succeeded. And that's, you know, that's what
I wanted for left behind because, you know,
like I said, that this world hates at
the youth.
They hate kids. They're doing everything they can
to destroy. The schools now are doing everything
they can to destroy and emboldened by a
government who just doesn't care about anybody, not
trying to get on a political rant, but
it's just kind of the way it is.
Let's teach our kids. Let's raise them to
be strong and to give them examples.
Even if they
don't think they can do something like that,
you know, let's let's
get them to to think they can.
You know, and now, is it easier or
harder to come up with an underground newspaper?
Well, you know, you just create a web?
Yep. Right on right on and amen. I
would say though, Darby, that, well, first off,
Honorable will mention too.
Lot of folks don't know that there was
at least
1 left behind audio pre. Of the grown
up series called the rising.
Who actually told me about that, criminal
underrated by the way, and rather Sp tac
killer. III really appreciated the book because it
gives you the backstory
of Carp and a lot and kind of
some sp stuff about where he came from
and Know, his rather unorthodox origins and then,
you know, just exactly what sort of creepy
child that he would have been growing up
as as the Antichrist, and then I think
he, I got in deep with the world
economic form. Excuse me, Jonathan Stone.
Oh, yeah.
Yeah. Really, really great stuff there. And and
and, I don't know, Frankly, a tragic ending
there, not not not like the original left
fine books at all. So Jerry Jin is
did a terrific job of that. You did
a great job the audio adaptation. That's still
out there.
But how do you top then the return
of Christ? Well, I'm not saying it's topping
in necessarily, but you are now involved
with your own original creation,
mister Jake Mueller, and we talked about that,
with you way back in the previous episode
80, I think it was. What if Satan
is planning alien
conspiracies for the end time. So... Oh my
goodness. That's something 40 episodes since then?
Think we have. Think we have With a
little bit easier when we don't do a
full cast audio drama with, you know, Ph
fantastic
events in sky. So it... We can get
the 02:20 pretty quick when the left find
audio drama starts at 144 and the kids
drama stops at 72.
Since we've spoken Darby, what is new and
coming
with Jake and his paranormal
investigations because, yeah, say what you all by
left behind series that were not enough
alien abduction. They're just words.
Not enough zombies,
no no no vampires and other things. Like,
what, what are sorts of creatures is Jake
going to be investigating and what can we
look forward to in his storyline?
Well, well, it's... You know, if you did
ask me that question a year ago, I
would have said,
there's nothing on the horizon. We're we're not...
We don't have anything planned. I had a
script written for the Jake Muller Ventures blood.
And
we had no no plans or money, which
is kind of a big deal
to get it produced. But
at the time shortly after the time when
I'd
completely
come to peace with the fact that,
the world of Jake Mueller was done.
I met a guy who wanted to invest
in it. Not only that, but he wanted
to be an amazing experience.
Everybody
involved and it was...
He's a a very,
very shy and quiet guy I lives in
Texas. And I I probably shouldn't even say
his name for has taken
Jake Mueller to his heart
and funded 2 more shows that are gonna
be coming out this year The first 1,
blood,
the 1 that I'd given up on is
coming out sometime this summer, and the third,
Jake Muller adventure called
undead is coming out sometime later this fall.
And blood is is,
touching on
zombie sub culture because I have to tell
you secret. There's no such thing as vampires.
No. But they already have a sub culture
then. They do. I think it's a sub
culture. Okay? Right. There's like, self identified zombie
Americans or are they gonna be the next
protracted the minority group. They get themselves executive
order or a slash full month.
What's what's going on? In that's up culture?
All of that. Every bit of it. Every
bit of it. That's undead that's... I'm sorry.
I think I said the backwards before. Till
The zombies are in undead,
vampires are in blood.
Without saying too much, blood at least is
a is a darker story than Unidentified was.
It goes there. I'm so anxious for people
to hear this, but I think some people
are gonna be scared off. And there was
a moment when we're in the studio recording,
a, a key scene
where my
c producer and,
great friend Micah,
leans over to me as the actors are
playing out the scene in the studio,
and he says,
this scene is gonna make the gray lady,
sound like kids corner.
And
the gray lady is the episode of,
father Gilbert that Paul wrote brilliant show, by
the way, brilliant,
that
is, like, like the high watermark for scary
Christian material
in audio drama. And this is going to,
yeah, make that look pretty pretty tame in
comparison.
There's real demonic activity in this world. I
mean, obviously, we can't we can't portray the
way it really is because it's it's pretty
wicked and horrible.
But we took it further than anyone else
has. And
and there's... I mean, there's a lot of
twists and turns in it too,
whatever you're thinking is not what you're gonna
get. It's gonna be a little different. Let
let me ask you something here. Just about
this whole genre...
Of
audio stories that are
mysteries
or supernatural,
paranormal, even horror
Why do you think these are so prevalent?
Because whenever I whenever I just kinda of
browse through audio dramas and
you know, different platforms?
It it seems like this genre
pretty much dominates that space. What what does
it you think about these types of stories
that are so interesting to people.
I I think that
I hate to say it. I think in
a lot of ways where des
to a lot of these things, and these
stories have become so popular.
You know,
when I was a kid, the the
worst movie that you go see was, say,
Friday the thirteenth or Halloween or something like
that. And I remember
in,
1 of the 5 thirteenth movies, which...
Yeah. Okay. I'll I saw it.
But somebody got... Call yourself a Christian. How
can do? I was his question. But Yeah.
I I would say I was nominally
christian at the time if that... A casino,
Christian name only. Okay? Yes. Yes. But there
was a character who got his head cut
off and I thought, oh, that's pretty wicked.
Okay.
Fast forward 20 years later, I'm watching an
episode of,
Hawaii 5 0. And someone's riding around on
a polo horse, and all of a sudden,
they ride by some piano wire and the
next shot is their head falling to the
ground. I was thinking, I looked at my
wife and I said, when did this get
the be okay on Network Tv.
You know, and even lost,
there's a scene where. The character of Claire
who has gone crazy,
berries and acts in a guy's chest. I
was like, oh, okay. What... This used to
be rated our movie stuff.
So we are a little bit
to it, but
it's it's popular.
And you... As much as we talk about
left behind and hub bad the tribulation is
in those books.
It's gonna be so much worse. I mean,
you can't
really paint a clear picture of how bad
bad that tribulation period is going to be
if these things are happening.
And
in the bible clearly says, a lot of
these things are gonna be happening. It talks
about how many people are going to die,
and that
number is
staggering huge. I mean, just think of the
smell just from that.
But there's... I mean, the if the spirit
of God is gone,
what is gonna stop people from living the
most wicked per verse
Violent,
sexual. Everything is is fair game. And yeah.
That is gonna yeah. Yeah. Am mo. Thank
you. And that is gonna be so much
worse than than what Jerry would dare written
into the books. Mh.
And certainly more than we could have put
into the the audio dramas.
And it's gonna be it's gonna be pretty
bad. So... Yeah.
That's... Well, and I I think there's kind
of an answer there that I was I
was already... Thinking about, which is that what
we see visually,
it is like you said, it it... They
keep raising the bar for what they will
show or lowering the bar. I don't know.
It they keep increasing the gore, you know,
in the... Right. The violence and everything. I
I appreciate it our our second sponsor. She
said,
Hey. If you want a series that doesn't
have all that r rated stuff, you know,
Jamie Vol book.
And I and I think with with audio,
you're not seeing it and so you're imagining
it, and it didn't often take very much
to kinda make you a little scared or
to make you a little bit.
Grossed out or a little bit, you know,
thrilled. And so I I think there there's
something a little more accessible about it And
it... I guess it's also like, people telling
and ghost stories around the campfire fire like,
that goes back Millennia. But also, I think
that there's some kind of instinct that we
have of. I wanna hear the stories
about dangerous things so that I can be
prepared for them, and that's the whole reason
for times fiction is like, I wanna prepare
myself in my mind
to potentially face this in the future, but
even as we were saying earlier, I wanna
prepare myself to face
whatever
persecution I face in the here and now,
whatever form that takes what... It... Whether it's
an overt,
you know,
political empire that's supposed to Christ or whether
it's a very
sub
element in your school or your workplace or
your neighborhood,
that's more passive aggressive.
And and it's more under handed
rather than just, you know, overt, like,
persecution because I think sometimes it's that
it's that more subtle persecution that we have
more trouble with, yeah. When I was you
know, I discovered the series when I was
a missionary in a very closed country
where there was official persecution, but.
My wife was in a country where she
was there officially as a missionary,
but there was so much more persecution at
the family level.
You know, parents dis zoning children,
and being kicked out other their homes and
basically being homeless,
and
really just life altering
situations. In
in many ways, that was more effective it's
slowing down the progress of the church, than
in the country where I was.
But I I think it's, you know, I
think of the students that she disciple were
the ones I disciple,
You know, these kinds of stories of overcoming
those those obstacles
staying true to one's faith in taking bold
action,
I think we need that. And and audio
is a really easy way
to get into these stories because, hey, you
can listen to them privately. You now with
that 1 Yeah. But. Now we have ear
earbuds and everything, and
you can listen to these, you know, and
and your free time in class. Yeah while
everyone else is looking at or playing whatever
on their phones in in school. Right.
Yeah. And III would do wanna...
Say right away, even though I I mentioned
that blood is a very dark story.
It has more
scripture and more Christian
overt Christian content than anything I've ever written.
And I'm actually very proud of that because
there's no point in showing the dark if
you're not showing a light in shining in
that darkness.
It's also cautionary too because
you know, I don't want somebody to listen
to this show and think, oh, well, Jake
Mueller did this, and we can cast out
demons ourselves because you know what we are
facing a wicked,
powerful enemy, but
greater is he that's in us, than he
that's in the world, and that's the whole
point of the show. You So...
But at the same time,
I don't want to empower somebody or enable
somebody to think, oh, yes. I know this
guy who's demon possessed I'm gonna go take
care of. You know? I mean, it's just
kind of a silly notion, and I'm saying
it flip, but I don't mean it flip.
I hope I hope you understand that. Oh,
that's a great caution, Darby and. I think
if we'd see a literal 7 year tribulation
event, anytime approaching our lifetimes.
I'm guessing that it's gonna look something like,
both the enemies that Jake Mueller is facing
and also the version portrayed by the left
behind series because I just realized earlier, I
was kind of joking that you know, there
weren't enough aliens and vampires in the tribulation.
And yet, I don't know if you ever
saw there was a... Well, there was about
11 1 chick track. About
the the left behind style timeline before the
left behind interiors was a thing. Remember he
wrote a track called the beast and it
showed these vivid illustrations of this rather
hateful looking
antichrist. You definitely had more of an opposition
of the Catholic church there,
so did the late jack chic,
but 1 of the illustrations is most vivid
is where he claims,
that in the worst part of the tribulation,
like, overt Satan is gonna run rampant across
the earth and he was so good at
drawing. These halloween creatures like this gh woman
and then, you know, this
this person caused for playing as a goat
with a pent
between its horns and all these terrible creatures
in the background with knives and such playing
And I remember thinking when I saw that
to the illustration link. Oh, that's a little
far fetched there Jack chick. You know, you
kind of crazy funding, you know?
Now I'm looking at some of the stuff
that's happening and people mu
themselves and dressing up, like goats and all
the rest of it and I'm thinking, you
know.
Maybe old jack
was on to something. I think there may
be a little bit more of this evil
supernatural
influence in the ultimate end times.
Then even there was in the left behind
series. So either way,
get prayed up, you may not do exactly
what the left behind a young Trip force
does. You may not doing... Exactly what Jake
Mueller does, but I love that caution there,
Darby. I love that wisdom.
And I love, of course, the emphasis on
christ. He has defeated these foes
as the best part to left behind series,
all the series would point out. It's just
a matter of playing things out and hanging
on and being faithful to the end.
God is faithful, whether or not we gotta
face the final beast boss,
or maybe even some vampire zombie sub
until the end, we can rely on him
for his strength for these battles. Cultural and
spiritual, So Jake Mueller bled the 1 with
the vampires and then Jake Mueller undead coming
out sometime this summer.
To follow in the footsteps of the first
drama
already released, Jake Mueller
unidentified, Darby, where can folks, follow your work
and follow the adventures and get updates for
those next 2 Jake Muller seasons.
You can go to jake Mueller adventures dot
com
and
sign up for our mailing list there and
that that will get you updated. We update
things there often,
But really, our Facebook page is where we've
put a lot of, like, new info, when
we recorded these 2 shows.
Earlier this spring at Gap Digital in Wheat
Illinois? Yes. Just had Todd on before you.
That's that's awesome. Yeah. I love Todd. You
know, we put our pictures and everything on
on Facebook. So
there's a presence there. You can bind the
Jake Muller adventures
unidentified on... Spotify.
At the moment, it is currently not una
audible, but it will be back very soon.
We got a a new distributor who
has it on audible,
and it's gonna be on, I think 48
different platforms,
not all of which I know right now.
But it's it's gonna be out there
that way,
you can purchase Cds.
At the... At our websites,
and
I I mail them out myself. So who
knows, Mary, I'll send you a little note
besides But derby that's fantastic. I love the
Cds. I'm a little retro that way. As
you see, I have all of the left
kids
episodes here. But when I'm out about, sometimes,
I just need everything over a purely digital
streaming service. So that's awesome to know that
it's on spotify. We will include all those
links in the show notes and look forward
to more
info. But, Darby thank you so much for
stopping by. Thank you for the retrospective and
the update about the future. And As you
head back out on the turtle, watch out
for both vampires and zombies and Aliens and
global community peace.
I will I will do my best. You
keep doing what you're doing here because we
need
we need people like, you... You know, I
check you out to see what books I
should be reading. And most of them are,
like, too intelligent for me, but
I I enjoy seeing what smarter people are
reading.
And then buying, putting it on my shelf.
But thank you very much. I appreciate the
opportunity to come. It's always fun a chat
with you guys too. Thanks, Darby.
Anytime.
Well, I love that discussion with Darby today,
Steven. I really liked hearing that sub plot
of the student newspaper. I was never involved
in the newspaper at my high school or
college, but I probably read it every day.
Now part of this was because
in high school, there was a coupon for
the local thunder cloud subs buy 1 get
1 free, which I would swipe every day
and go get
buy a small and get another small free.
And they finally changed it because me and
others were doing this so much, all all
our swim team people we we ate probably
20000 calories a day or something. So they
finally said, okay, By 1 large and get
1
small for free, but I digress. I I
was very much into the student newspaper And
I I would... Especially in college, I would
read the letters to the editor section.
And whatever happened to those things. We need
to bring those back... Back, it shouldn't all
just be a website. It should be something
you can hold in your hands. But for
you our listener, we would love to know.
How are you preparing back for a wicked
world, whether it's the tribulation, which you think
is coming soon or
whatever
persecution or other
tribulation,
you are facing in your daily life. And
especially if you are a younger listener, you
know, you are in high school or college
right now. How are you preparing
For those moments when your faith is being
challenged when you... Like as Darby said you
feel that hatred from the world system.
That just stands directly in opposition to Crisis,
you know, increasingly more and more overt and
even more demonic
overt. So We wanna know how you are
facing those,
Dangers send us a note to podcast at
laura haven dot com, or you can find
us on Facebook
Instagram,
in Twitter and leave us a comment there.
Next, I'm fantastical truth.
20 years ago. 2 authors, 1 publisher,
12 action thriller novels and 40 18 spin
off books plus the 2 audio dramas
came to a grand finale with the fictional
return of Jesus Christ to Earth.
1 of those top authors, marriage and prophecy
teacher at Tim La hay has since passed
on to his eternal rest, but the other
author who's written hundreds of novels, Jerry Jenkins,
is still working. And next week, we're gonna
give him a break, Jerry Jenkins himself joins
our studio to explore the left behind legacy.
Or whether it's a student newspaper or audio
dramas, I think there is no limit to
the creative expressions that we can do to
fight evil in our world.
Not just to resist
dictators and monsters, but to glorify Jesus Christ
through all we do. And as we draw
to a close, for now, for the left
behind legacy series, I'm just feeling very grateful
to the storyteller who got a chance to
do this
and are still working now. It's something that's
really blessed to me, whether or not you
believe with that times belief, I think we
can rejoice in that 6 tests as we
go on seeking and finding Christ's fantastic tree.