Paperback Writer welcomes the New Year with our special guest Jerry Pollock, author of the spiritual/religious novel, Messiah Interviews: Belonging to God (Shechinah Third Temple, Inc., Jan 09). Jerry is promoting his book by way of a virtual book tour with Pump Up Your Book Promotion and they are offering a way to WIN PRIZES!!!!
As a special promotion for all our authors, Pump Up Your Book Promotion is giving away a FREE virtual book tour to a published author or a $50 Amazon gift certificate to those not published who comments on our authors’ blog stops. More prizes will be announced as they become available.
ABOUT THE BOOK:
Ever since the Creation of Adam and Eve, man has grappled with knowing whether life exists after death. Because humans achieve the possible, while God accomplishes the impossible, only the Creator knows our fate and destiny at the End of Days. Scientist Jerry Pollock weaves his MESSIAH INTERVIEWS story of an imperfect life on Earth with an imaginative account of being interviewed in Heaven to be the Messiah. The writing becomes a testament to Divine morality, and to finding truth and sincerity in one’s heart.
As readers embark on a journey of knowledge and understanding, they’ll join Jerry on an exploration of the implications of biblical history on our modern world. Through a series of unexplainable events, Jerry empowers readers to decide if an additional personal spiritual effort is worth making in this life, in order to possibly gain entrance to an uncertain futuristic Garden of Eden, the Messianic Age. In a process of the dreamlike interviews with biblical personalities―the angel Gabriel, Methuselah, Chanoch, Seth, King David, Moses, Jacob, Abraham and the prophet Isaiah―Jerry is forced to bear his soul and his own hidden demons.
As human beings, we are all flawed. That’s how the Creator made us. During the course of reading the book, readers have the opportunity to ponder the improvement of their own imperfections, in order to meet the requirements set out in the Messiah Interviews for admission into a future blissful life at the End of Days. The book is God-centered and discusses, briefly or at length, various topics, including The Ten Commandments, Creation, Evolution, Good and Evil, Primal Therapy, Bipolar Disorder, Resurrection, Aging, Twelve Tribes of Israel, Monotheistic Religions, Third Temple, Messiah, and the Messianic Age.
EXCERPT:
The Archangel Michael is speaking in Heaven:
“We have deliberately chosen a sinner: you, Yoseph, who has knowingly cheated in science. Yet, you have publicly repented and confessed your sins to your Stony Brook University administration; and sent letters of apology to the former institutions that you attended. Moreover, you have expressed your heartfelt remorse and your sincere regrets for all of your sinful actions in your published book, Divinely Inspired: Spiritual Awakening of a Soul, for all to see. We have intentionally chosen someone who has suffered horrifically, yet has the potential through his suffering to look inside and understand human nature. We also have especially not chosen a tzaddik, the wisest, most righteous, and perfect of men. We are testing the potential of a simple imperfect man. If you succeed in answering our questions, you will become King Messiah, and return to earth to take your place at the End of Days. If our assessment of you is that you are not the person, we had in mind, then we will have failed once again in finding the true Messiah.”
Hi Jerry,
Welcome to Paperback Writer
Will you share with us how you came up with the idea for this book?
Thank you for your welcome. I am happy to talk about the Messiah Interviews. This answer is going to be a long one, so brace yourself.
I think that I need to provide you with some background before I can answer your question. You might say that the idea to write the book dates back to 1982. I am going to include The Voice chapter (it’s relatively short) to kick off my answer. I wrote the following words in my first Title, Divinely Inspired: Spiritual Awakening of a Soul which was published in 2003 and will come out as a paperback second edition on January 1, 2009. Because, I talk about additional Divine experiences in Messiah Interviews, I include this Voice happening in the Messiah Interviews, due out also on January 1, 2009).
“By the late fall of 1982, I had divorced Rhea, been promoted to full professor at Stony Brook University, and was planning to marry Marcia on Christmas Eve of the following year. My life focused around Marcia, our five children, scientific research, and Primal Therapy. I was heavy into my feelings, now that the therapy was so much a part of me. For the previous year, I had recorded all of my feelings, and by the fall of 1982, I had filled up seven research laboratory notebooks with my handwriting, each book consisting of three hundred pages. There was a lot of repetition and I seemed to have reached a plateau in terms of making further progress. In an unusual display of frustration, I brought the seven notebooks to the edge of my Poquott loft and proceeded to throw all of them in one thrust onto the floor below. I felt like Moses smashing the first set of Tablets on which the Ten Commandments were inscribed. Moses had become enraged when he came down Mount Sinai and discovered that the Israelites had built the Golden Calf. The sounds of the books crashing were subdued by a loud and strong male voice that was definitely external.
I heard the words very clearly, ‘And you shall be Mine.’ I remember being both startled and afraid, because I neither knew whose voice this was nor could I figure out how the voice got into my cottage. There was no bipolar disorder or manic depression back then, so I couldn’t blame the voice on the illness. It was about two weeks later when I heard the voice again. This time the words were slightly different: ‘And you shall have.’ Could this be the true voice of God, I thought. However, I didn’t dare tell anyone what had happened, not even Marcia, until ten years later. I simply ignored these mysterious events and went on with my life, but the words of the voice never left me. Why did this happen? I had no explanation. I kept the books, recording my Primal feelings, for many additional years before dumping them in the garbage along with my three Primal Therapy textbooks. I was to discover twenty years later that I would need these books again.”
In late 1998 and early 1999, as well as scattered visualizations for several years subsequently, I was blessed with incredible Divine experiences that prompted me to write Divinely Inspired in 2003. The Voice that I heard twice in 1982, I heard a third time in January of 1999. I won’t give you the details and spoil your fun but the Voice said, ‘This is not of me.’ For some of the other spiritual experiences I did not understand in 2003, I bring you new interpretations in 2009 in the Messiah Interviews. Divinely Inspired is like a prequel for the Messiah Interviews and I would recommend reading Messiah Interviews first. During womb regression in 2007, I was blown away when I experienced surviving my own abortion. I was saved by Divine intervention which you can read about in the Messiah Interviews.
Although Divinely Inspired, a spiritual memoir, was prompted by these spiritual experiences, Messiah Interviews was not. Once I had those experiences in late 1998 and early 1999 in both Long Island, NY and in South Florida, I began my spiritual journey. I have been crawling up the spiritual ladder and as my knowledge and creativity has grown and developed, I saw a need to write the Messiah Interviews. The book allowed me to bring the Bible to life and to relate it to our modern world and the future world of the Messianic Age. I did not want to use the Messiah Interviews as a platform to preach. Rather, I wanted to empower the reader to improve his character in this life in order to be admitted into a second Garden of Eden, the Messianic Age. I wanted the reader right there with me answering the same question as Yoseph, the main character being interviewed to be the Messiah.
I am a Professor. I am never short on words. My apologies to the reader and to Paperback Writer.
Do you plan your stories first with an outline or does it come to you as write it?
It comes to me as I write it. I never thought of it this way, but that’s exactly what happens. My mind is turning as I write and I’m connecting and interrelating. My first draft is very close to my final draft. In my former life, I was a research scientist and I had to write research grants and scientific publications. Sometimes, I would jot things down and then bring the pieces together. I kind of did this with the Messiah Interviews as I had about ten years of spiritual research to condense and draw from. But I have no outline. I am very much a mental person though after 25 years of Primal Therapy, I am very much a feeling person.
Do you know the end of the story at the beginning?
Not at all. My mind is continually turning and the writing comes naturally.
Do you have a process for developing your characters?
Yes, I did in the Messiah Interviews. The two main characters, Yoseph and Yinnon, are based upon my life and the biblical interviewers, like Moses and King David, are portrayed the way I interpret them upon my readings of the Bible. Sometimes, I surprise myself about what I write about them. It’s a mixed bag, but I hope that the reader gets a pretty good idea about the characters in the dialogue exchange of the Messiah Interviews. The book by the way would be well suited as a theatrical play.
It is said that authors write themselves into their characters. Is there any part of you in your characters and what they would be?
Absolutely true. I think that this makes many books interesting. All of me is in the main characters and I would like to think that some of me is even in the biblical interviewers. For example, when Moses interviews the main character Yoseph, his topic is mainly the Ten Commandments. In the book, there is a Time Line Therapy where Yoseph regresses to a past life and becomes Moses carrying the Tablets of the Ten Commandments down Mount Sinai. I struggle with following the Ten Commandments, but inch by inch I crawl up the spiritual ladder. It’s interesting that man thinks he doesn’t have to follow the Ten Commandments. However, man cannot nullify what God has commanded him to do. He can at his own risk choose not to follow these commandments, but be aware that we are all accountable to God.
What is your most favorite part about this book?
In the first quarter of the book, I write about the past and the present. My favorite though is the rest of the book when the Interviews to be the Messiah actually take place. Yoseph is interviewed by the angel Gabriel, the seven shepherds – Methuselah, Chanoch, Seth, King David, Moses, Jacob, and Abraham- with the final interview going to the Prophet Isaiah. All interviewers are actually real characters of the Bible. The plot of course is fictional. It is thought that the seven shepherds or the seven princes will assist the Messiah at the End of Days. The first eight interviews take place in the Third Temple in Heaven while the last interview takes place in the future Third Temple on earth to be built at the End of Days. Our past, present and future will come to a screeching halt at the End of Days and then a second Garden of Eden life begins again in the Messianic Age with a Christian (Jesus) or Jewish Messiah.
When in the process of writing your book did you begin to look for a publisher?
On this book, I decided from the start that our nonprofit organization, Shechinah Third Temple, Inc. should be the publisher. In my first title, Divinely Inspired, I unsuccessfully sought out a publisher but wound up self-publishing for lack of interest in Divinely Inspired, a spiritual memoir. My own personal belief is that an author can do everything he needs to market his book without a publisher except get himself into the Chain Bookstores. For that you need a publisher or distributor. I won’t kid you. It’s expensive and time consuming to do it yourself, but you do maintain control of your book.
What struggles have you had on the road to being published?
None, now that I go through our own publishing company.
What has been the best part about being published?
Well, it’s not the money because you lose big time unless you are a best selling author, which I am not. You have to do things in life that are for your personal satisfaction. We all need praise and recognition to varying degrees. In my case, I’m able to be proud of my accomplishments and also feel that I have given back to the Creator for his Divine Intervention in my life. I am lucky to be here and wouldn’t be without God’s Divine Providence. As time progresses, I am more and more on a spiritual high.
What do you want readers to remember and carry with them after reading your novel?
Several things related to improving your moral character. Human morality is different than Divine morality. God values truth in your heart most of all. God can see into your heart and into the crevices of your mind and He is the keeper of the scorecard. If you want to enter the second Garden of Eden in the End Times, then you are accountable to God. We all know the difference between right and wrong. It’s choosing right over wrong that is the problem. The subtitle of the Messiah Interviews is Belonging to God. Belonging to God means being a Holy person. What do I mean by Holy? It’s in the Messiah Interviews, but it means to follow the Ten Commandments, don’t hurt anyone physically, emotionally or intellectually, show kindness and mercy, act with humility, stand up for justice, strive for righteousness, do kind deeds for others, honor your ancestors who went before you, and give your praise to the One God. God has always had Covenants between Himself and man since the Creation of Adam and Eve. God has held up His end of the bargain but man has broken the Covenant many times over. It is up to man to restore the Covenant.
Do you have plans to write another book?
Not right now. I’m too busy with the marketing of the two titles. One should read the Messiah Interviews first and then the prequel, my spiritual memoir, Divinely Inspired. I would like to write another book to complete the trilogy. I’ll need God’s help to do it because it would be his biography dictated to me. I can dream.
Would you care to share with us how the virtual book tour experience with Pump Up Your Book Promotion has been for you?
Well I haven’t done the whole tour but I love answering questions. It gives me a chance to explore my creativity. Sometimes, I’ll give the same answers to the same question, but for the most part I try and come up with unique answers. One thing you will get with me is honesty and truth. With the publishing of Divinely Inspired, my life is an open book. Some of it is pretty ugly and pretty scary. Publicly discussing my imperfections is gut wrenching and talking about my suicide attempts still sends chills down my back. Couple that with abortion survival, neurosis in a dysfunctional family, migraine headaches, unyielding anxiety, muscle pain, adult Bipolar Disorder and Divine miracles and you’ve got one hell of a story published.
The Messiah Interviews is more about the future while Divinely Inspired focuses on the past and present. The bible comes alive in the Messiah Interviews and the reader is empowered right alongside Yoseph to answer the questions being posed by the biblical interviewers. I wanted also to give the reader knowledge that he or she might not have about Jewish spirituality, which I feel is the Ten Commandments. The religion of Judaism incorporates these Ten Commandments but in my humble opinion, the Ten Commandments are not religious.
Where can readers find a copy of your book?
Well eBooks for both titles are already published as Kindle, Mobipocket, Adobe Digital Editions and Microsoft. The paperbacks come out officially on January 1, 2009, but you can already purchase these on Amazon, Barnes and Noble.com, the Authors Bookshop, the Authors Den, and also the paperbacks can be ordered at any bookstore. We will have an audio book of the Messiah Interviews by the end of January. You can find links on our website and blog. There is also an interview with Reader Views on the Blog as well as a Radio Show with Inside Scoop Live. You will have to forgive me. I’m 67 and am just now learning how to Blog. If readers have trouble in this economy purchasing the books, please email me at jerrypollock@bellsouth.net and we shall work something out. I can send signed books.
Do you have a website for readers to go to?
Yes. You can enter either through http://www.shechinahthirdtemple.org or http://www.thirdtempleinfo.com Shechinah means Divine Presence. We are a nonprofit committed to the brotherhood of man through God’s Third Temple. As the prophet Isaiah said, “My Temple shall be a House of Prayer for all peoples.”
Thank you, Jerry for sharing your book and characters with us today. It has been a pleasure and I hope you have had a successful virtual book tour.
And thank you very much for this wonderful opportunity to have a dialogue. I feel that I am reliving the writing of the Messiah Interviews all over again with your questions. Be well and take care.
The MESSIAH INTERVIEWS VIRTUAL BOOK TOUR ’09 officially begin on January 5 and end on January 30. You can visit Jerry’s blog stops at http://www.virtualbooktours.wordpress.com/ in January to find out more about this great book and talented author!
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