Let's pray together. Father, just one brief word more before I unfold the message for us.

Would you come now and still our hearts and make us very

discerning, very reasonable, very sensitive to truth, very open to whatever you have to say to us. I pray that you would move in this room right now

and perform acts of mercy through your word by your spirit.

In Jesus' name, Amen.

I wonder how many of you remember Dick Palmerance. Let me see your hands. The name

Dick Palmerance mean anything to anybody? Goodness, there are far fewer people than I thought.

Dick Palmerance was a radio talk show host here in the Twin Cities on KSTP had a show called News Talk

back in 1983 and he was acid tongue and he was sharp and he was agnostic and he gave trouble to people on the radio and he didn't have the time of day for the likes of me,

an evangelical Christian.

So my good friend, Tom Steller here, got the bright idea that we should offer him $400 to grill me about the resurrection of the

dead in the Kaufman Union at University of Minnesota before 500 students and lo and

behold he accepted. And I just remember it like it was

yesterday. It was two days after Easter in 1983 April 2, I believe it was, and the place is just packed out and there was a little

table at the front and I was on one side and he was on the other.

And the first question he asked me was why do you

practice voodoo?

This is typical pomerance and I said well I wasn't aware that I did practice voodoo what do you what

do you mean by voodoo and he said why you know somebody rising from the dead

dying and then rising from the dead and then there's some hocus pocus it has an effect on

somebody far away like you know sticking pins in a doll and changing people far away. That's the way

it started. And I won't go on and tell you the rest of the conversation. It's on tape by the way at our church library.

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