Chronicles of the End Times
Occasionally, people say, are we really in the last days? How do we know? Does it matter one way or another? We will try to answer these questions and many others in this study. But the most important question may be, how can we reach others with hope in these changing times? One part of prophecy is often emphasized over another, causing us to lose perspective and miss the blessing and beauty of prophecy in scripture. I have taken the information in this study from many authors and teachers who have their lives studying God's word. I have added some insight that the Holy Spirit taught me. With God's help, I have endeavored to keep the whole counsel of the word of God in full view to give us an accurate picture of Christ and His great love for a lost world. I pray that this will challenge you and cause you to grow in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ, as it has me preparing it. Let's begin!
Chronicles of the End Times
Laughter, Tears, and Triumphs: A Journey of Faith
Join us for a deeply inspiring episode featuring author and poet Doug Dial, who shares transformative tales from his own life and the lives of others in his book "The Victorious Few." Explore the powerful intersection of storytelling and faith as Doug recounts his personal struggles, from childhood challenges rooted in loss to triumph—all experiences that led him to discover the hope found in Jesus Christ. The episode beautifully weaves together themes of resilience, vulnerability, and the importance of community support in navigating life's darkest moments.
Doug’s journey reflects the profound effect that sharing our stories can have, not only on ourselves but also on those around us. He emphasizes that healing often comes through connection and understanding, whether from friends, family, or faith communities. The uplifting conversations extend to mental health, as Doug openly discusses his own battles with depression and how seeking help has been a crucial part of his healing journey. His collaboration with Dr. Jay Hines on the upcoming book "Triumphing Over the Darkness of Depression" exemplifies the importance of addressing mental health openly, particularly within faith circles where stigma still exists.
This episode encourages listeners to reflect upon their victories, no matter how small, and to consider how their stories might inspire others. With genuine hope and humor, Doug reminds us that it is possible to face adversity with grace and that the love of God serves as a guiding light in our journeys.
Don’t miss this chance to gain insight into Doug’s transformative journey and the compelling stories shared in his work. Tune in now, and be moved by the powerful narratives that challenge us to rise above our struggles. Subscribe for more uplifting content and join the conversation around faith, healing, and the power of storytelling!
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Speaker Names
Speaker 1
00:10
Welcome everyone. This is Russ Scalzo Chronicles of the End Times. Thank you for being with me today. Today you're going to be truly blessed because today we have my good friend, author and poet, Doug Dial. Doug, thanks for being with us today, thank you. I've had the privilege of reading this before it was published, and I have to say the stories are so inspiring. It was such a great idea to reach out to so many different people and put it into a book, and the title itself is really intriguing the Victorious Few. How did that all come about? I'm sure our listeners would really like to know.
Speaker 2
00:53
This book is a compilation of 23 of my friends. They tell their story. Many of them start way back when they were born, and they share how they were raised. They share how they gave their lives over to Jesus and they share their hard times, difficult times, victories and battles and whatnot. And in the middle of their story or at the end of their story, I will add a poem or a quote or a thought or a story myself that fits in with them. And they are victorious. They've won many battles and as you read the story, you'll realize that they've gone through a lot and have found that God is their comforter and their strength through all of life's trials.
Speaker 1
01:37
With that, with those stories, you have intermingled some poetry, which is really awesome. So, Doug, how did you get to that place where you decided, you know, poetry was going to be kind of your thing?
Speaker 2
01:50
I guess I somewhat discovered my gift in high school. It was either during a journalism class or writing educational class, and I remember specifically asking more than one of my teachers if they would not mind if I could write a little quote or a thought, a positive, encouraging quote, on the blackboard and it would stay there all day long for all the students from various classes to come in. And I remember starting to write poetry way back in high school. I really enjoyed it then and still do today.
Speaker 1
02:21
I think that's an amazing gift and I love the way that you've interwoven the poetry with the stories that each one tells. It really pulls it all together. And I also like the way you can go from one side of the spectrum to the other. You get some very deep thought, some very serious subjects, and then you get to the humorous side, which you're very good at, by the way. I really enjoy those, but I think the listeners would like to know your personal testimony. How did you come to the Lord Jesus?
Speaker 2
02:59
Interestingly enough, I began high school attending church and I ended up my high school years attending church In the between years. It was quite a struggle. My dad died when I was two and I grew up very, very angry, bitter, and directionless. In high school, somewhere around my sophomore year, I got in with a crowd that was always laughing and they kind of drew my interest, Come to find out, most of them were always high on narcotics. Well, they sucked me in, and I started blowing dope, drinking, abusing drugs, my very first time getting high. Believe it or not, this was back in the day when they had leaded gasoline. A friend of mine and I were at the trailer park where he lived, had leaded gasoline. A friend of mine and I were at the trailer park where he lived. We tipped his snowmobile to the side, drained out the gas tank and filled up a baggie full of gasoline, went back into the house and huffed gas and let me tell you that was a real crazy high. That began my life of living with drugs and whatnot Somewhere around the age of 17,
04:05
One of my friends, let me drive her car and we were all very intoxicated and, as fate would have it or the Lord would have it, I ran into a tree, fractured my pelvis, and landed in the hospital. While I was there, a dear brother from the old Baptist church we used to attend brought in a four spiritual laws tract. It talked about the love of God and how he cared for me. Here I was, strung out on drugs, long hair down to my waist, lying in a bed with a fractured pelvis, saying why am I here? Why am I here? When I read that gospel tract, I realized that God loved me. I gave my life to Him at the age of 17, and we've never looked back since.
Speaker 1
04:48
Isn't it amazing what God can do and how he reaches out to each one of us, doesn't matter where we're at or what we're going through, what our past life was? When Christ comes into our lives, everything changes. You know, we get forgiven. I love to hear that stuff and that's why I think this book is so amazing the Victorious Few because we all have these challenges. We all have these things in our lives mountains that we have to climb and things that we need God to touch and to move out of the way so we can go forward, and he's so faithful to do that Now. I know you graduated from Bible school at a young age and that must have been a game changer. What circumstances brought you to that place where you decided to go to Bible school?
Speaker 2
05:35
Several of the people that went to the church that I attended in 1972 started a lighthouse ministry. It was an outreach to kids on the street and they strategically placed this lighthouse building between the pool hall and the bowling alley that I frequented on a daily basis. When I got there, strung on drugs before I had gotten saved, I would go in there and tease them, laugh at them, make fun of them, and ask them all about this supposedly Jesus of theirs. They never, ever, ever got upset with me or got mad with me. They just shared the love of God. They smiled at me, they answered my questions and one of them was attending a Bible school down in Brooklyn, Maine, at the time.
06:20
His name was Gary Miller, got my hair cut, started reading the Bible, stopped doing drugs. He said, Doug, maybe you want to come visit the Bible school and just take a look. So, I did. I went down and checked it out and I thought to myself wow, learn all about God all day long at a Bible school. Where do I sign up? So, in February of 1974, I started my classes at Bible School Faith School of Theology. It's now located in Charleston, Maine.
Speaker 1
06:49
So, you were born in Maine. You lived in Maine your whole life.
Speaker 2
06:53
Born in Alaska, raised in Maine.
Speaker 1
06:55
Wow, born in Alaska. How old were you when you came to Maine? Do you remember?
Speaker 2
07:02
We moved from Alaska to Texas, then Texas to Maine, I think four or five when I got to Maine yeah, so really most of your memories are all from Maine.
Speaker 1
07:11
Yes, that's crazy. So, you had a Bible school not that far from where you lived, correct, right. So that's kind of convenient. God knew what he was doing there, right, when he moved you around. Yes, so how old were you when you graduated from Bible school?
Speaker 2
07:29
It was a three-year course at the time. We graduated in the mid-year term of 1976.
Speaker 1
07:36
The late 60s and early 70s was an amazing spiritual time. God was moving across the nation, and I know you and I share a lot of the same stories on how God moved and the miracles that we saw and the lives that were changed Amazing stuff. So, at what point in your life did you decide you wanted to be an author? You wanted to start writing things down, and the thought might have come into your mind I want to write a book.
Speaker 2
08:06
I had been writing poetry since high school and I had several, several pages collected, and I never knew what to do with them. I began to share them on social media outlets and a sweet gal from the church we attended, Connie Barber, said Doug, you need to write a book. She encouraged me greatly and so I wrote my first book in 2009, called Poems of the Father, life, and Laughter. The next book just came within a year, then the next, then the next. Then there's some days when I just can't stop writing poetry. It just flows.
Speaker 1
08:41
And I know from knowing you, the inspiration comes from God, it comes from the Holy Spirit. It seems like when I read them, they just kind of flow out of you. And you know, the Scripture tells us that we overcome evil, and we overcome the enemy by the blood of the Lamb and the word of our testimony. We've both been blessed with great ladies in our lives, and I'd like to know how did you meet Tisha? How did you meet that special person? Was it at Bible school? Was it somewhere else? How did that all come about? I?
Speaker 2
09:15
am currently head over heels in love with my wife. In September of 1974, the new freshman class came into Bible school in the Brooklyn campus and my eyes immediately went to this girl that had red hair down to her waist. We struck up a friendship almost immediately and the friendship blossomed into romance, and we were married in January of 1977. We've been together ever since. She's a love of my life. She's my prayer warrior, she's my encourager, she's my best friend and I can't imagine doing life without her.
Speaker 1
09:57
Wow, so you guys have been married how long now?
Speaker 2
09:59
48 years one month, three weeks, two days, and 17 hours.
Speaker 1
10:06
Well, you're going to make a lot of women happy and a lot of men sad. They can't remember the hours. I'm sure that they got married, but no, that's awesome stuff Having a partner and that's really what it's about.
10:21
Side by side, facing everything together, encouraging one another. One day you're up, one day you're down. That's life, and it's great to have someone alongside of you, Feeling that love and having that support, praying for one another, having someone there that's going to pray for you and encourage you in times when you're down and out that is essential to a successful relationship. Now there's another book that you're involved in that I know is very close to your heart, and you've gone through some tough times and had to go for some counseling and met a man who knows the Lord and who you really connected with, and that was Dr Jay Hines. Tell us a little bit about this book and how it came about.
Speaker 2
11:10
The title is Triumphing over the darkness of depression. In August of 20,022, I lost my job that I had for almost 23 years. I had a little running with the manager, and I was fired and let go. And my wife and I both think that I may have had some sort of a nervous breakdown because I really, really had some struggle and some tough weeks. October of that year I found myself so depressed I did not know what to do. Now, keep in mind I had been walking with the Lord for over 50 years at this time, but I just could not figure out why I was so depressed.
11:53
I went to my primary doctor. He prescribed a medication for me, and I went on it. Now we all know that there is still, to this day, a stigma about mental health and medication. And I fought it and I fought it and I fought it. But my wife and I both said you know what? I must need some help. I can't get through this by myself. I need medication. So, I went on it. At the same time, I told my pastor what I was going through. He recommended to me one of the doctors in our church. That is a phenomenal man of God, written several books over the years and he's a therapist. So, we started doing some one-on-one therapy, week after week after week. He helped me.
12:40
I was so far down, dear friend, I can't even describe to you. Well, actually in the book I describe everything, but in words right now I can't even tell you. I was so down; I was so depressed here. I was a man of God, a person that knew how to pray, a person that understood the Word of God, but I could not pull myself out. In our therapy sessions we said to ourselves one day you know what? This is some pretty good stuff. As I was getting delivered and finding the light once again and feeling better, we thought to ourselves we need to tell this story to others. So, we thought about writing a book, came up with a title Triumphing Over the Darkness of Depression. In this book we share chapters. I share what I went through. He shares his point of view. We go back and forth for about 10 chapters. It's really a small book, not very long, but it details all of the darkness that I went through and how God marvelously delivered me through Christ-centered therapy.
Speaker 1
13:42
Thank God you found this man.
Speaker 2
13:45
Dr Hines must have been a godsend to you, oh when I talked to my pastor, I said, pastor, I'm depressed. What do I do? My pastor said, listen, this is above my pay grade. I really don't know what to tell you, but I do have a brother that I'm sure will be able to help you out. And when he introduced us, we immediately hit it off. And yes, what a God son, what an angel, what a man of God. He counseled, he listened to me, he did not judge me, he reminded me of God's unfailing love, he brought me through the scriptures, he prayed for me. He was still, to this day, a good friend of mine and we're still collaborating on this book. Hopefully, again, it'll be out this summer. Triumphing Over the Darkness of Depression.
Speaker 1
14:29
Doug, thank you so much for being here today and sharing your heart with us. Thank you for having me. So many people need this today and the thought that you know well, I'm a Christian. I love the Lord. You know I'm living on a cloud. You know that's not true. That's not how it works.
14:47
God is there for us. He wants to pick us up and, in the strength of Jesus, we can overcome. But that doesn't mean we don't need help. Strength of Jesus we can overcome, but that doesn't mean we don't need help. That doesn't mean at times, we need someone to come alongside of us who is anointed of God, someone who's knowledgeable, and I pray that if you're going through a therapy session right now, or if you're thinking about it, that you would find someone who loves Jesus Christ. You need someone with the proper education, the proper degrees and experience, but you also need someone who can draw on the Word of God, because that is the ultimate counselor, that is the one who can bring you true peace in your situation.
15:31
This is Russ Scalzo for Chronicles of the End Times, praying for you, asking God to touch you open doors that you never dreamed possible, for you serve the only true God, the mighty God, the one who can do all things, and I'd like to end with this scripture. It's in 1 John 1. It's a study I will be conducting with my life group here, and I just want to read the opening verses of 1 John 1. That which was from the beginning, which we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes, which we have looked upon and touched with our hands, concerning the word of life, the life that was made manifest, and we have seen it and we testify to it and proclaim to you the eternal life which was with the Father and was manifest to us. That which we have seen and heard, we proclaim to you also, so that you too may have fellowship with us. And indeed, our fellowship is with the Father and with his Son, Jesus Christ. We serve an amazing God.
16:48
In the next podcast we're going to be talking about 1 John, because it is so encouraging to know just who this Jesus Christ is, who we serve. Because if we have an in-depth knowledge of who Jesus is, when we go to prayer, we will truly shake the demons, we will truly shake the mountains, because our God is that God. This is Russ Scalzo for Chronicles of the End Times. Keep looking up, the King is coming.
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