Tell us about yourself and how many books you have written.
Well, I am the author of False Roads to Manhood, What Women Need to Know; What Men Need to Understand, and my new book is titled, KLEPTOMANIAC: Who’s Really Robbing God Anyway? I am a native of Baltimore, Maryland and lived there until I was 19 years-old. I consider myself a miracle because at birth I weighed only two pounds and lived when the doctor’s didn’t think I’d make it. To publish my first book after getting many rejections, I started my publishing company, FC Publishing, LLC, which I am the president. In career I’ve worked for the government as a senior aviation writer for the Department of the Army. I am a four-year veteran of the United States Army. I have a Bachelor of Arts Degree in Communications and a minor in Sociology from Washington State University in 1989. Later on down the roads because I like education, I pursued a BA in Biblical Studies and a Master of Arts in Theology from North Carolina College of Theology (NCCT) and went on to earn my Doctorate in Theology from NCCT in 2009. I have authored and published numerous religious articles for newspapers, online magazines and print media along with appearances on Local Huntsville Alabama television and radio programs for my first book. As an Alabama resident, I live with my wife Teresa and one child Sarah at home. I am a grandfather of 8 grandchildren.
What is the name of your latest book and what inspired it?
The name of my latest book is Kleptomaniac: Who’s Really Robbing God Anyway? The story behind Kleptomaniac: Who’s Really Robbing God Anyway is a 30-year unfolding tale of suspicion, intrigue and questions. My quest for truth started innocently when I first became a believer in the Messiah. One of the doctrines I first became indoctrinated to was the practice of paying ten percent of my income to the coffers of the institutional church as a command from God. As the years passed by I began to question this overtaxing financial obligation. Although it was tough to pay this kind of money years after year, I dutifully kept my obligation to pay God ten percent no matter the circumstances. Even in the face of not being able to pay my bills and struggling to feed my family, I paid God what He required to His representative on earth—the Church. I did this in hopes of receiving a financial blessing from God for my commitment. The scriptures pastors relied on for monetary tithing resides Malachi 3:8-10. As the years passed, I began to notice the windfall financial blessing I hoped to receive from God never materialized. The abundance that was to overtake me financially somehow escaped my grasp. After 30 years of paying ten percent of my income as a so-called tithe to God, my questions about the practice grew as my financial struggles mounted. About several years ago, I started investigating the doctrine of tithing on a deeper theological and scholastic level out of a need to try to find some financial relief.
Kleptomaniac: Who’s Really Robbing God Anyway began with a probing question. What is tithing? By this time, I was a member of a church group that taught heavily on tithing and even suggested that all tithes must be paid on gross income before taxes to receive God’s blessings. And before you ask whether I succumbed to the pressure to of paying tithes on gross income, the answer is yes. And this went on for several years, which almost lead to bankruptcy. The book came into fruition as a result of a conversation with my x-pastor about the belief system of Jewish people have about the Bible. At that point, the subject of tithing came into the conversation, which prompted me to inquire of Jewish experts and Rabbis about what the Bible actually teaches about tithing monetary income. My first shocking discovery about monetary tithing came from a Jewish Rabbi’s point paper on giving to God. As I read through the document I wept tears of joy, but when reality set in, I became angry. What I thought was tithing for 30 years turned out to be not so accurate. As it turned out, tithing is in the Bible, but tithing money was not in the Bible. As I got over the initial shock, I thought I perhaps needed to do more research to verify my initial discovery. And so I went on a research journey and read my first two books on tithing. The information contained in those books blew up my so-called theology on tithing like an IED and created immediate cognitive dissonance in my tithing belief system.
Now, I was faced with a theological decision about what I would do about my newfound information. My first action was to write my church leadership about my decision to resign from monetary tithing and to take sabbatical leave to go on a yearlong study of the subject and come back with an empirical analysis on what tithing is in the Bible. Needless to say, my decision did not go well and the struggle for truth began. Even as I stepped down or was removed from leadership depending on who you talk to, fellowship with this church became more difficult because leadership felt I became a financial threat to the bottom line if the congregation discovered what I had learned about tithing. In the end, I was indirectly excommunicated from that church. After leaving that institution, I began studying tithing and compiled 117-page power point study and sent my finding to the church. Kleptomaniac: Who’s Really Robbing God Anyway started as a power point study and expanded into a 400 page theological manifesto based on empirical, academic, scholastic research that went from the church in America to the land of Israel. In that journey, I discovered that tithing monetary income is not contained on the pages of the Holy Bible, nor was it ever uttered from the mouth of God that a tithe is ten percent of a person’s income. Writing this book about tithing monetary income and giving gave me biblical insight into the scriptures that changed my life forever. The academic study of tithing is a journey where not many Bible readers go to understand their Bible.
Do you have any unusual writing habits?
No really don’t have any unusual writing habits. But I’m told that when you write, an outline should always be used. When I write I never use an outline.
What authors, or books have influenced you?
My first favorite author is Stephen King of course. Then I would have to say T.D. Jakes and Gordon Dalbey. I would have to say that Gordon Dalbey and T.D. Jakes probably had the most influence on my writing style because of the way they put words together that just make you say, “now that’s good.”
What are you working on now?
Right now I have some idea about a fiction book that relates to the current political and racial chaos and the destruction of American democracy.
What is your best method or website when it comes to promoting your books?
I would have to say the best site I use regularly is the All Author website to promote my books.
Do you have any advice for new authors?
The advice I’d give any author is to spend lots of time researching self-publishers and make sure you know what they can do. Everybody who hangs out a business shingle on the internet cannot always do what they say they can do. I would also say, don’t be afraid to do it yourself. Self publishing can be a challenge but the reward you gain in learning the business pays off later. For example, my first book was expensive, my current book not so much. As for editors, be very careful with anyone who say they can edit. There are many people out there who claim they can edit, but I would say get samples from everyone and editorial references to judge their work. But then if you know a good local editor with an excellent reputation, that should be your first choice.
What is the best advice you have ever heard?
I guess the best advice I’ve heard came from a fellow Soldier years about when he said alway be able to learn something from somebody.
What are you reading now?
Actually, at the moment I am not reading anything specific.
What’s next for you as a writer?
I am working on trying to my latest book picked up by a traditional publisher to get national exposure.
If you were going to be stranded on a desert island and allowed to take 3 or 4 books with you what books would you bring?
The Bible, Divided by faith by Emerson and Smith, the Destruction of Black Civilization By Chancellor Williams, Raising Fences by Michael Datcher, The Healing Presence by Leanne Payne
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