Terry Brennan Interview

Q: Let me start with asking you to tell us a little bit about yourself.
A. After I graduated from college, I had a very short, ineffective stint as a teacher; walked out on a job as a salesman for pumps and fluid moving systems; knocked around at a few other, forgettable jobs … and then lied my way into my first newspaper job, covering high school football games for $10 a game. Do you have a car? Sure! But I didn’t. So, I hitchhiked to games (as many as five a weekend) and then turned in mileage, otherwise I’d be given away. Five months later I was hired as a full-time sportswriter, my first real newspaper job. And I found what I was created for. Writing.
I spent 22 years as a journalist – from more than a decade as a sportswriter, to editor, to publisher, to Executive Editor of a multi-national newspaper chain, to publisher, to unemployed.
In the midst of my newspaper career I met my beautiful wife, Andrea, whose faith helped open my heart to Jesus. That faith was tested when I was sacked from my last newspaper job.
From 1992, we spent four years walking through a financial dessert, trying to follow what we believed was God’s will for us – to launch a weekly Christian newspaper in upstate New York. Our paper was called The Christian Herald. Through a series of miracles, in December of 1996, I went to work for The Christian Herald, the 135-year-old parent organization for The Bowery Mission in NYC – VP of Operations for an agency that helped homeless people. My wife and I lived in The Bowery Mission for nearly seven years and it was the beginning of two decades of work with homeless people in NYC.
So, I had three careers – sportswriter, newspaper management, executive of homeless agencies. I’m now on my fourth career, author. It’s all been a journey in God’s hands for God’s purposes.

Q: When did you first realize you wanted to be a writer?
A. I think I was born a writer … it was the way God wired me. But I didn’t become aware of it until I was a freshman in high school.
My freshman English teacher (ironically, my future wife’s cousin) was quite a unique and eccentric character. In his class, you could only use a fountain pen – never a ball point pen; all of us (young men in a Catholic boy’s school) were required to use our full names at all times, including a middle initial; and we were constantly instructed that gentlemen, when standing, never clasp their hands in front of themselves (only monkeys and apes do that), but always clasp their hands behind their backs.
See … the guy made an impact.
But, for me, the best part was that he would give us unique writing assignments. One assignment was, Why my meatball doesn’t bounce. Another was, Blue and Bluer. For Blue and Bluer, I wrote a science fiction story about two twins on Mars, one a little bluer than the other. My teacher demanded to know where I stole the story idea – which I hadn’t. That was the start.
And, for the most part, I’ve written ever since.

Q: Could you give us the highlights of your professional writing career including how you got your first writing break?
A. I didn’t make a career of writing until I became a journalist in 1970. I spent 22 years as a journalist – 15 as a sportswriter – and continued writing columns even after I transitioned into newspaper management as an editor and, later, a publisher.
The highlight of my journalism career came in 1990. As editor of the Pottstown Mercury, I led a team of people to winning the 1990 Pulitzer Prize in editorial writing.
But I never considered myself a ‘writer’ until I tried my hand at my first novel in the mid-90’s. That book took four years to write, then sat in a drawer for six years. But a day came when I wondered if there was any value in that book. So, I took the manuscript to my first writer’s conference – the Philadelphia Christian Writer’s Conference – in 2005. It took only a few hours before I recognized that initial manuscript needed to go back into that drawer and never see the light of day again.
But I had one idea that I pitched to anyone who would listen. I got a lot of encouragement about that idea, especially from another writer – Wanda Dyson – who told me, Go write that book and bring it back here next year. If you do that, I’ll introduce you to my agent. God bless Wanda. Not only did she not steal my idea, but she honored her promise. It took me a year of Saturdays – I was still working full time then – to write the first book. When I returned to the Philly Conference the next year, Wanda not only introduced me to her agent, she gave me the proposal format she used to submit her manuscripts.
The idea … what if the third Temple of God had been built, and was hidden, under the Temple Mount in Jerusalem? … became the catalyst for The Sacred Cipher, the first book of THE JERUSALEM PROPHECIES series published by Kregel.
The highlight of my novel writing career came when The Aleppo Code, the third and concluding book of THE JERUSALEM PROPHECIES series, won the Carol Award in 2016. As a result, I signed a new, three-book contract with Kregel Publications for this new series, THE EMPIRES OF ARMAGEDDON.

Q: Would you tell us about your current book release Ishmael Covenant?
A: Again, I had one idea. That three ancient empires of the East – Persian, Ottoman and Islamic – appeared to be on the cusp of rising again.
Taking that idea, I wondered how this potential clash of empires might impact current history, future events and the viability of the Jewish state. One conclusion was that an emergent Persian Empire – an alliance between the majority Shia governments of Iran and Iraq – would drive their ancient enemies, the Sunni Arabs of Saudi Arabia, into a treaty and mutual defense pact with, of all people, Israel … hence, the Ishmael Covenant.
The idea caught fire when I was introduced to the Vilna Gaon. The Genius of Vilnius, or Vilna Gaon, Rabbi Elijah ben Solomon Zalman, was the most revered Talmudic scholar of his time, the late 18th century. In 2014, his great-great-grandson revealed a prophecy the Vilna Gaon wrote two hundred and twenty years in the past: “When you hear that the Russians have captured the city of Crimea, you should know that the Times of the Messiah have started, that his steps are being heard.” Only months before, in the spring of 2014, Russian troops had invaded the Ukraine and swept through the Crimean Peninsula.
I took the idea of the rising empires, the premise of an unexpected treaty between Israel and all its Arab neighbors, wrapped it up in the Vilna Gaon’s Messianic prophecy, speculated that the Gaon wrote a second prophecy that was yet to be revealed, and started writing.
Of course, I had to populate the story with characters: Brian Mullaney, Regional Security Officer for the Diplomatic Security Service, responsible the security of US Ambassador to Israel, Joseph Atticus Cleveland; and their adversary, the Turk, an otherworldly agent of evil who pursued, and wished to destroy, the prophecies of the Vilna Gaon since they were first written in 1794. The Turk and his demonic master, the One, were driven by a singular purpose – if they could prevent the fulfillment of one Biblical prophecy about the Messiah, they would invalidate every other prophecy … and they could rewrite the end of Scriptures. Reverse the result of the battle of Armageddon.

Q: Where did you get your inspiration for Ishmael Covenant?
A: One afternoon, my wife, Andrea, and I ran the idea of the rebirth of three ancient empires, and the unexpected Ishmael Covenant, past Nick Uva, Associate Pastor at Harvest Time Church in Greenwich, CT, a profound teacher and man of great Biblical understanding. We spent a couple of hours knocking those ideas around, considering their implications under the lens of Biblical prophecy and measuring them against a number of end-times scenarios. And then Pastor Nick asked, “Have you ever heard of the Vilna Gaon?”
No. But it didn’t take me long to look him up.
And the Vilna Gaon, and his prophecy that was revealed in 2014, provided the spark of inspiration that got the story line flowing.
As a writer, I’m a gardener (not an architect). I plant a seed, water it, let the sun shine on it, and watch to see how it grows. I’ve learned to appreciate the growth of a story and the growth of its characters. Which is a fancy way of saying that I make it up along the way. Those threads of ideas became the seed that grew into The Ishmael Covenant, the first book of the EMPIRES OF ARMAGEDDON series.

Q: What is the main thing you hope readers remember from this story?
A: I hope that readers of Ishmael Covenant, and all the books of the EMPIRES OF ARMAGEDDON series, understand that Christians are in a real, tangible war. Believers in Jesus Christ are engaged in what the notes in my 1985 NIV Study Bible call a “titanic conflict”. (Ephesians 1:3 “heavenly realms”):
“… in the Christian’s union with the exalted Christ, ultimate issues are involved … At stake are God’s eternal eschatological purpose and the titanic conflict between God and the powerful spiritual forces arrayed against him …. As a result, the spiritual struggles of the saints here and now is not so much against ‘flesh and blood’ as against the great spiritual forces that war against God in heaven.”
I was struck by the idea that there are great spiritual forces that war against God in heaven. Interesting thought. More sobering is the idea that my ‘spiritual struggles’ here on earth have, in some way, an impact on that war in heaven.
Not all of us will come face-to-face with evil incarnate, as does Brian Mullaney and the other characters of Ishmael Covenant. But agents of evil are at work in the world today, just as they have been since Lucifer’s rebellion was crushed and banished to earth. It’s likely that there are two reasons why those agents of evil are still fighting against the light:
• To deceive as many human beings as possible in order to steal their souls and;
• Because they believe there must be some way they can alter the future and change the outcome of the coming judgment.
I don’t generally live my daily life conscious of the part I play in this great spiritual battle in heaven. I most often perceive the evil I face as personal. So, I pray against the spirits of evil that try to ‘steal, rob and destroy’ in my life, in my family, in our marriage. Which is good.
But, through research for this book, I’ve learned that I need to reach beyond the personal conflict of good and evil in my life and be more conscious of the vastness of this titanic conflict around me. I need to be an example, a reflection, of Jesus and his love for all souls. And I need to stand up for light – to be a warrior/ambassador for light – in the midst of a dark world that often seems to be getting darker.
But the bottom line is inevitable. Good triumphs. The end of the Book will never change.

Q: What inspires you to write?
A. I love the words. I love when you can turn a phrase and feel it … wow, that is good! I can’t imagine not writing.
Years ago, when we lived in New York City, my wife and I went to a concert by the legendary folk singer Joan Baez in NYC’s Town Hall. During the concert, she engaged the audience with a running commentary. At one point, in speaking about the sound of her high, crystal-clear voice, she said, “People always ask me about my voice. I tell them, The gift is from God. My job is maintenance and delivery.”
That’s my job – maintenance and delivery. I was created a writer. It’s a gift I was given from the moment my soul was created. It’s up to me to exercise that gift – hopefully for good: our good and the good of others.
The other thing that inspires me is a phenomenon I believe is unique to writers. From the first day I could say, “I’ve written a book,” the response from other people has always been the same. They smile, their eyes find mine, and they join me in the celebration. That’s wonderful, is often the words they’ll use. I don’t believe there is another occupation, or another pursuit, that universally inspires joy in others when they hear about it. And I think there’s a very good reason for that. All of us have at least one story in us. I believe almost all people consider the idea that they have a book in them … a story to write … and wish they could write it. And when they run into someone who’s done it, who’s written that book, it stirs up in them a belief … I could do that, too. And it gives them joy – joy they share with me.
It’s a pretty good deal. I don’t think I can stop writing. I’ll probably still be a writer in heaven.

Q: Would you share with us what you are working on now?
A. The final two books of THE EMPIRES OF ARMAGEDDON series are written and in various stages of final editing. Persian Betrayal is the second book of the series, picking up immediately at the end of the first. Ottoman Dominion is the third and last book of the series. Persian Betrayal is scheduled for release by Kregel Publications in the Fall of 2020 and Ottoman Dominion is scheduled for release in late Summer of 2021. We’ve recently finished any significant editing on Book Three and I can tell you – I love this story. It’s really cool, the seeds that have sprung up alongside the main narrative. It’s got lots of action (I write action scenes like I’m writing a movie script) and some pretty cool twists. And, I believe, a remarkable, but satisfying, conclusion.
I’m also in the final stages of completing something totally different for me … a non-fiction book with the working title of, Rescuing the Hidden Hearts of Men. I think it may be the most important thing I’ve ever written. For more than 30 years I’ve been chronicling my early morning prayer conversations with God in one of many journals. This book, Rescuing the Hidden Hearts of Men, which has intimidated me since I started it, was born out of themes God shared with me in my journaling over the past few years. I hope it gets published.
I’ve also got a ‘finished’ manuscript that I wrote several years ago, currently titled Hunger’s Ransom. It needs some re-write (maybe more than ‘some’).

Q: When you’re not writing what do you like to do?
A. In addition to the writer’s genes I was born with, I think I was also born with some farmer’s genes. As long as I’ve had dirt, I’ve always had a garden. Even when we lived in The Bowery Mission on the Lower East Side of New York City, I had a fire escape outside our windows that was bedecked with flower boxes and huge pots full of tomato plants.
We moved into our home in Danbury, CT – only seven minutes from two of our grandchildren! – three years ago. The first year, I put in a vegetable garden. Last year, I tripled the size of our vegetable garden and built a sixty-foot long wall behind which I put a flower bed for the perennials Andrea loves so much.
So, now that I’m retired, I garden … from planting seeds now for next spring’s vegetable plants all the way through fall cleanup in October or November, when I pull the last of the carrots before a hard frost. We like to go hiking when we have the chance and I’ll watch every Penn State and Philadelphia Eagles football game I can access.
But my favorite past time at this stage is just to spend time with Andrea, my wife of 40 years, and enjoy this sweet season of our marriage.