Tom Spence is a retired Marine Corps officer who served in all four Marine Divisions, as a deputy commander in the United Nations Iraq-Kuwait Observer Mission, and as a program manager at the Naval Air Warfare Center, Training Systems Division, Orlando, Florida. He served in multiple command, staff, and independent duty assignments, always with an eye for the humor or irony in his environment. He has degrees in political science and biblical studies. Tom writes the newsletter for his church, occasional political commentary, scripts, poetry, and of course--at least one sermon a week. Tom now pastors the Cumberland Presbyterian Church in Burns Flat, Oklahoma.

2003 Press Release

In Between Heaven and Hell

New Fictional Book Closes Gap Between Faith and Fact

BURNS FLAT, Okla. - A Vatican discovery could lead to new revelations about the current state of the world. The gap between faith and fact closes fast in the new novel, Even the Elect by Tom Spence.

Named after a passage from the gospel of Matthew, which describes the events at the end of the age, Even the Elect is a novel about end times and faith. Jim Nations has made his lifelong quest to close the gap between faith and fact, even to the point of alienating his wife, Judy. Kelly Justine, a young, attractive archeologist, conducts a low profile excavation of the site where Christ was crucified. Early in the 1990s, an excavation done by the Vatican at the same site yielded and earth-shattering find never publicly released; a petrified thorn encrusted with blood. Test of the blood showed only a single X chromosome, indicating there was an earthly mother but no earthly father. Was this Christ's blood?

Told of the secret excavation by his friend Michael Collins, who was hired to tape the dig, Jim sees Kelly's dig as the opportunity he has been waiting for. Despite Kelly's willingness to allow him to accompany her, Jim knows the task will not be easy. Though he has been physically faithful to his wife, Jim has longed for Kelly for years. His departure puts a deep--and possibly permanent--gap between he and his wife.

Further intrigued by archeological discoveries of the sudden disappearance of Christians in the first century, Jim makes a remarkable discovery. Could the earth that humans have been residing on since the disappearances really be heaven or hell? The answers come with Even the Elect.

Spence is a retired Marine Corps officer with degrees in political science and biblical studies. A world traveler, Spence has since returned to his native Oklahoma and teaches thinking skills, facilitation, and change management. He has published articles in military journals and a book, Sea Stories, which is a collection of humorous and insightful observations made around the world. His favorite work, Tough Day at the Plate, is a children's book about baseball and life.

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Contact the author:

tomspence0302@gmail.com