THE DEVIL'S DECEIT

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Walter Martin was born to a pair of teens on the east side of Knoxville Tennessee.  Martin’s mother was 16 years of age and single at this time & was struggling to raise him on her own, often times having to take him to work with her when other family members were not available to help with babysitting.  Martin’s father, 15 years old at the time he was born, was not around or offering any assistance. Despite the circumstances, Martin still grew up well, although not rich and comes from a solid, strong family foundation.  At the age of around 2 years old is when Martin’s stepfather came into the picture and was an added addition to the family equation which made life a little easier. Though his parents still struggled from time to time they gave him what they could and he was always provided for.   As years passed Martin’s biological father was still not in the picture at the time, but as the old saying goes, “it’s a small world", this proved to be true as Martin recounts a couple encounters with his father before he knew he was the man who made him. Martin remembers one particular incident where he & his friends were pulled over for a traffic violation but was let go when the driver's father arrived to escort the young men home. Martin remembers thinking to himself, "Man, this cop looks a lot like me" later to be told that the man indeed, DeOssie Dingus, a Tennessee Highway Patrolman was his biological father. Just as any teen growing up, Martin’s dream was to do well in school and in sports, football specifically and to go off to college to be a star, but life proved to be trickier than that.  Reality was, Martin was never a great student and he missed graduation by a half of credit. He did, however go back to night school to earn his degree. Unfortunately by this time Martin had already started making some bad decisions, running the streets and picking up more bad habits along the way. It was at this point his missing biological father played a big role, it wasn’t until Martin turned 18 when he and his father actually connected. Martin was definitely headed down the wrong path when he caught three felony robbery charges that could have landed him behind bars for a very long time, but because of his father and grandmother Anne Dingus, who was a political figure in the city, they were able to get him a plea deal and he was sentenced to 8 years of probation and admitted he took the system to be soft on people who had political pull. Martin thought he was living his best life until foolishness prevailed and he caught another charge and was sent to prison for 13.5 years. 

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While incarcerated reading was Martin’s outlet, and with reading came an itch to become a writer.  He felt that he had finally found his purpose and now wanted to become an author.  It was no easy task trying to get help from outside the gate to make his vision happen.  Martin wrote five books by hand but with lack of help & support, it weighed too heavily on him. Fed up and discouraged at the snails pace of how everything was going, feeling the world was against him, he decided to give up on writing and threw everything he had written away. One day as Martin sat in his cell, he looked at his bible and something within him spoke to his heart. God told him write a story that didn’t require outside help.  As he pondered, he sat in amazement of the thought that he had just felt the experience of some kind of revelation.  Martin had long not before finished a book called “The Secret” by Rhonda Byrne, about positive energy and drawing good things to you.  Martin said it was this book that changed his life and the way he viewed things. He knew at that moment in 2009 the goal he was out to accomplish as a writer was doable.  The problem wasn't Martin not being confident and believing in himself, the biggest problem Martin faced at this moment was getting others to believe in him.  "We live in an information age, if you can at least sound like you know what you are talking about, you can make it believable & you can make it."  The issue at hand was Martin trying to convince the world to see him as a changed person, trying to do something positive, rather than a 19 year old kid serving a 15 year sentence.

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Martin’s mental state totally changed after reading that book. He realized that we are the power and that God is in us.  The power to achieve this vision was embedded in him and he refused to give up without a fight. He researched the bible day and night, picked the brains of people who knew more than him, and he used some of his life experiences and put it on paper.  Things started falling into place so much that he had to omit a lot from the novel as abundance was given to him from the creator. Things were finally starting to look up for him, he was released from prison, he was on a mission and was ready to focus on this book & he had great support from his adoptive grandmother, whose name was also Anne who was his best friend. God had provided for Martin in more ways than one and he was finally seeing the light at the end of the tunnel.  Martin was living on top of the world, out celebrating the upcoming release of his book in August of 2019 when he was involved in a serious car accident that nearly took his life. Drunk beyond measure, no sobriety test being given, he should have been taken to jail but wasn’t and he walked away with only minor injuries. Martin is a firm believer that he was given yet another chance and knows that God has continued to keep his hands of protection around him. Martin knows without a shadow of a doubt that he has a purpose, he’s not been given just a second chance but many chances and God will not allow him to fail in the attempt of being an example, a witness and sharing his testimony of Gods goodness. 

"This book has a place in this world!" 

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   Walter Martin                                                                    

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