Frank – Let me tell you what I do. I don’t preach to the so-called “converted”. I preach to the Jews. I preach to the atheists. I preach to the Hindus and the Buddhists and the Muslims. Preaching to the Christians, or the so called converted, they’re impossible to preach to. They can be prayed for, but they can’t be preached to. Believe me, I have converted more Jews than ever one Christian to come change his mind. That’s what happens when people become puffed up. That’s what happens when people say “we are on God’s side and God is on our side”. That’s what happens! Men go to war with this idea on their lips. We see theocracy taking place in our world today on an unprecedented level. The theocracy of the Muslims, the Christians, all of the countries that are at war with each other … it’s insane! People are incredibly puffed up with themselves. They’re very proud. This is a very dangerous thing. But am I going to go to these people and say “you’re proud and you’re puffed up?” No! What purpose would that serve except to make me seem as though I’m accusing them? We know who the accuser really is. Satan loves to accuse. The true measure of a person’s charity isn’t in how much he gives, but by how little he leaves for himself. That’s true charity. The charity that a Christian can give doesn’t just mean that he goes and spends all of his time or smart words educating the “great unwashed” and I say that facetiously. No, no … How little does he leave for himself? This is really important. In my opinion, this is something we need more of and it’s really a one on one thing. As you start a ministry, you set up a hierarchy, and you begin to be looked up to. And therefore, you’re no longer washing the disciple’s feet.
So many times I’ve seen people in ministry that seem to feel like they have to appear to be sin-free and perfect. We’re all still sinners. If even one person could achieve perfection in God’s eyes on their own, we wouldn’t have needed Jesus to come and die for our sins.
Frank – Exactly. People fall. That’s what they do. That’s just to be expected. Nobody on this earth knows how to walk blameless before God. If that were possible, the word blame wouldn’t exist. As Paul said, the law came in to increase the trespass. Politics is derived from the word “policy”. Policy is man-made. God doesn’t have a policy. God has truths. Laws are derived from those truths, just like the laws of gravity. If we follow policy, we follow something man-made. Policies change. God’s truths do not. Not too long ago there were policies against letting blacks eat with whites. There were policies against letting women vote. Policies change.
Speaking of change, your life and career took a drastic turn in the 90’s when you walked away from the stage.
Frank – When I quit the business in 1993, I didn’t even tell people I was leaving. I didn’t have a farewell tour. People thought I was coming back. I said to my wife Denise, “Let’s go home and have kids. Let’s go have a different life now.” We went home and had three girls. I just went home and started building computers for people. They would say, “What are you doing? You’re Frank Marino!” I’d say “I’m home feeding my kids and living my life”. In ’98 when I got back into the music business, it was only because of the fans that we’d found on the website. They were so real, not like the crappy thing we walked away from. So I started doing the odd record and playing some shows. Denise took over the computer business. She runs that upstairs and I do the music downstairs. I really don’t play that many gigs but this year, they say with this new record, I’m going to work. I say, “You know my phone number. When the work comes in call me and I’ll be there.” It’s not like I’m chasing it. I just really don’t care about that stuff. I don’t hate it. I thank God every day for the blessings of it.
