1634: Turn Your Radio On by Eric Flint Page A

a story. Now children, have you ever listened to the radio?"
    Some of the younger children nodded their heads rapidly as the rest called out their positive response.
    "Do you like listening to the radio?"
    One child blurted out, "I like Robin of the Committees of Correspondence!" as the rest called out their yeses and other noises of affirmation.
    "I like Robin of the Committees of Correspondence too, Georg!" Fischer beamed at the child; he was in his element now. "You know that some people listen to the radio on big up-time radio sets, and some listen on small radio sets, and some people use crystal radios and put little bitty speakers right up close to their ears to listen to the radio.
    "Do you think those people who listen on the homemade crystal sets hear a different message on their radios than those who have the big expensive up-time radios?"
    The children all yelled out "No!" with great enthusiasm.
    "That's right. Everyone hears the same message on the radio. Did you ever think that God was like the message we all hear on the radio? I mean, the Bible tells us that God is the same yesterday as he is today, and as he will be tomorrow. So, he's telling us the same message that he's told our ancestors since the beginning of time and the same message that he's going to tell our children when we're gone." Fischer paused for effect, then continued.
    "You see children, the Bible says that God sent down His Son to live with us and to die for us, and after he died and went to heaven to live with His Father, God didn't want us to think that He'd forgotten about us. So He sent down the Holy Spirit to live with us every day of our lives. Through His Holy Ghost, He talks directly to us in that little voice that tells us what to do good and what things we shouldn't do that are bad."
    Slightly adjusting the pitch of his voice, Fischer now made his point. "The Holy Ghost is like a radio. It's a tiny, tiny little voice that whispers to us every minute of every day. Isn't that a wonderful thing that God has given us to let us all hear Him?"
    Again the children called out their happy little voices of approval as the parents behind them signaled them to begin singing the song that they had practiced.
    "Jesus loves the little children, all the children of the world! Red or yellow, black or white, they are precious in His sight. Jesus loves the little children of the world."
    Fischer looked to Franz who was staring back captivated by what was happening in his studio. Breaking out of his trance he looked to the clock to find that he had allowed the devotional to run seventy seconds too long. Not knowing what else to do, he signaled Fischer with the thirty seconds signal.
    Fischer turned back to the mike, and over the children still singing in the background, closed saying, "Thank you for having listened in this morning. This has been Brother Fischer of the Grantville Pentecostal Church. Have a blessed day out there. Remember to listen to the Holy Spirit speaking to you right now."
    As an afterthought, he added, "And remember to turn your radio on!"
    Somewhere in the Voice of America Coverage Area
    "Papa, Papa! Come, listen, I can hear something!"
    Hermann got up from his breakfast table and went over by the window where his daughter sat on the floor playing with that stupid little rat's nest of wire and rocks. He should have never brought that broadside home from the CoC meeting. Taking the offered earpiece from his little girl's hands, he heard a very tinny sound distinguishable from behind the static. It sounded like singing.
    Then, some real words, " . . . Brother Fischer . . . Grantville . . . Church . . . Listen to the Holy Spirit . . . Turn your radio on!"
    "It's actually working!" he exclaimed. "God in heaven, this latest bit of American propaganda is actually working."
    ****
    "Hans, I told you that we'd be able to pick up the American radio station sooner or later! When our first customers come in this morning, they will