This week, the world lost a giant among Bible scholars, and we lost a good friend: Dr. Michael Heiser.

Mike went out of his way to share his research with what he called “Christian Middle-Earth”—those of us who aren’t scholars, but who want more theological meat than we get in most churches (and most corners of the Internet).

Mike passed into glory this past Tuesday at the age of 60 following an 18-month struggle with an aggressive pancreatic cancer. He worked right up to the end, setting an example and leaving a legacy for all of us in the Body of Christ.

Here we present our very first conversation with Mike, recorded in the spring of 2005, when this podcast was still called Mytharc Radio, on a jury-rigged setup the involved cheap gaming headset mics, a Radio Shack gizmo alligator-clipped to our house phone, a Sony video camera, and a laptop—hence the awful quality of the audio. But this conversation literally changed the course of our lives.

Farewell, Mike, until we meet again.