Confessions of a Selfish Mind

There are nights when I look into the bathroom mirror, really look, deep into my own eyes, confessing truths to myself that never come through my lips or over my tongue.

I am weak. I am powerless. I am completely unable to love as I know I am called to love. My selfishness consumes me. My pride, like gravity, pulls me to the ground and holds my feet to the cold, hard earth. I am unable to fly.

Deeper still, I admit my inconsistencies. I desire to be great in the eyes of men, and yet I know that true greatness is found at the feet of men, washing in humility.

I have a spiritual gift to teach others, but I fear the celebrity associated with the title of "teacher" and so I sit silently. I bite my tongue.

In my pride I secretly hope that one day I might be recognized for my expertise asked to speak at large conferences and join the spiritual giants on the big stage, and yet at the same time I loathe the empty hype of events and the vanity of religious experts.

I am torn. But not yet in two.

So, now, God has asked me to allow His Holy Spirit to probe into my dark, sinful heart. The Great Physician has me on the table, the gleaming scalpel in his hand, and He is asking me to lay back and relax and trust Him as the surgery begins.

Oh how I need this circumcision of the heart. Oh, how I need to be made more like Him.

To do only what I see the Father doing is to love others, because that is what He is doing every moment of every day. Yet, I realize that I am powerless to love. Love is not my native tongue. Selfishness chokes on my best intentions. Only Jesus can make me like Himself. There is no good in me. None.

So, I lay back. I close my eyes. I whisper a prayer that God's hand would move swiftly and cut deeply and remove the rotten, infectious flesh from my heart.

I have tried to make these cuts myself, but my hands are not steady enough. My sympathy for my own comfort restrains my ability to fully complete the surgery. So, I nip here and tuck there. I choose a careful section of flesh and slice around the sensitive nerves where pride and selfishness thrive. I hold up the small tumor and wave it like a trophy. Look at what I have learned to live without. Look how I am willing to sacrifice.

But I know it is a lie. Better still, God knows it too. And when I look into those eyes in the silent mirror I cannot pretend any longer.

Only God can make these necessary incisions. Only the One who loves me more than He loves His own life can find the place where I hide my selfish dreams and drive home the knife and cut away the infected flesh and remove every last ounce of pride from my heart.

Only God can heal the wounds, sew me together, wipe my tears away and kiss me where it hurts.

Let it begin.
-kg

"Only love, only love can leave such a mark
But only love, only love can heal such a scar" - U2, "Magnificent"

"...circumcision is circumcision of the heart, by the Spirit, not by the written code." - Romans 2:29

Re-Post: Raging Against Your Own Machine

It was nearly 15 years ago that Shepard Fairey began his subversive, counter-cultural sticker campaign based on the face of Andre the Giant and a single word, "Obey".

The original vision he had was to create an underground movement designed to provide a counterpoint to the thousands of corporate advertising images assaulting us on a daily basis.

Fairey wanted to create a logo for a company that didn't exist and plaster it all over the city (and eventually the Nation and now the World).

Essentially, Fairey wanted to help people see advertising and media as propoganda aimed at our pocketbooks. He made his image imposing, like "Big Brother" looking down on society and commanding everyone to "Obey" the messages on billboards and in the media.

His message was meant to be ironic. His hope was that when people saw the overt command to "Obey" there would rise up within them a sense of individualism and personal identity that might make them say, "No. I will NOT obey!" and perhaps people would begin to think for themselves.

In a recent issue of PRINT Magazine (Jul/Aug, 2006), there is an article about Fairey and other street artists who have a desire to send a counter-cultural message via stickers and posters posted illegally on the sides of buildings and the back of street signs.

One book, "The Design Of Dissent" by Milton Glaser, makes the observation that today's society is immune to outrage. We read the newspaper, we watch atrocities on television and we move on with our lives.

This social apathy, in the opinion of Glaser, calls for an escalation of social protest "..to overcome the endless assault on our sensibilities by the official voices of the government." In Glaser's mind, what is needed is "..100 times more dissent that appeals to people's intelligence."

This may be true, or it may not be true. What I find interesting about this theory is that most modern advertising appeals to the lowest common denominator of intelligence, at best. At worst, the overall tone of advertising seems to pander to, and even to encourage, the ignorant majority.

Even more ironic to me is that Fairey's creation, "Obey", has now evolved into a full-blown corporation. The Obey logo can now be found on t-shirts, hats, skateboards and toys. Recently a $60 coffee-table book of Fairey's art was published to chronicle his exploits and rise to fame and fortune.

Here is a lesson for us. A single person has a vision to subvert the system, and in time his success lures him to join the enemy and to become exactly what he was raging against in the first place.

Now the Obey Giant logo is trademarked and used to sell products, not to make a commentary on the media-saturation of our times and the consumer-oriented society we have become. Now the symbol is used to promote consumerism, not to rebel against it.

I wonder if the Church has fallen into the same trap?

Have we been lured into thinking that, to be effective in society we must become exactly like the world around us?

The Church began with a single vision. Our founder, Jesus, was a revolutionary with a subversive message that we could all begin to live in The Kingdom of God today. His message was a threat to the Pharisess and the Roman Government. It threatened their authority structures. It called into question their defintions of righteousness, equality and holiness. It was a message that got our founder arrested, tortured and ultimately put to death.

From the earliest days, the followers of The Way continued this subversive, counter-cultural movement. They met quietly in homes. They re-defined family. They called one another brother and sister and loved and cared for one another as if they truly were of one family.

The early Church was persecuted for such counter-cultural behavior. People saw them as strange and treated them with disdain. Yet even though followers of Jesus were met with harsh persecution, hundreds of people continued to join their ranks. The radical lifestyle of these "Jesus People" caused people to wonder, "How can they give so much to strangers?", "What makes them so different?", and they wanted to know more.

Even the message preached by these people, that their founder Jesus had actually come back to life, seemed to be proven true by the radically changed lives of His followers.

In time, the followers of The Way actually did "turn the world upside down" (Acts 17:6-KJV). They endured horrific persecution and preserved the teachings of Jesus by living them out and sharing them with their new spiritual family for over three hundred years. That's longer than America has been a Nation.

Today, the Church looks an awful lot like the world around it. We do not stand out from the crowd. We are not known for our acts of kindness, love or compassion. We have aligned ourselves with a politcal platform and allowed figures in the media to speak for us.

In many ways, we have become the machine we intended to rage against. We have joined the system we were created to subvert and overthrow.

How this happened is another issue (and another article), but the solution for us is not to justify our slow transition into a more palatable option. The solution is to return to the way of life modeled by our founder, Jesus. The solution is to embrace, once more, the loving, yet counter-cultural, way of life modeled by the early Church.

Maybe the place we need to begin is to repent of our blindness and to return to the teachings of Jesus Himself.

"If you love me, you will obey what I command" - JESUS (John 14:15)

-kg

50 Ways to Love Your Neighbor

Call to Action: 50 Ways To Love Your Neighbor

A compelling list of tangible ways we can love others as Christ has loved us.
Read it all
HERE

Some highlights from the list:
13. Look up the closest registered sex offender in your neighborhood and try to befriend him.

26 Organize a prayer vigil for peace outside a weapons manufacturer such as Lockheed Martin. Read the Sermon on the Mount out loud. For extra credit, do it every week for a year.

29. Go through a local thrift store and drop $1 bills in random pockets of the clothing being sold.

32. Go to an elderly home and get a list of folks who don´t get any visitors. Visit them each week and tell stories, read the bible together, or play board games.

34. Create a Jubilee fund in your Church congregation, matching dollar for dollar every dollar you spend internally with a dollar externally. If you have a building fund, create a fund to match it to give away and by mosquito nets or dig wells for folks dying in poverty.

35. Become a pen-pal with someone in prison.

41. Cover up all brand names, or at least the ones that do not reflect the upside-down economics of God’s Kingdom. Commit to only being branded by the cross

43. Eat only a bowl of rice a day for a week to remember those who do that for most of their life (take a multivitamin). Remember the 30,000 people who die each day of poverty and malnutrition.

49. Serve in a homeless shelter. For extra credit, go back and eat or sleep in the shelter and allow yourself to be served.

BONUS: Come up with your own list of ways to love your neighbor. Do at least one of them before the end of the week.

-kg

Someone in Norway (and in France) loves me!

Thanks to the people at Google Analytics I can see who is reading my blog on a daily basis. One of the most surprising things to me is that, for some reason, I have a very large following in Kristiansand, Norway and in Noisy-le-Grand, France.

If you're reading this blog from one of those places, or near there, please leave a comment below and let me know how you found this blog and share a little about yourself and your walk with Christ.

-kg

RESURRECTION SUNDAY 2009

Once again we met in El Camino Real park near our home with our Mission House Church family to worship, share and read God's Word together in celebration of our Risen Lord.

It was a bit sad that Mary Anne wasn't with us this year, and a few other families were out of town, but for those who did gather together, it was a blessing to be together.

I'm reminded of how we are called to be the ambassadors of Christ to the world. I'm not so good at it, frankly. I'm still learning how to love as Jesus loved and give and forgive as He has forgiven me.

This is the journey, I guess... and I wouldn't want to be on this journey with anyone else but these awesome people.

Shalom,
kg

KEITH'S TWEET OF THE DAY

keithgiles: Peace is subversive to our culture. Forgivness is radicalism. Selfless Love is foolishness. Jesus still uncool.

RISEN?

We as Christians have an unusual fascination with the death of Jesus. I know that what Jesus did for us, on the cross, is an astounding act of love and sacrifice. Without this, none of us would have any hope, and yet Paul the Apostle declares that, "..if Christ has not been raised, your faith is futile; you are still in your sins." (I Cor.15:17)

I wonder if our fascination with his death has something to do psychologically with our view of what it means to be a Christian?

For instance, the modern church, especially in America, can't seem to go on enough about the death of Jesus. It seems that all the television preachers can talk about is the fact that, "Jesus died on the cross for your sins".

When a Christian person is interviewed on television or stands to talk about Jesus, inevitably the only thing they can find to say is that, "Jesus loves you and he died on the cross for your sins".

At times it all starts to sound monotonous and cliche. I can almost hear the lost saying, "So what?"

The message we send most loudly to the world is the idea that Jesus died.

Even the most prominent media message in our lifetime, Mel Gibson's mega-evangelistic "Passion Of The Christ", which was dubbed "The Greatest Evangelical Message in Two Thousand Years", was all about the death of Jesus. The resurrection scene at the end was so vague and quick that most of us, even those of us who know the story, were left going, "Huh? What just happened?"

At Easter this overt focus on the death of Jesus is most noticeable. For me, when we spend those two weeks before and after Easter talking about the irrefutable fact of the resurrection of Jesus from the dead, it almost seems strange. Like, "Oh yeah! He DID rise from the dead, didn't he?", as if this most historically provable event is something we need to be reminded of, but only once a year.

This has got me thinking. Why is it that we focus so much on the death of Jesus and very little on the resurrection of Jesus? I mean, why isn't the resurrection the main thing we talk about? Why don't we go around proclaiming that "Jesus is Risen!" and argue with people about the fact that there's no refuting the fact of Easter?

Here's my theory:

We, the Church, are the Body of Christ. We are the physical representation of Jesus in the world today, and I think we're more comfortable being the "Body at Rest" than the "Body in Motion".

As the Body of Jesus, we're more comfortable in the dark of the tomb, wrapped in our own shroud, meditating on this death of our Lord, with the stone rolled shut across the door.

We ignore that what we are called to do, as the living Body of Jesus, is to go out and proclaim, demonstrate and testify with our lives the awesome miracle that "Jesus is Alive!" and that we are living examples of this fact.

What I long for is the day when we are bold enough to declare, as one people, with one voice, that Jesus is Alive, and that our conduct in the world would bear witness to this fact.

Our inactivity, our apathy, our aversion to serve others and live out the compassion of Jesus, sadly proclaims that Jesus is dead.

It's when we live for Him, when we continue to love the way He did, when our lives are in sync with His, that we proclaim by our actions that, yes, indeed, Jesus is really alive!

Is Jesus really alive? Has He really come to live in your life? And how would anyone know this to be true if you never actually demonstrated the life and love and ministry of Jesus in your own life?

Do we, as individual followers of Jesus, feel safer within the quiet of the tomb? Or are we willing, even eager, to roll away the stone and begin to live the truth of the power of the Gospel?

If we, the Body of Jesus, do not act as a living Jesus would, within this world, loving those He loved, sharing with those He spent time with, continuing His ministry of transformation, then we do not demonstrate that Jesus is alive, we simply testify that He has died.

What we must do is to wake ourselves from our slumber, shake off the apathy, and begin to proclaim, with our own lives, that Jesus is truly alive.

"I tell you the truth, anyone who has faith in me will do what I have been doing."- John 14:12

"Whoever claims to live in him must walk as Jesus did."- 1 John 2:6

He is Risen! He is Risen indeed!

Peace,
Keith
www.keithgiles.com

**
Originally sent to the faithful subscribers of the [subversive underground] newsletter on Monday, March 20, 2006

THIS IS HOLY WEEK

Last night we gathered to celebrate the Passover Seder. It always amazes me that God instructed the Israelites to observe Passover on a specific date every year, and on that date to blow the shofar at 3pm when the passover lamb was slain, so that roughly 6,000 years later when His Son was hanging on the cross, ON THE SAME EXACT DAY, and they blew the shofar at 3pm, Jesus would say, "It is finished."

On Friday we will celebrate Good Friday together in my home. We will enter quietly and move silently from station to station as families to tear cloth, drive nails, taste vineagar, touch a crown of thorns, tumble dice, and leave our red handprints on the same paper curtain.

Afterwards, we will sit around a low table and light our candles, sing worship songs, share communion, and one by one voice thanksgiving for what Jesus has done for us, blowing out our candles as we go. When the room is dark we will leave as silently as we have come, or perhaps revisit one of the stations to reflect more on the love of Christ for us.

On Sunday morning, we will meet in the morning, on a grassy hill, under a tree and surrounded by passing cars and sunlight we will raise our voices to celebrate the resurrection of our Lord, read scriptures of the events and experiences of that first Easter, and share our thoughts and open our hearts to one another on resurrection and what it means for us.

Aftewards, we'll return to our home and help the children create resurrection rolls and continue to share and worship and love one another as Christ loved us.

I love Holy Week.

Discover the Journey

My friend Jonathan Olinger and his friends have started an amazing non-profit ministry called "Discover the Journey".

Jonathan is a talented film maker who has documented the suffering of child soldiers in the Congo.

I'd like to ask you to take a few moments to watch this beautiful, yet brief, video clip of Jonathan's work which is online now.

WATCH THE VIDEO
HERE

After you've watched the video, if you feel compelled to help in any way - make a donation, purchase a t-shirt, or post their info on your own blog and share this with your family and friends, I know they'd be very blessed to have the help.

DISCOVER THE JOURNEY exists to:

SPEAK UP for those who cannot speak for themselves by creating story, media and art about children in crisis around the world.

ENSURE JUSTICE for those who are suffering by engaging people across cultures through education and advocacy to respond together in Love.

Find out more at
http://www.discoverthejourney.org/

Read their blog
HERE

SIMPLE

I woke up this morning in Orlando. It's my third and final day here. In a few hours I will catch my shuttle to the airport, pass through security in my socks and (eventually) line up to board the first of two flights back home to California.

It was my hope that, while on this business trip, I would be able to relax and take time to hear God's voice. Specifically, about what I might do with my time, talent and energies now that I've laid down my weekly e-newsletter after over 3 years. My cry has been, "What's next?"

So far I've been able to watch a lot of cable television, eat some great food, and meet a lot of new people. Yesterday afternoon I had about 40 minutes time in my room to power down and seek God's face. I sat in the darkness of the room and waited. I listened. I waited some more. Then I got dressed and went back downstairs to keep working.

Maybe, I wondered, maybe all I needed to do here was to take a break? Maybe all that I needed to do was to rest and cleanse the pallete and take a deep breath? Maybe...

This morning I laid in bed, the early morning light barely softening into the room, and I heard this simple thought: Being about the Father's business and doing what the Father is doing is simply about loving people wherever you find them.

Hmmm...

I got up before the alarm went off. Got dressed. Packed my bags and went downstairs to grab some coffee and a doughnut.

Maybe it really is that simple? Maybe my next big project is actually just a simple, daily decision to look for people who need to know the love of God and attempt to show them that love, or encouragement, or hope, as best I can? Maybe...

So, today that's my goal. I will do my best to keep my eyes open for what God is doing wherever I am. In the general session of this corporate conference, in the shuttle on the way to the airport, in line at security, on my flights back home, and in my own home and family when I return home tonight.

God is always doing something, and the main thing He is always doing is loving people and blessing them and encouraging them. If I am to be about my Father's business, if I am to "only do what I see the Father doing", then this is also what I will be doing today.

It's pretty simple, in theory. Let's see how it works out in practice.


Peace,
Keith

Healing

I wanted to publicly thank God for healing me. Last Saturday my wife Wendy rushed me to the Emergency Room at 3:30am. I was breaking out in cold sweats and nearly lost consciousness before we could leave the house.

After an ultra-sound the Doctor released me and said that I would either get worse (and then need emergency surgery) or it would get better on its own and I would be fine.

My biggest concern was having to take a business trip to Orlando for four days. What if my problem flared up while I was halfway across the country?

I asked our house church to pray for me the next day. They laid hands on my wife and I and prayed for healing and for God to increase His favor over our home. I was reminded that God had already opened so many doors for this trip to be a blessing to me and I was suspicious that the Enemy was trying to fill me with fear before I even left.

The next day I felt better. On the morning I left to fly out to Orlando I was feeling ok. The next day, and today, I have felt back to my old self again.

I wanted to praise God for healing me and for removing my pain and for allowing me to take this trip. After stepping away from Facebook and Twitter and laying down my weekly e-newsletter and even fasting from this blog I felt that God really wanted me to seek His face. This is part of what I believe the Enemy wanted to prevent.

If you get a chance, please continue to pray that I would be healthy and that I would have time to really listen to God's voice during this sabbatical time.

Thanks for your prayers.

Peace,
Keith

Stop. Shut up. Move.

No more conferences with the hottest bands and the biggest name authors who will lead us through eloquent, dynamic speeches about how we should live better lives where we will take notes and go home and stay the same.

No more endless books to choke the shelves about how we should change the word and live better lives where we will underline and highlight and close the final page and do none of it.

No more Bible Studies. No more sermons. No more worship conferences. No more Christian Concerts, comedy shows, events, gatherings, seminars. No more shows.

If you stopped learning today you would never live long enough to put most of it into practice anyway. Loving your neighbor as yourself will take the rest of your life if you start now.

Stop.

No more blogs. No more debates over the nuances of the Kingdom or the correct inflections of dogma and doctrine. No more articles by experts who pretend to have the answers or hope to draw a crowd or sell their books. (Myself included).

Let the websites fall silent. Let the noise die down. Shut down your blog, your Facebook account, your Twitter feed, your MySpace page. Silence the endless blah, blah, blah. Be still. Be quiet.

Shut up.

Listen for the voice of the lonely crying in the darkness. They are there. They are living a few miles from your house. Perhaps even right next door to you or down the street. They have not heard the Gospel. They have not seen the love of God in action. They have not experienced love that was pure and holy and true and without strings attached. You could show them. You could demonstrate. You could speak. You could give. You could share what you have with them.

Listen to the voice of God. Begin to live a life of purpose. Let your actions declare the Glory and Mercy of a loving God. Love extravagantly. Serve passionately. Become an expert at servanthood.

Turn your face towards the Gates of Hell and start moving forward. Live a Kingdom life. Jesus is coming back, sooner than you expect him to. Be found doing His will, with your hand to the plow and your eyes set on the Kingdom of God.

Put all these countless sermons, conference notes, books and articles into practice. Do something that the local news can't help but talk about.

For example:

This

or

This

or

This

or

This

Stop. Shut up. Move.

"We know that we have come to know him if we obey his commands. The man who says, "I know him," but does not do what he commands is a liar, and the truth is not in him. But if anyone obeys his word, God's love is truly made complete in him. This is how we know we are in him: Whoever claims to live in him must walk as Jesus did." - 1 John 2:3-6

-kg
**
P.S. - I'm not trying to start a debate or a conversation here. Comment if you like but please know that I will not be participating in any comments. Right now it's all I can do to start walking out my faith in my actual life. I'm tired of talking. I have resolved to do more "walk, walk" than "talk, talk" by the Grace of God.

Don't look for me on Facebook or Twitter or even here for a while. My hope is to do more serving and loving and practing my faith than I spend time talking about it.

Thank you for your prayers.

WE'RE ON ABC WORLD NEWS TONIGHT

Homelessness in Orange County
Over 35,000 people in Orange County California are homeless and 80% of those are families with children. Most of these live in motels because they cannot afford first and last month's rent, and a security deposit. They are faced with the choice of food on the table or a table on which there is no food.

ABC WORLD NEWS TONIGHT recently did a report on the "Hidden Homeless" living in OC Motels:

ABC 7 News - "Hidden Homeless In OC Motels"
(Features interview with Jim Palmer of the Orange County Rescue Mission)
WATCH HERE

ABC WORLD NEWS TONIGHT - "Motel Homeless" segment
WATCH HERE

The segment mentions that church groups have been helping with food and resources and Jim Palmer, founder of the Orange County Rescue Mission, is interviewed in both the National and the local segements.

-kg

THIS SUNDAY: LOVE IN ACTION

This Sunday morning, from 9:30am to 12pm, our house church will join with a sister house church in Yorba Linda to help 66 year old Sandy Maitlen of Yorba Linda.

We'll repair, clean, paint, and make her home beautiful again.

This is what "being the Church" and putting our faith into practice is all about.

As one brother in Christ told me once, "Jesus Is A Verb" and our love should be demonstrated, not merely spoken.

Can't wait!
kg
**
"Little Children, let us love, not in word or speech, but in truth and action."
- 1 John 3.18.

THE KINGDOM REALITY

THE KINGDOM REALITY
by Keith Giles

The Kingdom of God is the present reality which breaks into this illusion of ours intermittently, like very bad cell phone reception. It's God's way of saying, "Can you hear me now?"

In fact, experiencing and living in this Kingdom Reality is, in itself, an exercise in the Kingdom principles of "Letting Go" and "The Power of Weakness". When we give up on our strength and wait for God's power to come and to move it's a testimony of our trust in His promise to us that "Those who wait upon the Lord will renew their strength. They will soar like Eagles", resting and gliding under the power of the wind of the Holy Spirit.

Waiting and trusting in His power, not our own, taking confidence in His strength, not ours, is a demonstration of The Power of Weakness in action.

For us, this coming, advancing, intermittent reality is counter-intuitive. We’ve been born into this illusion – falsely labeled "Reality"- and have been immersed in this do-it-yourself mentality all of our lives. We need to learn to "Re-Think" everything – or as Jesus said, to "Repent," (Metanoia = Rethink), "for the Kingdom of God (Heaven) is near" (Or, "It is within our grasp, our reach, and close enough to touch.")

It is very much like taking the red pill and finding ourselves wide awake in a reality which is upside down and backwards from the world we have been born into. At first we reel with the vertigo of a world where up is down and the first are last. Those who humble themselves are exalted, the greatest is the servant of all, and those who lose their lives find everlasting, eternal life, even though they die daily. This is the Kingdom of God.

Welcome to reality. Because this upside down world, we quickly discover, is NOT upside down, it is right side up. We have lived so long, head over heels, immersed in an illusion of selfish fulfillment and a pursuit of more, more, more, that we need to detoxify our minds and hearts and flesh in order to remain in God’s Kingdom Reality.

Jesus announced this Kingdom, told us how to see it, how to walk in it and remain in it, and gave us the best news possible: We could enter and begin living in Reality anytime we wanted to.

In the Kingdom of God there is just one King; God Himself. He is a good, loving, kind, and wildly, unpredictably, sometimes uncomfortably intimate, inclusive and wonderful King, and Father, and Friend.

His Kingdom is a place where His perfect will is always done and those who rest in His will are refreshed and delighted and fulfilled and at peace and overjoyed. They are children born into the poverty of excess wealth and selfishness who have been adopted into a new Family of the unending wealth of generosity and the joy of always having enough to share and give away.

This is reality. Before God made this vast oasis called "Space and Time" there was no space or time. Everything was perfectly “Now” and Eternally present with Him. This is the only reality there has ever been. God’s Kingdom was, and is, and is to come.

Our temporary stay in this unusual experiment called "Time and Space" will eventually expire and the temporary Kingdoms of this Earth will soon fade away. The Kingdom of Pleasure will fall to the ground. The Kingdom of Greed will perish. The Kingdom of Exploitation and Oppression and Excess and Fashion and Wealth and Flesh, will all crumble and burn and disappear into oblivion. Only one Kingdom will remain and that is the Kingdom which was here "In The Beginning" – which has even now come, and which we can enter today. And, one day, soon, this Kingdom will break forever into this illusion we drift through for the moment, and overtake all we see and know.

Are you ready to enter this Kingdom? Are you ready to begin living under the awesome rule and reign of The King? There's just one thing, before you take that leap, before you swallow the red pill, that you should know, so that you can count the cost. Those who enter the Kingdom can only step across the threshold if they pay the price. It's really nothing when you think about it, when you compare the amazing riches of God's Eternal Kingdom with the tokens and trinkets of our counterfeit reality. The price of admission, the way to step across, is to let go of this world.

Just as you were born naked and weak and vulnerable and empty-handed into this world, so you can take nothing with you into God’s Kingdom. It's called being "Born Again".

The things of this world are not truly treasures. When you die they will stay here anyway, and just as you can take nothing with you beyond the grave, you can take nothing with you when you step into God's Kingdom.

Jesus only asks for one thing- It's called Everything.

But what you gain, what you receive in exchange, is beyond anything you can dream of or hope for or imagine. The Kingdom of God, when you see it, when you really understand it, you will gladly rush out to sell all that you have, as quickly as possible, to step across the threshold into Heaven.

This is the moment where many people stop and turn back. Their grip on this world, or its grip on them, is so strong that they can never let go of their tiny, petty lives in this place in order to receive real life and treasure in God's Kingdom.

If we have really seen the Kingdom, if we really understood and believed that this Kingdom was real (in a way that nothing else can ever be real), then we would rush quickly to surrender all that we have and all that we are in order to receive the treasure that does not rust or face or disappoint.

"For whoever wants to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for me will save it." - Luke 9:24

"The Kingdom of God is like treasure hidden in a field. When a man found it, he hid it again, and then in his joy went and sold all he had and bought that field. Again, the Kingdom of heaven is like a merchant looking for fine pearls. When he found one of great value, he went away and sold everything he had and bought it." (Matthew 13:44)

All God wants is all of you. All He asks is that you Trust Him and Believe Him and surrender your meager treasures and petty personal kingdoms in exchange for His Kingdom. God wants to be your God. He wants you to be one of His People.

"If anyone would come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me" – Jesus (Luke 9:23). There is no other way but the Cross.

Jesus says it is very hard for a rich man to enter the Kingdom of God. "It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than it is for a rich man to enter the Kingdom." Who then can be saved? His disciples asked. "With man this is impossible," Jesus replied, "But not with God; all things are possible with God." (Mark 10: 23-27)

Will you let go? Will you surrender it all? Will you seek first the Kingdom of God and His righteousness? This is the only question we need to answer in order to step across the threshold into the amazing reality of God's Kingdom.

You can stay here, on this side of reality, where you are safe and miserable, in your tiny kingdom where your will is what matters. Or you can sell it all, exchange the handful of crumbling mud for real treasure which lasts forever.

Is your kingdom so wonderful? Aren’t you tired of wearing the crown? Haven't you suffered long enough under your own rule and reign?

When you are ready to set fire to your kingdom, and surrender your lordship, and dance as the flames consume your empty way of living, He is ready to invite you to experience Reality, today.

There is only One King, and He is good. He really wants what is best for you, and He can, above all, beyond any other, be Trusted. His Name is Faithful and True.

"I am the Way, the Truth and the Life and no one comes to the Father but by me" – Jesus (John 14)

*Originally posted here March, 2008.


-Keith

ADVICE ON STARTING A HOUSE CHURCH

Today I received an email from an old friend who is seeking advice on how to start a house church group among college students. He asked me, "What would Keith do?"

This is an intriguing question and I realized I haven't published a lot of my ideas on this anywhere so here's a bit of what I said to my friend.

Honestly, I lean towards a "less is more" approach and I'm usually reticent to give people step by step instructions. However, I'd basically suggest gathering those who are interested in this together and sharing a meal together (potluck), sharing communion together, and sharing from their actual lives what God has been teaching them in their daily walk with Christ.

Our house church follows this general pattern based on 1 Cor 14:26 - "What then shall we say, brothers? When you come together, everyone has a hymn, or a word of instruction, a revelation, a tongue or an interpretation. All of these must be done for the strengthening of the church."

So, our assumption is that everyone in our house church is already a follower of Jesus. Most of them, like me, have grown up in Church and have heard thousands of sermons and bible studies and can fill in the blanks on any discussion on the Scriptures. What we're not so great at is actually putting all of this into actual practice in our daily lives.

The purpose of our house church is to encourage and motivate everyone to live out their personal mission and calling according to their individual gifting. It's different for all of us. So, we don't tell them what it is, we help them to discover it and then we encourage one another every time we gather to continue living out that personal mission.

When we gather each week we all bring something to share - food and encouragement. During the share time I try to keep my mouth shut and allow people to talk. I also try to make sure that everyone is given equal time to speak and I try to keep us on target with encouraging one another in our walk with Christ. (This means re-directing complaints, gripes, politics, etc. to the end for prayer, or for another time).

In general, I'd suggest empowering people and not attempting to control or direct people.

For me, one of the most amazing things has been discovering that when Jesus said that the Holy Spirit would lead us into all truth, and when Paul and Peter said that we were the Temple of the Holy Spirit and the priesthood of believers, they were all dead serious.

In our house church we have kids who open their Bibles and their mouths and speak such words of simple truth that only God could have revealed it to them. Sure, we have to safeguard the essentials of our faith, and there are times when I may have to speak up and correct a misconception theologically, but most of the time I'm the one who is learning from the Holy Spirit through everyone else in the room.

It can be very challenging for someone like me (and maybe you as well) with a gift to teach and a heart to preach to actually shut our mouths, invite the Holy Spirit and then just wait quietly in the uncomfortable silence for Him to speak. But, I'm telling you, if you can, and if you will, He actually does...and it's pretty amazing.

I've written a few things about my philosophy of house church at the links below. Take a look over at www.OCHouseChurch.com

So You Want To Plant A House Church?
"House Church 101" by Keith Giles
House Church Q & A

Any more questions? Hit me back at "elysiansky" at hotmail.

-kg

FROM ETERNITY TO HERE

Frank Viola (author of "Pagan Christianity" and "Reimagining Church") has a new book out called FROM ETERNITY TO HERE.

Full disclosure: Frank sent me the book free of charge and asked me to mention it here on my blog so that readers could find out about the book.

I haven't read the book at all. Not even the first page, although eventually I will get around to reading it. It's in a pile right now with books like "The Scandalous Gospel of Jesus" by Peter J.Gomes, a short story collection by Philip K. Dick, "The Prehistory of the Farside" by Gary Larson, and the second "Dark Empire" book by Dark Horse.

My friend Kelly has read the new Viola book and this is what he told me: "The first third was kinda ok. The second third was better and the final third was seriously awesome." So, I can't wait to read the final third of this book.

Just FYI, the new book isn't about house church or church history or anything that you might commonly associate with Viola's name. This may be a good thing, or it may confuse people. Those who already equate his name with the "anti-traditional church" movement will steer clear of this one, even though they might actually love it, and those who rabidly follow Viola because of "Pagan Christianity" will be slightly disappointed that he doesn't toss them a reload in their war against the IC (Institutional Church).

As promised, here's a link to go and purchase Frank's book online for a great discount.
GO HERE

*Note: If I seem a bit like I'm under-promoting this book it's because:
A) I'm not a fan of selling stuff on my blog.
B) I haven't actually read the book but I feel obligated to provide a link to help Frank spread the word.

I must say that Frank has been very accessible to me via e-mail and he's helped me with a few things recently. For that I am grateful and I sincerely hope that God continues to allow him to speak to more Christians about what it means to follow Christ and discover their identity in Him rather than in religious activity.

Peace,
Keith

[Subversive Underground] - RIP

Well, it's done. After 3 years, and 180 articles on discipleship, the Gospel of the Kingdom, compassion for the poor and the New Testament Church, the free, weekly e-newsletter [Subversive Underground] is laid to rest.

I started the weekly newsletter as a way to send weekly ideas and articles to about 30 of my friends. Originally the intent was to create a motivation for me to write something of substance each and every week. Over time I began to focus on the concepts that were most important to me.

Over the years the newsletter grew to 272 subscribers. Most of them found me via my articles over at theOoze.com, Ginkworld.net, SeedStories.com, Next-Wave Magazine and other online sources. Many of them I didn't know and will never meet this side of eternity, but several of them took the time to contact me directly and encourage me or ask for advice. Some took the time to leave angry comments, attack my character and insult me. Others left comments that inspired me and directed the conversation into more productive directions. I'm very grateful to all of these people for their insight, their passion and their honesty.

When I first heard God's whisper about starting this newsletter I was working on a little sci-fi and comics project called Plastic Animal Studios and I felt that God wanted me to lay that aside in order to focus on more Kingdom-centric things.

Now, three years later, I am hearing God whisper to me again. This time He is asking me to lay down the [Subversive Underground] so that He can lead me somewhere new.

I have to let go of this thing in order to receive the next thing He wants to place into my open hands.

It's a little bit scary. A little bit sad. But it's also exciting to find out what God has next for me.

I'm sure I'll blog about it here when the time comes. For now, I'm looking forward to taking a few weeks off and listen to His voice.

"I tell you the truth, unless a kernel of wheat falls to the ground and dies, it remains only a single seed. But if it dies, it produces many seeds." - Jesus (John 12:24)

For many years now I have been inspired by the phrase "Conversatio Morem!" which the early christians meant as "Constant Conversion!" or "Death to the Status Quo!" Now I think I understand this phrase even better than before. My status quo must die. I must be in constant conversion in order to allow the Holy Spirit to change me and for God to have His way with me.

Here we go...

kg

FAITH IN ACTION - SATURDAY, MARCH 21

*I received the email below from my dear friends Noel and Julie Cruz. They are leading a new house church fellowship in Yorba Linda, California and have started helping a dear old woman on their street. Read the email below and if you're in the area and want to lend a hand, I can't think of a better way to spend a weekend.
-kg
**
[Here's the email I received from the Cruz' family today]--

We need as many able bodies as possible to help the Extreme Makeover that we are doing for a lady down street from us.

Our home group has a senior friend who attends our group and who’s house was in a complete disrepair. Our home group has come together and has begun the work 4 weeks ago and during the first weekend of our work we removed 7 tons (yes tons) of debris and took it to the dump! We have done some of the hardest work there is to do on the house, but much more remains to be done.

Sandy told us that not long ago she was pray/crying to God and reminded him what His word says about being her husband…. She said "So, God, if that's the case then here is my Honey-do list. I just cant get any of this done myself!" and voila! Here we are.

We still have several projects that are priority to do. Our Part II is painting the house. We are working on a all volunteer basis so the more bodies we have the better.

On March 20, 21, 22 we will be scraping, sanding, filling, and painting. Most of the grunt work will be on Friday and that is where we hope to get a large contingency of strong people blowing through this. We can use people all three days but we want to be sure that the house is ready to paint on Sunday. The paint has all been donated and we will each bring our own tools, ie orbital sanders, sand paper, putty knife, roller, gloves, paint brushes etc.

If you are available or know someone who is, please respond to this email (cruzthiz@sbcglobal.net) and I will count you in. Let me know which day(s) you can be here.

I have included the link to the blog that was published on the OCRegister.com site and a couple pictures of Sandy/project -
HERE

Thanks to all of you who can give any time at all for this project! I guarantee you will be blessed! You’ll never get back the time that you give but aint that what God’s economy is all about?

God is blessing this woman more than anyone could ever imagine.

Hugs,

Noel and Julie Cruz
Email: cruzthiz@sbcglobal.net

MAGNIFICENT - LIVE ON LETTERMAN

*See lyrics below

Magnificent

Magnificent

I was born
I was born to be with you
In this space and time
After that and ever after I haven't had a clue
Only to break rhyme
This foolishness can leave a heart black and blue

Only love, only love can leave such a mark
But only love, only love can heal such a scar

I was born
I was born to sing for you
I didn’t have a choice but to lift you up
And sing whatever song you wanted me to
I give you back my voice
From the womb my first cry, it was a joyful noise…

Only love, only love can leave such a mark
But only love, only love can heal such a scar

Justified till we die, you and I will magnify
The Magnificent
Magnificent

Only love, only love can leave such a mark
But only love, only love unites our hearts

Justified till we die, you and I will magnify
The Magnificent
Magnificent
Magnificent

Lyrics by Bono, Music by U2 (from the album "No Line On The Horizon")

THE GOD WHO TOUCHES US

Last week, during worship time, as we were singing songs to God about our desire to reach out and touch him, I realized something.

While it's normal for us to want to touch God, we know that we cannot ever do this. However, even though we cannot touch God, we have a God who touches us.

Maybe I'll write a song about that?

Just a thought.

kg

TWITTER THOUGHTS

I've discovered Twitter and I've found that being forced to encapsulate your thoughts into 140 characters or less can be quite liberating and inspirational.

Here's a bit of what I Tweeted about this last week:

"If our language is love, and if our message is love, let us speak love in its native tongue; Actions & Truth."

"The world needs more poetry and prophets who speak truth poetically."

"Everyone is in process. There is a season for everything. Grace is requirement 4 life."

Plus this gem from Mr. Rogers:
"When we look for whats best in the person we happen to be with at the moment, we're doing what God does."

Just thought I'd share...

Peace,
kg

TO WHOM IT MAY CONCERN

GOD'S DESIGN FOR HIS CHURCH
Many of you know I've been working on a book about God's design for the New Testament Church for several months now. At the moment it's a 450 page monster and I'm feeling the need to strip it back to something closer to 200 pages and that is going to mean a lot more work. So, for now, this book will be pushed to the back burner while I essentially start over and create a new outline with a more simplified narrative. Hopefully the book will be ready by the end of this year, or the beginning of next year.

THE POWER OF WEAKNESS
In the meantime, I've decided to finish up my long-promised book on the power of Christ in our lives called "The Power of Weakness". At the moment this book is complete except for the last two chapters and a forward from one of my friends.

SUBVERSIVE INTERVIEWS
I've also decided to publish my interviews with Dallas Willard, Todd Hunter, Dr. Scott Bartchy, John Fischer, Jim Wallis, Matt Redman, and others. That book will be called "Subversive Interviews" and it should be available here on my website by the summer.

WINTERMOON & COFFEESTAIN
I've been toying with the idea of publishing a book of my better poems into one collection, even if just for my own enjoyment. Or maybe to give as Christmas gifts, or whatever. There's no reason I couldn't get that assembled by the summer.

COMING OF AGE (For Dylan Giles)
When my oldest son turned 13 last December I asked several people in his life to write encouragements and advice for him. There are some excellent and touching letters to Dylan from his grandparents, family friends and, of course, his mom and I. I promised him I would assemble all of those into a book for him to keep and refer to as he walks through this life. Need to get that one done ASAP.

SECRET SERVICE (Compassion in Action)
Last year I wrote a series of articles called "How To Start A Ministry To The Poor In Your Community" and based on the positive feedback from that one I know I want to
assemble all of my various articles on God's heart for the poor, testimonials regarding what I've learned by serving the poor over the last several years, etc.
Not sure when that one can be collected but hopefully by early next year.

END TRANSMISSION
As promised, I will be ending the [Subversive Underground] e-newsletter soon. Probably much earlier than the original date of August 28th. I have several articles I want to run before I finally turn out the lights over there for good, but I've already written the farewell article and I'm just praying about when to post it and close it down forever.

Rest assured, however, that this blog here will continue and all of those future [SU] articles will run in this space going forward.

-kg

WHY I SHOULD NOT REVIEW THE NEW U2 CD

Every artist I know struggles with how the popular culture interacts with their art. Those who create visual art like paintings or literary art like poetry find the masses quite impatient and largely unwilling to spend any real time digesting or reflecting on the power of the art they've spent months creating.

In short, popular media has largely eliminated the instropective power of art to resonate within our souls and provoke us to reflect on deeper questions of faith, life, love and beauty. We're a sound bite culture. We're looking for music that rocks, fiction that tittilates, art that pops and poetry that reads like clever marketing copy. We're not looking for an opportunity to allow art to saturate our minds, resonate in our souls, probe our motives or reveal our inconsistencies.

People forget that U2's Josua Tree was their sixth record, not their first. It took them that long to invade the psyche of the average music fan. Even then, most of those who did embrace that dark snapshot of American consciousness did so because of a video they saw on MTV or perhaps the catchy melody of "With or Without You" got stuck in their heads. Many who purchased that seminal record failed to follow the band beyond the "Rattle and Hum" era and by the time "Achtung Baby" hit the shelves and the airwaves they had long since moved on to other musical soundscapes.

As someone who discovered U2 through a borrowed "Unforgettable Fire" album, I have to confess that it has taken repeated listens to fully appreciate the more recent catalog of the band. However, that process of slow dissemination is one of the reasons I so dearly love the band and their music.

I remember the first time I heard "The Fly". I had waited in front of my television set for two hours waiting for MTV to launch the "World Premiere" video of their new single from their hotly anticipated "Achtung Baby" Cd. When the song finished I remember blinking my eyes and saying to myself, "They've lost their minds".

My opinion didn't change much the evening I first heard the Cd in its entirety. I really only liked two of the songs ("One" and "So Cruel") and the rest I thought was a feeble attempt to be cool. However, as I continued to listen and translate the lyrics I found myself listening to this disc almost exclusively. Today it's still my all-time favorite U2 album, hands down.

Simply put, the average U2 song, and album, requires multiple listens to fully appreciate and that can be a dangerous thing in our sound bite culture. Even for someone who is predisposed to purchase everything they ever record, (and I nearly have), the first-time listen through their new music can be less than convincing.

The first time I heard "Sometimes You Can't Make It On Your Own" the band was playing it on Saturday Night Live just weeks before the "Atomic Bomb" Cd released. My wife and I listened to the lyrics and feared that Bono and his wife must have gotten a divorce. "And it's you when I don't pick up the phone. Sometimes you can't make it on your own." However, I later learned that this song was written for his dying father. Suddenly the song took on new, and profound meaning.

When I heard "Until The End of the World" for the first time I only heard a song they had written for another mediocre Wim Wenders movie. Later, when I heard Bono explain that it was sung from the point of view of Judas singing to Jesus after his betrayal the song became poignant beyond words and now I love it dearly.

The first listen through the "All That You Can't Leave Behind" album left me cold. However, after a dozen listens I found I couldn't make it through "Walk On" and "Kite" without tearing up. And even now I am still discovering new things to love about some of their songs that I've heard hundreds of times.

Because of this, I find it's best that I not attempt to review the new U2 Cd, "No Line On the Horizon" just yet. I've heard it online now about 3 times. The first time I heard the single "Get On Your Boots" I loved the music but the lyrics left me cold. I mean, seriously, "Get on your boots? Your sexy boots." Nothing close to the usual lyrical finesse found in their previous rock standards like "Elevation", "Vertigo" or even "Discoteque". But then I saw the video for the song and it shed new light on the song and the meaning behind it (which I now take to be the empowerment of women).

So, until after I've listend to the new U2 record a few hundred times I reserve the right not to review it or comment on how much I love, or don't love, their new songs.

Peace,
Keith

RE-POST: DO YOU FEEL YOURSELF SHRINKING?

"And John replied, 'He must increase, but I must decrease.'" John 3:30 (NIV)

Do you feel yourself shrinking? Do you feel Christ becoming more and more "at large" in your life? I don't. If anything, I feel the opposite. Most of my day is filled with the pursuit of my wants and concerns about my needs, thinking about my plans, and praying about my dreams.

Jesus? Oh, He's there. But He's not taking over. More and more I'm starting to realize that I really want Him to take over. I need Him to take over.

What I need is for Christ to permeate my life. I need to sense his presence all the time. I need to hear his voice. I need to know his heart for people. I need to take His words to heart and start living them out in my actual life.

When you reach this point in your life, you begin to realize the simple power and wisdom of the Spiritual Disciplines. Suddenly the idea of fasting and observing silence and simplicity become things that your very soul craves.

To many of us, the idea of Spiritual Discipline sounds like a means to take away our freedom in Christ. A way to drag us down and force us to observe the Law. That's not what the Disciplines are all about.

Sure, some churches and more than a few leaders, have misused the Disciplines in the past. Sometimes we can allow others to place their expectations of perfection upon us and bind us up in the pursuit of an outward appearance of Holiness.

But, when a follower of Christ reaches the place where they realize that their flesh is much too weak, even when their spirit is most willing, the Disciplines become an escape route from the bondage of sinfulness.

The Spiritual Disciplines are like turning the spoon away from your own mouth and using it to dig a tunnel under the fence of sin and into the sunlight of freedom.

Jesus' parable of the Pearl Of Great Price (Matthew 13:44), where those who find a great treasure joyfully run out and sell everything in order to get it, is a great picture of what our attitude should be. We're not to worry about how much the pearl costs, we should be worried that we might not be able to sell things fast enough to get the money to buy that pearl.

When we truly understand just how utterly fantastic God's Kingdom really is, as compared to our own kingdom, then the idea of giving up time and food and money and worldly success is nowhere near as precious.

Jesus has some pretty strong words for those who call themselves by His name in Luke chapter 14, verse 27. He says "..Anyone who does not carry his cross and follow me cannot be my disciple."

Taking up my cross means my own death. It means the end of my personal kingdom and the beginning of His.

My prayer is that God would give me the strength to daily deny myself, take up my cross and follow Him. I want to go where He's going. I want to walk with Him.

What will it cost me? My car? My house? My dreams? My job? Great. What else? I want to kick my kingdom to the ground and dance while it burns.

I'm ready to follow Him now. "He must increase, I must decrease."

Do you feel yourself shrinking?

By Keith Giles

THINGS I NEED TO DO RIGHT AWAY

*Schedule time to finish writing my book & create proof copy
*Schedule time to disciple my sons individually once a week
*Schedule time to sit quietly and listen to God's voice daily
*Finish Dylan's "Coming of Age" Book of encouraging quotes & self-publish
*Do our taxes
*Compile a book of my best poems and self-publish
*Compile my [Subversive Interviews] and self-publish
*Compile my articles on Compassion and Poverty and self-publish
*Watch "Flight of the Conchords" DVD's
*Finish reading, "Altered Carbon", "From Eternity to Here", "The History of Christianity Vol.1", "The Scandalous Gospel of Jesus", "Star Wars:Dark Empire I & II", and "Reimagning Church".

DANGER: This Will Make You Smile

Special thanks to Brant Hansen for sharing this with the world.

My friend Scott Laumann and I used to talk about creating a series of Kinkaid-style paintings of the homeless and heroin-addicts passed out on the sidewalk with this Disney-esque hue all around.

This is full of awesome.

kg

LAST NIGHT'S OSCARS & MORE

A few random thoughts to share...

WATCHING THE OSCARS: ENCOURAGE ONE ANOTHER

Watching the Oscars last night and I loved how the nominees for best actor and actress were each honored individually by past Oscar winners. It brought most of them to tears as they were singled out and honored for their talents and gifts. Even those who didn't win were given a moment in the spotlight and were encouraged and affirmed in their art, their ability and their talent.

I suppose it doesn't matter if you're Brad Pitt or Meryl Streep, or Joe Nobody - When someone publicly affirms you and values you and points out your unique qualities, your heart is filled and you feel loved.

Can't help thinking that this is what our churches should be like. We should take the time to stand in front of everyone and point out the best in one another and value each other as equals within a special family and revel in the exclusive club we are all blessed to be a part of.

"How great is the love the Father has lavished on us, that we should be called children of God! And that is what we are!" - 1 John 3:1

**
CREATIVE FORCES

Over the weekend some friends got together and shared poetry, stories, artwork, and songs together. I was overwhelmed to discover the intense creativity within each person who shared. Most of it was breath-taking and excellent. None of it was cheesy or half-hearted.

We laughed, we wiped away tears, we applauded, and we were genuinely amazed at the amount of talent embodied in that room.

Everyone agreed that it was better than church, but that it was, in essence, "Church".

I also loved that no one asked me to lead in prayer, or to get things started, or to facilitate anything. It was refreshing to "be the Church" and not be the guy in charge at all.

We're looking forward to doing it again soon.

**
FULL CIRCLE?

About six years ago I was at Ingram Micro, hating my technical spreadsheet job and writing sci-fi stories and creating comics to fulfill my creative side. I eventually left that job to enter "full-time ministry" and go on-staff at a church-plant and a local non-profit. About the same time, I also stepped away from my sci-fi/creative stuff and started writing for the Kingdom, which is where this whole Subversive blog and weekly [SU] e-newsletter thing started.

After 3 years of working for non-profit and churches, I realized that what I wanted was to get a real job in the real world, start a house church where 100% of the offering could go to the poor, and let my "full-time ministry" be my life.

So, I started that house church and went to work again for Ingram Micro again, this time as a copywriter in their marketing department. Now I love my job working with regular, everyday people. I have also felt recently that I need to lay down my [SU] e-newsletter (which have produced 2 books and hundreds of articles), in order to start pursuing more creative writing like poetry, fiction and yes, even sci-fi.

Is my life going full circle or am I simply going in circles?

**

ALL CHRISTIANS ARE PRIESTS OF GOD

By W.C.Ketcherside

There is no priesthood in God's program now but that which is common to all Christians. That which makes one a Christian makes him a priest of God. The literal priesthood has been supplanted by the spiritual; the limited has been succeeded by the universal. Yet the religious world has been captivated by a special clergy.

Designate it what you will, this is but a limited priesthood, arrogating to itself those rights which belong to all. Nothing is more certain than the fact that the average religionist believes that this special group of ministerial functionaries is a product of New Testament teaching. Yet it is apparent that the system which produces them is a denial of the very essence of the New Covenant and an espousal of the program of the Old Covenant. Those who seek justification for a special priesthood in this dispensation are also seeking to be justified by the law and are fallen from grace.

The time of reformation has come. It has brought with it certain changes. Those changes must be recognized. To deny them or abrogate them is to flout God's purpose.

1. There has been a change of sacrifice. The animal sacrifices once required are no longer demanded. To offer such sacrifices now would be to crucify the Son of God afresh and put him to an open shame.

2. There has been a change of law. No longer are we subject to the "regulations for worship in the earthly sanctuary" (Heb. 9:1). The law had "but a shadow of the good things to come instead of the true form of these realities" (Heb. 10:1). The man who chooses to be justified by the law shows a preference for a shadow rather than the reality.

3. There has been a change of priesthood. The limited has given way to the universal. With the introduction of the priesthood of all believers, no particular class or caste has an exclusive right "to perform ritual duties." Indeed it is one of the absolute essentials to priesthood that each person who is a priest "have something to offer" (Heb. 8:3). The change in the priesthood has conferred upon all of God's priests the right to minister unto God subject to the restrictions of the Great King.

This great truth was recognized in the primitive church. "The devotional exercises of the Christian assemblies, like those of the Jewish synagogues, consisted principally of prayers, singing of hymns, and sacred discourses. Every one who had the power and the inclination to speak in public was allowed to do so with freedom" (A History of the Christian Church, by Dr. Charles Hase. Pages 40,41).

From W.Carl Ketcherside's "The Royal Priesthood", which is available as a free PDF download HERE

Reprinted with Permission

*Special thanks to Mike Hutchison for assembling this quotation and posting it on his Facebook page as part of an ongoing series called "Tales from the Ketcherside".

RE-POST: CONSUMPTION, EXPRESSION, IDENTITY

CONSUMPTION, EXPRESSION, IDENTITY
By Keith Giles

As a society, we are conditioned to find our identity in what we own or purchase. As Christians, we are conditioned to express our faith through the sanctified products we purchase, own or consume. This is the perversion of Christ into Capitalism and an expression of faith through consumption of products. It is wrong.

A good friend sent me an article he found that provided an intriguing historical perspective on our evolution from artisans to consumers. I've pulled out the quotes I found most fascinating below:

"A Short History of Consumption
With the rise of the Industrial Revolution, the relationship between people and the goods that they made was broken. No longer did peasants plant, tend, and harvest their crops; now agricultural workers labored over someone else’s crops in exchange for wages. No longer did artisans design, plan, craft, and sell; now factory workers repeatedly carried out a single step in the production of a product, again in exchange for wages."

"In short, people were no longer producers, they were now consumers."

"Our identities were no longer tied up with the work we did, but with the buying power our work left us with."

"So people found their identities not in their work but in the things they could buy by working."

"People became consumers, not just in the way they got what they needed but in who they felt themselves to be."

"Unlike the artisan who could express his or her identity through the things s/he created, we have learned to do so through the things we buy"

*Full article HERE


**
The entire article is mainly looking at consumption from an environmental impact perspective, but the points made about our lifelong indoctrination to consumerism as a society are very eye-opening to me. Especially in light of the ongoing series of articles I've been writing lately regarding the evils of the Christian Subculture over on my weekly e-newsletter [Subversive Underground].

Here's what I think we need to understand, as followers of Jesus, regarding the observations made in this article above.

CONSUMPTION IS SELF-EXPRESSION
We, as a society, have made consuming and purchasing products part of our identity structure. This is why people will fork out $30 for a t-shirt with some corporate logo and walk around as a billboard for them, not because they love that company or product, not because of their loyalty to the brand, but because they think that logo makes THEM look cool. It says something about them, and so they willingly become walking advertising...and they PAY for the privilege. Amazing.

CHRISTIAN IDENTITY
Honestly, this really does help me to formulate a clear picture of what's going on in the Christian subculture. We're finding our identity as "Christians" in the products we purchase. These products brand us and identify us as a subset of people. Instead of finding our identity in Christ by the way we relate to Him daily, obey His teachings, and emulate His example of service and unconditional love, we now identify ourselves as Christians by our t-shirts, bumper stickers, books and CD collections.

ARTISTS AND CONSUMPTION/IDENTITY/EXPRESSION
It's also fascinating how this shift in our society stems from the devaluing of artisans in our culture. People now express themselves by what they own or purchase more than by what they create with their hands or their imaginations. Artists within our society are influenced by this consumerist identity structure. Artists of faith are compelled to create art that can be sold, or that conforms to the acceptable Christian marketplace. Art in this context is devoid of pure self-expression, unless that expression conforms to the acceptable branding and messaging of the sacred market.

More from the article:
"The rise of consumption as our primary interaction with the rest of our society has had profound effects. For example, social status is obtained and marked by the things we buy and use. A car, for instance, is not just a way to get from one place to another but has to “say something” about who we are — and even the lack of a car says volumes. Unlike the artisan who could express his or her identity through the things s/he created, we have learned to do so through the things we buy: the t-shirt with the logo of our band or team, the bamboo towels that show our environmental commitments, the alternative album that shows off our indie cred, the designer shoes that place us as part of the trend-setting elite, the minivan that shows us to be part of the dependable, hard-working, family-oriented suburban middle class, and so on."

SUBCULTURE AND IDENTITY
The Christian Subculture has a market. That market embraces a brand. That brand has a message connected to it. That message serves the market and encourages ongoing participation in that market. It means providing reasons to continue purchasing these products day after day and week after week. The market serves itself. It exists to keep itself in business.

The Christian Subculture provides an oasis made of soothing products that help us escape from the Big Bad World that is "Out There". It's a sacred version of "Calgon-Take Me Away!" only our message is more pervasive. It's not just one soothing bath to calm our fears of being trapped in a world of sin, it's music and movies and clothing and books and toys and key chains and license plate frames and decals and candy and pens and pretty much every conceivable object and piece of product that can ever be branded with our message. It's nearly a complete world unto itself, and it's exactly what Jesus prayed to God would never happen to us. (see John 17:15)

THE CART THAT PULLS THE HORSE
I'm not against art or music or expressions of faith. Most of my favorite musicians are believers and their music contains references to our Lord and to faith in Him. Many of my friends are Artists who paint and sculpt and create art to communicate a Kingdom reality. The issue is not that creating art or any sincere expression of devotion to Christ is wrong. What is evil is the marketplace we've created to showcase product. In the beginning the market existed to serve the Art, now the Art exists to serve the marketplace. We have lost focus. Making money is now the main objective. Evangelism or edification or worship is secondary at best, if considered at all.

During my six years in the Christian Music Industry I slowly began to realize the sickness of it all. At first I saw the industry as a way to spread the Gospel and to provide a voice for talented musicians of faith. But soon I realized that it didn't matter if your music ministry was responsible for leading thousands to Christ each year. What mattered was record sales. If your CD's weren't selling at least 20,000 units per sales cycle you'd be dropped from the label in a heartbeat. It was, after all, a Record BUSINESS, and like every business making money and selling product is the very bottom line. Ministry is incidental, and sadly only useful in the context of marketing the product to your target audience, in order to drive more sales.

Like the money-changers in front of the Temple that Jesus chased away with a whip, the original idea was a good one; To provide animals for sacrifice so that people could enter the Temple and participate in the worship of God. However, when money got in the way the original vision was corrupted and the Temple became a marketplace which obscured access for the common man and made a mockery of real worship. The same is true today.

BACK TO JESUS
The tension still remains between the clear command of our Lord to "Go into all the world.." and a subculture that bears His Name, yet encourages a full retreat from the World and identifies membership based on purchasing the acceptable, branded product. The product carries a message that we should fear those outside of our group. It encourages non-involvement with the culture. It makes minimizing contact with those outside the subculture a preferable reality.

If Jesus modeled radical inclusion and commanded us to be known by our love for everyone, especially those who hate us, and a subculture emerges with His Name on it that encourages us to be radically exclusive and creates behavior by which we are known for our intolerance, hatred and condemnation of those outside our group, we must make a choice. Do we choose Jesus or do we choose the man-made subculture with his Name on it?

I choose Jesus.

If Jesus clearly teaches something, and another organization or person teaches the exact opposite we call that "Anti-Christ". To me it's plainly obvious that the Christian Subculture is "Anti-Christ" because it contradicts His message of inclusion, involvement and meaningful relationships with sinners.

I've said it before and I say it again; "Death to the Christian Subculture!"

BRINGING A CHANGE
Where can we fashion a whip and drive out the money-changers from the Temple? It's difficult because we now deal with this on a massive scale. Participation in this market-driven Christian Subculture is pervasive and intangible. There is no physical structure to kick over. There is no clear method for applying the whip necessary to drive them out.

All we can really do is to begin, one person at a time, to disassociate ourselves with this subculture. Stop participating. Stop identifying yourself as a follower of Jesus based on your purchases. Stop pandering to what the Christian Marketplace finds acceptable and palatable. Make Jesus your single source of Truth. Ask God to show you where you have replaced a Jesus way of life with a carefully branded subculture way of life. Escape the false notions of "Sacred" and "Secular" and just start living, as a disciple of Jesus, in this World (the only World), right now.

I declare a personal War against the Christian Subculture.

kg

**
NOTE: Originally published here in October, 2007 and republished here for your edification.

URGENT: PLEASE FORWARD TO EVERYONE!

DISCLAIMER: Please read the following article VERY CAREFULLY before you do anything
at all. There is more going on here than meets the eye. You have been forewarned. -

As most of us are aware, there is a new Congress in session at the moment. With this new influx of Congressmen and Senators will no doubt come a changing of the guard that will require us as Christians to be vigilant as never before.

This is why what I am about to tell you is SO CRITICAL for each of us. I'm tempted to ask everyone one of you to read what I write here and to forward this to EVERYONE IN YOUR ADDRESS BOOK right away. (Especially if you "really" love Jesus).

But, what I'm about to tell you is SO ALARMING, it could seriously threaten Church in America forever.

There is new legislation in motion, at the earliest possible stage, which I need to let everyone know about now before it gets out of our control.

First, many of you are already aware that there are forces out there that threaten to take away the non-profit status of Christian Churches in America whenever messages of a political nature are delivered from the pulpit. As desperate as this is, there is a new development brewing now that is EVEN WORSE.

There are people who want to propose legislation that would challenge the non-profit status of any Christian Church simply based on whether or not that Church actually gives a significant percentage of its funds back to the community, as most other "non-religious" non-profits are required to do.

WHAT THIS MEANS is that your church could be in DANGER OF LOSING ITS NON-PROFIT STATUS simply because little of the tithe money goes to help out those poor families who live around the community. EVEN IF THEY DON'T ATTEND YOUR CHURCH!

Of course, there are plenty of churches in America that do care for the poor in their community. They pass out free groceries, they provide free oil changes for single Moms, they host after-school programs for kids in the area at no-charge, etc. Churches who are already "giving back" to the community in this way and serving others the way Jesus would would have NOTHING TO FEAR!

However, if a church in the community were to spend 70%, 80%, or even 99% of its tithe on ITSELF, it would be in danger of losing that non-profit status and would have to pay taxes JUST LIKE ALL OTHER LARGE CORPORATIONS.

This means that a church spending most of the tithe for salaries, or a new building, or the new flat-screen plasma televisions for the announcements in the nursery, or the Starbucks Coffee bar at the back of the Church, or the new carpet, etc., would have to justify their non-profit status on the basis of whether or not they were actually performing any actual "service" to the poor around them. If they couldn't demonstrate a tangible connection between their church and the community around them, their NON-PROFIT STATUS would be REVOKED FOREVER!

REGARDLESS OF THE FACT that Matthew 25 suggests that Jesus takes our concern for the outcast seriously, this attack on the non-profit status of our big, fat American churches is just NOT FAIR!

We've earned the right to collect as many hundreds of thousands of dollars as we like in the name of Jesus and it should be totally up to us how we spend that money. Especially if it's for our OWN NEEDS, WANTS AND DESIRES.

Just because we're not really involved in the needs of the poor around us, the Church SHOULDN'T BE PUNISHED IN THIS WAY.

Regardless of the fact that the Church in America HAS THE POWER and the ECONOMIC RESOURCES necessary provide affordable housing, long-term community development, and primary health care to everyone who needs it, the US Government should NOT be the one to force this upon us through legal means. That should be left up to a Higher Power.

Even though Universal primary education would cost $8 billion a year, which is about half of what parents in the US spend annually on toys for their children, this has nothing to do with those of us who are called by the name of the One who humbled Himself and surrendered His life to demonstrate the compassion of God to the World, and especially to the least and the lost.

So, if you want to protect your church from this kind of judgement, I urge you to write to your pastors, your elders, your deacons and your church leaders and let them know how you feel about this very serious issue that faces the modern Church in America.

We, the Church in America, are dangerously close to the SIN OF SODOM!

Do you know what the Sin of Sodom is? Read Ezekiel 16: 49:

"Now this is the sin of your sister Sodom: She and her daughters were arrogant, overfed and unconcerned; they did not help the poor and needy. They were proud and did detestable things before me. Therefore, I did away with them as you have seen."

Obviously, the issue facing the Church in America today is WAY MORE SERIOUS THAN SIMPLY OUR NON-PROFIT STATUS! If the Church were to rise up and spend their money this way, THAT WOULD BE AN AWESOME THING, and yes, a lot of people would probably stop calling us HYPOCRITES and maybe they'd take us seriously when we tell them that Jesus loves them, because we've demonstrated that (just maybe) we love them too.

As you may have guessed, this legislation IS TOTALLY FICITIOUS! I have made up the entire thing with the help of my good friend Jarred Romley who first suggested the concept to me.

I couldn't resist mimicking the style of those alarmist Christian email messages we all get forwarded telling us that we must send it on to everyone we have ever known in order to prove our love for Jesus. Please, also forgive me for all the CAPITAL LETTERS I USED!

Seriously, I think if my friend Jarred were to introduce a Bill like this one to our Congress it might put a fire under our churches to wake up and realize that their Bibles are full of commands to care for the outcast, the poor, and the needy who are all around them. If nothing else, it would create an amazing open dialog in the media between the leaders of the Church, the members of the community, and the man on the street about issues of compassion, Christian charity, and the calling of Jesus to care for the poor as we would care for Him. (see Matthew 25)

Until that legislation comes to pass, I will have to resort to stunts like this to try to wake people up and realize that God's heart is for the poor and that He has taken this issue very seriously.

The truth is, the idea of their church losing its non-profit status is more likely to spur Christians to action than the fact that there are thousands of homeless, and poverty-stricken human beings suffering a few blocks from their front door.

"He defended the cause of the poor and needy, and so all went well. Is that not what it means to know me?"- GOD, speaking of King Josiah in Jeremiah 22:16

**
Keith Giles

One Great Church!

Everyone knows I'm a 100% crazy about house church, but if I had to recommend a traditional church to anyone, it would be Soul Survivor Church in Costa Mesa. They have a great heart for the poor, a fantastic sense of community, a world-class teaching ministry lead by John Thomas, Crissy Brooks and Troy Born, and their worship is intimate, sincere and moving.

John and Lindy Thomas are some of the most genuine and sincere people you'll ever meet and they both have a heart for God's people and the Gospel of the Kingdom.

Check them out ONLINE and if you're ever in Costa Mesa, California be sure to visit them at Triangle Square.

They ROCK!

Peace,
Keith

DESTROY THE (CHRISTIAN) SUBCULTURE

by Keith Giles

I've come to the conclusion that the Christian Subculture is evil. I want to destroy it. I want to choke the life out of it and watch it die. I want to strip the skin from its bones, shake the life out of it and break it into tiny pieces.

In the past I've written articles that express the dangers of the Christian Subculture, and it's no secret that I cannot stand Christian Radio, and have zero tolerance for "Jesus Junk" such as sanctified breath mints or t-shirts that christianize popular logos and advertising (see "Bud Wise Up" or "Lord's Gymn" for example).

The Christian Subculture prevents the breaking in of the Kingdom. It inhibits the Gospel message. It paralyzes the followers of Christ by isolating them from the people they are supposed to love and interact with on a deeply intimate level.

About a year ago I realized that my passion for deconstructing the popular "Churchianity System" extended beyond mere dislike. As I began to fully understand how insidious it really is, I resolved to dedicate myself to its demise. I am now fully convinced that someway, somehow, the entire thing needs to be knocked down with a very large hammer and burned into oblivion.

I have always wanted to have a "Burn Our Christian Crap" session where christians could bring the symbols of their involvement with the Christian Consumerist Monster and we could all stand around and sing "Kumbaya" together while we tosssed our "Lord's Gymn" tees and "Carman" Cd's and other idols to materialistic spiritualilty into a giant bonfire, in homage to those horrible youth group parties where teens were forced to burn their Van Halen records and Rush albums (because they were "secular").

I've come to the radical conclusion that there is nothing secular. There is only the world we live in. This one, right here (look around you...yeah, that world), and nothing more. God created the entire world, and it's a fallen world I agree, but there is no "Sacred" or "Secular" division to this world, other than the artificially constructed one we've created to keep ourselves safe and comfortable and far away from "those evil sinners over there".

Another big revelation for you? We're all sinners. You. Me. That guy over there. Yeah, we're all evil. We all need Jesus. Not just those who don't attend your church or who vote Democrat or who read Harry Potter. All of us. Look it up, it's in the Bible.

So, at the moment, all I have is the fire in my gut, the passionate resolution in my belly, that I hate all things "Christianese" and I long to assist in the complete demolition of this man-made evil.

Now, to be honest I have no real idea what that actually works out to in the real world. Let me be clear; I am NOT advocating the wanton destruction of Christian bookstores; I am NOT organizing petitions to shut down Christian Television (although I'd probably sign a petition if someone sent me one); I'm not calling for people to light torches or assemble in protest...but maybe it would be good idea if we just simply tried to escape the pseudo-reality of Christian Subculture? Maybe we could just start living in the real world, as followers of Jesus, without seeing those imaginary boundary lines between "Us" and "Them"? Maybe we could talk to people and befriend them, and love them, regardless of whether or not they were Christians? Maybe we could stop seeking comfort and shelter within the invisible walls of our own safety zones and start realizing that we live in this world, the real world...the ONLY world, and begin living as Salt and Light to those around us?

Jesus prayed for us, those who would follow after Him, in this way: "My prayer is not that you take them out of the world but that you protect them from the evil one."(John 17:15) It was never God's intention to take us out of the world we live in. Why have we decided that it's ok to take ourselves out of the world?

Paul the Apostle also agreed on this point when he wrote, "I have written you in my letter not to associate with sexually immoral people— not at all meaning the people of this world who are immoral, or the greedy and swindlers, or idolaters. In that case you would have to leave this world." (1 Cor 5:9-10)

Have we left this world for some virtual, "Clean World" where everything is Christian? Do we have to get our Christian Milk from a Christian Cow? Do we have to freshen our breath with Christian Mints? Do we have to drink Christian Soda and bowl at a Christian Bowling Alley?

This idea of withdrawl from the culture is evil. It is not God's plan for us. It is the fruit of our own sinful, selfish desires to be safe and comfortable, and in some cases to make money and perpetuate an industry. It is demonic, and it hinders the Gospel message by isolating the agents of change (you and I) from those who need "the hope that lies within", and I want nothing more than to see it die a horrible, agonizing death so that God's people can begin to learn what it means to be human and start relating to other human beings who are sinful and hopeless without Christ, just like everyone else.

The Christian Subculture is essentially a wall that we build to keep ourselves from the world. Like the Berlin Wall, or the Great Wall of China, or Hadrian's Wall, or the wall between Palestine and Israel, it is an artificial border designed by us, the supposed followers of Jesus, in order to isolate us from the ones we are commanded to love.

Jesus would want us to smash down that wall. It's the same wall built by the money changers in the Temple at Jerusalem which kept the common people from entering the house of God. Those systems were also man-made. Those systems also invovled making a buck on the sale of faith and the commercialization of God's name.

I'm not sure where to find the hammer big enough to knock down this wall we've built, but I long to find one, and when I do I will let it swing.

Keith
***
NOTE: THIS IS A BLAST FROM THE PAST WHICH I'VE UPDATED AND REPRINTED HERE FOR YOUR EDIFICATION.

Cleaning House

I updated links to the Ray Mayhew article "Embezzlement: The Corporate Sin of Contemporary Christianity", the Walter Kirn article "What Would Jesus Do?" and my 3 part interview with Dallas Willard on the left-hand nav bar.

In addition, I updated the link to download the Jackie Pullinger and David Ruis mp3 sermons from last year's Non-Con.

Also added links to Lionel Wood's "The Gospel in 3-D" and Heather and Daniel Cosby's blog.

Note: The Ray Mayhew article is only available as a free PDF which is obtained by emailing me directly at "elysiansky" (at) hotmail dot com with the subject line: "Embezzlement".

FYI- I am randomly accessible at Facebook and Twitter, if you use those.

Blessings,
kg

UNITY?

God has been teaching me lately that I have to be ready to speak the truth in love. Often I am eager to speak the truth, but I forget to remember that I am commanded to love the people I am speaking to.

What makes it difficult is that, even with my best efforts, there are those who will respond to me in anger, and who will also forget to love me, especially when it comes to issues concerning the Church such as paid pastoral staff, tithing, running the church like a business, etc.

I am currently trying to reconcile and make peace with a few of my friends who have more vocally and publicly opposed me here on my blog. It's slow going, but I believe it's a worthy effort, especially in light of the fact that I am called to be a peace maker, and to take up the ministry of reconciliation, and to live at peace with all men - as far as it depends upon me.

Of course, the aim is not to bring my friends around to my way of thinking. In fact, whenever I do finally sit down with my friends my hope is that we do not debate or argue or discuss these issues that divide us at all. Instead, I hope that we can remember what we hold in common and agree to love one another even though we know we disagree on these issues.

So, yes, I will continue to write and to speak and to publish articles regarding the New Testament ideas of leadership, church modality, the priesthood of the believer, making discisples, caring for the poor, and everything else I have always been passionate about. My calling has not changed. But my approach may have.

For the last several months I have all but stopped writing my book, which is about the New Testament teachings concerning the people of God as the new temple, the new priesthood and the living, daily sacrifice. Why? Because I needed to make sure that I was really hearing from God about this subject and to be certain that what I was saying was done in love.

During this time I even went so far as to invite men of God, some of them my peers, some of them far above me in maturity, to rebuke me and to correct me on these issues. I needed to know if I was really off base or if my reading of the New Testament on these issues was accurate.

After this season of introspection and evaluation, I feel even more passionate about the book, and the subject of new testament ecclessia, but I have resolved to write a book that communicates these ideas in a more winsome and less provocative fashion.

I still haven't shaken my position that much of the traditional church today is a Jewish Temple-based form of Christianity which attempts to repair the veil that God ripped in half as Jesus finished his work upon the cross.

There is still, and always will be, a little of the reluctant radical in me. All that I'm writing about and the way I'm living my life and practicing my faith really is all about crossing those boundaries and many, many people are pretty upset that I would dare to think this way or encourage others to behave as if none of the Temple Christianity was valid (because it's not based on the New Testament).

I'm also learning that God is still working on my attitude and my heart in all of this, too.

My challenge is to point out these things and oppose these man-made ideas while still maintaining a sincere love for my brothers and sisters in Christ - even when they oppose me and respond hatefully.

Maybe there isn't a way to speak these things and write these things without severing these bonds, but if there is a way, I know I must try, for the sake of the Body and for unity among brothers.

Peace,
kg