In Memoriam...

"It's time to quit playing church and start being the Church (Matt. 18:20)" — Keith Green, as quoted by Melody Green in the introduction to A Cry in the Wilderness, Sparrow Press, 1993.

"I repent of ever having recorded one single song, and ever having performed one concert, if my music, and more importantly, my life has not provoked you into Godly jealousy or to sell out more completely to Jesus!" — Keith Green

"No Compromise is what the whole Gospel of Jesus is all about..."For I tell you...no man can serve two masters..." (Matt. 6:24). In a day when believers seem to be trying to please both the world and the Lord (which is an impossible thing), when people are far more concerned about offending their friends than offending God, there is only one answer...Deny yourself, take up your cross and follow Him!" — Keith Green, No Compromise album, 1978.

Keith Gordon Green (October 21, 1953 - July 28, 1982) was an American gospel singer, songwriter, and pianist originally from Sheepshead Bay, New York. Green is best known for his strong devotion to Christianity and his unwavering efforts to stir others to the same. Notable songs written by Green and/or his wife, Melody Green, include "I Don't Wanna Fall Away From You", "You Put This Love In My Heart", "Your Love Broke Through", and "Asleep In The Light", as well as the modern hymns "O Lord, You're Beautiful", "There Is A Redeemer", and "Create In Me A Clean Heart".


Early Life
Green took to music at a young age, and his talents were noted by major newspapers by the time he was only eight years old. Following a performance of Arthur Laurents' The Time of the Cuckoo, the Los Angeles Times wrote that "roguish-looking, eight-year-old Keith Green gave a winning performance," one that "stole the show". Green went on to play "Kurt Von Trapp" in a major production of The Sound of Music.

At the age of eleven, Green became the youngest person ever to sign with the American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers (ASCAP) when he published, recorded and released the song "The Way I Used to Be".

In his early teens, with more than 50 original songs under his belt, Green was signed to Decca Records. Decca had plans to make Green a teen-idol, regularly getting the young man featured in fanzines like Teen Scene and on popular television shows like The Jack Benny Show and Steve Allen's show. Time Magazine called Green "a prepubescent dreamboat". His dreams of stardom were shattered, however, when Donny Osmond stole his short-lived spotlight and Green was quickly forgotten.

By his mid-teens, Green became heavily involved in drug use, eastern religion, astrology, and mysticism. After experiencing a really horrifying "bad trip", he abandoned drug use and also became bitter towards philosophy and theology in general. In the midst of his skepticism, as Green described it, God's love 'broke through' his 'calloused heart'. He began on a new path 'with Christ as his guru', but had many 'spiritual struggles' and hardships along the way. He married Melody Steiner on Christmas day 1973, and the two became involved in the Vineyard fellowship in Southern California, where they were introduced to Bob Dylan.


Ministry
The Greens began an outreach program to their community by purchasing two homes (and renting five) to provide housing and care for prostitutes, drug addicts, and homeless people. Eventually, the couple and the rest of their group relocated to Lindale, Texas, where the Greens founded Last Days Ministries.

Green began to release a series of albums in the new Contemporary Christian music market in 1977, after being signed to Sparrow Records and working on their Christian musical album Firewind (1976) with 2nd Chapter of Acts, Terry Talbot, John Talbot, and Barry McGuire. Two years later, Keith would shock many in the industry by refusing to charge money for concerts or albums. He insisted that his new label, Sparrow Records, let him out of his contract. The Greens then mortgaged their home to privately finance the album So You Wanna Go Back To Egypt? (with a guest appearance by Bob Dylan), which was then offered through mail-order and at concerts for "whatever you could afford". As of May of 1982, Green had shipped out more than 200,000 units of his album - 61,000 for free.

Last Days Ministries also began publishing a self-described "small, colorful magazine" called the Last Days Newsletter. The magazine featured articles by Keith and Melody as well as contemporary authors such as David Wilkerson, Leonard Ravenhill, and Winkie Pratney, all of whom lived in the area, as well as reprinting work by earlier Christian workers such as Charles Finney, John Wesley, and William Booth and his wife Catherine. The newsletter had such an impact on the Christian community at the time that many of the articles were reprinted as tracts.


Death
Green was killed on July 28, 1982, when a small airplane owned by Last Days Ministries crashed on takeoff. Green had planned to give visiting friends an aerial view of the Last Days Ministries compound. Two of Green's children, three year old Josiah, and two year old Bethany, were also on board the plane, as was pilot Don Burmeister, and friends John and Dede Smalley and all six of their children. All passengers were killed in the crash. Crash investigators determined that the aircraft was nearly 500 lb (230 kg) overweight with 12 passengers and only 6 seats. Keith, Josiah, and Bethany Green are interred at Lindale Cemetery. He was survived by his wife Melody and two daughters, the youngest of whom was born after Green's death.

Existence

A man went to a barbershop to have his hair cut and his beard trimmed. As the barber began to work, they began to have a conversation. They talked about so many things and various subjects. When they eventually touched on the subject of God, the barber said: "I don't believe that God exists."

"Why do you say that?" asked the customer.

"Well, you just have to go out in the street to realize that God doesn't exist. Tell me, if God exists, would there be so many sick people? Would there be abandoned children? If God existed, there would be neither suffering or pain. I can't imagine a loving God who would allow all of these things."

The customer thought for a moment, but didn't respond because he didn't want to start an argument. The barber finished his job and the customer left the shop. Just after he left the barbershop, he saw a man in the street with long stringy, dirty hair and an untrimmed beard. He looked dirty and unkempt.

The customer turned back and entered the barber shop again and he said to the barber: "You know what? Barbers do not exist."

"How can you say that?" asked the surprised barber. "I am here, and I am a barber. And I just worked on you!"

"No!" the customer exclaimed. "Barbers do not exist because if they did there would not be people with long dirty hair and untrimmed beards, like that man outside."

"Ah, but barbers do exist! What happens is that people do not come to me."

"Exactly!" affirmed the customer. "That's the point! God, too does exist! What happens is that people don't come to HIM and do not look for HIM. That is why there's so much pain and suffering in the world."

I came across this story while surfing the net late last night after playing badminton. In a country that claims to be 'predominantly Christian', people tend to forget that a surprisingly large number of people actually try to refute the existence of God -- not to mention the equally large number of people who use science to marginalize the divinity of God. Of course, believing in the existence of a divine being is a lot different from actually obeying God -- but that is beside the point (I'll have another post on that subject, if i don't forget).

On the surface, many people claim to believe in God but deep inside they are also equally unsure about His deity or the inerrancy of the Bible. The Bible claims it is the word of truth, it says it is 'God-breathed', the Word of God -- but why should anyone believe it? The Bible doesn't try to convince a person to believe that, it only makes a simple statement,

"Jesus answered them, and said,
My doctrine is not mine, but his that sent me. If any man will do his will he shall know of the doctrine, whether it be of God, or whether I speak of myself..."

In other words, try it out. Find out for yourself. Then you will know if it really is the Word of God or just another book with divine pretensions.

Try it...

The Thinker

'The Lord knoweth the thoughts of man, that they are vanity...'
Psalm 94:11

'Search me, O God, and know my heart: try me, and know my thoughts: And see if there be any wicked way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting.'
Psalm 139:23-24

'All the ways of a man are clean in his own eyes; but the Lord weigheth the spirits. Commit thy works unto the Lord, and thy thoughts shall be established.'
Proverbs 16:2-3

'...Know thou the God of thy father, and serve him with a perfect heart and with a willing mind: for the Lord searcheth all hearts, and understandeth all the imaginations of the thoughts; if thou seek him, he will be found of thee; but if thou forsake him, he will cast thee off for ever.'
1Chronicles 28:9

'I care very little if I am judged by you or by any human court; indeed, I do not even judge myself. My conscience is clear, but that does not make me innocent. It is the Lord who judges me.'
1Corinthians 4:3-4

'For if a man think himself to be something, when he is nothing, he deceiveth himself.'
Galatians 6:3

'For I say, through the grace given unto me, to every man that is among you, not to think of himself more highly than he ought to think; but to think soberly, according as God hath dealt to every man the measure of faith.'
Romans 12:3

'For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, saith the Lord. For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways, and my thoughts than your thoughts.'
Isaiah 55:8-9

'For the word of God is quick, and powerful, and sharper than any twoedged sword, piercing even to the dividing asunder of soul and spirit, and of the joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart.'
Hebrews 4:12

Wisdom

“Well I am certainly wiser than this man. It is only too likely that neither of us has any knowledge to boast of; but he thinks that he knows something which he does not know, whereas I am quite conscious of my ignorance. At any rate it seems that I am wiser than he is to this small extent, that I do not think that I know what I do not know.”
“I know nothing except the fact of my ignorance.”
“One thing only I know, and that is that I know nothing.”
--Socrates

"Real knowledge is to know the extent of one's ignorance."
--Confucius

"Beware of false knowledge; it is more dangerous than ignorance."
--George Bernard Shaw



"For it is written, I will destroy the wisdom of the wise, and will bring to nothing the understanding of the prudent.

Where is the wise? Where is the scribe? Where is the disputer of this world? Hath not God made foolish the wisdom of this world?

For after that in the wisdom of God the world by wisdom knew not God, it pleased God by the foolishness of preaching to save them that believe...

But God hath chosen the foolish things of the world to confound the wise; and God hath chosen the weak things of the world to confound the things which are mighty;

And base things of the world, and things which are despised, hath God chosen, yea, and things which are not, to bring to nought things that are:

That no flesh should glory in his presence.

But of Him are ye in Christ Jesus, who of God is made unto us wisdom, and righteousness, and sanctification, and redemption:

That, according as it is written, He that glorieth, let him glory in the Lord."
1Corinthians 1:19-31

***

"Let no man deceive himself. If any man among you seemeth to be wise in this world, let hm become a fool, that he may be wise.

For the wisdom of this world is foolishness with God. For it is written, He taketh the wise in their own craftiness.

And again, The Lord knoweth the thoughts of the wise, that they are vain.

Therefore let no man glory in men. For all things are yours..."
1Corinthians 3:18-21

***

"Knowledge puffeth up, but charity (love) edifieth.

And if any man think that he knoweth any thing, he knoweth nothing yet as he ought to know."
1Corinthians 8:1-2

***

"Who is a wise man and endued with knowledge among you? Let him shew out of a good conversation his works with meekness of wisdom.

But if ye have bitter envying and strife in your hearts, glory not, and lie not against the truth.

This wisdom descendeth not from above, but is earthly, sensual, devilish.

For where envying and strife is, there is confusion and every evil work.

But the wisdom that is from above is first pure, then peaceable, gentle, and easy to be intreated, full of mercy and good fruits, without partiality, and without hypocrisy.

And the fruit of righteousness is sown in peace of them that make peace."
James 3:13-18

***

"But what things were gain to me, those I counted loss for Christ.

Yea doubtless, and I count all things but loss for the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord: for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and do count them but dung, that I may win Christ,

And be found in Him, not having mine own righteousness, which is of the law, but that which is through the faith of Christ, the righteousness which is of God by faith..."
Philippians 3:8-9

***

"And unto man he said, Behold, the fear of the Lord, that is wisdom; and to depart from evil is understanding."
Job 28:28

im-Maturity

What makes someone mature or immature? By what (or by whose) standards are they gauged?

I conceive maturity -- and immaturity, for that matter, to apply to many things. A person can be mature in age but immature in mind, immature in ways but mature of thought, mature emotionally but immature spiritually, immature in speech but mature physically. Who is more mature, the man who runs a business efficiently but cheats on his wife or the man who enjoys seemingly childish things but stays faithful to his wife and makes time for his family? The man who graduates with honors from the best univesity in the country but with no morals or the man who didn't get into college but makes sure to treat everyone fairly? The man who is childlike in speech but has profound thoughts and actions or the man who speaks of honor, duty, and courage but has no idea how to apply them in his life?

In the end, only God has the right gauge. When it comes to standards, only the standards of the one with the relevant authority will count -- all the rest become immaterial. Take constitutional law for example, the president may propose a bill that meets his standards but Congress may overrule him if the majority thinks it doesn't meet their standards. In the same way, Congress may pass a bill but if the Supreme Court finds it doesn't meet its standards it has the right to declare the bill unconstitutional. Of course, with God everything is under Him so all gauges should be set according to His standards. He never looks at the outward manifestations but at the inner man. Maturity according to His standards is gauged by the individual's maturity in His Word, his spiritual maturity. When maturity in that is attained, it can be applied to every aspect in life.

"But grow in grace, and in the knowledge of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ."
2Peter 3:18

"And beside this giving all diligence, add to your faith virtue; and to virtue knowledge; And to knowledge temperance; and to temperance patience; and to patience godliness; And to godliness brotherly kindness; and to brotherly kindness charity (Love). For if these things be in you, and abound, they make you that ye shall neither be barren nor unfruitful in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ."
2Peter 1:5-10

"As newborn babes, desire the sincere milk of the word, that ye may grow thereby."
1Peter 2:2

"But strong meat belongeth to them that are of full age, even those who by reason of use have their senses exercised to discern both good and evil." Hebrews 5:13-14

Weird For The World

"And hereby we do know that we know HIM, if we keep HIS commandments. He that saith, I know HIM, and keepeth not HIS commandments is a liar, and the truth is not in him. But whoso keepeth HIS word, in him verily is the love of God perfected: hereby know we that we are in HIM. He that saith he abideth in HIM ought himself also so to walk, even as HE (Jesus) walked." 1John 2:3-6

The Bible clearly states that anyone who claims to be a Christian must walk as Jesus walked. Many people will argue that this is too 'fundamentalist', too extreme. "How," they will say, "can you even expect anyone to come close to being like Christ?" Isn't that just what a Christian is supposed to be -- someone who follows Christ? Nowadays, the people liberally use the words 'Christian', 'Born Again', and even 'Born Again Christian' as if it were some kind of religion. Christianity is not a religion -- it's a way of life. It applies to an individual's whole life -- with each day, each action, each word and not just in church. People have a common tendency to compartmentalize their faith -- we usually act different in church, with friends, in business, even in our personal lives. Christianity is not something you can compartmentalize -- when one claims to be a Christian and calls Jesus "Lord", that person has a duty to do what pleases God. "And why call ye me Lord, Lord, and do not the things which I say?"

Of course, when you preach obedience a surprising number of people will voice their dissent.

"You're preaching fundamentalism!" "You're preaching salvation by works!"

Au contraire. We preach Christ, we preach Christ crucified. Without a doubt, salvation is by grace through faith and not of works but the moment we accept that grace, the moment we are made clean, we have a duty to obey Him. "If ye keep my commandments, ye shall abide in my love; even as I have kept my Father's commandments and abide in His love." "If a man love me, he will keep my words; and my Father will love him, and we will come unto him, and make our abode with him." One cannot accept Him as Savior but refuse to accept Him as Lord.

"But after that the kindness and love of God our Saviour toward man appeared. Not by works of righteousness which we have done, but according to His mercy He saved us, by the washing of regeneration, and renewing of the Holy Ghost; Which He shed on us abundantly through Jesus Christ our Saviour; That being justified by His grace, we should be made heirs according to the hope of eternal life. This is a faithful saying, and these things I will that thou affirm constantly, that they which have believed in God might be careful to maintain good works. These things are good and profitable unto men." Titus 3:4-8

Christians should live life not according to the dictates of the world but according to the dictates of His Word. Sadly, however, this is rarely preached in the pulpits. All over the world, you can hardly see a difference between a Christian and an 'unbeliever' -- nowadays, fornication, adultery, homosexuality and drugs are rampant in many churches. Most of the churches in the United States have even gone so far as to allow gay marriage and gay ministers. Conformity is the rule rather than the exception. As the Apostle Paul said, "This shouldn't be so." There should be a difference. In His Word everything is black and white, there are no gray areas.

"Do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God's will is -- His good, pleasing and perfect will." Romans 12:2

"For you have spent enough time in the past doing what pagans choose to do -- living in debauchery, lust, drunkenness, orgies, carousing and detestable idolatry. They think it strange that you do not plunge with them into the same flood of dissipation, ant they heap abuse on you. But they will have to give account to Him who is ready to judge the living and the dead." 1 Peter 4:1-5

"Religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless is this: to look after orphans and widows in their distress and to keep oneself from being polluted by the world." James 1:27

"Love not the world, neither the things that are in the world. If any man love the world, the love of the Father is not in him. For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh, and the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life, is not of the Father, but is of the world. And the world passeth away, and the lust thereof: but he that doeth the will of God abideth for ever." 1John 2:15-17

He has taken us 'out of the world', He has purified us unto himself 'a peculiar people, zealous of good works.' We are the 'lights of the world' and the 'salt of the earth' but how can we be lights if nobody can see a difference in our lives? If we apply Christianity to our lives, if we apply His Word to our lives, Christ will shine in everything we do -- in what we say, how we do things, how we react, with the company we keep, in the way we live, in the movies or shows we watch, in the music we listen to, even in the way we dress. As a rule, however, once you apply His Words to your life the world as a whole will view you as peculiar -- in other words, weird.

A few months ago, we heard about a comment that we in the bible study were weird. It may sound derogatory to some but we choose to take it as a compliment. Jesus himself tells us that "If ye were of the world, the world would love his own: but because ye are not of the world, but I have chosen you out of the world, therefore the world hateth you." It would have been normal for us to have been dismayed or puzzled by such a comment but we actually view it with a sense of humor. In fact, when I told Achi Joy about the comment she shared that verse and came back with an apt repartee. "That's why," she said, "from now on we will be called Weird For The World!!!" Touche...

Points to Ponder

"Many people profess Christianity. Very few live it -- almost none. And when you live it people may think you're crazy. It has been truthfully said that the world is equally shocked by one who repudiates Christianity as by one who practices it."

"Christianity has not been tried and found wanting; it has been found difficult and not tried."
G.K. Chesterton

"Christianity: an interesting concept; however, no one keeps true to the practice."
Thomas Squiers

"The world is equally shocked at hearing Christianity criticized and seeing it practiced."
Elton Trueblood

"Organized Christianity has probably done more to retard the ideals that were its founder's than any other agency in the world."
Richard Le Gallienne

"The greatest service that could be rendered the Christian peoples would be to convert them to Christianity."

"And hereby we do know that we know Him, if we keep His commandments. He that saith, I know him, and keepeth not His commandments, is a liar, and the truth is not in him...he that saith he abideth in Him ought himself also so to walk, even as He (Jesus) walked." 1 John 2:3-6

"And why call ye me Lord, Lord, and do not the things which I say?"
Luke 6:46

Information Is Not Knowledge - Einstein

"Knowing is not enough; we must apply. Willing is not enough; we must do." - Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

"Knowledge is of no value unless you put it into practice." - Anton Chekhov

"And unto man HE said, Behold, the fear of the Lord, that is wisdom; and to depart from evil is understanding." Job 28:28