One day the professor introduced us to an old movie called A Face in the Crowd starring Andy Griffith.  Griffith plays a bum-turned-celebrity, who at one point meets a faltering politician who requests help from Griffith to become successful.

Many of us would think that in order to make a successful political campaign, one should find the issues that are relevant to the nation and prescribe solutions for them; immigration, debt, etc (notwithstanding this year’s election).  However, Griffiths’ response was basically the opposite. He advises the politician to get a dog, because people like dogs.  He tells him to stop pressing his lips together because it makes him look like a sissy.  He tell him to go by the nickname “Curly” because the man is balding, and could use the humor.

Why, you may ask?  Griffith answers this by introducing the politician to a tweedledum former convict who has has hired to be his consultant.   Griffith says, “If this stupid guy doesn’t like my show, there’s something wrong with it.  How are you going to get this man, this bush monkey, to vote for you?…You need a whole new personality.”  The politician follows his advice, and what do you know?  Without changing a word of his beliefs, the politician suddenly becomes an overnight success.

The concept behind this something that Marshall McLuhan came up with in 1967, called “the medium is the message”.  The idea is that the form in which a message is delivered is more important than the actual message itself.  It’s like the saying “It’s not what you say, it’s how you say it”.

Why does a picture on Instagram garner more interest than a post on facebook?  Because visuals are more interesting than words.

Why is the preamble to the Constitution treated like it’s straight from the mouth of God?  For one thing, it’s written in iambic pentameter – a Shakespearean type of poetry, which gives it rhythmic quality and lets it go down much easier.

Why did Freud refuse to listen to (most) music?  Because music manipulates us in ways that the mind can’t comprehend.  This is why I think why worship music is so popular, and why it never stops playing during the entire church service in some places – music is a drug that can pacify a congregation and allow us to accept whatever is being said…regardless of a Scripture’s actual context or relevant truth.

Why was Martin Luther successful in starting the Protestant Reformation, while Jan Hus a hundred years earlier was burned at the stake when they both had the same radical message?  For one thing, Luther had the advantage of the printing press, which allowed him to send his ninety-five theses to all of Europe within two months of him writing it.  Thomas Paine did the same thing with Common Sense in the American Revolution; as of today, in proportion to the USA’s population it still holds the record for highest sale and circulation of any book in American history.  Paine wasn’t even a Christian and published it anonymously, but because he quoted a lot of Scripture and structured it like a sermon, the Protestant colonies ate it up.

For another thing, in both the Protestant Reformation and the American Revolution, there was some serious coloring-outside-the-lines, shall we say.  Luther called the Roman Papacy a “rotten paunch, crude ass and a fart-ass”, a “truth werewolf”, and a “toad-eater and a fawner”.  In the American Revolution, what we today call the “Boston Massacre” was really no more than a street-fight initiated by rowdy Bostonians throwing stuff at British soldiers and challenging them to fire.  Need proof?  John Adams himself defended the British soldiers during the trial, and got most of them exonerated.  However, Paul Revere’s famous engraving of British soldiers firing at “innocent, peace-loving bystanders” fueled the Patriot cause for “justice” against the British, leading to the First Continental Congress less than a year later.

Neither personal insults nor manipulation of truth is what I would call fair play.  Yet to many, Luther and the Patriots are basically divinity.  History is written by the victors.  It all makes sense now why Tony Kushner, who wrote Angels in America, said “Art that’s polite is not much fun.”

The point I’m getting at is that perhaps we need to ask ourselves if our idea of truth can really survive without a marketing strategy.  To me, I had always believed that truth doesn’t need gimmicks, advertising or photoshopping; that a product speaks for itself.  But now, as I watch the church commit ever-increasing resources to in-building coffee shops, before-service donuts, new color schemes, fancy media displays, better singers, hip young pastors, and “Christian entertainment” – I can’t help but wonder, is this all REALLY in the name of communicating that “Jesus is the only way”?  And if it needs all this outside help…can the message still really be about an omnipotent God?

They make glorious shipwreck who are lost in seeking worlds.

-G.E. Lessing

You may have noticed this is my first post in a year.  This is because I suddenly had a problem with the name of my site.  Or rather, it had a problem with me.  It’s not that I didn’t have things to write about; it’s more that every time I would think of something I wanted to write, “live it real” would stare me in the face and say “say what you’re actually thinking.  That’s why you started this site, wuss”.  To which I would reply, “no, it’s too radical, nobody is going to like what I have to say, I don’t know how to say it”, etc.

However, I recently came to terms with the fact that “disliked radical ideas” are also often the seeds of revolutions.  So with that, I pose to you the following questions.

Do you want to make the world a better place?

At what cost?

What if it costs you your reputation?

Your friends?

Your family?

Are you willing to pursue truth and goodness no matter what the cost?  No matter where it leads?  Really?

And WHY do you have this odd ambition?

Ok.  Once you’ve got those answers, read on.

A Pew research study in November reported something that many of us may already have been aware of: the US public is becoming less religious.  http://www.pewforum.org/2015/11/03/u-s-public-becoming-less-religious/

Since 2007, the amount of religiously unaffiliated adults has risen 7%, church attendees have dropped 4%, those who say religion is “very important to them” has dropped 3%.  It’s a long report, and not entirely bad news for churchgoers, but it should be enough for us to take a good, hard look at the future of the church.  I’d also like to add that a 2010 survey found that it’s those under 30 who are most religiously unaffiliated (25% of the total population).

Being a 25-year-old senior theater major at a secular college in Philadelphia, I have had a front-row seat to understand the issues that today’s millenials have with religion.  This was, in fact, one of the reasons I came to college – to understand how the secular world worked.  Having grown up in the Mennonite church (my parents were both pastors for a time), gone to a charismatic Bible school in California for a year, and traveled on numerous international missions trips, I couldn’t understand how something I had found so great could be so disdained by my fellow young folks.

Well, I do now.  At least, I understand it a lot better than I did before.  And it’s turned my world upside down.

See, the church teaches you that the reasons people don’t want to become Christians is that Christians are hypocrites, gay-haters, pedophiles, shysters, and so on.  But from sitting close and listening to what people actually have to say for themselves, I’ve realized that the world’s view of Christianity is much more complex than I ever imagined.  As such, the answers to the questions I’ve had are also complex, lengthy, and not altogether pretty.

But I do have some answers.  And with the articles I’ll be publishing over the next few months, I’m going to share them with you.

I’m committing this next phase of liveitreal to Christians who have felt perpetually frustrated by the fact they were told that they could turn the world upside down with their faith, but have realized – when they’re truly honest with themselves – that they generally feel ineffectual, confused, and stagnant.  I’m writing for people who felt like the “thrill of the hunt” disappeared when the responsibilities of adulthood came crashing down on them.  And I’m writing for those who have felt alone in their walk because they’re felt that maybe they’re the crazy one for thinking that maybe there’s something wrong with church.  You’re not alone.  So come what may, I invite you on this journey.

One more thing.  Since the articles to come are intended mainly for Christians, I feel it necessary to outline 10 characteristics of truth according to the Bible, so I can show you how I’ve arrived at my discoveries.  I hope to show you that nothing I’ve discovered falls outside of the calling of the Spirit.  You may think this is overdoing it, but I’m saying these now so that you won’t come crying to me and calling me a heretic when I start to say what I have to say.  All I’ve done is take these ideas and run with them…a little farther than I think many of us have been willing to go.

You can find these characteristics at the link below:

Ten Characteristics of Truth.

And with that, we take our first step.  This journey will certainly lead us into the unknown, but if there’s one thing through all this that I have come to believe in even more, it’s that when we know the Truth, it will set us free.

“Though it cost all you have, get understanding” (Proverbs 4:7).

But it was through this and other situations like it that I have come to believe that fear is NEVER necessary. For some of us, if we really think about it, this probably sounds ludicrous. Fear is so common, heck – we use it as a tool to make us do things: “If I don’t go to work I’ll lose my job and be out on the street”, “If I don’t wear deodorant I’ll be a bachelor forever”, etc.

But I’m telling you, I believe living fearlessly is possible, and I’m going to give you the lowdown on what I’ve learned.

Now, there can be different ways to understand fear, but the kind of fear I’m talking about here is what you get when you feel like you’re going to experience pain of some sort; most often, it’s related to the possibility of losing something.   This could be money, could be a relationship, maybe even your life. It could also include things that you don’t even have yet.

It’s simple enough, and the best way I’ve found to combat the fear of losing something is to put my trust in something that can’t be taken from me. Cue Braveheart music – “They may take our lives, but they’ll never take OUR FREEDOM!” If the most valuable thing in your life is something that is unchangeable, you will never fear.

What sort of things could be unchangeable, you ask?  Well, for me, this is being loved by God. I do not understand this love completely, but then again, who ever did understand love completely?  It may not always seem tangible, but I sure feel like the fruit is.

Does this mean that I never had my heart rate quicken or terrifying thoughts cross my mind when I was going through scary stuff?  No.  It’s like Nelson Mandela said, “I learned that courage was not the absence of fear, but the triumph over it. The brave man is not he who does not feel afraid, but he who conquers that fear.”

As you probably figured out, the imminent death I had potential to fear didn’t really happen.  Perhaps the acronym for fear (False Evidence Appearing Real) was correct.  But it wasn’t having faith that I’d stay alive that got me through it. It was realizing that even if I didn’t live, I’d still be loved by God. See how it works? I mean, anyways – “every man dies, not every man truly lives!” (sorry. Braveheart will stop interrupting).

That’s really the basics of it, but I’d also like to point out that we gain a lot of comfort in knowing that we did all we can do in a situation.  Check out the diagram on the left to see what I mean.  We tend to inherit a lot of problems from watching the news, for example, but we often don’t stop to ask ourselves what exactly we’re gonna DO about them.  Are you going to drop out of school because of rising tuition costs?  Gonna fight wildfires in California?  Fly overseas to give dictators a piece of your mind?  Good.  Then stop worrying about it.  Like Jesus said, “Who of you by worrying can add a single day to his life?”  (Luke 12:25)

If you’re dealing with fear somewhere in your life, I suggest you ask yourself what you’re really afraid to lose.  Is it possible that there is something bigger for you to depend on for your happiness than that thing?  Because if you can find that, not only will the fear leave, but without that pressure to keep something, you’ll actually treat that thing better and increase the likelihood of keeping the thing anyways.

I’ll wrap up with some of the lyrics from a song I wrote during the aforementioned time that I was battling fear. I hope that you too will be inspired to catch this mysterious peace that comes from being okay no matter what happens. “What will you do with that freedom? Will you FIGHT?” (Sorry. Braveheart music was still playing.  Bagpipes out).

But now I’m standing here again

I got nothing to lose

They can steal all my money

Take my life if they choose

But they can’t ever take away a single ounce of peace

They can’t take away the Spirit in this sweet release

They can’t touch me here

They can’t get inside

Here I will always be safe

I can always hide

No fear in here.

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In God I trust, I will not be afraid.  What can mortal man do to me?

-Psalm 56:11

Joel’s obsession with the Panthers fits perfectly with the definition of “cult”.  Because according to Wikipedia, a cult is “a religious or other social group with socially deviant and novel beliefs and practices”.  Google’s definition adds that they are “a relatively small group of people”.  Panthers fans are most certainly “socially deviant” and a “relatively small group of people”.  Nobody cheers for the Panthers.  Why would the hottest state in the USA have ANY need for a professional ice hockey team anyways? But this begs the question.  What if, for argument’s sake, Florida wins the Stanley Cup this year and everyone starts thinking they’re the hottest thing since…well, Florida?  Does that mean Joel is still in a cult?

This was a humorous illustration of a serious question.  Does it not seem odd to you that half of the definition of “cult” is that it’s “small”?  This has nothing to do with what they actually do.  And last I checked, truth doesn’t follow crowds. Margaret Mead once said: “Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world; indeed, it’s the only thing that ever has.”  By our definition, she’s basically saying: “never doubt that a thoughtful, committed cult can change the world.”  But suddenly that quote doesn’t sound so pretty.  WHY?

I mean, Rosa Parks was “socially deviant”.  The Wright brothers were “novel”.  And America’s Founding Fathers were a “small group of people”.

I’m starting to think that “cult” is simply a catchall to label something that, sometimes, we haven’t actually taken the time to understand.  Could you honestly say you’re only interested in things that are considered “normal”?  Would you WANT to admit that?  If you find yourself on the fringes of anything in ANY way – movies you like, music, social groups and activities – congrats!  In a sense, you’re in a “cult”!

Now, I’m not saying that “normal” is always bad.  My concern is when we judge how right something is by how many other people are doing it, or just because it’s “different”.  If we all did that, how would anything EVER change?

I think this principle is at play in this line from Henrik Ibsen: “Friends are a costly luxury, and if one’s capital consists in a calling and a mission in life, one cannot afford to keep friends…many a spiritual growth is crippled within one.” I think this principle is also in this saying from Einstein: “the one who follows the crowd will usually get no further than the crowd. The one who walks alone, is likely to find himself in places no one has ever been.”  In a sense, even the scene in Facing the Giants where the guy does the Death Crawl across the entire football field demonstrates my point.  The player’s inability to see the norm allowed him to surpass the norm…we tend to be limited by the beliefs we are surrounded with.

I’ll admit it – I’ve been a part of groups that have been labeled “cults”.  No kool aid was offered, though I’m sure one could find other things that might sound cult-ish about them.  But before putting your judging-cap on, take a hard look at your own life first.  Things that people would associate with cults – leaders attempting to control people, people breaking from families, brainwashing – I mean, those things are everywhere!  News brainwashes us pretty good.  The media is pretty controlling.  So is the IRS.  And traffic signals.  It seems to me that it’s all simply based on how much you’re willing to put up with!

This article is not meant to be an encouragement to go off and join the cult next door.  It’s simply to remind us that not everything that’s small or deviant is bad.  Sometimes, it’s actually what we need.  Gandhi was labeled a heretic once.  But he overcame it and changed the world.  He described the process like this: “First they ignore you, then they laugh at you, then they fight you, then you win”.  Like Curry Blake says, today’s heretics are tomorrow’s heroes.

No one would admit to only believing what society tells us, but where to actually GET your moral compass from – ay, there’s the rub.  I’m not going to preach to you where to get your beliefs, but personally I have tried to not even get my compass from humans in general.  That’s a story for another time!

Remember to run with the little guy every once in awhile (as long as they’re not manipulative and controlling).  As I wrote in my high school yearbook – “only dead fish go with the flow”!  And hey, there’s no culture without a cult, right?  (Just kidding.  Just had to put that in somewhere).  Go Panthers!

Gabrielle’s Story

The disease hit me completely out of left field in 2010.

After many tests and possibilities eliminated, the diagnosis finally came: systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE).  Lupus is an incurable autoimmune disease, where your immune system starts to attack your own body (soft tissues and muscles, mostly).  They caught it early, which kept long-term organ damage at a minimum, but the inflammations that it gave caused me more pain than I had ever experienced before in my life (and that’s saying something).  It left me extremely weak and sore, to the point where, some days, I couldn’t even pick up a bowl to make myself cereal.  It also inflamed my skin to the point where wearing certain types of clothing could cause intense pain.  I also had the common lupus rash on my face, and hair loss and bruising.

It was the summer of 2013, almost four years after I had been diagnosed (and, in that time, done a Be Your Own Beautiful photoshoot that you can see here), that I began to realize and accept that Jesus is in the business of healing, and that my healing was about to come. On the morning of July 19^th, God informed me that my healing from lupus would come that night. I already had plans to go that evening with a friend of mine, Katie, to a Christian service – God’s perfect timing began to make sense.

As the speaker’s message came to a close that evening, they announced that they were going to go into prayer. The prayer turned into prophesying over people in the room, and I was the first person that they came to prophesy over. I, of course, thought: “This is it! This is my moment of healing!”

Though amazing words of prophecy were spoken over me, none were about healing. The speakers moved on to others, and I was left a bit confused. As the speakers continued praying for others, God instructed me to go and sit in the middle of the aisle. My flesh tried to rebel, but I did as I was instructed.

Shortly after, much to my dismay, the time of prayer ended and people were dismissed for the night – as I was still sitting in the middle of the floor as instructed by God.  As time went by, I became ever more distracted, because I really had to go to the bathroom. I asked God for permission, and upon being told I could get up, I went to the bathroom.  I then headed back out to the main room and God directed me to just remain standing and worship Him. So, in the middle of a chatty room, I did just that. I was so concentrated on Jesus that I was a bit startled when Katie came up to me with a pastor and told me that the pastor felt led to pray for me.

The pastor didn’t even get five words out before the Spirit took me under. Laying there on the ground, I had no control over my body – just my mind. I was simultaneously out-of-body and so hyper-aware of my body that I could feel the Holy Spirit’s presence heavily on me. I began to smell something cool and slightly sweet – like the ideal temperature for your lungs to breathe in, with just the right amount of scent. God informed me that it was the smell of His presence. As I was breathing in this smell, this sensation, I could feel the scent of God’s spirit filling up my lungs. I could physically feel my lungs begin to cool, and it felt as if they were being cleansed – as if all the impurities were being pushed out. As I meditated on this sensation, it began to spread out from my lungs and into my torso. Slowly but steadily, I could feel it spreading into my arms and legs, my fingers and toes. The disease was fleeing every cell of my body.

God spoke to me a few minutes later: “Just look at my Presence”. My eyes opened, fixated on the ceiling right above me, and I physically saw the Holy Spirit, just as I had physically felt and smelled Him. It looked like a mirage of heat rising from pavement on a hot summer’s day. This image was the exact length and width of my body. After several minutes, the Holy Spirit began to dissipate – both the smell and sight of Him – and I could feel myself coming back around.

Katie helped me to sit up, and as I did, breadcrumbs started to fall off of the front of my shoulders and out of my hair. Katie and I questioned what these were, and we received the answer at the same time, “It’s manna from Heaven!”  Katie’s next question was if I was supposed to eat it, and God immediately responded with “no”.  Several other people asked me the same thing later, and God continued to say “no.”

So when I got home later that night, I left it by my bed in a little plastic container.  No sooner did I start to relax into bed with worship music than God instructed me to eat the manna, giving me the word: “the manna is the exact amount of Heaven needed to complete your healing”.  I understood that this was to be done alone with God; between me and my Jesus – the only one who was with me through every single moment of my suffering with lupus.

So I ate the manna.  And I found that for the next several days, because I was ill every time I went to the bathroom, that the impurities and the disease of the lupus were gradually draining out of my body.  Interestingly enough, I was healed from the disease – it was stripped clean out of my body – but I wasn’t healed from the effects of it. It took several more months for my body to gain back the strength and muscle mass it had lost from years of illness.

Now though, well over a year later, I am lupus free! I have no disease, no symptoms, and my blood work is coming back cleaner and cleaner from any and all marks of lupus every time I get it done. Praise Jesus!

If you have any questions or comments for Gabrielle, she would be happy to talk to you via email at gabriellepeace@yahoo.com.