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Coming to my 400th podcast of “Beyond Everything Radio” feels like a big deal to me, but in the larger frame of reality, it’s hardly anything at all. What seems like eight years of disciplined study, discovery, and execution from my perspective, could mean very little, if anything, to you. I had envisioned doing something elaborate…special…something a bit more “marketable” that I could share with a wider audience. Then all the flow stopped. I got stuck. I spent some time bouncing between self-pity and confusion. So I reached out to many of you and your feedback has truly helped me get over myself.

Thank you.

I look at the world through all my spheres of connections, such as; those I’ve worked with in the biotech industry, those I’ve known through mountain biking, those I’ve served with in church and parachurch ministries, friends from college or high school, and all of those who know something about me through social media. Each week I consider all of you and prayerfully reflect upon the content I create…always contemplating what might ignite a spark in your soul, and cause you to look deeper. From my side of the microphone, I feel like I have this message which is so timely, and desperately needed for our current state of the world. Yet, between the headphones, so much of this subterranean process rarely gets through.

Over the years I’ve been told the recipe for success. “Kev, you gotta talk about politics, or current events.” When I have, I’ve seen posts reach 30,000 people in a week. But when I get back to what is truly important, nearly all the gains are lost as the unsubscribes roll in. Two steps forward…two steps back. I have no will to produce surface level content, or opinions, or to join the milk toast emulators whose true goal is self promotion, not the burden in their soul. Our world thinks “surface skimming” is a big deal and we are glued to screens as we endlessly scroll and scroll. I see this as the anesthesia for the masses.

I’ve been delivering my podcast message weekly for over eight years and it feels like a big deal to me, but not so much to others. Maybe I’m just self absorbed, but if that were the case, wouldn’t I have lunged after the click bait and the “grow your base” strategies, which I’ve never done. My audience is more of a virtual community which grows by word of mouth, and by design, I have zero sponsors and generate zero revenue. Another reason my message doesn’t seem like a big deal could be that I’m just not that good at saying what I want to say. I own that possibility. Yet I’ve sought coaching and received a lot of help from experts in this field who have given me a lot of helpful pointers. Of course the reason many of you shared with me is that the wider audience can’t hear it until each person is ready. Whatever the reason, I’m not deterred from broadcasting week after week this message because the only real reason I do so is because I’m compelled from the deepest part of my being.

To me, God is a really big deal. To much of the world…not so much. I think God has lost popularity because God has been conflated with world religion and the we mostly see negative effects of fundamentalism. In every sphere of my life, I’ve had amazing conversations about God, faith, belief, religion, and how it all winds up in the warp and woof of life. It’s not easy extracting the biblical revelation from 2000 years of church history, but I’ve learned that people do want to talk about God, people do have questions about the Bible and other sacred texts…they just don’t want to talk about it with most Churchgoers. I guess this is where my Bible teaching is so different…it’s not FUBU (for us, by us). In other words, I don’t teach it as a paid clergy with the agenda of getting you converted, or trying to talk you into joining a church, a denomination, or convincing you to subscribe to believe only one particular way. God is a really big deal, but talking about God is so tiny compared to experiencing God. Since day one, I’ve been a voice in the modern wilderness, pointing to that experience, while respecting each persons unique journey.

When the religious mind first hears this message I bring, it reacts in pious indignation assuming I must be wrong, and then tries to marginalize me. Fundamentalists always wants to argue and try and discredit me but it cannot do so from a biblical perspective. Most sheeple are over-identified with their religion or denomination of choice because it makes them feel certain and superior to others. It’s not surprising they would reject someone who reveals that religion was never the design, never got it right, is likely an idol, and therefore isn’t worthy of such devotion. Fewer still can see that this is not my message, but that of Christ’s and has been since day one, I’m just bringing it to the foreground. Despite the claims of those employed by the machinery, I’m not a heretic, I’m not angry or disgruntled, I’m just a person, who speaks Truth to power, with the sole purpose of freeing all comers from those institutions to which they are over-identified. I’m leading you into an exile where you will thrive. This journey of self-discovery is a spiritual journey through which we all discover something about God as well.

Jesus warned his disciples to “Beware of the leaven of the Pharisees and of Herod.” I guess that’s my message too. It sort of summaries the heart of nearly all of my first 399 podcasts. The “leaven” or hypocrisy of the religious mind permeates the institutional powers of religion, State, science, sports, business, academics, and family. It’s clear once you begin to see the world is more religious now, not less religious. Leaven means that a person lives “under a mask” (upo-kryto), they are not their true self, they are a pseudonym, a false self, or as I call it…a fake ID. It may not seem like a big deal to you that I strive to keep you from being validated by some institution or principality in life, but to me, there is no bigger deal in our life… because that is a life built on idolatry, and cannot succeed. Like Jesus, we are all tempted to be named by “all the kingdoms of the world”, but we must say: “Be gone, Satan! For it is written, “‘You shall worship the Lord your God and him only shall you serve.’”

Somewhere in between me and those who may consider this podcast…whether or not it’s a big deal…is a story being told out of each of our lives. It’s one where we are either over-identified and “rise up” empowered with the leaven of religion and State, or one where we are liberated from institutional overreach, and marginalized to an exile while moving back into a tangible and believable experience with our Maker. When I think of it that way, I can’t think of a bigger deal than that.

What about you?

May I invite you to give my podcast a listen so you can hear your true name inviting you to “come fourth”? Try it for three months and if your perspective isn’t changed, simply do as so many have before you, and unsubscribe.

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And to all of you who have been with me during this journey. Thank you from the bottom of my heart. I could not have done this without your friendship, feedback, prayers, and engagement.

Peace to you all.