Melody Green - No Compromise: The Life Story of Keith Green

Words of Praise for Keith Green

I have recorded two of Keith Greens songs, and each time I sing them I am moved. I am proud to be connected in this small way to his profound ministry and thankful to God for people like Keith and Melody Green. Keiths legacy of faith lives on in the lives of people like myself who also want to be radical for Jesus!

Rebecca St. James,

Recording Artist and Author

Keiths abandonment was unique. His life was one that raised the standard and called me to go higher in God. His heart for prayer challenged and fueled my own desire for building a lifestyle of prayer. He handled money in a clean and unquestionable way that spoke volumes about his integrity. His boldness was unprecedented in our generation in America. He shattered the mold. This was foundational to the anointing of his life, which guaranteed his message would be heard.

Mike Bickle

Founder of the International House of Prayer

Kansas City, MO

After I turned sixteen, I was given some Keith Green music and told, Youve got to listen to this! I had never heard of Keith, but I memorized almost every song and was driven to get all of his teachings and music.

I continued to be inspired by Keiths preaching and music while at ORU, where I gained a heart for missions. I had heard Keith came there every year to do a revival. I thought, finally, Ill get to see him in concert. Then I found out he wouldnt be coming back.

The timeless nature of Keiths ministry keeps it relevant for every generation. I know thousands who love Keiths music, even though they were born after the plane crash.

In 1996, when our ministry headquarters moved onto the exact property in Texas where Last Days was for many years, I was humbled. After being so affected by Keiths ministry, to actually occupy the same grounds seemed like an honor we were certainly not worthy of.

We hope as we continue to reach young people and send them into the nations, Keith would somehow be excited and proudabout all thats happening in the name of the Lord, on the land where he walked and prayed for a harvest.

Keiths impact will forever inspire, challenge, motivate, and disciple young people who want to live on the radical edge of Christianity.

Ron Luce

President and Founder of Teen Mania Ministries

by Melody Green, 2008

No Compromise was originally copyrighted in 1989 by Melody Green and published by Harvest House Publishers. The 2008 edition has been revised and expanded, published by Thomas Nelson Publishers.

All rights reserved. No portion of this book may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any meanselectronic, mechanical, photocopy, recording, scanning, or otherexcept for brief quotations in critical reviews or articles, without the prior written permission of the publisher.

Published in Nashville, Tennessee by Thomas Nelson. Thomas Nelson is a registered trademark of Thomas Nelson, Inc.

Thomas Nelson, Inc., titles may be purchased in bulk for educational, business, fund-raising, or sales promotional use. For information, please email SpecialMarkets@ThomasNelson.com.

Unless otherwise indicated, all Scripture quotations are taken from the King James Version of the Bible.

Scripture quotations marked NIV are taken from the holy bible, new international version. 1973, 1978, 1984 by International Bible Society. Used by permission of Zondervan Bible Publishing House. All rights reserved.

The NIV and New International Version trademarks are registered in the United States Patent and Trademark Office by International Bible Society. Use of either trademark requires the permission of International Bible Society.

Scripture quotations marked NKJV are taken from the NEW KING JAMES VERSION. 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

Scripture quotations marked NASB are taken from the NEW AMERICAN STANDARD BIBLE, The Lockman Foundation 1960, 1962, 1963, 1968, 1971, 1972, 1973, 1975, 1977. Used by permission. (www.Lockman.org)

ISBN : 978-159555-164-1

Printed in the United States of America

08 09 10 11 QW 1 2 3 4 5 6

With all my love to
Rebekah Joy and Rachel Hope

In loving memory of
Keith Green
one of a kind who served One of a kind
and
Josiah David, Bethany Grace, and my mom Helen

CONTENTS

Once upon a time, in a generation steeped in much emptiness and spiritual darkness, a boy was born who was given a great gift. Deeply talented, trained as a musician, he had a unique ability (some would later say genius) to take spiritual truth and put it in the language and vocabulary of the common people of his time.

His biographical writings (now available for others to see) record the intensity of his struggles, his early odyssey into pathways that promised so much but sadly led nowhere. These records chronicle the search of a young man seemingly out of step with his agea young man not afraid to risk everything for what he found to be real and right. He was nothing if he was not intenseand in that intensity he questioned everything and everyone that seemed to hold a key to life and reality. Once he found that Answer (as we know now he did), nothing could turn him from it.

That commitment given, he began a lifelong crusade to see his world likewise transformed. No one who knew him would deny that he offended many. He often especially shocked established religious people in his youthful zeal to bring compassion, honesty, and reality back to the church. Perhaps the truest practical test of a real prophet is this: Does he make me uncomfortable? If he does, he probably is. If he doesnt, he probably isnt. After all, you never read in the Bible of a popular prophet except the false ones who always went around telling people the things they wanted to hear.

So this young man was blunt. He was funny. He was tactless and sometimes even crude. He steadfastly refused to accept the spiritual status quo. He quietly mocked hypocrisy with laughter while he laid bare his own struggles and fears with tears. Many of his songs are simply sermons set to musicprophetic pieces in harmony that set standards for a generation. He was controversial. He was criticized. He was cut off by some and almost canonized by othersbut he was impossible to ignore. His life and work literally affected millions around the world. Although gone from us now, he impacted his generation like a spiritual H-bomb, and the reverberations of his life, courage, and commitment will still be felt for generations to come.

Most people today who have never before had the opportunity to read his writings and journals know him only by his music. (After all, not everyone can write a song that will still be sung five centuries after his death!) We remember him today as the man who launched the Reformation; the musician with the hunger to know God and to make Him known by faith; the man called Martin Luther.

And this, of course, is not his story. But in another century, another culture, and in another country, on a smaller scale, with not as much time to accomplish a task, it might have been. Keith loved Jesus. He did what he could in the few intense years I was privileged to know him. If you have never had the opportunity to share in the life of someone like him who