I’m Karsten. I’m a writer, speaker, and consultant based out of Sacramento and San Francisco, California. I also help lead a local house church in Sacramento that embodies the culture and values found here at Real Hope Rising.
This is Real Hope Rising; a beacon lighting the way for a whole new breed of Truth Seekers. Here we doubt freely, listen openly, grow towards wholeness, refuse repression, and embrace all individuals.
We serve as a voice for those that have been silenced or marginalized. We speak things that no one else is saying, and have the conversations that others are afraid to talk about. This is a safe place to seek, encounter and discover the real God that we mostly ignore in our western, convoluted idea of “church” and “Christianity”.
Our doubt keeps us from trusting our dogma, because Truth will never fit in any one perspective.
Moving towards wholeness keeps us connected, because if we don’t give space for all parts of ourselves we can never heal.
Refusing repression keeps us thriving, because the more we allow repression of ourselves and others, the more small and empty our lives become.
Embracing all individuals keeps us human. We were made to belong. When we allow others to belong to0, we discover ourselves as we discover each other.
No matter who you are, you belong. Come change the world with us.
Much of the Christian Church has trapped herself in a self built cage of religion, and both She and the world are dying as a result.
It’s time to break the cage. It’s time to escape the four walls of our sanctuaries and become living encounters of Love’s kingdom.
No more hollow Christianity. We want to see hope arise, and remove everything stopping humanity from establishing the eternal beauty, joy and wonder of the Kingdom of Heaven on this earth. We’re here to know God. To learn and grow. To discover what it means to be fully alive.
The philosophy here is to only provide life changing content, and that rarely happens on an exact schedule. We would rather sit on an idea and let it simmer than release something average. You deserve real hope, not empty promises.
So if you want to truly connect with what we are saying, click “follow” in the sidebar.
Thank you for whatever part you decide to play in our grand Truth experiment. Real hope is created when we do away with all the bullshit and engage in honest, fresh ways. More and more of us are finding real hope in our lives as we fearlessly pursue it. Hope is rising like the sun. Let’s enjoy the sunrise together.
Karsten Kaczmar
Founder and Chief Content Manager for Real Hope Rising
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Real Hope Rising 
Hi Brother Karsten I thought your name may have been simular that is why I titled my copies of my comments Kaz.
Love has many faces sometimes it can be tough not meaning the God causes us to suffer or brings hardship on us but we will if we don’t obey His guidelines and we will cause others hurt as well, that is what He means by the Law is fulfilled by Love, when you Love God and others you don’t Lie to them, you don’t steal from them, you don’t covert what they have, you don’t commit Adultly etc I Love God passionately and His Children and I would never seek to hurt Him or them .
Brother Karsten I won’t be just a reader on your blog and give superficial comments to make you feel good, I will obey what God asks both Men and Women to do, I will uplift you and encourage you with His Truth and I will correct and warn you with it also and I would appreciate if you feel the need to correct me to always confirm it with Scripture as I will do for you but while I’m visiting your Blog I will submit to your Authority but my only Teacher is Jesus Christ and what ever you share needs to be confirmed by Him,.
Karsten as a teacher of His word you will be more accountable then others so as your Helpmate and Sister in The Lord and as Iron sharpens Iron I will do so too and will thankfully accept the same from you.
Christian Love your Sister Anne .
Exactly. When you love others, you fulfill the Law. When you try to fulfill the law, you often end up not loving others. That’s why I say that the Law is Love, not law. Guidelines will be followed if you are living in Love. If you are not, then those guidelines will not be followed. That’s why I strive to stick to Scripture in all my posts, because Scripture teaches that it’s about Love, not guidelines. The guidelines are the natural outflow of Love. The whole “Faith without works is dead” thing. If your faith is alive, works of righteousness come from it. If not, not so much. And I love that you prayerfully take in what I post. I want God to show things to you, not me. He is your Teacher. I wouldn’t have it any other way. 🙂
Hi thekarstenkaz, to be honest I find it very hard to be close to a made up name, in my relationship with Jesus I know His Name not just His blog name, if I’m going to call you Brother then like me as your Sister Anne I need openness.
I believe in much of what you shared here and on your last post but I also follow God’s guidelines which were in the early Church and obeyed by the early Christians without God’s guidelines any Church will one day die no matter how loving they profess to be.
As an example… I do not in any way feel inferior as a Woman but I know and obey God in the role He has ordained for me and that is as a Helpmate to those Men in Authority over me such as my Husband first and Elders etc as long as they don’t ask me to disobey God He is my final Authority. He has has placed Men in Leadership and I am content in His choice. I’m one in Christ Jesus with all those who are in Unity with The Godhead these are my Brothers and Sisters and although I Love everyone thse who reject the Godhead are still my enemies and we can never be in Unity because to have God’s Unity we need to be in agreement and we will be if we have the mind of Christ.
I seek Unity with you Brother????????
Christian Love Sister Anne
I appreciate your concern. My name is Karsten. I just added my name to my about page so people will know. Sorry about that. I created my blog name with my name in it, so that people would know who I am right off the bat. My goal was not to be clever or even theological, but relational by just making my name “Karsten Kaz (my last name is Kaczmar)” my blog name. It is always my heart that people connect with me, and more importantly with God, not just with ideas. Like I say in my first post, there are enough bloggers with ideas out there, just being another one of those would be superfluous. 🙂
While I hear what you are saying about others that are not in God being your enemies, I think there is more to it. While we were yet enemies God loved us. He knew before the foundation of the earth that you and I would be His children. That’s a big deal. That means before I ever chose Him, He called me His child. I look at those around me through that lens. They are enemies just waiting to become allies; fear filled, lonely orphans desperate for an encounter with an overwhelmingly loving Father.
Also, in that post, notice that I try to put “religion” in quotes, because I’m not speaking of disobeying the rules that God has established, I’m interested in establishing His ultimate rule. Jesus said that all the law and commandments are summed up in one: Love God with all your heart, mind, soul, and strength, and love your neighbor as yourself. There is only one commandment it comes down to. Love. I believe that if a church is actually walking in Love, not just professing to be loving, it is impossible for that family to die, because Love never fails. Thank you again for your thoughts Anne. I’m glad to have you as a reader and sister.
Okay – so far I like what I see. To me there are a few “non-negotiables.” Beyond that I see freedom in the writings of the New Testament. I have interacted with Christians, Muslims, Hindu, Buddhists in various place around the world. We are a diverse world. But the simple message of Jesus is profoundly different. When a person sees that played out in everyday life – it is something they want.
You seem to have a genuine desire for discovering The Way as lived out by our Lord and Master, Jesus. Right on, brother!
I totally agree. There are things in scripture that the gospel is founded on, that we all need to recognize as truth, yet God gives us the freedom to discover Him through the context of relationship with Him and His people. It’s a beautiful set up. It’s also amazing to me how different cultures have different ways of responding to the gospel. There is a missionary named Don Richardson who went to an unreached people group and when he presented the truth of the gospel, they praised Judas as the hero! It was not until he discovered their peace child practice that he was able to reach them with Jesus. The “truth” of the factual story, or the “right answers” wasn’t enough, but Jesus the God-Man knows how to bring relationship to every person in every culture if we will only let Him. Thanks for the comment. Be blessed my friend!
That’s a great story. I have also heard many where the language is so primitive it takes years to discover how to, for example, relate one of the parables. We just need to remember how Jesus related during His earthly sojourn.
God bless you!
Hebrews 6:10