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INNER CIRCLE: Awaken the Sleeper

INNER CIRCLE: Awaken the Sleeper

Last updated on: October 9, 2026 at 2:05 am by Keith Giles

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INNER CIRCLE: Awaken the Sleeper 2026-10-07T22:09:40+00:00 Keith Giles

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Ephesians 5:14

“Wake up, sleeper, rise from the dead, and Christ will shine on you.”

No one knows exactly where Paul is quoting from here, although he begins by saying, “It is said…” which, typically, refers to a verse of scripture. However, in this case, we have no Hebrew scriptures to reference that suggest anything like what Paul says here. So, this could have been a quote from a poet of that time period, or a well-known early Christian hymn that has been lost to us.

Wherever the saying originates, it fits perfectly into the Valentinian Christian ideology of our need to awaken from our illusion of separation and stand up (or rise from the dead) so that Christ may “shine upon you.”

What I find quite fascinating is how the progression of events in the proverb are essentially in the exact opposite order one would assume from the modern Evangelical Christian perspective. Rather than placing these events in this order:

Christ will shine on you
Then you will rise from the dead
And then you will awaken from your delusions

…this proverb reverses the order to this:

Awaken from your delusions
Rise from the dead and then,
Christ will shine upon you

That reversal is quite significant, because it doesn’t prioritize “Coming to Christ” in some religious ceremony where one responds to an altar call and recites a formulaic prayer in order to be saved. Instead, it prioritizes waking up from your illusions of separation and rising up from your state of being dead to your true connection to the Divine so that the Christ can shine upon your darkness and illuminate your consciousness.

This is quite the standard order of events described in many of the Nag Hammadi texts where we are urged to wake up, stand up, and walk in the reality of our Oneness with Christ and all humanity.

The fact that this proverb doesn’t appear to have originated with the Apostle Paul suggests that this was, indeed, and early Christian concept that was widely accepted by ancient Christ followers.

So, the first and most important thing that needs to happen is for us to simply wake up from our slumber.

Our separation from God is like a bad dream that we must awaken from, and once our eyes are opened, we can stand up and arise from our dead way of thinking – that we are separate from the Source of all life in the Universe – and come alive to the truth of our Oneness with the Divine.

Once we awaken and come alive to this reality, then the light of Christ shines down upon us and chases away all the shadows of darkness that kept us asleep and dreaming.

Keith Giles is the best-selling author of the Jesus Un series. He has appeared on CNN, USA Today, Coast To Coast with George Noory, BuzzFeed, and John Fugelsang’s “Tell Me Everything.” He co-hosts the Heretic Happy Hour Podcast.

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