"It was the last day of the feast." The 7 th chapter of John verse 37-38 refer to when" Jesus stands up and speaks with a loud voice, If anyone is thirsty let him come to me and drink. Whoever believes in Me, as the scripture has said, streams of Living water will flow from within him.
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John goes on to say Jesus was speaking of the Holy Spirit which hadn't been given yet.
       I was reading a book called "The Life and Times of Jesus the Messiah" by Alfred Edersheim, and the author refers to different rabbinical writings and historical writings.
        What I found interesting was the timing of Jesus, because He waits till the part of the feast where a priest has poured out a vessel of water that has been taken from the pool of Siloam (means "sent"). The people recite some psalms called the great "Hallel" (Psalm 113 to Psalm 118) and call upon God to work salvation.
        He waits till the ceremony is done and then proclaims it's fufillment as being in relationship to Himself. In the ceremony a drink offering of wine was first poured out. Let us not forget that the pouring out of Jesus blood was first and always should be first to the receiving the blessing of the gift of the Holy Spirit.
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Post Title. 02/06/2011
 
Breaking Though the Darkness
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This painting was created during a worship service last night. Last week a visiting speaker said that he had a word for our church and the word was breakthrough. At the time I had already gotten the idea for painting and was working on prelim drawings. Last night it came together under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit. I haven't cleaned it up yet and I call it "Breaking through the Darkness".
      Biblical spiritual darkness is always related to sin. The ten commandments and Jesus's commentary them help us to understand that sin is not only the things we do, ie adultery, murder and stealing, but even our attitudes of our heart, ie hate, lust and unforgiveness. The problem is that we will be judged. But God in His love has provided His own Son, who was innocent of sin, to be our substitute.
This is important because the bible says "The wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord".   
       He has shattered the wall of sin with His own death, are you willing to turn from your sin and embrace His forgiveness. The best thing to do is humble yourself before Him and allow Him to lead you to this fountain of Living water.         
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Art verses Idol 11/09/2008
 

When Israel to heart fell into sin the Bible says that the reason for their failure was the seeking of idols instead of God. In fact God ,through His prophets, said that they would become spiritually deaf and dumb just like the objects they worshipped. We should take this warning to heart when we seek to fill our lives with everything this world has to offer. Art becomes an idol when used in perverse ways like pornogrphy, or in mystical ways as in the eastern religious practices of meditation of objects. I'm sure there are others  too. Just the fact that millions of dollars are spent on what is really just paint on canvas shows a blindness in our culture. When we seek the One Who opens blind eyes and ears we can have a spiritual awakening and see ourselves as we really are. Then, by the help of God, we can become more like Jesus, as we follow Him.

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I just read a statement by Jackson Pollock in a book I was reading "Writing about Art". The statement was made in 1947 in a small magazine called "Possibilities". The author of the book was looking at what the artist had written to understand his art. Let me just quote what I found interesting ,  "When I am in my painting, I'm not aware of what I'm doing. It is only after a sort of get aquainted period that I see what I have been about." He is describing an unconscious working of the painting. It is this area where the spiritual world influences the physical world. In the case of Pollock, his alcoholism and other internal demons find expression in his paintings.  I haven't yet seen one of his works up close in a museum, but just seeing them in a book you can sometimes sense the demonic influence.

Abstract expressionism gives amplification to the inner spiritual man through painting much the same way rock and roll does through music.

 

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There was a time when art spoke the truth of the bible. It's true that many people were illiterate at that time.Thus elevating the artist to the place of spiritual teacher in the church. Somewhere along the line the message of truth became corrupted by the glorification of the art and the artist. A problem we still deal with today. When we shift our focus away from creating
art for self glorification and submit the gift back to the Giver, giving the glory to God. Then we can take back what has been stolen and on a personal level use artwork as a means of worship, a voice of prophecy and revive the spiritual teaching tool in the body of Christ.

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First Post! 09/27/2008
 
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