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Monthly Archives: July 2005
The Artist They Wrote A Song About Me
No kidding… these guys really got to me. I received the CD in the mail yesterday and now I’m sharing – with their permission.
MPEG Audio: [ mp3 Podcast] Stereo, 3.7 MB
Real Player: [56 K Dialup] [Broadband]
It all started back when they sent me a CD in the mail, a compilation album. Unsolicited. And I was all like, “what the…?” but then I listened and it kind of grew on me. Not sure why. So I wrote a review of the album, not expecting anything back. And now this!
Interesting timing because I have been seriously considering giving up art. Over the previous 48 hours or so, some negative comments about my work got me to thinking and wondering if it is all worth it or not.
Okay, sure, I paint a bit compulsively at times, but this stuff is way too expensive for just a hobby. Sales have been up and down (you know, “despite the great economy”) so I was starting to think that maybe I’m just full of crap and really suck as an artist but am too stupid to know it…
And then Moe’s Haven kind of saved the day. A big hug to them. You can visit their web site at www.moeshaven.com.
Sunset Painting of Haystack Rock at Cape Kiwanda Oregon
A summer storm sunset, only at this time of year does the sun line up along the edges of Haystack Rock like the monolith in 2001 A Space Odyssey.
Haystack Beach Sunset
Oil and Acrylic on Canvas
24 x 36
Rendered in my own abstract impressionist style, the elements of realism are strong yet the abstractions, particularly of the beach rocks, play with your mind. It was the kind of sunset I’ve been looking for… for a long time.
Power of Faith, The Greater Power of Falsehood
Awaken, sleepers … I’m talking about those who have always considered themselves to be people of faith but who never think of themselves as worthy to speak out in defense of that faith. That’s FAITH, not legalism!
Of course, that’s exactly the way one should be. Christianity has never had a problem with people who just try to live their own lives according to the principles Jesus taught. The bane of Christianity has been the hyper-arrogant who declare themselves to be the spokesmen of God. Those types have plagued religion from the beginning of time, and mostly we’ve been able to just put up with them. Lately, though, it seems as though catastrophe is looming. Our faith is under fire. But the terrible menace to true faith is an insidious cancer that is eating up the church from the inside.
The biggest threat to the Christian faith in America is NOT evolution. The biggest threat to Christianity, the one that has the genuine power to destroy it, is the threat from within; it is the multi-headed monster of theocratic fundamentalism.
I’ve spoken of this before and if you are a regular reader to this site you have seen that others have spoken out as well. The Black Death of Phariseeism is strangling the life out of the church, turning it into a mirror image of Islam’s wahabi-ism – an American Taliban.
I’m one of those who didn’t want to speak out. I thought that religious leaders of good conscience would tell the world of the many Biblical warnings about the false prophets of legalism. But the leaders have remained silent.
The American Taliban’s power of falsehood brings wealth and political influence, and the ability to intimidate and coerce real people of faith. Gaining such power requires deception, it is true, and this is the sign that these people are not the spokesmen of God they claim to be.
Children, listen to me, you cannot let these agents of the Devil disguised as ministers destroy that which has taken 2000 years to build. I know you want to just mind your own business, that’s what marks you as a true person of faith – but allowing these sinister ministers to be the voice of Christianity is killing us all and driving millions away.
It doesn’t matter how big their churches are; some of the biggest churches harbor the biggest false prophets. All having a big church proves is that the pastor is a master manipulator and organizer, but you have to ask yourself why they would work so hard to build for themselves great temples and high-paying jobs if they are humble servants of God. The answer seems clear. Mega-church often means mega-liar and mega-pharisee. Not all, but MANY. Beware.
Don’t let the bad guys win. This is one time that it is up to us. The power of faith works from within; it is not a property of some organization.
Religion – Christianity’s False Prophets
For years now, I’ve been warning you that false prophets disguised as angels of light have invaded and taken over the church in the form of televangelists and megachurch ‘pastors’ and now the church is finally starting to wake up – or so I hope.
It isn’t really a new message. Paul, not the nicest guy in the New Testament, warned you about false prophets disguised as angels of light (2 Cor 11:13,14). What did you expect, hmm? Did you think they would come to your church and say, “hi, I’m a false prophet. Let me deceive you.” No, they come and say, “The Lord has spoken to me..” ..and you listened.
But now some evangelicals are starting to listen to my words and the warnings of the New Testament. Just this past week, evangelical religious leaders rebuked Pat Robertson for damaging the Christian movement. Of course, he isn’t the only one at war with the true faith: Jerry Falwell and James Dobson also hold the title of being part of the unholy false trinity. But they have plenty of help from megachurch pastors who use brainwashing instead of the gospel to manipulate their followers into becoming Pharisees instead of Christians.
It is somewhat heartening to see a few evangelicals speaking out, but it’s an hour late and a dollar short as far as I’m concerned. These guys left me alone out there to sound the warning – for YEARS. Now they’re finally saying “oh yeah, I guess we should say something about that.” Thanks a lot, ‘pastors.’
From the article above, Richard Land, president of the Southern Baptist Convention’s ethics and religious liberty commission, has said he was “stunned and appalled that Pat Robertson would claim to know the mind of God concerning whether particular tragic events … were the judgments of God.”
Yes, what have -I- been saying all this time, huh? Nice of you to finally wake up, though. But Pat isn’t the only one, as I have said. Several other televangelists and megachurch ‘pastors’ use this same technique of predicting the PAST and purporting to speak for God.
Of course, for Rick Warren, Robertson, Falwell and Dobson there is no such thing as bad news. These cynical master manipulators of the faithful simply use criticism to “prove” they are being persecuted because they “speak for God.”
Also from the above cited article: Brian Britt, director of the Religious Studies Program at Virginia Tech, said Robertson’s remarks aren’t just “off-the-wall, crazy uncle stuff” but part of a strategy that earns him headlines. When people attack Robertson, he wins sympathy for appearing to be an underdog, Britt said. “It reinforces an image of Christianity as a persecuted religion, a religion that is being hounded by the secularists out of the public square, rather than a dominant and (psychologically controlling) force.”
It’s a no-lose situation for the false prophets, and they will continue to mislead the more gullible among those of faith.. sadly. I know I can’t stop their evil ways, but I will continue to do my best to try to hold back the tide of Pharisaic legalism and the coming human sacrifice cult that it will engender.
But I want to thank those few evangelicals who have decided to join the fight, however late. I can use all the help I can get.
