This is the first of a series of articles which come out of the experience of an artist whose work is in conflict with the dominant culture. Most of my paintings are of allegorical figures often inspired by the Renaissance and Romantic periods. Much of the great art of the past reflected, despite the Fall, humanity was still created in the image of God and therefore has great worth. But contemporary culture hardly reflects this exalted view of humanity, rather the subtext seems more like B.F. Skinner’s “To man qua man we readily say good riddance”. This diminished view of humanity runs through fine art as well as popular culture. It is most apparent in the culture’s morbid preoccupation with horror, the symbols of death certainly don’t reflect a reverence for life. I seem to be alone in recognizing the significance of these disturbing symbols in contemporary culture.

On October 9, we celebrated Columbus Day in America.  Well, most of us did.

The Los Angeles City Council voted recently to eliminate Columbus Day from the city calendar because Christopher Columbus mistreated Native Americans.  It saddened me to think that we may one day have a country with no holidays.  I asked myself, “What is the purpose of a holiday anyway?”  My answer—to remember a significant person or event so that we can never forget the extraordinary distinction and always maintain a heart of gratitude for it.

As Jesus looked forward in time to the closing days of time before the Rapture of the Church, He prophesied of a global atmosphere of angry emotions that would erupt: “And then shall many be offended, and shall betray one another, and shall hate one another”, Matthew 24:10.

The unrest around the world can be seen in microcosm in our own country – our nation is seriously divided politically and ideologically so much so that our disagreements have turned to violence. Cars have been burned, business storefront windows smashed, people injured and police attacked. Our political atmosphere has grown so poisoned that some think it’s actually acceptable to shoot political leaders, e.g. the June shooting of House Majority Whip leader Steve Scalise. More recently, a state congresswoman called for the assassination of the President! Political differences have now degenerated into a new level of personal hatred on display as we see in marches, late night TV hosts, cable news, newspapers, Hollywood and Broadway.

Violence and destruction are breaking out across the nation. None is more disturbing than at college campuses (U. C. Berkeley, Univ. Vermont).

As we see this stuff rolling out on T.V. screens we wonder…what's happening? But we are cautioned in Ecclesiastes 1:9 to remember: "...there is no new thing under the sun." These things have happened throughout history. There are two words which travel throughout scripture to shed some light and perspective on these times: murmuring and rioting, defined as:

We have all heard that we should store up treasures in heaven and that it is better to give than to receive. If you are a church-goer in America, the concept of giving is well-known to you. Our nation is a very generous nation and we are a very generous people. It is not uncommon for us, in the United States, to send money to far-away places to help strangers who have been struck by natural disasters or national tragedies. But how much should we give? To whom? And how often? These are more difficult questions with which we all wrestle.

“Fake News” has become the phrase De Jour. It’s defined as “accusation, rumors, and accounts for which there is no evidence but which nevertheless are reported as genuine news stories.”

When “Fake News” is presented as “Real News”, that presentation ruins the lives of the people it targets and distorts the events it reports on!