Wake the Dead

Hi friends...

This is the latest piece from me, and its inspiration comes out of Ephesians 5:14.

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

I am often thinking about the state of this world... and how discouraging it is to see sinners so content with sin.  I see it on Facebook all the time.  I guarantee that if I wasn't so dependent on Facebook for promoting my work, I would spend about 90% less time on it.  Just to avoid seeing the depravity, and the people who defend it.  It seems like everyday I'm on the social media, I end up asking the inevitable, "When will people WAKE UP??"  When will we stop being "tolerant" of sin?

Wake the Dead (Ephesians 5:14)
oil on canvas
24x36 inches
2015

So this painting is simply about the battle between the darkness of sin, and the light of Christ in the world.  The darkness blinds us and it keeps our eyes closed.  It causes us to look away with apathy.  It hardens us until we are callous and dead.  And worse yet, it twists our hearts into actually approving of sin.

The light of Christ drives the darkness away.  It softens our hearts and opens our eyes.  The hope is that we see both the evil of this world, and the moments in which good triumphs over evil.

That we see the genocide of Christians in the Middle East at the hands of Islamic evil, and the hope of stories like Youcef Nadarkhani, an Iranian Christian pastor set free from his death sentence for apostasy a few years ago.

That we see the cowardice of an angry mob hellbent on murdering police officers, and the citizens coming to the defense of those officers, and honoring those that have fallen with dignity and respect.

That we see the twisted and macabre practice of a government-funded organization that not only murders unborn human beings, but then also sells them for parts.  And the stories of former abortionists that turned away from their career to turn towards Jesus for forgiveness.

That we see the alarming suicide rate among teenagers, but also see those saved by Christ from committing suicide by something as simple as a song sent to them in a text message.

The hope is that we see all of this rather than burying it beneath our selfies.