This was a “do-over” instructed by the Holy Spirit to finish. It was the first of many I had burned in a large fire when I turned to fully embrace my life in Jesus In the 70s. Why? Because evil is real and insidious. Because of my lifes choices and the consequences that ensued, I felt that evil was also insinuating itself into my art. He Himself confirmed this when He led me to Philippians 3:7 But whatever were gains to me I now consider loss for the sake of Christ.8 What is more, I consider everything a loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, for whose sake I have lost all things. I consider them garbage, that I may gain Christ.
And He gives back what He gives back to His child who has the appreciation that in all things that He is truly greater in me than the demons of this world. When God gives a vision, it never diminishes. This is the gates of heaven holding back hell. And the eye of the goat is watching.
Jeremiah 13 Thus the LORD said to me: “Go and get yourself a linen sash, and put it around your waist, but do not put it in water.” Linen was the material of choice for the priests' garments bonding in purity the Israelites to God and as said in (Ezekiel 44:17-18) were symbolic of Israel's holiness as a "kingdom of priests" (Exodus 19:6). To wash it represented trying to undo sin. Oh but then God says to Jeremiah in 3 Then the word of the Lord came to me a second time 4 “Take the belt you bought and are wearing around your waist, and go now to Perath and hide it there in a crevice in the rocks.”5 So I went and hid it at Perath (river) , as the Lord told me. Well okay. But then! In 6 Many days later the Lord said to me, “Go now to Perath and get the belt I told you to hide there.”7 So I went to Perath and dug up the belt and took it from the place where I had hidden it, but now it was ruined and completely useless. Wait! What?! Ohhhh... there's the lesson.
In Jeremiah 13:10, God himself makes that clear when he connects the ruined belt to the spiritual status of the people: “these wicked people who refuse to listen to my words, who follow the stubbornness of their hearts and go after other gods to serve and worship them will be like this belt—completely useless!”
Working on this piece was like I was trying to remember something. It was on the tip of my tongue but I could not speak it. I continued painting the thoughts that came to me and knew sooner or later it would be revealed to me. I saw the prison cell. The Stars and Stripes appeared to be caught up in its bars. Even as this country was based on "IN GOD WE TRUST" we allowed this to be only a motto on a dollar bill. The linen belt itself was like our path with Jesus. A little holy. A little back sliding. A little church persona. A little sinful pleasure. Call it a drunkards path or the scenic route or a work in progress but the truth is we tend to wander away from our bond to God counting on His endless patience and forgiveness.
And the belt finally snaps. This is the finished product of the last painting I began 30 some years ago. I never finished it. I burned it. Along with every painting I had done up until then. Looking at hell then was a little too much. Looking at what was being prophesied to me then was too much as well. I was scared. Scared straight to Jesus and I only had eyes for Him.
This is called Trigger Point. The goat is watching and waiting for your bond as well as the bond of the United States of America to God to finally snap.
Tick... Tock. Well? What are you waiting for?
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