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Inexplicable.

http://www.artakiane.com/akiane_art.htm#

http://dynamic.cnn.com/apps/tp/video/bestoftv/2006/12/14/beck.akiane.child.prodigy.cnn/video.ws.asx?NGUserID=aa570a1-6893-1166214706-3&adDEmas=R00%26hi%26cox.net%2673%26usa%26650%2673101%2637%26-%26-%26-%26

Dear CDL,

I observed the pictures. They are beautiful and her poetry is exceptional. It's amazing how the descriptions of heaven given to her, can be so similar to descriptions given to great saints, such as Saint John Bosco. Of course, as Saint Savio told Don Bosco, heaven is not like that, but rather we are shown that which we can relate to.

The girl certainly is a Genius in every respect. It makes me remember how Linda Evan's twenty thousand year old 'spiritual' guide told her to have an affair with 'Yianni', the world renowned genius composer, a New Ager, with a lot of mumbo jumbo. Because of her and her 'spiritual' guide, he became world renowned. Oh, and she is probably Hollywood's richest woman.

They say that the anti-Christ, will be the most brilliant man that has ever existed. The world will idolize him, not only for his brilliance, but for his humanity and charity.

Somehow or other, I recall a painting by a nun of The Sacred Heart of Jesus. Jesus' eyes overwhelmed me with His compassion and love. The painting of Jesus by Akiane is not Jesus. It is dominating and hypnotizing! The girl is being deceived, and through her parts of the world will be deceived.

So much for that!

Zenovia

Zenovia,

"Jesus" looks a lot like Anakin Skywalker.

[Linked Image][Linked Image]

Zenovia:

Reminds me of the people who do Centering Prayer and who claim to receive visions and messages. No one ever thinks or suggests that one ought to "test the spirits" as Scripture warns us to do. Everything is accepted as good just because of the vision itself--sort of self-actualizing or self-authenticating.

That the Enemy can imitate religion is nothing new. That people can be deceived is also nothing new. I agree with you when you say that the eyes are not those of Jesus--they are indeed "dominating and hypnotizing." I first wondered why such a talent would appear OUTSIDE the Church. It seesm to me that whenever something comes along that is borderline in or out of the Church or completely outside the Church it always causes people to question the Church and go down the road of relativism that says that people don't really need the Church to get to God. And we know where that lie comes from.

But like so many visionaries, they will attract many for whom the tried and true path of faith is boring. I always wonder when people go rushing after visionaries and miracles away from the place where they live why they don't appreciate the miracle that happens every day that the Liturgy is served: the change of bread and wine into the Holy Body and Most Precious Blood of Our Lord and God and Svaior, Jesus Christ. Now that's something that always makes me look on with awe.

In Christ,

BOB

Amen, brother, AMEN !

-- John

"Suffer the little children unto me..."

Why do we dismiss her so readily? Is it because she isn't Catholic or Orthodox?

She's only twelve years old and came from an atheistic background. Who knows where God will lead her? I'm not quite sure as to the objections. From what I've gleaned she's not painting or writing anything as if it were Gospel. I find nothing wrong with the paintings she has done, I've seen plenty of religious paintings and icons where the eyes don't always seem quite right to me.

An interesting article;
http://www.christianitytoday.com/tc/2004/004/7.24.html

and video;
www.youtube.com/watch?v=-YdIVeBo8SE [youtube.com]

Not sure about this girl but she seems to be blessed.

In Christ,
Bill

Dear Bill,

I'm not dismissing her because she's not Orthodox of Catholic. I'm very ecumenical. I fear her, and 'that' which is presenting himself as Christ. It is said that the anti-Christ will be the most brilliant man that ever lived, and a great humanitarian, and that he will fool even the elect.

That girl is not only a phenominal painter, (those paintings are unbelievable), but her writings are awe-inspiring...and she is now composing music. Her abilities are never ending. Where is she getting all that talent from...and if it is from God, why is it that until now, God's work has always been accomplished through the poverty, martyrdoms and sufferings of saints?

In being a humanitarian, she seems to fit in perfectly with the liberal end of the Anglican Church. Only difference is that she believes in God. We know that the king of darkness always appears as an angel of light. I find it frightening! It will be more frightening if the anti-christ appears and resembles her painting of Christ.

Don't laugh! There is a painting of 'Thor', the Nordic God of War that was painted at the end of the 19th century. Hitler was his exact image. So much so, that people actually thought that he posed for the painting...which of course was impossible, since he was born about the time it was painted.

Zenovia

Hmmmm....this is tough.

This little girl is pretty and sweet. Her artistic talent is amazing. I love her interpretation of Mary holding the infant Jesus... However, as far as her visions: the evil one can also appear as an angel and the anti-Christ will fool even 'the elect'. Let's not forget that Mohammed was inspired by a visit by an angel. His wife, in retrospective wisdom, cautioned him to discern if it was an angel of God or of the evil one.

Theophan is correct about visions needing to be discerned and approved by proper ecclesiastical authorities. There are stories upon stories in church and monastic history of both East and West, of saints and visions that have been approved, and of visions that have not been approved and that have actually turned out to be demons in disguise. Such things do need to be approached with utmost caution and with the authority given by Christ to the Church for discernment.

The man, or the 'God inspired and coincidentally visiting carpenter' this pretty little girl used as a model is a handsome man, there is no doubt of that, however, he does not look pure nor do his eyes convey the purity one would expect of the very Son of God...and they do look a bit too intense and sharp for me, I have to admit. Infact, his eyes and expression of the eyes couldn't be MORE different than the painting of Christ of the Divine Mercy by Saint Faustina.

I do believe in these people's good intentions and in their devout prayers but never-the-less, one needs ecclesiastical guidance to discern such matters...the Russians have a word for it called 'prelest'.

So, it is only a painting we might say, and the model is only a carpenter that just *happened* to visit after they prayed for a model, we might say-- so should we really care? Perhaps not, but we should keep this on the back burner of our minds and consciousness, because one never knows where it could lead.

As for what Theophan said about everything spiritually attractive being outside the Church these days, I just saw a clip of John Travolta lamenting that he should have taken the step to help Anna Nicole Smith when he was last with her. I thought to myself, hmmmm....
and what might that help be--when he continued and answered my question. He said that "I am so proud of my religion of scientology and how we help people with addictions". Well, if one likes cults, I guess....

On the other hand, do we ever hear any 'celebrity' or otherwise famous person these days say "I am so proud of my Christian Church: X Yor Z, because we do so much to help people". We don't, because organized religion and the Christian Church, whether Catholic, Orthodox and/or Evangelical is NOT considered cool or 'PC' by the celebrities that, unfortunately and pathetically mold public thought.

We live in spiritually confusing times. We must be ever vigilant.

In Christ,
Alice

I agree this is to be approached with caution. She gives no indication she is a member of any church, and it's all based on "This is what God is telling me".

And there have been numerous extemely talented painters, writers and musicians who would never think to give God credit for their God-given talents.

It will be interesting to see what this girl is up to five or ten years from now.

As this thread started..."Inexplicable".
Bill

Indeed, Bill, indeed!

Alice

I'm not an art critic nor do I have any training in that area. For that matter, I dont have much talent either! LOL

But, her religious paintings do exude spirituality and I am quite certain it is not authentic Christian spirituality. Frankly it seems Mormon to me. Something about her work is austere and cold and even dead(ly), not living and vital and warm.

This child has talents far beyond her and I cannot help but guess she is getting help from somewhere. Hopefully not from the demonic realm. THough looking at her paintings, I have to wonder.

Jason

Even a pious person is not immune to spiritual sickness if he does not have a wise guide -- either a living person or a spiritual writer. This sickness is called _prelest_, or spiritual delusion, imagining oneself to be near to God and to the realm of the divine and supernatural. Even zealous ascetics in monasteries are sometimes subject to this delusion, but of course, laymen who are zealous in external struggles (podvigi) undergo it much more frequently. Surpassing their acquaintances in struggles of prayer and fasting, they imagine that they are seers of divine visions, or at least of dreams inspired by grace. In every event of their lives, they see special intentional directions from God or their guardian angel. And then they start imagining that they are God's elect, and often try to foretell the future. The Holy Fathers armed themselves against nothing so fiercely as against this sickness -- prelest.

St. Seraphim of Sarov


Alexandr

Dear Alexandr,

You mentioned prelest. I think it comes about when someone follows the Church 'laws' exactly. They follow all the fasting rules, building up their pride with a 'holier than thou' arrogance, yet the heart is 'stone cold'. It's considered demonic by the Church Fathers.

This girl's mother was an athiest. I doubt if she has had a Christian baptism...regardless of what Christian Denomination it would have been. It still would have been a baptism in the name of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit.

I did find some things confounding about her paintings. Her latest one's are truly outstanding, the type of paintings one would find from a very 'mature' painter. What confused me though, is the different styles. Usually painters have basically the same style and use the same colors within their paintings. All of Michelangelo's are similar, Giotto's, Da Vinci, and the Dutch painters of the Rennaisance use similar styles, similar colors, etc.

I noticed a difference between certain paintings of hers and other paintings that she did. It had nothing to do with her age, because they were equally excellent. I can't help but wonder if her work is confusing the experts. Maybe I'm wrong! I didn't really observe them that much...I was more curious to see the eyes on her portrait of Jesus. They scared me! I had to turn away.

Zenovia

Dear Jason,

I didn't notice that. Bravo! You are very perceptive. I went back and looked at them better. The angel's face looks like a store mannequin. Was she using a dummy for a model? The black people look real. The dogs eyes look wild and vicious. They frighten me.

You are right! On a whole, the faces lack the expressions they should have had by an artist of her quality. Is she using real models, or simply painting them from photo's. Regardless, they lack warmth and depth.

Zenovia