Glory To God

sharing the glory of god

This work is copyrighted to Happy Riches © 2014. All rights reserved. 

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Sharing the glory of God that resides in us with other people, and encouraging them to have faith in our Heavenly Father, is the essence of being a Christian.

But we all, with unveiled face seeing the glory of the Lord as in a mirror, are transformed into the same image from glory to glory, even as from the Lord, the Spirit. (2 Corinthians 3:18)

The word Christian means belonging to Christ. We who truly belong to Christ have returned to God, in accordance with Malachi (3:6-12). We are growing in faith because our desire is to acknowledge God first in all the ways of our life (Proverbs 3-5-9). Everything we do, we do because we know that without our Lord Jesus Christ to sustain us, we have nothing (John 15:5). Therefore to freely acknowledge our Heavenly Father in the power and fellowship of the Holy Spirit by calling on the name of our Lord Jesus Christ is something in which we find great joy. This we demonstrate in our giving (2 Corinthians 9:7).  Losing our first love is not an option; for our desire is to glorify God in all that we do.

Regardless of what people might say or think, we do have an adversary. The Devil and his agents are adamant in opposing us in whatever way possible. Nevertheless, the Bible states that God’s kingdom is not about the fleshly things of life, such as concerning ourselves with what we are to eat or drink; rather about walking in righteousness and the love, peace and joy of the Holy Spirit. If we serve our Lord and Savior by bringing glory to His name and abiding in the Kingdom of God, we are not only acceptable to God, but we will find that men also approve of us.

One of the greatest difficulties for many Christians, we often hear, is sharing their beliefs.  I know one man who said that he was a secret agent for the Lord. A woman once told me she was a member of the Billy Graham choir when he visited her city, and as far as she was concerned, she helped share her faith by being involved in his evangelistic crusade. Sharing what she believed, for her was a private affair, something she would rather keep to herself. But is our faith in Lord Jesus Christ a private affair, or should we share what He means to us with others?

The difficulty for many people is that they are afraid to share their faith because they do not want to expose how little it really is. Not being very confident about the faith that they have in God, means that it is something that is best kept off the record; something that a journalist ought not make public; something that is best kept in the closet—coming out is so hard to do when it means exposing one’s true degree of faith in God. Not that this is a competition, but a challenge as to what do we really believe? Do we believe God can raise the dead? Or are we scared?

When Jesus gave the Sermon on the Mount, he made a point about good works becoming obvious to others. Beneficiaries and observers give glory to the Father in Heaven, when those who love the Lord God practice charity.  However, Jesus was not indicating that good works of charity are essential for salvation; rather they are what we should expect of those who have passed from death into life. More than this, as children of God, we should be like salt—a preservative and an enhancer. In discovering Jesus, we have not only preserved our own lives unto eternity, but also we enhance the prospects of other people returning to God, if we do His will. In the event that we prove to be all talk and no action, then we are like salt that has lost its taste and, because of this, prove to be of no value.  The implication is that as salt that has lost its flavor is cast out to be trodden under foot, so too are the hypocrites cast into outer darkness.  Hypocrites are those who rob God of His glory while claiming His name.

The reason the name of God was blasphemed among the nations, according to the Bible, is the Israelites, who were called by God’s name, did not walk in faith with God. This, as we have noted, is because they refused to tithe. The name of Jesus is blasphemed among the nations today because those who claim they are Christians do not live up to the standard of teaching that is required of people who belong to Christ. These people are not part of the kingdom of God because they lack  righteousness and love; for there is no peace and no joy to be found among the many who are divided and fighting among themselves. In this manuscript, attention has been drawn to the erroneous teachings that prevent those who espouse these falsehoods from learning the truth and growing in faith.  Worse still is the fact that not only do these false teachers not rejoice in the blessing of God themselves, but they deceive others, making it more difficult for them to find the way to the truth that brings abundant life—which begins now.

 It is one thing to acknowledge and point out error, and another to make a crusade of it. If we are lights to the world, we will demonstrate this by allowing God to raise us up and provide the resources for us to bring glory to His name.

If we are glorifying God, and people become aware of this because of our lifestyle, we might get the opportunity to share the reasons why we are doing what we are doing. The same applies if we happen to be seeking ways to attract people to hear us talk about Jesus. Attracting people is one thing; having them listen to us talk about Jesus is another. We will be able to attract people to the tables if we are running a restaurant and providing everyone with a free lunch, but then, even if we lock the doors and start preaching to a captive audience, this does not guarantee a listening audience. If they allow us to share Jesus with them, then we might find that there are ears to hear what we have to say.

 However, what people call sharing faith is really something we cannot do unless we have been given the gift to impart faith to others. When we testify to what God has done for us in our lives, we are not so much sharing faith as spreading the fragrance of the knowledge of His goodness. By doing this, our own faith grows. Other people may become interested in learning more about how they too can reap the benefits and blessings of being a member of the Body of Christ. Only this does not happen if we are intent on Bible-bashing or ramming professions of faith down persons’ throats, so they regurgitate what we say.

When people initially have a religious experience that motivates them to tell the world about their new found insights, they can become rather obnoxious. Like an obnoxious weed that might be appreciated elsewhere; such individuals are considered  pests and better eradicated. Many people who have had what they call a “born again experience’ are like this. Unlike someone who is seeking to make money out of their new experience, these people often mean well, but unfortunately their dross is not dripping from the cross, it is being flung far and wide at those who once associated with them the most. 

Dross is that which does not belong in the kingdom of God and needs to be gotten rid of. Unfortunately, many new converts to the different brands of missionary-minded Christian expressions can have a devastating effect, rather than being influential for good, as they tend to gloat in the number of times they offend. This is because these converts are fueled by their leaders to win converts and tell them about their need to be saved or they are going to hell. The tragedy is in some of these instances, these individuals have become as Jesus said, twice as much a child of hell as the one who converted them (Matthew 23:15). There are many religionists, and there are many who use the name of Jesus as a means for unrighteous mammon. Some even sincerely believe they have found the truth, and commit to the organization or the leader; rather than, if they had found the truth, committing to our Lord Jesus Christ—for only Jesus is the Way, the Truth and the Life. No one can access the Father, except through Him.

Converts who become involved with missionary-minded street preachers are renowned for causing problems for people in shopping centres and other precincts. This is something I myself have been guilty of unintentionally when preaching off the back of a pickup truck with loud speakers. Naturally, after complaints, we were closed  down and had to find a more acceptable means of alerting people to the benefits of what we have discovered. Although, street preaching is not every body’s forte, it is important that we learn how to share what Jesus has done for us with other people. In fact this is something that we should be motivated to do from within, if we have truly been saved.

Converts on the way to the cross, however, because of the type of on-fire hot-gospel missionary-minded group they might be associated with, can strive to win souls regardless of the hostility encountered. Rather than learning the ways of the wise and seeking how to find approval and acceptance so they can share the good of the gospel of peace, these people become militant soldiers of the cross. Just as Peter did in the garden of Gethsemane (John 18:10-11), they are more inclined to draw swords and cut of the very ears that people need so they can hear the message. The reason they do this is they have not yet taken their place on the cross. When we are on the cross, we are being crucified in the flesh but raised up in the Spirit. This is where we start to learn, that if we are to be servants of the Lord, we need to walk in the Spirit, and follow the promptings of His leading. If we do not do this, the first thing that we present people with will be the dross of our old nature. It is because of this, pushy egotists do a lot of damage on their way to the cross. More so if they are motivated to preach by preachers who are missionary minded.

One of the more infamous groups known for their militant approach is the Westboro Baptist Church. While they believe that their message is the truth, rather than being a light to the world, in most places they appear, they are considered obnoxious.  Being a magnet for personal and group animosities is not the same as winning over hearts and souls, so they give glory to God for our being a light to the world.

When I became a Christian, I had an experience that should have been cause to shout about on the rooftops. Yet, for some reason, a voice in my head told me not to tell anybody what happened because they would not believe me. At the time, I thought this was a good idea, but I still needed to tell somebody about the reality of God. Consequently, I adopted a low key approach and would simply suggest to people that it is a good thing to know God, or make a statement to the effect that I have accepted the truth that God exists.

Some two years earlier, before I became a Christian, I had an experience in a Church, where I felt and saw a round warm pebble-like substance, the color of a streetlight shining in darkness, just over an inch in diameter (3cm), plop into the region of my solar plexus as if it were a pebble hitting water. Just like a pebble dropping into water causes an upward splash as the water is displaced, I felt a similar tug from within. At the time, I was singing a hymn to God. The previous two hymns of the evening meeting had been murmured by those in attendance and the preacher exhorted the congregation to sing this last hymn with all their heart to God. I directed my thoughts to God and told Him I was going to sing to him and, somewhat self-righteously, said that I was not going to sing like those hypocrites. I actually sang to God from the depths of my being. The following day, I was ridiculed when recalling the experience to a group of acquaintances, of whom two also had attended the meeting. One of the two felt like he had been neglected by God and the other was extremely skeptical. Even though the general consensus was unbelief, I know what happened is true, even though I was only eighteen years old. In fact, I would have gone back to the church, had the person who invited us not belittled me, by calling me an ignoramus who did not have the intelligence he possessed, otherwise like him I would be capable of doing a master of science degree. (Humility goes before honor— only he received none of the latter because he possessed none of the former). When I eventually became a Christian, it dawned on me, that had I got involved with that church group, I would probably have been indoctrinated, become self-righteous like the guy doing the M.Sc. degree, and not have had the experience that followed two years later.

A couple of weeks after having become a Christian, I decided to travel across the continent by road. I picked up a hitchhiker just out of the city limits. After the initial pleasantries such as “ “How are you going? and “Where are you going?” I blurted out, “I am a great believer in God!” The hitchhiker I had just picked up happened to be a theological student doing a doctoral degree in Switzerland. Feeling comfortable enough to at last tell someone of my experience when Jesus came into my life, I began to share my experience. As soon as I told him I had just had an experience with Jesus, I did not get to say anymore. For the next ninety minutes, this person was gushing like a water main that had just burst, but there was nothing about Jesus in what he had to say; which, at the time, surprised me greatly. In fact, I got the impression that he felt placed under pressure for some reason, and he was not going to let me say anything—I believe he was studying Calvinism.

Many years later, I was driving a taxi. I picked up a woman passenger who sat in the back seat of the vehicle. As a taxi driver, I was always talking to passengers about the more important matters of life and shared about Jesus with many of them; encouraging them to discover the truth of how to know our Heavenly Father through prayer. This woman was so full of religious experience that she was spiritually blind; for even though I was coaxing the conversation towards Jesus, even quoting Scripture, she was insisting that I needed to be saved otherwise I would spend eternity in hell. Many fundamentalists and evangelicals who have truly yet to know Jesus are like this. This woman was a Baptist and a Bible-basher. No doubt she would have told everyone how she blasted the taxi driver for forty minutes on the way to the airport.

There are some blind Pentecostals who think that you are not saved but are going to hell, unless you are speaking in tongues as they do. They qualify as another select group of the Devil’s agents, who do more harm than good. In my earlier years as a Christian, after having had numerous spiritual experiences with Jesus and having seen souls give their hearts to the Lord, overzealous Pentecostals from one particular group, always felt I had this need to be saved and speak in tongues as they did. If they had an ear to hear the truth, rather than seeing so many of them from that particular church land in the psychiatric hospital that was not too far from where I lived, they might have brought more glory to God. For a group that claimed they were not under the curse of the law, they lacked the freedom that I experienced and the desire for truth. Instead, like many Jehovah Witnesses I have encountered, they like to think they are right because they can quote three or four Scriptures. Because of the spirit of pride that permeated this particular congregation, they had a number of groups split away from them; and these groups would spurn each other.

As a young Christian, once I was walking the streets speaking to people and seeking to find souls who were ripe for harvest, I learnt quite a number of truths about myself. For want of a teacher, there is nothing like experience. However, if we are praying to the Lord, reading the Bible and memorizing Scripture, fellowshipping, tithing and testifying of what God is doing in our lives, we will find that we have an exciting Christian life. When God is in control of our lives, miraculous things happen.

One night I was sitting on a park bench in a city square that was lit up with good lighting, with a couple of other Christians. A young man came up to me and asked me if I believed in God. I said, I did. Immediately, he pushed his cigarette into my left eye. The pain caused me to fold over like the cardboard flip-top of a cigarette packet. When I raised my head, I could not see out of my left eye. I thought my eye was ruined for life but I had this incredible warm feeling as if I wanted to embrace the person who had just tried to blind me and hug him with the love of God. I called out to the man, who was about twenty, and started to move towards him. He began to run. I called out again and he disappeared into the darkness of the street. I showed my acquaintances my eye. The pain had disappeared. There was no sign of any burn on the skin or the eye lashes. Still, my eye was watery. Somehow, the burning cigarette touched my eye, but God was in control, and even though I felt the pain, the Lord permitted no damage.

What I discovered out on the streets was that if I were to get people to listen to what I desired to tell them about the love of Jesus Christ, I had to listen to them first. There has been the exception to the rule. Like when I pulled one person off the street, and told him to look at all the sad, sorrowful, lonely faces on their way home one night. After seeing the sorrowful state of the world on its inhabitants, this person gave his life to the Lord within a matter of minutes. That was on the Saturday night; he was in church the next day. Generally, though, I discovered I needed to let people vent their grievances, feelings of injustice and general sense of frustration about life they might harbor, and then when they were finished, there was room for them to receive what the Spirit of God wanted them to receive. Usually this would take around an hour. Sometimes this process would take longer, like the time I spent some three hours with a hotel chef, as he sobered up, before asking Jesus into his life. Then there was the time I was talking with a woman and invited her to ask Jesus to come into her  life as Lord while she still had a bottle of beer in her hand. This happened because I saw faith coming into her as I was talking. As we started to pray, she realized that she had her bottle in her hand, and excused herself as she put it down. We then prayed and she became a new creation.

There was a group of street preachers who went to different churches but loved to preach in the city where I lived. Their method of preaching was much the same as each other. They would quote Scriptures about sin, judgment and hell. Most of the time they would get mocked. One of these preachers had a megaphone and he would speak for about an hour and his face would glow. Sometimes people would stop and listen for a short-time, but generally they would scoff. One of these street preachers liked to preach in the town square on occasions. Instead of simply quoting Scriptures and telling everyone they were going to hell, this person would provide a little commentary as well, and what he said seemed to form the outline of a sermon. When he spoke, I could hear the Spirit of God in his voice. People would sit on the benches in the city square and it was obvious they were listening to this street preacher speaking in the Spirit of the Lord. Once as I was watching him preach, I saw fire raging around him, as if he were a tree in a forest fire. I thought of him as a flame for the Lord. However, many of the other street preachers would get into arguments and there would be insults thrown, with mayhem about to break out just as the police arrived to move everybody on.

The one thing I did not witness from this open air preaching on the city streets in those days was anyone actually making a commitment to Jesus Christ as a result of the preaching. There was a group, with whom I became involved, that would sing songs and give short testimonials on the street, before inviting people to a gospel meeting. Some people did come inside and, from time to time, I believe some gave their hearts to the Lord at the end of the meeting.

The only time I saw people giving their hearts to the Lord on the street was when people had one to one interaction. The first Christian group I committed to fellowshipping with would sometimes go into the town square and informally start singing praises to the Lord in a small gathering. Those who were not singing would talk to the passersby who had stopped to listen. At these times, people did make decisions for the Lord Jesus after having spoken to someone on a personal level.

Over the years, it has become evident to me that very few of the many people who come to Jesus, do so because someone preaches publicly. Most people who attend crusades and churches usually do so at the invitation of someone else they have met or a friend or relative. This is not to say that people have not walked in off the street into a church without an invitation by someone else and given their heart to the Lord at an altar call. I am sure that there have been. They are the exception not the rule. However, I believe more people would come to know the Lord if there was less Bible bashing.

What we need to do is learn how to share our testimony the most effective way. For when we share our testimony, we are giving glory to God. Sharing our testimony is a means of letting our lights shine. We are letting the light of the glory of God shine, because we are testifying of what Jesus has done in us, and for us, and, sometimes, through us. Our testimony of how we came to know the Lord Jesus Christ is the seed that is sown in another person’s life. This is because when we testify, we spread the fragrance of the knowledge of Jesus Christ to the glory of God. Preaching does not provide the same witness as testifying does.  Unfortunately, people do not realize that when the gospel was turning the world upside down, as stated in the book of Acts, the disciples were extolling Lord Jesus Christ in testimony, not preaching sermons.

When I was on the streets, doing what we called street witnessing—which I now prefer to call outreaching—from a combination of desiring to be effective and listening to the Holy Spirit, I believe I learnt how to share the gospel in the most effective way. I know some people think they have to sit down and talk about the weather in order to start a conversation, but this is not the case. For it is easier to get down to business and ask whether the person wants to know Jesus or not. When doing this, I have found most people will say, “No!” But this has not been a problem. If a person says they do not want to know Jesus Christ, the next question is to ask them, “Why would you not want to know Jesus Christ?” or something to that effect. Most people I encountered who decided to tell me the reasons why they do not want to know Jesus Christ were out of breath after twenty or thirty minutes. Nevertheless, they had provided me with plenty of information about themselves, so then it was just a matter of asking the appropriate questions and bringing home the soul.

Jesus told us to be fishers of men and this is what we need to become. If we are to overcome the Devil, we need to become fishers of men. Fishermen, of course, when they are experienced know what bait is needed to catch the fish they are after. Since we are after souls for the kingdom, we are interested in finding out who is hungry for righteousness, justice and the love of God. This is best done by seeking people who have an interest in finding the truth. We can show them the way to the truth. The Holy Spirit then needs to reveal the truth to them, so they will take up the life that is made available through the death and resurrection of our Lord Jesus Christ. Once the person has unloaded everything they need to get off their chest, they are ready to bite. All we have to do is reel them in.

The first and most critical fact that needs to be established is whether the person to whom we are talking sees this current life as a futile existence in which there is a knowledge of what love should be; only there is no true love to be found, and being born to die, only to suffer between the two events, is unjust. If the person does not see life today on Earth as a futile existence in its current form, then we have not hooked the person. We have to get the person to establish that they did not ask to be born into this world. We need to get the person to admit there is no love in the world. We have to get the person to admit that there is no justice in bring born to suffer and then die. We have to get the person to admit that they are going to die and they do not know what is going to happen then. Once the person admits that being born only to die in this world is a meaningless existence, then we have hooked our fish (so to speak). When a person admits that life is futile on the Earth, that person is truly ready to consider the truth—this does not mean the person is ready to be sledge-hammered into the ground with a doctrine or belief; rather that the person is ready to consider the truth as to whether it is to better to be wise or a fool.

The reason why I have learnt not to go too fast and take my time when bringing in a fish is that, when landing big fish, it pays to let the resistance that might be lurking within the  subconscious weaken. This is really the spirit of antichrist that has an unrealized hold on us all who are submitting to the Power of the Prince of the Air, even unconsciously and unwittingly. This is the power of the Devil at work in all who are disobedient and have rebelled against the law of God and resisted the call of God on previous occasions. We always need to remember sin is the Devil’s hook and often this needs to be worked loose.

The second stage in landing the Devil’s prey and saving a soul is to establish whether the person desires to know the truth. This is done by talking about foolishness and wisdom at first. When asking the person what he or she thinks of fools, the person will give us his or her answer. When a person is asked if he or she likes to be a fool; the answer is usually a definite ‘No!’ Talking about the difference between being wise and foolish, and encouraging the person to whom we are talking to express why he or she would rather be wise than a fool, helps the person to swallow the hook further. Once the person has acknowledged that he or she  prefers to be wise and not a fool, we introduce the concept of truth and contrast this with telling lies.

Morality is what the Ten Commandments define. The Ten Commandments are the measuring stick that lets us know whether we have met the standard that gets us into Heaven or not on our own strength. One miss and we are out. Bearing false witness is not telling the truth. People who say they hate not being told the truth, oddly enough are prepared to tell lies to deceive other people, but hate people doing this to themselves—even little white lies. Bearing false witness is when people speak lies about other people and this is something nobody would like done to them. Gossip can easily become a false witness against someone. This is because when we repeat something about someone that we have been told by one person to someone else, we do not know whether it is true. Moreover, gossip has a habit of changing as it is passed from one person to another. Therefore when we repeat gossip, we are most probably bearing false witness because we cannot verify that we are telling the truth.

As you can see, the crossover from discussing futility, then wisdom and then morality is not an awkward transition, but a seamless conversation that flows naturally.  Once we are talking about being a false witness and telling lies, then discussing coveting other people’s goods, occupation, lifestyle, ideas, etc. is not difficult to bring into the conversation, as well as stealing, adultery, murder and hatred, dishonoring of one’s parents, blasphemy, idolatry, and resisting God.

Once we have established that the person feels he or she has sinned, we can quickly, and enthusiastically, tell the person how we asked Jesus into our lives. This does not entail an autobiography from the day we were born and every event leading up until our realization for the need to repent and ask Jesus for forgiveness of our sins. We simply tell the person about our conversion experience: what we did when we prayed and asked forgiveness of our sins; what happened after we confessed Jesus as having risen from the dead and become our Lord and Savior. Then having done this, we ask the person to whom we are talking to repeat a prayer of repentance and encourage the person to express this in his or her own words. When the person has done this, we encourage the person to thank our Lord Jesus for hearing the prayer, because the person really wants the assurance of salvation.

Once the person has asked the Lord into his or her life, we tell the person some more of our testimony to the glory of God. When we testify, we do not describe the dirty deeds in our life, we describe what God has done and how good it is to be born from above and free from the fear of sin and death. We rejoice that we have been able to share our testimony with another person to the glory of God.

Unfortunately, many people think glorying in the gory is what a personal testimony is all about. Lurid details of sinfulness is not giving God the glory. When I was first called upon to give my own testimony before a packed congregation with no standing room even in the doorways, I was close to being petrified. I had heard people get up and disclose their wicked ways and devious deeds before they came to know Jesus. Unlike them, I was ashamed of what I had done. When a person is ashamed at what he or she has done, that person does not want to tell the world; and nor did I. But because I had been called to stand up for Jesus and speak of the goodness that had been wrought in my life, I silently called out to God to put the words in my mouth. Instead of glorying in the gory, I gave God all the glory. My testimony was about how the testimony of another person lead me to seeking Jesus for myself. I did not even detail what happened when Jesus came into my life and made no mention of seeing Him take my soul in a vision to Heaven or that I heard the voice of my Heavenly Father say, “My prodigal Son.”  I did state the reasons why I sought Jesus. Nonetheless, I was relieved to finish what I was saying and to sit down. I later learned that on the basis of my testimony, some people gave their hearts to Jesus at that meeting, and people said that I was speaking in the Holy Spirit. All I know is I gave God the glory. This is what we do when we testify to what God has done in our lives and we know it to be true.

The law of the tithe is the principle by which we can establish the truth about God honoring His word. This brings genuine testimony into our lives and is not something that can easily be refuted. As we testify to God’s blessing, we grow in faith by sharing with other people, at home and in fellowship, what Jesus is doing for us. The more we testify about what we know God has done for us because we have proven Him, the more we grow in faith and the more exciting our lives become. Overcoming the Devil and walking in the footsteps of the Lord as He goes before us, sure beats being beaten down by the ruler of this world and feeling ashamed and condemned because we have resisted the call of God. 

When I was driving taxis, I shared with many people about Jesus as the opportunity presented itself, which, sometimes, was a number of times during the day. In the early days of being a taxi driver, I would seek to bring a person to a place where I could pray with them before they got out of the cab. Not long after I had began driving taxis, the discussion that I had with a young woman as I drove her to home was such that just before she was about to alight from the cab, she was willing to pray and ask Jesus in her life. Then for some reason (maybe she heard a noise or something) she decided not to pray, but said she would ask Lord Jesus Christ to come into her life that night when in her bedroom. As I was driving away, I started to pray for the young woman. A voice spoke to me and said, “You do not need to pray with everyone, just testify of me.”

On a previous occasion the Lord had shown me that when we truthfully testify to Jesus Christ and give God the glory, we sow a seed of faith and put some currency in our own vault in Heaven. Unfortunately, testimonies seem to be discouraged in favor of exposition of doctrine. If we truly desire to share the glory of God and grow in the knowledge of Lord Jesus Christ, we need learn how to testify effectively and also, as a habit, frequently telling of the blessings that have been bestowed upon us in the Holy Spirit, whenever the opportunity arises.

The way we overcome the Devil is through the blood of the Lamb and the power of our testimonies. Without being covered by the blood of the Lamb, we have no covering. Without a testimony, each of us cannot declare for certain that Jesus is Lord or God is real.  Testimonies, that is, true testimonies, are ones that originate from having put God to the test.              

There was war in the sky. Michael and his angels made war on the dragon. The dragon and his angels made war. They didn’t prevail, neither was a place found for him any more in heaven. The great dragon was thrown down, the old serpent, he who is called the Devil and Satan, the deceiver of the whole world. He was thrown down to the earth, and his angels were thrown down with him. I heard a loud voice in heaven, saying, “Now the salvation, the power, and the Kingdom of our God, and the authority of his Christ has come; for the accuser of our brothers has been thrown down, who accuses them before our God day and night. They overcame him because of the Lamb’s blood, and because of the word of their testimony. They didn’t love their life, even to death. (Revelation 12:7-11).

Children are so fresh from God it’s no wonder some of them are given visions and signs from heaven. Their innocent and trusting natures allow them to believe what we adults would never accept. This must be part of what Jesus meant when he said: I tell you the truth, unless you change and become like little children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven – Matthew 18:3.

So perhaps it would do us well as spiritual beings to listen to a little girl who – she claims – has had visions and visits with Jesus. And whether you believe she has truly walked and talked with Jesus, one cannot deny her artistic and poetic talent.

Her name is Akiane Kramarik and she was born at home underwater, on July 9, 1994, in Mount Morris, Illinois, to a stay-at-home Lithuanian homemaker mother and an American father, chef and dietary manager.

Akiane – whose name means ocean in Lithuanian – and her siblings were homeschooled for the most part and they had no television and few books, so when she began telling her family about seeing visions at age four, they were fairly certain what she was experiencing was not a result of outside influences. Her parents chose to support their daughter, which probably played a part in her prolific works.

Akiane began to sketch and write poetry at age four, advanced to painting at six and writing poetry at seven. Her first completed self-portrait sold for $10,000. A large portion of the money generated from art sales is donated by Kramarik to charities. According to Akiane, her art is inspired by her visions of heaven and her personal connection with God. “I am a self-taught painter,” she told Children’s Digest. “God is my teacher.”

Akiane explained to her family that God gave her the visions and abilities to create her artwork and poetry, which must have come as quite a shock since both her parents were atheists at the time. They later converted to Christianity on account of Kramarik’s paintings and visions. More than art was happening in their home. “Simultaneous with art was a spiritual awakening,” Akiane’s mother, Forelli Kramarik, told Christianity Today. “It all began to happen when she started to share her dreams and visions.”

Once, according to an article in New Connexion magazine, Akiane was staring off into space, with a smile on her face and a twinkle in her eyes. Asked what she was doing, she simply answered, “I was with God again, and He told me to pray continually. He showed me where He lived. I was climbing transparent stairs; underneath I saw gushing waterfalls, and as I was approaching Him, His body was pure and intense light.

“What impressed me the most was His hands – they were gigantic! I saw no bones, or veins, no skin or blood, but maps and events. Then He told me to memorize thousands upon thousands of wisdom words on a scroll that did not look like paper, but more like intense light. And, in a few seconds, I got somehow filled up. From now on I will get up early to paint. I hope one day I’d be able to paint what I was shown.”

Although she was three at the time, she’ll always remember God’s first message to her. “He said, ‘You have to do this, and I’ll help you.’ He said, ‘Now you can help people.’ I said, ‘Yes, I will.’ But I said it in different words in my mind. I speak through my mind to Him,” she told Christianity Today.

When asked how she knows that it’s God who is speaking to her she said, “Because I can hear His voice….quiet and beautiful.”

Akiane was always consumed with the faces of subjects she painted, and she found that when she prayed the right vision always appeared. When she wanted to paint Jesus, however, she spent a year mulling over her model. Finally, she asked her entire family to pray with her. The next day, a giant of a man came to her door looking for work. He was a carpenter.

Akiane immediately knew this man would be her model for her painting of Jesus. Initially the carpenter agreed, but he changed his mind. “He said that he wasn’t worthy to represent his Master,” Akiane told Christianity Today. “He’s a Christian, and he’s a humble person. But I prayed that God would change his mind and that he would call back.”

The carpenter – who wishes to remain anonymous – did call Akiane back, saying that God wanted him to pose for the painting, resulting in the Jesus paintings Prince of Peace and Father Forgive Them.

The painting is startling. The eyes are loving and patient, but also piercing and fierce. He is beautiful. In fact, when Colton Burpo, the little boy who says he went to heaven at age three (see articles Part One and Part Two), saw the painting, he declared it to be the only one that ever captured what Jesus looks like. There have been many paintings since that one, though Prince of Peace is probably her most famous.

People may wonder, “Why did Jesus choose to contact Akiane?”

“I have been blessed by God,” she said simply. “And if I’m blessed, there is one reason and one reason only, and that is to help others. I am donating a big portion of money to charity and to combat poverty,” she said. “I want to help people. I want people to find hope in my paintings and draw people’s attention to God.”


See Akiane’s website and photo gallery here.

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HERE IS ONE PERSON WHO HAS BEEN MIRACULOUSLY HEALED

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g1iy2W3F6Gs

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Recommended Further Reading:

Prayers That Heal The Heart by Patti and Mark Virkler

Communion With God by Mark Virkler

Other works by the Author:

The Only Words Written By The Finger Of God

Lucifer’s Arch Rival: The Lord of the Sabbath

How To Have An Effective Bible Study

You Will Know Them By Their Fruits

How To Shine Like A Star

The Milk Of The Word

Jacob’s Trouble

The Prodigal Son