ORIGINAL CHRISTIAN OIL PAINTINGS

Interpretation of the painting: This painting is correctly viewed from the view point that I have spiritually died to this world and am born again to a new reality, which is a life in Jesus Christ. The painting is a considered prayerful response to the beatitude; blessed are peacemakers for they shall be called children of God.

​

Background: Understanding peace is crucial to understanding this verse. The world is full of ‘peacekeepers’ who are settling disputes of all kinds. The Holy Scriptures also talk of peace. Christ said to his apostles; my peace if give you. Any reading of the books in the New Testament will show you quite clearly that they had very troubled lives as we understand them. So it was with question of peace that this image grapples with.

​

The journey: Understanding peace as spoken about in the bible is absolutely crucial to understanding this image. I pray for peace everyday of my life. I began to ask myself in my meditations what peace is, and how can we achieve peace in the turbulent world in which we find ourselves. There is to be no escape from the world in which we live. Even if we had our own island we would still be ravaged by the storms of global warming and other forces that are beyond our control. It was in the meditations and contemplations that I found the answer. It was by looking through the eyes of Christ that this peace became visible and achievable. The scriptures did not contradict each other when the answer was revealed. Once I achieved this revelation the painting was easy to construct.

To fully understand this image it is important to grasp the idea that everything that is grey scale is the worldly representation. Everything that is in full colour is new heavenly reality.

​

The meaning of the painting: The basic image is of a man baptising another man. The baptism is an outward sign of an inward grace. Baptism is when we receive Christ into our lives. In the background in very obscure shapes different things can identified. The background represents the world as we know it. On the right hand side of the picture if one looks carefully the shapes of tanks can be made out travelling in a convoy. On the left hand side is the shapes of trees that are burning and engulfed with smoke. This represents how we are at war with everything that God has given us. We are at war with nature and everything that lives in it. We are also at war with each other.

The background represents the lack of peace as we know it.

The foreground is the peace that God gives us. To understand the peace that Christ will give us we first must acknowledge that the war is between Satan and God. So bringing people into the Christian faith is bringing them into peace with God. This is done through the sacrament of Baptism. This is where our sins are forgiven (and the light of Christ shines upon them) and all enmity between God and the person is removed. This is where the newly baptised are brought into a life with Jesus Christ. It is when a person is reborn and now lives in Christ. It is this peace that he offers. This is why they shall be called the children of God. The more we dedicate our life to Christ the more at peace we become. The wars that we create will not perturb us, as our lives are lived to the full in Christ. This is what man was born for, to live life to the full in Our Lord Jesus Christ. Jesus said ‘my peace I give you’.

It is only by receiving this peace that you can lead others in this material world to peace in Jesus Christ. A peacemaker is active in this material world and lives to bring everyone into ecstatic joy of knowing Jesus Christ.