Kay Cude poetry. Right-Click to see larger in new tab. Used with permission.
Artist’s Statement:
I was deeply drawn to this painting because of the look on the face of the child clutched out of death into the arms of his beloved mother. I see peace mixed in with awe as he looks into the face of one who has nurtured him since birth; the face of the one he is so grateful to see. I am reminded of the nurturing love of the Father and Son for Their beloved redeemed; perhaps we will have that same look upon our faces as we look into the glorious and wonderful face of Christ Jesus at the Rapture.
Kay Cude poetry. Used with permission. Right-click to open photo in new window
Artist’s statement:
After finishing this piece, the more I read and reread Mark 4:37-41 and Colossians 1:16-18, the more I was overcome with tears. The Holy Spirit is so faithful to teach, especially at times when I am too busy “doing things” for Christ (in my own effort). How many more readings of these verses will it take for me to attentively remember that Christ’s continuing patience with me, my fears and my sometimes feeble faith is unbelievably profound and so very merciful?
How many times has Scripture told me, told all believers, to pay attention to Christ and His Word, and to not allow the storms of battering and fearful trials or heartaches overwhelm us? That He is sufficient; that He will enable us to glorify Him in our lives; that He will supply us with the appropriate words needed at perilous times of persecution and impending death? Or to remember that all things are under His authority and that He is preeminent and sovereign and that he will supply us the wisdom and endurance to continue on? Or that His Holy Spirit sustains us!
I am so thankful, so grateful, that He knows the hearts of His redeemed so intimately, and so very thankful that He rescued me!
Kay Cude poetry. Used with permission. Right-click on picture to open larger in new tab
Artist’s Statement-
If you’ll look closely at the ship’s path forward through the sea, you can make out the images of people suspended within. To me they are representative of the truly lost (never heard the Gospel of Christ) as well as those who have been deceived into a false religion or another gospel–they’ve never met Christ through God’s Sovereign Act of Salvation through His Son. As the onslaught of the Tribulation rapidly approaches, we’ve seen a dramatic and continuous increase of evil capturing countless people; and they, many seemingly unaware, remain afloat within deception.
Then there are those who willfully determine atheism as their god and religion. Greed, evil, pride and “self” are rampant within this nation, reigning within every form of this nation’s governing bodies; within the educational systems; the banking and financial institutions; the media and advertising entities; within our neighborhoods and families; within business institutions and worse, within a preponderance of the “religious denominations and “churches,” organizations and charities claiming to “speak for and serve” Christ.
Surely, God has abandoned this nation to its own desires, to let sin run its fullest course. Yet there remains time for whoever will listen and respond to the call of God through His Holy Spirit to be sovereignly drawn and saved by God the Son, Christ Jesus.
Paul eagerly looked forward to his crowns and to the rewards awaiting him. He often encouraged his brethren with news of the future rewards and glory. He wrote:
“I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith. Finally, there is laid up for me the Crown of Righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous Judge, will give to me on that Day, and not to me only but also to all who have loved His appearing.” (2 Timothy 4:7-8).
We are made a promise, “Be ye strong therefore, and let not your hands be weak: for your work shall be rewarded.” (2 Chronicles 15:7) It is right and also good to look forward to what the Lord has prepared for us, including rewards, for they are also His handiwork.
Missionary to Vanuatu in the late 1800s, John G. Paton, writing about the death of one of his first native converts in his book Thirty Years Among the South Sea Cannibals, said:
“While staying at Aneityum, I learned with as deep emotion as man ever felt for man, that noble old Abraham, the sharer of my Tannese trials, had during the interval peacefully fallen asleep in Jesus. He left for me his silver watch one which I had myself sent to the dear soul from Sydney, and which he greatly prized. In his dying hour he said, “Give it to Missi, my own Missi Paton; and tell him that I go to Jesus, where Time is dead.”
That converted cannibal had a real and profound grasp of his position in Christ. I have read many times that in heaven sin will be dead, tears will be dead, sorrow will be dead, but I never read anything put quite like that. In heaven, time is dead.
Kay Cude poetry. Used with permission. Artist’s Statement:
There is not one of the Apostles of Christ whom I do not love, and I am so grateful for their love and dedication to Christ, as well as to us the redeemed who have loved the truth of their teachings about our Lord and Saviour.
I want to emphasize the reflection of the burning of Sodom and Gomorrah onto the hill and upon Lot’s wife (upon whom the result of disobedience was borne). I want to remind all of us, the redeemed, that our return to our sins we forsook can also cast a reflection upon our witness and lives. My intent is not to judge any of my brothers and sisters in Christ; I remind myself that I too have the “flesh” that battles against me.
A return to Romans 7:15-25 is the answer we love: it is Christ we desire controlling our thoughts, speech and actions. “For I (we) joyfully concur with the Law of God in the inner man.” On that day we “anticipate,” that predetermined day known by God, we’ll join Christ in the air to be with Him forever more. At that moment, we will no longer be clothed with our fleshly nature!! YES!!! Blessings!! Kay
Kay Cude poetry, used with permission. Click picture to enlarge
Artist’s Statement:
I am consistently drawn to Dore’s work! And each time I utilize one of his profoundly sensitive pieces, I imagine that as he worked on his wood plates, he had no concept of their enduring qualities or that centuries later I and others would be drawn to use them in our efforts to magnify and praise God! How amazed Dore would be to know that his telling works now cover the earth through digital media, or that millions have seen God’s glory through his pieces, and in a more profound way than he could even begin to imagine! Isn’t God just so very wise! His plans to make Himself and His Christ known through art and other forms of media makes our intuitiveness very pale! I believe God selects those desiring to serve Him in this manner and uses their work (spiritual gifts) for His purpose…
Artist’s statement: This was the very first Christian piece I ever composed. I began it as a poem of heartbreak about my son, but as I wrote and edited, it moved away from my sorrow about him to my sorrow about my spiritual immaturity and subsequent failures. Then it continued on to the approaching darkness of this age and my inadequacies and weakness relative to my witness for Christ. I still am panged when I read this piece, but determined to continue on and strive against my “self” and honor Christ.
the-end-time.org 