The Loosener

We live in a time of addiction and so many different kinds of addiction and bondage. This painting is about the special abilities and power of Jesus Christ to help us free ourselves from whatever holds us bound. It could be a drug or alcohol addiction, a pornography addiction, a defeated attitude, a controlling relationship, fear, loneliness, debt... whatever it is for us, the number one truth here is that His enabling power, His love and His grace are available to free us. He wants us to be happy.

You know the funny or not-so-funny irony here is that those who promote actions that lead to addiction or bondage often do it under the guise of "don't keep God's laws and don't turn to Jesus because that's so restrictive, old fashioned and designed to control you." When the reality is, only those who live as Christ encourages us to live and who keep His laws are really free.

Several years ago I heard a young woman speak about her recent service in Iceland. She told that in the Icelandic language the word for the Savior is interpreted to mean, the loosener. The loosener because He loosens the chains that hold us bound. I absolutely love that definition of Jesus and it inspired this painting.

Jesus holds the keys to our freedom on all levels! In this picture you do not see His face. I wanted to push the viewer to look at His hands and His generous offering to unlock the handcuffs on this young man's wrists. He understands us and holds the key to helping us as no other ever could. He has suffered the most intimate parts of all our suffering and all our addictions.

Christ's name is always associated with freedom, religious, political, personal and in all other arenas. His counterpart, the adversary, no matter how easy his suggestions are to our ears, or how popular his ideas, will always be about slavery and bondage.

Share this with someone who is struggling with their own form of bondage... and pretty much, are there any of us who aren't struggling on some level or another?

prints are going to be made available for each of these featured paintings by June 2019

The Lamb

     A few years ago I had the wonderful experience of taking over 1,000 pictures, which I used as art references in doing a series of paintings about the qualities of Jesus Christ. I found three amazing Christ models who were willing to pose for these pictures. Many of my friends and neighbors also posed in those settings. I am so grateful to all the models who took of their time to help create the paintings in this series. My family also helped me on this project. My daughter, Mary, helped me by doing a lot of the photography... (She is now a grown woman and a professional photographer). That was such a fun experience. Out of those references I went on to create over 30 paintings of the Savior. This is one of them and I hope to share some of the others with you (with their meanings), as time goes on.

     This painting is entitled: The Lamb. You can see that Jesus is holding a lamb in this picture. One can see His feelings of love and tenderness for this lamb. He often refers to His role as one of a shepherd, or in His words, "the Good Shepherd'. Jesus often taught important truths in simple ways that the people of His day could understand. Shepherds are often known for the personal love and protective care they give the sheep or lambs of their fold. By referring to Himself as a shepherd, Jesus wanted us to know that He loves, protects and cares for us in much the same way as a shepherd does. When one of His fold is lost, He personally goes after them to return them to safety. When they are in harms way He warns them or gets between them and the danger. Often He uses us, His hands, to do this work of outreaching, protecting and caring for precious lambs. Jesus taught Peter (repeating three times) that if he truly loved Him, he must feed His sheep.

     Jesus Christ is also known as "The Lamb". In former times, lambs were used for sacrifice to remind the people that there was going to be a sacrifice of a perfect lamb in the future, namely Jesus Christ. He is the "Lamb of God", prepared to be offered as a sacrifice to rescue all of us. He not only goes after the lost, but He is the Savior, and by His own atoning sacrifice, all of us are rescued from death. For those who are willing to accept His conditions, His grace provides a way to receive Eternal Life.

     April is a special month as we celebrate and contemplate the birth of this amazing and perfect older brother, and as we remember what He has done for us. The cost to Him was beyond anything that any of us can understand. His atonement was an act of perfect love. No other person has ever given a gift of such infinite love. We owe Him everything.

     Spring is all about new life. Bare trees that once looked dead begin to show signs of inner life. I live near a lot of farms and every spring there are new colts, new lambs, new baby pigs and new animals of every kind. Gardens that looked dead are filled with blooming daffodils, pansies and tulips. I never look at a cemetery and think of just the dead, I think of the day when each and every one of them, who now sleeps, will be resurrected... alive again because of Jesus Christ! Oh how good God is to us to give us His Son, His only begotten Son, The Lamb!

 (A print of this painting is coming in June)
note: today at the April General Conference for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints,
Jeffrey R. Holland gave a great talk on The Lamb of God.