October 4, 2002 journal, transcending addiction, idolatry is pharmacy, religious addiction. I spent the day in Baltimore around the inner harbor and visited the Whole Foods Store for health. I met with Greg Bottoms in the Joy Cafe at American Visionary Art Museum. Their new show opened at 7:00 p.m. with the very inspiring founder and director Rebecca Hoffberger giving an introduction. The curator of the show Tom Patterson spoke briefly. This museum is declared to be by some authority the 4th. best museum in the nation with the National Museum voted to be best. This may be the only Museum that deals with modern art that affects our lives so strongly. The crowds were enormous and live music was played. I was very proud to stand with Norbert Kox by our collaboration painting we named idolatry that addresses the ills of the church. I believe it was divine inspiration that motivated us to refer to religious addiction as one of the subtitles for this special painting. Neither of us have ever heard this term used before. Religious addiction may be as strong as chemical addiction. Since the beginning of time man has sought to worship a higher power. The children of Israel contributed their gold to make an idol calf and they wor-shipped it even while Moses was on the mountain receiving the 10 Commandments. People do not want to change from their tradition of worship or admit that they're wrong. People find their own real level of religion and commit themselves to serve it many times rather than God. I am more convinced than ever before that the timing is now right for such an encounter with the modern church. One lady ask why we did not include Judaism and I replied that we addressed what we knew best. There may be some idolatry in all of worlds organized religions. Protesting religion is what we do as Protestants for 500 years since Martin Luther protested the Pope and the Catholic doctrine with 95 complaints and calling it idolatry and identifying the Pope as the Antichrist. There is no real wonder why Luther forbid imagery and art to be used by his followers. We took the image used by the so-called Christian mother Church taken from the 12th chapter of Revelation, a woman standing on the moon, clothed with the sun with the 12 stars in her crown that represent the 12 tribes of Israel. They call her Mary but she is Israel bearing the Christ Child and being pursued by Satan. We substituted the seven churches like the seven headed beast of Revelation that appears in the 13th and 17th chapters. The Lord's message to the seven churches in the second and third chapter but these are not the same seven churches today. Christ said to the Disciple/Apostle Peter "Upon this rock will I build my church". Simon Peter preached on the day of Pentecost as recorded in Act's 2, after receiving the mighty Holy Spirit with a 120 that tarried in the upper room and 3000 people were converted that day in the streets of Jerusalem to believe in Christ and to be a part of the rock of the New Testament Church that lives today in the hearts of the people. I pray to be one of those.

Webster's dictionary defines pharmacy as pharmakeia, administering of drugs, pharmakon magic charm, poison, akin to Lith Burl to practice magic. The art of practice of preparing, preserving, compounding common and dispensing drugs. A place where medicine's are compounded are dispensed. The painting idolatry is referenced from Revelation 18-23, where the King James version of the Bible of the word ‘sorceries’ comes from the Greek word pharmakia, literally drugging One of my greatest confirmations was from a 19 year-old student from Appalachian University at Boone North Carolina who came with a group of six. She applauded the painting as most timely and shared with us what is going on in the universities of today regarding religion. I was amazed at how brilliant and informed this young lady was and how well she understood the message of this idolatry painting.