December 3, 2004 journal, the fiery furnace, the flood, the escape of Lot and family from the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah. The rapture doctrine of the Protestant Church may have some ground but not as they customarily teach. God had Noah to build the Ark

and floated he and his family in it to spare them and a specimen of the animals from danger of destruction even though Noah may have never seen a lake of water while he was busy building the Ark for 100 years. God led Lot and his family out of the city of Sodom prior to raining down fire and brimstone to destroy the wicked people. God may elevate people out of danger during the destruction and renewing of the earth although he has so clearly demonstrated that he can protect the true believers in the story of the 3 Hebrew children in the fiery furnace recorded in the Book of Daniel of the Old Testament. Membership in a church will not save the soul. It is only our relationship with God through our faith and our repentance that will put our name on God's Church role in heaven that will qualify us. It was our original intent to paint ‘The Gathering’ for the destruction on the surface of the earth but it changed before our eyes to a much deeper and more complete message and we believe the change came from God. I speak for myself only determined to be consistent with the official description of The Gathering. I am still learning and I believe God is still revealing to me through my own study and meditation with good Christian networking. The dead in Christ will rise 1st and then we who are alive will be caught up to meet him in the sky. We can expect I believe for this to happen simultaneously with the coming of the Lord. Not all people who are called Christian will be caught up to meet the Lord God, only those who are expecting His coming and living in accordance to his commandments. Luke 17-28 "Likewise also as it was in the days of Lot; they did eat, they drank, and they bought, they sold, they planted; 29-But the same day that Lot went out of Sodom it rained fire and brimstone from heaven, and destroyed them all". Daniel 3-1 "Nebuchadnezzar the king made an image of gold..2-sent to gather together the princes, governors and captains, the judges, the treasurers, the counselors, the sheriffs, and all the rulers of the provinces to come to the dedication of the image...he had set up. 17…If it be so, our God whom we serve is able to deliver us from the burning fiery furnace, and he will deliver us out of thine hand, O king". 25-“..I see 4 men loose, walking in… the fire…4^th man as the Son of God”.

The big giant Wal-Mart dropped its candy this year to Target and others using their own tricks of trade. 1st it was K-mart competing with Sears then Wal-Mart became the largest.

There is no safe haven in this world and no Santa Claus outside of Wall Street enterprises. Christmas has been translated to mean gift giving which pleases Wall Street's racketeering and contributes to the marriage of the so-called church to the commercial world instead of to God. The Christmas story of the birth of Christ is rejected by most those who profiteer on our commercial Christmas. I painted a big Santa Claus in 1990; I called it ‘Sad Santa’. The art world interpreted it as my objection to the commercialization of Christmas and it could mean that although, to me it meant my family had a very poor Christmas that year. Without the trauma of losing it all I would never have known the beautiful feeling of free expression through art and the power of the brush. Let those who have failed in commerce and lost their jobs rejoice because this is the first step to opening their eyes to real success. Movie stars, lottery winners are not the successful to be praised or exalted or worshipped. Finding peace with God, making peace with God is a treasure to be desired more than all. Until a person’s priorities are right, their lives will never be truly happy and eternity is in grave doubt, only total surrender to Christ will produce peace for ones body and soul.