icons on a string.. (revisited)...(c) 2002 elton houck (c) 2002 Elton Houck... the ART BOOK:-- "icons on a string " . Religion is not the answer. Jesus is. The problems that can arise from putting your faith in your religion is that our God is a jealous God..He does not share his authority with other gods that we in our religions, manufacture. We build our own system of worship, that in many cases, locks God out of our ceremonies. The Lord wants a personal relationship with each of his own--not a set of rules of order and boundaries that separate his sheep from Him. Jesus proclaimed that HE IS THE WAY, THE TRUTH AND THE LIFE AND THAT NO MAN COMES TO THE FATHER EXCEPT BY HIM... Jesus is the only way to heaven! Broad is the road that leads to Hell and narrow is the way to heaven. Moses lifted up the bronze serpent in the wilderness as God's instrument of deliverance from deadly snakes But the people instead of praising God for delivering them from the deadly vipers, instead paid homage to the manufactured thing--the bronze serpent..the people began to worship it... People will bow to anything, rock, wood, paper and ascribe to their icons the essence of godhead. This is idolatry and it is an abomination to our God. God wants to be worshiped in spirit and truth. Not playing mind games with wood or stone effigies and icons. The Lord God seeks a personal relationship with his children. We, the believers are adopted into God's own family...we are joint heirs with Christ...As family members, we do not need to circumvent our relationship with our God through devilish doctrines and esoteric formulae and ambiguous ceremony--but instead, God demands that we come boldly into His throne room of grace and make our petitions known to Him as sons would to a loving father.... Throw away your old notions of acting out preconceived ceremony to achieve a sphere of holiness in order to contact the All Mighty...Instead of these useless man made ordinances, you need only to bow your head and with a joyous heart--speak to your Lord and he will hear and answer. No beads or secret stones or chants, or spells, or 12 step programs are needed. Just say, Lord Jesus I am your child..help me!" The ART BOOK.. is a hard covered spiral bound chapbook of 43 original individual paintings and drawings each measuring 4.5" X 7" on black acid free paper. The works in this chapbook were completed in 2002, and the ART BOOK was sold to a collector in that selfsame year..The work was concluded in gel pens and colored pencils..