"For she sitteth at the door of her house, on a seat in the high places of the city, To call passengers who go right on their ways: Whoso is simple, let him turn in hither: and as for him that wanteth understanding, she saith to him," Proverbs 9:14-16 Wolfgang Beltracchi, who often described himself as “a German hippie,” never received any formal art instruction. But the self-taught painter had a great gift—he could mimic the styles of some of the most famous Surrealist and Expressionist painters perfectly. Although he had some success selling his work, Beltracchi went into the art forging business in the 1980s, because it paid much better. His wife sold the “newly discovered” masterpieces that he was churning out, and they became multi-millionaires. Beltracchi’s work fooled numerous experts. His paintings hung in well-known museums and were purchased by celebrities around the world. He even sold one forgery to the widow of the artist whose work he was copying! Beltracchi continued producing high quality forgeries until 2008 when a suspicious appraiser tested the pigments in one of his paintings and found paint that had come from forty years after the painting was supposedly done. When the German authorities arresting him they seized many more “masterpieces” waiting to be sold. The devil is not original. His plan is to imitate what God does, but change it so that rather than bringing life and joy, it brings death and pain. Notice how the beginning of the invitation of folly to those who are simple is the same as the invitation of wisdom recorded earlier in the chapter: “Whoso is simple, let him turn in hither: as for him that wanteth understanding, she saith to him,” (Proverbs 9:16). Of course the advice given is very different, but there is a lesson here in how Satan approaches us. He wants to deceive us, and we must be on our guard so that he does not. Be alert to the counterfeits offered by Satan and reject them. By Paul Chappell
Posted on: Mon, 09 Sep 2013 12:19:37 +0000
Trending Topics
Recently Viewed Topics
© 2015