Apocalypse of the End Times: Manasseh and the Forgotten Word

The end of the world is coming, and Norbert H Kox is painting it. The self-described 'apocalyptic surrealist' re-envisions the Bible and the end of the world like incredible Iron Maiden album covers.

He was a biker in his youth, but after one too many bad trips, a vision of God inspired him to live in deep religious contemplation as a hermit. For ten years he stayed in the woods in Wisconsin, before coming back into society to show us what he'd seen...

How did you come to be painting Biblical scenes?

In 1975, I experienced a powerful spiritual experience and an extremely graphic vision of the crucifixion, of which I was inspired to paint. It was my first major painting, Blood Offering: Yesu Christ The Sacrificial Lamb. Since that time I have studied the Bible continuously and receive inspiration to paint Apocalyptic Visual Parables. I also do some sculptures of the same subjects.

Blood Offering: Yesu Christ the Sacrificial Lamb

My Biblical research includes comparing the texts in the Hebrew and Greek, and deciphering Bible code prophecies from the Hebrew Torah and Tanach.

My artworks often connect Biblical concepts and prophecy to contemporary times, as well as point out common misconceptions derived from mistranslated texts.

Do you have any views on Scientology?

Like all the others [religions], it has good and bad. From some of the documentaries I’ve seen, it looks like they use some very bad tactics in their indoctrination. I would not want to see any of my loved ones involved in it.

Untied Liar

You used to be a biker, and repainted motorbikes, right? Could you tell us a bit more about your past?

You really do not have room for it here, but you are right about both. I got my first bike after being discharged from the army, and immediately chopped it. I had the first Harley Davidson chopper in Green Bay, Wisconsin, before I, or almost anyone else there had even heard the term “chopper”. From then on I was building and painting choppers (customized motorcycles) until I got my calling from above.

I had gotten in with a rough crowd of outlaw bikers and was at odds with the law for some years. I’ve had a gun put to my forehead a number of times by police, and several times by criminals. Once I was shot at from a distance but managed to escape to my chopper and flee the scene. It was a wild life of alcohol, drugs and petty crime that I left behind more than thirty years ago.

Tree of Life

Can you tell us a bit about one of your recent paintings, and what it means?

This piece is titled, Tree Of Life. It is one of my recent glory paintings from the Island of Bimini in the Bahamas. The Source energy of the Universe is seen manifesting in fire and water, two natural symbols of power and cleansing. This painting ties together aspects of ancient Jewish Mysticism, Chinese Tao and Christianity. The Hebrew spellings of the names of Yahweh and Yesu border the pillars of water and fire in the Jewish Kabbalistic Tree of Life. The Source energy flows down the center of manifestation shining its light on Bimini, which in the Hebrew spelling means “In my right hand”. Significantly, the national tree of the Bahama Islands and Bimini is the Lignum Vitae, “Tree of Life”. The Hebrew and Chinese characters for “tree” appear on the right, and those for “life” are on the left side of the painting. The Chinese symbol for Tao is at the center, with its English translation, “The Way” (Tao is the way or the path, but actually encompasses the entire eternal Source). Beneath that are the characters for the name Yesu. The Chinese translation of the Bible says that Yesu is the Tao.

The Counterfeit

So, is the apocalypse really coming? A lot of people have previously predicted it, and we're still here.

Yes, and in a sense we are living in it already. Apocalypse simply means revelation, or revealing, and is a direct reference to the Bible’s book of Revelation. Many of the things in the book of Revelation have already come to pass, so according to that we are now in the apocalypse. Revelation, as seen in the first verse of that book, is “The revelation of Yesu Christ.” This is what is referred to as the second coming and the end of the age. The word “age” has been misinterpreted as “world”, in most English Bibles, thus many see the apocalypse as the end of the world. Yes, a lot of people have previously predicted it and have been wrong. Sometimes things line up so well with specific dates that it looks certain, thus come date setters. So far they have been wrong, but some day someone will be right. It will be like the boy that cried “Wolf”. Nobody will believe.

Drosnin reckons it's gonna be 2012 - what's your money on?

Many things do point to 2012. We will not know until the time comes if it is right or wrong. We need to live every day like it is the last, then when the end does come we will be ready for it. My personal observations and research tell me it could be any day now. I do not see a date, but following both Biblical and scientific data the signs are here and the earth is ready to shake.

Worthy is the Lamb

Do you believe in Fate? If so, are all of your paintings already predestined?

In a sense I do believe in fate, but this does not rule out free choice. It is a deep matter which cannot be covered fully here in this small space. According to the Scriptures past, present and future all exist simultaneously. This is exactly what the quantum physicists are telling us today. They have proven it scientifically. Since the future already exists are we being forced into a pattern that we have no choice over? No, we are actually creating the future, or rather have already created it. What already exists in the future is based on the choices we now make, but in some sense we have already made them because everything in eternity is simultaneous. So with your next decision, realize that right or wrong, good or evil, it was what had to be. You really could not change it because you have already set your destiny. All we can do is live the best way that we can and try always to make the right choices, knowing that we are guiding our own fate. This is about as far as I can go here. Let it stir your thinking.

Relating to what I have just stated, in a sense, yes, my paintings are predestined.