Akiane Kramarik (pronounced AH-KEE-AH-NA) is a child art prodigy, who began drawing at the age of four. Born in Illinois on July 9th, 1994, Akiane was raised up in a poor family with three other siblings. She primarily is a self-taught painter.

At the age of four, Akiane started sharing her visions of heaven with her parents. Because Akiane was home-schooled and did not watch television, and had never been out of their sight, her parents were certain that no one else could have influenced Akiane’s sudden and detailed descriptions of the spiritual realm. Akiane’s mother was Lithuanian, and had been raised as an atheist in Lithuania; Akiane’s father was raised as a Catholic, but did not share in the family beliefs. Akaine’s family never talked about religion, never prayed togehter, and never went to any church.

According to Akiane’s semi-autobiography ‘Akiane: Her Life, Her Art, Her Poetry‘, about the same time as the visions began, Akiane suddenly began showing an intense interest in drawing. She began sketching hundreds of figures and portraits on whatever surfaces she found at hand, including walls, windows, furniture and books. Akiane seemed unusually patient and serious for one so young, totally immersed in her work. Akiane was not a perfectionist in any other area of her life, though; she could leave her room untidy or her hair uncombed, but her portraits always had to be absolutely perfect.

Akiane told Christianity Today that the first time God started speaking to her was when she was three years of age: “He said, ‘You have to do this, and I’ll help you.’ He said, ‘Now you can help people.’ I said, ‘Yes, I will.'” Since that time, Akiane has donated a substantial portion of the money generated from art sales to charity, and when asked why she thinks she received the gift, Akiane said that she believed that she has been blessed by God for one reason and one reason only, and that is to help others.

When Akiane was eight years of age, very early one morning, her mother found her gazing through the window at the sky, and when asked what she was doing, she replied, “I was with God again, and I was told to pray continually. He showed me where He lived, and it was so light. He was whither than the whitest of whites. I was climbing transparent stairs; underneath I saw gushing waterfalls. As I approached my Father in paradise, His body was pure light. What impressed me most were His giantic hands — they were full of maps and events. Then He told me to memorise thousands upon thousands of wisdom words on a scroll that didn’t look like paper, but more like intense light. And in a few seconds I somehow got filled up. He showed me the endless universe, its past and its future, and He told me that from now on, I needed to get up very early and get ready for my mission. I hope one day I’ll be able to paint what I’ve been shown.”

It didn’t seem very long for her to reach her goal, since before she turned 9, Akiane completed her best-known painting, the Prince of Peace, and between the ages of 9 to 12 years, most of Akiane’s drawings seem to have a spiritual theme and a prophetic/visionary quality to them.

Akiane’s boost in popularity came when she was featured on The Oprah Winfrey Show at the age of 10, and on CNN, at the age of 12.

There is no doubt over Akiane’s artistic talents, but can her claims of having met God be believed?

I do not see why not, and note that Matthew 5:8 says: “Blessed are the pure in heart, for they will see God.”; I believe that Akiane’s blessing of seeing God was afforded to her due to her childhood innocence.

Akiane’s claim of seeing Jesus Christ is supported by Colton Burpo, the little boy in ‘Heaven is for Real: A Little Boy’s Astounding Story of His Trip to Heaven and Back‘, who purportedly went to heaven at age three, and who on seeing Akiane’s painting the Prince of Peace, declared it to be the only one (among many others that he had seen) that ever captured what Jesus looks like.

Akiane is no longer a prepubescent child, but a lovely 20-years-old young lady, who now resides in Gold Coast, Australia. Has she maintained the same close walk with God, as she did when she was a child, free from all the distractions of growing up? Her art work in recent years seem to suggest that she may have taken a different direction as compared to her prepubescent years. I don’t claim in any way to be an expert in art, but in my eyes, the quality of her recent work remains high (if not higher than when she was a child), and her artistic style seems unchanged, however, I perceive that the inspiration behind her work may have changed somewhat.

Indeed, I was most alarmed by her painting (entitled ‘Enlightenment‘) of a Hindu swami. To add to my concern is the following description that accompanies the painting:

“I was always interested in Asian culture, and recently my interest focused on Southeast Asia — India, in particular. My dilemma was that there were virtually no Asian Indians in our local area, and if I had worked only from my imagination, it still would not have been enough, because any authentic culture demands a thorough knowledge of traditions and customs.

Ironically, a few months later a gentleman from England called my gallery to make an appointment with me. When he arrived to our Idaho gallery we were stunned to see a Hindu Swami from top to bottom dressed in his own traditional robes. His intention was only to share an urgent, confidential and spiritual message, then return back home. But after hearing him, we all convinced him to stay with us longer. During five days of his visit he was teaching us about his culture and faith, eventually agreeing to model for me.

This turned out to be a four-month-long painting project, because every detail had to be authentically accurate.

The Enlightenment is not only about the Hindu worship and prayer, but about all of us finding our own way to spiritual enlightenment, peace and contentment…”

I’m sorry to have to disagree, Akiane, and wish that your family had not opened your lives to the influence of this person. I am not saying that this person has no spiritual power, but I would say that the source of his spiritual power differs to the Source (the Lord Jesus Christ), whom you knew as a child. Indeed, the scripture (2 Corinthians 6:14-18; NIV) tells us:

¹⁴ Do not be yoked together with unbelievers. For what do righteousness and wickedness have in common? Or what fellowship can light have with darkness? ¹⁵ What harmony is there between Christ and Belial? Or what does a believer have in common with an unbeliever? ¹⁶ What agreement is there between the temple of God and idols? For we are the temple of the living God. As God has said: