Akiane Kramarik

Early life

Akiane Kramarik was born on July 9, 1994, in Mount Morris, Illinois to a Lithuanian mother and an non practicing Catholic American father. Kramarik professed the Christian faith at a young age, saying she saw the face of Jesus Christ in her visions and stating that she "brought her family to Christianity". Her education began at a public school but she was later homeschooled.

Paintings

Kramarik is a self-taught painter and states that God spoke to her when she was four years old, encouraging her to draw and paint her visions. She began to draw at the age of four, advanced to painting at six, and began to write poetry at seven. Her first completed self-portrait sold for US$10,000.

Kramarik's paintings are often allegorical as well as spiritual, involving likenesses of Jesus, children, and animals, as well as self-portraits. She often draws inspiration from magazine pictures. However, according to Kramarik, her main inspiration comes from her visions of Heaven and her personal connection with God. By age 12, she had completed sixty large paintings. Some of her works have been purchased by the US Embassy in Singapore. She completed over 200 artworks and 800 literary works and has published two best-selling books.

At the age of 10, Kramarik appeared on The Oprah Winfrey Show. At the age of 12, she appeared on CNN. She appeared in the 68th episode of The Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson in 2005 and the 21st episode of Katie in 2012.

Visions

In her very first encounter with the supernatural, four and a half year-old Akiane Kramarik is said to have mysteriously vanished for a period of time, in which she is claimed to have transcended time and space and entered temporarily into a higher spiritual realm.

"Undetectable, I remember splitting into a myriad fragments, hundreds upon hundreds of eyes that could see in all directions and participate in many imperative planetary and extra-planetary proceedings all at the same time. Then, after many long hours, I reappeared in the midst of numerous eye-witnesses, right by the windows in the crescent shaped corridor of our house. Neither my family, nor the officers, nor I could comprehend what had really happened, nor did we discuss it any more as it carried rather distressing and inexplicable association."

She also states regarding this event that, "This voice was following me, guiding me through these galaxies; and then I asked him, 'Do you know, Who are you?' And then I started calling him God." In another incident, which is recorded in the book, Akiane: Her Life, Her Art, Her Poetry, recounts the report made by young Akiane (then age four) of her first encounter with the "Light", which she retold to her mother as follows:

"Today I met God," Akiane whispered to me one morning.

"What is God?" I was surprised to hear this. To me, God's name always sounded absurd and primitive.
"God is light-warm and good. It knows everything and talks with me. It is my parent."
"Tell me more about your dream."
"It was not a dream. It was real!"
I looked at her slightly puffed eyes, and in complete disbelief I kept on asking her questions. "So who is your God?"
"I cannot tell you." Akiane lowered her head.
"Me? You cannot tell your own mom?"
"The Light told me not to." She was firm.

The representation of Jesus Christ depicted in her painting, Prince of Peace: The Resurrection, featured in the book, Heaven is for real is said by Akiane to have been first revealed to her by God in a vision at age eight.

Spirituality

In an interview with KCTS 9, Kramarik described her family’s religious beliefs, saying, "You know, I have to tell you, we went through almost everything. We went from being Christian to being Catholic, we studied Buddhism… but at this particular point, I think every single [one] of my siblings, they have their own path, their own spiritual enlightenment they are reaching. I have my own, my parents have theirs, and my brothers have theirs. I cannot say what they believe in or what path they are choosing, but for me, I can say I am the same person [as] I was when I was four years old… I am spiritual."

Prince of Peace

In early 2003, Akiane painted her first portrait of Jesus, entitled Prince of Peace: The Resurrection. John Roth, a carpenter from Sandpoint, Idaho, was asked by Akiane to model for the painting representing Jesus.

"In 2014, Akiane’s Jesus Prince of Peace painting was featured in the bestselling book, Heaven is for Real, the true story of 4-year-old Colton Burpo’s encounter with Jesus during his heavenly near-death experience. After seeing an array of images of Jesus, Colton Burpo, the subject of the book, identified the Prince of Peace painting by Akiane Kramarik as the Real Face of Jesus as he experienced the Lord while in heaven.”

Colton Burpo, a near-death survivor at age four, had been identifying deceased family members from photographs, and the family had been searching for images that matched the boy's description of Jesus. It was not until Kramarik's Prince of Peace, a portrait of Jesus, was shown many years later on Glenn Beck's The Blaze, that Burpo confirmed that "they finally got one right." Burpo's story is told in the New York Times number-one, best-selling book, Heaven Is for Real (2010) and its film adaptation (2014). Kramarik is referenced in the film as the "young Lithuanian girl" and is shown with her painting at the beginning and the end of the movie.