http://www.firstthings.com/onthesquare/2010/06/thomas-kinkadersquos-cottage-fantasy

What has always struck me about Kinkade’s work was the subtle message that underlies his undeniable appeal to modern evangelicals. His phenomenally-successful “cottage” paintings carry the same message. The outside world of nature has an appealing beauty but is always fading in the sunset. Night is upon it. It is cold or inhospitable. But the true light is behind the walls of the home. There is safety under the bushel where the light is. Outside is unpleasant danger mixed with the alluring beauty of forbidden fruit. Inside, there is comfort and the undefined allure of warm nostalgia for a past that never existed.

Kinkade invited all of us to hide behind those nostalgic walls and ignore the wisdom of Scripture that so many other successful Christian gurus ignore when calling upon the Church to re-invent the past. “Say not, ‘Why were the former days better than these?’ For it is not from wisdom that you ask this’” (Eccl. 7:10).

What passes for doctrine in modern American evangelicalism is very often not remotely Biblical. But it is undeniably appealing, all too often more appealing than offering light to a dying world outside the walls of our comfort zones where we have huddled to protect ourselves and our children from the allure of the dangerous but beautiful night outside.
“You are the light of the world. A city built on a hill cannot be hid. No one after lighting a lamp puts it under the bushel basket, but on the lampstand, and it gives light to all in the house. In the same way, let your light shine before others, so that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father in heaven” (Matt. 5:14-16).