This video will introduce you to Christian Concern which exists ‘to protect the freedom to live and speak for him, and to empower Christians to be compassionate and courageous ambassadors.’ Please make it a habit to visit their web site often and to remember them in prayer as they seek to serve the Lord.
Australia
‘I grew up in Sri Lanka during a time of civil war. Anyone who criticised the Sinhalese-dominated government disappeared. And anyone who criticised the Tamil rebels was assassinated. So we all learned to keep our mouths shut.
In September 1991, I changed nationalities. I swore allegiance to Australia at a citizenship ceremony in Parramatta Park. During that ceremony, I delivered a speech where I committed myself, as one of those who come from “beyond the seas”, to “advance Australia fair”.
Migrants like me love Australia because “we are young and free”. And many of us come from countries which are not free – where deviating from the approved political opinion is punished, therefore there’s no free speech. Public speech, in countries like the Sri Lanka of my childhood, was costly. It could cost you your life.
And it’s precisely that love of freedom, and my desire to advance Australia fair, that makes me worried about the Victorian government’s Change or Suppression Bill 2020.
The bill aims “to ensure that all” LGBT+ people “are able to live authentically and with pride” and “to denounce and give statutory recognition to the serious harm caused” by practices which suggest that “a person’s sexual orientation or gender identity” is in any way “broken”.
Nobody who opposes this bill is seeking to harm people who identify as LGBT+. The problem with this bill is the its definitions and prohibitions are so broad, it potentially criminalises any suggestion that sexuality has an objective order and that discovering and conforming to that order could be healthy for individuals, families, and society as a whole.
Most of human civilisation has, throughout history, believed that human sexuality is not a matter of personal preference, but possesses an objective order. Not all cultures agree on what that healthy pattern is. And not everyone within that society lives according to that healthy pattern. But they agree that it exists. And that talking about it, trying to discover it, and helping each other live according to it, is good.
This bill denounces that kind of belief, and prohibits and suppresses talking about it. This bill is on the wrong side of history. It seeks to criminalise something that has historically made human civilisation civil and humane.
Therefore, this bill is not actually progressive. It takes us backwards, into a dark age where public speech is costly and deviating from the approved political opinion gets punished.
LGBT+ activists often speak about “authenticity” and “pride”, and often accuse people who hold conservative values – especially religious people, and within that, especially Christians – as “harming” them. They’re welcome to do that. That’s an application of free speech.
And under conditions of free speech, social conservatives, religious people – including Christians – can talk back. We’re allowed to defend ourselves against those accusations of harm. And explain why we think healthy sexuality is not a matter of personal preference but possesses an objective order. And invite all people – including LGBT+ people – to willingly join us in living that sexuality because they’ve been persuaded that it’s right and good.
But by being an instrument of law, this bill takes away the right to talk back. If this bill becomes law, any assertion that healthy sexuality is ordered, not a matter of personal preference, could cost money or land you in jail. This threat of formal, legal punishment would intimidate people to self-censor. And that amounts to a stifling, in practice, of free speech.
That’s why this bill is dangerous. Not just for Christians, religious people, or social conservatives. This bill wrecks the social environment which has underpinned what we take for granted as a free, open, tolerant society – the kind of Australia I migrated to, love, and vowed to advance.
Mainstream media tend to caricature those who oppose this bill – especially religious people – as using public freedoms, like freedoms of speech and assembly, to protect themselves in a selfish, self-interested way. Is the mainstream media broad-minded enough to consider that we oppose this bill out of love? Love of freedom and tolerance? And love of country? And even – shock, horror – love of LGBT+ people?
And is the Victorian government broad-minded enough to make Victoria a place where social conservatives and religious people feel safe and welcome? Or has Australia gone backwards to become precisely the kind of country I was trying to escape from – a place that is not young and free, but old, cynical, and enslaved?’ https://www.spectator.com.au/2020/12/daniel-andrews-gender-antics-are-a-threat-not-enhancement-to-the-fundamentals-of-our-free-open-tolerant-society/
Cheaper electricity would be a nice Christmas present but that’s probably not to be. You see, ‘Santa will be busy this year because 2020 marks the final year of the Kyoto climate change agreement signed way back in 1997. Santa has a long list of naughty countries, and only a few in the nice column.
There is good news for Australia. Santa has checked the list twice and confirmed that we should be getting more than a piece of coal this Christmas thanks to our Kyoto efforts.
The latest version of Australia’s emissions projections, released this month, shows that we have reduced our emissions by 403 million tonnes more than necessary to meet both our Kyoto and Paris targets.
Now some Christmas Grinches are suggesting that we should get no presents from Santa’s sack for these good deeds, not even a lump of coal. Indeed, some of the more zealous Scrooges think we should give up even more of the coal we have this Christmas despite our hitherto overachievement.
But that’s not what our non-Christian, secular, gender-neutral, modern Christmases are about! We all know that the modern interpretation of Christ’s message is that you only do a good deed to get something in return.
So what Christmas presents should we get for our 400-million-tonne carbon budget over the next 10 years – before our Paris targets come due in 2030? Here is my overflowing list for us all to choose from.
The closure of the Hazelwood power station – which once provided 25 per cent of Victoria’s electricity supply – doubled electricity prices. We now have the chance to correct this enormous mistake.
A modern, high-efficiency, low- emission (or HELE) coal-fired power station, of Hazelwood’s size, would generate around 9 million tonnes of carbon dioxide emissions a year. That is about 35 per cent less than the old Hazelwood power station.
And, with 400 million tonnes of carbon dioxide to spend over the next ten years, we could build four HELE coal-fired power stations. These power stations would not just make for an inspiring one-off Christmas present, they would be able to power the factories that make children’s presents for decades to come. Perhaps even in the future, when the wrapping paper is ripped off, we could find a ‘Made in Australia’ stamp underneath to replace the ubiquitous ‘Made in China’.
Speaking of China, why do we send almost all of our world’s best iron ore and coking coal to a communist dictatorship to bolster its steel industry? We could instead use our carbon budget to build steel mills in Australia again. That would easily end the shame that we are the world’s largest iron ore and coking coal exporter but a net importer of steel.
It takes about 1.8 million tonnes of carbon dioxide to produce a million tonnes of steel. So accounting for our carbon budget to 2030 would allow us to produce an extra 22 million tonnes of steel a year – around seven new steel mills. To become self-sufficient in steel production again we would only need to build a couple more steel mills roughly equivalent in size to the two steel mills left in Australia at Whyalla and Port Kembla.
So far I have considered all Australians equal when allocating credit for carbon good deeds. However, there is one group of Australians that have in fact been responsible for the bulk – in fact all – of Australia’s carbon ‘achievement’.
At the Kyoto negotiations, our diplomats successfully argued for the inclusion of terms that became known as the ‘Australia clause’. That let us use a baseline year of 1990 for the amount of land clearing that would normally occur in any one year in Australia. In 1990, 688,000 hectares of land in Australia were cleared, which was a record. Since then state governments have stripped farmers of their rights to develop their own land.
If it had not of been for the theft of property rights from farmers, Australia’s carbon dioxide emissions would have increased over the past 15 years. The only reason we can say we have achieved our Kyoto targets is because we stopped developing land in the bush. City people have emitted more over the past 30 years but that seems to have just recommitted them to the task of shutting down industries perceived as evil to atone for their sinful conduct. Australia once rode on the sheep’s back, now we are riding to international climate change conferences on our own farmers’ backs.
So why not give our farmers a break this Christmas and give them some of their property rights back? With 400 million tonnes of carbon dioxide to spend, we could let farmers develop an extra 300,000 hectares a year for the next 10 years. That would take us back to the 1990 heyday levels of clearing when we used to build dams to grow food. We would all then benefit from better Christmas lunches with lots of Aussie produce.
Before we get too carried away though, we should remember that more beef roasts at Christmas means more belching and farting cattle, and that means, you guessed it, more carbon dioxide emissions.
So the mooing cattle you see on your Christmas travels are not as innocent as they look. Each of these bovine sinners emits around 70 kilograms of methane a year. Factoring in methane’s potency as a greenhouse gas, means that we could double our cattle herd and remain on Santa’s nice list in 2030. Given the government’s stated goal of doubling Australian agriculture, what are we waiting for?
Unfortunately other nation’s are not rushing to reward our good behaviour. They instead laud the empty promises made by countries like China, which despite increasing its carbon emissions fivefold in the past 40 years promises to go to ‘net zero’ by 2060.
This shows how we are playing the Climate Christmas game all wrong. St Nicholas knows when you have been bad or good but St. Al Gore only cares what you say you are going to do. We need a new approach then. By all means let’s go one further than other nations and commit to gross zero emissions by 2050, and then like all other countries, do absolutely nothing about it. Then we will at least get coal (fired power) for Christmas.’https://www.spectator.com.au/2020/12/christmas-notes-5/?utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=OZWH%20%2020201219%20%20AL&utm_content=OZWH%20%2020201219%20%20AL+CID_0b510a6ee1dcac8731006dfaf495edd4&utm_source=CampaignMonitor_Australia&utm_term=Christmas%20notes
THE WHITE IDENTITY CRISIS — VERTIGOPOLITIX – What do you think? Is there a reverse racism going on here? Is there a culture of the European countries and if there is how will it be changed by those immigrating from the Middle East, Asia and Africa?
The China virus is out to destroy not only the Presidential election of President Trump but the everyday life of the average Joe. Yes, there is a Commie under every bed and with New Year’s Eve approaching the China Virus is changing even that!!
‘Community safety is the priority for this New Year’s Eve, so a restricted Green Zone has been created around areas of Sydney Harbour.
A NYE Pass is required to enter the Green Zone. You’ll need to apply for a Pass if you’re planning to be in the Green Zone after 5pm on New Year’s Eve and you’re:
- a resident of the Green Zone, or a guest of a resident
- a customer with a booking at a restaurant or hotel, or an event within the Green Zone
- staff of a restaurant, hotel or office within the Green Zone
Applications for Passes are now open.
The best vantage points within the Green Zone will be reserved for invited frontline workers.
There is a Yellow Zone around the Green Zone which doesn’t require a Pass.
Some of the parks within the Yellow Zone will be closed on NYE. Please check with your local council before making plans.
Remember to physically distance and if you can’t, wear a mask. If catching public transport, wear a mask to and from the event.
So this year, make a booking or stay local and celebrate in your community.’ This was an email from https://www.nsw.gov.au/covid-19/covid-safe/major-events/new-years-eve?utm_source=sfmc&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Covid+EDM+%2310+091220&utm_term=Main+Body+Copy_CTA&utm_id=392719&sfmc_id=94661169#utm_source=ServiceNSW&utm_medium=Email&utm_campaign=Covid%20EDM%20%2310%2016122020&utm_term=ConsumerCOVIDeDM10&utm_content=Header%20Image%20%26%20CTA
May 2021 be a year without the Commie China virus regulations and scare tactics brought to us by those we call politicians!
‘Perhaps you are far enough removed from what it is to be “woke” that you don’t know what it is. It might sound familiar, because it echoes religious connotations, as very often a counterfeit does. Scripture uses “awakening” to speak of true spiritual enlightenment. The Bible calls on unbelievers to wake up, which would mean being saved, and also admonishes believers to wake up in order to stir them from some degree of apathy. In this case, however, being woke means that you have the special knowledge to see what others can’t see. You “spot” white privilege and systemic racism everywhere with x-ray style vision that others miss.
How does someone become woke? Expertise or specialization in critical theory. How does one get this knowledge? Honestly, it is something closer to competence in the use of the divining rod for locating water. It is the the bizarre knowledge of the Gnostic, moved by something extraordinary in the realm of an ecstatic experience. The more fantastical the claim the greater possibility of correctness. The Apostle Paul describes something like it among the Corinthians out of Babylonian mysticism (cf. 1 Corinthians 12:1-3).
If I were to walk up to just any white person and call him a racist, he asks, why? I answer, it’s obvious, but it’s something that you are inherently blinded to. You are not woke to its reality in you. BLM adherents have gone around doing something similar, asking random white people to admit their racism and privilege at the threat of violence. It’s like the Salem witch trials. If they don’t confess they are a witch, they are drowned. The blindness, characterized by an unwillingness to admit racism, apparently comes through a social construction imposed upon the country. All whites are so immersed in systemic racism, that they don’t know they’re all racists.
In part one, I focused on the individuality of Trumpism compared to the judgment of wokeness. I want to explore the relations of wokeness to the gospel, partly to reveal its destructiveness in nature. Woke evangelicals preach repentance of group sins in line with Marxist group identity. A whole group, white people, is guilty of systemic racism. Reparations is a legal remedy for group sin. You might say that you aren’t racist and that you’ve never harmed another race. You say that, but you don’t “know” that because you aren’t trained to see it. You aren’t woke. You haven’t swallowed the blue pill.
The undermining of the gospel comes through a collective sin that brings group guilt. The group that sinneth, it shall die, which is just the opposite of what Ezekiel and Jeremiah and everywhere else in the Bible taught related to sin and guilt. It would then require group repentance. White people are guilty. Men are guilty. Straight people are guilty. Even if a white person becomes woke, he must still be named in the class action suit. Part of wokeness is admission of group guilt. This is the only way to forgiveness.
This spiritual collectivism contradicts scripture. Jesus Christ came to save individuals, not groups. A single person is awakened to his own sin and his own need of repentance. He enters the kingdom as an individual. He stands before God as an individual. The soul that sinneth, it shall die (Ezekiel 18:4). A man must examine himself for what he has done, not his group.
The transformation of wokeness is for the collective. The change is group change. A living sacrifice submerges himself in and for the group and the expense of his individuality. This is their Jesus, another Jesus, bringing in their imagination of the kingdom.
How are people awakened to their guilt of racism, sexism, transgenderism, and perhaps Trumpism? It’s a specialized knowledge, so you can either become a practitioner of critical theory, which is akin to learning divination or you can listen to the preaching of the theorist. He’s cherry picking scripture into which he can force his theory without historical precedent. No one had ever found in the Bible what he says he has found. He goes a looking to bring critical theory into God’s Word. It’s a reinvention of Christianity as detected through a seer stone.
The individuality of Trumpism matches the gospel and is a repudiation of the collectivism of evangelical wokeness. Wokeness undermines the gospel. It is in fact a different gospel. It requires group accession and group repentance. This is adding to the gospel, which makes it legalism. The requirement is conforming to the group.
I’m not saying that Trump himself is converted, that he is saved or that President Donald Trump has believed the gospel. I don’t believe so. I’m sure that some Trump supporters think he is. They’ve heard reports of private evangelism of Trump followed by a profession of faith. I don’t see a changed individual life of Donald Trump. By the abundance of his heart, he speaks, and I hear corrupt speech, bitter waters proceeding from a bitter fountain.
Others, which might be seen as adherents to Trumpism, take the position that Trump is a blunt instrument of change, ordained by a sovereign God. One analogy, I’ve read, is that he is chemotherapy to cancer, a painful methodology for a necessary cure or at least greater postponement of death. Advocates of the chemo acknowledge the cancer. The body is cancerous. It needs chemotherapy and Trump is it. The cessation of Trump, they diagnose, bolsters the cancer.
An irony to the lack of conversion of Donald Trump by judging him as an individual, however, is that I hear the same as bad or worse corrupt speech from woke evangelicals. Trump just doesn’t receive the gospel. He’s responsible. They see themselves as covered by their group identity. They are woke, so they are absolved of group guilt, their filthy language and lascivious lifestyles notwithstanding. It is a form of left wing legalism. Their sins are covered by their “good works.”
Many white people, who aren’t woke, believe the truth about race, that it is an arbitrary distinction, not backed by scripture. The Bible doesn’t recognize race. It does acknowledge a covenantal distinction between Jew and Gentile. These white people want a color blind society. They want equal treatment, vis-a-vis James chapter two. They also eliminate covenantal distinctions in the church age. They want to be free to judge according to scripture.
Park on the last part of that last sentence of that last paragraph: “to be free to judge according to scripture.” That is true freedom, ordained by God. It also gives someone the freedom to be released as an individual from the charge of racism. Someone can actually be saved, truly converted. He’s not a racist anymore.
The movement aligned with David French, Beth Moore, and Rod Dreher distorts the gospel. Its righteousness is one of virtue signaling. It constructs modern phylacteries. They signal to everyone how righteous, actually woke, they are. The toll levied for leftist acceptance produces a false gospel. They can talk about Jesus, what He can really do, but He becomes of no affect, because He doesn’t remove the group guilt of which “Trumpists” are not woke. They won’t allow for individual redemption through their group or community sin and guilt. The Apostle Paul says concerning them, if they will add anything to the true gospel, let them be accursed.’https://kentbrandenburg.blogspot.com/2020/12/what-is-trumpism-part-two-gospel.html
The Australian state of Victoria is one of the most Left/Marxist leaning states in Australia. The following occurred in the Victorian Parliament in 2016 but updated in September, 2020. In Victoria and most of the states here in Australia it doesn’t really matter what the Creator has said about the sin of sodomy but it will matter some day for God, the Creator will have the last say!
‘Premier Daniel Andrews apologised to those convicted under unjust laws that criminalised homosexual acts on Tuesday 24 May 2016.
The formal state apology was given in Parliament at 2pm.
The rainbow flag was flown on the top of Parliament House in recognition of the apology.
‘I move that this house apologise for laws that criminalised homosexuality in this state; laws which validated hateful views, ruined people’s lives and forced generations of Victorians to suffer in fear, silence and isolation,’ the Premier said at the special sitting attended by members of the Legislative Assembly and Legislative Council.
These laws did not just punish homosexual acts, they punished homosexual thought. They had no place in a liberal democracy. They have no place anywhere. The Victorian Parliament and the Victorian Government were at fault. For this we are sorry.The Hon Daniel Andrews MP
The Premier said to his knowledge no jurisdiction in the world has ever offered a full and formal apology for laws like these.
‘So please let these words rest forever in our records. On behalf of the Parliament, the Government and the people of Victoria, for the laws we passed and the lives we ruined, and the standards we set, we are so sorry; humbly, deeply sorry,’ the Premier said.
Opposition Leader Matthew Guy and other members supported the motion. Mr Guy said it was a shameful, sad and distressing chapter in Victoria’s history.
‘After decriminalising homosexuality in 1980, after expunging criminal convictions related to homosexuality in 2014, we now as a Parliament apologise to the victims of policies of intolerance, repression that resulted in outcasting, depression and sadly even suicide,’ Mr Guy said.
The Opposition Leader said the apology was long overdue.
‘It is about time and it is right,’ Mr Guy said.
Reviewed 18 September 2020′ https://www.vic.gov.au/state-apology-laws-against-homosexual-acts
Romans 1:22-27 Professing themselves to be wise, they became fools, 23 And changed the glory of the uncorruptible God into an image made like to corruptible man, and to birds, and fourfooted beasts, and creeping things. 24 Wherefore God also gave them up to uncleanness through the lusts of their own hearts, to dishonour their own bodies between themselves: 25 Who changed the truth of God into a lie, and worshipped and served the creature more than the Creator, who is blessed for ever. Amen. 26 For this cause God gave them up unto vile affections: for even their women did change the natural use into that which is against nature: 27 And likewise also the men, leaving the natural use of the woman, burned in their lust one toward another; men with men working that which is unseemly, and receiving in themselves that recompence of their error which was meet.
Isn’t it ironic that school truant Greta Thunberg carries so much weight in this climate scam industry? Here is a girl with no science degree telling world leaders how to save the world from a future climate catastrophe and at the same time the skeptics are told to ‘“Listen to the science!” shouts the Left.
Are they ready to put their money where their mouths are?
No less a scientific expert than Greta Thunberg appeared at a House of Representatives committee hearing and used those very words. Greta came wielding the latest report by the UN’s Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC). Little did she know this very report debunks some of the Left’s favorite global warming talking points — such as those related to storm intensity, sea level rise and extreme weather.
CFACT senior policy analyst Jay Lehr lives to educate the public on science. Jay holds a degree in geology from Princeton and a Ph.D. in groundwater hydrology from the University of Arizona. He is an accomplished scientist. Dr. Lehr has been posting a series of important science articles at CFACT.org, often partnering with Tom Harris and Terrigi Ciccone (who themselves are outstanding engineers). Their work is first rate and much needed.
In 2014, John Oliver devoted an entire episode of his HBO comedy series Last Week Tonight to climate change. Oliver put up a clip of CFACT’s Marc Morano and then brought out Bill Nye the Science Guy. Unfortunately he then had an actor play the role of Morano, instead of inviting Marc himself. Oliver then did something outrageous. He had 96 extras in white lab coats flood the stage to illustrate the phony “96% consensus” trope team warming constantly puts out. This is a straw man argument. Their definition of “consensus,” namely that humans have an impact on climate, includes everyone at CFACT and Marc himself! By the way, just why does Oliver think climate computer modelers would wear white coats? To avoid getting toner on their clothing when they print out a simulation that runs too hot?
Dr. Lehr and his colleagues, on the other hand, are fearlessly laying out the hard science team warming wants to shout down.
Just this week he posted a pair of highly instructive articles to CFACT.org. The first explains the greenhouse effect, and the second launches into a new series on weather.
CFACT’s challenge to the Left — We fearlessly “listen to the science.”
Will you?’https://papundits.wordpress.com/2020/12/16/listen-to-the-science/
The Australian state of New South Wales has a make believe conservative government. For example, this government has not only destroyed the energy grid but is allowing the public schools to teach a hatred for those who are not Leftists! A few more years and China will call NSW home!
‘POLITICAL INDOCTRINATION RAMPANT IN NSW SCHOOLS!NSW schools are meant to be politically NEUTRAL places, so why are kids at North Newtown Public School having “woke” political ideas imposed upon them instead of doing the spelling lessons they so badly need???’ #nswpol#auspol#onenationDAILYTELEGRAPH.COM.AU
Don’t worry, I wasn’t going to be there and guess what, I’m not going to watch it either!
‘President-elect Joe Biden’s basement campaign was characterized by lackluster energy and small crowds and now it appears his swearing-in ceremony will be more of the same.
The Presidential Inaugural Committee announced in a news release Tuesday that on Jan. 20, Biden and Vice President-elect Kamala Harris will take their oaths of office at a downsized ceremony at the U.S. Capitol featuring “vigorous health and safety protocols.”
“The ceremony’s footprint will be extremely limited, and the parade that follows will be reimagined,” the release added.
“Our goal is to create an inauguration that keeps people safe, honors the grand traditions of the Presidency, and showcases the Biden-Harris Administration’s renewed American vision for an inclusive, equitable, and unified citizenry,” the committee’s chief executive, Tony Allen, said.’https://www.theblaze.com/news/biden-inauguration-committee-stay-home?utm_source=theblaze-breaking&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=20201215Trending-CaliforniaRestaurant&utm_term=ACTIVE%20LIST%20-%20TheBlaze%20Breaking%20News
HOW LONG DO YOU THINK BIDEN WILL LAST BEFORE THE OTHER PERSON IS PRESIDENT?
