Christianity
All posts tagged Christianity
With USA banks defaulting it is assuring to know God’s Bank will never default.
“That good thing which was committed unto thee keep by the Holy Ghost which dwelleth in us.” (2 Timothy 1:14)
‘The good thing that Paul referred to surely involves God’s “gift” that young Timothy was given as he entered the ministry. All gifts include the gift of “power, and of love, and of a sound mind” that God has given to all of us (2 Timothy 1:7). The Holy Spirit deposited that gift in us, and we are expected to guard it through the same Holy Spirit.
The action and responsibility are ours. The means by which we obey is the indwelling presence of the Holy Spirit, who entered our bodies at the time of our salvation (1 Corinthians 6:19). That unique down payment of the triune Godhead (Ephesians 1:14) made it possible for us to keep the good with which He entrusted us. The breadth of God’s gift to us is beyond imagining, but there are a few insights that may help us understand His bounty.
In the most broad perspective, we are given “to know the mysteries of the kingdom of heaven” (Matthew 13:11). That gift requires that we be given “the mind of Christ” so that we may grasp these great spiritual truths (1 Corinthians 2:16). The deposit that God placed with us is not a leap in IQ or mental ability. It is truly a “new man” that God has empowered to be “renewed in knowledge after the image of him that created him” (Colossians 3:10).
But this great spiritual capacity must be guarded. There is no guarantee of spiritual wisdom this side of eternity. We must beware “lest any man spoil you through philosophy and vain deceit, after the tradition of men, after the rudiments of the world, and not after Christ” (Colossians 2:8). God has made it possible for us to gain the wisdom of holiness so “that [we] might be filled with all the fulness of God” (Ephesians 3:19). HMM III’https://www.icr.org/article/13993/
‘There is no greater reality check than having to run a business. Here are some insights from one man who made it to the top.
“Australia is a great place to live”, I would tell my audiences, “but it only has one major problem, it was “discovered” by the English.
The English as you all know have 10 times the population of the Scots, but only 50% of the brain power, intellect and good looks.”
So after discovering Australia, these Englishmen sailed back to London and told the rulers that they had found a place 100 times the size of England, with great farming, fishing and mineral wealth.
The rulers, of limited brain power, then insisted in gathering the ne’er-do-wells, the have-nots and the petty criminals in the main square and told them that “you’re all going to Australia !”
Now if the Scots had discovered the place, and reported back to the rulers in Edinburgh that they had found a place 100 times the size of Scotland, with great farming, fishing and mineral wealth.
The Scots rulers, of much greater intellect than their English counterparts, also would have insisted in gathering the ne’er-do- wells, the have-nots and the petty criminals in the main square and told them that “you’re all staying here, but we’re going away for a while!”
Most audiences will laughingly dismiss this observation from a Scotsman, but on a serious note, the colony of Australia started as a prison with tiers of rules and regulations to keep the locals under tight control.
In these early days, the regulators exceeded the number of workers, mainly to prevent them running off over the hill, check for yourself!
America, on the other hand was established by Christian Pilgrims who applauded success and until recently encouraged free enterprise, innovation and unwavering support for their Nation.
Take for instance the backbone of the Nation, small business.
In America, if they stumble in the growth of their company, they have refuge in their Chapter 11 of the United States Bankruptcy Code which is frequently referred to as a “reorganisation” bankruptcy.
This holds back the creditors for one year while they get their act together.
This system allows 85% of businesses to survive their first stumble, whereas in Australia, the blueprinting of the UK receivership and liquidation system ensure that 95% of small businesses never survive such a stumble, when the creditors, usually greedy banks, take control via receivers.
When the incredibly foolish and inept leader Paul Keating declared that Australia was a banana republic and having “the recession we had to have”, the receivership and liquidations reached unprecedented record levels.
The 18% interest rates and 22% overdraft rates caught thousands of companies, including mine, in 1989.
My 250 staff and sub contractors were not amused and garlic bombed the cars, stole computers and any equipment they could grab on the way out.
Many of my small business friends were caught in the same unnecessary sweep, all of us losing our houses and any other collateral the banks could grab.
Two of these friends suicided and disappointingly, I still regret not reading the signals. Many others just went for the security of Government jobs and vowed never to put their houses as collateral again.
As an obstinate Scotsman who believes that only the dead fish go with the flow, I restarted my business, then about 8 years behind the eight ball; this time with no debt.
ALP leaders since Hawke, have had no idea how to run a chook farm, never mind a country. Coalition leaders weren’t much better especially when they were singing from the same climate song sheet.
In the late 1990’s the left were screaming for a National Sorry day and Howard was correctly refusing.
Walking through Sydney airport at the time, dressed in a suit and briefcase, I was accosted by a channel 9 TV crew. Having a simple face used to attract the Hare Krishna, or anyone looking for a donation from someone gullible.
“Do you think we should have a National Sorry Day, the young female reporter asked me”
To her pleasant surprise I said “yes“.
She organised the camera man and sound technician and when they were ready she said: “Good morning sir, do you think we should have a National Sorry day?”
I politely responded: “ Good morning to you young lady, and yes I do believe we should have a National Sorry day, but I don’t think we could get all those slimy bank managers in the same building and the same time !”
“Cut, cut” she exploded, waving to her crew to stand down.
I continued on my merry task of rebuilding my company, smiling to myself, assured that channel 9 wouldn’t be airing that clip in the evening news.
So here we are in 2023, having confirmed to the world Australia’s Olympic gold medal level of incredible stupidity and our DNA of a convict mentality in readily locking ourselves up for a global record period, masking up, accepting vax mandates, accepting control and regulations by mental midgets such as Dan Andrews.
The re-election of Andrews confirms that there is an overwhelming amount of dead fish in Victoria
Finally clear of our abysmally poor response to Covid, now we have yet another version of Sorry in the ill-conceived Voice proposal by the same raft of regulators .
What is more concerning is the majority are accepting this nonsense, like early day uneducated convicts, not thinking about the consequences for themselves, their families or their nation.
As for me and my house, we did not lock down our company, we did not social distance, mask up or ban anti vaxxers.
We did, along with friends at the MTG, put out youtube’s protesting about the lockdowns, climate change, the ABC and other groups trying to bring down our nation.
We shall continue to swim against the flow.
We shall support leaders of any party that actually stand up for what is good for the Nation such as pursuing cheap clean reliable nuclear power and repealing the senseless and obstructive volumes of green regulations and focus on strengthening our economy and our ability to defend ourselves.’https://www.corybernardi.com.au/posts/only-dead-fish-go-with-the-flow/?ref=confidential-weekly-newsletter
‘Of course, Yahoo News, and all the rest of the in-the-tank news media greeted Robert F. Kennedy, Jr.’s presidential announcement by branding him a “noted-anti-vaxxer,” as if that’s a bad thing. Yes, noted, thank you very much. Reuters elaborated: “Kennedy has been banned from YouTube and Instagram for spreading misinformation about vaccines and the COVID-19 pandemic.” By now, whenever you see the agit-prop platitude spreading misinformation, does your brain not instantly translate that into telling the truth? And by now, does banishment from social media not tell you that certain guilty parties recognize a truth-teller when they see one?’ More at https://open.substack.com/pub/merylnass/p/bobby-steps-up-by-james-howard-kunstler?utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=web
“Moreover he must have a good report of them which are without; lest he fall into reproach and the snare of the devil.” (1 Timothy 3:7)
‘A snare is a trap normally used to catch an unwary wild animal, but each of the five times the word (Greek pagis) is used in the New Testament, it refers to devices used by the great deceiver, Satan, to trap unwary human beings.
There is, first of all, the snare of worldly involvement. “And take heed to yourselves, lest at any time your hearts be overcharged with surfeiting, and drunkenness, and cares of this life, and so that day come upon you unawares. For as a snare shall it come on all them that dwell on the face of the whole earth” (Luke 21:34-35).
There is the snare of rejecting God’s Word, both the written Word and the living Word. When Israel repudiated Christ, God said: “Let their table be made a snare, and a trap, and a stumblingblock, and a recompence unto them” (Romans 11:9, quoting Psalm 69:22). The desire for riches can be a snare. “They that will be rich fall into temptation and a snare, and into many foolish and hurtful lusts, which drown men in destruction and perdition” (1 Timothy 6:9).
Satan has many other “devices” (2 Corinthians 2:11) by which he seeks “an advantage of us.” Not even “bishops” or other full-time Christian ministers are immune, for our text is a warning to prospective bishops against “the snare of the devil.” It is the responsibility of every true “servant of the Lord” to be “gentle unto all men, apt to teach, patient, in meekness instructing those that oppose themselves…that they may recover themselves out of the snare of the devil, who are taken captive by him at his will” (2 Timothy 2:24-26). We must both avoid Satan’s snares ourselves and seek to deliver those who have been thus ensnared. HMM’https://www.icr.org/article/13983/
‘Does the Aboriginal Industry not already have a “voice” to government? What exactly is the referendum’s agenda? Who is organising the “NO” campaign? Dave Pellowe explores these big questions with special guest Dr Gary Johns.’
What Senator Antic says concerning Australia is the same around the entire Western world. https://www.unitedaustraliaparty.org.au/video/senator-alex-antic-the-storm-is-here/
‘What state is the church in when a Christian college fires a Christian lecturer for defending a Christian understanding of sexuality? This week, news broke of Dr Aaron Edwards, a lecturer at Cliff College, Derbyshire, a Methodist Bible college, who was sacked and even threatened with a counter-terrorism referral for sharing a tweet on human sexuality that went viral. The father of five was told that for sharing the Christian view of sexuality, he had brought “the college into disrepute.” Tim Dieppe is joined by Aaron on this week’s Round the Table, as well as Joe Boot, founder of the Ezra Institute, to discuss how changes in the UK Church’s doctrine on marriage and sexuality is leading to more confusion and cases like this. How are faithful Christians now to respond?’
