Israel was Right!

Israel Folau has been widely castigated for speaking out again by those who say that he has a perverted view of the God of love, but those who are actually familiar with the Bible as the basis of their true Christianity, know that the violation  of God’s Commandments always exacts a penalty.

Politically correct “Christianity” may not know this, but then, it unknowingly worships the “god of this world”,   2 Corinthians 4:4,   ‘In their case the god of this world has blinded the minds of the unbelievers, to keep them from seeing the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God.’

Our nation is simply paying that penalty for our rejection of His Laws, ‘For this is the love of God, that we keep His Commandments’,  1 John 5:3.

The Bible is full of verses which tell of God’s total control of our climate and weather. Amos 4:7-8, “I also withheld the rain from you when there were yet three months to the harvest; I would send rain on one city, and send no rain on another city; one field would have rain, and the field on which it did not rain would wither. So two or three cities would wander to another city to drink water, and would not be satisfied; yet you did not return to me,” declares the LORD. ‘

Those verses include God’s use of fire, Jeremiah 21:14, “I will punish you as your deeds deserve, declares the LORD. I will kindle a fire in your forests that will consume everything around you.'”  NIV.

We have all seen the perverse choices made by society, blatantly displayed in the ‘Gay Pride’ parades, the immorality of priests and clergy, violence and murder on our streets and in our homes, endless abortions, adultery and drug use. With such evil in our land there is a  tragic price to pay, and the ‘acts of God’ designed to bring us to repentance can afflict any one of us, for not one of us is without sin.

Already, some are saying that reminding people of God’s words should not be allowed, as they can hurt, but they are there for a reason, as we have seen, and if we just remove the warning, we will hurt even more!  Ezekiel 20:45-48,   ‘And the word of the LORD came unto me, saying, “Son of man, set thy face toward the south, and drop thy word toward the south, and prophesy against the forest of the field in the South; and say to the forest of the South, Hear the word of the LORD; Thus saith the Lord GOD: Behold, I will kindle a fire in thee, and it shall devour every green tree in thee, and every dry tree: the flaming flame shall not be quenched, and all faces from the south to the north shall be burnt thereby. And all flesh shall see that I the LORD have kindled it: it shall not be quenched.”  ERV.

Justified Suspicion or xenophobia?

One of the first priorities of any government  is to protect the sovereignty and freedom of its people, and here in Australia a discussion is emerging regarding the actions of that burgeoning power to our North, China.

Should we keep quiet as China obviously expects us to, to protect our trade relations  with our largest customer,  as some of our politicians have suggested, or should we speak out about China’s unacceptable and lawless  behaviour, and risk its anger and loss of its custom?

For some time we had hopes, even expectations, that its acceptance of capitalism would be accompanied by growing freedoms and democracy, for it seemed the two went together, but it has not turned out so.

As that rising Aussie MP and likely future PM Andrew Hastie has concluded, and expressed in a recent speech, their President for life, Xi Jinping,  is interested only in total idealogical control. Not communism, but the ideology of power – how to use technology to obtain omniscient control over billions of  people, and it does not stop at China’s borders, but travels with ‘belt and road’, debt encouragement in the Pacific, Chinese students sent to study and migrate to Australia, tourists, and above all Chinese money.

In making a decision on how to respond to China’s actions, we should consider Jesus Christ’s words in Matthew 7:16, ‘You will know them by their fruits.’ Let us look at China’s recent activity:

Transportation and ‘re-education’ of a million Uighars, reminding us of China’s invasion and treatment of Tibet.                                                                 Persecution of Chinese Christians .                                                                            Arrest of Australian citizens in China.                                                                            Muzzling of free speech.                                                                                                   Interfering in our universities with “Confucius Institutes”.                         Cyber attacks on Australian Targets.                                                                              Regularly stealing intellectual property.                                                                         Illegally attempting to gain control of the South China Sea by building artificial islands in the territory of other smaller nations.

These are not the actions of a peace loving, law abiding, trust -worthy  power, and add up to an ominous  expansionist threat under preparation. In the Book of Revelation, Chapter 9:16 and 16:12, we are told of  End-Time armies from the East which attack the West. “And the number of mounted troops was two hundred million; I heard their number.”  Would Australia escape such aggression?

They are wiped out at Armageddon by Jesus Christ, the only One with limitless power, and the only One that could protect Australia, but we as a nation have rejected our God.

A Tribute to Lynne

One year ago tomorrow my dear wife of 53 years passed away with a brain tumour. This website would not be what it is without her contribution in many ways. She was the love of my life.

Lynne was born at the end of the 2nd world war to a couple in Liverpool. The marriage did not last long and Lynne’s mother returned to her parents in Burnley, so she was reared largely by her grand parents, as her mother chose to work and let her mother, Lynne’s grandmother, stay at home. Lynne’s grandad was a tackler in the cotton mill, right across the road from his house in Burnley.

Being a bright child, Lynne’s grandparents were keen to see her progress, enrolling her for ballet lessons and then when that failed after another student pirouetted into her, so that she ended up with a cut forehead, piano lessons. She was sent to the local Baptist church where she learned a lot about the Bible, and won various prizes with her Bible knowledge. After passing the 11 plus exam, which all children took in those days, she was sent to the local girls high school, the equivalent of the boys grammar school.

Her closest friend at school was Gerald’s cousin Judith, who eventually took her along to the Methodist youth club of Gerald’s family’s church. She was 14 when they met there and within a year or two they were close friends, getting engaged at 19 while Lynne was at teacher training college in Bingley, just over the border in Yorkshire.

Gerald was at Art College in Burnley then, but had cleaned offices to save up for a Lambretta scooter, and soon they were getting together every weekend, especially after Gerald was at Leeds University to gain his post graduate teaching qualification.

That scooter took Lynne to see her first thatched cottages in Devon, and eventually even to Paris where Gerald worked one summer painting.

Both of them finished their teaching courses together; Lynne gaining a teaching post near Hipperholme Grammar school near Halifax, where Gerald had found work. They graduated from the scooter to an old mini van then and the scooter was retired. Their first home was a cottage on a farm near Haworth in Yorkshire very near to “Wuthering Heights”, the farm on the moors, of Emily Bronte fame. The moors became the location of their many walks.

It was in that cottage that they heard something on the radio that brought them to begin reading the Bible, and within a couple of years they were baptised and members of the Church of God, which is mentioned several times in the New Testament. Marcus was born in 1972 and Guy followed three years later, just after their arrival in Australia.

Both ended up teaching in NSW, though Lynne only started teaching after raising the boys on their hobby farm for several years. After 13 years though, they returned to the UK for family reasons, and both ended up teaching again, this time Lynne becoming a travelling Gypsy teacher until the government funds were withdrawn and Lynne was offered early retirement aged 50! Meanwhile Gerald had become an unpaid ordained minister – looking after a group which he founded, called the Northwest Church Of God, in Britain.

The early retirement with pension access suited Lynne very well as they had just bought an old farmhouse with some fields and barns, in Wales, from where Gerald commuted to his school near Manchester.

Always Lynne helped Gerald with his ministry, and the church website, one of the very first church websites, typing out very many of Gerald’s hand written articles, which still appear on the Ozwitness website, today.

Eventually the boys were old enough to go their own way and zoom – it was off to Australia once more for them! As soon as they were married and began to have children , Lynne said it was high time to return to Australia too, and so Lynne truly became the patriarch of the family’s emigration to this great land, which she has thoroughly enjoyed exploring, from the red centre through to its to it’s circumference, until finally settling in Dunsborough, in which they had enjoyed many happy holidays.

Few people could have had a happier varied life and achieve the wonderful peace that Lynne has displayed with her beautiful smile even until almost the very end of her life. We thank God for that and today celebrate Lynne’s life and future in the Kingdom of God, for Lynne had found in the Bible a clear explanation of a glorious future for all mankind who have ever lived.

Thank you Lynne for all those wonderful years.