At around 1am in the morning I was taking a brief stroll through the Internet, checking out the new day’s headlines. Alas, this exercise brought me much more than I expected. Within the space of four minutes I ran across four rather frightening headlines which certainly did not help me get ready for sleep.
What these online headlines confirmed was the fact that we are in a war. On every side there are forces arrayed against us, working overtime to destroy, faith, family and life. The onslaught is fierce and incessant. I am sure if I spent a few more minutes searching the online papers I would have found more such gloomy headlines.
But here are the four news items which caused me to lose a bit of sleep:
One. Julia Gillard and Bob Brown are the nation’s key leaders. Both are atheists who seem hell-bent on destroying God, family and country. They continue to push radical agendas which should frighten every one of us. In this headline we see how the two have been jumping into bed together (figuratively speaking), making all sorts of sleazy deals.
It seems that the attempt to get same-sex marriage legalised in this nation is now well under way, given their unholy alliance. And the article also speaks about a new Greens-led push for legalised euthanasia. These two leaders are a terrible pair.
Two. John Stanhope, the Labor leader of the ACT, is doing his own bit to eradicate faith and family while promoting false religions and alternative lifestyles. He is fully in favour of all the radical, trendy causes, including the two mentioned just above.
And while he is certainly no friend of Christianity, it seems he is a real buddy with Islam. He has just announced that his government will allow a major Islamic mosque to be constructed in Canberra. I guess in his books any religion is better than Christianity.
Three. There are even more attempts to kick God out of the nation, further sealing our fate. As I mentioned earlier on this site, there is a major attempt by the Liberals to put the Bible back into citizenship ceremonies. This is because Labor thinks they should have no part in such activities, and they have been banned.
This is not the first anti-Christian move by the Labor government, and it will not be the last. But it simply demonstrates the true colours of this outfit. With an atheist at the helm, one can expect such attacks on Christianity to occur.
Four. You will need to check out this nasty case of anti-Christian bigotry for yourself. It comes from a ‘nice’ smiley former TV presenter. Gee, she seems such a nice person, someone who wouldn’t hurt a fly. But read her very ugly attack on faith in schools and you will get a bit of a surprise. (Consult the four links below for these stories.)
Are you in the battle?
All these headlines are bad enough, but what really weighs me down is the fact that so much of the Christian church either does not know about this stuff, or does not care about it. So many believers seem to be completely oblivious to the major battles taking place all around us.
Our faith is being savaged on all sides and the casualties are mounting up, but so very few believers seem to even realise this, and/or seek to do something about it. I hope we all are aware of the fact that no one has the luxury of sitting on the fence in a time of war. We all must get involved, or we will lose it all.
When mentioning this issue elsewhere, one believer replied by saying this is a spiritual battle and we must fight it there. It most certainly is, but it is a battle that has to be fought on other levels as well. It is not a case of either praying or doing, but a case of both praying and doing. We must pray like mad, intercede and engage in spiritual warfare, but we must also act in the various areas where the battles rage.
One way to illustrate this would be as follows: Suppose you are outside with your young daughter, and she runs onto the street. You see a big truck at the end of the block heading her way. No Christian parent would just stand there and pray for divine protection.
He or she would not just stand around saying, “Lord, you know this is a spiritual battle and the enemy wants to get my daughter. This is a heavenly war, so I ask you to defeat the powers of darkness…” Instead the parent would run to the street and save the child from certain death or destruction – perhaps uttering a prayer along the way.
So with all these battles around us, we must both pray and get involved in the social, political, cultural or intellectual fights as well. We must put feet to our prayers, in other words. But the first step in all this is to understand the nature of the war and the shortness of the hour.
Too often believers want to just sit around waiting to be ‘blessed’, not lifting a finger in response to the various attacks against us. But as Robert Moffat put it, “We have all eternity to celebrate our victories, but only one short hour before sunset in which to win them.”
In a time of war we cannot just sit around and pamper ourselves. Leonard Ravenhill put it this way: “Many believers live as if this world were a playground instead of a battleground.” Or as John Piper rightly remarked: “There is a war going on. All talk of a Christian’s right to live luxuriously ‘as a child of the King’ in this atmosphere sounds hollow – especially since the King himself is stripped for battle.”
A.W. Tozer said it this way: “Yes, if evangelical Christianity is to stay alive she must have men again, the right kind of men. She must repudiate the weaklings who dare not speak out, and she must seek in prayer and much humility the coming again of men of the stuff prophets and martyrs are made of.”
In closing, let me remind you of the film version of J.R.R. Tolkien’s The Lord of the Rings. In it was this short bit of dialogue:
“Theoden: I will not risk open war!
Aragorn: Open war is upon you whether you risk it or not.”
Yes the war is already upon us. The only question is, what are we going to do about it?
I was glad to see the Archbishop of Canterbury has finally opened his mouth and declared there will never be homosexual marriage in an Anglican church, as marriage is specially for a man and a woman. Let’s hope he “mans up” and sticks to his guns.
I am finding that by adopting a high-visibility opinion in the face of a tsumami of contra opinions I am making progress in exchanging ideas with those who violently disagree with me and my beliefs.
Rachel Smith, UK
A well written article Bill, especially significant is the story of a child running into traffic. Simply to pray for the child’s safety is not enough when God gave you a brain and two legs to run and save her. I remember a story I was told when I was a child. The saying was “In life, praying is very important, but faith without good works is dead”. It went on to talk about some nuns living in a convent and the comment was made that one of the sisters was very holy, she was forever on her knees praying. A younger one replied “Well I pray too – often when the washing up is left for me to do each night”.
Frank Bellet, Petrie Qld
Mr Muehlenberg, sir-
Are you recruiting spiritual warriors for a theocracy?
That’s what it sounds like-
We are build on a fundamental division of Church (regardless of religion) and State.
You will encounter opposition to your trite call for religious fanaticism everywhere you go from free thinking loving peoples.
Sincerely
Derryn Jane Plathey
Thanks Derryn
It is always so helpful when misotheists come along and bring much-needed clarity to the debate. How could I and all the other readers have missed the obvious? Thank you for so clearly pointing out how I have called for believers to go out and buy weapons, shoot the infidels, bomb buildings, overthrow the government, tear up the Australian flag, and bring in a new world order. It is also so helpful of you to point out how in this article I called for church and state to become one. Gee, how could we all have missed all this?
The truth is, this is a democracy and those concerned about the direction of this nation have every right to both pray about it and take action about it. While you may not like this, and you want to see a militant secularocracy established here, the rest of us will continue to work for religious freedom and the wellbeing of marriage and family. This is especially so since the overwhelming majority of Australians are theists of various stripes.
But thanks again for alerting us to your real agenda. It is plainly the conviction of the secular jihadists that only atheists and theophobes should be allowed to peddle their agendas in the public arena, while the rest of us just sit down and shut up. It is a good thing websites like this are still allowed to function, to counter such censorious anti-Christian bigotry.
Bill Muehlenberg, CultureWatch
Hello Bill,
Great article. Sadly, every blog I check almost always has anti Christian raves, no matter the subject matter. There are seldom any rational, educated comments about the subject of the blog, just abusive rants. I once tried to have some polls evidence posted on a blog proving that the majority of people do not approve of same-sex marriage. It was not posted. The same also applies to the letters to the Editor in the MSM – Christian comments are never printed. You are correct – we must not give up in this war. God bless you and your vital ministry.
Paul de la Garde, Sydney.
Hello again Bill,
Further to my previous comments that the MSM media does not print Christian comments. In December 2003 I started a scrapbook containing articles and Letters to the Editor out of the Sydney MSM about Christian or anti Christian comments. One of the first Letters to the Editor on 24/12/2003 was titled “Bible proves behaviour is constant,” addressing previous comments that the Bible is irrelevant to life today. It was an excellent comment containing many Scriptures and well reasoned. Over the years, until I stopped on 12/2/2006, the number of Christian articles and letters declined and atheistic type articles and letters increased. One of the last articles in the scrapbook on 22/1/2006 was titled “Italian man takes Jesus to Court.” A court in Italy had to convene to decide if Jesus Christ really existed. The judge reportedly refused to hear the case until he was compelled to do so by the court of appeal, which decreed there was a reasonable case to answer. Luigi Cascioli, a staunch atheist who brought the case to court, said: “I started this lawsuit because I wanted to deal the final blow against the (Catholic) church.”
The rot continues until this day, and is getting worse.
The war is not over yet.
God bless. Paul de la Garde, Sydney
Thanks Paul
Yes it certainly is an ongoing battle, and many thanks for being willing to be involved in it. Blessings,
Bill Muehlenberg, CultureWatch
Bill,
Just wanted to provide you some useful information – Gary Hardgrave (John Howard’s Ministers for Citizenship) was the person that was responsible for removing the Bibles, and any other political or religious items, from the citizenship ceremony.
As an honest man under God, I trust you will add this important fact to your post. After all, we wouldn’t want anyone mistakenly blaming those Godless lefties for this one!
Brett Gaskin
Thanks Brett
Yes I saw the Crikey piece on this topic. If it is correct, then Hardgrave was wrong to do this, and Labor is wrong to continue the policy, and Senator Barnett and other Coalition members are right to call for it to be overturned.
Moreover, if Hardgrave did this, I am sure most of his colleagues would have been unhappy with the decision – assuming they even knew about it. But it is true to say that atheist Julia and many of her secular left Labor colleagues would be very happy indeed with such a decision. So in that sense we are not at all completely wrong in “blaming those Godless lefties for this one”. Their side would be far more in favour of this PC lunacy than the other side would be.
Bill Muehlenberg, CultureWatch
Did you see the main complaint of the “‘nice’ smiley former TV presenter”? It’s the issue of creation and evolution. This is what steams them up more than anything—the thought that there is evidence for the truth of Christianity.
They want to teach the little children to be nice without giving them a reason.
Notice too “As for the historical aspect of the Bible, surely that could be taught in high school, when kids have the capacity for critical thought? In primary school, they tend to believe everything they are told.”
Yeah, sure. That’s why they want to teach preschool kids about the homosexual lifestyle.
All she has to do is pull her kid out of the class. Why is she intent on spoiling it for those who want Scripture taught to their children?
Tas Walker
Openly homosexual ACT Education Minister, Andrew Barr has asked the ACT Department of Education and Training to:
* Arrange an ACT Schools anti-homophobia conference to be conducted on 17 May to coincide with the International Day Against Homophobia. The conference will be open to students and teachers in ACT public, independent and Catholic systemic schools.
* Develop a new training package to help ensure school counsellors and pastoral care coordinators can better work with their entire school to prevent homophobia and
* Reform school Anti-Sexual Harassment Contact Officer training to improve our schools response to homophobia.
A bit of digging around has revealed that you guys are up to no good – telling porkies again. But leftist lies seem to be par for the course.
Here is the real truth of the matter. The 2003 version of the Australian Citizenship Ceremonies Code which Hardgrave approved said nothing about religion or secularism. It sought to tighten up partisan political expressions at the ceremonies. So if there was no ban on religious gifts back then, where did that come from?
This is the phrase which now appears in the Code: “Citizenship ceremonies are apolitical, bipartisan and secular. They must not be used as forums for political, partisan or religious expression or for the distribution of material which could be perceived to be of a political or religious nature.”
This new wording came in 2008. And who was in power then? Yep, a Labor Government, under Kevin Rudd. So guess what? It was those Godless lefties after all!!
Sorry to have to pop your bubble here and spoil your story. But we know the secular left is never too concerned about truth telling. I guess you will just have to try another approach in your attempts to smear your opponents.
Bill Muehlenberg, CultureWatch
I remember in our bicentennial year, I was in school. We were given Bibles, courtesy of the Australian Government, I believe.
A lot has changed.
Marcus Anderson
Bill, your answer to Derryn J Plathey was right on. Christians are not allowed to put their point of view forward but atheists are. It seems to me that we are, at the moment, living under “pink Communism”. Red yet to come?
Dave Powell
Bill,
I have been reading your material for some time and have been impressed with the quality of your thinking and well reasoned articles. I am comforted that we have such an articulate advocate for orthodox Christianity. It is time for all of us to increase the public expression of the Christian position. One of the most effective things we can do is lobby politicians. I suggest that supporters of your work join the Australian Christian Lobby and give as much support both personally and financially as possible. The ACL website is http://www.australianchristianlobby.org.au
Brian Symons
Thanks Brian
Yes quite right – it is good to get involved with Christian lobby groups of which ACL is one. There are many other excellent groups as well which are fighting the good fight, and also deserve all the support we can give them. Here are a few for starters:
I hardly think that it is inappropriate that the ACT Government allows for Muslims to build mosques, nor that it is a result of some war against Christianity, and I don’t think it helpful for Christians to portray it as such. If we have true freedom of religion in this country, it should mean that Muslims have as much right to build mosques as Christians have to build churches. There have been periods of time where the state backed the exclusivity of Christian religion (thankfully never in Australia) and it has been disastrous for the gospel whenever it happened, as inevitably the state turns the church against those who preach the gospel.
We overcome the lies of Islam, not by stopping them from preaching their message, but allowing the Holy Spirit to work powerfully through the preaching of the gospel. Despite Jon Stanhope’s obvious Green-Left agenda, we shouldn’t condemn something that isn’t actually wrong. By getting into the habit of condemning every small thing, we’re going to end up fighting proxy wars over every inconsequential issue and making no headway in the issues that actually matter.
Lee Herridge
Thanks Lee
Sorry, but actually you are quite wrong here. This is no “small thing” at all as you cavalierly put it. It means everything to a Muslim to establish a foothold in the land of the infidels through the building of a mosque. They regard this as a very significant step in taking over a nation of kuffar to fully submit to the reign of Allah. Sadly many people have very little understanding of creeping sharia, and have not bothered to read the Koran, the Hadith, and the Sira. Until they do, they will be clueless as to the real threat we face.
Respectfully, to say that concerns about this is nothing more than an “inconsequential issue and making no headway in the issues that actually matter” reveals that you really have rather limited understanding of what Islam is about, and you are rather ignorant about their long-standing goal of a universal caliphate.
And by the way, I will be most happy to have Australia allow mosques here as soon as Saudi Arabia allows churches to be built there.
Bill Muehlenberg, CultureWatch
Talking about making assumptions…..
Lee Herridge
The trouble with the separation of church (religion) and state is that the state has it’s own religion. It’s called secular humanism. Schools and laws are not neutral as they would have us believe, they are either godly or godless.
Much as they try to convince us that laws should reflect society the truth is that society reflects the law. Illegal abortion in America numbered 100,000 per year. Legal abortions number 1 million per year. Even if some people do illegal things making it legal makes it socially acceptable and a great many more will do it. Why do our laws allow 10 year olds to have sex? Just because it sometimes happens does mean our laws should justify it.
Kylie Anderson
Tracey Spicer had better be careful, she might get what she wishes for but the sad thing about that is that it impacts lots of other children too as well. One bloke on that blog shot his mouth off about “skye fairies”, idiocy called Creation, some of these people are absolutely plain stupid, there is no other term to describe them, God has made it plain that the world and everything in it is not here by accident, call me a bigot or a judgemental upstart but frankly I think atheists are idiots!
Steve Davis
A’men Bill. Take the fight on; you and your 20 followers on here! This “onslaught”‘ that you speak of, is most likely the result of free thinking individuals waking up to the fact, that the claims of Christianity bear no correlation to reality. The fact that Atheists even exist undermines the concept of an all-powerful, personal God.
Why has God left you to fight his battle against the unbelievers? In fact, why is it up to Christians to convince the world of God’s existence in the first place? In our expanding base of knowledge, Religion is becoming more questionable by the day.
Maturity for mankind will finally be reached when we realise that we are responsible for ourselves; that there isnt a mystical being interested in the minute, intimate details of our short lives (all 7 billion of us!), and that life should be enjoyed for what it is.
It is a pity to waste precious time worrying about an afterlife that will never come.
Nathan Brown
Thanks again Lee
Sorry, but let me cut you off there. I was going to run with this and other comments of yours, but I have learned over the years that sometimes it is wise to just wait a few days. In doing that I often find a radical disconnect between someone’s initial friendly comments, and what is to follow. And sure enough, I wait barely a day and I see you have already shown your true colours, with a full-length attack on me on your website. So now that we all know where you are coming from, I simply refer you to my commenting rules. I will let you do your thing on your own website, instead of taking up space on mine. That way you can feel free to launch all the attacks on me you want, and on anyone else who dares to differ with you.
Bill Muehlenberg, CultureWatch
Thanks Nathan
One can equally say, ‘The fact that theists even exist undermines the concept that there is no all-powerful, personal God.’
And it is wonderful news indeed that God chooses to cooperate with us. He allows us to work with him in accomplishing his purposes. Indeed, he has endowed all of us with free will so that we can freely choose either to acknowledge him, cooperate with him, and enjoy life as it was designed to be, or we can rebel against him and shake our puny fist in his face.
As to the afterlife, it will not be long at all before we each discover the truth about that matter. And of course I am not worrying about the afterlife. I am living life to the full now, realising that thanks to what Jesus has done on my behalf, my eternal destiny is secure. Indeed, it gives me tremendous confidence and peace to know that one day every wrong will be dealt with and every right acknowledged. Glorious eternal justice, instead of ‘blind, pitiless indifference’, as Dawkins puts it.
Bill Muehlenberg, CultureWatch
Isn’t ignorance, bliss, for finding out the truth will make them very insecure.
Here is an interesting connection between Islam and Hitler. Think that Nazism is dead, well think again. Here
And the youtube link Here
Christians really need to start educating themselves. Both Nazism and Islam have the same goal, the total destruction of the Jews.
Picked up C.S Lewis children’s story for “light” reading. The last battle was not so light. A few things in his theology you may think are wishful thinking but many times I Am amazed at his Bible knowledge leading to things prophetic of current events. I guess it is really that God isn’t surprised. Elizabeth has a new book about to be released. It sounds like essential if unpleasant reading.
Pick someone trying to do what is right and support them in the election.
I was glad to see the Archbishop of Canterbury has finally opened his mouth and declared there will never be homosexual marriage in an Anglican church, as marriage is specially for a man and a woman. Let’s hope he “mans up” and sticks to his guns.
I am finding that by adopting a high-visibility opinion in the face of a tsumami of contra opinions I am making progress in exchanging ideas with those who violently disagree with me and my beliefs.
Rachel Smith, UK
A well written article Bill, especially significant is the story of a child running into traffic. Simply to pray for the child’s safety is not enough when God gave you a brain and two legs to run and save her. I remember a story I was told when I was a child. The saying was “In life, praying is very important, but faith without good works is dead”. It went on to talk about some nuns living in a convent and the comment was made that one of the sisters was very holy, she was forever on her knees praying. A younger one replied “Well I pray too – often when the washing up is left for me to do each night”.
Frank Bellet, Petrie Qld
Mr Muehlenberg, sir-
Are you recruiting spiritual warriors for a theocracy?
That’s what it sounds like-
We are build on a fundamental division of Church (regardless of religion) and State.
You will encounter opposition to your trite call for religious fanaticism everywhere you go from free thinking loving peoples.
Sincerely
Derryn Jane Plathey
Thanks Derryn
It is always so helpful when misotheists come along and bring much-needed clarity to the debate. How could I and all the other readers have missed the obvious? Thank you for so clearly pointing out how I have called for believers to go out and buy weapons, shoot the infidels, bomb buildings, overthrow the government, tear up the Australian flag, and bring in a new world order. It is also so helpful of you to point out how in this article I called for church and state to become one. Gee, how could we all have missed all this?
The truth is, this is a democracy and those concerned about the direction of this nation have every right to both pray about it and take action about it. While you may not like this, and you want to see a militant secularocracy established here, the rest of us will continue to work for religious freedom and the wellbeing of marriage and family. This is especially so since the overwhelming majority of Australians are theists of various stripes.
But thanks again for alerting us to your real agenda. It is plainly the conviction of the secular jihadists that only atheists and theophobes should be allowed to peddle their agendas in the public arena, while the rest of us just sit down and shut up. It is a good thing websites like this are still allowed to function, to counter such censorious anti-Christian bigotry.
Bill Muehlenberg, CultureWatch
Hello Bill,
Great article. Sadly, every blog I check almost always has anti Christian raves, no matter the subject matter. There are seldom any rational, educated comments about the subject of the blog, just abusive rants. I once tried to have some polls evidence posted on a blog proving that the majority of people do not approve of same-sex marriage. It was not posted. The same also applies to the letters to the Editor in the MSM – Christian comments are never printed. You are correct – we must not give up in this war. God bless you and your vital ministry.
Paul de la Garde, Sydney.
Hello again Bill,
Further to my previous comments that the MSM media does not print Christian comments. In December 2003 I started a scrapbook containing articles and Letters to the Editor out of the Sydney MSM about Christian or anti Christian comments. One of the first Letters to the Editor on 24/12/2003 was titled “Bible proves behaviour is constant,” addressing previous comments that the Bible is irrelevant to life today. It was an excellent comment containing many Scriptures and well reasoned. Over the years, until I stopped on 12/2/2006, the number of Christian articles and letters declined and atheistic type articles and letters increased. One of the last articles in the scrapbook on 22/1/2006 was titled “Italian man takes Jesus to Court.” A court in Italy had to convene to decide if Jesus Christ really existed. The judge reportedly refused to hear the case until he was compelled to do so by the court of appeal, which decreed there was a reasonable case to answer. Luigi Cascioli, a staunch atheist who brought the case to court, said: “I started this lawsuit because I wanted to deal the final blow against the (Catholic) church.”
The rot continues until this day, and is getting worse.
The war is not over yet.
God bless. Paul de la Garde, Sydney
Thanks Paul
Yes it certainly is an ongoing battle, and many thanks for being willing to be involved in it. Blessings,
Bill Muehlenberg, CultureWatch
Bill,
Just wanted to provide you some useful information – Gary Hardgrave (John Howard’s Ministers for Citizenship) was the person that was responsible for removing the Bibles, and any other political or religious items, from the citizenship ceremony.
As an honest man under God, I trust you will add this important fact to your post. After all, we wouldn’t want anyone mistakenly blaming those Godless lefties for this one!
Brett Gaskin
Thanks Brett
Yes I saw the Crikey piece on this topic. If it is correct, then Hardgrave was wrong to do this, and Labor is wrong to continue the policy, and Senator Barnett and other Coalition members are right to call for it to be overturned.
Moreover, if Hardgrave did this, I am sure most of his colleagues would have been unhappy with the decision – assuming they even knew about it. But it is true to say that atheist Julia and many of her secular left Labor colleagues would be very happy indeed with such a decision. So in that sense we are not at all completely wrong in “blaming those Godless lefties for this one”. Their side would be far more in favour of this PC lunacy than the other side would be.
Bill Muehlenberg, CultureWatch
Did you see the main complaint of the “‘nice’ smiley former TV presenter”? It’s the issue of creation and evolution. This is what steams them up more than anything—the thought that there is evidence for the truth of Christianity.
They want to teach the little children to be nice without giving them a reason.
Notice too “As for the historical aspect of the Bible, surely that could be taught in high school, when kids have the capacity for critical thought? In primary school, they tend to believe everything they are told.”
Yeah, sure. That’s why they want to teach preschool kids about the homosexual lifestyle.
All she has to do is pull her kid out of the class. Why is she intent on spoiling it for those who want Scripture taught to their children?
Tas Walker
Openly homosexual ACT Education Minister, Andrew Barr has asked the ACT Department of Education and Training to:
* Arrange an ACT Schools anti-homophobia conference to be conducted on 17 May to coincide with the International Day Against Homophobia. The conference will be open to students and teachers in ACT public, independent and Catholic systemic schools.
* Develop a new training package to help ensure school counsellors and pastoral care coordinators can better work with their entire school to prevent homophobia and
* Reform school Anti-Sexual Harassment Contact Officer training to improve our schools response to homophobia.
http://www.citynews.com.au/blog/combating-homophobia-in-schools.html
A goal of the International Day Against Homophobia is to :
* give rise to a general open mindedness towards diversity.
http://www.homophobiaday.org/default.aspx?scheme=1218
Chip, chip, chipping away !!
John Miller
Thanks again Brett and Crikey
A bit of digging around has revealed that you guys are up to no good – telling porkies again. But leftist lies seem to be par for the course.
Here is the real truth of the matter. The 2003 version of the Australian Citizenship Ceremonies Code which Hardgrave approved said nothing about religion or secularism. It sought to tighten up partisan political expressions at the ceremonies. So if there was no ban on religious gifts back then, where did that come from?
This is the phrase which now appears in the Code: “Citizenship ceremonies are apolitical, bipartisan and secular. They must not be used as forums for political, partisan or religious expression or for the distribution of material which could be perceived to be of a political or religious nature.”
This new wording came in 2008. And who was in power then? Yep, a Labor Government, under Kevin Rudd. So guess what? It was those Godless lefties after all!!
Sorry to have to pop your bubble here and spoil your story. But we know the secular left is never too concerned about truth telling. I guess you will just have to try another approach in your attempts to smear your opponents.
Bill Muehlenberg, CultureWatch
I remember in our bicentennial year, I was in school. We were given Bibles, courtesy of the Australian Government, I believe.
A lot has changed.
Marcus Anderson
Bill, your answer to Derryn J Plathey was right on. Christians are not allowed to put their point of view forward but atheists are. It seems to me that we are, at the moment, living under “pink Communism”. Red yet to come?
Dave Powell
Bill,
I have been reading your material for some time and have been impressed with the quality of your thinking and well reasoned articles. I am comforted that we have such an articulate advocate for orthodox Christianity. It is time for all of us to increase the public expression of the Christian position. One of the most effective things we can do is lobby politicians. I suggest that supporters of your work join the Australian Christian Lobby and give as much support both personally and financially as possible. The ACL website is http://www.australianchristianlobby.org.au
Brian Symons
Thanks Brian
Yes quite right – it is good to get involved with Christian lobby groups of which ACL is one. There are many other excellent groups as well which are fighting the good fight, and also deserve all the support we can give them. Here are a few for starters:
Australian Family Association (Melbourne) http://www.family.org.au/
Australian Federation for the Family http://www.ausfamily.org/
Endeavour Forum (Melbourne) http://www.endeavourforum.org.au/
Fatherhood Foundation (Wollongong) http://www.fathersonline.org/
FamilyVoice (Adelaide) http://www.fava.org.au/
Focus on the Family Australia (Melbourne) http://www.families.org.au/Default.aspx?cat=0
Life Ministries (Perth) http://lifeministries.org.au/
Salt Shakers (Melbourne) http://www.saltshakers.org.au/
Bill Muehlenberg, CultureWatch
I hardly think that it is inappropriate that the ACT Government allows for Muslims to build mosques, nor that it is a result of some war against Christianity, and I don’t think it helpful for Christians to portray it as such. If we have true freedom of religion in this country, it should mean that Muslims have as much right to build mosques as Christians have to build churches. There have been periods of time where the state backed the exclusivity of Christian religion (thankfully never in Australia) and it has been disastrous for the gospel whenever it happened, as inevitably the state turns the church against those who preach the gospel.
We overcome the lies of Islam, not by stopping them from preaching their message, but allowing the Holy Spirit to work powerfully through the preaching of the gospel. Despite Jon Stanhope’s obvious Green-Left agenda, we shouldn’t condemn something that isn’t actually wrong. By getting into the habit of condemning every small thing, we’re going to end up fighting proxy wars over every inconsequential issue and making no headway in the issues that actually matter.
Lee Herridge
Thanks Lee
Sorry, but actually you are quite wrong here. This is no “small thing” at all as you cavalierly put it. It means everything to a Muslim to establish a foothold in the land of the infidels through the building of a mosque. They regard this as a very significant step in taking over a nation of kuffar to fully submit to the reign of Allah. Sadly many people have very little understanding of creeping sharia, and have not bothered to read the Koran, the Hadith, and the Sira. Until they do, they will be clueless as to the real threat we face.
Respectfully, to say that concerns about this is nothing more than an “inconsequential issue and making no headway in the issues that actually matter” reveals that you really have rather limited understanding of what Islam is about, and you are rather ignorant about their long-standing goal of a universal caliphate.
And by the way, I will be most happy to have Australia allow mosques here as soon as Saudi Arabia allows churches to be built there.
Bill Muehlenberg, CultureWatch
Talking about making assumptions…..
Lee Herridge
The trouble with the separation of church (religion) and state is that the state has it’s own religion. It’s called secular humanism. Schools and laws are not neutral as they would have us believe, they are either godly or godless.
Much as they try to convince us that laws should reflect society the truth is that society reflects the law. Illegal abortion in America numbered 100,000 per year. Legal abortions number 1 million per year. Even if some people do illegal things making it legal makes it socially acceptable and a great many more will do it. Why do our laws allow 10 year olds to have sex? Just because it sometimes happens does mean our laws should justify it.
Kylie Anderson
Tracey Spicer had better be careful, she might get what she wishes for but the sad thing about that is that it impacts lots of other children too as well. One bloke on that blog shot his mouth off about “skye fairies”, idiocy called Creation, some of these people are absolutely plain stupid, there is no other term to describe them, God has made it plain that the world and everything in it is not here by accident, call me a bigot or a judgemental upstart but frankly I think atheists are idiots!
Steve Davis
A’men Bill. Take the fight on; you and your 20 followers on here! This “onslaught”‘ that you speak of, is most likely the result of free thinking individuals waking up to the fact, that the claims of Christianity bear no correlation to reality. The fact that Atheists even exist undermines the concept of an all-powerful, personal God.
Why has God left you to fight his battle against the unbelievers? In fact, why is it up to Christians to convince the world of God’s existence in the first place? In our expanding base of knowledge, Religion is becoming more questionable by the day.
Maturity for mankind will finally be reached when we realise that we are responsible for ourselves; that there isnt a mystical being interested in the minute, intimate details of our short lives (all 7 billion of us!), and that life should be enjoyed for what it is.
It is a pity to waste precious time worrying about an afterlife that will never come.
Nathan Brown
Thanks again Lee
Sorry, but let me cut you off there. I was going to run with this and other comments of yours, but I have learned over the years that sometimes it is wise to just wait a few days. In doing that I often find a radical disconnect between someone’s initial friendly comments, and what is to follow. And sure enough, I wait barely a day and I see you have already shown your true colours, with a full-length attack on me on your website. So now that we all know where you are coming from, I simply refer you to my commenting rules. I will let you do your thing on your own website, instead of taking up space on mine. That way you can feel free to launch all the attacks on me you want, and on anyone else who dares to differ with you.
Bill Muehlenberg, CultureWatch
Thanks Nathan
One can equally say, ‘The fact that theists even exist undermines the concept that there is no all-powerful, personal God.’
And it is wonderful news indeed that God chooses to cooperate with us. He allows us to work with him in accomplishing his purposes. Indeed, he has endowed all of us with free will so that we can freely choose either to acknowledge him, cooperate with him, and enjoy life as it was designed to be, or we can rebel against him and shake our puny fist in his face.
As to the afterlife, it will not be long at all before we each discover the truth about that matter. And of course I am not worrying about the afterlife. I am living life to the full now, realising that thanks to what Jesus has done on my behalf, my eternal destiny is secure. Indeed, it gives me tremendous confidence and peace to know that one day every wrong will be dealt with and every right acknowledged. Glorious eternal justice, instead of ‘blind, pitiless indifference’, as Dawkins puts it.
Bill Muehlenberg, CultureWatch
Isn’t ignorance, bliss, for finding out the truth will make them very insecure.
Here is an interesting connection between Islam and Hitler. Think that Nazism is dead, well think again.
Here
And the youtube link Here
Christians really need to start educating themselves. Both Nazism and Islam have the same goal, the total destruction of the Jews.
God Bless you Bill, for making a stand.
Jeffrey Carl
Thanks guys
Thanks to Coalition pressure and a fight back for common sense, Labor has caved in on this stupid act of PC: http://www.scottmorrison.com.au/info/pressrelease.aspx?id=629
Bill Muehlenberg, CultureWatch
Picked up C.S Lewis children’s story for “light” reading. The last battle was not so light. A few things in his theology you may think are wishful thinking but many times I Am amazed at his Bible knowledge leading to things prophetic of current events. I guess it is really that God isn’t surprised. Elizabeth has a new book about to be released. It sounds like essential if unpleasant reading.
Pick someone trying to do what is right and support them in the election.