Do not say, “I’ll pay you back for this wrong!” Wait for the Lord, and he will avenge you.23/4/2017 Faith's Checkbook by C.H. Spurgeon
Forget and Forgive Say not thou, I will recompense evil; but wait on the Lord, and he shall save thee. (Proverbs 20:22) Be not in haste. Let anger cool down. Say nothing and do nothing to avenge yourself. You will be sure to act unwisely if you take up the cudgels and fight your own battles; and, certainly, you will not show the spirit of the Lord Jesus. It is nobler to forgive and let the offense pass. To let an injury rankle in your bosom and to meditate revenge is to keep old wounds open and to make new ones. Better forget and forgive. Peradventure, you say that you must do something or be a great loser; then do what this morning's promise advises: "Wait on the Lord, and he shall save thee." This advice will not cost you money but is worth far more. Be calm and quiet. Wait upon the Lord; tell Him your grievance; spread Rabshakeh's letter before the Lord, and this of itself will be an ease to your burdened mind. Besides, there is the promise "He shall save thee." God will find a way of deliverance for you. How He will do it neither you nor I can guess, but do it He will. If the Lord saves you, this will be a deal better than getting into petty quarrels and covering yourself with filth by wrestling with the unclean. Be no more angry. Leave your suit with the Judge of all. http://bible.christiansunite.com/devotionals.shtml
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Three interesting articles from The Australian on 15th April show the unsettling times upon us.
Christian values under attack Paul Kelly, Editor-at-Large "There will be no settlement or social harmony from the agendas of the new moralists - just a fragmented society. Read on-->> Christians are under assault Gerard HendersonViolence against Middle East churches is supplemented by verbal attacks in the West. Read on-->> Corporate bullies threaten freedom Julian Porteous Pressuring employees to support social agendas is totalitarian. Read on-->> This interesting article from Greg Clarke in The Australian newspaper 23-3-17 is worth reading:
Bible a mainstay of Western life Postmodernism By Dr. Jeff Myers, Summit Ministries President "How is Postmodernism different than the Christian Worldview? The Postmodernist believes humans are nothing more than the sum total of the economic, legal, and personal relationships developed in a given society. Living within this order is ‘the essence of our life.” Our culture determines who we are. To Fredric Jameson, a Marxist professor who regularly comments on Postmodernism, not even space and time are “natural”; they are “projected afterimages” of structures of making and acquiring things. Postmodernism in sociology, then, can be described as social constructionism, the belief that human beings and society do not have essences that exist in and of themselves, but are constructed through many layers of conversations and experiences. When it comes to deconstructing society’s institutions, Postmodernists are particularly critical of religion, especially Roman Catholicism. In The Future of Religion, Richard Rorty describes his view as “anticlericalism” rather than “atheism.” He doesn’t object to “congregations of the faithful” but targets “ecclesiastical institutions” as dangerous to a society’s health. In his speeches, Rorty often quoted Denis Diderot: “Man will never be free until the last king is strangled with the entrails of the last priest.” Postmodernists, those of a Secularist bent anyway, also show their contempt for Christian concepts of love, sex, and marriage. The very concept of a father, mother, and children forms a “heterosexist norm” which enables society “to marginalize some sexual practices as ‘against nature’. So how should we rid ourselves of this “heterosexist norm?” By pushing the boundaries so far that people forget what used to be normal. This means talking about sex all the time, and the more deviant the better. It is unclear what Postmodernists think these actions will accomplish, if anything, in building a healthy society. This much is clear, though: Postmodernists, those who react so strongly against the idea that we have any direct access to reality, act as if they have direct access when it comes to try to break the “heterosexual norm” so that everything possible becomes permissible, everything permissible becomes desirable, and everything desirable becomes normal. If you don’t like it, don’t be surprised if Postmodernists accuse you of being a bigot who wants to mandate your intolerant point of view. 5 Posts From Summit this week: 1. The rise of the non-believing Millennial. 35% of Millennials identify as Atheist, Agnostic, or nothing in particular. 2. Sean McDowell discusses what a worldview is and the three components that make up a worldview. 3. Why monogamy and marriage don’t Interest Millennials. Three reasons experts believe Millennials are keeping the knot untied. 4. What is the root of the transgender debate? Ultimately, the transgender question is about more than just sex. It’s about what it means to be human. 5. Is Marxism present in America? The short answer is yes and here are three places you'll see it in America. How Christians Acting on Biblical Beliefs Secured the Basis for Women’s and Children’s Rights, Dr. Jeff Myers, excerpted from Understanding the Culture A Survey of Social Engagement Christianity has done more for women’s rights than any other movement in history. Christianity sprouted in the seedbed of the Roman Empire, whose soil was nourished with the blood of the innocent. To say that Rome was distinctly anti-woman is an understatement. Families typically kept all their… Read More → To subscribe to Summit weekly click here. The Two Bibles Donald Trump Used at the Inauguration.
When Donald J. Trump takes the oath of office on Friday, he will do so with his hand on two Bibles: his own, and one used by Abraham Lincoln in 1861. Only one other president has used that Bible for the oath: Mr. Trump’s predecessor. Thomas Barrack Jr., the chairman of Mr. Trump’s inaugural committee, said in a statement earlier this week that the president-elect “is humbled to place his hand on Bibles that hold special meaning both to his family and to our country.” Mr. Trump’s personal Bible was given to him by his mother in 1955, two days before his ninth birthday, according to a statement from the inaugural committee. He had just completed the Sunday Church Primary School at the First Presbyterian Church in Queens, where he grew up. https://www.nytimes.com/2017/01/18/us/politics/lincoln-bible-trump-oath.html 1. When marriage can be anything, marriage can be anything. People are "marrying" roller coasters, and themselves.
2. A study finds that Christians are the most persecuted group in world for the second year. 90,000 Christians were killed for their beliefs worldwide last year, and nearly a third were at the hands of Islamic extremists like ISIS. 3. Chris Pratt talks about how he became a Christian and how it changed his life. Pratt has become one of the busiest celebrities in Hollywood but has not shied away from talking about his faith in public. 4. Why do we give up on Bible reading and what do you do when your Bible reading seems insignificant or irrelevant? 5. Do we really live in a “post-truth” world? Simply put, we now live in a culture that seems to value experience and emotion more than truth. Subscribe to The Summit Journal Weekly Why private schools work better
The Australian 28th December 2016 Kevin Donnelly Let’s drop Marxist-inspired nonsense and get our children back to the basics. In 2004, in Why Our Schools are Failing, I argued Australia’s competitive academic curriculum was being “attacked and undermined by a series of ideologically driven changes that have conspired to reduce standards and impose a politically correct, mediocre view of education on our schools”. Three years later, in Dumbing Down, I repeated the claim, arguing that Australia’s cultural-left education establishment, instead of supporting high-risk examinations, teacher-directed lessons and meritocracy, was redefining the curriculum “as an instrument to bring about equity and social justice”. At the time the Australian Curriculum Studies Association organised two national conferences involving leading education bureaucrats, professional organisations, teacher unions and like-minded academics to argue all was well and that critics such as the News Corp’s newspapers were guilty of orchestrating a “black media debate” and a “conservative backlash”. The Australian’s campaign for rigour and standards in education, especially its defence of classic literature and teaching grammar, was condemned by one critic as a “particularly ferocious campaign” that was guilty of wanting “to restore a traditional approach to the teaching of English”. Fast-forward to 2016 and it’s clear where the truth lies. Despite investing additional billions and implementing a raft of education reforms, Australia’s ranking in international tests is going backwards and too many students are leaving school illiterate, innumerate and culturally impoverished. In the 2011 Progress in International Reading Literacy Study, Australian students were ranked 22nd; in the 2015 Program for International Student Assessment, Australian students were ranked 20th in mathematics; and in the 2015 Trends in International Mathematics and Science Study, our Year 4 science students were outperformed by 17 other countries. Australia’s national curriculum, instead of acknowledging we are a Western liberal democracy and the significance of our Judeo-Christian heritage, embraces cultural relativism and prioritises politically correct indigenous, Asian and sustainability perspectives. Instead of focusing on the basics, teachers are pressured to teach Marxist-inspired programs such as the LGBTI Safe Schools program where gender is fluid and limitless and Roz Ward, one of the founders, argues: “It will only be through a revitalised class struggle and revolutionary change that we can hope for the liberation of LGBTI people.” What’s to be done? It’s rare that those responsible for failure are capable of choosing the right way forward. Organisations such as ACSA, the Australian Education Union and the Australian Council for Educational Research are part of the problem, not the solution. Instead of education fads and a command-and-control model mandated by such bodies, where schools are made to implement a one-size-fits-all curriculum, assessment, accountability and staffing system, schools must be freed from provider capture and given the autonomy to manage themselves. As argued by Melbourne-based Brian Caldwell: “There is a powerful educational logic to locating a higher level of authority, responsibility and accountability for curriculum, teaching and assessment at the school level. Each school has a unique mix of students in respect to their needs, interests, aptitudes and ambitions; indeed, each classroom has a unique mix.” The reason Catholic and independent schools, on the whole, outperform government schools is not because of students’ socio-economic status, which has a relatively weak impact on outcomes, but because non-government schools have control over staffing, budgets, curriculum focus and classroom practice. In a paper this year — The Importance of School Systems: Evidence from International Differences in Student Achievement — European research Ludger Woessmann identifies “school autonomy and private competition” as important factors when explaining why some education systems outperform others. Instead of adopting ineffective fads such as constructivism — where the emphasis is on inquiry-based discovery learning, teachers being guides by the side and content being secondary to process — it is vital to ensure that teacher training and classroom practice are evidence-based. Not so in Australia, where the dominant approach is based on constructivism. In opposition, and when arguing in favour of explicit teaching and direct instruction, NSW academic John Sweller states that “there is no aspect of human cognitive architecture that suggests that inquiry-based learning should be superior to direct instructional guidance and much to suggest that it is likely to be inferior”. American educationalist ED Hirsch and Sweller argue that children must be able to automatically recall what has been taught. Primary schoolchildren, in particular, need to memorise times tables, do mental arithmetic and learn to recite poems and ballads. After citing several research studies, Hirsch concludes: “Varied and repeated practice leading to rapid recall and automaticity is necessary to higher-order problem-solving skills in both mathematics and the sciences.” Even though Australia has one of the highest rates of classroom computer use, our results are going backwards. A recent OECD study concludes “countries which have invested heavily in information and communication technologies for education have seen no noticeable improvement in their performances in PISA results for reading, mathematics or science”. At a time when Australia’s education ministers are deciding a new school funding model after 2017, it is also vital to realise investing additional billions, as argued by the AEU and NSW’s Education Minister Adrian Piccoli, is not the solution. Australia has been down that road across 20 years and standards have failed to improve. The debate needs to shift from throwing more money after bad, a la Gonski, to identifying the most cost-effective way to use resources to raise standards. As noted by Eric Hanushek and Woessmann in The Knowledge Capital of Nations, the focus must be on “how money is spent (instead) of how much money is spent”. And here the research is clear. Stronger performing education systems embrace competition, autonomy, diversity and choice in education, and benchmark their curriculum and approaches to teaching and learning against world’s best practice and evidence-based research. Teachers set high expectations with a disciplined classroom environment, students are taught to be resilient and motivated to succeed, there is less external micromanagement, and parents are engaged and supportive of their children’s teachers. As argued in the Review of the Australian National Curriculum I co-chaired, it is also vital to eschew educational fads and new age, politically correct ideology and ensure what is taught is based on what American psychologist Jerome Bruner describes as “the structure of the disciplines”. Kevin Donnelly is a senior research fellow at the Australian Catholic University and author of The Culture of Freedom. Why the Mainstream Media is Officially Dead By Caleb Stephen December 14, 2016 9:58 am AEDT The mainstream media as we know it is dead. They’ve been discredited big time and nobody trusts them anymore. People have woken up to the fact that the corporate media is nothing more than a dissemination tool for socialism and globalism. As an alternative media journalist and commentator, I’ve been closely watching and analysing the fall-out following the U.S. election over the last month. A survey conducted earlier this year showed that just 6% of Americans trust the mainstream media. Is it any wonder why? It’s true that their demise has been many years in the making, but the defeat that we witnessed following the election was absolutely epic in proportion. The recent U.S. elections were, I guess, the climax in the crescendo of the loss of their integrity. Americans’ distrust of the mainstream media didn’t happen overnight. This dissatisfaction and loathing of the lies and propaganda fed to them on a daily basis happened slowly over time as more and more people began to wake up to reality and refused to buy into their malarkey. During the election, the absolute fawning, gushing, genuflecting and infatuation over Hillary Clinton stank like a rotten corpse. It was palpable… it was blatant what they’re were trying to do in terms of painting Donald Trump as pure evil whilst trying to extol Hideous Hillary as if she was a saint. READ ON -->> http://calebreport.com/2016/12/14/mainstream-media-officially-dead/ This isn’t racist, Islamophobia or cruel. It’s commonsense
Excerpts from artcile by Warren Mundine is chair of the Prime Minister’s indigenous Advisory Council and a former ALP national president. Read full article here. "Donald Trump’s victory demonstrates the media and commentariat are disconnected from voters. Almost without exception they failed to anticipate the presidential election outcome — and had little influence on it. Their message that Trump was unfit for presidency largely ignored. Australia’s political media and commentariat are also out of touch. Listening to them you’d think Australians are preoccupied with gay marriage, offshore detention, carbon emissions and identity politics. Most are preoccupied with their families, their homes, their jobs, the monthly bills and their kids’ education and job prospects. They care about the economy and national debt. They want to live in a safe society where Australia’s way of life is valued and respected. There’s a growing disconnect between the views expressed by the media and commentariat and those of many Australians, with commonsense often dismissed as extreme, ill-informed, even bigoted. Here are some examples. Our biggest education challenge is performance declining against global benchmarks. Demanding more education funding as the solution is misconceived. It’s been happening despite substantial education funding increases. Something’s wrong. Australian schools should be the best in the world, not 28th behind Kazakhstan. Meanwhile, the education issue dominating political news has been the Safe Schools controversy. It’s understandable why parents are concerned. Some content in Safe Schools and other school programs, frankly, beggars belief. Teachers shouldn’t be schooling children in gender fluidity or asking them to imagine or role-play different sexual orientations, or teaching them about exotic sex acts, or criticising “heteronormativity”. Governments should shut this nonsense down and focus on improving academic performance. That’s not homophobic. It’s commonsense. ...Australians have a strong record of embracing immigrants in their communities and in their families, and most immigrants embrace Australia and our way of life. But at the moment Australians are seeing something we’ve rarely seen before. A small minority of Muslim migrants and/or their descendants reject our way of life and instead want us to embrace aspects of theirs which go against our laws, customs and culture — women covering their faces, refusing to stand in court, Sharia law regulating divorces, polygamy and even forced child “marriages”. ...I hope the federal government’s welfare reform plans go beyond tough talk and become tough action. Making people take available work isn’t cruel. Sit-down money is cruel. Welfare reform is commonsense. Politicians who articulate these kinds of opinions are often branded heartless and bigoted by the progressive/Left, cheered on by prominent members of the political media and commentariat. It’s rare to hear centrist politicians speak as bluntly as I just have. Centrist Labor tends to pander to the progressive/Left. Centrist Liberals tiptoe. In doing so they leave a vacuum for extremists and populists. Trump, Brexit and One Nation’s resurgence deliver two key lessons. First, politicians who speak directly to voters about what voters care about can prevail, regardless of the media and commentariat. Second, if centrists are unwilling or afraid to embrace commonsense views, voters will turn to extremists and populists, however offensive. The first centrist politician who embraces commonsense with plain-speaking, ignoring the political class and dealing honestly and firmly with issues Australians care about, will dominate the ballot box." Warren Mundine is chair of the Prime Minister’s indigenous Advisory Council and a former ALP national president http://www.dailytelegraph.com.au/rendezview/this-isnt-racist-islamophobia-or-cruel-its-commonsense/news-story/31f2cf932163b4e90974f459f077462f Dear Teens, Virginity Is Good for You Here’s Why… By: John Stonestreet|Published: December 9, 2016 6:00 AM Topics: Sexual Ethics, Worldview, Youth Issues Teens who abstain from sex are healthier than those who don’t. Once again, research backs up the life-giving moral claims of a Christian worldview. We talk about this on BreakPoint quite a bit: Young people who wait until after the wedding have a better chance for a stable, fulfilling, happy marriage—not to mention they don’t have to worry about sexually transmitted diseases and unplanned pregnancies. You’ve probably also heard me or Eric Metaxas talk about how obedience to the Lord’s loving plan for confining sex within marriage brings incalculable spiritual benefits in our Christian lives. But what we haven’t heard in quite a while is the government admit that teenage sexual activity has, shall we say, negative consequences. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention—that’s right, the CDC—young people who are virgins register much higher in nearly all health-related behaviors than those who are sexually active. What kinds of behaviors? Things like using seat belts, avoiding drug abuse, eating a healthy diet, going to the doctor, exercising, and avoiding riding with a driver who’s been drinking. In addition, in a finding that the media is sure to either bury or dispute, while sexually inactive teens are healthiest, sexually active homosexual and bisexual teens fare worse than their sexually active heterosexual peers. The CDC conveys this blockbuster conclusion as drily and bureaucratically as possible: “Significant health disparities exist.” Our friend Glenn Stanton, director of global family formation studies at Focus on the Family, documents some of these disparities. Let’s take a look at just two: First, smoking. Sexually active heterosexual teens are 3,300 percent more likely to light up daily than their virgin counterparts. The “same-sex/bisexual-active” teens are an amazing 9,500 percent more likely to smoke daily than the virgins. Second, drug abuse. Sexually active heterosexual teens are 500 percent more likely to have ever injected a non-prescription drug than the virgins, while the “same-sex/bisexual-active” teens are a whopping 2,333 percent more likely than the virgins to have done so. Now Glenn is quick to add, correlation is not causation—meaning the research doesn’t prove that abstinence causes these other healthy habits. But the fact that the CDC noted a relationship between behaviors that you might at first blush think are unrelated is more than a little significant. And parents should take note, too. As researcher Mark Regnerus has highlighted in his book “Forbidden Fruit,” the intensity of teens’ religious beliefs is more important when it comes to sexual activity than exactly what religious beliefs they claim. So it goes without saying that the first thing we should care about is our kids’ faith. A strong, informed, and vital relationship with Jesus will help them resist temptation and peer pressure—sexual and otherwise—the type that assault them every day at school and online. While the CDC will never be able to put it this way, Glenn Stanton does sums up their findings well: “The sexual choices and values our young people hold have real-life consequences far beyond sexuality itself.” Or in other words, as we say all the time around here, “worldview matters.” The CDC report shows there are consequences for a secular worldview that sees bodies as something we “own,” something external to who we are, something we use (or abuse) depending on our desires, our will, or our “identity.” The Christian worldview, in sharp contrast, teaches that our bodies are integral to who we are, both in how humans were created and in that Christ took on flesh to make all things new. The extent that we and our kids truly embrace this, will determine how we treat our bodies and the bodies of others. Come to BreakPoint.org, and we’ll link you to Glenn Stanton’s article, the CDC study, and other helpful resources. Further Reading and Information Dear Teens, Virginity Is Good for You: Here’s Why…As John has reiterated, worldview influences behavior and attitude, especially when it comes to sexuality. For further study on this topic, check out the resources linked below. ResourcesCDC Study Says Teen Virgins Are Healthier Glenn T. Stanton | The Federalist | November 29, 2016 Sexual Identity, Sex of Sexual Contacts, and Health-Related Behaviors Among Students in Grades 9–12 — United States and Selected Sites, 2015 Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report | Centers for Disease Control and Prevention | August 12, 2016 Available at the online bookstoreForbidden Fruit: Sex & Religion in the Lives of American Teenagers Mark Regnerus | Oxford University Press, USA | April 2007 Creation.com - Good resource for deep thinkers to learn more about the big issue of origins.2/12/2016 Why Should We Care?
- Dr. Jeff Myers If the primary identifying characteristic of Christians is that they are nice people, then pleasantness ought to be the primary goal of our lives. But if what the Bible reveals about why we’re here on this planet is actually true, then being a caring person is much more than smiling and checking boxes on a do-gooder list. Rather, Christian caring ought to be the very best kind of caring, unleashing human ingenuity and pointing the way for people to be reconciled to God so they may be restored to a high capacity of bearing God’s image and bringing glory to their creator. So how does it start? Find out here. Heroin Hell - Saving Your Kids from the Opiate Epidemic By: Eric Metaxas|Published: December 1, 2016 Topics: Drugs & Alcohol, Trends If you’re a parent, what I’m about to share on BreakPoint today just might scare the heck out of you. But you need to hear it. Elizabeth Blunt was a talented musician and athlete who attended a Christian high school and college. Gifted in foreign languages, Beth was preparing to work in international relations, perhaps in China. But she never made it. Beth died in May of an overdose of heroin laced with fentanyl—a cheap, synthetic opiate. She was not quite 23. “She never came home drunk, didn’t show signs of drug abuse,” Beth’s mother, Lisa, said. “She used to be the sweetest girl. I don’t know what happened.” The statistics are frightening. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, every day in the United States, an average of 78 people like Beth die of an opiate overdose, including 29 from heroin. Every year, the CDC reports, opiate overdoses kill more than 28,000 people, and heroin kills more than 10,500. That’s more than all those killed on U.S. highways. And the problem is escalating. About 435,000 Americans in 2014 used heroin, according to the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration. That’s nearly three times the number just in 2007. U.S. Surgeon General Vivek Murthy says drug and alcohol addiction is “a moral test for America,” with more than 20 million people embroiled in substance abuse problems. Only 10 percent of them are receiving treatment. “We can never forget that the faces of substance use disorders are real people,” Murthy said while releasing a report on the problem. “Are we able to live up to that most fundamental obligation we have as human beings: to care for one another?” What’s behind this hellish epidemic? One factor—heroin is a very affordable high. “Heroin is … cheap and available just about everywhere,” reporter Dan Ponce of WGN-TV in Chicago says. “A $10 bag can keep someone high for a day or two. …. Drug dealers will deliver heroin right to your front door.” Another is the neurological effect such drugs have on the brain. The surgeon general’s report notes that repeated use changes the brain, so that it demands more to function. It’s a vicious cycle that can trap our children in addiction. And it comes straight from hell. As Screwtape said to his junior-devil colleague, Wormwood, “An ever-increasing craving for an ever diminishing pleasure is the formula.” That describes drug abuse to a T. So now that we’re properly scared, what can we do to protect our kids from the hellish world of illegal drugs? First, pray for and with them. Second, talk with them—frankly—not only about the risks of substances like heroin, but about the joy and purpose available in Christ, which no drug can ever match. Third, really listen to them. And fourth, if necessary, get them into treatment. Come to our website for some great resources and encouragement in the fight against this scourge. Please know that there is hope for those who have become snared by drugs. Even in addiction, where sin increases, grace can abound even more. Help is available for those who choose it. For example, the Indiana Dream Center provides recovering addicts with effective, God-centered treatment. Its facility for women, Marilyn’s House, helps residents gain life and job skills, spiritual development, and mentoring. “To be held accountable, they don’t go anywhere alone,” says Jessica Brooks, a former heroin addict who now directs the ministry. “We’re pretty radical. We really live how the Bible says. Jesus sent them out in twos, so we go out in twos.” Heroin may be a taste of hell, but as this ministry and others show, there is hope--real hope—in Jesus Christ. Again, come to BreakPoint.org for resources. Further Reading and Information Heroin Hell: Saving Your Kids from the Opiate EpidemicCheck out the resources linked below for further information about the heroin epidemic and organizations involved in the fight against it. ResourcesSurgeon General Says Addiction Crisis a ‘Moral Test for America’ Justin Worland | Time.com | November 17, 2016 Heroin's Hold On Us Brittney McNamara and Alex Knisely | GateHouse Media On the Death of Philip Seymour Hoffman Stan Guthrie | BreakPoint.org | February 6, 2014 Former heroin addict now helping others beat back problem Rebecca Sandlin | Huntington County TAB | October 24, 2016 Quit Heroin - The Comprehensive Guide to Heroin Recovery Bill Dinker | Discovery Place Wheaton parents who lost son to heroin tell families to have hope Jessica Cilella | DailyHerald.com | May 25, 2014 Available at the online bookstoreSeven Things Christians Should Know about Addiction Steve Horne | Heritage Builders | May 2016 Freedom from Addiction: Breaking the Bondage of Addiction and Finding Freedom in Christ Anderson, Neil T., Quarles, Julia, Quarles, Mike | Bethany House Publishers | June 1996 The Heart of Addiction: A Biblical Perspective Mark Shaw | Focus Publishing | September 2008 A new movie by Mel Gibson powerfully deals with the theme of freedom of conscience. At a time when the biggest threat to Western freedoms (conscience, speech, religion), from the rise of the totalitarian radical activist movement, seems unstoppably bound to subjugate all opposition, this is a timely movie for our times. From BreakPoint.org: "Times in which florists and bakers are being hauled before civil rights commissions, being fined, losing their businesses; times in which pharmacists in Washington State can lose their licenses for refusing to dispense abortion pills; times in which churches in Massachusetts can run afoul of “public accommodation” laws requiring gender neutral bathrooms—we do indeed have a model in Desmond Doss." "Before I go any further: “Hacksaw Ridge” is rated R for horrifically brutal battle scenes. It is not suitable for children. But it is an outstanding movie: the characters, the dialogue, the drama, and the cinematography are phenomenal. If you can stomach the scenes of death and destruction, you should go see it. And here’s the major reason why. I’ve never seen a film that so powerfully underscores the importance of freedom of conscience." Eric Metaxsas Read on-->> "Hacksaw Ridge" official trailer YouTube Values Under Attack: ‘Hacksaw Ridge’ and Religious Liberty Steven D. Greydanus | NCRegister.com | November 11, 2016 Available at the online bookstoreDesmond Doss: Conscientious Objector: The Story of an Unlikely Hero Frances M. Doss | Pacific Press Publishing Association | September 2015 How good would it have been to be a fly on the wall of this meeting? Just picture 40 odd of the most powerful, (and self-righteous, arrogant, dishonest) media executives on the planet being told off by Trump.
These people so regularly write things about their fellow human beings which are untrue, deceitful, hurtful, destructive and dishonest that their dulled-into-extinction consciences probably no longer recognize what truth and decency is. They daily destroy life after life, reputation after reputation, career after career, family after family. They arrogantly impose the fruit of their rotten worldview and character on society and work, not as reporters, but as cheerleaders of left-wing, Marxist social engineering programs and agendas. “Trump started with [CNN chief] Jeff Zucker and said ‘I hate your network, everyone at CNN is a liar and you should be ashamed,’ ” “Trump kept saying, ‘We’re in a room of liars, the deceitful dishonest media.’ He addressed everyone in the room calling the media dishonest, deceitful liars." The people have in Trump someone who is willing and bold enough to call things as they are. Being very unused to being told the truth these media big shots must have been in utter shock. Thank you Mr. Trump. Read about it here: NY Post 21st Nov 2016 "When people's concerns are dismissed as just the sorts of worries of a bunch of deplorables you can understand why they get very, very unhappy." Tony Abbott on the Trump victory. 11-11-16. (We should add the other names to deplorables such as bigot, hater, homophobe, islamophobe, rabid, dinosaur etc.)
The Australian We do not wage war as the world does. The weapons we fight with have the power to demolish strongholds ✦ For our war is not against flesh and blood, but against the spiritual forces of evil ✦ It is God who arms me with strength. He is the God who avenges me…who saves me from my enemies ✦ Be strong and courageous. Do not be terrified or discouraged, for the Lord Your God will be with you wherever you go ✦ Do not be afraid of them for the Lord Your God himself will fight for you ✦ Let us not grow weary of doing good, for in due season we will reap, if we do not give up. ✦ The Lord is my strength, my rock, my fortress, my deliverer, my shield, my stronghold ✦ No weapon forged against you will prosper and you will refute every tongue that accuses you — this is the heritage of the Lord’s servants ✦ For the battle is the Lord’s ✦ Therefore, put on the full armor of God so that when the day of evil comes, you may be able to stand your ground ✦ And in all these things we are more than conquerors through Him who loves us.
Courtesy "Let it not be said I was silent when they needed me." William Wilberforce. (We can easily say this of the children today as Wilberforce said it of the slaves in his day).
What if the Green Movement is not saving the planet but enslaving humanity?
Connect: Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/bluebeatsgreen Twittter: @BlueBeatsGreen #Blueisbest#BlueWorld Instagram: http://instagram.com/bluebeatsgreen Official Website: http://www.bluebeatsgreen.com/movie Featuring: Leighton Steward, Cal Beisner, Robert Zubrin, Lord Monckton, Steven F. Hayward, Mark Baird, Mike McKenna, Joe Voetberg, Michael Shaw, Vishal Mangalwadi, and many more. Synopsis: For decades the Green Movement has claimed that Earth is threatened by the activity and even the existence of mankind. Green policies dictate that the noble response is relinquishing our liberties to “save” the planet from peril. Award-winning filmmaker JD King sets off on a cinematic journey to challenge these Green philosophies, and overturn the tables on issues like carbon emissions, climate change, over-population, natural resources, and unmasks the UN’s Agenda 21 plan. BLUE casts a bold new vision: that through greater freedom we can realize a fuller potential for our fellow man and this beautiful blue planet we call home. Coutesy: The Caleb Report Not many inhabitants of planet Earth have not seen the famous photo, taken on 8 June 1972, of Kim Phuc fleeing the Napalm attacks in Vietnam. Few pictures show the horrors of war as brutally as the iconic photo by the Vietnamese photographer Nick Út. Kim's story does not stop there however. Years later, having fled Vietnam for the USA, Kim accepted Jesus as her Saviour and committed her life to Him. Kim recounts, "It was the fire of the bomb that burned my body, and it was the skill of the doctor that mended my skin, but it took the power of God to heal my heart." "How Now Shall we Live", Charles Colson, pg 483. "This world is an uncertain realm filled with danger, where honour is undermined by the pursuit of power; freedom is sacrificed; the weak are oppressed by the strong. But there are those who oppose these powerful forces, who dedicate their lives to truth, honour and freedom." - The Three Musketeers!
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Craig MannersWhile much of what is written in this Blog may currently appear to be counter-cultural, given our post-truth culture, it is in no way counter-human beings. I am always for people no matter what they think, do, or may have done in their past. Where I put forward ideas or debate against certain ideology, behaviour, ideas, movements, politics, I remain very much on the side of the human beings even though I may be opposed to their worldview, behaviour and politics. Such opposition is generally out of concern for the ultimate consequences of such behaviour or ideas, especially for children. |