It is shocking and unfathomable that the brutal attack by Hamas on Israel, October 7, 2023 — an assault not only on a nation, but on its right to exist in that small patch on the globe, the only home the United Nations has allowed the Jewish people, has resulted in antisemitism worldwide. This is spiritual warfare which fits with what Jesus said would happen to Jews and Christians just prior to His return with the glorified Saints to restore righteousness.
AUSTRALIA: This article reports on a recent rally; As Melbourne reels from attacks on synagogues and Israeli-owned businesses, a rare coalition of faith communities gathered peacefully over the weekend to reclaim the moral ground in a nation struggling against rising terror and intimidation.
On Sunday, in Melbourne, fifteen organisations from three different communities — Hindus, Iranians and Israelis — gathered with one unified purpose: to stand against terrorism.
The rally came amid rising violence, public apathy, and a growing ideological threat not just to Israel, but to the very foundations of Australian democracy and religious freedom. Despite the hopeful turnout, many there questioned why only a few hundred people showed up, especially after the recent terror attacks in Melbourne. Where was the outrage? Where were the crowds? Only a handful of Christians came to stand in solidarity — three from the Family First Party and a few others.
As Gideon Rozner, Policy Director at the Institute of Public Affairs stated bluntly: “No Australian should have their place of worship firebombed.” But the painful truth remains — there have been no real consequences for these acts of violence and for the chants of death and terror that have plagued Melbourne’s streets.
Since the Never Again Is Now rally in May 2024, turnout has dwindled. Each Sunday morning, only 10 to 30 people — a few brave Jews, Christians and atheists — stand quietly in the CBD. They face down noisy, drum-beating, aggressive pro-Palestinian protestors shouting: “Kill the Jews,” “F… the Jews,” “Death to the IDF.”
Instead of arresting those who threaten violence, police have moved on the peaceful crowd and even threatened them with arrest simply for being in the city.
One Sunday, a Christian woman had her Lion of Judah flag ripped from her hand. Her husband gave chase to recover it — and was pepper-sprayed by police. On another morning, an elderly woman with a flag on an umbrella was grabbed by police, their arms tightly around her neck.
Melbourne, once one of the most successful multicultural cities in the world, is now almost unrecognisable. For 21 months, it has teetered on the edge of something dangerous.
Folks we are living in the end times. God established the nation of Israel for His purposes, and despite its disobedience, God will fulfill the many promises He made that Israel will one day be the leader of the nations with its Messiah, Jesus ruling reigning over the nations from a new Jerusalem for one thousand years.
Greg Sheridan in The Australian recently warned that Australia is a nation in decline — from rising debt to falling fertility and a loss of hope. At the heart of it all?A spiritual vacuum we’ve tried to ignore.
Greg said, “Across every indicator you can imagine — economy, living standards, social cohesion, crime, health, military capability, the creativity and virtuosity of the arts — we’re in serious decline.” Greg did not address the spiritual nature of the decline, which is the cause of the decrease in the rest of the indicators. If you have no knowledge of our Creator God, who made us in His image and loves us enough to send His only son to pay the price for our rebellion against Him, then you will get the outcome we have. It results from sinful men doing what they think is best for themselves; the strong rule over the weak.
As faith diminishes and social upheaval sets in, the state steps in to fill the spiritual void, offering itself as a stabilising force, a surrogate provider, and a substitute for God. But the more power we give it, the more of our finances and freedoms we are forced to surrender.
Greg’s Weekend Australianarticle has caused no small stir, not just for its bold thesis, but for the arsenal of facts Sheridan marshalled to support his case.
Families that can’t afford a home and struggle to pay for life’s necessities stop having children. Mums and dads forced to work longer hours spend less time with their children — and each other. Young people who believe a stable future is beyond reach stop aspiring. And as the national debt balloons, mental health declines, and anxiety and despair set in, our institutions lose their legitimacy and Australia’s social fabric frays.
In short, economic woes are a fast track to social declension — and Greg Sheridan has rightly lamented both in his sobering analysis of mid-2020s Australia.
The Numbers Behind the Decline
On Australia’s economy and living standards, the situation is dire. Our national debt has now surpassed $1 trillion, not including the billions in hidden, “off-budget” borrowing. Just paying the interest on that debt costs Australians $27 billion every year — and that figure is only rising.
At the same time, productivity — the output of each worker — has fallen by 5% under the Albanese government, while real incomes have plummeted 8% in just three years — the worst performance of any nation in the OECD. Additionally, Australia’s top tax rate kicks in at lower income levels than in the US or UK, meaning that Aussies are taxed more even as they earn less.
Housing is no better. The median house price is now nine times the average income — and in Sydney, it’s a staggering thirteen times. By contrast, in the 1970s and 80s, house prices were just three or four times the average annual salary.
Is it any wonder, then, that Australia’s fertility rate has crashed to 1.44 children per woman? This is a historic low for our nation, and global data suggests it will be extremely difficult to reverse, even if the economy improves.
Australia’s education standards are also dropping:
Australian students are 4 years behind top Asian countries in maths
In 2023, 15-year-olds performed like 14-year-olds from 20 years ago
1 in 3 students failed basic reading and maths in 2024
We spend more than the OECD average per student but get worse results
Our health is also going backwards:
Two-thirds of Australians are overweight or obese
Life expectancy is now dropping
Suicide is the leading cause of death for Aussies aged 15–44
Youth mental illness is up 50% in 15 years
Australia ranks second after the US for rising mental health issues
If all that weren’t enough, energy, mining, and manufacturing — once the backbone of Australian prosperity — are now in steady retreat.
Electricity prices have climbed significantly, driven by costly Net Zero policies. While a mixed energy grid that makes use of gas and coal would be more affordable, Australia is doubling down on renewables. By contrast, the so-called “big emitters” — China, India and the US — no longer believe in Net Zero, putting Australia out of step and limping behind. Amid these developments, we’ve lost critical industries like urea (used in fertiliser), plastics, and nickel, which are vital to our economic sovereignty.
Australia’s commitment to Net Zero has seen the closure of coal-fired power stations — once the backbone of our competitive advantage — in favour of costly renewables. As energy prices rise, Australian manufacturing has entered “terminal decline” and now makes up the smallest share of GDP of any nation in the OECD. By contrast, China is building 421 GW of new coal power while we’re shutting down our last 21 GW.
Just days after Sheridan’s article went to press, former federal MP Craig Kelly published an X thread featuring 26 graphs that painted a very similar picture.
Job growth is now concentrated in the debt-funded public sector, not in productive enterprise. Australia’s bureaucracy is among the most bloated in the world, and the cost of government continues to grow. With our economic complexity rating falling, fertility rates collapsing, and younger Australians losing faith in the future, Kelly argues, we’re at risk of becoming the first generation to pass on a country poorer, weaker, and less free than the one we inherited.
Recent anti-God expenditures and legislation by State Governments will ensure further judgement on this nation by God.
NSW MLC John Ruddick has delivered a powerful speech to the state parliament about the excessive funding of rainbow activism. Up to $14 million and at least 22 agencies receive tax-payer funding to support their ‘neo-religion.’ Ruddick has called for government funding to cease and allow these groups to continue only if they can raise the funding themselves. He noted that organisations such as ACON (formerly known as the Aids Council of NSW) served their purpose during the AIDs epidemic but have since had to “invent new rainbow causes that are so important that the taxpayer has to fund them.” When lobby groups fight for a cause and win, they don’t just pack up their lobbying tents and go home. Too often they simply find new and more radical causes within the same framework. Lobbyists who rely on government grants do not simply pat themselves on the back after winning their cause – they get addicted to the gravy train.
Ashlyn Vice, SA Director of the Australian Christian Lobby (ACL), says Mr Hood’s Termination of Pregnancy Amendment (Terminations and Live Births) Bill was a “no-nonsense, compelling proposition to change the process of terminations post 28-weeks’ gestation – offering a pro-woman, pro-child compromise”. “Tonight’s result means more South Australian babies will be needlessly born dead when they could have been safely born alive,” Vice says. “If passed, this Bill would have ensured babies in their third trimester would be born alive by inducing early labour in circumstances where the mother insists on ending the pregnancy. This was to replace current practice, which is to kill the baby via a lethal potassium chloride injection before inducing labour.” Vice says.
Our elected government leaders have no fear of God which reveals the godless state of our nation and an inept church. A church that no longer upholds the inerrancy of God’s Word and heeds the many warnings and signs given of God’s coming judgement when He pours out His wrath upon an unrepentant world with the Trumpet and Bowl judgements.
Read the first four Trumpet judgements and know that the intensity only escalates as God pours out His wrath with the seven Trumpet and seven Bowl judgements. How many churches are warning the world of this soon coming judgement of God?
“The first angel blew his trumpet, and there followed hail and fire, mixed with blood, and these were thrown upon the earth. And a third of the earth was burned up, and a third of the trees were burned up, and all green grass was burned up. The second angel blew his trumpet, and something like a great mountain, burning with fire, was thrown into the sea, and a third of the sea became blood. A third of the living creatures in the sea died, and a third of the ships were destroyed. The third angel blew his trumpet, and a great star fell from heaven, blazing like a torch, and it fell on a third of the rivers and on the springs of water. The name of the star is Wormwood. A third of the waters became wormwood, and many people died from the water, because it had been made bitter. The fourth angel blew his trumpet, and a third of the sun was struck, and a third of the moon, and a third of the stars, so that a third of their light might be darkened, and a third of the day might be kept from shining, and likewise a third of the night.” Revelation 8: 7-12
X-energy, working in partnership with Cavendish Nuclear, is planning a fleet of up to 40 of its advanced small modular Xe-100 power reactors in the UK, creating thousands of high-quality jobs in construction and operations. X-energy is also proposing to develop a £multi-billion 12-reactor plant at Hartlepool, to be ready by the early 2030s.
X-energy’s intrinsically safe advanced small modular reactor (“SMR”) and TRISO-X fuel greatly expand applications and markets for deployment of nuclear technology relative to other SMRs and conventional nuclear. Its high-temperature gas reactor (“HTGR”) technology can support broad industrial use applications through its high-temperature heat and steam output. In addition, it can integrate into and address the needs of both large and regional electricity systems through more efficient load ramping and can support intermittent renewable (solar and wind) and other clean energy options with reliable baseload generation.
“This is a huge opportunity for Teesside and the country as a whole. There is a skilled nuclear workforce, with decades of experience of high temperature gas reactor technology, already in place at Hartlepool Power Station and the plant will be reaching the end of its life just as our project entered development and construction,” said Carol Tansley, X-energy’s Vice President of UK New Build Projects. “We can provide high quality local jobs and the broadest range of decarbonisation options for the area’s industrial base, and then use that experience to benefit similar regions across the UK.”
“Nuclear energy offers a major boost to industrial clusters seeking to rapidly reduce emissions and improve competitiveness by providing stable, local, low-carbon energy with long-term price certainty,” said Dr. Philip Rogers, Director at Equilibrion. “The opportunities on Teesside are clear, and with another five large industrial clusters around England and Wales, the potential national socio-economic benefits are huge, enabling long-term, economy-wide decarbonisation of transport and industry.”
Electricity use is responsible for less than a quarter of the UK’s annual carbon dioxide emissions, whereas demand from heat and transport represent more than twice the amount.
X-energy already has a project underway on the U.S. Gulf Coast which will produce high-temperature heat and power for the Seadrift, Texas, manufacturing facility of the materials science company Dow. Construction on X-energy’s four-reactor project in Texas is expected to begin in 2026 and to be completed by the end of this decade. The project is focused on providing the Seadrift site with safe, reliable, zero carbon emissions power and steam.
Surely the Australian government is aware of these developments and if so why are they not considering nuclear as part of our energy supply?
Great article by Kendall Qualls the leader of the organisation Take Charge whose Mission is to inspire and educate black and other minority communities of their full rights and privileges as Americans granted to them by the Constitution.
We desire to inspire them to take charge of their own lives, and the lives of their children and not to rely on government and politicians for redemption and prosperity. We do not apologize for embracing America or its history. We believe that a well-grounded knowledge of American and world history strengthens our diverse country.
Christian faith, two-parent families, and an education that teaches children about God, skills, and character are essential to being a successful and happy American citizen. You have not heard nor will you ever hear these important factors promoted by the NAACP, the Urban League, the Congressional Black Caucus, and Black Lives Matter.
(Likewise, you will not hear it in Australia from the National Institute Indigenous Australians Agency (NIAA) The amount of money it spent, was $3.8 billion in 2021/2022 to improve the lot of Indigenous Australians and one has to wonder what was achieved.)
For 50 years now, these leftist groups and their allies have ushered in policies that were heavily promoted in black urban areas and then spread throughout the nation. These policies weakened, and then later destroyed, two-parent families, public school education, God-given social norms of behavior that were universally accepted, and the ability of young people to learn to be competitive in the workforce. This happened while many of these leaders, including blacks who considered themselves to be “progressive,” became wealthy at the expense of the people they were supposed to be serving.
Maxine Waters, a congresswoman who represents one of the poorest districts in California, for example, lives in a $6 million mansion outside the district she represents. Similar financial “miracles” have been replicated by other black “progressives,” most recently Patrisse Cullors, the co-founder of Black Lives Matter, who resigned to one of her mansions amid controversy over her organization’s finances — an investigation into which showed Black Lives Matter had raised $90 million.
While black elected officials have increased steadily in numbers post-civil rights era, we have not seen that same level of success in the black community when it comes to academic performance, private sector expansion, and quality of life. (The same can be said in Australia, the number of Indigenous elected officials has increased, and their impact on the quality of life for the Indigenous community is not significant).
Jason Riley, a Fellow at the Manhattan Institute, noted that, between 1970 and 2010, the number of black elected officials nationwide increased from fewer than 1,500 to more than 10,000. The vast majority of those elected officials have been on the political left. During the same time period, the black community had transformed from overwhelmingly two-parent families to 37% living in broken homes, without one initiative to reverse the trend.
Why is that the case? Because frankly, my dear, they don’t give a damn (I would add they have no fear of God).
The left needs a dependent and ignorant population to perpetuate a false narrative of racial disparities, even though the disparities are generated by a culture of government dependency.
Black elected officials hold or have held seats of power in cities like Baltimore, Cleveland, Detroit, Philadelphia, and, recently, the four largest cities in the U.S.: Houston, Los Angeles, Chicago, and New York City.
They have also held seats of power in police departments and public school systems. One would think these cities would be the safest cities for black Americans, with children thriving in schools and with robust local economies. The opposite is true, however. Black Americans who have the financial ability to leave these dangerous communities with failing schools do so because they are unsafe, and corrupt and restrict parents from sending their children to better schools by blocking school choice options.
Some may suggest that the mismanagement of cities and schools is due to incompetence. I would agree that incompetence is part of the problem, but the real driver behind the 50-year deterioration of cities across the country is a deliberate progressive/socialist agenda of permanent political power and wealth. When it comes to the lack of economic progress in the black community, the violence we witness daily, and numerous failing schools, my reaction is: frankly, my dear, they just don’t give a damn.
Read what Jesus has to say about the world that will exist prior to His return. Those of us who hold to God’s values will be hated and even eventually be put to death. Thank goodness God has told us beforehand.
“Then they will deliver you up to tribulation and put you to death, and you will be hated by all nations for my name’s sake. And then many will fall away and betray one another and hate one another. And many false prophets will arise and lead many astray. And because lawlessness will be increased, the love of many will grow cold. But the one who endures to the end will be saved.” Matthew 24:9-13
Biblical prophecy also tells us that Jesus returns first to rescue His Saints but He also pours out His wrath upon an unrepentant world prior to returning to restore righteousness and reign for 1000 years with the resurrected Saints. This fallen world will experience Jesus and the Saints ruling the nations from Jerusalem. The nation God established for His purposes, Israel, will finally be the leading nation of the world which fulfills God’s covenants and many OT and NT prophecies. This is an essential transition period prior to this world’s destruction, the White Throne judgement, and finally a new heaven and new earth where only the righteous dwell.
Dr Jordan B Peterson explains why the goal of achieving net zero emissions by 2050 is absolutely preposterous.
Jordan Peterson has taken aim at Anthony Albanese’s “impossible” 2030 and 2050 emissions reduction target as he condemned “power-mad globalist utopians” pushing for drastic climate action.
Peterson criticized the global movement toward net zero emissions before slamming the new Australian Labor Government’s recent move to legislate its climate agenda. He said the “utterly preposterous and inexcusable goal” of net zero by 2050 was both practically and conceptionally unachievable.
Peterson wrote in The Telegraph. “This by the way is a goal identical to that adopted last week by the utterly delusional leaders of Australia,” “Who additionally committed that resource-dependent and productive country to a 43 percent plus decrease – by 2005 standards – in greenhouse gas emission within the impossible timeframe of eight years. “This will devastate Australia.”
The debate raged in the first sitting weeks of the new Parliament and ended with Labor successfully passing its Climate Change Bill through the House of Representatives. The bill will enshrine into legislation the government’s Nationally Determined Contributions to the Paris Agreement of 43 per cent by 2030 and net zero by 2050.
RISE IN CO2 HAS GREENED PLANET EARTH:
Carbon dioxide emissions from industrial society have driven a huge growth in trees and other plants.
A new study says that if the extra green leaves prompted by rising CO2 levels were laid in a carpet, it would cover twice the continental USA. Climate skeptics argue the findings show that the extra CO2 is actually benefiting the planet.
Nic Lewis, an independent scientist often critical of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), told BBC News: “The magnitude of the increase in vegetation appears to be considerably larger than suggested by previous studies.
“It also suggests that projected atmospheric CO2 levels in IPCC scenarios are significantly too high, which implies that global temperature rises projected by IPCC models are also too high, even if the climate is as sensitive to CO2 increases as the models imply.”
And Prof Judith Curry, the former chair of Earth and atmospheric sciences at the Georgia Institute of Technology added: “It is inappropriate to dismiss the arguments of the so-called contrarians since their disagreement with the consensus reflects conflicts of values and a preference for the empirical (i.e. what has been observed) versus the hypothetical (i.e. what is projected from climate models).
“These disagreements are at the heart of the public debate on climate change, and these issues should be debated, not dismissed.”
CLIMATE: A CHAOTIC SYSTEM
Dr. Andrew N Edmonds who did his Ph.D. in time series prediction of real-world chaotic systems back in the 90s created a piece of software called ChaosKit to do this analysis. And for a while it had some buzz attached to it, principally in the world of finance, but also climate scientists became interested and sent him data, asking him to run the analysis for them.
One such piece of data was a 500-year sequence of temperatures from Northern Italy. He tried ChaosKit software on it and the results came out as chaotic, with a time to a doubling of error, which agreed with Dr. Peterson’s view that climate was not predictable because the prediction errors “grew like compound interest”.
Dr. Edmonds got given more climate data after that with similar results. Since then, many researchers in Chaos Theory, but not climate change, have performed similar analyses of different aspects of climate with similar results. There is mounting evidence that this is true. For instance: (Boyan H. Petkov, Vito Vitale, Mauro Mazzola, Christian Lanconelli, Angelo Lupi 2015; Gualtiero Badin 2014; R. C. Sreelekshmi, K. Asokan, K. Satheesh Kumar 2012; V. Krishnamurthy 7).
Not only is it true that climate is chaotic, but the Lyapunov time, the time to a doubling of error is so short that it undermines all climate modeling. For instance, if climate scientists can predict next year’s average temperature to an accuracy of +/- 0.1 Deg C, then the best their models can do is +/-0.2, the next year, 0.4 the next, 0.8 the next, 1.6 the year after that. Average world temperatures hover around 2 deg C, so this is an enormous error after only 5 years.
By way of comparison, recent work has shown our universe is chaotic. (Bruce Dorminey 2021) The interactions between the sun and the planets form a complex non-linear dynamic system with feedback. Such systems are often chaotic, but in the case of our universe the Lyapunov time is around 10 million years, so useful to understand some aspects of long-term climate, but not to cause an imminent threat…
Dr Peterson is correct, therefore, in what he says. Dr. Edmonds said, “I’d be fascinated to know where Dr. Peterson first read about this. I first published something about this ten years ago. (Andrew N Edmonds 2011). I’d like to think he saw that. The arguments have not changed since.”
As time has continued the ridiculous predictions in Al Gore’s “An inconvenient truth” have turned out to be an inconvenient reminder of hubris. Unfortunately, ideas have massive momentum. The idea of a predictable climate is firmly embedded in people’s worldview, as is the idea that the trajectory of disease can be predicted. It’s hard for the layman to appreciate that the wonderfully predictable technology that enables me to type this and you to read it exists in the same world as the completely unpredictable and chaotic.
Scientists working in the “soft sciences”, and climate is one of those, have been able to ride on the coattails of the ‘hard sciences’ incredible accuracy.
In the end, this will undermine science itself, and those in the hard sciences will have to do something about it. Already the politicization of science caused by climate change has started to undermine other branches of science.
Dr. Edmonds believes that ultimately scientists will have to reject some of the wilder excesses of model-based predictions. In the social sciences, journals now reject papers based on small samples and poor analysis. He states, “Climate journals ought to ask for a thorough analysis of all sources of error in predictions, including the elusive but vital “model error”. If we actually knew the error bars on some of the wild predictions of doom that make their way into the newspapers, it’s unlikely we would give them any credence.”
Dr Edmonds provided the following Bibliography with his article. He said, I generally don’t give references when I write for Medium, but this stuff is contentious, so I’ve fired up Citavi.
Boyan H. Petkov, Vito Vitale, Mauro Mazzola, Christian Lanconelli, Angelo Lupi (2015): Chaotic behaviour of the short-term variations in ozone column observed in Arctic. In Communications in Nonlinear Science and Numerical Simulation,
Gualtiero Badin (2014): A Search for Chaotic Behavior in Stratospheric Variability: Comparison between the Northern and Southern Hemispheres. In Journal of the Atmospheric Sciences.
R. C. Sreelekshmi, K. Asokan, K. Satheesh Kumar (2012): Deterministic nature of the underlying dynamics of surface windfluctuations. In Ann. Geophys 30, pp. 1503–1514.
KENNEDY MP, Bob Katter, has used a media address in Canberra today to slam the continued persecution of Christianity, after learning the Senate Chief has proposed to ban morning prayers[i].
An enraged Mr Katter used the opportunity to hold up the Holy Bible and rattle off a plethora of recent examples of religious persecution in Australia. He showed solidarity and support to the seven Manly Sea Eagles players, who stood down to defend their religious beliefs, praising them for their conviction.
“This Book for 5,000 years has been the heartland of religious belief, a concept that there is something bigger than me, but in sharp contrast, the persecutors believe that there is nothing bigger than themselves and their opinions,” Mr Katter said.
“For 5,000 years the persecution of the people who believe in this Book have been on public record. I will not go through the persecutions that go back to the dawn of time. I’ll just mention one – just one.
“During WWII, six million people were murdered in cold blood, many in gas chambers, for no other reason than what they believed. And remember, the Torah is based on the first five Books of the Hebrew Bible.
“This continued persecution is well and truly alive today. Just have a look at what’s happened to these seven boys from Manly. They have been persecuted for no other reason than they have moral conviction and whether you agree with their convictions, or not, is irrelevant.
“The conviction shown by these seven men is heroic and every decent member of society should admire them. Whether you agree with them or you don’t, they have stood up for what they believe in at great personal sacrifice and that is truly admirable.
“This is what the people of self-righteous arrogance have done to them: they have had their jobs taken off them, taken their family security off them, taken their incomes from them, they have put the house they live in in great jeopardy, their futures, their aspirations – all in jeopardy.
“According to news reports[ii] today, these players have been confined to their houses; they have been locked up. Apparently, they are doing this to protect the players, but do you know what they said to the First Australians when they rounded them up in chains and sent them to Palm Island? They said, “we are doing this to protect you.”
“To think that this is happening in Australia today is sickening. We Christians have no illusions that we are now under persecution.
“First, they targeted the Hollingsworth and biggest church in Australia. He was torn to pieces. Having finished with the biggest church in Australia, they then started on the leader of the second biggest church in Australia. Tore him to pieces.
“Then they turned to the Evangelicals. They started on Israel Falou. They took his whole life away from him and destroyed his career because he made a quote from this Book. He was punished for his quotation of this Book. Yet for 5,000 years people have based the foundation of entire societies on its teachings. More than half the world believes in this Book, or in parts of it.
“Is it an unreasonable thing to quote from a book that more than half the population is committed to? In Australia it is!
“And now, we have been told today by some that we cannot say prayers in the Parliament. We can show allegiance to some lady in England, but we cannot say prayers.
“So, to my fellow Christians, Muslims, Sikhs, and people of other religious belief, I say this to you – Please will you circulate the names of those who persecute you. We must stop this cold-hearted persecution. They got Pell, they got Hollingworth, got Folau, they have got the Manly boys, so when will they start on you?!”
God is in control of all events in His world. This nation is setting itself up to come under God’s judgement. Perhaps we are already seeing His judgement with the floods and other calamities besetting this nation.
A great article in the WEEKEND AUSTRALIAN by Greg Sheridan 23rd July 2022
Lost in the Secular Desert: Christianity Under Siege
Seven Manly NRL Sea Eagles Players have stood down from Roosters Game over Club’s Pride Jersey
We are on the way to becoming, for the first time, an avowedly anti-Christian nation. Not just non-Christian, but anti-Christian. The census tells us. The culture tells us. The law tells us.
The 2021 census represents an explosive dam burst, with a flood of biblical proportions to follow. For the first time in the modern nation’s history, only a minority of Australians identify as Christians.
This is not a gentle decline. It is a bus hurtling over a cliff. As recently as 25 years ago, nearly three-quarters of Australians called themselves Christians. In 2011, 61 percentwas still a solid majority; five years later it was 52 percent, andlast year just 44 percent and still falling.
That’s a staggering 17 percent fewer of the population who are Christian in 10 years. Nothing as dramatic and consequential has happened in Australian belief and outlook since 1788.
To be sure, there are nuances in the census. “No religion” does not equate directly to formal atheism. The National Church Life Survey suggests a small majority of Australians believe in God. That’s consistent with the census. Non-Christian religions – Islam, Hinduism, Buddhism, Sikhism, Judaism, and others – take total religious affiliation above 50 percent.
The census also has some surprises. Sydney, Sin City, is the most God-loving part of Australia, just as London is the most religious part of Britain.
But difficult as it may be for some Christians to accept, and much as some secular commentators may want to play it down, claiming that Christian affiliation was formerly overstated or to avert the public gaze from the radical wave engulfing us, Christians must understand they are a minority. That should free them to become a creative, dynamic minority, offering something magnificent to society. They also should get the same rights as other minorities, but that’s another story.
In his brilliant 2021 book, Being the Bad Guys, Perth evangelical pastor Stephen McAlpine presents the dramatic transformation in Christianity’s standing: “Wasn’t it only yesterday Christianity was regarded as a societal good? Now? It’s not only unpalatable; it’s positively toxic.”
In a justly famous blog post a few years ago, McAlpine suggested most Christians accept that Christendom – with all its virtues and all its villainies – is over and they are now in exile. They envisaged this exile in a metaphorical Athens, debating their beliefs in polite and interested company. That was Stage One Exile. Now, Stage Two Exile is in a much more hostile Babylon, where they confront a state and culture uninterested in their ideas, determined instead to bludgeon them into submission.
This should not take us by surprise as Biblical prophecy tells us what will happen prior to Jesus’ return to this planet to put things right.
“Then they will deliver you up to tribulation and put you to death, and you will be hated by all nations for my name’s sake. And then many will fall away and betray one another and hate one another. And many false prophets will arise and lead many astray. And because lawlessness will be increased, the love of many will grow cold. But the one who endures to the end will be saved. And this gospel of the kingdom will be proclaimed throughout the whole world as a testimony to all nations, and then the end will come.” Matthew 24:9-14
As I have reported previously God has raised up this young man for His purposes in Australia at this time.
Martin Isles gives us a considered report on the results of the recent Australian election and the efforts of A.C.L volunteers that I believe demonstrates God’s hand was “on” their efforts. He also reminds us from Daniel 4:17 who ultimately rules the kingdoms of men “to the end that the living may know that the Most High rules the kingdom of men and gives it to whom he will and sets over it the lowliest of men.”
Even more important is what A.C.L is planning to do in the near future: distribution of at least two million Gospels of John. Make sure you get involved and support this effort.
Australia’s greatest need is not a change of government. Australia’s greatest need is a change of Lord. Australia needs the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ.
God uses catastrophes for His purposes. Since the Covid -19 pandemic started, Australians are experiencing a renewed spiritual awakening with three in ten praying more often now. Moreover, Prayer Groups are more active and growing.
Building prayer across the nation
A new report (McCrindle Research) has revealed that the experience of COVID-19 has caused many Australians to experience a renewed spiritual search. A third of Australians have thought more about God, while 28% have prayed more. During the pandemic, almost half of Australians have thought more about the meaning of life (47%) or their own mortality (47%). The collective experience of the pandemic has ushered in a return to a focus on the local community, with half of Australians (53%) valuing a strong local community more than they did three years ago. The local church is a key element of the local community with three in four Australians (76%) agreeing the churches in their local area are making a positive difference to their community.
The research, which was conducted by McCrindle Research and surveyed 1,000 Australians also found that two-thirds of Australians are likely to attend a church service either online (64%) or in-person (67%) if personally invited by a friend or family member. Far from religion and spirituality being only for older Australians, Gen Z (45%) are twice as likely as Baby Boomers (21%) to be extremely or very likely to attend an online church service if personally invited by a friend or family member. Mark McCrindle, Founder and Principal of McCrindle Research says, “This data is worth reflecting on a little longer: in this seemingly secular era, where the church is perceived by many commentators to be on the decline and culturally outdated, almost half of all young adults invited to a church service by a friend or family member would very likely attend.”
The report also found that Australians are accepting of others’ religious views. Nine in ten (90%) agree that in Australia people should have the freedom to share their religious beliefs if done in a peaceful way, even if those beliefs are different from mainstream community views. There is, however, wavering support for religious symbolism in public life. Almost two in five Australians (39%) agree that Christian practices in public life such as parliament opening in prayer, oaths in court being taken on the Bible, or Christian chaplains in hospitals or jails should be stopped. Three in five (61%), however, disagree and are therefore open to Christian practices in public life continuing.
Interestingly, religious discrimination is a genuine issue in Australia with almost three in ten Australians (29%) having experienced religious discrimination, this equates to about half of those who identify with a religion which is six in ten Australians. Australians who identify with a non-Christian religion are more likely to have experienced discrimination (54%) than Protestants (27%) or Catholics (32%). Religious discrimination is also more likely to be experienced by younger Australians who are four times as likely as their older counterparts to say they have experienced religious discrimination (51% Gen Z cf. 13% Baby Boomers).
LIVING ETERNAL NOW 