SATAN: PRINCE OF THIS WORLD

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What does God reveal to us about our principal enemy, Satan: “Thus says the Lord GOD: You were the seal of perfection, Full of wisdom and perfect in beauty” Ezekiel 28: 12

Because the passage is about Satan, what God has to say about the anointed cherub is all the more significant. In just six Hebrew words, Satan was revealed to be the “seal of perfection, Full of wisdom and perfect in beauty.” This description, coupled with the word measurement/proportion [תכנית tochnit], means Satan was the absolute greatest of God’s creatures. His proportions were pristine, sublime, and impeccable. His form was exquisite in every capacity. It is hard to imagine what this truly means in real terms. But he was absolutely it: the seal of perfection.

To fully understand Satan’s Origin, Fall and his goals get Douglas Hamps’s three books: Corrupting the Image series. The information in this and my next post is extracted from these books.

God also created Satan completely full of wisdom [maleh chochma מלא חכמה]. Satan was not lacking in any area of understanding. Satan perfectly understood the workings of God’s creation. He understood the laws governing the Earth, the stars, and life itself. He understood the process of photosynthesis, cellular biology, quantum physics, and science beyond our grasp.

While God gave him perfect wisdom, Satan has always lacked a complete perspective because he does not know the future as God does.

“For I am God, and there is no other; I am God, and there is none like me, declaring the end from the beginning and from ancient times things not yet done, saying, My counsel shall stand, and I will accomplish all my purpose.” Isaiah 46:9-10

Lastly, God created him “perfect in beauty” [kalil yofi כליל יפי]. The Hebrew kalal means “entire, full, all.”[ 62] Thus, Satan was lacking nothing in his appearance. God withheld no aesthetic quality when He created him;[ 63] He endowed Satan with phenomenal and outstanding beauty that equaled Him in splendor. These descriptions give us insight into why Satan thought he was on equal footing with his Maker. These qualities would eventually spark his rebellion and lead to the Beast’s creation.

Satan belonged to a special class of beings known as the cherubim. Judging from his vesture, Satan had the role of high priest. He was covered with an array of precious stones, inlaid in sockets of gold and silver. Satan’s stones were in a breastplate like that of Israel’s high priest. Satan’s role as priest was to serve as the leader to communicate God’s instructions, directives, and will to others. Just as priests taught and interpreted God’s commands.

Satan had been given everything, why spoil it? God gives us the answer: “Your heart was proud because of your beauty; you corrupted your wisdom on account of your splendor” Ezekiel 28: 17

He was the one who caused the decay of his endowment of wisdom due to his arrogant confidence in his own beauty. This means that he made a conscious choice. He was not preprogrammed to be bad or to fall from God’s grace. He mindfully chose to stage a coup against his Creator and rightful King.

Satan thought that creation should serve him because; “Look at all I have. Look at all that I am.”

The path to truly being like God required Satan and the other angels to sacrificially serve others, especially those lower than themselves; This feat is perfectly demonstrated by Jesus going to the cross. Satan was unwilling to do this. Satan boasted in the attributes he shared with God, but the one that he was required to demonstrate himself, which was to sacrificially love and serve; he refused. He set the example that rulers of the nations would later practice, as Jesus said: “The rulers of the Gentiles lord it over them, and those who are great exercise authority over them” (Matthew 20: 25).

My next post will be on the timing of Satan’s rebellion: Rebellion first in the Spiritual Realm.

DEFENDING THE BIBLICAL WORLDWIDE FLOOD

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How Large Was Noah’s Ark? The length of the ark 300 cubits, its breadth 50 cubits, and its height 30 cubits. (Genesis 6:15) Unlike many whimsical drawings that depict the ark as some kind of overgrown houseboat (with giraffes sticking out the top), the ark described in the Bible was a huge vessel. Not until the late 1800s was a ship built that exceeded the capacity of Noah’s ark.

The dimensions of the ark are convincing for two reasons: the proportions are like that of a modern cargo ship, and it is about as large as a wooden ship can be built. The cubit gives us a good indication of size.1 Using the most likely cubit length, an ancient royal cubit of at least 20.4 inches (0.518 m), we know that the ark must have been no less than 510 feet (155 m) long, 85 feet (26 m) wide, and 51 feet (16 m) high. In the Western world, wooden sailing ships never got much longer than about 330 feet (100 m), yet the ancient Greeks built vessels at least this size 2,000 years earlier. China built huge wooden ships in the 1400s that may have been as large as the ark. The biblical ark is one of the largest wooden ships of all time—a mid-size cargo ship by today’s standards.

A Korean study was performed at the world-class ship research center (KRISO) in 1992. The team of nine KRISO researchers was led by Dr. Hong, now the research center’s director-general. The study confirmed that the ark could handle waves as high as 98 feet (30 m) and that the proportions of the biblical ark are near-optimal—an interesting admission from Dr. Hong, who believed in evolutionary ideas. The study combined analysis, model wave testing, and ship standards, yet the concept was simple: compare the biblical ark with 12 other vessels of the same volume but modified in length, width, or depth. Three qualities were measured—stability, hull strength, and comfort.

The Biblical verse below tells us Noah didn’t have to search or travel to faraway places to bring the animals on board. The world map was completely different before the flood, and based on Genesis 1, there may have been only one continent. The animals arrived at the ark as if called by a “homing instinct” (a behavior implanted in the animals by their Creator) and marched up the ramp themselves.

“But I will establish my covenant with you, and you shall come into the ark, you, your sons, your wife, and your sons’ wives with you. And of every living thing of all flesh, you shall bring two of every sort into the ark to keep them alive with you. They shall be male and female. Of the birds according to their kinds, and of the animals according to their kinds, of every creeping thing of the ground, according to its kind, two of every sort shall come in to you to keep them alive.” Genesis 6:18-20

Juveniles of even the largest land animals do not present a size problem, and, being young, they have their full breeding life ahead of them. Even most dinosaurs were not very large — some were the size of a chicken (although absolutely no relation to birds, as many evolutionists are now saying). Most scientists agree that the average size of a dinosaur is actually the size of a bison. As far as the number of different types of dinosaurs, it should be recognized that, although there are hundreds of names for different varieties (species) of dinosaurs that have been discovered, there are probably only 60–80 different kinds.

Was Noah’s Flood Global? “And the waters prevailed so mightily on the earth that all the high mountains under the whole heaven were covered. The waters prevailed above the mountains, covering them fifteen cubits deep.” Genesis 7:19–20

Noah’s flood was much more destructive than any 40-day rainstorm ever could be. Scripture says that the “fountains of the great deep” broke open. In other words, earthquakes, volcanoes, and geysers of molten lava and scalding water were squeezed out of the earth’s crust in a violent, explosive upheaval. These fountains were not stopped until 150 days into the flood—so the earth was literally churning underneath the waters for about five months! The duration of the flood was extensive, and Noah and his family were
aboard the ark for around a year.

Scientists once understood the fossils buried in water-carried sediments of mud and sand—to be mostly the result of the great flood. Wanting to debunk the Bible and the worldwide flood of Noah’s day, Charles Lyell of Darwin’s era introduced the ideal of slow gradual change over millions, now billions of years. Geologists now realise the evidence for catastrophism is everywhere. It can be seen all over the earth, from seabeds to mountaintops. Whether you travel by car, train, or plane, the physical features of the earth’s terrain clearly indicate a catastrophic past, from canyons and craters to coal beds and caverns. Some layers of strata extend across continents, revealing the effects of a huge catastrophe. The earth’s crust has massive amounts of layered sedimentary rock, sometimes miles (kilometers) deep! These layers of sand, soil, and material—mostly laid down by water—were once soft like mud, but they are now hard stone. Encased in these sedimentary layers are billions of dead things (fossils of plants and animals) buried very quickly. The evidence all over the earth is staring everyone in the face.

There are hundreds of stories and legends about a worldwide flood. Why do diverse cultures share a strikingly similar story?
Did you know that stories about a worldwide flood are found in historic records all over the world? According to Dr. Duane Gish in his popular book Dinosaurs by Design, there are more than 270 such stories, most of which share a common theme and similar characters. So many flood stories with such similarities surely come from the flood of Noah’s day.

Stories of the flood—distorted though they may be—exist in practically
all nations, from ancient Babylon onward. This evidence must not be lightly dismissed. If there never was a worldwide flood, why are there so many stories about it?

The reason for these flood stories is not difficult to understand. When we turn to the history book of the universe, the Bible, we learn that Noah’s descendants stayed together for approximately 100 years until God confused their languages at Babel (Genesis 11:1–9). As these people moved away from Babel, their descendants formed nations based on the languages they were given by God. Through those languages, the story of the flood was shared until it became embedded in their cultural history.

The Bible declares that the earth-covering cataclysm of Noah’s day is an obvious fact of history. People “deliberately overlook this fact, that . . . the world that then existed was deluged with water and perished” (2 Peter 3:5–6). The flood left much evidence—from the fact that over 70% of the rocks on continents were laid down by water and contain fossils to the widespread flood legends. Both of these evidences provide compelling support for this historical event.

God clearly sent a worldwide flood to punish humankind for their evil and corrupt ways (Genesis 6:5, 11). Even though flood-affirming evidence from geology and other areas of study is abundant, we don’t need this evidence to know what happened. Starting with the Bible and the history that God faithfully recorded there, Christians have a tool to interpret the evidence that evolutionists and non-Christians do not. We have the record of what happened from the one who was there.

Get all this information and more in a free booklet, Noah’s Ark – A Biblical and Scientific look at the Genesis account produced by Answers in Genesis (www.answersingenesis.org)


GENDER TRANSITION SURGERIES DRASTICALLY INCREASES RISK OF SUICIDE

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An extensive study published last month entitled “Risk of Suicide and Self-Harm Following Gender-Affirmation Surgery” evaluated patient data from nearly 60 U.S. healthcare organizations, comprising millions of patients. The data analyzed covered a full 20 years, from February 4, 2003, to February 4, 2023.

Over 1,500 patients, called “Cohort A,” were “adults aged 18-60 who had gender-affirming surgery and an emergency visit”; nearly 16 million patients, called “Cohort B,” were a “control group of adults with emergency visits but no gender-affirming surgery”; while almost 150,000 patients, called “Cohort C,” were “adults with emergency visits, tubal ligation or vasectomy, but no gender-affirming surgery.” A fourth group, called “Cohort D,” were examined to “validate the results from cohort C.”

The study concluded, “Individuals who underwent gender-affirming surgery had a 12.12-fold higher suicide attempt risk than those who did not…” Those who had undergone gender transition surgeries were nearly five times more likely to attempt suicide than those who had undergone tubal ligations or vasectomies. The study warned, “Gender-affirming surgery is significantly associated with elevated suicide attempt risks, underlining the necessity for comprehensive post-procedure psychiatric support.”

The study’s findings align with the conclusions of numerous other studies. For example, research published in the BMJ Mental Health journal earlier this year found that gender transition procedures such as hormone drugs and surgeries have “not been shown to reduce even suicidal ideation, and suicidal ideation is not equal to actual suicide risk.” An extensive 30-year-long study from Sweden concluded that suicide rates increase after gender transition surgeries, rising to at least 20 times the suicide rate of the general population.

Countless other studies have shown that gender transition procedures are actually harmful, especially to children. A study published in March suggested that puberty blockers have numerous harmful effects on children, including an increased risk of cancer in boys.

What is driving this madness? The Bible gives us the correct answer:

“For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers over this present darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places.” Ephesians 6:12

“And you were dead in the trespasses and sins in which you once walked, following the course of this world, following the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that is now at work in the sons of disobedience— among whom we all once lived in the passions of our flesh, carrying out the desires of the body and the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, like the rest of mankind.” Ephesians 2:1-3

They are blinded to the truth by Satan “the prince of the power of the air“, “carrying out the desires of the body and the mind“. Godless people will make up their own rules to satisfy the lusts of the flesh regardless of the consequences.

Thankfully, because of Jesus, Christians have been given the Holy Spirit who leads us into all truth as our counsellor and teacher.

“But now in Christ Jesus, you who once were far off have been brought near by the blood of Christ. For he himself is our peace… and might reconcile us both to God in one body through the cross, thereby killing the hostility… For through Him, we both have access in one Spirit to the Father. So then you are no longer strangers and aliens, but you are fellow citizens with the saints and members of the household of God. Ephesians 2: 13, 14, 16, 18-19

How wonderful it is to know God, our Creator. To know He loves us enough to send His own Son to pay the price for our rebellion against God brought about by our distant relatives, the first man and woman, Adam and Eve.

POPE FRANCIS CLAIMS HUMANS ARE FUNDAMENTALLY GOOD

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Pope Francis drew scorn and accusations of heresy on social media Sunday for maintaining during his recent “60 Minutes” interview that the human heart is “fundamentally good.”

Pope Francis (front 3rd R) poses with religious leaders during a meeting at the Pontifical Academy of Sciences at the Vatican December 2, 2014. REUTERS/Osservatore Romano

Responding to interviewer Norah O’Donnell’s question regarding what gives him hope when he looks at the world, the pontiff said “everything,” and then continued to list examples of people doing good things as evidence of humanity’s essential goodness. “You see tragedies, but you also see so many beautiful things,” he said. “You see heroic mothers, heroic men, men, who have hopes and dreams, women who look to the future. That gives me a lot of hope. People want to live. People forge ahead. And people are fundamentally good. We are all fundamentally good. Yes, there are some rogues and sinners, but the heart itself is good.”

What does Pope Francis do with the following Scriptures and what world is he living in; when asked what gives him hope when he looks at the world – “Pope Francis said, everything“.

“The heart is deceitful above all things and desperately wicked; who can know it” Jeremiah 17:9

“What comes out of a person is what defiles him. For from within, out of the heart of man, come evil thoughts, sexual immorality, theft, murder, adultery, coveting, wickedness, deceit, sensuality, envy, slander, pride, foolishness. All these evil things come from within, and they defile a person.” Mark 7:20-23

“And you were dead in the trespasses and sins in which you once walked, following the course of this world, following the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that is now at work in the sons of disobedience— among whom we all once lived in the passions of our flesh, carrying out the desires of the body and the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, like the rest of mankind.” Ephesians 2:1-3

“And Jesus said to him, “Why do you call me good? No one is good except God alone.!” Mark 10:18

Pope Francis has put into practice the Church’s teaching—affirmed at the Second Vatican Council and echoed in the Catechism—that Muslims “together with us, adore the One, Merciful God.” Though there are certainly doctrinal differences between what Christians and Muslims profess about God, this does not preclude us from acknowledging the similarities we do have or from coming together (along with Jews and even others) to praise and petition our common God.

St. John Paul II and Benedict XVI also prayed publicly with Muslims in different capacities. In doing so, they all signal that Muslims’ prayers to God are valid and that they are directed to the same merciful God whom Catholics also strive to serve.

I often wonder who the False Prophet of Revelation will be. Could Pope Francis be a candidate? I believe his heretical views such as “the heart itself is good” and Muslims and Christians worship the same God make him a candidate but his age is a significant problem.

We are seeing Biblical prophesied end-times events increasing so we may not have long to wait to know the identity of both the False Prophet and the Antichrist.

LATEST ON MEDICAL ORGANISATIONS ENDORSING GENDER AFFIRMATIVE TREATMENTS

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The nearly 400-page Cass Review (Dr Hiliary Cass, former president of the Royal College of Pediatrics and Child Health) conducted over four years, concluded that there is “no evidence that gender-affirmative treatments reduce” the risk of suicide, as is commonly claimed; there is “remarkably weak evidence” to support the “gender-affirming care” model; and “the majority of young people” should not be placed on puberty blockers or hormone drugs or subjected to surgery.

Watch for my next post which is on an extensive study that shows gender transition surgery drastically increases the risk of suicide.

Top clinical psychologists publicly apologized for their role in endorsing “gender-affirming care,” and the British National Health Service (NHS) formally defined sex as a “biological” reality, regardless of an individual’s “gender identity.” Now, Dr. Cass is warning the U.S. that their medical organizations are “misleading” the public when it comes to gender transition procedures for children. For example, the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) insisted that its support of gender transition procedures for children is “grounded in evidence and science.” At the same time, the Endocrine Society said, “We stand firm in our support of gender-affirming care,” asserting that it is “needed and often lifesaving.” Dr Cass says they are holding on to a position now demonstrated to be outdated by multiple systematic reviews.

This is evidence of a world in crisis as a result of rejecting God, His Word, the Bible, and His commandments. They have no understanding that they are bringing the wrath of God on the world with the Trumpet and Bowl judgements

“They made their hearts like flint so that they could not hear the law and the words which the Lord of hosts had sent by His Spirit through the former prophets; therefore great wrath came from the Lord of hosts.” Zechariah 7:12

“Hear, O earth: behold, I am bringing disaster on this people, The fruit of their plans, Because they have not listened to My words, And as for My law, they have rejected it also.” Jeremiah 6:19

“He who believes in Him is not judged; he who does not believe has been judged already because he has not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God. This is the judgment, that the Light has come into the world, and men loved the darkness rather than the Light, for their deeds were evil.” John 3:18-19

5-YEAR PRISON SENTENCE FOR PRO-LIFE ACTIVIST

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Lawmakers, legal experts, and analysts are decrying the nearly five-year prison sentence levied on pro-life activist, Lauren Handy as an example of the weaponization of the federal government against citizens with disfavoured political views.

“Today’s outrageous 57-month sentence for a progressive pro-life activist is a stark reminder: Biden’s DOJ is fully weaponized against pro-life American citizens, and they are using the FACE Act to do it,” said Rep. Chip Roy (R-Texas) in a statement following Handy’s sentence. “House Republicans should defund the DOJ weaponization, repeal the FACE Act, and stand up for the freedoms that we campaign on.”

Dobbs reversed Roe in the Supreme Court. There is no right to abortion in America. So why are we now dealing with this conspiracy against rights charge? It makes no sense at all.”

Family Research Council President Tony Perkins further juxtaposed the prosecution of the pro-lifers with the anti-Israel protestors occupying college campuses across the country.

“You just need to go back a couple of days to look [at] what was happening on some of these college campuses, Columbia University, where they’re breaking into buildings, occupying buildings, destroying property, and at most get a slap on the wrist or maybe expelled from school, not looking at five years in prison for peacefully protesting and advocating for the protection of the unborn,” he observed. “[I]f this does not show how the Biden administration has weaponized the law and the federal enforcement through the Department of Justice, I don’t know what does.”

What this prison sentence does show is we are in the end-times persecution of Christians prophesied in the Bible that occurs before Jesus’ second coming to Earth. Moreover, that persecution will escalate to tribulation even great tribulation, and martyrdom not just 5-year prison sentences.

“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.” Matthew 24:9-12

Thank goodness Jesus followed this warning with the following message:

“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 24:13-14

TRANSHUMANISM

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God created man in His image with incredible intellect, creativity, rationality, objectivity, and other abilities. How sad it is to see great minds like Yuval Harari being used to deny the existence of the one who gave them their abilities. Puffed up with intellectual pride even suggesting that the next step in the evolutionary process is, with the use of AI, to become gods.

As Martyn Isles states in his new book Who Am I? Solving the identity puzzle: “”How sinful to see them try to unburden their craving to know God by serving self, demons, and idols. All these are perversions of the very faculties that were supposed to enable us to image God. Human beings were made to image God. We should not just think about it as our status, we should think about it as our calling, to be holy, righteous, and to know God.”

GOD ESTABLISHED THE ROLES FOR MEN & WOMEN

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A great article appeared in The Washington Stand by Joshua Arnold: Lead, Provide, Protect: An Urgent Call for Godly Men. I have taken excerpts from it

Lead, provide, protect. That’s what God created men to do. Our society has other ideas, to its own disadvantage and disgrace. But the best counter to the culture is for men to step up and embrace their God-given identity and role.

Today, “boys are penalized … for being boys,” Owen Strachan, senior fellow for Family Research Council’s Center for Biblical Worldview, declared on “Washington Watch” last week. “Boys hear, ‘Don’t be strong’ and ‘Don’t want to be … a traditional man. … You’re not really good the way you are as a boy. You should be more like a girl.’ … Nothing could be worse for boys than that.”

This propaganda — blasted out by every mainstream institution from schools to Hollywood — applies half a century of radical feminist ideology. Radical feminists of the late 20th century argued for abolishing all differences between men and women. They demanded absolute equality in the academy and the workplace. They demanded utter sexual libertinism, endorsing promiscuity, childlessness, and the dissolution of the marriage bond, in imitation of their mistaken caricature of masculinity. They demanded freedom from their own reproductive biology (through birth control and abortion), again in an attempt to reproduce a false version of masculinity.

Ironically, as radical feminists tried to become like men in every way, they also insisted that men become more like women. “There are all sorts of traits associated with good things in Scripture that in today’s culture — among woke, leftist, pagan thought — are very bad things,” said Strachan. “So, if you take risks today if you’re assertive if you speak up in groups if you might dare to ever correct a woman in public … if you like competitive sports, if you like watching World War II movies, you better get out your blanket and hide in the closet because they’re coming for you.” This attitude nurtures men “against their nature,” he added, “against their wiring, because now they’re being told, ‘Don’t be what you naturally want to be.”

Because of his death on the cross, we who believe in him are redeemed from the futility of our dead works and restored to a right relationship with God. In his sacrificial example, we have a model to imitate (1 Corinthians 11:1), especially those of us who are husbands (Ephesians 5:25). “Our ability to fulfill our God-given responsibilities as men is not because of virtue within us,” said Strachan, but “because of God’s grace in us that summons us to wake up and to be not just a man for ourselves, not just an adult in terms of age, but to be a man who lays down his life for others to whatever extent is necessary.”

Lead, provide, protect. This is what God designed me to do, and it’s more necessary than ever in our fallen, messed-up world. It’s especially important for families, the building blocks of society. “If you build fathers, you build the family and you build the society,” Strachan stated. “If you break fathers, you break the family. If you break the family, you break the society.”

Lead, provide, protect. That’s the role of a godly man. The world has always sought to tear down, trip up, or otherwise neutralize godly leaders, and that’s especially true of our culture, which has embraced an anti-biblical, anti-masculine ideology. “Of course, a Christian is going to say, ‘You’re only going to be truly strong when you recognize your weakness and your need for Jesus Christ,’” Strachan granted. “Nonetheless, in Scripture, in case after case, (David to Solomon or the Lord God to Joshua), there’s a call to courage, and there’s a call to strength, and that is what boys need.”

We need men who, in the face of worldly opposition and devilish temptation, will heed this call:

“Be strong, and show yourself a man, and keep the charge of the Lord your God” 1 Kings 2:2-3

THE BIBLE PROPHESIES PERSECUTION OF CHRISTIANS ESCALATES BEFORE JESUS RETURNS

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Progressive Crusade to Bend Arc of History by Chris Uhlmann in The Weekend Australian 11th May, 2024

Uhlmann contends that what is at stake is whether the ascendant state morality will drive deeper into the ancient institutions of faith and force believers to submit to its temporal commandments. Nationally, the Australian Law Reform Commission’s final report on religious exemptions from anti-discrimination law is just another sortie in a long campaign over what the state will allow you to believe and how far it is prepared to go to force apostates to heel.

Queensland’s proposed anti-discrimination bill seeks to narrow the rights of the faithful. Alex Deagon, from the Queensland University of Technology, argues it will “significantly undermine the ability of religious organisations to employ persons following their faith”.

The ALRC admits one of its recommendations may limit “the freedom to manifest religion or belief in community with others, and the associated parental liberty to ensure the religious and moral education of one’s children in conformity with one’s own convictions”. This, it says, is balanced by the overall effect, which “would be to maximise the realisation of human rights”.

The ALRC wants section 38 of the Sex Discrimination Act, which allows religious schools to hire those whose lives and ideas accord “with the doctrines, tenets, beliefs or teachings of a particular religion or creed”, to be abolished.

When you lose the freedom to manifest your faith, abide by your beliefs and the liberty to ensure your children are educated in your creed, what is left? The commission is erasing the right of a religious school to organise around its own ethos.

This is an extreme form of laicism, driven by a fierce “progressive” crusade against Christianity. In a multifaith society that means all believers are on this battlefield, as the institutions of government are mobilised against them. Like many things dubbed progressive, it is the latest incarnation of the despotic tendencies of the Bureautoracy (n): the ubiquitous, unelected technocratic blob bent on imposing its notion of utopia on the mob. Its relentlessly mutating dogma has spread like Paterson’s curse through all the institutions.

In a profound irony, we are witnessing the final metamorphosis of Christianity as zealots torch the last idol: belief in a power that transcends the state.

The child has turned on a parent it does not recognise because the source code of this secular faith is the notion of universal human rights. That idea was born with the belief that each individual is valued by God, an avowedly Christian concept and part of a set of revolutionary beliefs that the early faithful simply called “The Way”.

Universal equality is captured in Paul’s letter to the Galatians: “There is neither Jew nor Gentile, neither slave nor free, nor is there male and female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus.”

Another epoch-changing idea rings from the first sentences of John’s Gospel: “In the beginning was the word (logos). And the word was with God. And the word was God.”

The New Testament was written in Greek and logos means both word and reason. So, in the Christian tradition, God is reason itself. Christianity is the singular encounter between Greek philosophy and Jewish mysticism, the marriage of reason and faith. The theology that evolved was a thoroughly different way of thinking. Let’s call it wisdom.

This wisdom elevated the poor, the meek, the righteous, the merciful, and peacemakers. Faith in God demands you “treat others as you would like them to treat you”, and not to act with reason is contrary to the nature of God.

Christianity was born in the East, informed by the West, and takes on its historically decisive character in Europe. Europe is defined by its faith and its faith is defined by reason. Faith and reason set Europe on the road to liberal democracy.

Through all its failures, and its many crimes, reason pushes the West forward and demands that it learn and evolve. And the excesses of both church and state always had to contend with its Christian conscience.

The savage colonisation of the Americas was fiercely denounced by Dominican friar Bartolome de Las Casas, and the evil of slavery collapsed when it confronted the faith of William Wilberforce. Despite often spectacularly failing to abide by its ideals, Christianity demanded the West slowly bend towards realising the radical demand of the central tenet of its faith. The new commandment to “love one another” excludes no one.

As historian Tom Holland demonstrates in his epic work Dominion: The Making of the Western Mind, “To live in a Western country is to live in a society that is utterly saturated by Christian concepts and assumptions.”

It is, of course, a heritage that the zealots of the New Way deny. To them, their belief system is self-evident because it just is. It is neutral. It is agnostic. That is a delusion. The New Way exhibits some of the best and all the worst features of a proselytising religion. It looks to uplift, to guide, to build a better, more just world. It is also deeply intolerant of dissent and has established the institutions of inquisition to police heresy, in state and federal human rights commissions.

It’s hard to criticise anti-discrimination laws but the growth of objective penalties for subjective crimes should trouble those who care about liberal democracy. Such penalties are how American journalist Robert Wargas defines totalitarianism.

What standards will be applied? The notion of transgender identity, for example, is a rapidly moving target. Even the Australian Human Rights Commission’s website admits the “terminology is strongly contested”.

So, this latest assault by the state on the faithful is a battle of competing theologies, as the disciples of Caesar seek to mount his image in every temple. And the insurgents know nothing of faith because, as anyone who has any dealings with religious schools knows, most have no desire to discriminate and are far more tolerant of difference than “progressives”.

What religious institutions don’t want is to be forced to submit to state diktats that deliberately undermine the ethos of their institution. Here let’s recall that the Labor Party pledge demands its members not be a part of any other organisation that is inimical to its ideals. Why shouldn’t religious schools enjoy the same rights?

The arc of history has bent out of shape. Those who claim the heritage of reason have discounted the role of faith in their enlightenment. They discriminate and call it equality. They unreasonably seek to force the faithful to heel. This is foolishness. Fortunately, Biblical prophecy reveals that this godless persecution of Christians precedes Jesus’ return to Earth first to rapture the Saints and then to pour out His wrath upon an unrepentant rebellious world. Christians need to heed Jesus warning that it will even get much worse.

“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

TURKEY CONVERTS ANOTHER FORMER BYZNTINE-ERA CHURCH INTO A MOSQUE

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Turkey’s President Recep Tayyip Erdogan officially inaugurated a former Byzantine-era church previously known as the Church of the Holy Saviour in Chora, a United Nations World Heritage Site, as a mosque this week, drawing condemnation from the Greek government.

The change is part of a series of conversions in recent years, including the iconic Hagia Sophia in 2020, which garnered international criticism but no action.

The Chora Church Museum dates back to the Byzantine era when it was originally built as a monastery; during the Ottoman era, it was converted into a mosque before being changed to a museum in 1948. The interior is decorated with some of the oldest surviving Byzantine mosaics and frescoes.

Located in the Fatih district of Istanbul, near the ancient city walls, the building known locally as Kariye is celebrated for its intricate mosaics and frescoes dating back to the 11th and 12th centuries.

Erdogan’s bold move in 2020 to convert the Hagia Sophia brought little reaction so this recent move could be expected. Erdogan’s intention to take every step he can to re-establish the former Ottoman Empire is emerging and being made clear first of all to Muslim nations. Sunni Turkey will soon attack Shia Iran as prophesied in Daniel 8 to exert its dominance. Turkey is not impressed with Iran trying to exert its dominance with its proxies in Lebanon, Gaza, Syria, Iraq, and Yemen.

Daniel’s Vision of the Ram and the Goat

“A male goat (Turkey) came from the west across the face of the whole earth, without touching the ground. And the goat had a conspicuous horn between his eyes. He came to the ram (Iran) with the two horns, which I had seen standing on the bank of the canal, and he ran at him in his powerful wrath. I saw him come close to the ram, and he was enraged against him and struck the ram and broke his two horns. And the ram had no power to stand before him, but he cast him down to the ground and trampled on him. And there was no one who could rescue the ram from his power.” Daniel 8:5-7

“Understand, O son of man, that the vision is for the time of the end.” As for the ram that you saw with the two horns, these are the kings of Media and Persia (Iran). And the goat is Javan (revived Ottoman Empire).” Daniel 8:19, 22

Javan conveniently describes an area that includes parts of Greece and Turkey, closely linking the historical nature of Alexander’s empire to what is to come. Indeed, the iron beast has bronze claws. Perhaps the revived Ottoman empire will include parts of modern-day Greece, the Balkans and Macedonia, reinforcing the significance of the contrast between “iron and the clay”.