Real Liberty

 

It is not an accident that the government which has ramped up immigration more than any other government in our history, also has brought in the most restrictive speech laws in our history.

1)     They have already shown by their actions that they want to radically change this country.

2)     They know that most Australians, even people who have emigrated from other countries recently, don't like how quickly they are changing this country.

So, there was a need to make it harder for people to oppose their policies. As far as I know it is still allowable to criticize government policy. But the trajectory is towards less and less ability or freedom to do so.

Freedom or liberty, despite what some constitutions and philosophers say, is not really a human right. It is not something that most peoples have experienced in history, or even something that most peoples have conceived of, really. It is not something that many peoples in the world today have experienced, either. 

Liberty, rather, is a fruit, specifically a fruit of righteousness. Psalm 119:45 shows us this, "And I will walk at liberty, For I seek Your precepts." There is the kind of liberty to do what you want, which is really libertinism, which is really just anarchy. And there is the liberty to live as we were intended to, which is true liberty. Righteous liberty. This liberty means to live free from the constrain of evil.  

The problem we have today is that we forgot the difference, and the more our society moves away from its Christian foundations the more we are losing the liberty to live as we were intended to, by our creator. You can still do basically whatever you want, in many ways our society is still libertine, even more libertine really. But true liberty is shrinking. The ability to live free from the constraints of evil is disappearing.  

We forgot where our liberty really came from as a people, and hence we are losing it. I suspect most Australians won't care too much until they are no longer able to afford to do the things they want. That day is approaching, but we have so much slack and wealth in our society, that it has not hit people hard yet. At least not most people. Though younger Australians are already feeling it harder. And some others are starting to fall off the treadmill, it will be some time before this increases to where it effects most people in significant ways. But that day will come.  

Our nation is going through a process of refinement. Are you looking to God, or to politicians to bring us out of this? Are the politicians you think can help bring us out of this looking to God? If not, I don't see how they can bring back liberty. They would not really even understand what liberty actually is.

Keep Up the Good Fight*

I woke up with a really sore back yesterday morning. Its not the first time recently. For the last few days or week my back has been good, but over the last couple of months many mornings it has flared up bad, and has taken a long walk on the treadmill to stabilise. It comes from an old injury, that I thought I had healed, but it has flared up again. 

But yesterday morning was different. It was worse than it had been for ages. I don't know why, but it felt awful. My usual stretches barely helped. It really hurt, but I wanted to go to church. We are on holidays and I wanted to visit a particular church. But I actually wondered if I could physically do so. Personally, the level of pain was so intense I wondered if it was a spiritual attack. 

I also didn't want to hobble into church, as I was visiting another fellowship on my holidays. I prayed over it, tripled my stretches, paced in my office to loosen it up, and got into my car with a very sore back. 

Once we got to the Church, we found a park, and I got out of my car with my family and was able to stand and walk with a little twinge in my back. As we got to the front of the Church, I saw a man, likely in his late 50's or early 60's, who was hobbled by serious back pain. But he was walking purposely towards Church. He was only a metre or two in front of us at this point, and he slipped over at the front entrance to the Church. It was raining and the level had a hidden slight change at the entrance. 

Myself, and the two ushers saw him fall over, and we immediately went to help him. He stood up himself, and I handed him the two items he had dropped when he fell. He was fine, joyful and he walked into church, where I later saw him sitting with his family. 

Here I was wrestling with my pain, while at much the same time of the morning this man had obviously been doing the same, but with a far worse level. Lesson learned, as seeing him gave me real perspective. 

For some reason my back did not hurt at all again yesterday. 

Church was a blessing. The message was very solid, and grace filled. We also ran into old friends. 

You never know the battle some go through just to get to church. Some I know, because as a pastor people tell me. Others you never know. Some you experience yourself. 

Never give up the battle. It's always worth it to fight through it.

*I will be back to regular writing soon. Just enjoying an extended break with my family. God bless you all.

The International Law Joke

 

Let's just all agree international law does not exist, should not exist, and cannot exist. 

Law is a matter for sovereign powers, and there are no sovereign powers with global legitimacy, only powers that claim it and can back it up with force. Sovereignty does not exist beyond the nation-state. Everything beyond that is simply arrogation of power. 

So crying international law is meaningless. By international law every US president since WW2 would be in trouble. None are, because they just say, nope, don't agree. Because international law is a fiction. 

International law is what major powers use against weaker powers or losing powers. That's it. No more. 

Really, there is only power, and submission to a higher power. 

And Trump, and his government, do not believe in powers higher than their authority. Neither have previous US governments for decades, they just didn't make it so obvious. 

Now, that it is clear that international law was always a joke, a bad joke, a silly joke. Then we can start to face this world as it really is: major powers do what they want. Minor powers try to stay useful and out of their way...if they are smart. But our leaders have not been smart for some time. 

I hope Australia learns this lesson quickly. In a world where major powers don't pretend to follow any rules, we are foolish as a nation to try and dictate to larger powers (which our leaders bang on about too much), and we are doubly foolish to try and hold to international agreements that limit our ability to build stuff, make stuff, and dig up stuff.

It's time our government looked to serving the interests of Australians. The world did not just change, it changed a while ago. But our leaders act like we live in the old pretend rules based order. That order died with Bush jnr, Trump just put an exclamation mark on it. Really, it never really existed, powers just took advantage of other nations with it, while they could. 

Aussies need to adapt to this new more honest/brazen power dynamic. Cancel the crazy expensive social systems and put that money into making this country strong enough to face the new world, or risk being another Venezuela. If Venezuela had have focused on being strong rather than squandering their wealth on socialist programs, maybe they could have resisted what just happened, successfully. 

When you cut through all the propaganda, Venezuela's real mistake was being a resource rich country near an aggressive world power...and acting like that wasn't a big deal. It was. We'll see more stuff like this happen in coming years. The return of great power politics is here. And the great powers of the past saw weak lands with resources and took them before another did. And we have a lot of resources. And no amount of welcome to countries will stop a major power doing to us what just happened if they feel the need. Only strength will. 

Merry Christmas

"6 For unto us a Child is born,

Unto us a Son is given;

And the government will be upon His shoulder.

And His name will be called

Wonderful, Counselor, Mighty God,

Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.

7 Of the increase of His government and peace

There will be no end,

Upon the throne of David and over His kingdom,

To order it and establish it with judgment and justice

From that time forward, even forever.

The zeal of the Lord of hosts will perform this." 

Isaiah 9:6-7

Merry Christmas to you all, thank you for reading, and joining with me in the advance of Lord's kingdom this year. 

He reigns, and he shall reign forever more. And all who hope in him will reign with him. 

Glory to God, and bless you and your families. 

The Jesus Revolution and Christmas

As Christians, and westerners, we can become so accustomed to the message of the gospels and of Christianity and Christmas, that we can forget just how revolutionary this event actually was and still is. I think a powerful passage to help us meditate on this is the song of Mary, the Magnificat, from Luke 1. We read there,

“46 And Mary said:

“My soul magnifies the Lord,
47 And my spirit has rejoiced in God my Savior.
48 For He has regarded the lowly state of His maidservant;
For behold, henceforth all generations will call me blessed.
49 For He who is mighty has done great things for me,
And holy is His name.
50 And His mercy is on those who fear Him
From generation to generation.
51 He has shown strength with His arm;
He has scattered the proud in the imagination of their hearts.
52 He has put down the mighty from their thrones,
And exalted the lowly.
53 He has filled the hungry with good things,
And the rich He has sent away empty.
54 He has helped His servant Israel,
In remembrance of His mercy,
55 As He spoke to our fathers,
To Abraham and to his seed forever.” (Luke 1:46-55).

Let’s reflect on this passage for this Christmas season.

Mary begins by praising God for recognizing her in her humility, “46 And Mary said: “My soul magnifies the Lord, 47 And my spirit has rejoiced in God my Savior. 48 For He has regarded the lowly state of His maidservant; For behold, henceforth all generations will call me blessed.” This is one of the most profound events in human history and Mary truly is the most blessed of all women to have ever lived, because she was chosen by God to be the mother of Jesus Christ, the Son of God. Our Lord and Savior, the one through whom everything was made, was carried in Mary’s womb. Though he was conceived by the work of the Holy Spirit overshadowing Mary, and he is eternally God the Son, according to the flesh he is also a son of this woman and a descendant of King David. A true miracle, the glorious incarnation.

And Mary truly is blessed among all women to be part of the means of God bringing salvation in the world in the flesh. “The Lord who sits within her womb Shall rule, iron sceptre in his hand, He shall break chains, shun the tomb, And gather us in his hand.”[1]

Next, she reminds herself of the power and might of our God who has used his power for the good of his people, “49 For He who is mighty has done great things for me, And holy is His name. 50 And His mercy is on those who fear Him From generation to generation.” Jeremiah reflects on how God’s mercies are new every morning. “Morning by morning new mercies we see,” is how we sing this in that great Hymn, Great is Thy Faithfulness, based on Jeremiah's words. 

The Old Testament is brutally honest about the constant stubbornness and rebellion of God’s people. But God continually outdid their stubbornness with his application of mercy and grace, preserving a remnant, making sure that his promises were fulfilled, and when it came time for the advent of Jesus Christ into the world, there were still righteous and noble Israelites with which he could work, because he had shown “His mercy on those who fear Him from generation to generation." And he still does show mercy to all who fear Him. 

He has also opposed the proud, “51 He has shown strength with His arm; He has scattered the proud in the imagination of their hearts. 52 He has put down the mighty from their thrones, And exalted the lowly. 53 He has filled the hungry with good things, And the rich He has sent away empty.” Whether it was the Pharoah who God humiliated in the Exodus, or David when he sinned with his friend’s wife, God has consistently opposed the proud and humbled them. Some, like David were humbled to repentance, others like Pharoah were lowered to destruction. The Lord chooses who shall reign, and he gives many rulers many chances to do the right thing and be good in their leadership. But he has consistently opposed those who abuse their power, while simultaneously lifting up the lowly.

Remember Joseph, remember Gideon, remember Deborah and Ruth, remember the great legacy of those of lowly estate who God has lifted up, and remember that he continues to do this today. God is a revolutionary in some senses, at least when it comes to this world. He is not a Marxist, or a rebellious revolutionary like so many fallen human beings have been. He is a careful, methodical transformer of this world and its systems, so that when they have become evil and oppressive he has dealt with them and put them down, raising a new leadership in their place.

This has been a hope of the righteous through all of history, because often the righteous have found themselves on the wrong side of oppressive and evil governments. The beast of Revelation is not simply a one off future tyrant, he is the model of tyranny in this world, and Jesus has been the best toppler of tyrants the world has ever known. He defends his people, and pleads the cause of justice, and he does this through his people as well who are called to be salt and light in a world hostile to his gospel message of hope. Mary reflects on this as being part of the message of the advent of Jesus Christ. She warns the proud that their Overlord, Jesus, is here, and he carries the iron sceptre of righteous justice in his hand, and he will hold them to account.

And she finishes, “54 He has helped His servant Israel, In remembrance of His mercy, 55 As He spoke to our fathers, To Abraham and to his seed forever.” Some Christians, because of a strange and recent reading of the Old Testament without the proper lens of Jesus, like to only apply the term Israel to one ethnic group, and the promises to Abraham as uniquely applying to this group. But Mary reminds us here of what Paul does in Galatians, the seed through which God’s people will be blessed is Jesus Christ. The seed through which the world will be blessed is Jesus Christ. The nation of Israel carried this blessing as they were like Mary in a way, they were the womb of the Messiah, the means through which the saviour would come into the world. But the ultimate expression of the blessing and promise is the seed, the descendant of Abraham through whom the whole world would be blessed, Jesus Christ, “16 Now to Abraham and his Seed were the promises made. He does not say, “And to seeds,” as of many, but as of one, “And to your Seed,” who is Christ” (Gal. 3:16). Mary and Paul agree, the promises to Abraham’s seed find their fulfilment in the advent of the Messiah, the Christ, the birth of Jesus of Nazareth, who shall redeem his people.  

“He has helped His servant Israel, In remembrance of his mercy…” Mary speaks of this as being fulfilled in her day. But how can this be so if it is talking about the rescue of a physical nation in the land of Israel? It can’t, because not only was that nation not rescued, it was crushed by the Romans in a cruel and barbaric war a few decades after she sang this song. But if it refers to the Holy remnant, those whose hope in God and his Christ remained steadfast, then it most certainly was fulfilled because Jesus redeemed his people in her day,

“8 Now when He had taken the scroll, the four living creatures and the twenty-four elders fell down before the Lamb, each having a harp, and golden bowls full of incense, which are the prayers of the saints. 9 And they sang a new song, saying: “You are worthy to take the scroll, And to open its seals; For You were slain, And have redeemed us to God by Your blood Out of every tribe and tongue and people and nation, 10 And have made us kings and priests to our God; And we shall reign on the earth” (Rev. 5:8-10).

God has most certainly helped Israel. For His Son is the true Israel, and all who have repented of their sins and trusted in him have been made full citizens of the people of God, the city of God. A city that will lift up the lowly and humble. A city where the oppressor is made to repent or he is denied entry. A city where we celebrate the coming of Jesus Christ to this earth as a little child, a child who grew up to be a man, the God-man, who change everything by his righteous life and death on that cruel cross. A city whose citizens hope in the one whom death could not hold. 

“My soul magnifies the Lord, And my Spirit has rejoiced in God my saviour.” Mary sang the first ever Christmas carol. Praise God for Christmas. Praise God for the coming of the Lord Jesus who changed everything.

 

List of References

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[1] The Magnificat, Diamon Sceptre, https://open.spotify.com/track/24TrXw3OS0nzO3f0uOZ2nD?si=e93b2578f4794938

Why You Should Not Lie

 

“13 Keep your tongue from evil, And your lips from speaking deceit.”

Psalm 34:13

You should not lie because it is wrong. But it is important to understand, that if you do choose to live a life of lies, you will be robbed of all joy and peace. A Spurgeon notes,

“Deceit must be very earnestly avoided by the man who desires happiness. A crafty schemer lives like a spy in the enemy’s camp, in constant fear of exposure and execution. Clean and honest conversation, by keeping the conscience at ease, promotes happiness, but lying and wicked talk stuffs our pillow with thorns, and makes life a constant whirl of fear and shame.”[1]

Danger can come upon any man at any time. Such is the way of this world. But the liar lives in expectation of it, from every direction, constantly. He lives in constant fear of being exposed, he lives in constant fear of saying something which will cause the entire tapestry of his worldview to fall apart. He lives in dread of those who pay careful attention to what he says.

The honest man will be wrong from time to time, but he simply admits this, and moves on. Most people will accept this, some might choose not to, because they see it as a means of constantly attacking him. But in general the honest man does not have to fear being wrong, because part of being honest is knowing that you do not know everything and that you will make mistakes.

The liar, on the other hand, does fear being wrong. Because his mistakes are not simply mistakes, they are cracks in the façade of a life that is built on a house of cards. A house that will come down. He must be ever watchful, ever suspicious of others around him, because that is his nature. He acts suspicious and treats others the very same.

A life of lies is unnecessary and unhealthy. Being crafty might be considered a skill, some people certainly are better at it than others. However, it is a poisonous trait to live by. As Spurgeon also says, "Men cannot spit forth poison without feeling some of the venom burning their own flesh."[2] To live a life of lies is to live a life by slow, but effective poison. To not experience that slow personal death in your life every day is a good enough reason to avoid it.

Why live in chains, when you can live free.

Of course, to live by the truth takes courage. It is hard for people to do at times. But anything else is choosing to live in chains.

List of References

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[1] Charles Spurgeon, Treasury of David, Commentary on Psalm 34 vs 13

[2] Ibid.

The Devil Won’t Win

 

"Peace and goodwill to all mankind"

That is why Jesus came.

Recent events show us that we aren't there yet. As we know. Every generation of the Church has sought to lift up the message of Christ in a world where many opposed it, directly or indirectly.

The devil, the thief, came to steal kill and destroy. He still does that today. But we also know from Scripture that the Dragon rages because he knows he has been defeated.

Brothers, sisters, he has been defeated! It may not seem like it every day, his tail still sweeps dangerously. But he has been defeated, and the Church has rejoiced and sung about his defeat in much darker times than we live in.

We will conquer him because of the blood of Jesus Christ and the power of his word. He has been defeated!

Rejoice, rejoice, the dragon cannot win.

The Child and the Dragon

Verse 1

A sign appeared in heav’n above,

A woman crowned with light;

The sun her robe, the moon beneath,

Her stars with glory bright.

She cried in pain to bring forth Him,

The long-promised, holy child—

The One to rule the nations all,

The Shepherd strong and mild.

 

Refrain

Rejoice, rejoice! The battle’s won,

The ancient foe defeated!

By Christ the Lamb, God’s conqu’ring Son,

His fiery wrath is cheated.

 

Verse 2

Behold, a dragon fierce and red,

With horns and crowns of might;

His tail swept down a third of stars

To cast them from the height.

He waited near the woman’s cry,

To seize the infant fair;

But God caught up His promised King

To heav’n’s protecting care.

 

Refrain

Rejoice, rejoice! The battle’s won,

The ancient foe defeated!

By Christ the Lamb, God’s conqu’ring Son,

His fiery wrath is cheated.

 

Verse 3

Then war in heav’n at once arose—

Saint Michael drew his sword;

The dragon and his hosts were thrown

From glory’s throne outpoured.

They fell to earth with furious rage,

No place for them remained;

The voice of heav’n cried loud and clear:

“The Lamb has surely reigned!”

 

Refrain

Rejoice, rejoice! The battle’s won,

The ancient foe defeated!

By Christ the Lamb, God’s conqu’ring Son,

His fiery wrath is cheated.

 

Verse 4

The dragon chased the woman still,

Poured floods her path to drown;

Yet God prepared a wilderness

Where grace and help abound.

He rages now against her seed—

All those who trust the Lord;

But we shall stand, for by His blood

We conquer through His Word.

 

Refrain

Rejoice, rejoice! The battle’s won,

The ancient foe defeated!

By Christ the Lamb, God’s conqu’ring Son,

His fiery wrath is cheated.

 

(If you want to listen to this song, you can do so here: