If freedom and happiness are epitomized in sexual satisfaction, then pornography becomes a medium, perhaps the obvious and certainly the easiest and least personally costly medium, of liberation and fulfillment. Carl Trueman
Quote for the Day
Author: newlifenarrabri
Reflection on Judges 17:1-17
Scripture
“Stay here with me,” Micah said,”and you can be a father and a priest to me.”
Observation
A man named Micah confesses to his mother that he stole 1000 pieces of silver from her. The mother then dedicates this silver to the Lord, and take some of it to a silversmith to create an image and an idol. These are placed in Micah’s house. Micah creates a shrine for the idol and installs one of his sons as his personal priest.
A young Levite from Bethlehem comes to the area, looking for a place to live. Micah appoints him as his own father and priest. The Levi agrees to this.
Application
It is good to have a spiritual father, someone who loves us and has authority over us. Every christian should be submitted to a father in the Spirit.
Micah first appoints his son to be his priest, and then the young Levite. From this short chapter, it seems that Micah has very little teaching or any sense of real commitment to the Lord.
Micah’s mother had an an idol made for Micah, who constructed a shrine for it. They blessed and cursed in the Name of the Lord and wanted priests of the Lord to minister on their behalf.
Most Christians would probably identify that there is so much confusion in this story. The characters clearly do not have a relationship with God.
To avoid this sort of confusion, we need to pray constantly, read God’s word, and walk in fellowship with other believers.
Prayer
Holy Spirit, you speak to us in many ways, and you lead us in the right path. Please give me a deeper knowledge of you. Amen
Quote for the Day
Hefner’s genius lay in the way he was able to remove the social stigma typically attached to pornography and the selling of sex as a commercial interest. Carl Trueman
Reflection on Judges 16:23-31
Scripture
So he killed more people when he died than he had during his entire lifetime.
Observation
The Philistines hold a great festival, offering sacrifices to their god Dagon. They celebrate the great victory that Dagon had given them over Samson.
They bring out Samson to amuse them. Samson asks the servant who brought him out to place his hands on the pillars supporting the roof. Samson prays to the Lord to restore his strength one last time. Then he pushes against the pillars, and the roof of the temple comes crashing down.
Samson killed more people in his death than he had in his entire lifetime. His brothers and relatives come and bury him with his father.
Application
Samson was raised up by the Lord to rescue Israel from the Philistines. His lust for foreign women and his self-centeredness really made him far less effective than he otherwise might have been.
Samson with a man of great physical strength, but he lacked integrity, and this was his undoing.
In the end, he fulfilled God’s purposes for him, but in a tragic way. The epitaph on his life was that he killed more people in his death then he had in his entire lifetime.
I think of the summary of other people’s lives in the Old Testament that they died “full of years.” These people lived for God. They were not perfect, and some sinned quite spectacularly. Yet they remained faithful to the Lord.
In many ways, Samson’s life was wasted, or at least misdirected. It ended in unnecessary tragedy.
Prayer
Lord God, may my life fulfil all that you have for me. Please keep me on the right track with you. Amen
The Downside of Net Zero In 100% Green Canberra
From Jo Nova:
In “100%” Renewable Canberra people are queuing to hang out in warm libraries, and the air is more polluted
Kill trees, pollute the air, punish the poor and protect coal underground
Just another day in Green heaven.
Wood smoke over Canberra | Photo from Clean Air Canberra
The Australian capital city Canberra in midwinter is often minus 1 to 5 degrees C in the morning. Australian homes can get very cold and with heating bills rocketing, things are defacto becoming like life in Berlin, which is in a pre-War energy crisis. No one labeled Canberra public halls as “warm spaces” and they definitely aren’t open at night (it’s the public service!), but crowds are arriving at libraries just to escape the cold.
The ACT Government are a Labor-Green alliance, and are proudly, exuberantly “100% Renewable”, but won’t dare cut the cord to the coal plants that keep the lights on, making the claims of being 100% renewable a form of 100% false advertising. Even the ABC admits that the ACT itself only generates 5% of its own power, and 80% of the energy coming to the ACT through the wires is from fossil fuels. They pay off some distant wind farms to balance the theoretical gigawatt-hour tallies, and sponge off the states around for cheaper backup and stability that the coal plants provide.
But as electricity prices rises 14% of Canberran’s are heating their homes with wood. This has predictably increased actual air pollution. So now there is a movement to ban wood fires.
If only there was a 300 year supply of cheap fuel to burn at centralized clean power stations…
Like all Green policies putting fashion before facts, they get the opposite of what they aim for.
Canberra: where electricity is a luxury the poor can’t afford
Tina Faulk, The Spectator
Public libraries in the National Capital are now considered, by staff and patrons alike, to be ‘community centres’ where people come to read, use the computers, charge their phones, and use the toilets. It’s where clients of the NDIS, escorted by carers, are brought and propped up in their wheelchairs in front of computers or seated in deep armchairs by the magazine stands. Some, abandoned by their carers, shout incoherently for attention. Newly arrived migrants – Somalis, Iraqis, Syrians – jostle for attention of the library staff, asking for translation assistance with various forms and declarations.
Our libraries, warm and welcoming, have a crowd at their doors before the 10 am opening.
Groups of women discuss where they go to get warm:
One [woman] who recently ‘VR-ed’ (Voluntary Retired) still goes back to her old workplace, usually late morning, when the security guard who remembers her gives a nod and a smile as she settles into one of the comfortable settees in the reception area.
How sad is that — going back to her old workplace foyer just to stay warm?
Wood heaters in the firing line as temps drop and pollution rises
Lottie Twyford, Riotact
A recent report showed woodfire heater smoke is the largest source of winter air pollution in Canberra. Currently, around 14 per cent of people in the ACT use a woodfire heater as their main source of heating.
Analysis of air quality shows the impacts of smoke are worse down south because the shape of the valley and temperature inversions hold pollutants closer to the ground. In 2020, there were 37 days in Tuggeranong when pollution levels were above acceptable levels; of those, 13 can be attributed to woodfire heater emissions, Mr Davis told the ACT Legislative Assembly.
The local newspaper is running stories about the “right temperature” to heat homes to. They suggest 18°C (colder than the public buildings in Germany which are now set down to 20°C). A few years ago I stayed with a friend in Canberra and the room was 11°C (and it was only May!).
Read the full article here
Quote for the Day
The purpose of surrealism was profoundly and aggressively political: to overthrow Christianity (and its corollaries—families and moral codes governing sexual behavior). And it was to do this via an emphasis in its various works of art on human desires and their attainment through the self-actualization of the individual. Carl Trueman
Reflection on Judges 16 :1-22
Scripture
When he woke up, he thought, “I will do as before and shake myself free.” But he didn’t realise that the Lord had left him.
Observation
Samson falls in love with a woman named Delilah. The Philistine rulers come to her and offer to pay her to entice Samson to reveal the secret of his strength.
At first, Samson lies to her about this. But after much pleading and nagging, he reveals that his hair has never been cut for he was dedicated as a Nazarite from birth. If his head is shaved, his strength would leave him.
Delilah tells the Philistines that she has finally got the truth. She lulls him to sleep with his head in her lap, and then she cuts off the seven braids of his hair.
Samson wakes up and thinks he will shake himself free as before, but the Lord has left him. The Philistines capture him, gouge out his eyes, and put him in shackles. Before long Samson’s hair begins to grow back.
Application
Eventually Samson’s character lead him into bondage. He is tricked into allowing his head to be shaved. When the Philistines come to capture him, he thinks “I will just shake myself free as I did before.” He didn’t realise that the Lord had left him.
When we sin repeatedly in any area of our life, we allowed satan and his demons to take over that part of us. We become addicted to the sin whether it be lust, greed, or power. What we don’t realise is that it is the Holy Spirit who gives us the power to shake ourselves free. We can get to the place where, like Samson, the power of the Lord leaves us and we are in bondage to that sin.
Captivity to Satan is not the end of the story. This section ends with the hopeful words, “but Samson’s hair began to grow back.”
Prayer
Thank you Lord that you do not abandon us entirely to sin, unless we completely abandon you. Please help me to stay away from captivating sin and make me strong in times of temptation. Amen
James MacPherson: Father, Forgive Labor Over the Lord’s Prayer
From the Daily Declaration, James Macpherson writes:
Father, Forgive Labor Over the Lord’s Prayer
Australian Senate President Sue Lines is right to demand that the longstanding tradition of opening each day of federal parliament with the Lord’s Prayer be abolished.
The words of Jesus are dangerous and politicians should be protected from hearing them lest they startle the country by governing with wisdom and humility.
For those unfamiliar with the prayer the self-declared atheist Labor MP wants gone, let me explain the 10 nation-destabilising ideas from which our leaders must be insulated.
“Our Father who art in heaven…” is a shocking acknowledgment that the highest office-bearers in the land may not be the highest office-bearers in the universe. Should politicians realise this, they may start acting with humility and become completely unrecognisable to their own electorates.
“Hallowed be Thy name…” is the dangerous admission that we must live for something bigger than our own name or self-aggrandisement. This could lead inadvertently to politicians no longer naming pet policies after themselves. Now that would be a welcome outcome.
“Thy kingdom come, Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven…” could cause politicians to consider if perhaps they ought to act according to noble convictions rather than simple convenience. This would throw the public service into significant confusion.
“Give us this day our daily bread…” is just plain offensive. If there is a God, he (or she) has not been distributing the bread according to the left’s favourite slogans — “equality” and “fairness”. If he (or she) were fair, the Greens would have more bread than the people the Greens don’t like, such as those making the bread.
“Forgive us our sins…” is a self-esteem-sapping admission that none of us is perfect. Even lefty senators are beset by the flaws of human nature and are therefore prone to mistakes. This is a dangerous idea that our MPs should never under any circumstances be allowed to contemplate, lest they stop thinking of themselves as our betters.
“As we forgive those who sin against us…” is a devilish promise to respect the common humanity of those with whom we disagree rather than simply demonising them. The Labor senator is right to insist MPs must never hear this, lest civility break out in parliament and those sitting in the public gallery think they are in the wrong building.
“Lead us not into temptation…” is that unflattering idea that we are all prone to wander off on tangents. Were politicians to think about this, they might start acting with caution rather than haste. Then we wouldn’t have pink batts or cash for clunkers or the National Broadband Network or Camp Wellness in Queensland.
“But deliver us from evil…” is the foolishly outdated idea that evil exists, when we know the problem is really structural issues that can be fixed by constant government interference in the affairs of free men.
“For Thine is the kingdom, the power and the glory…” is an insidious idea that may lead politicians to wonder if perhaps building monuments to themselves is mere vanity. We don’t want MPs thinking there is a cause greater than their own name or political stripe, lest they begin to work together for a greater good; and then where would we be?
“Forever and ever, amen…” is the clear suggestion our politicians soon may be gone, but that the decisions they make will echo on in the lives of our children’s children.
Should MPs have to hear such words, they may start thinking beyond the 24-hour news cycle. God, er, Labor forbid!
(This piece was first published in The Australian when the Greens were campaigning for the Lord’s Prayer to be ditched)
___
Originally published at The James Macpherson Report.
Quote for the Day
Sex as revolution or sex as commodity: both are predicated on the idea of sex as the answer to human ills, and both assume the kind of psychologized, sexualized self that has emerged over the last three hundred years. Carl Trueman
Reflection on Judges 15:1- 20
Scripture
So God caused water to gush out of a hollow in the ground at Lehi, and Samson was revived as he drank. He named that place “The Spring of the one Who Cried Out,” and it is still in Lehi today.
Observation
During the wheat harvest, Samson takes a young goat as a present to his wife. Her father explains that he gave her to his best man.
Enraged, Samson catches 300 foxes. He ties them together in pairs and fastens a torch to each pair of tails. He lights the torches and sends the foxes through the Philistines’ grainfields.
The Philistines decide to capture Samson. They set up a camp in Judah. The men of Judah find Samson and tie him up with new ropes. Samson breaks off the ropes. He then finds the jawbone of a donkey and kills 1000 Philistines with it.
Samson goes on to rule over Israel for 20 years.
Application
After all his fighting, Samson called out to God to provide him with water. The Lord caused water to gush out of the ground.
Samson was not a paragon of virtue. He was selfish, petulant, and prone to expressions of violence. Yet God used this very flawed character to deliver Israel from the Philistines.
And when Samson called to the Lord for water, the Lord brought forth a fresh spring for him.
We don’t have to be perfect before God can use us. We do not have to be perfect to receive answers in prayer. We should be growing in character as part of our daily walk with the Lord. But He will use us and provide for us at every stage of the journey.
Prayer
Thank you Lord that you can use flawed people like Samson. Use me to your glory. Amen
