Australia

Wow! That’s A Long way!

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In 2022 I rode nearly 6,000 km, my biggest year on the bike ever.

This is about 1 1/2 times the road distance from Sydney to Perth.

Two lessons from this:

  1. A little bit most days adds up over a year, even a life time. Read a chapter of the Bible each day, pray for half an hour, whatever it is repeated actions mount up.
  2. Doing something that you love is never a burden. I love my wife, I love serving the Lord, and so i find these things not burdensome. That’s not to say it is always easy or “fun”, but the joy in the process is greater than the pain.

Andrew Thorburn Vindicated For Faith Position

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Andrew Thorburn, who was briefly CEO of Essendon AFL Club in October before being sacked for belonging to a church, has settled with the club over the affair.

The original issue was big news, but you have to go digging through the news sites to find the latest development. Typical of the spineless media.

Thorburn has at all times acted with integrity and in a Christ-like attitude, and it is good to see him being vindicated.

As one commentator noted this morning, there is a fair level of legal protection of religious beliefs in Australia, even though most corporations just bow to the woke mob on these issues. Hopefully there will be more recognition of the concept of freedom of religion in the public sphere.

Recently re-elected Victoria Premier Daniel Andrews also needs to make an apology to Thorburn for his slanderous and vicious comments in October, but I wouldn’t hold my breath waiting for that.

From the ABC on MSN:

Essendon Football Club apologises to Andrew Thorburn over handling of his short stint as CEO

 
 
 

The Essendon Football Club has apologised to former CEO Andrew Thorburn over the way it handled the events leading to his departure after just one day in the role.

Mr Thorburn was appointed as the Bombers CEO in October, but resigned a day later after public commentary over his involvement in a church which had shared controversial views about homosexuality and abortion.

Mr Thorburn said at the time it was clear to him that his personal Christian faith was “not tolerated or permitted in the public square”, despite his leadership record.

In a joint statement released on Tuesday, the two parties said they had resolved the dispute over the matter and would work to “enable a wider community conversation on the importance of freedom of conscience, religion and belief”.

Essendon Football Club said it acknowledged “that the events of October should have been handled better and apologises for the impact it had on Mr Thorburn, his family and others”.

“Both parties consider that elements of the public commentary at the time were extreme and wrong and counter-productive to the respectful community dialogue they agree is critical,” the statement said.

 

“Mr Thorburn remains welcome at the Club. The Club reiterates that he is a person of integrity who treats others, whether at work or elsewhere, with dignity and respect.

“He has a strong track record of leadership including with respect to diversity and inclusion of LGBTIQ and other minority groups.”

The statement noted genuine diversity should include people of faith and “everyone should be able to openly express their personal position, in a respectful way, without fear and still feel that they belong”.

As part of the dispute resolution, the Essendon Football Club will make a donation to an ethics institute to prepare a paper on how sporting organisations can build “inclusive communities recognising freedoms including those relating to race, religion and sexuality”.

The statement did not specify which institute would be funded to prepare the paper.

 
 

Strange Fish Behaviour

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I have several fish called Chromises in my aquarium. The photo above looks quite dull, but they are very colourful blue-green fish that like to school. A school of chromises looks quite fantastic.

While I was feeding the fish on Saturday, one of these guys swam rapidly to the surface (they do feeding frenzy really well) then shot to the bottom of the tank, hitting a piece of rock on the way. Then it lay flat on the sand at the bottom, not moving for some time.

I always expect the worst, and I thought the impact must have killed it. However, an hour or so later, the fish was missing from its previous resting place and was happily swimming around.

What was weird was that there was now something like a clear plastic ring around its mouth. You could see that it was able to open and close its mouth OK, but there was this strange thing right on the front of its face. Had it picked up some plastic refuse from my tank?

The next morning the fish was back to normal appearance. I think that it must have given itself the fishy equivalent of a fat lip in its strange accident.

A few days later and it is still right as rain. The incident is something of a mystery.

Jo Nova: The coldest summer day in Australia and nobody notices

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It’s funny how the BOM is always banging on about the “hottest year ever”, the “warmest winter day on record”, “unprecedented rain”, but nobody notices the coldest summer day on record. Maybe it doesn’t fit the approved narrative

The coldest summer day in Australia and nobody notices

By Jo Nova

Weatherzone report that Thursday was the equal coldest morning ever recorded anywhere in Australia in summer time. Oddly, there were no preemptive emergency warnings the night before, no news stories announcing the area “might” hit a new record, no camera teams visited the scene and the BOM did not invent a Coldsnap Emergency Alert System to tell Australians to put on a jumper.

On Thursday, Perisher Valley in the Australian Alps got down to minus 7.0 C (19F) equaling the record set in Perisher in January 1979 and which was also reached at Charlottes Pass in December 1999.

Oddly, no one blamed this on climate change, or mentioned that it would have been worse if we hadn’t burnt all that coal. After all, without CO2, it would have been minus ten, right?

There were more news headlines about the heat that didn’t happen than there were about the cold that did.

While no media outlets have mentioned this cold record, many have run the story that temperatures might reach 48C this weekend and they issued plenty of warnings. As it happens the 48C was a fizzer on Saturday (the hottest was 44.9), and looks like missing tomorrow too (the forecast peak is now 45C). Hence imaginary heatwaves beat actual cold.

Apologies to Northern Hemisphere friends in winter, we know “it’s nothing”. But it is supposed to be hot here in December. Yet snow has continued to fall on Australian ski fields in NSW, Victoria and Tasmania this year with a “staggering 25cm” falling on Perisher just days before summer officially began.

 

From Jo Nova

Jo Nova: The Vax Rollback is on!

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Vax rollback hits Australia: Experts now “not recommending” fifth dose for almost anyone, just anti-virals

By Jo Nova

Barbed wireDid you notice the segue?

A new Covid wave is upon us, but the endless vaccine rush is over. The dog isn’t barking. As of last week, almost no one in Australia is eligible for the fifth dose. Even the old and vulnerable are not being told to get another dose. This is the end of two years of non-stop push. “Access to antivirals is more important” say the experts for the first time, and it appears people practically need to be a transplant patient or on chemo to be able to get jab number five.

Health department says fifth COVID-19 vaccine doses not being recommended for most people amid rising cases

The Department of Health says fifth doses of a COVID-19 vaccine are not currently being recommended for most people.

Health authorities have warned a new wave of COVID-19 is beginning to make its way through the community and currently, only adults with a severely compromised immune system are eligible for a fifth dose.

So they’re finally catching up with what the deplorable bloggers like I have been saying since March 2020, antivirals were always less risky, easier to test, and cheaper to make. Though, of course, our government health bodies are still profit machines for large pharmaceutical corporations. They’re not promoting the cheapest, safest antivirals — only the Big-Pharma-friendly kind that are still under patents, and which siphon vast funds from our taxpayer pharmaceutical scheme.

They are effectively saying that the boosters are useless, or even worse than useless, without having the honesty to say so.

They must be a bit worried. Finally they’re going to stop the under 30s from getting the fourth jab because of “side effects”:

But Professor Allen Cheng, former co-chair and current member of the Australian Technical Advisory Group on Immunisation (ATAGI), told The Sydney Morning Herald on Saturday that it was likely the current vaccine schedule would remain as is, given the heightened risk of heart inflammation in young people.

“A 30-year-old with … three doses will be optimally protected.”

He added, “Vaccinations are beneficial and protective even for younger people but the more doses you get, the less benefit you derive from them and then we start to worry about causing side effects.”

It’s a weasel grade Psy-Op

Everything about the PR language is packaged with a dose of literary Valium.

The mantra lines are all the same, they’ve just swapped the word vaccine for antiviral. Now we’re bragging that “Australians have one of the best antiviral uptakes in the world”. (As if the hapless punters in the streets have much say in their prescriptions, were racing to get there, and even knew there was a race?). Are we proud of our druggieness now, or our obedience?

At no point do they say ATAGI have decided the fourth dose is dangerous to young adults, instead someone who used to work there has conveniently leaked out that the “under 30s are unlikely to get approval”. It’s as if the under thirties are champing at the bit to get more doses and ATAGI is just being restrained and sensible, eh?

The mantra’s of the last two years are still there:

“At the moment ATAGI’s firm statement remains that people should remain up to date with their vaccination.

“And based on the advice we have an older person who has stayed up to date and has had the fourth dose still has great protection against severe disease.

And vaccinees have great protection, but they need antivirals too…

High uptake in antivirals important, says health secretary

Health Department secretary Professor Brendan Murphy said access to antivirals for the elderly is likely more important than getting a fifth vaccine dose.

“We are seeing a very significant uptake now that this wave’s started in antiviral use,” he said.

“If you’ve had four doses and you’re an old person who is vulnerable, it is probably a more important thing to get access to antivirals than to consider another dose for which the evidence is not very strong.

“We have one of the best antiviral uptakes in the world.

“It’s one of the best markers we have of the pandemic, once cases go up antiviral use goes up.”

And the illusion of control continues. Talk of an “uptake” of antivirals implies the minions have control over their own healthcare when they still can’t go to their doctor and ask for the treatments they want, and they were never allowed to buy an Australian designed less risky protein vaccine.

Full story here

God Is Greater Than Halloween

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I hate Halloween because it has become a celebration of evil. Of all the cultural imports that we have received from the USA – yes I know that it started in Europe but the event we celebrate in Australia is basically the US version brought in by movies and TV – this is the worst. We ignore their best traditions like Thanksgiving and run with Halloween instead.

Halloween (pronounced “Hallow” not “Hollow”) is the night before All Saints Day (sometimes called All Hallows Day in the past). All Saints is a celebration of the victory in Christ of the believers who have gone before. It started to be celebrated in the 300s and was fixed as November 1 by the 700s.

All Saints reminds us that Jesus has defeated satan through His death and resurrection. The Kingdom of God is advancing person by person around the world. The Gates of Hell (that is, the fortress of the devil) will not prevail.

The custom arose that at Halloween, the eve of All Saints Day, people would look for opportunities to mock the devil. One such custom was to dress children up in costumes that mock the world of the dead — ghosts, ghouls etc. Satan’s power is so destroyed by the victory of Christ that even children can laugh at him.

The key to understanding this is that satan’s first sin was pride, thinking that he could assume the throne of the Most High God. (See Isaiah 14:13-14). We can celebrate satan’s downfall by mocking his pride. It’s a bit like putting gargoyles on the roof of the church to collect the rain water – it is a statement that these ugly representations of demons are so ridiculous and now we use them to protect the structure of God’s building.

Some people find this business of mocking the devil a bit hard to understand. We need to remmber that in a society where Christianity has overcome paganism and everybody is assumed to be a christian, the social dynamics are very different to the present day where the church is in a minority position.

Where Halloween has gone wrong, I believe, is that the world tries to have the christian festival without Christ (like they do with Christmas and Easter). Rather than being a mockery of satan, it is now a celebration of the demonic, which is very different.

There are many anecdotal reports of increases in witchcraft, occultic activity and other demonically inspired events happening at this time of the year. Some christians react in fear, but we need to regain that sense that the devil is a defeated foe. In James 4:7, we read, “Submit yourselves, then, to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you.”

At Halloween, and indeed every day, we need to remember that, as powerful as the devil seems, our God is greater. Put on the armour of God, and tell the devil to nick off, and he will.

The World Hates You

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If you love the Lord, then the world will hate you.

The Bible uses the word “world” in three different was, as we do in English:

  • the physical planet on which we live
  • humanity in general “God so loved the world…”
  • the system of culture, governance and business that operates independently of God, and often in opposition to Him.

It is that world as system which hates all Christians.

Andrew Thorburn was on Monday night announced as CEO of the Essendon AFL Club. By Tuesday he was fired.

His huge crime was that he is also Chairman of the Board of City On a Hill Church, a church which describes itself as being in the Anglican tradition.

Apparently back in 2013 somebody there preached a sermon that was against abortion and another person preached a sermon that said homosexuality is a sin. He was not the preacher of either message, but merely associating with such people is an unforgivable sin.

Dictator Dan Andrews, the Premier of Victoria, condemned him as “hateful” and a “bigot”, currently the worst judgement that can be bestowed on a person by the State of Woke.

So he resigned before he even started,

For the axe of Cancel Culture to have fallen so swiftly, it is clear that there was a “dirt file” already in existence. There are people who are so dedicated to destroying christians that they have already done the research on those whom they hate.

So the AFL, and organised sport more generally, justify their actions by wanting to make the sport inclusive and diverse. Their inclusion and diversity will come by excluding Christians.

The world really does hate you.

Any christian who works in an organisation big enough to have an HR Department now needs to have a Plan B.

Churches and other christian organisations, especially schools, also need to consider what might happen if the Government takes exception to their beliefs, which they will.

We live in a culture that has rejected God’s ways, and rather than seeing the church as a comfort and an ally, it sees the church as the enemy.