Patrick Moore, co-founder of extremist group Greenpeace, put together this video about carbon dioxide and its role in the atmosphere.
Lyle Shelton honours the one man in Labor who stands for truth
From Lyle Shelton: “Our political class has fallen victim to a culture that has lost its capacity to reason.
How a decision to sit was the biggest stand for truth at Labor’s conference
Labor’s 47th National Conference in Melbourne at the weekend marked the party’s end of tolerance for the natural family as the gold standard for children.
It’s been a slow burn but it is now official. The party’s capitulation to the sexual revolution and Greens’ social policy is complete.
After 2019, any Labor parliamentarian who votes to support marriage as one man and one woman will be automatically expelled from the party.
There is now no room in the party for an aspiring candidate for office who wishes to uphold the definition of marriage that is in the best interest of a child.
As Labor’s president Mark Butler put the motion, the ‘ayes’ were loud and proud.
“All those against?” A solitary “no” which sounded like WA Senator Joe Bullock rang out. I was sitting up in the bleachers so it was hard to tell for sure.
Earlier as Penny Wong, Labor’s lesbian Senate leader, rose to speak she was greeted with a sustained standing ovation.
One man, the former head of the Australia’s largest trade union, Joe de Bruyn, could not bring himself to genuflect before the rainbow regime.
It takes courage not to go with the crowd. It takes even greater courage to do this when the crowd are the people of the party for whom you have given your life.
Someone with an iPhone snapped Joe and put him on Twitter. His decision not to bow was ridiculed with almost 200 re-tweets.
What the mockers will never understand is how much courage that took.
Earlier in the conference, Labor voted to make it their policy to support access to assisted reproductive technology for same-sex attracted people.
Watch now for Australia’s prohibition on commercial surrogacy to begin to be chipped at.
There was no debate about the ethics of denying children their natural mother or father, a necessary by-product of ART.
The irony of all this was hearing on the radio on the drive to work this morning the victims of the forced adoption practices of the 1950s-1970s telling heart-wrenching stories of removal.
Do we seriously think a boy growing up with lesbians will never have an ache in his heart for his dad?
I see how my kids love and relate to their mother. There is a maternal bond that two men cannot fulfil no matter how much the law tries to pretend otherwise.
The Greens and Labor talk a lot about the natural environment for birds and plants. Labor’s conference said nothing about the natural environment for a baby.
And if you think I am being partisan, I am not. It is a Liberal, Warren Entsch, who is leading the charge to abolish husband and wife from the Marriage Act when Parliament resumes in August.
Our political class has fallen victim to a culture that has lost its capacity to reason.
Yes, it is a sad day to see the alternative party of government vote to expel anyone who wants to support marriage as the best environment for a child.
But we must use this seminal moment in Australian politics to wake ourselves up and resolve to re-build a marriage culture.
Doing this will require speaking. It will require challenging the assumptions of our friends who have put a rainbow wash through their Facebook profile.
Ideas have consequences. If bad ideas are the only ones prosecuted in the public square, as was the case at Labor’s conference, then we should not be surprised if viral ideas take root in our culture.
Truth always resonates with ordinary people but it can only resonate if it is spoken.
By remaining in his seat, Joe de Bruyn stood for truth.
We all need to take a leaf out of his book.
ETS- fake market with fake words
Jo Nova explains that an ETS is a tax and there is no free market involved in CO2
The Emissions Trading Scheme monster idea is back – but the conversation is booby-trapped with fake words
It’s a tax that’s “not a tax” and a “free market” that isn’t free.
Joy. An emission trading scheme (ETS) is on the agenda again in Australia. Here’s why the first priority is to clean up a crooked conversation. If we can just talk straight, the stupid will sort itself out.
The national debate is a straight faced parody — it could be a script from “Yes Minister”, except no one would believe it. Bill Shorten argues that the Labor Party can control the world’s weather with something that exactly fits the definition of a tax, yet he calls it a “free market” because apparently he has no idea what a free market really is. (What union rep would?) It’s like our opposition leader is a wannabe entrepreneur building a Kmart that controls the clouds. Look out Batman, Billman is coming. When is a forced market a free market? When you want to be PM.
The vandals are at the gates of both English and economics, and we can’t even have a straight conversation. The Labor Party is in flat out denial of dictionary definitions — is that because they can’t read dictionaries, or because they don’t want an honest conversation? Let’s ask them. And the idea central to modern economics — free markets — when will the Labor Party learn what one is? It’s only a free market when I’m free to buy nothing.
A carbon market is a forced market. Who wants to buy a certificate for a reduction in carbon dioxide emissions? Only 12% of the population will even spend $2 to offset their flight emissions. How many Australians would choose to spend $500? Why don’t we ask them?! Why — because Bill Shorten knows what the answer would be.
Then, on top of all that, is the hypocrisy — the Labor Party say an ETS is the most efficient way to reduce carbon, but they know it isn’t true, because they also insist we buy 50% of our electricity from renewables. Even with an ETS, no one would choose wind power or solar to reduce CO2. They are that stupid.
But a fake free market will help the Global Financial Houses. Buy a carbon credit and save a Banker!
When will Labor start to speak English?
Definition of “Tax”: noun
1.a sum of money demanded by a government for its support or for specific facilities or services, levied upon incomes, property, sales, etc.2.a burdensome charge, obligation, duty, or demand.So let’s call it what it is, the ETS-tax. Confront the Labor Party with their inability to speak honest English. There is deception here, written into their language. As long as they won’t speak English, how can we even discuss their policy?
Can someone tell Labor what a “free market” is?
Real free markets are remarkable tools and very efficient, but we can never have a real free market on a ubiquitous molecule used in all life on Earth. It’s an impossibility.
The Labor Party is simply stealing a good brand name. This fake market in air certificates does not meet even the basic requirements of a true free market. It’s a market with no commodity, no demand, no supply, and no verifiability of goods delivered. You and I are not “free” to choose to buy nothing. Most of the players in this market are not free to play — who pays for yeast, weathering, or ocean cycles?
As I said in The Australian: people who like free markets don’t want a carbon market, and the people who don’t trust capitalism want emissions trading. So why are socialists fighting for a carbon market? Because this “market” is a bureaucrat’s wet dream.
A free market is the voluntary exchange of goods and services. “Free” means being free to choose to buy or to not buy the product. At the end of a free trade, both parties have something they prefer.
To create demand for emissions permits, the government threatens onerous fines to force people to buy a product they otherwise don’t need and most of the time would never even have thought of acquiring. Likewise, supply wouldn’t exist without government approved agents. Potentially a company could sell fake credits (cheaper than the real ones) and what buyer could spot the difference? Indeed, in terms of penance or eco-branding, fake credits, as long as they were not audited, would “work” just as well as real ones.
Despite being called a commodity market, there is no commodity: the end result is air that belongs to no-one-in-particular that has slightly-less-of-a-trace-gas. Sometimes it is not even air with slightly less CO2 in it, it is merely air that might-have-had–more-CO2, but doesn’t. It depends on the unknowable intentions of factory owners in distant lands.
How strange, then, that this non-commodity was at one time projected to become the largest tradable commodity in the world – bigger even than the global market for oil…
Making a Light Box
I had a little fun this afternoon building myself a light box from some old corflute signs we had lying around.
A light box, for the uninitiated, is a box for taking photos of small objects. It has a white interior and one or more windows with a diffuser and a light source. This gives you the advantage of controlling the amount and direction of light falling on the object, assuring the colours are right and there are no shadows.
You can spend hundreds of dollars on a good light box, or you can make a mediocre one in under an hour at close to zero cost. There are lots of plans and instructions on the net. I used this plan, with some modification due to using a different sized sheet.
Here is the final set up:
As you can see, it is simply a white box with Fred Nile on the lid. The window is on the left side and on the outside there is a halogen floodlight as the light source. The diffuser in the window is high tech- two thicknesses of “Bake” paper. There seems to be a huge amount of light absorbed by the paper, so next time I will try just one thickness.
So here is one of my first attempts at photographing little Ted:
Great photo, a pity about the colours! The background is supposed to be white!
The problem is the colour of the light which is not as white as the camera is expecting. I tried to correct it quickly in “Shotwell”, and I could have spent some time in Gimp getting it right, but much better to adjust the camera settings and get the light balance right from the start. I quickly downloaded the manual for my camera- after 8 years and nearly 8000 photos it’s probably time to read the instructions 🙂
The procedure for setting the white balance is very simple, once you find the right menu. I selected the “Tungsten” setting which gave me the correct white background, and here is my little friend in his true glory
Easy peasy!
You might notice there is a gap where the back doesn’t quite meet the base. That’s because I just pushed the bits on to the table without taking much care with fitting them properly!
A bit of craft and a bit of photography, together with some mathematics (I had to adjust the measurements a little to fit my boards), a great way to spend a couple of hours when it’s too cold and windy to ride your bike.
Reflection on 2 Samuel 11:26-12:13
.jpg)
Scripture
Then David said to Nathan, “I have sinned against the Lord.”
Observation
Nathan comes to David to confront him about his sin. He tells David a parable about a rich man who stole a poor man’s only lamb. David is filled with anger at this unjust act.
Nathan tells him, “You are the man.” God gave David every good thing and would have given him more. David has done an evil thing in taking Bathsheba.
Confronted by his sin, David repents.
Application
We all sin, and as long as we live in this world we will continue to sin.
The christian life is a process of allowing the Lord to reveal our sins and then repenting of them.
To repent means to acknowledge wrong doing and then determine to change our ways.
David sinned boldly bur repented even more boldly. He truly loved the Lord and determined to do whatever it took to maintain his relationship with God.
Prayer
Lord show me if there is any sin in my life that I need to turn from. Give me grace to continue to live for you in all things. Amen.
Today’s Sermon
Motor Vehicles- Eco-Saviours of the World
Because our lives are dominated by petroleum-fuelled motor vehicles we often overlook their tremendous contribution to our health, wealth and even to the environment. Yes, the motor vehicle, even in its pre-1970’s polluting state, catalysed huge improvements in urban living, cheaper and more sustainable food production and played a part in the reforestation of continents.
Far from being the evil machines portrayed by environmental activists, cars, trucks and other modern transportation methods make our environment much healtheir than it would otherwide be.
Pierre Desrochers writes:
The rise of petroleum-powered transport was an environmental boon.
Laura Ingalls Wilder’s The Long Winter is generally regarded as the most historically accurate book of her semi-autobiographical Little House on the Prairie series. The Long Winter tells the story of how the inhabitants of De Smet (present-day South Dakota) narrowly avoided starvation during the severe winter of 1880-81, when a series of blizzards dumped nearly three and a half metres of snow on the northern plains – immobilising trains and cutting off the settlers from the rest of the world. Faced with an imminent food shortage, Laura and her neighbours learned that a sizeable amount of wheat was available within 20 miles of their snow-covered houses. Her future husband, Almanzo Wilder, and a friend of his risked their lives in order to bring back enough food to sustain the townspeople through the rest of the winter. With the spring thaw, the railroad service was re-established and the Ingalls family enjoyed a long-delayed Christmas celebration in May.
The Long Winter is a valuable reminder of how lethal crop failures and geographical isolation could be before the advent of modern farming and transportation technologies. Not too long ago, subsistence farmers across the West had to cope with the ‘lean season’ – the period of greatest scarcity before the first availability of new crops. As some readers may know, in England the late spring (and especially the month of May) was once referred to as the ‘hungry gap’ and the ‘starving time’. One problem was the cost and difficulty of moving heavy things over often muddy and impracticable dirt roads; three centuries ago, moving a ton of goods over 50 kilometres on land between, say, Liverpool and Manchester was as expensive as shipping them across the north Atlantic.
The development of coal-powered railroads and steamships revolutionised the lives of our ancestors. Among other positive developments, landlocked farmers could now specialise in what they did best and rely on other farmers and producers for their remaining needs. The result was not only more abundant food at ever-cheaper prices, but the end of widespread famine and starvation, as the surplus from regions with good harvests could now be shipped to those that had experienced mediocre ones. (Of course, a region that experienced a bumper crop one year might have a mediocre one the next.)
In time, petroleum-derived products such as diesel, gasoline, kerosene (jet fuel) and bunker fuels (used in container ships) displaced coal because of their higher energy density, cleaner combustion and greater ease of extraction, handling, transport and storage. Nearly two thirds of the world’s refined petroleum products are now used in land, water and air transportation, accounting for nearly 95 per cent of all energy consumed in this sector. Despite much wishful thinking, there are simply no better alternatives to petroleum-powered transport at the moment. For instance, despite very generous governmental subsidies, battery electric, hybrid electric and plug-in hybrid vehicles have repeatedly failed to gain any meaningful market shares against gasoline-powered cars. This is because of their limited range and power, long charging time, bad performance in cold weather, security concerns (especially in collisions), and inadequate electricity production and delivery infrastructure.
While the convenience of cars is obvious, few people grasp their historical significance in terms of public health and environmental benefits.
Read the rest here
Dispensationalism- The Deadliest Heresy
Dispensationalism- The Deadliest Heresy
Dispensationalism is a theology, that at its heart, teaches that God deals with people differently at different periods of history (“dispensations”). It is a wretched heresy that deprives Christians of hope and condemns millions to hell. It is the root of much popular christian teaching, especially concerning the end times.
It is wrong! It is unbiblical! It should be renounced by all believers.
So what is it?
History
Dispensationalism was invented by John Darby, the founder of the Plymouth Brethren sect in England in the 1860’s. He taught that, contrary to the teachings of the church for the previous centuries, the Jews would be “re-grafted” into the tree of salvation and that Israel as a theocracy would be re-established as a prelude to the end times.
Darby’s teachings did not gain any traction until they crossed the Atlantic where Cyrus Scofield put them into his Scofield Reference Bible, where notes, annotations and charts made the teaching as authoritative as the Bible itself. The popularity of the Scofield Bible made its presence felt in churches and then in seminaries across the United States until it became the most popular theological system in evangelical circles.
The rise of radio and TV preachers who were schooled in this system reinforced its apparent domination and the perception that it must be true. Popular authors like Hal Lindsey and Tim LaHaye spread its influence further.
Teaching
There are many variations on the theme of dispensationalism with anything from 3 to 8 ages or dispensations through history. For the sake of this article I take the simplest of these, the 3 ages model. For a more complete discussion of the models see the wikipedia page on Dispensationalism.
The three ages are:
- Law (Old Testament)
- Grace or church age (New Testament)- from Pentecost to Rapture
- Kingdom age- return of Jesus until eternity
So far so good. The problems emerge as go into specifics.
1. Salvation
According to dispensationalists of all stripes, people’s sins in the Old Testament period were dealt with by the Law and by animal sacrifice. There was no grace, just law. Only Jews could be saved.
Of course this ignores huge swathes of Scripture, particularly the prophets and the psalms. The prophets repeatedly said that the Lord hates their feats and festivals because their hearts are far from Him. The Psalms repeatedly talk about God’s loving-kindness, faithful love. The Hebrew word hesed means something like unfailing covenant love.
But it gets worse, because in its extreme form it becomes antinomianism, the belief that it doesn’t matter what we do because God forgives it all anyway. The Law is Old Testament so even the Ten Commandments are history. Yet we find Jesus and Paul both lay down instructions that are expected to be obeyed. We cannot live as we like and honour Christ,
2. Kingdom
This is a bit complicated. In the Old Testament age, God’s focus was on Israel. In the final age the Kingdom of God is established with a focus on a restored Israel, a new Jerusalem. The church age is just a blip, an aberration, because God’s long term plan is all about Israel.
Dispensationalists will even argue that the church was God’s Plan B. Jesus did not talk about a church, but a kingdom. He did not die to establish the church but to establish the kingdom.
This is a complete lie. The Kingdom is the Church- not the human structure but the collection of people who faithfully follow Jesus Christ. The Kingdom is wherever Jesus reigns as King in the hearts and the lives of people. The Kingdom covers the entire world geographically because in every nation, every tribe, every ethnic group there are people who serve Jesus.
The Kingdom of God is not a geographic or a political entity. It is the people of God. That is why Jesus said “My kingdom is not of this world.” (John 18:36)
3. Israel
Because they view Kingdom as a political concept and see God’s focus as being on Israel, dispensationalists place great emphasis on the nation of Israel. This is why Israel is such a big part of the foreign policy of the United States. There is nothing wrong with the U.S.A. supporting the only truly democratic nation in the Middle East. But Christians need to understand that God’s plan for the world does not involve the nation of Israel.
In 70 A.D. the Temple was destroyed by the invading Roman army. The old system of Temple worship was destroyed, because God no longer had need for it. The final sacrifice had been offered once and for all time in the body of Christ. There is no place in God’s plan for the nation of Israel. It is interesting that although Israel has occupied Jerusalem for decades there has been no attempt to build a Temple either on a new site or on the original site (which would provoke the rage of the whole Muslim world).
The Jews are important to the Lord, but no more than any other people group. More importantly, they are not saved by obeying the Law but by grace in Christ. That is the significance of Paul’s teaching about the divisions between Jew and Gentile being destroyed in Christ. (Romans 11:11-32)
4. End Times
Dispensationalists have a very distinctive eschatology (theory of the end times). This doctrine has become very widespread in the church at large, yet it is wrong.
Broadly they are pre-millennialists, that is that Christ returns before (“pre”) establishing His Kingdom on earth. There are variations on the theme but generally there is a Rapture in which all christians are snatched up to heaven in an instant. There is also a Great Tribulation, a time of great suffering in which the world is ruled by the Antichrist. There is disagreement about whether the rapture occurs before, half-way through or at the end of the seven year tribulation. Everything climaxes with a physical war at Armageddon in which the world’s armies try to overthrow the army of God.
At the heart of this story line is the interpretation of the Book of Revelation. The traditional view of the church through that ages has been that Revelation is a book of symbols. At times it is hard to understand, but that is because we don’t understand the writing style. Many theologians have said that the main focus in Revelation is to the events surrounding the destruction of the Temple and the persecution of Christians at the hands of the Jews and then the Romans.
Dispensationalists attempt to turn this on its head, trying to interpret Revelation literally where possible and assigning it all to the end times, i.e. to the future.
Through the ages, the church has understood the future to be “post-millennial”, that is that the Kingdom of God would be established by the church’s mission efforts. Gradually like the smallest seed the church would grow to become a great plant. Eventually the values of God’s kingdom would influence the whole world and after a lengthy period of Christ reigning in the world, He would return physically to wrap up history.
Is the church going to be reduced to a tiny remnant waiting for the Rapture when Jesus beams us up out of the mess? Or is the gospel going to ultimately conquer the hearts of men and women all over the world?
The problem with the premillennial view, apart from the fact that is historically wrong- the church is making huge headway all around the world- is that it discourages the church from the task of making disciples. What is the point when everything is just getting worse? It suggests an unwarranted imminence of the return of Christ so there is no point in planning even for the next generation.
Some people have suggested that it is precisely the expectation that things will get worse for the church that has brought us to the place of unprecedented weakness in the West. We have no faith in the gospel to convert the hearts of men and women and to transform the life of the nation.
We need a new expectation, a new eschatology, in which we confidently expect God to establish His reign in the world. We need to believe that God is stronger than satan and has a better destiny for the church than a last minute evacuation.
Conclusion
Dispensationalism, particularly its distinctive view on the End Times, has led much of the Western church into a wilderness. Rather than preaching the gospel boldly, believing that the Holy Spirit will give us the power to change nations, we have become fearful and weak.
It is time to understand the true nature of God’s Kingdom and His plans to redeem the whole of creation with His Good News.
Reflection on John 6:1-21
Scripture
After the people saw the miraculous signs that Jesus did, they began to say, “Surely this is the Prophet who is to come into the world.”
Observation
Jesus and His disciples cross the lake and the people follow them. Seeing the crowds, Jesus asks Philip, “How are we going to feed these people?”
Andrew brings a boy with his lunch. Jesus takes the bread, gives thanks and distribute it. He does the same with the fish, and 5000 men are fed. When they pick up the crumbs, they fill twelve baskets.
Seeing that the people want to make Him king by force, Jesus draws away by himself.
When night comes, the disciples get into a boat to cross the lake. A storm breaks out and Jesus appears walking on the water. He gets into the boat and immediately the boat arrives at its destination.
Application
I am always amazed at the stories of the feeding of the 5000 and of the 4000. John links this story to Jesus walking on the water, with the detail that the boat is miraculously transported to its destination.
The take home message from this passage is trust Jesus for everything.
He knows what you need and is able to supply it in abundance. If you are walking with Jesus then He will make sure you get what you need. Do not be anxious.
He knows where you need to be and He will get you there. Many people struggle with questions about where they should live or work or what God’s plan is for their life. Do not be anxious- He will get you to the place He wants you to be,
Prayer
Lord Jesus help me to trust you for everything I need, for food to eat and the knowledge that I am in the right place. Amen.
Eye Drops For Cataracts
This would truly be a life-changer for millions of people.
From the ABC:
Cataracts could be treated with eye drops instead of surgery in future, study says
An eye drop tested on dogs suggests that cataracts, the most common cause of blindness in humans, could one day be cured without surgery, a study has said.
A naturally-occurring molecule called lanosterol, administered with an eye dropper, shrank canine cataracts, a team of scientists reported in Nature.
Currently the only treatment available for the debilitating growths, which affect tens of millions of people worldwide, is going under the knife.
While surgery is generally simple and safe, the number of people who need it is set to double in the next 20 years as populations age. And for many, it remains prohibitively costly.
The chain of research leading to the potential cure began with two children — patients of lead researcher Kang Zhang of Sun Yat-sen University in Guangzhou, China — from families beset with a congenital, or inherited, form of the condition.
Dr Zhang and colleagues discovered that his patients shared a mutation in a gene critical for producing lanosterol, which the researchers suspected might impede cataract-forming proteins from clumping in normal eyes.
In a first set of lab experiments on cells, they confirmed their hunch that lanosterol helped ward off the proteins.
In subsequent tests, dogs with naturally-occurring cataracts received eye drops containing the molecule.
After six weeks of treatment, the size and characteristic cloudiness of the cataracts had decreased, the researchers reported.
“Our study identifies lanosterol as a key molecule in the prevention of lens protein aggregation and points to a novel strategy for cataract prevention and treatment,” the authors concluded.
Cataracts account for half of blindness cases worldwide.
“These are very preliminary findings,” said J Fielding Hejtmancik, a scientist at the US National Eye Institute, who wrote a commentary also published in Nature.
“Before there are any human trials, the scientists will probably test other molecules to see if they might work even better,” he said.
