Upgrade to heaven
Getting an upgrade, whether it is with a phone, a flight, a hotel room, or something else, can be a moment of great joy. (more…)
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The Bible is the backbone of western society
When Somali-born Dutch American activist, writer, and politician Ayaan Hirsi Ali addressed the Alliance for Responsible Citizenship conference (ARC) forum in London in February 2025, she claimed that Christianity and the Bible is the backbone of the secular state. Nations need Christian morality. It’s like the operating system of society. Remove Christianity, Ayaan argued, and the entire Western system topples over. (more…)
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Selfish greedy leaders
Eddie Obeid is a retired politician and convicted criminal, who served as a member of the NSW Legislative Council between 1991 and 2011. In 2016, a jury found Obeid guilty of misconduct in public office. He was sentenced to five years in jail. Then in 2021 he was sentence to 7 years jail for a similar offence. He misused his position as a Member of Parliament to benefit his family’s financial interests. On many occasions he failed to declare a conflict of interest. He was corrupt and dishonest and looked after his interests instead of the people of NSW. (more…)
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Leaders murdering truth for their own agenda
History is peppered with both political and religious leaders knowingly and willingly lying to the public for their own gain, glory and purposes. Julius Caesar reportedly lied about the Gauls and started a war with them to redirect attention from his own debt and corruption. Hitler famously used his “big lie” technique to gain the popular support and persecute the Jewish people. Much evidence has come to light that when George Bush cited Hussein’s “massive stockpile” of weapons as the reason they were invading Iraq he knew they did not exist. Then we have the even more tragic ever-growing list of Christian leaders who have been exposed as deceitful – embezzling cash, sexual misconduct, extramarital affairs. (more…)
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Prophecies about Jesus: His resurrection
Jesus did many miracles. He healed many people, including the demon possessed. He used a boy’s lunch to feed a crowd that included 5,000 men. He calmed a storm. And He raised Jarius’s daughter back to life.
But then some Jewish religious leaders asked Jesus to show them another miraculous sign to prove that He was the promised Messiah! They disregarded all His other miracles. They were skeptical. The request was an excuse for their unbelief. They probably wanted a spectacular “sign from heaven” (Mt. 16:1; Lk. 11:16). But they weren’t looking for proof from Jesus, they were looking for proof against Him, so they could get Him killed. It was a test, not just a request (Mt. 16:1; Mk. 8:11; Lk, 11:16). (more…)
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Is the Old Testament contradictory when it says that “children are punished for the sin of their parents” (Ex. 20:5) and “children are not to be put to death for their parents (sin)” (Dt. 24:16)?
At first glance, these appear to conflict: but one suggests generational punishment for sin, while the other insists on individual accountability. (more…)
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Light and darkness in climate science
This message
was given by Anika Sweetland at the World Prosperity Forum, which is a freedom-based, prosperity focused alternative to the World Economic Forum. Anika is a climate scientist who has worked for the Australian government in energy policy.
Introduction
When I was 19, I would lie awake at night trying to calculate how old I would be when the food shortages hit. Where I should live one day to avoid the sea level rise? Where would be safe to live in 20 years time? Whether it was even ethical to bring a child into the world I genuinely believed was going to collapse due to unavoidable catastrophic climate change. And the strangest part is that no one had made me think this with violence. No one had threatened me. All they had done is teach me. (more…)
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Only light can repel darkness
For most Australians today literal darkness isn’t much of a problem. We have artificial light at our finger tips and as such can do almost any activity we wish day or night. But the metaphorical darkness of evil still plagues us. We witness political leaders using their power for their own gain at the expense of others, civilians being killed for disagreeing with authorities, money being siphoned into leaders pockets while populations are hungry and homeless. The rich protect the rich without reference to truth or justice. Self service, corruption, greed, deception, violence, this is the kind of moral darkness we can feel powerless to repel. (more…)
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The three heavens
Heaven seems to be a rather neglected subject today. But what do we mean by ‘heaven’? People sometimes say that deceased Christians have ‘gone to heaven’ to be with the Lord (1 Th. 4:17). That heaven is not a created place, yet the Bible’s opening verse states, “In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth” (Gen. 1:1ESV). (more…)
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Prophecies about Jesus: The only way of salvation
There have been four shark attacks in NSW this week. A boy died after he was attacked at Shark beach in Vaucluse in Sydney harbour. A man was bitten at Manly beach. The other incidents were at Dee Why beach, and at Point Plomer near Port Macquarie. This follows fatal attacks at Sydney’s Long Reef and near Taree in late 2025. (more…)
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When Christianity came to Australia
Most countries take at least one day a year to celebrate their nationhood and Australia do it on 26 January. On this day in 1788 Arthur Philip raised the British flag at Sydney Cove. (more…)
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God’s hate speech
When I was young there was a children’s rhyme: “Sticks and stones may break my bones, but names (words) will never hurt me”. We must have been more resilient and tougher then because now the Australian government wants to legislate against hate speech! This could lead to discrimination against Christians and the censorship of Christian views. (more…)
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What is the significance of the number seven in the Bible?
If you sit down at a piano, you’ll notice a pattern. From Middle C to the next C, there are exactly seven white keys. These seven notes make up a scale (Appendix A). If you play only six, the melody feels unfinished—it leaves the ear hanging, waiting for a resolution. But when you hit that seventh note, the scale reaches its ‘octave’ and feels complete. (more…)
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Comparing people and animals
“Humans once stood on a pedestal: made by God in his image, earthly lords of all creation, categorically distinct from mere animals. That was the belief, anyway. Jane Goodall played a large role on eroding that self-flattering conviction, with her extraordinary study of wild chimpanzees at what is now Gombe National Park in Tanzania. By discovering unexpected behavioral similarities between chimps and humans, she continued the revolution begun by Copernicus and Galileo and advanced in a great leap by Charles Darwin: taking earth out of the center of the universe and humans down from our holy isolation. Goodall helped us see, long before genome comparisons confirmed it, that the gap between chimps and people is smaller than anyone thought. Gorillas aren’t the closest living relatives of chimpanzees. We are” (Quammen, 2025). (more…)
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Overview of the Bible
This overview of the Bible is based on a video from Christianity Engaged. It is a short walk through the entire Bible to help us understand the greatest story ever told.
The Bible is comprised of 66 different books, but it is a single, cohesive story about a God who made us to love us, and His eternal plan to save us.
The main story arc of the Bible goes like this: creation, the fall of mankind, the global flood, the Tower of Babel, the story of the nation of Israel (which comprises most of the Old Testament), Jesus Christ and the cross, who ushered in a new covenant, the current Church age we are in, and the final eternal state with a new heaven and a new earth. (more…)
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Imagine everlasting happiness
Has there been a moment in your life when you felt truly and deeply happy? What was it that brought you happiness in that moment? How did it end and why? Can you imagine it never ending? (more…)
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Witnesses of the resurrection
Each cricket series against England in Australia Glenn McGrath predicts Australia to win 5-0. And he is usually right! So, if you told me that in the Boxing Day test England has had its first win since 2011, I wouldn’t believe you. That’s 14 years (or 5,468 days) without a win! If you showed me a report, I would think it was fake news. And if you showed me a photo or video, I would think it was generated by AI. How can I check if the report and photo or video was true or not? I could ask someone who was an eyewitness yesterday at the Melbourne Cricket Ground. That’s the kind of evidence I need. (more…)
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Christmas miracles
Numerous movies, TV shows, stories and songs have been written on miracles and Christmas. Did you know that at Christmas we celebrate a miracle? The Bible claims that the conception of Jesus was a miracle. So, He was a miracle baby. But how can anyone believe that this was true? After all, I am not aware of any other miraculous conceptions reported in human history. (more…)
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The gift of peace with God
I remember Christmas eve as the peak of childhood excitement. I could say it was about family or feasts or celebrating Jesus’ birth, but the truth is it was all about the anticipation of presents. It was a magical feeling falling asleep on Christmas eve… the scent of Christmas pine, the glow of twinkling lights, the promise of presents. (more…)
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Dealing with problems in the church at Corinth
Imagine a high-performance sports team. They’ve got incredible talent—star players with amazing skills, speed, strength, and strategy. But when they hit the field, something’s terribly wrong. The players are arguing over who gets the spotlight, fighting about playing styles, some are living reckless lives off the field that’s dragging the whole team down, and others are showing up in mismatched uniforms, ignoring the coach’s playbook entirely. They’re talented, but they’re fractured—divided, dysfunctional, and far from winning. That’s a picture of the problems in the church in Corinth. (more…)
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A great victory
The first cricket test against England finished recently after just two days of play! England batted first and scored 172 runs, which seemed too low. But then Australia only scored 132 runs, giving England a lead of 40 runs on the first innings. In the second innings, England was 1 for 65 (105 runs ahead, with 9 wickets in hand). They would have been feeling confident of winning the game. But then the Australian bowlers took 5 wickets for 23 runs and England scored only 164 in the second innings. This meant that Australia needed to score 205 runs to win, which was higher than all the previous innings. So the English would have still been confident of winning, especially after their fast bowlers had terrorised the Australian batters in the first innings and Khawaja (the Australian opening batter) was injured. So the barmy army of English supporters was in full swing while things were going England’s way. What happened next? Australia was rescued by Travis Head who hit 123 runs off 83 balls! It was an amazing effort. He was a hero and won the game for Australia. And the barmy army were silent. (more…)
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Is Genesis 1 liturgy?
Recently I heard a claim that Genesis 1 in the Bible (Appendix A) was an Israelite liturgy like Psalm 136. In Psalm 136 each second line is “His [God’s] love endures forever” (Appendix B). The psalm offers praise to God for His creation of the heavens and earth and His deliverance of Israel out of Egypt and bringing them to settle in Canaan. It was claimed that “And there was evening, and there was morning-the xth day” in Genesis 1 was a repetitive pattern like that in Psalm 136. (more…)
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Prophecies about Jesus: His death, burial and resurrection
Mark Taylor (captain of the Australian cricket team, 1994-1999) told Sam Konstas to ditch the ramp shot and go back to basics to force his way back into the (Australian) Test cricket team. The basics are the foundation of whatever you are talking about. Builders know that if the foundation isn’t right, the whole structure will fail. (more…)
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A brave rescue!
Last Friday was the 108th anniversary of a brave rescue. On 31 October 1917, the Lighthorse charge at Beersheba in Palestine was ‘The last great cavalry charge in history’. My wife’s grandfather was one of the 800 Australian horsemen that captured Beersheba. Beersheba marks the southern boundary of Israel, often mentioned in the biblical phrase, “from Dan (in the north) to Beersheba (in the south)” (Jud. 20:1; 1 Sam. 3:20; 2 Sam. 3:10; 1 Ki. 4:25). Abraham, Isaac and Jacob lived there and Elijah visited when he fled from queen Jezebel. This stunning victory ended the 400-year Turkish rule over the Holy Land and lead to the creation of Israel as a nation once again. It was a brave rescue from Muslim rule. (more…)
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