THOUGHTS ON CURRENT CONDITIONS 17/18 OCTOBER 2020
May I offer a few thoughts as an outsider to mainly an American audience? Over the last 30 to 40 years, I used to say that the Lord could come any time, and we believed that. We used to point to bad things in the world and say we were living in the last days. We had our crooked politicians, Israel was in place, and the 10 nations of Europe formed the European Common Market. No one of us had heard about “political correctness”; no one imagined it would be law that men can marry men, and there would be legislation and penalties against those who spoke out against homosexuality. We valued life so that no one imagined the possibility of abortion becoming law and that Christians can be fined or jailed for going within 100 meters of an abortion clinic. If we ever did think of abortion, it was in terms of an abortion after a couple of weeks, not the 22 weeks as it is in Queensland or full term as Pelosi wants it.
When I look back, what we saw 30/40 years ago, which we thought was bad then, is rather tame compared with current conditions.
It would have been inconceivable to think that in 2019 you would be forbidden in the State of Victoria (Australia) to use the term “boys and girls” in the classroom, or as legislation is now being formed, “husband and wife” can’t be used. 30 years ago, sex education was being introduced by our socialist governments of Australia, but we never would have even guessed then that in schools here now, children are brainwashed about what is called gender fluidity. They are told if they feel they are male or female, then they are what they think. There are no boundaries. Sex education is such that they are being told homosexuality and lesbianism are good, and it is quite fine for them to experiment with it. This is being told to kids 7 years and older. Never would we have thought that the State would demand of children that their parents be reported if the child was smacked. Now that is a criminal conviction here. Who could ever have conceived of it?
In the last 30 years, all firearms have been removed from people, and it is a criminal offense to own a weapon, except if one belongs to a registered gun club or is a farmer on a large property like our stations are (ranches for you). It is even a criminal offense to walk in a National Park with a knife of any sort on your person. There is absolutely no hunting, shooting, or keeping a pet from the wild like a reptile or bird, such as we did as kids, to observe it as a pet then often release it.
Environmental laws have unbelievable offenses. If I throw a stick or stone at a dog that might be threatening me, it is a $4,000 fine; if I throw something at a crocodile, it is a $22,000 fine; if I injure some creature in Queensland, it is a fine of $266, 900 and 4 years in jail. Crocodiles (a form of the satanic imagery) in Queensland number millions, and there are millions more on crocodile farms. The Government declared them as endangered. In Australia, we have the largest fruit bat in the world, called the flying fox. There are tens of millions of them that poop acidic feces over rooftops and cars, etc, but they have full protection as critically endangered. There is no logic with green Marxists. It is unbelievable, especially as they carry deadly diseases, Australian bat lyssavirus and Hendra virus.
It is the Greens, these environmental communists, who have forced all this through the socialist politicians. The crocodile is almost worshipped. It is a very dangerous animal many, many times worse than the American alligator, a vicious animal responsible for a lot of deaths, and we can’t use our rivers in north Queensland because of that. Crocodiles and vermin have far more rights than people. They worship the creature rather than the Creator.
40 years ago, we used to look at the USSR and think it was a vile, wicked thing, which it was, but the whole free world was united against those socialist ideals. What is sad today is that our western countries are embracing the leftist policies of Marxism and forcing these onto us. We have that in Australia, and in my State, we have had over 1,000 rights to freedom of speech, freedom of expression, freedom of movement, and freedom of religion removed from us in the past 3 years, and each has been associated with penalties, fines, and threatened jail time. Queensland works on repression, penalties, restrictions, fines, corruption, and more and more power is arbitrarily being given to the police. Victoria and Queensland have become police states.
Under the Australian Labor Party (the same as Democrats), when in Government federally, they opened Parliament, not with Christian prayer but with a “smoking ceremony,” a spiritist practice of the aborigines invoking the spirits. It is demonic. It is when a fire is lit and the smoke stirred and wafted by a branch or something.
What I find most distressful is that these wicked, godless Marxist governments are being elected by the people of the State and nation. It is like the blind electing the blind, the godless electing the godless. People elect a government that most reflects themselves. Bad and misled people elect bad and misled politicians. People ignorantly are voting for their own destruction. Surely people know what a Marxist state is like when we look at the USSR and China and North Korea, and you’d expect them to run a mile from that, but they don’t. Why, we might wonder? There is a simple answer to that.
From the 1990s onwards, the education system in Australia came under the influence of radical feminists, humanists, and progressively left-wing socialists. They have now altered the education curriculum to become a socialist platform. The basics get little attention, the history of our own country has been discarded, as has the great democratic movements of the world. Children are being programmed into a Marxist and green philosophy of a socialist agenda. The ignorant from the 1990s education system are now the ignorant teachers of today. By “ignorant” I mean lack of an all-round understanding of the pursuit of knowledge and an all-rounded curriculum.
The work ethic has declined rapidly in Australia with great handouts to those on the dole, many of whom have no intention of working. It is mainly a lazy generation. Students don’t fail anymore. It is supposed to be bad for self-esteem, and the education institutions like universities get less money if students fail. These students copy assignments from the internet, and the more astute of them make a few changes to make it appear that it is their own work. At a University near me, Year 12 students were being taken into a Teacher Training course with an OP score of 19 (OP 25 was the absolute bottom of the gradings). Standards have fallen by the wayside.
The other answer to the problem of electing bad people into government is that of delusion. I have considered this matter for a while and conclude there is a great delusion in the world right now. People are following what is bad without knowing it is bad or don’t care that it is bad. It is in line with Isaiah chapter 5:20-21, “Woe to those who call evil good, and good evil, who substitute darkness for light and light for darkness, who substitute bitter for sweet, and sweet for bitter! Woe to those who are wise in their own eyes and clever in their own sight!” Our world pursues the evil and the bitter. It is a demonic delusion that causes this. This is not the “strong delusion” that God sends in the Tribulation, but we can see a forerunner of that right now.
I think that is enough on the state of matters for the time being.
Before I continue, I want to add these verses from Isaiah that would be so applicable to our present nations – 59:9-15:
“Therefore, justice is far from us, and righteousness does not overtake us. We hope for light, but behold, darkness; for brightness, but we walk in gloom. We grope along the wall like blind men. We grope like those who have no eyes. We stumble at midday as in the twilight. Among those who are vigorous we are like dead men. All of us growl like bears and moan sadly like doves. We hope for justice, but there is none, for salvation, but it is far from us.
“Our transgressions are multiplied before You, and our sins testify against us; for our transgressions are with us and we know our iniquities: transgressing and denying the LORD, and turning away from our God, speaking oppression and revolt, conceiving in and uttering from the heart lying words. Justice is turned back, and righteousness stands far away; for truth has stumbled in the street, and uprightness cannot enter. Yes, truth is lacking; and he who turns aside from evil makes himself a prey. Now the LORD saw, and it was displeasing in His sight that there was no justice.”
There are two matters I wish to mention, which are climate change and media influence. CLIMATE CHANGE – I do not believe in this and think it is a “beat up” (artificial or disingenuously manufactured outcry) pushed by the green and radical environmentalists; but if you take an opposing view, then still follow this. What this climate change mania has done is to focus all attention on the importance of the environment over all other considerations.
I love the environment, but we do not worship it as the humanists do, and that is the trouble. It is becoming earth worship. One thing you do notice is that all these environmentalists and climate change spokespeople are atheists and anti-Christian. The whole movement is away from Christianity, a deflection of biblical truth. I am not talking about Christians needing to care for the environment. That is a given. It is one more shelving of the Christian faith.
MEDIA – The mainline media has become the enemy of truth and the vehicle of anti-conservative and anti-Christian standards.
Australia has the Melbourne Age, the Sydney Morning Herald, and worst of all, The Australian Broadcasting Commission (ABC). The latter receives about 900 million dollars of tax money yearly, but the presenters and staff are radical socialist left wing. Can I say VERY radical, very anti-Christian and promote the extreme Greens and the socialist element of the ALP. That is done with our tax money!
Of course, the United States suffers under the same nest of vipers – CNN, The New York Times, The Washington Post, and we can add another that restricts Christian content, removes conservative articles, places good Christian material in a search at the bottom of the list and gives you the opposing articles to a search you want – I mean Google. My advice is to watch the Fox News and Fox channel, and another site on YouTube, “China in Focus.” For those who love the truth, I don’t need to tell you how Trump is maligned constantly, and the bad errors of the left are discarded, not to see the light of day.
The Chinese virus has magnified things. Australian States were, and are in lockdown with borders closed with only a few corona cases, often none, but still under restriction. It is all about control of the people. People are confined to travel of no greater distance than 5 km (about 3 miles) in some instances. At times it was even less. The socialist authorities in Australia took the opportunity to force people into conformity and compliance. It is like sheep being herded up and locked in a pen with no expression of thought or action opposite of what the authorities want.
Make no mistake about this; if the Democrats take control of the USA, the nation will be so weakened that it will not recover. It will become like Australia, and chaos will rule. The USA will be a far more dangerous place because everyone has firearms. Unlike Australia, the citizens of the USA will not take these Marxist changes lying down. Many will oppose them. The current Democrats are dangerous, not like the inane bunch of Clinton’s time. They have become far more radical.
The Bible says in the last days, evil men will grow from bad to worse. We thought some rulers and leaders 20 years ago were bad, but look around today. They have become worse. We all wish for the Lord to return so we leave this scene, and it is true that there is nothing now in the world that has to happen before the Rapture can occur. What we don’t know is how far along the line is “worse”? Bad to worse, and even worse. It is possible that things might have to become much worse. The virus has weakened the world terribly and is bringing in chaotic conditions. China is currently picking fights with 23 of its neighbors. I wrote an article for RR a few months ago called “The Rapture – How Soon is Soon?” It all lies in God’s hands, but the world is being molded into shape for the events of the future, to await the breaking of the first seal of Revelation 6.
In the Australian Capital Territory where Canberra is, they had an election today (Oct 17), and the Australian Labor Party got back with an increased vote for the Greens. The ALP is the same as your Democrats. The Greens are out and out communists. My State goes to the polls in 2 weeks, and our current ALP will probably get back. Before the virus, they would have been defeated, but the virus has deluded people. The Greens are much stronger in Queensland now. It will be very sad. New Zealand had an election yesterday, and Labor won again, but it is radical left and very pro-China.
God declares there are two ways, not three or any other number. There is the way of life, and there is the way of death, and every human being is in either way. The Bible expresses that thought in different illustrations. Psalm 1 is the Psalm of The Two Ways. Jesus spoke about the two gates leading either to life or death. Because there are two ways, there are two destinies, for each one has its own end. It is not popular or politically correct to talk about hell now, but the Bible does, in fact, more times than it talks about heaven. Jesus spoke about the broad way leading to hell and destruction but the narrow way leading to life. Why are those ways broad and narrow? It is because of the number of travelers on them just like a path through long grass.
Over time, that track/trail becomes more defined according to the number of people who use it and make it more distinguishable. So the broad way is defined because of the imprint left behind by so many feet.
The Bible also contains this most insightful verse – “There is a way that seems right unto a man but the ways thereof are the ways of death.” The people of the western world think they follow the right way. They think they are traveling correctly, but they are not.
They are heading downwards all the time when they think they are on the level road. Sin is deceitful and destructive and appears as light, so these people think the road is lit up before them. That is why so few will change. The sin problem has scarred their reasoning and ability to hear the voice of God. The people of the world push forward, doing what is right in each one’s eyes.
On the journey of adventure centuries ago, and still today, a compass was needed for correct directions.
Without a compass, the old navigators would have wandered the seas and perished because they were disorientated, though some were skillful to navigate by the stars. That brings us to a very vital piece of equipment everyone needs, and that is a moral compass. The moral compass shows what is right from wrong, what is the condition of the broad and narrow ways. There is only one moral compass. It is not conscience because man’s conscience is flawed, having been programmed by the old nature. Nothing a person has can be a moral compass for him and her. The only compass is the Bible. There is no other one in existence.
What if a navigator or explorer lost his compass? Well, he would become lost fairly soon with dire consequences. The Bible IS the ONLY moral compass, so if you want to destroy the person’s soul and bring destruction upon the human race, how do you do it?
Well, you remove the Bible, “lose” the Bible for the nations of the world. The homosexual community in Australia is trying to have the Bible declared an offensive book, according to a news report I read. Some State Governments here have banned the Bible from schools, and in one State, the name of Jesus is discouraged from being used on the school ground. There is no prayer in schools except in denominational and Christian schools. The Gideon bible, which for years could be found in every hotel room and motel, and hospitals, is now becoming scarce because places are refusing them, some of them using the pretense that it will be an offense to the Moslems. Satan has designed this all so well. The strategic pillars of Christianity have been eroded.
All of this is no surprise when we study it in the Bible and what it says about the last days of the Church age, but what has really surprised me is both the suddenness of the decline and the intensity of it. That puts our present world in freefall and in the greatest of peril. Observant Christians can see it, Bible students can see it, but those not of Christian persuasion are in darkness, so they walk in darkness and adopt the precepts of darkness.
My State faces an election in two weeks that all say will see the current neo-Marxists returned even though they have a shocking record. May I address the people in the United States? Do not forget that God is in control and everything is working out for His glory and purpose. Under President Trump, the nation put the brakes on the rapidly advancing evil threatening to overtake you. Trump can’t cure it; he can only apply the brakes to it. Remember the great King Josiah, the last godly king of Judah, a fantastic man. He brought about many reforms and stopped the evil, which was always present just under the surface because the people were so evil. Jeremiah would testify to that. Josiah held back the floodgates, but as soon as he died, his worthless sons took over, and the sinfulness of the nation led it into the Babylonian destruction.
Trump has held back the floodgates, but will God allow that for another 4 years?
It is in God’s hands what happens, and if He is extending His grace for another term, Trump will get in, but if the United States’ time is up, then evil will sweep the nation as never before.
What must Christians do? I know Christians have been praying for the USA, even here in Australia. Whatever the outcome, keep your faith solid on the two foundations we have. The first is a closeness of faith in the Saviour, and the second is in the Bible. It is our moral compass and our true light in darkness.
Lastly, look up, for your salvation draws near, and is closer every day.
Rev 22:20-21 “He who testifies to these things says, ‘Yes, I am coming quickly.’ Amen. Come, Lord Jesus. The grace of the Lord Jesus be with all. Amen.”
ronaldf@aapt.net.au
