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firefighter nsw bushfire

Despite daily turmoil and trepidation of living in a shattered and hurting world, Christians everywhere have unshakeable hope, writes Caleb Stephen.

I write this piece as out of control bushfires rage in NSW and QLD meanwhile the hot topic of the day is linking this devastation to climate change.

I am mindful that hundreds upon hundreds of people have been displaced or tragically lost homes. And sadly too, there are families right now grieving the loss of loved ones.

And as if that stuff isn’t heavy enough, this globe continues to turn and for every morning that we wake up, we flick on the TV, scroll through our social media feeds or read through the newspaper and the cold hard reality of the fractured world that we live in hits home hard.

Constant attacks on religious freedom, faith, family values and the sanctity of human life only results in our further disconcertment, disillusionment and depression.

Everywhere we look we see bleakness; we see darkness looming. Hardly a bright and hopeful future ahead… or so it seems.

As an organisation, FamilyVoice Australia is daily at the forefront of repelling attacks from those who seek to undermine the Christian faith - which has been the cornerstone of Western Civilization for the last millennium.

We do what we can as servants of God attempting to fulfil our calling in the Kingdom of God to be loving agents of grace, delivering “salt and light” to the world around us.

And yes, there are definitely times when our efforts feel less than enough. Less than effective. Less than important.

After all, we’re only human and try as we might, cannot solve all the problems of this world. Whether they’re social, political, spiritual or physical, without Jesus, we are ultimately powerless.

“Where is the hope in all of this?” it is only natural to ask.

In trying times like this, I find it comforting to fall back on my faith in God. It’s the one place in which I can find answers when everywhere else I can find none.

In the book of Matthew 8 and in verse 23 we read of Jesus and his disciples entering a boat on the sea of Galilee and a storm arising which caused waves to actually start sweeping over that boat.

Jesus was fast asleep and the disciples who by that point were panicking yelled at Jesus saying: “save us, we’re going to drown!”

And I love this part of the passage. In verse 26 He replied: “You of little faith, why are you so afraid?” 

Then He rebuked the raging wind and the crashing waves and ushered in calmness.

I think at times it is so easy to forget the presence and power of God in the moments in life that are really dark. And as I go through life, I realise there are a lot of those.

While the darkness increases and the storm rages around us, we can rest assured that God is ultimately in control and above all these things.

Romans 5 talks about suffering producing important character qualities, one of those being hope.

Verse 5 goes on to say that “And this hope will not lead to disappointment. For we know how dearly God loves us, because he has given us the Holy Spirit to fill our hearts with his love.”

The bottom line is that despite daily turmoil and trepidation of living in a shattered and hurting world, Christians everywhere have unshakeable hope. Living hope. Unashamed hope. Comforting hope.

It doesn’t matter how thick the darkness, how crushing the despair or how agonizing the desperation. Jesus gives Hope. Jesus gives Life. None of these things are too big for Him.

And this is why it is crucial to have faith and that we need to let our faith be strengthened in the hardest moments of life.

So, in the middle of these storms, let me conclude by saying this: lean into Jesus, draw close to Him and find your hope for the future in Him when everywhere else seems to be void of it.

 

pregnant

FamilyVoice Australia is warning about a new national scheme that will enable more women to handle their own chemical abortion at home.

“More women are going to experience the devastating consequences of abortion in their own bathrooms as a result of this program,” said FamilyVoice spokesman David d’Lima.

‘Abortion Online’ will enable women to access abortifacient chemicals with no requirement of an appointment or face-to-face meeting with a medical doctor.

“Women facing crisis pregnancy will simply visit a website and secure abortifacient chemicals, with devastating consequences,” he said.

FamilyVoice Australia recently screened the ground-breaking “Unplanned” film that portrays pitifully a woman who takes a prescription to kill and expel her baby in the bathroom.

“The move is extremely difficult to watch, but we must see the devastating reality of all kinds of abortion, including use of RU-486 prescriptions,” David d’Lima said.

“This new national scheme to provide so-called tele-abortion will utterly privatise the killing of the unborn and it will devastate women in their own homes.

“More women are going to suffer physical, mental and spiritual anguish as they imbibe poison to kill their little one, see it expelled and then have to handle the disposal.

“Our civic authorities seem to have no idea about the profound damage this will do to women in their own homes and they must ban this new program.”

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Paralympian Marieke Vervoort, who won Gold at the 2012 London Olympics, has been euthanised at just 40 years of age.

Vervoort suffered from a spinal condition which she had lived with since she was 21.

The talented athlete, who also won silver and bronze at the 2016 Rio Olympics, first signed Belgium euthanasia documents in 2008.

In Australia, euthanasia was legalised in Victoria this year and activists are pushing for it to be another part of “healthcare” in Western Australia and Queensland.

But there has been strong pushback against the legalisation moves, particularly from medical professionals and indigenous leaders.

FamilyVoice has previously reported that WA's most senior end-of-life care specialists are concerned that an alarming lack of palliative care resources has caused increased demand for euthanasia.

More recently, two Aboriginal politicians have criticised the WA legislation.

“I strongly believe that all life is sacrosanct and should be protected”, said Ken Wyatt.

While Pat Dodson said he was concerned by a lack of public commentary on Aboriginal self-determination surrounding the bill.

“The Western civil society has had an alleged need for this change to the sanctity of life. This sanctity of life understanding has much resonance with our perspectives and First Nations have respected it,” Mr Dodson said.

“Now, with little education or explanation we are confused as to why a change is necessary,” he added.

Meanwhile barrister and former MP Tim Hammond has featured in a number of videos with healthcare specialists.

“For me, when it comes to this notion of voluntary assisted dying, or euthanasia, or whatever label we want to put on it, quite frankly, it sort of comes back to the same thing,” Mr Hammond says in one of the videos.

“And that is, what does it actually mean, applying this notion of giving someone else the right to end the life of my family member, my wife if she gets a terminal illness, my mum, others.

“If this legislation passes, and I get it wrong, or we get it wrong in relation to a diagnosis, what number is a number that is acceptable for you for us to get this wrong, for us to make one mistake at the end of life and we'll never get that time back again.

Christian governor

A Christian school governor has been suspended for daring to say that she would not want her children to read books with LGBT ideology.

Maureen Griffith, 73 years of age, was a governor at Alperton Community School in Brent, northwest London, for over 20 years before she was suspended.

Griffith had also worked for the National Health Service for more than 40 years.

According to The Times, she received a letter earlier this year informing her that she was being suspended due to two complaints alleging that she had made “homophobic comments at a public meeting”.

Discussing the meeting in question, Griffith said that she raised that the introduction of LGBT books and Pride month into the school had not been mentioned before at any previous meetings.

"I said that parents had not been consulted and that there would be parents with children from religious backgrounds who would object and not want their children to have this form of sex education. I urged them to consider those families, and added that as a parent myself, I would not have wanted my sons to be reading LGBT books or to be involved in an LGBT Pride month.

“As I said this, a member of staff stood up and left the room and the clerk of the school began to rage at me saying: ‘Look what you’ve gone and done, you’ve upset him.’ She then told me that I should be accepting of what was happening as it is law.

“I know there were members of staff present who were glad that I raised the issue as they felt unable to do so themselves. After this, my understanding is that two people present complained about what I had said.”

Griffith said when they told her she been ‘homophobic’ for scrutinising the introduction of LGBT Pride month, she had to go home and look up what it meant.

"I couldn’t believe it. It never occurred to me that I could be ‘homophobic’ or scared of something. These things don’t come into my head.

“But now with this LGBT agenda, not just in schools, but across society, there is no debate, no questioning and there is only a one-way democracy.

“I loved being part of education and planning what was happening at the school. I am, however, at peace over the whole situation. I am not annoyed; I am only saddened that this is happening in this country.

“My faith in Jesus is very important to me in good and bad times – it is my be all and end all. I can do nothing without His help, and he makes my burden lighter. This is how my mum brought me up.”

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Hundreds of young “transgender” people are seeking help to live as their biological sex.

That’s according to former “trans” man, 28-year-old UK woman Charlie Evans, who is setting up The Detransition Advocacy Network.

Charlie was born female but identified as male for nearly 10 years before returning to living as her real gender.

Sky News states that the number of young people seeking gender transition is at an all-time high and there is currently no data to reflect the number who may be unhappy in their new gender or who may opt to detransition to their biological sex.  Sky News reports that Charlie was stunned by the number of people who want to detransition like her:

“I’m in communication with 19 and 20-year-olds who have had full gender reassignment surgery who wish they hadn’t, and their dysphoria hasn’t been relieved, they don’t feel better for it,” she says.

“They don’t know what their options are now.”

Charlie says she has been contacted by “hundreds” of people seeking help - 30 people alone in her area of Newcastle.

“I think some of the common characteristics are that they tend to be around their mid-20s, they’re mostly female and mostly same-sex attracted, and often autistic as well.”

She recalls being approached by a young girl with a beard who hugged her after giving a public talk, who explained she was a destransitioned woman too.

“She said she felt shunned by the LGBT community for being a traitor. So I felt I had to do something.”

Sky News reported on the case of “Ruby”, a biological female who experienced trans regret.

Ruby had been taking testosterone and was about to have her breasts removed when she decided to detransition.

“I didn’t think any change was going to be enough in the end and I thought it was better to work on changing how I felt about myself, than changing my body,” said Ruby.

“I’ve seen similarities in the way I experience gender dysphoria, in the way I experience other body image issues.

“When I was at my gender clinic to get referred for hormones, we had a session where I went over my mental health issues and I told them about my eating disorder and they didn’t suggest that that could maybe connected with my gender dysphoria.

“For everyone who has gender dysphoria, whether they are trans or not, I want there to be more options for us because I think there is a system of saying, ‘okay here’s your hormones, here’s your surgery, off you go’. I don’t think that’s helpful for anyone,” Ruby added.