Friday: The day after Thursday

Spiritual abuse

2008-02-23T08:33:00.002+13:00

I'm often asked by people to explain what I mean by spiritual abuse. So here goes.

Imagine a child who has been through some of the worst sexual abuse you could imagine from a very young age. The child learns how to tolerate it, the abuse began so long ago, that the child begins to think being raped, sodimised and brutalised is the norm. However one day the childs abuser starts bringing around friends.

The child decides to tell someone, and choses a person that they think will be trustworthy. The day comes the child discloses. But instead of doing the right thing and going with the child to the police and supporting them through the process, the person decides the child looks like a nice piece of meat and rapes the child.

The child retreats into themself. They have learnt from a very young age that people can not be trusted.

Photos

2007-10-23T12:31:00.000+13:00

I was quite rapped with how this one turned out.

Constance

2007-10-21T15:30:00.000+13:00

Child porn isnt a softer option than child abuse. Children still have to be sexually molested for your child porn to be made. This is constances story

If you are into child porn, grow some balls, delete your dirty pictures, and your MPEGs, and any other material you have stored, and go and get some help. How would you feel if this was your child, niece, nephew or friends child. You watchers of child porn are no better than those who abuse

Not right

2007-10-04T19:53:00.000+13:00

Scared
terrified
It wasnt supposed to be like this
In searching for life peace freedom and truth
I found death, torture, bondage and lies
They were supposed to be men and women of God
So why did an encounter with them,
leave me feeling the way I did the day the masks came off
And I saw the Old Ones for what they really were
Christian and witch
One spirit
Not right.
Christian not supposed to be listening to the old one
Christian supposed to be listening to the Holy Spirit
One brings death
One brings life.
Why is the Christian listening to the one who brings death?

This week

2007-09-27T23:43:00.000+12:00

I've been called a pedophile, addict, and alcoholic. And guess what, all by Christians too. Its amazing how good christians are at reacting to things, taking it totally out of context and then proceed to swing from the hip

Alfred Lord Tennyson

2007-09-03T23:06:00.000+12:00

It little profits that an idle king,
By this still hearth, among these barren crags,
Match'd with an aged wife, I mete and dole
Unequal laws unto a savage race,
That hoard, and sleep, and feed, and know not me.
I cannot rest from travel; I will drink
Life to the lees. All times I have enjoy'd
Greatly, have suffer'd greatly, both with those
That loved me, and alone; on shore, and when
Thro' scudding drifts the rainy Hyades
Vext the dim sea. I am become a name;
For always roaming with a hungry heart
Much have I seen and known,-- cities of men
And manners, climates, councils, governments,
Myself not least, but honor'd of them all,--
And drunk delight of battle with my peers,
Far on the ringing plains of windy Troy.
I am a part of all that I have met;
Yet all experience is an arch wherethro'
Gleams that untravell'd world whose margin fades
For ever and for ever when I move.
How dull it is to pause, to make an end,
To rust unburnish'd, not to shine in use!
As tho' to breathe were life! Life piled on life
Were all too little, and of one to me
Little remains; but every hour is saved
From that eternal silence, something more,
A bringer of new things; and vile it were
For some three suns to store and hoard myself,
And this gray spirit yearning in desire
To follow knowledge like a sinking star,
Beyond the utmost bound of human thought.
This is my son, mine own Telemachus,
to whom I leave the sceptre and the isle,--
Well-loved of me, discerning to fulfill
This labor, by slow prudence to make mild
A rugged people, and thro' soft degrees
Subdue them to the useful and the good.
Most blameless is he, centred in the sphere
Of common duties, decent not to fail
In offices of tenderness, and pay
Meet adoration to my household gods,
When I am gone. He works his work, I mine.

There lies the port; the vessel puffs her sail;
There gloom the dark, broad seas. My mariners,
Souls that have toil'd, and wrought, and thought with me,--
That ever with a frolic welcome took
The thunder and the sunshine, and opposed
Free hearts, free foreheads,-- you and I are old;
Old age hath yet his honor and his toil.
Death closes all; but something ere the end,
Some work of noble note, may yet be done,
Not unbecoming men that strove with Gods.
The lights begin to twinkle from the rocks;
The long day wanes; the slow moon climbs; the deep
Moans round with many voices. Come, my friends.
'T is not too late to seek a newer world.
Push off, and sitting well in order smite
The sounding furrows; for my purpose holds
To sail beyond the sunset, and the baths
Of all the western stars, until I die.
It may be that the gulfs will wash us down;
It may be we shall touch the Happy Isles,
And see the great Achilles, whom we knew.
Tho' much is taken, much abides; and tho'
We are not now that strength which in old days
Moved earth and heaven, that which we are, we are,--
One equal temper of heroic hearts,
Made weak by time and fate, but strong in will
To strive, to seek, to find, and not to yield.

I love the last three lines of this poem

Random Photos

2007-08-26T10:39:00.000+12:00

I would like to get into doing more with photography. Its kind of fun, and a heck of alot more interesting and less emotionally involving than social work

The Rabbit Proof Fence

2007-08-25T19:37:00.000+12:00

I was baby sitting for my sister last night and got to watching a movie on tv called the Rabbit Proof Fence, its about 3 half caste aboriginal girls that were taken away from their mothers and removed to the Moore River native settlement in Western Australia. The three girls ran away and two of them traveled over 9 weeks to get back to their mothers. The girls were part of what is referred to as the stolen generation. Its interesting, I found a link to a review of the movie that was done by the 1971 Minister of Aboriginal affairs, can we say 'biased'?

One of Australia's dirty little secrets. Its now being bought to the surface once again with John Howard sending the military into the aboriginal settlements in the Northern territory in order to check up on the children and to combat abuse and mistreatment of the children. In all honesty it seems like too little too late. I went to the Broken Links exhibit when in Brisbane, it is about more of the children who were removed from their families between 1930 and 1973. Two of the removals occured in the 1960s and 1970s.

Even though the Minister of Aboriginal affairs Peter Howson states that the problem was not nearly as bad as the movie made out. This report from the Australian Human rights Comission would say otherwise.

The amazingness of nature

2007-08-21T17:52:00.000+12:00

Depression

2007-08-21T12:29:00.000+12:00

I've come to the conclusion that being depressed sucks eggs. Waking up every day feeling like I wanted to die, bites more than I can possibly explain. However for the first time in ages I went for a walk to the gannets colony out at Murawai beach today. The beach was perfect there were few people, the sun was out and it was just an amazing time to be with God in His creation seeing the beauty and wonder of what He made.

I think I am going to have to get into walking regularly, even if I schedule a 30min walk before work, or after work and uni. I think it can be done, and well the benefits are obvious. Endorphins, the bodies natural antidepressant

Like it would ever happen

2007-08-09T20:40:00.000+12:00

City impact church giving something away for free. The start of web broadcasts, however giving previews of 1 minute or so, and to see the rest for $2.95 American.

And theres churches like St Pauls, a prosperous thriving church, that puts the sermons onto podcasts each week, all for the low low price of $0

New Laptop

2007-08-08T12:23:00.000+12:00

I made an application to the June Opie trust in june. They are a trust that offers grants to students on low incomes (with a disability) to purchase needed technical equipment. Was told that I would hear in the first week in July. Came back from Australia, no letter. Rang several weeks later and recieved the news that I had been accepted, however it wouldnt be able to be purchased straight away as the woman was going away on holiday.

Well, on Monday, the cheque arrived and I got to go shopping. My new laptop is an acer aspire 5610. It seems to have so much better battery life than the toshiba brick and it seems so much lighter as well

Thanks So much June Opie

Celtic Blessing

2007-07-27T19:58:00.000+12:00

May the road rise up to meet you.
May the wind be always at your back.
May the sun shine warm upon your face;
the rains fall soft upon your fields and until we meet again, may God hold you in the palm of His hand.

May the blessing of light be on you -
light without and light within.
May the blessed sunlight shine on you like a great peat fire,
so that stranger and friend may come and warm himself at it.
And may light shine out of the two eyes of you,
like a candle set in the window of a house,
bidding the wanderer come in out of the storm.
And may the blessing of the rain be on you,
may it beat upon your Spirit and wash it fair and clean,
and leave there a shining pool where the blue of Heaven shines,
and sometimes a star.
And may the blessing of the earth be on you,
soft under your feet as you pass along the roads,
soft under you as you lie out on it,
tired at the end of day;
and may it rest easy over you when,
at last, you lie out under it.
May it rest so lightly over you that your soul may be out from under it quickly;
up and off and on its way to God.
And now may the Lord bless you,
and bless you kindly.
Amen.

Taken from here. I think the Celts had such an excellent way of expressing themselves in language

A house divided

2007-07-22T10:19:00.000+12:00

Jesus said "a house divided against itself can not stand" (Mark 3:25)

If the body of Christ is divided against itself how can it stand? Its time to realise that those in a different denomination are not of the devil...

How about we start acknowledging the things that we have in common with our brothers and sisters in Christ? Rather than focusing on and obsessing over the different

Exam results

2007-07-04T17:51:00.000+12:00

I'm happy with these

Exam week

2007-06-15T10:27:00.000+12:00

Well folks, its now Friday, 2 exams down and three to go. The next one is this afternoon. Managed to bring up my average for social policy, got an A and an A- on my presentation and essay, so that was fairly cool and would definately bring up the C+ i got in the first essay. Yesterday was Community Development which ark errrr I actually enjoyed. Ran into T, as I was getting some lunch on the way home. T is the lecturer for community development, and hes like "how was the exam, do you think the others enjoyed it?". I don't know how they liked it. TH, was freaking, but then again I think she totally underestimates her own abilities.

Anyhow, only eight more sleeps and I'm off to Australia.

George Bushes watch stolen

2007-06-13T18:19:00.000+12:00

What is our news comming to? George Bushs watch stolen while he was on walk about in Albania.

Big nobbing deal!!!!!!! Seriously, who cares

Benny Hinn

2007-06-12T17:07:00.000+12:00

Benny Hinn came to Auckland this week. Was listening to the greenroom on life FM on sunday and I hear a story that made me think, also made me feel sad. A guy was telling about a severly unwell young man that couldn't get into Benny's crusade, I think he had cancer or something.

How many people come along to Benny's crusades wanting desperately to be healed, yet get turned away because.......Bleech. IF Benny was so anointed in healing, why doesnt he go into the hospital wards praying for people. Why don't we see people spontaneously regrowing limbs, and severely crippled people getting up and walking...

I dont want to think that someone who has such a high public profile is a charlatan, yet alot of the evidence would suggest that

The bible in 50 words

2007-06-09T06:38:00.000+12:00

I wish I could take credit for this one, however I found this on the blog of elisheva Georgia, US.

the Bible in 50 Words

God made
Adam bit
Noah arked
Abraham split
Joseph ruled
Jacob fooled
Bush talked
Moses balked
Pharaoh plagued
People walked
Sea divided
Tablets guided
Promise landed
Saul freaked
David peeked
Prophets warned
Jesus born
God walked
Love talked
Anger crucified
Hope died
Love rose
Spirit flamed
Word spread
God remained.

2007-06-08T13:43:00.000+12:00

2007-06-08T07:43:00.001+12:00

Nannied for my sister yesterday. Their nanny quit this week, right about the time S was due to start on nights. Anyhow had my digicam along and took alot of photos, lucily enough J & J my nephews are really photogenic and love having their photos taken. Anyhow, the oldest J has lost his rain jacket and had to put him in S's jacket which of course he absolutley swam in.. I got this one as we were walking down the path by the preschool yesterday, I thought it was rather cool.

Some more

2007-06-07T08:54:00.000+12:00

Some more of mine

2007-06-06T11:41:00.001+12:00

Please note these photos are copyright, while I have no problem with them being used in non profit research or academic study, if you wish to use them comerically please email me

Some of mine: My new digicam

2007-06-05T13:58:00.001+12:00

Looking back at this week

2007-06-04T22:56:00.000+12:00

I had a lovely conversation with a Hare Krishna.

Got witnessed to by a Jehovah's witness and a Mormon

But do you think anyone spoke to me when I went to a new church this week?

Ok, so perhaps I could have made an effort, however when other religons are out actively evangilising for their faiths, and a new person to a church cant even get a hello. It seems like something is terribly wrong.

Are we threatened that easily?

2007-05-29T16:11:00.001+12:00

It bears a pondering. Today, according to the news, thousands marched at Waitangi to protest against the international interfaith forum. And that combined with the Greenroom discussion on Sunday night got me pondering.

Are we as Christians that insecure in our faith that we are threatened by a statement that says, New Zealand has no state religion?", But also how do we hope to make any difference in a hurt and broken world. With events like the CIC and Destiny march at Waitangi, do we come across as actually giving a dam about the world, or as a bunch of whinny intolerant Christians. The news snippet of Brian Tamaki was nothing but vitriol, the man does not speak for New Zealand as a whole, heck, he doesn't even speak for all of christiandem as a whole.

One of my pet rants, is the utter drivel out there about occult practices, there are a few, which are good, however the biggest percentage are just that drivel. Anyhow after the spirituality week at uni, I decided that when I want to know about another religon, I will go to members of that religon and ask. Met a nice young Hare Krishna today, and had a chance to put it into action. While I may think that a large number of Gods people are wack jobs, I'm still 100% for God as I know him and I have no interest in converting. Its really interesting to find out what other people believe.

Religous Diversity

2007-05-27T21:58:00.000+12:00

Its ironic, the muppets are out in force this week, as they converge on Waitangi to protest the national interfaith forum.

There were 17,5000 abortions in New Zealand last year, yet no one marches to protest against that.

The muppets came out in protest against the repeal of section 59

513 people died by suicide, but yet no body was out marching then.

The Muppets also came out in protest about the civil unions bill.

Between 20 November 2005 and 3 January 2006, six women were killed by their partners or previous partners - leaving 19 children orphaned. During December 2005 and January 2006, NZ Police attended nearly 11,000 instances of reported family violence - this is about one incident every eight minutes.

No one was out protesting about that.

Its so nice to see that the churches have their priorities straight

Why a christian should never park their brain at the door

2007-05-25T21:54:00.000+12:00

Taken from the City Impact church website

New Zealand is being ‘de-Christianised’

Over recent years New Zealand has experienced an unprecedented erosion of traditional Christian values at a political level. Some examples include:

§ Disconnecting New Zealand’s motherland ties to the Privy Council in favour of a politically appointed Supreme Court

How does this prove that New Zealand is being dechristianised? Since when does a countries link to their home colony prove the country is a Christian nation. Especially when the British role has been largely symbolic for the last goodness knows how many years. The queen reigns, but the power has always been with the New Zealand government. However I still fail to see the link between being linked to a colonial country and Christianity.

§ The fastest ever same-sex marriage laws to be introduced in the world
The Civil unions bill was introduced into the house in june 2003, had its first reading in parliament 28th June, 2004reading and and had its third reading 9 December 2004 when it was passed into law. a relatively short time if we look at bills such as that as the repeal of section 59.
However if we look at countries that also have same sex unions, in France equivalent law was introduced into the house in late 1998 and passed into law in November for the following year. In Portugal, civil unions were introduced for heterosexual couples at the end of July 1999, the legislation was amended 15 March 2001 to include same sex couples.
According to CIC, New Zealand was the fastest to pass these sort of laws, a total of 19 months from beginning to end. Even if the French bill was introduced in August of 1998. From beginning to end France took a grand total of 18 months. Portugal took 19 months. So according to CIC we were the fastest country in the world, yet with very little research I can find at least 2 countries that were quickeror at least the same as New Zealand. Ok, so point 2 pretty much refuted.

§ Legalised brothel keeping and prostitution

§ Underage abortions without parental knowledge or consent

I recall one case in the media where a 16year old girl obtained an abortion without her parents knowledge. However one case does not a precedent make.

§ Abortion on demand
Cant argue that one. However it would seem that the current approach the church is taking isnt too effective. We are supposed to be salt to the world, yet in 2005 the abortion rate was down from 2004. 2005: 17,530, 2004: 18,210, 2003: 18,510. Interestingly enough Bishop Brian Tamaki is still quoting 2003 figures in 2007. Despite the fact that more newer figures show a decrease in abortions.

§ Anti smacking legislation that undermines parental rights and gives increased power to the State

§ Removing legal terms specific to traditional marriage in existing law, such as “husband,” “wife” and “marriage,” which involved amending up to 1000 provisions in over 100 existing Acts to give same sex marriages equal status, benefits and recognition to the traditional ‘marriage.’
Dont even get me started on this one. The marriage bill 1951 which is the current legislation that governs marriage, however yet it still carries references to husband and wife. Part 5, section 31 carries references to husband and wife.

(a)“I AB, take you CD, to be my legal wife or husband”; or

(b)words to similar effect; or

(c)in the case of the solemnisation of a marriage in accordance with the rules and procedures of a specified body that require different words to be used as a marriage vow than those set out in paragraph (a), those words.]]

The current version of this legislation can be found here. Schedule 2 of the same act, also carries many mentions of the terms husband and wife. Section 67 of the same act also covers what sections of the act have been repealed, yet there is no mention of the terms wife and husband in that list of repealments.

§ The Care of Children Bill aimed to eradicate the terms “husband” and “wife” from the Family Proceedings Act. References to the word “custody” were replaced with “day to day care,” thus removing the basic legal assumption that parents have “ownership” of their children. Section 17(2) of the first draft of the Bill defined a lesbian partner as a “father.”

Again, the terms mother and father are still mentioned in this act. Sections 17, 18, 19 make obvious use of the terms mother, and father. While section 17(2) of the draft bill may have defined a lesbian as father (which I doubt). Lets take a basic lesson in policy here folks. A bill does not become law, until after its voted on, after its third reading. It becomes formalized when the bill is given the royal assent by the Governor General. A draft bill is exactly that, it is not law.

All of these developments that are contrary to New Zealand’s traditional Christian values significantly weaken family structure and put more power in the hands of the State.

Now perhaps my standards are higher, having been a student, and needing to reference and back up everything I write. This article, is the most badly researched and down right in factual article I have ever had the misfortune to read. To those of City Impact, who still check on this blog site, do yourselves a favor and check your sources before you publically endorse articles. Because badly written and untrue articles just make you all look really stupid.

Hitting the wall

2007-05-16T21:49:00.000+12:00

I hit one of thee today, not a literal wall, more of a figurative one. R walked into class mouthing off about yesterdays performance and how she didnt want to see all these showoffs and generally bitching and moaning.

I hit the wall, had to get up and walk out because I knew that if I didnt, the likelihood of explosion was imminent.

Went out tonight, didn't really want to go, but figured I should push myself, and to be blunt am really glad I went, some parts were a bit painful however all in all, it was good

Blond Moment

2007-05-08T21:41:00.000+12:00

Was off to my sisters tonight for her birthday. Stopped in at the devonport New World to get her a block of chocolate to go with her birthday card and decided instead to get her a potted plant, because the store had some nice cyclamens. Anyhow, got it alright, got out to the car, got in the car and made it to my sisters.

At my sisters got out of the car, took the keys out of the ignition, hit the door lock as I usually do, had put the plant on top of the car, and shut the door.

It wasn't till I went to go and get my map book for my mum and I couldn't find my keys went out to the car and lo and behold there were my keys sitting on the front seat of the car.

I could have cried. It was the first time I'd ever done it, and while we tried to get in via the door I had left the windown slightly down on, but alas no it was not to be. However luckily my sister had lots of unused AA callouts.

2 year old shot in gang drive by

2007-05-07T18:14:00.000+12:00

New Zealand was shocked yesterday to learn of the death of a two year old toddler in a drive by shooting in Whanganui. It is believed that it was Mongrel Mob members shooting at a patched Black power member. On the news tonight, Michael Laws was quoted as saying that gang members should be treated as terrorists and they should not have the privileges available to law abiding members of society such as owning assets, getting benefits, which could be seen as a good idea.

However its also very simplistic and in all reality would likely not work. By removing a parents benefit, because they or their partner are gang members or associates, ignores whether that couple have children. If they have children, by not allowing a parent to receive a benefit or other welfare help based on whether they are gang members is contrary to the United Nations contention on the rights of the child, particularly in contradiction to section 2 & 3, which states that a crown authority may not discriminate against a child based on the status of their parent.

The government are insisting on pushing the anti smacking bill, I wonder if they will really try and push this one?

Gay christians

2007-05-03T20:24:00.000+12:00

Its amazing how someone else's vitriol can provoke a blog post. Its that whole experience of "If I dont post it here, someone might decide to try and blackmail me on it". A part of leadership is being completely transparent about our actions. Some of these blog posts would make a great soap opera drama.

Yes folks, I've been to a gay church a grand total of about three times in the last 12 months. It was quite an enjoyable experience. I don't know how they reconcile being gay and being a Christian, there are those who would say that a person can not be gay and be a Christian. I don't believe the issue is as cut and dry as all that.

The first time I went was apart of the Inner City Exposure Course, it was at a time when I was really struggling with the crap from my old church, and for such a bunch of "rotten hell bound sinners, it was amazing how strongly the presence of God was in that Church. They are an incredible bunch of people, who are committed to the great comission. More so than many mainstream churches.

Destiny Church and Phillip Field alliance?

2007-04-27T09:13:00.000+12:00

By Richard Sutherland

Taito Phillip Field and the political arm of the Destiny Church are exploring forming an alliance.

Church founder Brian Tamaki met with the former Labour MP at a forum in his Mangere electorate last night.

Destiny New Zealand leader Richard Lewis says it is early days, but he thinks Mr Field's electorate could be fertile ground. He says many Pacific people in Mangere are questioning their support for a Labour Party they believe has abandoned their traditional values.

Mr Lewis says Destiny New Zealand and Mr Field share common ground, including Christian values and a desire to see Labour fall at the next election. He says discussions are at an early stage and the next step will be up to Mr Field.

Well well well, it appears that Mr Tamaki may get his foot into politics after all.....

My visual DNA

2007-04-15T11:12:00.000+12:00

Read my VisualDNA™ Get your own VisualDNA™

Mistaken Priorities

2007-04-06T18:47:00.000+12:00

The government is demanding that all of its labour MPs vote for Sue Bradford's Bill, which will see the repeal of section 59. Helen Clark has liken it to being the same as when corporal punishment was revoked in schools.

There are currently 2 bills before parliament, that would allow retailers to trade on Easter Friday and Easter Sunday, and MPs will be allowed to vote according to their conscience.

Ok, we have one bill that has the potential to criminalise hard working parents, who seek to disipline their child, and ensure their kid grows up with some awareness that there are consequences for their actions, and Ministers have to vote for the bill whether they agree with it or not........

Then...

..............There is bills before the house that will allow retail shops to be open 364 days of the year, take away two stat holidays from 300,000 of the working population. Potentially splitting up familes and putting more stress on them. And the MPs are allowed to vote anyway they damm well please.

Aunty Helen, your priorities are totally screwed up

Will it be as bad as all that

2007-04-05T18:15:00.000+12:00

Spoke with my brother in law last night in the UK. Apparently UK has had the smacking bill for a while, and it hasn't really made a major difference over there. Ordinary parental discipline doesn't get punished.....

I don't know, I stand by what I said though it wont make one iota of different to the sodding knobs who have no issues with hurting children

Withdrawl of Support

2007-03-31T16:56:00.000+12:00

This post is to publically acknowledge my withdrawal of support for the Son and the Moon forums. After witnessing the very unchristlike actions of its owner Jean Luc Devere, I can no longer in good conscience support the forum, or his main site Ex witch Australia

The sign says it all. JL, I'm sorry it had to come to this, however I consider you to be no better than a spiritual abuser and I could not in all good conscience send people your way when there is a very good chance they will be subjected to the same abusive behavior your have been displaying over the last few days and it is not the first time this has happened

An open Letter to Jean Luc

2007-03-31T16:19:00.000+12:00

You make me sick

You claim to be acting in accordance with Christ's instructions, but all you are doing is purpotrating further spiritual abuse on a group of people that already have difficulties in following Christ

You came to ancient crossroads, acting like a complete and utter bastard, seeking to provoke and wind people up, you then have the stupidity to wonder why Mark banned you. He didnt bann you because he was being an asshole, he banned you because you were acting like a complete and utter wanker

If SaM folds, it wont be because of sabotage from any other person, it will be because your erratic decisions and spiritually abusive actions have driven people away

Its a damm sad day when the abused becomes the abuser, and to be blunt JL this is the last you will hear from me. I was prepared to forgive and give you a second chance when this happened last time, this time, I will forgive you and I will pray for you from a distance, however I will not line up for another helping of spiritual abuse. I got enough of that from my old church and like I said, I never pictured you as becoming an abuser.

take along had look at yourself, before you drive away everyone who cares about you. Invisible has been nothing but loyal to you, yet you kick him in the teeth, I did nothing to you, yet you handed me out the same emotionally manipulative bullshit that I got from my old church

Take along hard look before you loose it all. The difference is this time you wont have me for support, because when things are rosey its good, however I've be buggared if you think I'm lining up to get slapped around the next time you are in a foul mood

Goodbye and best wishes

Anti smacking

2007-03-29T19:27:00.000+12:00

Well folks, it looks like New Zealand is likely to go the way of Sweden. It will be bad and illegal for any parent to use physical force as a means of disciplining their child

The March in Wellington protesting the bill. It would seem that while Ms Clark and and Ms Braford would have us believe that by removing section 59, that light smacking will be ok, there has been repeated opinions of well respected and well known law professionals that any force including a parent removing a tantruming child from the room could be construed as abuse

The speech is by Christine Rankin, who is I think the former head of WINZ

Stepping out into the unknown

2007-03-25T21:35:00.000+12:00

I bought this book last year just before the start of Inner City Exposure and lost track of it when it was doing the rounds among friends, however managed to pick up a second hand copy from the Christian second hand bookshop in Mount Albert. Its the story of a young man who wanted to see if his faith in God could survive in the face of adversity. Could he still be a Christian without his creature comforts, the things he takes for granted?

With a travelling companion he stepped out of his life for five months, and over that time spent time living homeless in Denver, Washington, Portland, San Francisco, Phoenix and San Diego. He and his travelling companion were shunned by the nice members of society, and unfortunately in many occasions the people shunning them were members of the body of Christ.

He asks the hard questions, eg does loving our neighbor is that only limited to being nice to those who are nice and dont ask us to be outside of our comfort zone, or does loving our neighbor mean that we are required to love those who are smelly and stinky, those with alcohol addictions.

The world is full of hurt and broken people. And as one who works in the social services arena at times I'm left scratching my head and wondering "where the heck if the body of Christ?" There are some outstanding people (Christians) who are working there and doing what they can. To look at the example closer to home, some of the most vocal churches who are speaking out about the moral decay, and actively campaigning against the repealing of section 59, yet these same people dont have any ideas or suggestions how to change it, or to make a difference

There is a vast gap between the need present, and the resources available...

Trip to Aussie

2007-03-11T22:28:00.000+13:00

Well folks, its official, I'm off to Aussie in June. I am going at the end of June and coming back in July....... O my gosh, am so totally excited. I have paid for the tickets. Its all go

So much for the CIC prosperity doctrine that I can only be blessed if I am under appropriate leadership and paying 10% plus a week.....People Gods blessing on your life is not tied, to your membership of any particular church

Sin

2007-03-08T22:12:00.000+13:00

A novel thought from the discipleship course tonight. When Adam and eve sinned, and were made to leave the garden, was Gods anger about the sin, and the fact that Adam and Eve had gone against what He said. Or was Gods anger because He saw the consequences of the action.

After all God created Adam and Eve to be perfect Human beings, living in right relationship with God.

Bears thinking about.

Amazing grace

2007-03-04T21:55:00.000+13:00

Amazing Grace, how sweet the sound,

That saved a wretch like me

I once was lost, but now am found,

Was blind, but now I see.

Amazing grace. Words are so inaequate to describe Gods grace. God saw that humans would never be able to bridge the gap between him and them and sent His son to pay the cost. Jesus came into this world knowing that one day at an appointed time he would face the most horrible death, and he had every chance to turn back, tell God that "he had to find another way", yet he never faltered from the will of the Father.

We live in a world where ungrace runs rampant. War, and civil conflict runs rampant. Tribes are fighting over offiences that occured 3 generations previously.

A revolutionary idea

2007-03-02T23:22:00.000+13:00

Luke 6 26-33 "But I tell you who hear me: Love your enemies, do good to those who hate you, bless those who curse you, pray for those who mistreat you.If someone strikes you on one cheek, turn to him the other also. If someone takes your cloak, do not stop him from taking your tunic. Give to everyone who asks you, and if anyone takes what belongs to you, do not demand it back. Do to others as you would have them do to you. "If you love those who love you, what credit is that to you? Even 'sinners' love those who love them. And if you do good to those who are good to you, what credit is that to you? Even 'sinners' do that..

discipleship

2007-03-02T16:51:00.000+13:00

Had the first night of the discipleship last night, and it was very cool. Rich Johnson, the 2nd in command priest is taking the lessons, and well it is ssuch a pleasure to listen to him, because he isnt afraid to ask the hard questions, also he isnt afraid to admit that he doesnt know, which is a refreshing change in many ways. So many try to explain the miracles of God away which very much cheapens the nature of God IMO

God is such IMO that we as mere mortals will never be able to comprehend the things of God

Anyhow, back to the course. The first things we looked at was into the history of jewish society at the time of Jesus birth and when he was growing up. At the age of 6, all the boys and girls would go of to the synagogue to complete the first stage of learning, known as Bet Sefer (House of the book). Children attended Bet Sefer from the age of 6-10yrs old. During that time, the students were required to memorize the torah (the first 5 books of the bible) also known as "the way, the truth and the life".
At the age of 10, girls dropped out of learning, and went home to their parents to possibly learn how to become good wives. Of the children who continued one, only the brightest would continue. Boys that dropped out at this stage, would go to their fathers to learn the family business.

The second house of learning was called Bet Talmud (house of learning). During this time, the students were required to memorise the the entire old testament. Only the best and the brightest students progressed on to the third stage of learning, known as Bet Midrash. The student was required to go to a rabbi and convince the rabbi that they (the student) would be capable of learning the rabbis yoke (interpretation of the torah) and also capable of passing it onto others.

John 11 28-29 Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. 29Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. 30For my yoke is easy and my burden is light."

Whether Jesus was actually a Rabbi in the orthodox sense is unknown, however he was very much regardes as a rabbi, which can be seen from many places in scripture

Mathew 26:25 25Then Judas, the one who would betray him, said, "Surely not I, Rabbi?"
Jesus answered, "Yes, it is you."

Mark 11:21Peter remembered and said to Jesus, "Rabbi, look! The fig tree you cursed has withered!"

John 1:48-49 48"How do you know me?" Nathanael asked.
Jesus answered, "I saw you while you were still under the fig tree before Philip called you."

49Then Nathanael declared, "Rabbi, you are the Son of God; you are the King of Israel."

John 3:2He came to Jesus at night and said, "Rabbi, we know you are a teacher who has come from God. For no one could perform the miraculous signs you are doing if God were not with him."

These are only a few of the places where Jesus is refered to as Rabbi, it occurs at least 16 times in the gospels.

However everything about Jesus contradicted the culture of his day. While other rabbi's were chosing their disciples based on academic excellence, Jesus was picking boys who were working with their fathers in the family business.

More to come

Walking in integrity

2007-03-01T22:02:00.000+13:00

I've been looking back at the posts of the last few days and thinking whether I should delete them. They are rather explicit and rather colourful language in one, and well I'm not sure if they are really accurate any more. However they shall remain, because they are descriptive of my journey and the path it has taken through the foothills of life.

I think hopefully they let people see that I am human. Heaven forbid the day that I happen to be in a position of leadership, and people get into the idea of thinking I am some sort of saint and that I have it altogether and never have a bad day.

To me, the face a leader wears in the public eye, should be no different or minimally different from the face they wear in public. This doesn't require that we bare all for each and every one who crosses our path, there are some things that is not appropriate to share with all. However often in the christian church leader may appear to be happy jovial, and wonderfully neat people when they are standing on stage before their adoring public, yet these same people off stage, can be completely different almost like a Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde.

Dr Jekyll was a scientist who was experimenting with a solution, and it transformed him into a completely different person, he went from being charming and nice, the perfect gentleman so to speak and yet transformed into the complete polar oppisate.

The way Jesus was in public, getting stuck into the pharisee's, healing people, interacting with people was the same way he interacted with people in private e.g how he was with the disciples was the same to how he was with people in the public eye. The only difference was when he went away by himself to be with the Father, and that was because he knew the disciples wouldn't be able to handle the things he was anguishing about.

Progress

2007-02-26T18:28:00.000+13:00

Not sure really. However it bears mention that the devil fights when one of his changes camps. However God fights more, for one of His.

Changes

2007-02-24T19:28:00.000+13:00

If you are a regular viewer of this blog, then I'm saw you've noticed the change in the title page.

The Christian God might be ok, but his people are fucking nutcases, and I'm done with trying to fit in to a group of people that are more interested in making me conform to how they think I should be. Who are more interested in jumping to conclusions than hearing the truth. My pagan friends for all their faults, allowed me to be myself and werent interested in fitting me into their boxes.

I'm done with christianity. City Impact, I hope you are proud, this is another loss of faith, which you'll probably write me off as being weak and not able to stand the pace. However what will your answer be when you stand before your God, and he askes you about the hundreds of people who lost their faith in Him because of you and your organisation....

Social Workers Quit Over CYF Problems

2007-02-22T17:06:00.000+13:00

alleging incompetence

NZPA

07/02/2007

NZPA

National associate welfare spokeswoman Anne Tolley says Child Youth and Family needs to lift its act after a report two social workers quit alleging "gross professional incompetence" in the organisation.

The Weekend Herald reported that two British social workers quit in protest.

The two men were recruited by CYF last year and resigned in protest at the "unethical practices".

Manurewa social worker Jonny Ward, 35, wrote to CYF Minister Ruth Dyson and has been invited to meet her and officials. The other social worker did not want to be named.

Mr Ward gave an example where he assisted another social worker, eight police and two dog handlers remove children from a family. He said the other social worker tried to stop the mother cuddling her son who was upset. The children were not told in advance they would be taken to their grandmother.

"We could have spoken to the grandmother beforehand and told the children, `It's okay, you know your grandmother'. Instead we had them in the back of the car, all three of them crying because they didn't know where I was taking them."

Social workers in Britain tried to get parental consent to removal and at least prepare the children to leave.

The Ministry of Social Development official in charge of CYF, Ray Smith, said local practice placed more emphasis than Britain on keeping children within the extended family, which could mean searching for family members if children had to be removed in an emergency.

Mrs Tolley said the story reflected other accounts she had heard and CYFS had failed to fulfil the Government's promise of a competent, safe service where poor social work would not be tolerated.

Figures to the end of October showed 30 percent of social workers were registered.

"This is clearly about more than just two social workers," she said.

"The minister should take what these British social workers have to say seriously."

In answer to Mrs Tolley's questions about registration Ms Dyson said by the end of October 383 of 1283 permanent CYFS social workers were registered.

During a select committee hearing last year Ms Dyson defended the low number of registrations.

"The Social Workers Registration Act came into effect in April 2003 and you couldn't apply to be registered until 1 October 2004 so having 411 staff registered as at 31 August, in less than two years, is in fact a major achievement for CYF," she said.

"Child, Youth and Family is committed to having its social work staff gain social work registration as part of its ongoing support for professionalisation of its workforce."

The British social workers' comments follow controversy over a website set up to name and shame CYFS workers people believed failed and bullied them.

A spokeswoman for Ms Dyson referred calls to Mr Smith.

Copyright: NZPA 2007

Again, another reason why I dont want to work for CYFS when I graduate

CYFSWATCH Blog Closed down. Free Speech in New Zealand goes down the toilet

2007-02-22T17:00:00.000+13:00

View larger image

parliament.nz

Giving up coke

2007-02-18T20:00:00.000+13:00

Decided rather than trying again to cut out all junk food from my life, I would start with one thing at a time. The first on the list to go is coke. The stuff has massive amounts of sugar in it. And one day as an experiement, used it to clean a stained toilet with amazing results. Had read in W's work magazine that a cup of coke on stubborn toilet stains could make a major difference. So if it could do that to a porcelain toilet, then whats it been doing to my guts all this time. Have water bottles in the fridge and am on the way.....

Remember reading someone that it takes 14days to make or break a habbit, we shall see how it goes

Church

2007-02-11T20:19:00.000+13:00

Went to church today, for the first time in like ages. Had been having moments of bbitter and twisted about my old church. Came to the conclusion in the end, "Vengence is Gods" I am to leave that issue in his hands, and he will deal with it

Anyhow, church was very cool today. Mike was doing the message, and he spoke from Hosea 1, when God told the prophet Hosea to go and marry a prostitute as a symbol to Israel of how they had been with God. Afterwards the ministry time was brilliant, standing there I became very aware that God was just holding me and it was so incredibly awesome to be able to enjoy his prescence like that. I really felt that God was also telling me that I had been far too busy and had been ignoring him and putting Him into a second or third place position in my life.

Enjoyed the sermon incredibly. Mike is a very good speaker, and its so awesome that his talks are always heavey on the bible

Windows Vista

2007-02-10T21:40:00.000+13:00

Well folks, it took me a really long time to install it, however I have done it.
Its really pretty. And actually makes everything so much brighter and sharper than the old XP system.

Time to explore. This looks very cool.

Update, have managed to get a new driver for my printer and have reinstalled that and printer works fine... Lots of pretty eye candy in Vista.

Child Poverty

2007-02-07T18:09:00.000+13:00

Child poverty was again in the news in New Zealand. One party says that 15,000 kids are arriving at schools hungry. The government says its about 8,000 and an independent agency KidsCan, says that its closer to 80,000.

But rather than front up, the labour government has the audacity to try and put the blame on the national policies of the 1990s. Ironically tthe policy changes such as reducing benefits, the labour government has made no effort in three terms of government (9Years) to remedy those changes.....

More words of Wisdom

2007-02-06T08:09:00.000+13:00

"People should not be afraid of their governments. Governments should be afraid of their people." - V for Vendetta

And now not so contexless

What we do in life echoes in eternity", (Russell Crowe, Gladiator)

Is Harry Potter really the problem?

2007-02-04T23:04:00.000+13:00

Written By Dove at Ancient CrossroadsReproduced with permission.

We all hear a lot about Harry Potter. Depending on who you talk to, Harry Potter books are either the best thing since sliced bread as well as being responsible for kids deciding that reading is cool again, OR these books are stepping stones to the occult and just plain evil.

Both views cannot be correct, however, the question bears asking,

"Which is right and which is wrong?"

Before I continue, let me comment that I really do not like anything that makes witchcraft appear to be attractive with no consequences. While Harry Potter does make witchcraft attractive, is it the reason that so many are drawn to Wicca?

Or is it merely a symptom?

I would submit that Harry Potter is a symptom, just as movies such as The Craft, or TV shows such as "Sabrina, the Teenage Witch," and "Buffy, the Vampire Slayer" are symptoms of the problem. Having voiced this opinion, let me submit that too often we are so busy focusing on the symptom of the problem that we have lost sightof what the real problem is.

The problem is the same as it has always been since Eve ate the fruit that the serpent gave her,
while Adam stood by.The problem is that we are separated from God by sin.The world is afraid that they will miss out on something fun if they turn to our God.

Why shouldn't they have that attitude?

Isn't that precisely what we convey many times? While we need to pursue holiness, too often we do sowhile looking miserable. The world already has misery, they do not need to give up anything in order to attain it. The people we try to reach on a daily basis are watching and waiting for us to be different. They are waiting to see something in our lives that they truly want. Until they see a clear difference in our lives, the fruits of the spirit to be precise, few will be attracted to our God.

The pagan community is growing by leaps and bounds, these precious people are searching for something greater than themselves. I submit that rather than blaming Harry Potter, we Christians need to take a hard look at ourselves and ask if we are contributing to the problem or are we willing to be used by God to communicate the solution. If we are not communicating the solution to a world that is searching, then we are far worse than the very books that we decry as leading people away from God.

After all, it is we who have been given the Great Commission, not the world. The time to fulfill it is here.

We do not have the luxury of blaming non-Christians for our inability to accomplish what we have been commanded to do. The question remains, is Harry Potter the problem?

Or are we in the body of Christ to blame by not following the command of our Savior?

Words of wisdom

2007-02-02T11:24:00.000+13:00

From the CYFSwatch blog. It gives food for thought.

"Anonymity breeds corruption" - Anon ;-)

"Of all tyrannies a tyranny sincerely exercised for the good if its victims may be the most oppressive.
It may be better to live under robber barons than under omnipotent moral busybodies." C.S. Lewis, Christian Writer.

"The best way to deal with bureaucrats is with stealth and sudden violence." Boutros Boutros Ghali, former sect gen of UN.

"When people fear the government, you have tyranny.
When the government fears the people, you have liberty." Thomas Jefferson, USA President.

"There is no system ever devised by mankind that is guaranteed to rip husband and wife or father, mother and child apart so bitterly than our present Family Court System." - Judge Brian Lindsay, Retired Supreme Court Judge, New York, New York.

Children are our future?

2007-02-01T20:16:00.000+13:00

Bullshit.

Children are our now, and if we dont stop putting into our kids now, the things they need to grow up as healthy well balanced children, they arent going to have a future. Or their future will be one of none coping, mental illness, forays into the justice system.

Everytime a CYFS stuff up makes it into the media, eg the latest being the deaths of the Kahui twins, the politicans wax poetical about how terrible it is, and how changes must be made to the system. The media attention dies down, and all the posturing (put on in order to try and swing votes) disapears. The politicans who are paid obscene amounts to run this country, resume their kindergarden tantrums and display their complete inability to act their age, but their sucess in acting their shoe size. Try watching question time, which is broadcast on Sky1. It is alarming to think that these school children are responsible for running our country.

The department of social services has been getting their knickers in a bunch about the CYFSwatch blog. However instead of taking that as a heed that the system is broken and needs serious overhaul and reform, the department of social services spends ridiculous amounts of taxpayers money to try and close down the website. Its nice to know that the department behind CYFS has its priorities right..... Why bother to spend time and money on fixing an obviously broken system when its far easier to go after a website.

Government agencies such CYFS, need to pull their heads out of their asses and start remebering whose interests they are supposed to be protecting. It is not their own asses, and this culture of sweeping it under the darpet and hoping it will go away, while at the same time ignoring the bulging mess that remains from other such cover ups.

If a professional fucks up, and that fuckup adversly impacts on the life or lives of those they are supposed to be working with then they should be held accountable, they should be deregistered and banned from ever working in that area again.

CYFS Watch

2007-02-01T18:56:00.000+13:00

The lastest scandal, at leastt for the government is the CYFS watch website. First of all kudos to the site owner for setting up your blog with a foreign service provider. This needs to be heard.

This sickens me to read repeated accounts of lifes ripped apart not from abusers, but from the people and the agency who claims to to be set up to protect the best interests of the child. There needs to be accountability, cases like this should not be happening. Its disturbing reading, however as a baby social worker, I have this prayer

Dear God

Dont ever let me inflict even 1% of damage on a client to what has been mentioned here. Keep me always on the path of seeking to put myself out of business because there are no clients.

And let me always be working for the best inerests of the people I'm serving and not afraind to stand up and say "this is wrong" in the face of dodgy practice, even if that means standing up to older and 'suposedly 'more experienced social workers.

Shit, words dont even come close to describing the "how the hell does a professional agency get away with this rubbish, the so called protection agency doing the abusing

Reformation

2007-01-28T19:23:00.000+13:00

This was one of the themes my old church talked about. Infact it was the these for their 2006 Global impact. The anbgle they took was to have christians in positions of power in the arts, education, politics. Politics seemed to be a particulalry favourite area of theirs.

However the idea of establishing Gods kingdom on earth is not a new one. As history shows though its not an idea that usually works out particulalry well. The crusades that spanned from 1095-1291 were lead by christians from europe in an attempt to reclaim the Holy Lands from muslim rule. Religon was the driving force behind hundreds of thousands of deaths over that time. The first five crusades had the offical blessing of the church, the sixth crusade that sailed in 1228, did not.

In Nazi germany, while many Pastors sought to help the Jewish people, POWs, others did not. Corrie TenBoom in her book "the Hiding place" tells of an occasion when she was asked to hide a Jewish Mother and her baby. Corrie talks about how she had no contacts and went to a Pastor for assisitance. The Pastor expressed alarm and outrage at the idea.
In the Rwandan genocide, some of the priests sort to protect Tsutsi's from the Hutu lead massacre. Other priests sided with the Hutu militia. Ordinary men like Paul Rusesabagina, a man who worked in a hotel, put his life and the loves of his fmaily at risk, to save over 1000 Tsusi and hutu refugees by giving them shelter in his hotel.

Ordinary christians can change the world, we dont have to be in positions of power in order to make a difference. However it involves living radically. Over the next few blog posts, I am going to cover more on this subject. Untill then.....

Gay

2007-01-26T21:23:00.000+13:00

Phillp Yancey tells of his friendship with Mel White, a former consultant for christian films, who battled a same sex attraction since his early teenage years. He also tells of how christian men and women for whom Mell had worked for and made them loads of money, dropped Mel quicker than a hot potato when Mel came out as being gay.

Mel tells about how he prayed so many times to God to not be gay, under went aversion therapy which delivered electric hocks at times of high arrousal, under went exorcisms generally the whole kit and cabudle. It got me thinking, being delivered from being gay is not nearly as simple as the fundies would have me believe. And it makes me wonder if someone can so desperately desire to be straight and prays and asks God to deliver them, hmmm well some deep thoughts

The gay and marriage debate

2007-01-25T21:32:00.000+13:00

The marriage one is an interesting debate. Certain well known churches in New Zealand bang on about how marriage is Gods ideal, and how thats what everyone should be doing. However there is no precedent for the western concept of marriage, anywhere in the bible. No where does it say that a man and woman who love each other must get a license, have a ceremony, swap rings. So this being the case, how do we define what matrimony is, using a biblical standard, how do we define matrimony, and if matrimony is possible something apart from vows, licence, etc then how do we as christians define what is fornication. I mean adultery is easy enough thats when two people do it, and one or perhaps both of them are married to different people.....

As for the gay debate. We get so caught up in reminding gays that they are siners and beyond redemption, that we forget they are people who are also loved by God and whom He sent his son to die for.

2007-01-22T07:41:00.000+13:00

Suicide doesn't come by cowardice, but by desperation. It takes a lot of strength to overcome the instinct to stay alive.

The suicide debate is always interesting. There are those that see suicide as an incredibly cowardly thing to do, and there are those who see people as having committed suicde as being brave. I repeated the above quote because I think it bears mention. Suicide isnt brave or cowardly its something that comes at the end of a really long and desperate struggle. It comes because the person can no longer see a way out of the cesspool that is their life. They mistakenly believe that if they are gone from life that can only make life a better place for everyone else.

Suicide is not a decision that a person arrives at easily or even readily, as the aove quote says a persons will to live is very strong and the choice to die usually comes after a very long struggle and the belief that things will never get better and despair that they cant stand living the rest of their life in this state.....Suicide is not driven by bravery or cowardice, but a desire to hopefully put an end to the indescribable anguish a person suffers

If you are suicidal.

I can understand that all encompassing, clods and cesspool. Can understand what its like to feel that there is no way out, and that things will never get better....... If you can hang in their a few monutes longer, the clod doesnt last forever, but when you are stuck in the middle of it, there seems like no escape.

Find someone you can talk to, if you have no one to talk to, you are welcome to drop me an email. I dont propose to be able to fix any of your problems, but have been round the bush enough times to know the value of a non judgemental listening ear

Characteristics of a Spiritually abusive church or group

2007-01-19T20:19:00.000+13:00

Taken from Inside Destiny Church.

1. Exclusivism. Cults teach that only they have the truth and the correct path to salvation. Leaving the cult is equated with leaving God, and members really believe that leaving the cult means they can never be saved. How many times did I hear that idea propagated. V telling me that CIC was the only church apart from perhaps Destiny Church that had sufficent enough annointing for me to get truly free. PM from the pulpit propagating the idea that most other churches in New Zealand were full of dead wood.

2. Fear, guilt and intimidation. Leadership is feared, and disagreeing with the leadership (or even just questioning it) is akin to disagreeing with God. The mini sermons each week on giving. I remeber one day BM getting up and going on about the widows mite and how it was such a sacrifice for the widows of the church to be giving, and how dare we do any less than them. Absolutley bugged the crap out of me like there were no other groups in the church that struggled to make their tithe but still did.

3. The third aspect is totalitarian control over the lifestyle and time of its members – this totalitarian control is necessary for the leaders to indoctrinate the followers in everything they do, and is also an attempt to separate them from anything not associated with the cult. I am not sure about this one. I know that I was supposed to have unquestioning obdience to people like J and C, however I wonder if it was never pushed to much with me maybe they sensed if they pushed it to much I'd end up telling them to stuff off. . Who was it, V, or someone who said about not giving S all the information at once.....Kind of creepy

4. The fourth aspect common to most cults is a charismatic, self-appointed leader with complete authority - Cult members are taught not to question the teachings, practices, or ideas of the leader. Many cult leaders are charismatic people, and are able to influence people to believe them. P & BM were the ultimate authority. I forget how C phrased it exactly but it was like that even if PM was in error, she would still follow him because it wasnt her place to question. Grr, I wish I could remember exactly how she put it.

5. The fifth aspect is a focus on withholding truth from non-members. Many cults teach their followers to be completely open and truthful within the group, while at the same time they are encouraged to be secretive and evasive when questioned by people outside of the group. The members are taught that outsiders wouldn't understand. Didnt ever really encounter this too much

6. The final way in which a group is classed as a cult is if it presents itself as being Christian or compatible with Christianity, but has severe theological differences to normal Christianity. I dont know if the differences would make a difference to salvation, however there is the tithing issue, in that a memeber must be giving 10% of money, be involved in helping out at church, as well as giving offerings when needed. As well as that the whole idea that for a christian had to be under apostolic authority,,,

New PC

2007-01-14T23:16:00.000+13:00

Well its a second hand PC, however it has an 80gig hard drive
512 mbs ram
2,something Ghz processor
Windows XP
DVD and cd writer

Its very cool and all for the low low price of $350

Vodafone

2007-01-14T09:28:00.000+13:00

This is my rant about vodafone, first they let me go over my prepapy limit by using wap on my new phone. I had always thought that if a person had $20 credit on their phone, then they could use $20 worth of services. But because vodafone wap charges are delayed, a user can actually go over their credit limit very easily and not realise it. I went over my limit by more than $50......

Secondly am selling my sony phone on trade me and realised had forgotten the phone lock code so rang vodafone assuming that they would have acess to the default codes for each phone.

"Thats personal information unique to the owner of the phone"

"telecom has the default codes for each phone model on file"

"we're not telecom"
Mensa obviously overlooked this startling undiscovered talent. Luckily I discovered the code was only 4 digits instead of five, but sometimes call centre people are good, othertimes they are absolutley useless. Vodafone seems to employ ok male call takers, but so far in my experience the females are as thick as a 2 by 4

Cape Reinga

2007-01-12T18:19:00.000+13:00

I took a trip up north. Caught up with Dad which was hmmmm well interesting. Yesterday we took a trip up to Cape Reinga. Its an amazing place of alot of signifigance to Maori, it is believed that when someone of Maori linegae died, their spirit travels up to the cape, and using ropes made of seaweed, lower themsleves down to the Pohutakawa tree on the northern tip. From that point the Spirit makes their way north to their home of Hawaiike. It is know by Maori as Te Rerenga Wairua or the "leaping place of the spirits".

Alas I only had my mobile phone, so the pictuyres werent brilliant. But it was an amazing experience. The last 20kms of statehighway 1 were a dirt road, which was quite amusing as it looks like a proper road on the map. We visted the giant sand dunes as well, they were amazing. It was kind of mind boggling to think of the amount of time it must have taken to form those vast hills of sand

Prosperity Parody

2007-01-12T15:47:00.000+13:00

Found this Utube link at Pursuing Holiness.... It gave me a good giggle

False Prophets

2007-01-09T16:10:00.000+13:00

I was listening to a sermon yesterday and the preacher mentioned a passage from Jeremiah about how the false prophets took words from the mouths of each other rather than standing in Gods counsel and giving words from him

Jeremiah 23 21-22 I did not send these prophets, yet they have run with their message; I did not speak to them, yet they have prophesied.22 But if they had stood in my council, they would have proclaimed my words to my people and would have turned them from their evil ways and from their evil deeds.

and Jeremiah 25-32

25 "I have heard what the prophets say who prophesy lies in my name. They say, 'I had a dream! I had a dream!' 26 How long will this continue in the hearts of these lying prophets, who prophesy the delusions of their own minds? 27 They think the dreams they tell one another will make my people forget my name, just as their fathers forgot my name through Baal worship. 28 Let the prophet who has a dream tell his dream, but let the one who has my word speak it faithfully. For what has straw to do with grain?" declares the LORD. 29 "Is not my word like fire," declares the LORD, "and like a hammer that breaks a rock in pieces?
30 "Therefore," declares the LORD, "I am against the prophets who steal from one another words supposedly from me. 31 Yes," declares the LORD, "I am against the prophets who wag their own tongues and yet declare, 'The LORD declares.' 32 Indeed, I am against those who prophesy false dreams," declares the LORD. "They tell them and lead my people astray with their reckless lies, yet I did not send or appoint them. They do not benefit these people in the least," declares the LORD.

The bible is such a totally excellent book

The Cartoon Blog

2007-01-08T22:55:00.000+13:00

Found this Blog on another blog..... It has some good stuff.

The trial of Mr Jones

2007-01-08T21:57:00.000+13:00

I found this here . I thought it was rather well done

The trial of Pastor Jones

Judge: Mr. Jones you have been charged with multiple counts of extortion. Your crime spree covers 20 years and thousands of victims. You have defrauded people out of their money with fear and manipulation, telling them they had to tithe 10% of their income to your church and that God would bless them if they did. You also told them that if they didn't tithe God would curse them. How do you plead?

Mr. Jones: I plead not guilty your Honor, I have done nothing wrong. I have only preached what the Bible says. In the Bible Abraham tithed to Melchizedek and God blessed him for his faithful giving. The Bible even says he was rich in silver and gold.

Judge: Is it not true, Mr. Jones, that in Genesis chapter 13 verse 2 the Bible says Abraham was rich with livestock, silver and gold?

Mr. Jones: Yes, you are exactly right, that's what I just told you.

Judge: Ok, we read about Abraham being a rich man in chapter 13 but it is not until Genesis chapter 14 that we read about Abraham's tithe to Melchizedek. So Abraham was already a rich man before he tithed to Melchizedek, wasn't he?

Mr. Jones: Yes, I suppose you are right.

Judge: So his riches were not the result of his tithe to Melchizedek?

Mr. Jones: No.

Judge: Mr. Jones, you also say God blessed him for his faithful giving. How many times is it recorded that Abraham gave tithes to Melchizedek?

Mr. Jones: Well, just once.

Judge: So the Bible never said that he gave week after week?

Mr. Jones: No it does not.

Judge: Where did Abraham get the things that he gave to Melchizedek?

Mr. Jones: Well the Bible says it was from the plunders of war?

Judge: So you are telling me that he gave from the plunders of war?

Mr. Jones: Yes that's what the Bible says.

Judge: So he basically took things that were not really his in the first place and gave them as the tithe?

Mr. Jones: That is what the scripture seems to indicate.

Judge: Is it recorded that he ever took anything from his own possessions
and tithed them to Melchizedek or anyone else?

Mr. Jones: I guess not

Judge: You guess not, you are a Pastor and you are only guessing, is it or
is it not written that he ever gave any of his own possessions as a tithe to
anyone?

Mr. Jones: No it is not written anywhere that I have seen.

Judge: Is it recorded as to what exactly Abraham did give Melchizedek?

Mr. Jones: I believe it says plunder?

Judge: So plunder could be any number of things?

Mr. Jones: Yes, I suppose

Judge: It could have been food, cattle, sheep, the people's
possessions or any number of things. It does not say it was all money
correct?

Mr. Jones: Yes you are correct, it does not say just money

Judge: As a matter of fact money is never mentioned in that account at all
is that correct Mr. Jones?

Mr. Jones: Yes your Honor, money is never mentioned just goods and food and
people.

Judge: So there is no way you can say with any certainty that Abraham in
fact gave Melchizedek any money at all?

Mr. Jones: That is right.

Judge: I only have one last question for you Mr. Jones, did God command Abraham to give this plunder tithe to Melchizedek?

Mr. Jones: No, it appears that he did this voluntarily.

Judge: So are you trying to tell me that because of this voluntary, one time gift by Abraham, that may not have even consisted of money, all Christians everywhere are obligated to bring 10% of their weekly paycheck to a local church?

Judge: Considering all the evidence I would say you are beyond any shadow of a doubt guilty of deliberately trying to make the scriptures says things they have not said for financial gain.

Mr. Jones: Ok your Honor, I can see how foolish I was to try and use the story of Melchizedeck to try and get the people to tithe money. But there are many other verses that will support my belief on tithing. Jacob said he would give God 10% of everything. I think we should follow his example.

Judge: Let's see what Jacob said. Please read the verse you are talking about for me Mr. Jones.

Mr. Jones: In Genesis chapter 28 starting at verse 20 it says. Jacob vowed a vow, saying, "If God will be with me, and will keep me in this way that I go, and will give me bread to eat, and clothing to put on, so that I come again to my father's house in peace, and Yahweh will be my God, then this stone, which I have set up for a pillar, will be God's house. Of all that you will give me I will surely give the tenth to you."

Judge: You said we should follow Jacobs's example, is that right Mr. Jones?

Mr. Jones: Yes that is right, he vowed to give a tenth and we should too.

Judge: Let me point out one thing for you Mr. Jones, Jacob said he would Give God a tenth, ONLY if He blessed him first. So as you said previously, we should follow Jacob's example and tell God that we will only give him a tenth if he blesses us first. Is that right?

Mr. Jones: That is not what I meant.

Judge: What did you mean then?

Mr. Jones: That we should give God a tenth also.

Judge: There you go again, trying to make the scripture say what you want it to say for your benefit. I would also like you to tell me the scriptures that say that Jacob kept his vow with God. I would also like to know where he gave the tenth to because there was no temple or levites to give it to at that time.

Mr. Jones: I can not think of any scriptures that say where or if he ever tithed after his vow.

Judge: It seems fairly obvious to me that Jacob made a voluntary and conditional vow to God. This in no way can be used as a reason to demand others to bring their income to you or any other place.

Mr. Jones: I do have a few more scriptures that I believe will show that we are supposed to tithe.

Judge: You have not said anything yet to convince me one little bit that people are obligated to tithe money to the local churches and that you were justified in what you were doing. You have taken scripture and misapplied it to your beliefs and for your gain. But in order to be fair to you I will allow you to present more evidence.

Mr. Jones: In the book of Malachi chapter 3 starting at verse 8 it says, will a man rob God? yet ye have robbed me. But ye say, In what have we robbed thee? In tithes and offerings. Ye are cursed with a curse: for ye have robbed me, even this whole nation. Bring ye all the tithes into the store-house, that there may be food in my house, and prove me now with this, saith the LORD of hosts, if I will not open you the windows of heaven, and pour you out a blessing, that there shall not be room enough to receive it. So you see your Honor, we are commanded to bring the tithes into the storehouse or God will curse us.

Judge: Answer me this Mr. Jones, were you aware that God never required anyone to tithe money?

Mr. Jones: No I didn't know that.

Judge: The tithe spoken of here was always edible products never money.

Mr. Jones: well your Honor that is because they didn't have money at the time so God had them tithe food instead.

Judge: Not true, money is first mentioned in Genesis and Malachi was written hundreds of years later. God had them bring food in so that the levites, the fatherless and widows may eat and be satisfied. The tithe was used mainly to take care of people. Also notice it says in the verse you quoted, that there may be food in my house. How do you completely overlook the word food in those verses?

Mr. Jones: I don't know

Judge: I also want you to know that these verses speak to people under the Old Testament law. As you may or may not know Jesus fulfilled the law, it is no longer binding. Tithing was part of that law that has been abolished.

Judge: Once again you have tried to completely take a scripture out of context and apply it to others for your benefit. Can you give me a single scripture where God changed the tithe from food to money?

Mr. Jones: I do not know of any.

Judge: So if God never changed it from food to money who did?

Mr. Jones: Man must have.

Judge: So far all you have done Mr. Jones is take Old Testament scriptures out of context and try to apply it to believers under the New Covenant. Is this all the proof you have?

Mr. Jones: I do have a New Testament scripture that will show that Jesus told us to tithe.

Judge: Ok let me hear it.

Mr. Jones: Jesus said in Matthew 23:23 "Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you tithe mint, dill, and cumin, and have left undone the weightier matters of the law: justice, mercy, and faith. But you ought to have done these, and not to have left the other undone. See Jesus said we should be tithing.

Judge: Let me ask you a question, who was Jesus talking to?

Mr. Jones: The scripture says the scribes and Pharisees.

Judge: Are you a scribe or Pharisee?

Mr. Jones: Of course not.

Judge: Jesus also said in that passage, you have left undone the weightier matters of the law. Are we under the law Mr. Jones?

Mr. Jones: No.

Judge: Why not?

Mr. Jones: Because Jesus fulfilled it.

Judge: When did Jesus fulfill the law?

Mr. Jones: When He was crucified.

Judge: So the law was still in effect until Jesus death?

Mr. Jones: That is correct.

Judge: I think you know where I am going with this don't you?

Mr. Jones: Yes your Honor. Since Jesus had not yet been crucified and the law was still binding the Pharisees were required to tithe because it was part of the law. Once the law ended, tithing ended also.

Judge: I want you to take a look at that verse again. Also tell me, what were they tithing?

Mr. Jones: The scripture says it was mint, dill and cumin.

Judge: Is money mentioned?

Mr. Jones: No it was not.

Judge: Once again it was edible products that they were tithing, not money. Do you have anything else you would like to say?

Mr. Jones: If people only tithed edible products like the scripture says, then how would the church survive? We have our mortgage payment, utility bills, my salary and a host of other things that we have to pay each week. We depend on the money from the people.

Judge: The need does not justify the means. In other words, just because you have all these debts does not give you the right to twist and manipulate scripture and cause people to give under fear of being cursed by God to meet your needs. In closing, let me recap a few things for you Mr. Jones. The tithe was never money; the tithe was an Old Testament law, which is no longer binding. When it was binding the tithe was used to take care of people, not buildings. We are under a new covenant now. Paul instructs the Corinthian believers how they are to give. He says in second Corinthians chapter 9 verse 7, Let each man give according as he has determined in his heart; not grudgingly, or under compulsion; for God loves a cheerful giver. So each believer is supposed to give as he or she has determined in his or her heart. If you are trying to make people give under the threat of being cursed or any other reason you are wrong. Someone can not give cheerfully if they are being forced to give. If your church can not survive on freewill offerings maybe God is not part of your church at all.

Mr. Jones: I never realized all these things, I have always been taught that we had to tithe money to the local church and that is what I have always taught. I can see now that I was completely wrong. I did not study the scripture for myself, I only took mans word for it. Yes I am guilty. I will not teach this error anymore.

Judge: Mr. Jones, I can see that you done this in ignorance and are repentant, this court will not hold you accountable. It is your responsibility to know the truth. I would advise you and everyone else in this courtroom to really start studying the Bible and seeking God on the subject of tithing and your eyes will be open. Do not just take mans word any longer. Start seeking God as to how and where He would have you give. Court adjourned.

No Victory

2007-01-07T21:30:00.000+13:00

I'm a closet computer geek and spend alot of time on christian forums. Its one of the biggest christian forums on the net, in some respects while it has good points, its kind of grown like an out of control organism. Lately there have been alot of staff issues obviously because there have been mass resignations from the upper level staff members.

Anyhow, was getting sick of the fact that one particular mod seems to take joy in closing down threads that he doesnt agree with, labeling them as closed for staff review. "Closed for staff review" should mean that a mod will review the thread, deal with rule violations and then reopen the thread. The fact that these "closed for review threads' were never reopened, further added weight to my "this mod shuts threads where he doesnt agree with the OP" theory. Anyhow, after getting a warning for complaining about the number of threads that were "closed for review" and never reopened I decided to take a different tack and began reporting this mod's closing posts. The most recent one, a discussion about generational curses began by GodisMyRefuge aka Jeff Harshbarger of refuge ministries, he is a stand up bloke, who is not afraid to stand up against the dodgy theology that has perpetrated the christian church. I reported this mod's closing post, and suprise surprise the thread was reopened several hours later and no changes had been made to the thread. Again supporting my "this mod shuts down threads that he doesnt agree with" theory.

Do I feel victorious that I caused a biased mod to have to reopen a thread that he shut down that he didnt agree with? HECK no! I'd much rather this mod could be fair, unbiased and do his job without needing to try and censor those he doesnt agree with.

Maybe in a perfect world perhaps.

Armchair critics

2007-01-04T18:35:00.000+13:00

I got in a discussion last night with T, who is a friend of Y who is my flatmate. First of all he started talking about borderline personaility disorder and the fact that the government doesnt fund borderline personality disorder. Well he was wrong on that point, the government will fund treatment for a person who is borderline, however the person who is being treated has to want to be treated and has to want to change their situation. Didnt think I should mention that I am a recovered borderline.

Then he started bitching and moaning about the system is rubbish and kind of going on about conspiracy theories. Arm chair critics piss me off immensly. I mean letter writing, and what not is all very well and good, however how often does it actually make a difference. I was a big meanie and put him on the spot, and asked him what he was doing to make a practical difference for the people who he thought the system was failing. As with all armchair critics, he blustered and babled about vague things he had suposedlly accomplished with his letter writing. But when I asked for specifics, he couldnt give me any

Arm chair critics, just piss me off

Walking in the darklands

2007-01-02T23:24:00.000+13:00

Walking in the land where pain threatens to overwhelm
Her emotional baggage is so much that she feels that she will bleed from the pain
Pain relief comes at the knife drawn across her skin,
The pain leaves her with the release of blood

Snotting Hypocrite

2006-12-25T17:40:00.000+13:00

I remeber Peter Mortlock saying one night in church that he would never ever again take out advertising in the New Zealand herald because of the fact that they printed, in his words "lies about Destiny Church". And surprise surprise, who was on the christmas messages advertising of the New Zealand herald weekend herald. I guess its much harder to hold onto ones convictions when one is offered a free space for advertisements.....

Technically they had offered a few of the major churches words for christmas, however city impacts was the only one that read like an advertisement

Hypocrites

Merry Christmas

2006-12-25T06:50:00.001+13:00

Merry Christmas one and all, may your days be healthy and blesses

M.A.D.D

2006-12-24T16:46:00.000+13:00

Had the first MADD event today. A bunch of us went up the the ranui campground and did a sausage sizzle, lolly scrambles, A Santa who gave out christmas pressies, provided drinks, chips etc.

The Ranui campground could best be desribed as low socio economic. It was an incredibly sad place really, mothers on their owns with three plus kids in a caravan or a small cabin. Ok, so adults have choices about where they will live etc, but what about the kids. They dont get to choose where they grow up. Apparently the place was full of gang members, drug addicts and alcoholics. L said when they were going round knocking, many didnt answer or were very clearly stoned or pissed. The whole experience while it was a touch scary was also very profound specially with mums comming up to thank us, because they werent going to have anything special for Christmas nor were their kids going to have anything amazing for christmas...

It got me thinking to the CIC summer impact. A group of young adults go to a campground over the summer, and basically help out, do summer holiday programes for the kids etc. It sounds all very cool on the surface, however when its a campgroud like Pauanui or one of those, where rich aucklanders vacate to for the summer, how much of an amazing thing is it. I remember feeling awefully disapointed last year when I was told I couldnt go on summer impact. The few hours we spent out at Ranui today, were more impacting that a whole ten days on summer impact could have been, and it was much cooler because it felt like we were meeting a genuine need

Contexless quote

2006-12-23T22:19:00.000+13:00

"What we do in life echoes in eternity", (Russell Crowe, Gladiator)

Occultists

2006-12-21T14:59:00.000+13:00

This is something I am encountering alot lately, people who have this mistken delusion that they should be praying against occultists and stopping the damage that they do against christians. All I can say is thankyou very much frank peretti, too many people have taken your novels for fact.

People if you want to make a positive difference in the life of someone not following Almighty God, take them into the throneroom of the King, pray that they will be able to encounter God in all his amazingness, pray that they will be able to experiemce the full impact of Gods love, pray that Gods love will flood every area of their life and they will want to know more about God. Pray that hearts of stone will be melted and become hearts of warm living beating flesh.

But dont pray against them, for one thing the deities that they serve, while they may be able to roar and make alot of noise, their power is limited and they are in subjugation to almightly God. Gods promises to protect those who are his are well spelled out in the bible, Psalm 91 for example. For a person who is walking with God, they have nothing to fear from the evil one. Occultists are hurting people, who are looking for the answers in all the wrong places.

If you feel lead to pray, pray they will find God

Last post

2006-12-20T07:54:00.000+13:00

The last post I made

The single greatest cause of atheisim in the world today, is christians who acknowledge Jesus with their lips and walk out the door and deny him by their lifestyle. That is what an unbelieving world simply finds unbelievable. (DC Talk)

I think this is something the christian church needs to get their head around. The world looks at the church and sees them protesting against civil unions bill, the prositution law reform bill. They dont tend to see the groups of christians like M.A.D.D, project awi, even the salvation army who are working tirelessly in their small corner of the world trying to make a difference.

I wonder if some of the megachurches would do better putting their money into these sorts of ministies, than spending it on personalised number plates, election spending, advertising campaigns etc...

2006-12-18T21:06:00.000+13:00

The single greatest cause of atheisim in the world today, is christians who acknowledge Jesus with their lips and walk out the door and deny him by their lifestyle. That is what an unbelieving world simply finds unbelievable. (DC Talk)

A kudos to my mum

2006-12-14T21:27:00.000+13:00

Just finished having a chat to my mum and felt the need to post this here

Mum

You drive me absolutley nucking futs at times.
I am convinced that your only purpose on this earth is to confuse, and confuddle
Then something happens and I realise that you are a hurted and broken person
Trying to do the best you can with what life has handed you.
When you were left with three kids and no money
You worked your ass of to ensure that we kids never went without
You did your best to ensure we grew up with good values
And even after all the craizness was over and done with
I found the values that you'd attempted to instill in me so long ago
They were buried, but you had done your job well
With time I was able to find resurrect them and put them back into practice

And now here I stand, 2 years of a degree down, and 2 years to go. Its been a long road and it isnt over yet, but I hold on tight to the values that you gave me, hard working, compassion, commitment

Mum, you drive me nuts, but I love you loads and appreciate that when things were crap and hideous, you didnt give up on me.

Piercing

2006-12-13T10:12:00.000+13:00

After my time at CIC, when I got rid of all my piercings in order to conform to their picture of what a christian looks like.

I'm getting pierced, going to get a nose piercing done

Accountable for your actions

2006-12-10T18:28:00.000+13:00

To PM and the other Pastors

One day you will have to stand before God and account for the people whose faith you have ship wrecked. You will have to explain why all those people left CIC, never again to darken the doors of a church again and who spent the rest of their lives running from God as a result of your actions.

You may be seeing 10s of people comming to faith each week, however how many more of those people are you missing as they walk out the backdoor fed up with all your bollicks.

Its not a position that I would want to be in

Abortion

2006-12-07T16:31:00.000+13:00

Let me be clear, I am absolutley opposed to abortion. I think its a hideous thing to do to a child that hasnt had the chance to be born yet. I remember S my sister, did a project on abortion when she was a kid. The methods she reported on were salaineinjected into the mothers womb that disolved the foetus, or when they put a vacum cleaner like thing into the mothers womb and suck out the child piece by piece. Yip, the picture is hideous.

And there is many having abortions. In New Zealand in 2005 there were 18,000 abortions. Thats alot of people. So how do we stop this horrible thing happening. As christians, whats the most effective way of stopping abortion. Standing up on TV and going "abortion is murder, and people who abort are murders". Its an effective way to get our faces on the news, whether it stops anyone having an abortion is debatable.

what the church needs to do is get of their proverbial asses, and look at how they can offer practical assistance to these women. Look at what these women need in order to either be able to keep the child, or carry the child to term. They need to walk the walk and stop spouting the inane retoric that changes nothing...

Work

2006-12-07T10:49:00.000+13:00

Worked at BS respite yesterday, only four hours, so it was quite nice. We had a full house, but one person left early. Apparently the bed was filled before she left. It seems quite mad that its either a feast or a famine, either the respite beds are in huge demand, and they are booked up before they are empty. Or the respite services are empty or only have a few in. It would be good if there were temporary respote beds that could be called into action whe the need was there and could be left when not needed.

The least trusted person

2006-12-06T15:13:00.000+13:00

Bishop Brian Tamaki makes the least trusted person in New Zealand. Thats mildly disturbing

Churches that abuse

2006-12-06T14:59:00.000+13:00

I bought this book when I was still involved in CIC, to this day am not sure why the heck I picked it up, however I did. I read it at the time, and it was a good book, however never made any connections between the groups he wrote about, and CIC. Picked it up today, and read it through again and it was like holey moley.

Authoritarian leadership that is beyond question by ordinary church members, how many times did I hear PM say something and it just went quick in my spirit. How many times was I told that he was ok, and knew what he was talking about.

I remember watching a nation under siege and being completely hacked off by the factual inaccuracies that Brian tamaki managed to cram into the DVD, including infering that the prostitution law reform bill had lead to the emergence of youth prostitutes. For someone who wasnt involved in the social services arena, they may think this was correct, however anyhow, youth prositutes were around along time before the prositution bill was passed. I remeber an article that appeared in the christchurch press exposing youth prostitutes at least six months before the bill was passed. Anyhow, I digress. Remeber sharing my concerns with CJ, and her completely glossing over the fact that Brians DVD was unfactual, ignoring my concerns and then praising him for the work he was doing.

U2 in Auckland

2006-12-06T11:05:00.000+13:00

I was beyond gutted,I missed out on a really cheap ticket to the friday night U2 concert. However one of my workmates went, and got some video footage of the show. lol, all that did was make me feel sadder because I'd missed out on going. But never mind

anyhow, Utube now has different clips of both shows for showing. but for Auckland they should have renamed this song no tree hill. Ok, so that was just an incredibly cheesy joke.... Would like to have gone, oh well never mind. Heres hoping I may get a chance later on

Bandaid (the orginal and best version)

2006-12-05T14:51:00.000+13:00

For any american readers, no offence, however the second version isnt nearly as cool as the first. I was like 7years old when this was first released. I feel so old

The song is a touch cheesy, however after listening to both versions, the 1984 and the 2004, the latest version doesnt have the same depth. Its got quite a superfical feel to it and rap, arrgggh, why trash a perfecly good song with rap. Ok, so the song was rubbish, however importantly both songs raised money for a very good cause, and which went to starving children in africa

the version from bandaid. Still looks old, look at all the retro clothes they have one

Not sure when this one was shot

this is the last one, however while the money was for a good cause,the song was rubbish. It lacked amoung other things soul and depth

What makes good leadership?

2006-12-05T14:41:00.000+13:00

I was pondering this one this week

What makes good leadership whether its in the christian world of the seculalr world?

Leaders who are prepared to be open and honest about how they run their ministry, not only to their fellow staff people, but to the people they are there to serve. A leader who is walking in honesty and integrity should have no issues with allowing other people to audit their ministries.

Leaders should also be able to deal with differing opinions without feeling that they are under attack, or accusing the other person of spreadding dissension. A leader should be secure enough in what they believe to be able to deal with the different opinions of others

As someone who works in social services, not only do i have to be accountable to my fellow staff, but I also have to be prepared to be open and accountable to my clients, and their families. I wonder why alot of the time, this is such a hard thing to do within christian ministries. A person makes a false prohecy that has a huge negative impact on peoples lives, they have made a mistake and it simply should be forgotten and shoved under the rug.

Work today

2006-12-02T22:56:00.000+13:00

Luckily the shift didnt continue in the vein it started out in. Did the sleepover at work yesterday, it was cool, a few extra dollars. Slept ok, watched hotel rwanda on DVD, and made it into bed about midnight.

This morning as I lay in bed contemplating whether or not to get up and have a leisurley showever before starting work, I could have sworn I heard K's voice in the hallway. K is a young lady who I have worked with on occasion, she has prader willi syndrome, in the last week or so, we've been having issues with her knocking on Ms door, and asking to be let in. M being the polite person is is, lets her in. We have managed to get locks on the pantry door, however have been unable to get the fridge lock on.

Anyhow, after thinking I heard Ks voice this morning, I got out of bed, and sure enough there she was heading out the door, with two sandwiches in her hand. Cornered her, and told her to hand over the sandwiches. Then noticed as she was leaving that her foot was bleeding. I asked her what she did and she said that she'd cut it on the roof. It turned out that she had come up the stairs to Ms room and then climbed on to the roof, worked her way round to Js room, banged on his window, and then worked her way back to Ms stairway. The kittens I had were just arrrgggh. I felt that we were incredibly lucky the worst injury that she had was a small cut on her foot. Visions of her splatted on the concrete kept crossing my mind.

Anyhow, the rest of the day was alot better. Got some crepe paper from the warehouse, and made some christmas decorations, hang some in the lounge and in the hallway. It looked pretty cool.

Number 6

2006-12-01T10:23:00.000+13:00

I went to the hairdressers yesterday and got a number six clipper cut. The poor hairdresser got a bit of a fright I think, she kept asking me was I sure? was I really sure? Its kind of funny how people cant handle different and out there ideas, or people that look different. I can imagine the reaction that I would get if I was still at CIC. Girls with clipper cuts dont fufill the nice idea of the perfect christian

Who suffers more?

2006-11-28T21:41:00.000+13:00

Been playing with an idea inspired by Becky at "Theres more to life". She had a banner made up with a starving child from africa, and an anorexic woman on the other side. In the middle were the words "who suffers more?".

We see New Zealand as being a land of plenty, where young people have all sorts of opportunities that a young person in africa doesnt have, and while that is true for many, there are also many young people growing up in families lacking the basic essentials of life, they arent growing up in a stable home environment, they arent having nourishing meals, and they are being forced to grow up, years before they should have to.

The new unforgiveable sin

2006-11-27T21:41:00.001+13:00

Forget blasphemy against the Holy Spirit

The new unforgiveable sin, having a different point of view and not blindly swallowing the heretical tripe propagated by your church leadership.

Also a very major indicator, that you are in an unhealthy church, and need leave

This week

2006-11-24T10:23:00.000+13:00

Its been a fantastic week. The epitomy of wierd, but I think I've came closer to figuring out the root of all my issues. Growing up and not having steady relationships with my parental figures, caused me to end up being mad and unstable in my adult life.

So I know what caused the problem and I know how to fix it. Its a wierd feeling comming to the realisation of what caused the problem. Its like after 29years the penny finally dropped.
The funny thing is, the teaching of my old church told me that unless I was under the proper authority, unless I was giving up 10% of my income and unless I was in at least two church services on a sunday as well as being in various meetings during the week, I couldnt be blessed.

Lets look at the blessings on my life. I have the steadfast knowledge that God will take care of all of my needs, he has proven that more times than I can count in the last week alone. Having my sister and brother in law, and nephews in the same city. I will actually get to be around as the kids are growing up. I'm halfway through my BSW. Four years ago, I didnt think it would be possible to even get to university let alone to this point...

I managed to get away from an spiritually abusive church, which should have destroyed my faith, but praise God, it didnt

I'm free

2006-11-19T20:41:00.000+13:00

Thank the Lord God almightly, I'm finally free.

I had been going to City Impact Church on and off over the last few months because for all the doubts I'd been having, I wondered if maybe it was all a terrible mistake and perhaps City Impact church was of God and I was walking away from something amazing. For all the faults of the leadership, the fact that the rank and file members were lovely amazing genuine people also kept me going back.

Anyhow, I was standing in the back wondering why I'd come back again, and thinking how many times did I need to go to figure out how rotten the fruit was and Janet , one of the church elders came up to me and asked me why I was there. I was like "Huh", and she made reference to a website. As she walked away, I was left feeling like something had crawled over my soul. She continued to position herself where she could see me leave, and as I departed, I'm sure shes positive that she had gotten to me. The funny thing was that as i left, was absolutley shaking, however after I got out to the car, I relaised that I was free, and that no longer did I need to keep going back, and actually it was the release that I had been seeking for months, but didnt know how to get it.

So Janet

You may be thinnking that you won, and that I left
However you inadvertantly gave me the closure that I had been seeking for a long time
I'm free finally and it was you that gave me that freedom

But no, I wont be back.....

U2 and Green Day

2006-11-19T16:43:00.001+13:00

Lotto

2006-11-18T23:47:00.000+13:00

I bought a $2.40 ticket for the first time like ever today. I have this wonderful fantasy of what I would do if I won lotto, however the only catch with that was in order to win, I needed to buy a ticket.

Have just checked the numbers and what do you know, I'm a division six winner, which means getting the grand total of $28. Minus the $2.40 I spent on the ticket, this means comming out $25.60 ahead... I look at people like my sister, and people like the Mortlocks, and think alot of the time it would be really nice, to have a week where I dont have to struggle with my finances. Then something like this happens and it occurs to me that perhaps this way, God gets to keep me dependent on him for all my needs, and possibly by providing too far ahead into the future, I would start taking my eyes of Him and become reliant on myself.

How has God blessed me in a material sense over the past month.

Well there was the baby sitting for Y, that was $20bucks which very nicely took me through to payday and meant I didnt have to hit my savings to by milk and what not.

Then there was getting the car battery for $50, and installing it myself meant that I saved $$$ on not having to get a mechanic to do it. Also not to mention the fact, that the battery kept running into such a time when I had spare dollars in the bank to be able to afford the battery.

The trip down to Opoutere, had gas in the tank, so didnt have to put any more in. ZTook the day trip to Hamilton which G provided money for, and when we got back to Opoutere she filled up my tank again...

And now this small win, yes, it would be awesome to have more of a solid finacial base, however I like playing the game, the Kings way. The prosperity people can shove their gospel, "My God supplies all my needs", true, however he doesnt say in which way that he will supply them. Prosperity for many western christians seems to be having a house, nice car, all the latest electronics, those things are cool to have, but they kind of cheapen Gods provision if thats all we expect God to do.

The way of the Master is alot more scary, but did I mention, I like scary

Blogs and sods

2006-11-18T21:56:00.000+13:00

Well the ExW forum is being shut down. Kathi Sharpe has gotten the word from the Boss that its time to take the ministry in another direction... The excitment of being in a relationship with the head Kahuna, ya never know which way he will take us. At the moment, I'm in the process of developing the concept of "real people". The site building is show going, but its kind of exciting transofrming a bunch of letters, numbers and codes into something that looks semi decent. I've gone from the ultra basics, to improving slowly and getting something that looks halfway decent

The holiday was good, it was a bit of a sod being sick for most of it, but went over to hamilton, to catch J, G's mum. Another J a parasite has hooked onto J and has taken her for like over $100k...Hopefully G has got her mum to sign the power of attorney, which means that J cant sign for loans and basically that her assets are protected, and while she may have no more money, still has her house and car and her income comming in each week. what I didnt realise was that power of attorney will also enable G, to put things into place that will stop parasite J being able to get his hands on any more of Js money.



		(a)“I AB, take you CD, to be my legal wife or husband”; or



		(c)in the case of the solemnisation of a marriage in accordance with the rules and procedures of a specified body that require different words to be used as a marriage vow than those set out in paragraph (a), those words.]]