Andre's Thoughts

God is love

Thu, 20 Sep 2007 20:20:01 GMT

It pays to remember that God is love. He loved us in sending Jesus Christ to redeem us.

What a wonderful Saviour and Lord we have! Every knee shall bow and every tongue confess

that Jesus Christ is Lord! Jesus, Name above all names, beautiful Saviour, glorious Lord. Emmanuel,

God is with us.

The honour of His Name website will no longer be updated.

Mon, 10 Sep 2007 02:56:45 GMT

I have already explained that I do not feel to pursue my nearly 7-year campaign to have the Name of Jesus Christ honoured in the television media as at this point I do not reside in Australia.

As I am no longer a Bigpond subscriber, I have asked Bigpond on several occasions to close my website down, without results. I have supplied all the adequate details of my former account, address and phonenumber as requested. As such, I will just have to leave things up in the air. The website will therefore not be updated.

Maybe someone else would be willing to take up the cause from this point on.

Andre

Jesus said

Sat, 08 Sep 2007 03:43:06 GMT

Jesus said that all those who labour and are heavy laden should come unto Him and He will give them rest.

A tribute to my wife

Wed, 29 Aug 2007 04:34:15 GMT

On Sunday, August 26, we celebrated our 40th wedding anniversary. The Bible says that 'a threefold cord is not easily broken'. Our lives, from our wedding day, have been dedicated to the Lord. Together we have been a threefold cord. Not everyone has been this blessed and we acknowledge God's hand upon us.

Our son and his wife and our two oldest grandchildren, from Christchurch, came to celebrate with us.

My wife, Jane, or Janie to all her friends, has been the most loyal, committed and faithful person imaginable.

She is a wonderful people person, a great musician and a very good writer. She can turn her hands to any restoration job; in fact she is multi-talented. She likes to do things justly and well and also expects to be treated justly.

She is the mother of three sons and one daughter and the grandmother of ten grandchildren. She is truly blessed and has always been a great blessing!

I admire and love her dearly!

Andre

It is a small world!

Fri, 24 Aug 2007 11:25:43 GMT

Talked to my son in Melbourne for over one hour tonight. We started off on Skype to make the telephone appointment and then I rang him on my Telecom Talk-it-up-downunder $25 per month program. These inexpensive modes of international communication are really quite amazing.

In the past they would have been far more expensive and complex. I also communicate with my children and even grandchildren on MSN Messenger on a regular basis. I am more familiar with MSN Messenger.

My son is a good counsellor and a very committed believer. He helped me think through some issues extremely perceptively and well. It seems that this 35-year old son has now reversed the roles and was able to be of great assistance to me, his father. For this I thank the Lord.

Family members help each other when there is a need. The family bonds of love cannot be broken by distance or by time.

re Revival

Tue, 21 Aug 2007 13:36:46 GMT

I am currently reading again the late Arthur Wallis's 1979 book entitled Rain from heaven about revival.

I would not consider that there is currently a revival in Timaru in the Biblical sense, as revival is a sudden sovereign outpouring from God. A revival is not something that is planned by people. It is a special visitation of God, not only amongst His people but also one which touches the surrounding community. It is akin to what happened in Acts 2 when the Spirit of God came down as a mighty rushing wind. The most appropriate way to describe it is to say with Habakkuk3:2-4 that 'God came'.

We can however set the sails to catch this heavenly wind. This refers to a thorough preparation of our hearts before God. As at Pentecost, true revival is always at God's initiative.

Unity or conformity?

Sat, 04 Aug 2007 02:41:03 GMT

When the early church creeds were formulated in black and white, the church of the day thought that this would deal with heresy once and for all. Such has never been the case. Most examples in the New Testament explain heresy as disunity. However, disunity soon again popped up quickly and the creeds would then be amended to deal with this new challenge.

The creeds actually created more disunity (heresy) than they sought to resolve.

The Roman emperors, starting with Constantine, wanted unity in the Roman Empire and used Christianity as the vehicle to achieve this goal. Once the church of the day was 'favoured' with the backing of the temporal power, so-called unity was enforced by the arm of the flesh. Unfortunately, it only enforced conformity or uniformity and incredible intolerance of alternate Bible-based views resulted. The church soon began to persecute its own people It is no surprise that after the fourth century, Christianised European society quickly descended into the Dark Ages. The creeds were mostly counterproductive, especially when they began to be enforced by temporal power.

There are many things we might not fully agree on. For example, even today eschatological (endtime doctrinal) differences are frequently not tolerated by those who think that their particular view is the one and only Biblically based interpretation.

Every church denomination that I am familiar with claims that its own tradition is solidly Bible-based. They are all probably right. About many issues, the Scriptures are not nearly so definite. It is the intolerance of differing views or ways of being the ekklesia that causes unnecessary friction in the body of Christ.

Unity

In 1Corinthians 15 we read of the resurrection of Jesus the Christ (the Messiah). Jesus went to the cross bodily and rose again bodily. That should be the sufficient basis of our unity and dispel misconceptions. Why then do we need complex creeds to try to say what the Scriptures have already said more than adequately?

Saved by faith through grace

When a lifesaver at the beach saves people from drowning, they do not need to know everything about this lifesaver or agree on everything about this person to be rescued. Even different understandings about this person, after the rescue has taken place, do not negate the fact that the rescued ones were indeed saved from drowning. In fact, the rescued certainly did nothing to deserve being rescued. All they needed to do was to put their trust in the rescuer at the time of the rescue.

Trusting Christ Jesus

Many believers, when they first come to Christ Jesus, know precious little about Him. Does this retrospectively negate their salvation ? I was not saved by right believing or orthodoxy , I was saved by fully trusting the One who saved me! Now this might sound somewhat simplistic. Jesus did not just come for the intellectuals. In fact He had a special ministry to the poor and disenfranchised of His days on earth. He is no different today!

No place for anathemas

Why should people be cursed because, while having put their trust in their Saviour and having experienced salvation from the debt and the power of sin, they have somewhat different understandings of Him. Why should the Athanasian Creed (for example) include threats and curses? In fact, such inclusions of threats and curses only legalistically seek to create unity. Such actually enforce uniformity, but end up destroying unity. That the church has been fear-bound for those many centuries is in itself amazing. I have met too many Christians who are too fearful to think outside the traditional square. They are afraid of the church's scrutiny or other people's censure or condemnation. I prefer to stand fast in the liberty wherewith Christ has set me free! No threats will rob me of knowing Whom I have believed, even if some of my ideas might differ from the ancient credos.

It is time for a total rethink by the church of our day! The basis for our unity needs to be rethought and defined. In many respects, we should move toward more inclusiveness. I am not speaking of sinful lifestyles which are clearly disapproved in the Scriptures, I am thinking of differing understandings, all of which may be shown to be based firmly on the written Word of God.

The following is a passage directly quoted from Fausset's Bible Dictionary. See also the phrase which I have emphasised in bold print.

HERESY

1 Cor 11:18-19. "Schisms" meant "divisions" through differences of opinion of recent standing. "Heresies" meant schisms inveterate. "Sect" (Greek "heresy" Acts 5:17; 15:5. Paul means by "there must be heresies among you," that sin must bear its natural fruit, as Christ foretold (Luke 17:1), and schisms (compare 1 Cor 12:25) must eventuate in mattered secessions or confirmed schisms. "Heresy" did not yet bear its present meaning, doctrinal error. However see its use Acts 24:14.
(from Fausset's Bible Dictionary, Electronic Database Copyright (c)1998, 2003 by Biblesoft)

Settled in Timaru!

Thu, 26 Jul 2007 05:54:28 GMT

Hello to all our old friends! We have finally settled in Timaru, New Zealand. Our suburn is Timaru Central. Timaru is on the east coast of the South Island of New Zealand and it has a substantial port complex. It is located between Christchurch in the North (164 kms) and Dunedin in the South (200kms). We have enjoyed some delicious salmon steaks in the last week.

What a busy time we have had. In all, what I would have easily taken in my stride ten or twenty years ago, has been fairly stressful. Nearly all boxes have been unpacked and we are beginning to settle in. We can walk into the centre of Timaru within ten minutes; very convenient.

The weather has been amazing! It was 17 degrees Celcius yesterday and today. Have communicated with some of our friends in Rushworth, Australia, and am trying to catch up on mail, administration and a dozen other things. In particular, we have been in contact with that marvellous place, the Rushworth Community House.

The Timaru people are very friendly. This is so in the banks, Post Office, shops, and other places. Apparently Timaru is knows for its friendliness. People are coming here all the way from the UK and many other places, to settle in this city of some 27,000 plus.

Janie has started to paint and restore this place. Hope to get a new kitchen and carpets installed in due time. Janie has been busy getting competitive quotes from a number of places. She is good at nearly everything, not just playing the piano.

Good to be back on line!

Thank you, Bernie!

Thu, 14 Jun 2007 22:39:31 GMT

My wife and I will be moving to New Zealand within the next few weeks. 'Andre's Thoughts' in Windows Live Spaces will be inactive until I settle at our new address in Timaru.

In the meantime I would like to thank all the good people in Rushworth and district. We have made many good friends.

Particular thanks to Bernie Halpin of the Rushworth Community House who has instructed me patiently over the last couple of years in relation to running my website The Honour of His Name! He is a master at his trade and

my weekly computer sessions at the Community House have been an absolute highlight of the week.

I hope to keep in touch with him via the wonderful web.

Thank you, Bernie!

Funny stuff

Mon, 23 Apr 2007 01:18:16 GMT

The following was sent to me by a friend.

Kids are Quick

TEACHER: Maria, go to the map and find

North America .

MARIA: Here it is.

TEACHER: Correct. Now class, who

discovered America ?

CLASS: Maria.
____________________________________

TEACHER: John, why are you doing

your math multiplication on the floor?

JOHN: You told me to do it

without using tables.
__________________________________________

TEACHER: Glenn, how do you spell

"crocodile?"

GLENN: K-R-O-K-O-D-I-A-L"

TEACHER: No, that's wrong

GLENN: Maybe it is wrong, but

you asked me how I spell it.
____________________________________________

TEACHER: Donald, what is the

chemical formula for water?

DONALD: H I J K L M N O.

TEACHER: What are you talking

about?

DONALD: Yesterday you said

it's H to O.

__________________________________

TEACHER: Winnie, name one

important thing we have today that

we didn't have ten Years ago.

WINNIE: Me!

__________________________________________

TEACHER: Glen, why do you always

get so dirty?

GLEN: Well, I'm a lot closer

to the ground than you are.
_______________________________________

TEACHER: Millie, give me a sentence

starting with "I."

MILLIE: I is...

TEACHER: No, Millie..... Always say

"I am."

MILLIE: All right... "I am the

ninth letter of the alphabet."

_________________________________

TEACHER: George Washington not

only chopped down his father's cherry

tree, but also Admitted it.

Now, Louie, do you know why his father

didn't punish him?

LOUIS: Because George still

had the ax in his hand.

______________________________________

TEACHER: Now, Simon, tell me frankly,

do you say prayers before eating?

SIMON: No sir, I don't have to,

my Mom is a good cook.

______________________________

TEACHER: Clyde , your composition on

"My Dog" is exactly the same as your

brother's. Did you Copy his?

CLYDE : No, teacher, it's the

same dog.

___________________________________

TEACHER: Harold, what do you call a

person who keeps on talking when people

are no longer Interested?

HAROLD: A teacher

!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Photos of March 07 New Zealand trip

Wed, 28 Mar 2007 00:00:04 GMT

The photos on your right are a partial record of our March 07 trip to New Zealand.

Trip to New Zealand

Mon, 26 Mar 2007 04:48:15 GMT

Had a wonderful time in New Zealand this last fortnight. We only visited the South Island.

One thing I noticed was that in well over 1,500 kms of car travel, I did not come across one speed camera or speed trap. Even in cities like Christchurch there was no speed camera revenue raising presence.

Makes you wonder about our State of Victoria!

LOST ISRAELITE IDENTITY - by Yair Davidy

Wed, 24 Jan 2007 05:12:33 GMT

This fascinating and scholarly book by Yair Davidy was published in Israel in 1996. Davidy spent decades on his investigations, helped also by material gathered and donated by other researchers.

The book is all about the Hebrew ancestry of the Celtic races. The ten tribes of the northern Israel kingdom were exiled by the Assyrians in 721 BC and finally found their way to Western Europe.

I borrowed this book through the Campaspe library system from the State Library of Victoria.

Yair Davidy was born in Australia but now lives in Jerusalem.

The British-Israel concept is not a new one, but this well-researched book by this Jewish man confirms this contention very strongly. Davidy, in other books, goes well beyond the British identity to include many in Western Europe as well. The study of the lost ten tribes has occupied scholars of many backgrounds for many hundreds of years.

In another book by Davidy, and writings by others as well, the tribe of Zebulon is shown after the Assyrian captivity to have eventually settled in Holland, the land of my birth.

I see myself as an Israelite of the tribe of Zebulon. As an Israelite I am part of the chosen people and therefore a descendant of Jacob (or his new name Israel) and through him back to Abraham. Others again see Holland as part of the tribe of Dan together with the Danish and other neighbouring peoples. I tend to favour that (Caucasian) Hollanders are from the tribe of Zebulon. Some again say that Zebulon and Issacher are closely related, if not mixed together. This might be so.

Although Jesus Christ is from the tribe of Judah, as a part of the tribes of Israel, I am His kinsman, while He is my redeemer.

Rabbi Abraham Feld of the Macabee Institute (for emergency rescue, educational and social aid) based in Jerusalem wrote an excellent letter of commendation included at the beginning of Davidy's book.

If you don't understand a word of the above, do not panic. If you do understand some of it, don't jump to incorrect conclusions. Do the hard yards.

Start reading the Hebrew Bible (Old Testament) from Genesis onwards. Look at the Assyrian and Babylonian captivities. Look also at the dispersion after the fall of Jerusalem in 70 AD. Historian Josephus has written much about that. After all he as a Judean general was part of Jerusalem's defense. There is a good book entitled Thrones of Blood (based on Josephus' writings) which is the story of the last seven years prior to the fall of Jerusalem accomplished by Roman general Titus.

Think about it!

The origin of science

Mon, 08 Jan 2007 22:13:15 GMT

The following has been copied and pasted from the columbia.edu website. I considered it interesting enough to place it in my space.

This is certainly food for thought!

The origin of science
...as Whitehead pointed out, it is no coincidence that science sprang,
not from Ionian metaphysics, not from the Brahmin-Buddhist-Taoist East,
not from the Egyptian-Mayan astrological South, but from the heart of
the Christian West, that although Galileo fell out with the Church, he
would hardly have taken so much trouble studying Jupiter and dropping
objects from towers if the reality and value and order of things had not
first been conferred by belief in the Incarnation. (Walker Percy, Lost
in the Cosmos)

To the popular mind, science is completely inimical to religion: science
embraces facts and evidence while religion professes blind faith. Like
many simplistic popular notions, this view is mistaken. Modern science
is not only compatible with Christianity, it in fact finds its origins
in Christianity. This is not to say that the Bible is a science textbook
that contains raw scientific truths, as some evangelical Christians
would have us believe. The Christian faith contains deeper truths--
truths with philosophical consequences that make conceivable the mind's
exploration of nature: man's place in God's creation, who God is and how
he freely created a cosmos.
In large part, the modern mind thinks little of these notions in much
the same way that the last thing on a fish's mind is the water it
breathes. It is difficult for those raised in a scientific world to
appreciate the plight of the ancient mind trapped within an eternal and
arbitrary world. It is difficult for those raised in a post-Christian
world to appreciate the radical novelty and liberation Christian ideas
presented to the ancient mind.
(The Origin of Science
<http://www.columbia.edu/cu/augustine/a/science_origin.html>)
14 <posts?page=14#14> posted on *08/07/2006 11:19:23 AM PDT* by A. Pole
</%7Eapole/> (Saint Augustine: "The truth speaks from the bottom of the heart without the noise of words")
[ Post Reply <reply?c=14> | Private Reply <private?c=14> | To 8 <#8> |
View Replies <replies?c=14> ]

Cooking with gas!!

Fri, 05 Jan 2007 06:11:12 GMT

I received this story by email from a friend today. Only the title is mine.

CAN YOU BELIEVE THIS ?

What a world? (country NSW, Australia)...
On Thursday, 24 January 2002, Derek Guille broadcast this story on his afternoon program on ABC radio.
In March, 1999, a man living in Kandos (near Mudgee in NSW received a bill for his as yet unused gas line stating that he owed $0.00. He ignored it and threw it away. In April he received another bill and threw that one away too
The following month the gas company sent him a very nasty note
stating they were going to cancel his gas line if he didn't send them $0.00 by return mail. He called them, talked to them, and they said it was a computer error and they would take care of it.
The following month he decided that it was about time that he tried
out the troublesome gas line figuring that if there was usage on the
account it would put an end to this ridiculous predicament. However, when he went to use the gas, it had been cut off.
He called the gas company who apologised for the computer error once again and said that they would take care of it. The next day he got a bill for $0 00 stating that payment was now overdue. Assuming that having spoken to them the previous day the latest bill was yet
another mistake, so he ignored it, trusting that the company would be as good as their word and sort the problem out.
The next month he got a bill for $0.00. This bill also stated that he
had 10 days to pay his account or the company would have to take
steps to recover the debt. Finally, giving in, he thought he would beat the company at their own game and mailed them a cheque [check] for $0.00.
The computer duly processed his account and returned a statement to the effect that he now owed the gas company nothing at all.
A week later, the manager of the Mudgee branch of the Westpac Banking Corporation called our hapless friend and asked him what he was doing writing cheque for $0.00. After a lengthy explanation the bank manager replied that the $0.00 cheque had caused their cheque processing software to fail. The bank could therefore not process ANY cheques they had received from ANY of their customers that day because the cheque for $0.00 had caused the computer to crash.
The following month the man received a letter from the gas company claiming that his cheque has bounced and that he now owed them $0.00 and unless he sent a cheque by return mail they would take immediate steps to recover the debt.
At this point, the man decided to file a debt harassment claim
against the gas company. It took him nearly 2 hours to convince the clerks at the local courthouse that he was not joking. They subsequently assisted him in the drafting of statements which were considered substantive evidence of the aggravation and difficulties he had been forced to endure during this debacle.
The matter was heard in the Magistrate's Court in Mudgee and the
outcome was this:
The gas company was ordered to:
[1] Immediately rectify their computerised accounts system or show cause, within 10 days, why the matter should not be referred to a higher court for consideration under Company Law.
[2] Pay the bank dishonour fees incurred by the man.
[3] Pay the bank dishonour fees incurred by all the Westpac clients
whose cheques had been bounced on the day our friend's had been.
[4] Pay the claimant's court costs; and
[5] Pay the claimant a total of $1500 per month for the 5 month
period March to July inclusive as compensation for the aggravation they had caused their client to suffer.
And all this over $0.00.
This story can also be viewed on the ABC website.
Who employed these idiots??

Drought assistance - some web sites

Wed, 25 Oct 2006 01:10:01 GMT

The following information comes from Rushcomhouse.spaces.live.com

Quote

Drought assistance - some web sites

Here are some sites that provide help with contact information and details where assistance can be sought for drought relief.

Drought Information for Victoria
Location of rural counselling groups in Victoria
Centrelink drought assistance
Australian Government Drought Assistance
Drought statement from National Climate Centre (as of 30-Sep-2006)
Victorian Country Hour (ABC Radio)
Surviving the Drought - Around the country (ABC Radio)
Financial Assistance and counselling (Victorian Dept of Human Services)
Personal Support & Counselling
General, Family & Financial Counselling

Lifeline on 131 114
Parentline on 132 289
Kids Helpline on 1800 551 800

Technorati tags: Victorian drought, Victoria, drought, assistance, contacts

Computers are not just for youngsters!

Wed, 04 Oct 2006 03:48:59 GMT

I have just returned home from another productive computer session at the Rushworth Community House. Webmaster Superior, Bernie Halpin of webDotWiz fame, patiently and systematically guided me through all the necessary steps.

It is amazing that a small town like Rushworth has some of the best brains available to guide novice webmasters like me. All I pay is $5 toward the use of the RCH computers. This is inexpensive continuing adult education at its best.

This morning I began to update all the non Internet Explorer browser pages on my website. This needs to be done from time to time to enable those who use search engines other than IE to access my website. There is still some more work to be done.

Achieving progress keeps our minds focussed. I try to attend the RCH on a weekly basis. I always wonder why lots more people would not use this wonderful educational facility. You do not stop learning at age 66!

Andre

Please take a bow!

Tue, 12 Sep 2006 23:52:59 GMT

A couple of weeks ago, Allison Stanley, our local librarian, managed to
track down a rare book and borrow it for me from the Victorian State
Library. As the State Library is not a lending library, it nevertheless
allowed me to access this rare book at our Rushworth library. To me this
is a vote of confidence by the State Library in the Shire of Campaspe
library system. There are only three copies of this particular
theological text in all of Australia.

I am most grateful for Allison's expertise and also for the efficient
and always friendly back-up co-operation of Pat Johnson and Kathleen
Clarke.

Ladies, please take a bow!

(The above is a letter published in the 14 Sep 06 Waranga News)

Have just installed Windows Live Writer (Beta)

Thu, 17 Aug 2006 04:33:49 GMT

First test of Windows Live Writer

Thu, 17 Aug 2006 01:02:55 GMT

I will be adding a new story for Jane on my website.

Photo Album: Trip to NZ March 07

Tue, 27 Mar 2007 23:57:31 GMT

Trip to NZ March 07

Caroline Bay Timaru

Picton Harbour The Inter-island ferry

Lyttelton Harbour Christchurch

Picton again Queen Charlotte Sound

Picton Harbour again

Photo Album: 10 August

Thu, 10 Aug 2006 01:25:47 GMT

10 August

Photo Album: My catalogue

Mon, 07 Aug 2006 06:11:32 GMT

My catalogue

Bern 001

Bern 004