I love a great fireworks display. Ever since I was a kid, they absolutely blew me away. Living in Australia, I’m blessed to have some of the best fireworks shows in the world come New Years. I live in Melbourne, which has a spectacular display by many standards. But I’m happy to say that Sydney probably has the best NYE fireworks in the world!
This year, I was on the Gold Coast and in bed before midnight thanks to an exhaustive, but thoroughly enjoyable day at the beach. So I was keen to check out how the world brought in NYE with their various fireworks display.
Melbourne’s fireworks were almost cancelled due to a stinking hot day followed by an awesome storm and deluge during the night. But it didn’t stop the show and below is just a snippet:
Below is Sydney’s awesome show – the best in the world I say!
Next is London – again an awesome show – second only to Sydney!
Next is Taiwan – probably the best way to use a building for a fireworks display – simply awesome!
Another great way to use a building is in Seattle and their Space Needle!
Dubai was pretty cool – big explosions which were nice – but a little boring..
Moscow had a boring show but the backdrop was amazing!
A lot of people say Brazil was a amazing also – pity I couldn’t find a professional version of it…
Anyway, Happy New Year to all. 2010 promises to be one of the most gruelling years mankind has faced for a long time. At least we can all start off with a bang!
The Gospel message Jesus left us behind to tell the world is a very powerful message. Untouched and delivered faithfully, it can have an enormous impact on a person’s life. It’s got nothing to do with the charisma or the story telling ability of the person sharing the Gospel – rather there is power behind the message.
Apostle Paul fully understood this power when he penned..
“For I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes..” Rom 1:16a
Through the story of the Gospel, God’s power can break into a persons life and bring salvation into it. However, if you were honest with yourself, the story of a man who lived more than 2000 years ago, did some miracles, was murdered, died for all our sins and was mysteriously resurrected and taken back into heaven seems a little far fetched to base your life on.
And according to the Bible, God loves the “foolishness” of the Gospel message to shatter the “wisdom” of man. To the hard hearted human, the Gospel message seems like utter nonsense – verbal diarrhea – and a great way to ridicule those “simple minded people” who place their trust in such a story.
As Christian’s, we should take delight in the fact that God has purposely designed things to be this way. He is in control and He uses the “folly” of the Gospel to separate those who will believe and those who won’t. Have a read of this…
“For the word of the cross is folly to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God.” 1 Cor 1:18
There it is again, “the power of God.” Embedded into the Gospel message is the power of God. This invisible power has the ability to penetrate a persons heart and soul and bring about change no natural process can explain. We’ve seen it time and time again where a person is confronted with this power – they are never the same again!
For this reason, we should never shrink back in our responsibility to share the Gospel. If we do, we are holding back the power of God to impact a persons life. Will all believe? Nope – actually most will see it as complete nonsense. But to those who God has already begun His work on, whose hearts have been been softened by the Spirit of God, the sharing of the Gospel will allow the power of God to come flooding through.
What an awesome privilege and responsibility God has left us with! Our job is to simply pass the message along, step back and watch the result. And it’s in this context that I share the following video as a great help. Please feel free to pass it along to your friends and family. The direct link can be found here.
As a human being, I struggle with the concept of war. Fellow human beings obliterating other humans to the point of a brutal death. What drives people to war is beyond me to understand.
However, a sobering thought that keeps crashing into my mind is the fact that earth is not the only place war is taking place. It’s not just a human experience and confined to our time and space.
Sure we are all exposed to the Sci-Fi films almost glorifying war between inter galactic races and species. It’s fun to watch – but it does belong to the realm of science fiction.
But what gets to me is the war raging in heaven. You may read this and not believe in the spiritual world and dismiss this as pure fiction. But I believe that the material world you and I exist in is just a fraction of a true reality beyond our ability to understand. To get an insight into this world, click here.
Our world is merely an echo of a reality far greater than we can understand – the ultimate “mini me experience”. In fact, many scientists have concluded that the world we live in is like a holographic image placed within a much greater reality. I don’t find this conclusion surprising as this is in line with a Biblical worldview.
But what gets to me is the fact that in the “greater” reality of the spiritual, there is a war going on. Unlike us mere mortals on earth, the combatants in this spiritual war are eternal and a simple bullet to the head is a mere scratch. Have a read of the following verse…
“Now war arose in heaven, Michael and his angels fighting against the dragon. And the dragon and his angels fought back, but he was defeated, and there was no longer any place for them in heaven.” Rev 12:7-8
Don’t let the familiarity of this verse make you miss the point – there is a war in heaven. In the reality that is far greater then what we experience, eternal spiritual beings are at war with each other. Death as we know it is not a reality to these beings – and yet there is a victor and a loser.
Death as we know it is not an option – instead the defeated are thrown out of the heaven and, other Scripture states, they are now in our reality. So my point is this: If the greater reality than the one we experience is in a status of war, who are we to think that we should escape the reality of war on earth?
War. As humans we inherited this reality as a result of what’s going on in heaven. As ugly and putrid it is in our eyes, it is simply a by-product of a reality greater than ours. We have the defeated of heaven in our reality “inspiring” humans to carry on their agenda – rebellion against the will of God.
When Jesus talked about the “end times” – He made specific mention to “wars and rumours of wars” – this is simply the extension of what happened in heaven at some point in eternity (the mind boggles on this point) in our time. We have a defeated enemy hell bent on continuing his agenda against the will of God. But instead of a heavenly battle, it’s us humans who are on centre stage. And this has played out on human history as some of the most horrific wars we can ever imagine.
Below is a video clip with the music to “Sunday Bloody Sunday” by U2 and performed by Pillar showing but a glimpse of this cosmic horror played out in our existence..
But the nail in the coffin, so to speak, about the eternal nature of war is the description of Jesus as He returns to earth. Instead of being the pussy little being the modern church has made Him look to be, have a read of what Scripture actually describes Him doing when He returns..
“Then I saw heaven opened, and behold, a white horse! The one sitting on it is called Faithful and True, and in righteousness he judges and makes war.” Rev 19:11
He is coming to finish off His adversary once and for all. And how will He accomplish this? By war. Until He does this, you better get used to the concept of war. It will rage until after Jesus puts to death His enemy once and for all.
Only then, will He boldly step up and receive the receive the crown, “The Prince Of Peace” – and war will be no more.
Spend an hour to watch this film and tell me what you think. While I do think that radical Islam is a major threat to sovereign nations – as it has been for centuries – I watch this and also think, “how much of a western slant does this film portray?”
This is especially in the light that I think 911 is one big cover up. Do a search on this blog and you will get my mindset on this issue.
But I also believe that radical Islam is a threat that we in the western world, have no real grasp of understanding. While we tap away at our keyboards updating our status updates on Facebook and Twitter, we have a huge bunch of fanatics hell bent to do as much trouble as possible in the name of “allah” – at best a moon god demon.
Want an invite to Google Wave with no strings attached? I’ve got 10 to give out! Simply leave a comment below with your Gmail address and I’ll “randomly” pick out 10 to give out.
By “randomly” I mean that I may give preference to regular posters to this blog first. But you never know your luck so leave your Gmail address in the comments below and see how you go.
Promise not to spam anyone and I won’t publish your email address either.
More than 2000 years ago, God, in the Person of Jesus, was on planet earth – walking, breathing and feeling life like you and me do.
He was born into a time and culture we have little understanding of. Think rural, primitive and, compared to our huge metro cities, tiny.
Compared to the lives people live in the Western world in 2009, the period of time Jesus entered into humanity is massively different to what we experience day in, day out. If we are dumb enough to demand that Jesus should have lived His life in our day in order for His message to be more “relevant”, then the following passage should put that thought to death..
“But when the fullness of time had come, God sent forth his Son” – Gal 4:4a
God saw it fit to unleash Jesus onto earth 2000 years ago as, in His understanding, it was the “fullness of time”. Now I know that this passage is steeped in prophetic fulfilment and it was in fact time for Jesus to enter into humanity. The Law and the Prophets had been screaming for this for hundreds of years and finally God said, “OK – we’ve reached that place where Jesus – You need to go!”
Jesus left the culture of Heaven where He shared unity and fellowship within the Trinity and the adoration of heaven as He sat enthroned as King and found Himself on our dusty ball as a mere human – born into a poor family in Israel. As He grew and took in this new experience, He was exposed to a predominantly rural and primitive culture.
He grew up as a carpenter and probably noticed the other main trades of agriculture and fishing in His upbringing. When He started His ministry, it was His experience in this culture which helped shape His teaching and parables. As a result, many of His teachings have this “slant” and “flavour”.
And this is where I begin to wonder. Imagine if Jesus’ first visit to earth was in our day. As a 30 year old, He begins His ministry raised in a western culture. A product of society as you and me are – yet perfect and fully divine.
I wonder how different His slant and flavour would be compared to what is recorded in Scripture. I wonder what His parables would be like? I wonder what kind of job He would have held before starting His ministry?
I wonder what His travels would be like? I wonder how He would have dealt with the massive media attention a person like Him would generate. I wonder if He would have an “online presence” to supplement His ministry.
I wonder if He would blog, or tweet or have a Facebook account (OK I admit the last few are a bit far fetched – although the vast majority of you reading this are doing exactly the same).
And what about how He would die to pay for our sins? Crucifixion is a thing of the past. What false trial and capital punishment would He endure in our day?
In a nutshell I wonder what His ministry would have looked like if He did it in 3.5 years in the “naughties” that we find ourselves in.
The one thing I am certain of is that no matter which point of history Jesus entered onto the scene, the crux of His message would still be the same and He would still only convey what the Father asked Him to convey.
Perhaps it was the “fullness of time” – even if we simply look at it from a chronological perspective. The culture Jesus found Himself in still has aspects in our day. Agriculture and trades are still things people can relate to.
In our technological age, where fads come and go so quickly, establishing parables based on contemporary culture would seem “so yesterday” in a few short years. And yet, I still sit here and wonder how Jesus would have interacted in my culture and society as I strive to find answers in my day and age.
I love a great fireworks display. Ever since I was a kid, they absolutely blew me away. Living in Australia, I’m blessed to have some of the best fireworks shows in the world come New Years. I live in Melbourne, which has a spectacular display by many standards. But I’m happy to say that Sydney probably has the best NYE fireworks in the world!
