What to do with brothels...

The Dominion Post features an interesting story today about a Mt Victoria clash between a brothel owner and her neighbours. Wellington City Council has granted the brothel non-notified resource consent to increase from 5 to 7 workers. They have made this decision on the basis that the brothel has existing use rights, and 2 further workers will not increase the scale or intensity of the activity in a way that generates further adverse effects.

And if you didn't understand a word of that it's because I'm a planner and you're not. So I will paraphrase. The Wellington Council think it will make no difference to the neighbourhood if Li Dan hires two more workers for her brothel.

Kent Duston presented a written submission to today's commercial sex premises bylaw review meeting at the Wellington Council.

At the meeting Jessica Closson remarked:

"Between 62 and 100 Austin St, there are 34 school-aged children. How is a large-scale brothel ... with this many workers, in keeping with the existing use of the neighbourhood?"

It seems a long time ago now, when our current Labour Government decided it would be a great idea to legalise prostitution for the safety of the profession. It still seems bizarre to many of us that an activity which by its very nature robs women of their honour and dignity, would not be accompanied with a culture and with attitudes that are similarly unsafe, antagonistic, dishonouring and destructive. It is precisely this culture that has overflowed onto the streets of Mt Victoria.

There is only one law - the law of love. If we send people a message that we accept an activity outside the constraints of love, then it will be very difficult to ensure compliance with other aspects of the moral law - in this case respecting a neighbours' property, their values, and their aspirations for their children. Perhaps even learning the language of their neighbour and their community would also be a moral thing for Ms Dan to do.

If Wellington City are to deal properly with this issue under their bylaws, they should restrict prostitution to industrial zones - areas of town not subject to residential, commercial or civic pedestrian traffic. They should be located discreetly, accessible only by vehicle or a long walk from the centre of town.

Yet this is still far from ideal - in reality a territorial authority should have a right not to accept brothels as having any right to exist in their community. They should be allowed to list commercial sex premises as a prohibited activity alongside the consumption of liquor in a public place. Whether or not territorial authorities have the power and scope to do this under the Local Government Act 2002 hasn't really been truly tested yet.

Rural suicide

Today's Taranaki Daily News carries an article by Richard Woodd on the increasing suicide rate in South Taranaki, and the concerns of locals about the effects of prescribed anti-depressants.

National's Whanganui MP Chester Borrows comments on the situation, saying:

"I saw the rural suicide numbers climb in the mid-80s and I don't want to see it again. Farmers are more alone these days and don't have the opportunity to share their feelings. They don't do things together as they used to, they are in big business enterprises now and they employ contractors."

It is so sad to hear of people who feel so alone in the rural life that they take their own lives into their hands. The country life is a beautiful, enjoyable, idyllic life. Sure, it doesn't have the excitement, the buzz, the entertainment and the stimulation of the city. But it does invite us into a more peacable existence, if we can learn to become comfortable in our own skin.

But Borrows is right. Farmers are more alone these days. They don't have the opportunity to share their feelings, and they don't do things together as they used to. Anti-depressants will never solve the problem of acute loneliness the way that heartfelt and inspiring human fellowship can. What this province needs is both farmers and townies who are willing to take some initiative and leadership in providing social support and care to those who dwell in our rural hinterland. There is no reason we can't be the tight-knit communities we once were. But only when more of us are willing to stick our necks out, take the initiative, find common ground, and risk being mocked and knocked - only then will our rural communities start turning around for the better.

Eye on Egmont

Winter clouds begin to gather around our mountain.

McDonalds – Save the planet with a McBox

A friend and I were discussing the problem of fast food waste packaging last night, and considering the impact it has in terms of creating so much RUBBISH. And then it hit me – the McBox.

If companies like McDonalds and Burger King seriously have a social conscience, as their recent changes to the menu seem to suggest, then the McBox is going to be a must if they want to make it in an environmentally conscious 21^st century.

What is the McBox?

Picture this. For 50 cents you can purchase your own McBox, complete with compartments for burger and chips, and a plastic mug for your drink. They put these on sale periodically from time to time, and if you purchase one then every time you present it at the first drive-thru window, they will load you up and give you 50 cents off your order.

I’m thinking of emailing these fast food outlets with this suggestion, and sending an email encouraging others to do the same. But first I would like your thoughts.

Eye on Egmont

Another beautiful Taranaki day.

This photo is taken from in front of the lounge of the house I am presently building.

Winter sets in - Mt Egmont

Shining a light on the future

Taranaki Daily News | Virginia Winder | April 30, 2008

The end is nigh, but not in a doomsday kind of way, according to Taranaki scientist Michael Fenton. He believes the world is poised to emerge from the Second Dark Age, which began at the start of the 20th century, and enter the Age of Understanding.

“Just as people were ignorant in the first Dark Ages – they didn’t have knowledge – I am suggesting that people in the 20th century have been obsessed with gathering knowledge, but have no understanding.”

He points to genetic engineering as an example of gaining knowledge without considering the long-term effects on the environment.

“Now we are talking about sustainability, hybrid cars, carbon footprints.”

Other indicators of this looming change could be:
• Swifter conflict resolution.
• Sharing or donating of resources.
• A willingness to sacrifice desires to meet needs of others, i.e. downsizing cars or cycling to cut down on worldwide petrol consumption.
• Humans taking on a guardian role to protect the planet and its many species.
• Debates and discussions based on evidence and the desire to avoid past mistakes.
• Understanding that cultural diversity is as important as genetic diversity.
• Empathy.
• Providing for future generations is seen as equally important as providing for the current generation.

Unlike the doomsayers of our society, Fenton believes humanity will survive and even thrive in the future.

“We’re here for the long run.”

The Inglewood High School teacher’s theory is based on maths, physics, historical analysis, creative thinking and optimistic crystal ball gazing.

You see, Fenton has been given time to ponder, to calculate and theorise, thanks to a Ministry of Education eLearnign Fellowship.

As well as developing his mobile sensor technology, Rigel, plus interactive games, Fenton has been considering the impact of information communication technology (ICT) on, well, the whole of human civilization.

To understand Fenton’s theory, we need to look at a world timeline.

“We had the Dark Ages up until the Renaissance era of the 1600s,” he says.

In that first age of “darkness”, the word of Greek philosopher Aristotle and the church were gospel. There was a lack of individual knowledge and people relied on a few authorities, including the bible, for answers.

“If you wanted to know how many teeth a horse had, you would consult the books – you wouldn’t go out and look at the horse. That’s why so many wrong theories persisted.”

Then along came Sir Isaac Newton (1642 – 1727).

The English scientist spent a couple of years locked up in his country home to avoid the Black Death, so had plenty of time to think, Fenton says.

“I think he was just bored and started playing around with stuff and discovered gravity.”

And more.

“Newton’s radically new ideas were to use mathematical models to describe the real world. He used standard units of measurement and decided mass, time and distance as fundamental quantities.”

But 300 years later, Albert Einstein (1879-1955) challenged Newton’s clockwork view of time with his many discoveries, including his famous Theory of Relativity.

His discoveries were made during the Second Dark Age, a time epitomized by a lack of individual understanding and a reliance of government policy and academics for wisdom, Fenton says.

The internet is now allowing people to express themselves on blogs and websites like Facebook, Myspace and YouTube.

Because of this we are all able to, virtually at least, follow what that old Joe South song suggests: “Walk a mile in my shoes.”

Fenton believes development of more advanced technology, including virtual reality, will lead to even greater understanding and allow people to experience what others feel.

The father of three also has dreams for his own sensor system, which allows people to record anything and everything, including body temperature, heartbeat and respiration rate.

“What if you could input back into our body my heart trace, the way I felt, my fear, my anxiety?” he says.

“You could literally experience for real what it felt like to be in World War II trying to dig your way out of a tunnel or being a guard on duty having to shoot at people you really didn’t want to shoot at, or what it feels like to be starving,” he says.

Then there are those inspirational moments to explore. Imagine being able to experience what Peter Snell felt when he won his Olympic gold medals.

Fenton believes that the ability to feel other people’s emotions and bodily responses will lead to greater understanding and wisdom – all on a global scale.

He envisages this will lead to a whole new career pathway.

“Ethics will be the new growth industry.”

This is already happening in business, epitomized by phrases like fair trade, eco-friendly, organic, GE-free and carbon credits, which are becoming all-important tools for marketing. Fenton sees ethicists playing pivotal roles in the Age of Understanding.

But all this theorizing comes with a modest man’s caution: “This shouldn’t be seen as anything else than an idea.”

He also doesn’t want to be seen as an individual with all the answers.

“We have to come together and come to a collective wisdom, because this is what this is predicting.”

He is talking of an emergent property, or a new, suprising behaviour that arises from a situation. In this case, he’s talking of the internet and a rising global consciousness born from the ability to read thousands upon thousands of viewpoints.

“We’ve had 100 years of an immense spurt of knowledge and of rapid change and now we’re due for a change in understanding and we seem to be heading there.”

Whiel not necessarily leading the charge, Fenton is shining a light to show the way.

Fair is Fine

Australia’s Courier Mail has an interesting article this month: “Attitudes towards tans change”. Elizabeth Tilley notes that the stars who attended this year's Oscars ceremony “chose the glamour of fairness in preference to a tacky tan”.

“Anne Hathaway, Keri Russell, Renee Zellweger and Katherine Heigl all showed off beautiful, bronze-free complexions on the night.

Even Cameron Diaz, who usually sports a tan, was surprisingly fair-skinned.”

I remember in the 1990s tanned women were all the rage. Whether Elle MacPherson, Claudia Schieffer, Pamela Anderson or Tiffany Amber-Thiessen – all sported tans which today may actually be viewed as, in Tilley’s words, tacky rather than fashionable. In those days Latin women were also particularly appealing for their more tanned colouring. However Tilley’s article confirms what I had been suspecting for a while – that today we are seeing a revival of fair.


And, as Tilley notes, this is a great thing, given the risks of skin cancer in the 21st century. Also, I can remember in the 1990s there were often concerns expressed about the efforts women felt they had to go to in order to be tanned – sunbeds, special lotions – all a complete waste of money and an utter betrayal of authenticity. The message that fair is fine is surely a freeing and affirming message to the 21st century Caucasian woman.

I think Peter Jackson and his Lord of the Rings trilogy has got to take a lot of credit with his characters Arwen (Liv Tyler), Galadriel (Cate Blanchett) & Éowyn (Miranda Otto), whose appearance on cinema screens inspired millions across the world in all of their fair glory. I can remember vividly the sight of the beautiful Liv Tyler gracing the streets of Wellington. Interestingly her grandmother is a leading expert in Western etiquette, and well all know that fairness and etiquette have a long history together in Western civilisation.



From what I can tell, with my limited knowledge of 20th century pop culture, it seems that the rise of the tan paralleled the emergence of the sexual revolution from the 1960s. It is often said this was because of the change in labour patterns, whereby a tan no longer suggested exertion in manual labour, but rather the wealth and leisure time to afford lazing in the sun.

But this analysis focuses only on skin tone as a symbol of social status. If one is to analyse skin tone as a symbol of authenticity then the message of tanned skin can no longer be assumed to be as positive. If virtue and selflessness are to be valued, then tanned skin gained from exhorbitant time and money spent on lazing in the sun, or on sunbeds, or skin lotions, sends an entirely negative message.

Does the revival of fair reflect a deeper search for virtue and authenticity amongst my generation. The cynic will say I’m reading too much into this. The optimist will join in hoping that I’m right.

One month lust-free

I have now gone one whole month without having a lustful thought. Although pure-mindedness is something I’ve resolved to achieve for a long time, it is not often I am this successful. In fact, every other time it has been because I have had a romantic interest on the scene. This time the only thing I can put my success down to is the utter grace of God, the power of confession, and the help of counseling.

It was interesting that tonight, after a month of absolute purity in this area, I ended up surrounded by a bunch of blokes skiting about their past sexual exploits. After several futile attempts to reason with and challenge these guys about their attitude I ended up with no other alternative than to make myself absent.

It really saddens me that people can be so stuck in their ways when it comes to attitudes about sex. The 1960s are a long time ago now, and humanity has learnt a lot since the sexual revolution. The Baby Boomers have been educated, and have either grown bitter and cynical, or have begun to understand in postmodern terms what their forefathers always knew. We have experienced the rise of the new conservatives, of which I am part, who are a sign of hope to those who long for a life and a world where human beings are valued for being human, again.

Sadly the cycle of perpetuated mindless pubescent rebellion against monogamy has been instilled into successive generations, particularly in towns like Stratford where it takes a long time for new understanding and knowledge to trickle down, and where introspection and education are not prized as virtues.


One thing I can't help but notice is just how much religion is tied up with sex. I don't think you can really understand sexuality without grounding your thinking in the reality of God as creator. You can't understand why marriage is important if you don't value supernatural design, procreation, and the great mystery of marriage as a reflection of Christ's relationship with the church.

This makes it nigh impossible to have an intelligent conversation with anyone about sex. Without God in the picture sex is merely assumed as something that needs to be done, with as few constraints as possible on how it should be done.

Thankfully there is a human instinct in all of us by which we know chastity, marriage and monogamy are correct and honourable expressions of sexuality. Likewise there is an instinct by which we know promiscuity, infidelity and polyamory are wrong and dishonourable. These things instil in us a taste for romance, and prepare our hearts to understand that great romance of Christ devoting himself to his bride, the church, from whom he desires chaste and faithful commitment.

Unfortunately our pride too often gets in the way of our fully understanding the great mysteries of sex and marriage. Humility and remorse have a foul taste to our self-centred hearts. We want to glory in our achievements, our expressions of power, rather than express regret about our inability to live the crucifixion and resurrection life of Christ.

Hungry in a spiritually starved generation

Last year I got to meet Scott Bell, when he came to Eltham to speak at our yearly Easter Camp. Scott has a passion to see God move in this nation. We live in an age of material prosperity, but with a deep spiritual poverty. So many look to sexual promiscuity, drugs, the right job, the right car, the right lobby group to meet their need for meaning in this life.

Scott's conviction is that Jesus is the one who is the bread of life, and the living water who will quench our thirst for life, and our hunger for truth. Over the last couple of years he has been networking with youth leaders from around the country in the belief that as we come together and pray, God will honour our prayers and move in this nation. He will save people from their spiritual poverty, from their sins, and give them the peace, hope, joy, love and fundamental meaning that we all were created to know.

Hungry Taranaki will be held at City Life Church, New Plymouth, on May 10 - significantly the day of Pentecost.


Hungry Taranaki Message

Whooah !
Make sure you come out to this amazing night of prayer for our region and nation! We will will be joining youth from all across Aeoteroa - praying together on the same night - crying out for God to move in this land like never before!
If you are HUNGRY for the power of God to touch this nation, come and join the rest of the youth in Taranaki on this awesome occassion.

For more information checkout the website www.hungry.org.nz and don't forget to forward this to all your friends!

HUNGRY TARANAKI 6.30pm - 9.30pm May 10th Citylife Church Egmont Street New Plymouth

Yours in the Hunger for Christ Craig Jones Citylife Church New Plymouth

Salvation Army says no to gambling money

By EVAN HARDING - The Southland Times | Wednesday, 23 April 2008
From: Southland Times

The Salvation Army is so alarmed about the social devastation caused by pokie machines it has decided to reject all funds from the gambling industry.


The decision would cost the Salvation Army hundreds of thousands of dollars a year in funding nationwide, which it used to help people who were victims of gambling addictions.

Salvation Army social services national director Campbell Roberts said it had felt compromised by accepting funds generated from gambling and then using it to help the victims of gambling.

"We won't be taking any money where the profits come directly from the gambling industry ... that's not to say we aren't very grateful for the support that's been given," he said.

The Southland Times yesterday reported that Invercargill people lost about $40,000 a day gambling on pokie machines, equating to $14.5 million a year. Pokie machine addictions were wrecking lives with homes being lost because mortgages were not being paid, experts said.

Mr Roberts said the past year had seen a marked increase in pokie machine-related problems nationwide as Salvation Army staff dealt with horrendous situations where families were suffering from gambling addictions, he said.

The Salvation Army had in the past felt it could use money out of the pokie trusts to help people who were suffering from gambling.

"However, we have become more and more aware of the damage being done by gambling in New Zealand, particularly pokie machines in low-income areas. We run treatment programmes for gamblers throughout the country, we help people suffering from these addicitons and this has led us to a decision a few weeks ago to no longer take money from gambling trusts or the gambling industry ... we won't take any money that directly comes out of pokie profits," he said.

The decision was based on moral grounds and had not been made lightly, but the Salvation Army had to stand alongside the people who were suffering.

They were its primary concern, he said.

He was unsure how the money would be replaced but the Salvation Army was looking into it.

Ironically, the Invercargill Licensing Trust Foundation — which distributes pokie machine profits — yesterday announced it was providing two grants to the Invercargill Salvation Army totalling $47,000. Mr Roberts said the grants had been accepted by the Salvation Army because the offer was made before the decision to reject gambling funds was made.

What to do with unrequited love

Just before Valentine’s Day, earlier this year, I wrote a reflection on unrequited love. Six times in the last three years I have followed leads that seemed clearly full of divine coordination and fate, only to end flat-faced against brick walls. As Valentine’s Day rolled around I was still quite freshly bruised. I was also manoeuvring a little, and was wary of putting anything relating to this topic on my blog. However, looking back at what I wrote, I think I learnt a few things that are worth sharing, and now is as good a time as any.


I seem to have made a habit of confusing Cupid with God at least six times in the last three years. Each time I have followed leads that seemed clearly full of divine coordination and fate, only to end flat-faced against brick walls.

My heart wants to let these experiences take me to the pit of sorrow. And in a way it would be wrong to just brush all of this off as if it didn’t matter. Hope deferred makes the heart sick, says the Proverb. So, too, does unrequited love.

It is so easy to feel vengeful towards the person you so strongly love. But she who wins the heart of a man cannot be blamed for shredding it when he has not won hers. Just as he who wins the heart of a woman can’t be blamed when his feelings are not mutual. I’ve been the latter as well as the former, and it would be hypocritical of me to condemn someone for not taking a chance.


So what is one to do with feelings of unrequited love? We cannot blame the one we love, for we know what it is like to be loved but not feel the same. Can we blame ourselves, for stirring up love before the appropriate time? Can one be prevented from feeling love for someone when inspired by their beauty and grace? I think not. So how do we make sense of these feelings when they are made redundant by unrequitement? What use are they? Are they to be embraced, or rejected? Are they a good gift from God, or are they something else? Is unrequitement really the brick wall that it seems? Even if a woman makes absolute statements about her mind not being changed, or her being unwilling to ever discuss certain subjects ever again?

Now when I’m using the word love here, I’m meaning the romantic, devoted, elevated love that values one person higher than other people. This sort of love is important when it comes to families, as we have a duty to each other to prioritized care for each other. But when it is felt for a person who is barely even willing to be your friend, who won’t value that love at all, then what is to be done with it? Love is so often considered a gift from God. The purity of affection we so often seem to feel gives us the illusion this is so. Yes, I did say illusion.


We know February 14 to be Valentine’s Day. Its original intent was to honour martyrs Valentine of Rome and Valentine of Terni. How exactly the saints’ day came to be associated with romance is unclear, although it would seem that people considered this to be the time when birds began to look for their mates. Some believe the modern version of Valentine’s Day is the equivalent of the ancient Roman festival of Lupercalia, which was observed from February 13 through 15 to avert evil spirits and purify the city, releasing health and fertility.

What is certain is that the Roman God Cupid has become so prominent in Valentine’s Day imagery that the early Christian martyrs are totally forgotten. Instead of celebrating the love of self-sacrifice exemplified by these saints, it is now a day for celebrating the love of romance and desire. Valentine’s Day has moved from a celebration of agape to a celebration of eros. And we are completely oblivious to the fact that this is so. And as long as we fail to understand godly love in contrast to human love we will continue in our ignorance and confusion.


In a recent post I wrote about a time, when I was learning what it really meant to make a Christian commitment, when the biggest distractions and temptations from going through with that commitment were of the female variety. At that stage of my life it was very clear to me that the feelings I felt for those women were serious temptations that were the work of the Devil. I had to resist them at all costs, even if it meant, as it did, losing those women as friends. My need to completely renovate the foundations of my life meant I could be committed to nothing but Jesus Christ and his church. I never contemplated the idea that those feelings could have been inspired by God, to bring those women into the faith along with me.

Now that I am older, wider, more mature in the faith, I like to think I can trust my compulsions more. The sad fact is that it would seem I can’t. And just as Cupid’s arrow sought to distract me as a new Christian, so too he persists against a man who would otherwise be giving his complete service to Jesus. In the words of the Saviour from Revelation Chapter 2:, I need to return to my first love.


I wrote the following recently;

…another thing I have learnt is that the purpose of dynamic and intense heterosexual personal Christian connection is not necessarily romance. For its author is not Cupid, but Jesus Christ. While the love that Cupid brought to earth was romantic and singular by nature, the love that Christ came to show was platonic and all-encompassing. Venus sent Cupid to teach individuals to love. God sent Jesus to draw together all of his children in one great community of love.

I think that we often get the two confused. And as a Christian it has become clear to me that Cupid’s arrow must be fired completely in the context of Christ’s staff. Otherwise the heart struck will be like that of Cupid’s, and forget the whole purpose for which the arrow is fired.

I have too many times followed Cupid’s arrow before Christ’s staff has done its work, and I am unwilling to do so again. But this leaves me immensely frustrated when my feelings of love and affection are so strong. Are they feelings of love inspired by God’s spirit, and his desire to gather together his children? Or are they the pangs of Cupid’s arrow, and I an unfortunate victim that must bide my time, until Cupid submits himself back to God? The question remains, is a friendship that might build each other up more and more in love and life, and conform us to the glorious image of Christ? Or are the lesser gods are merely up to mischief?


Unrequited love hurts so much that we need to blame someone for us having gone through it. Whether Satan, or Cupid, we need someone to be condemned for this apparent injustice. However, even Satan or Cupid cannot be held responsible for this tragedy of the human situation. Feelings of attraction and affection towards attractive people are a natural response to meeting someone beautiful or inspirational. It’s just natural to enjoy being in their presence, and to be spoilt for anything else. However we have no right to the presence of such people. We cannot have the perfect world, we cannot have everything we desire. Unrequited love is an indication to us that something isn’t quite right, nay that something is terribly wrong, with the order of things in this world.

For one day we will all live in the timeless eternity of God’s kingdom where we will all achieve great heights of beaty and inspiration, and we will all have the time and grace to enjoy each other’s company and creativity in complete purity of spirit. In the meantime our desire for friendship and for relationship will always be confused and distorted, and never fulfilled. This may seem depressing or disillusioning, but accepting this reality will prove to be enlightening and uplifting.


“When we are impatient, when we want to give up our loneliness and try to overcome the separation and incompleteness we feel, too soon, we easily relate to our human world with devastating expectations. We ignore what we already know with a deep-seated, intuitive knowledge- that no love or friendship, no intimate embrace or tender kiss, no community, commune or collective, no man or woman, will ever be able to satisfy our desire to be released from our lonely condition. This truth is so disconcerting and painful that we are more prone to play games with our fantasies than to face the the truth of our existence. Thus we keep hoping that one day we will find the man who really understands our experiences, the woman who will bring peace to our restless life, the job where we can fulfill our potentials, the book which will explain everything, and the place we can feel at home. Such false hope leads us to make exhausting demands and prepares us for bitterness and dangerous hostility when we start discovering that nobody, and nothing, can live up to our absolutistic expectations.

- Henri Nouwen

How far Matchbox 20 have not come

Now and then you hear a song on the radio and you wonder how on earth anyone could possibly like that song. Like ads that are so terrible you wonder how on earth they'd inspire anyone to buy the product.

One song that is particularly terrible is Matchbox 20's "How Far We've Come". The best word I can think of to describe this song is stressful. And thats why it makes so little sense to me. I thought that for everyone music was meant to be something relaxing, that you listen to to wind down. Matchbox 20's song seems to follow a tune of barely more than 3 tones, and spend most of its time skipping between just two. The guy's voice sounds like a hysterical Maude Flanders, as he paradoxically sings about the world burning to the ground while he sings about how far we've come. Now I'm all for paradox, but not cynical paradox without hope.

I've never been a fan of Matchbox 20. They are probably the most uninspiring popular band ever. Their music simply has no uniqueness, no creativity, and no richness. It is bland, lifeless, boring rock.

My most heartfelt prayer today is that people would stop buying this rubbish piece of musical claptrap and get it off the air.

When springs of living water meet rivers of death

The tragedy which saw six students and a teacher die in a canyoning accident last week has certainly shocked New Zealand, if daily conversation and the huge volume of media reports are anything to go by. Many are asking the bigger questions as a result of this tragedy. Interestingly I’ve seen more people pointing the finger at God than at any person when it comes to wanting to the problem blame.

And I think that’s a good thing. Elim Christian College students are praising the staff of the Edmund Hillary Outdoor Pursuits Centre for the way they handled the incident, particularly Stratford-born Jodie Sullivan, who our hearts must go out to as well as to the families of the bereaved. Those families, and the friends and staff of the Elim Christian College students, have been a shining light in the way they have reacted to this incident. Surely, as the principal implied, there is a lot of feeling and there are a lot of questions in that community. The loss of such wonderful students seems so unfair. Their faith in a God of love and grace is being tested. Why would he answer the heartfelt prayers of a few, yet abandon the others to a watery grave.


Jim Hopkins has written a great reflection in “A fear parents hide for the sake of adventure”. Whether Christian or Atheist, I think few good parents would disagree with Hopkins: That despite the secret fear every parent feels in lending their child to the risks of the world – that fear is rightfully suppressed. “I want him to embrace risk, because that's where he'll find reward.”

A person who risks their life with nature must know they are relying on the grace of God, and the grace of nature, in order to obtain their reward. They must know that the retention of their life is only ever grace. They know they have no right to the glories of nature at her wildest and most powerful. They know that there is always the chance the rope could break, the branch snap, the engine fail or the river swell.

Thankfully nature, and God, are both full of grace. 99.999 percent of the time we will find reward amidst the risk. But sadly there will be the 0.001 percent who find not grace, but peril. Their sacrificed lives are what remind us of the glory of that world, and that God, whom we so desperately seek to know in the most intimate crevices and torrents of life. The God we should cherish when he has the grace to reveal himself in his love, protection and providence. Every day we defy the laws of gravity and physics for thrills, for excitement, for LIFE. Let us not forget that ALL of that is grace. It does not set the standard that God is obliged to meet.


According to Ian Fisk the Maori name Mangatepopo means “stream of death”. This is obviously not the first time life has been lost there – already this incident has served as reminder of the 1976 death of 14-year-old West Auckland student Sally Rae Howe in the same place. Maori names are often a good indication of the risk people are taking with the natural world – Tangiwai, for example, where 151 lives were claimed in a train crash in 1953, could be interpreted to mean “watery funeral”.

Local iwi have responded to the tragedy by placing a rahui on Mangatepopo, banning people from accessing the stream, and Genesis Energy have obliged not to take any water from the Mangatepopo dam. This is a noble display of reverence and respect for this time of mourning for those who were lost. But as Hopkins has inferred, and as the school management has indicated, this reverence and respect is not something that should deter us from taking that risk again, from exploring the glories of God and his creation amongst the wild and powerful dynamics of nature. Traditions such as rahui, and tapu, are important. But when they are used to prevent humanity from risk, and accessing the greater glories of God and nature, it is a curse.

Just after the canyoning tragedy I was reading the account of the first man to climb Mt Taranaki – Ernst Dieffenbach, who did so despite the protests and pleadings of local Maori priests. Anyone who has seen Mt Taranaki in its glory, who is captivated by its beauty and is in awe of its creator, knows that compulsion to risk the rocks, cliffs and weather, and hours of trudgery, to experience the majesty of such aesthetic awe. As Dieffenbach affirmed the right of Taranaki people to her mountain, it is great to see the openness of Elim College to be willing to consider returning again to the Edmund Hillary Centre again.

Mangatepopo might mean stream of death. But Elim means spring of life. This world is a fallen and cursed world, condemned by God because of sin, so that “no man may see God and live.” But we look forward to a world where there will be a river flowing from the very throne of God, where all have access to the glory of God, and the wonders of the cosmos, without fear, shame or guilt. The Jesus who Elim Christian College worship is our river of life, our promise of forgiveness, our security for eternal life. This same Jesus promised that whoever believes in him, “from him will flow rivers of living water.”


The cursed waters of Mangatepopo have been a cause of death this month, and a reminder of our mortality. But the blessed rivers of life flowing from the Christian community of Elim are to our nation a gift of hope, promise, salvation and eternity.

Apocalyptic fun

Would you survive the Apocalypse? My Result: Survivor

You are a survivor, you made it threw the Apocalypse and rest on earth with the others that have made it threw! You are united with your family (dead and alive) and God, you live on the earth in peace for a thousand years and beyond! Take Would you survive the Apocalypse? Find more quizzes at Quibblo.com

Instructor's bravery and strength in the face of adversity

5:00AM Sunday April 20, 2008
By Stephen Cook
From New Zealand Herald

It was Jodie Sullivan's bravest day. The inconsolable instructor, displaying courage and a sense of duty beyond her job description, approached the flower-laden mahogany casket of Floyd Fernandes, wiping back tears.

There to greet her were the 16-year-old's parents, Francisco and Jennifer, and Floyd's sister, Janice. The few words that passed among them were inaudible - but they spoke volumes.

Sullivan is the instructor who led a group from Elim Christian College down the Mangatepopo River on Tuesday afternoon. Six students and a teacher were killed after being swept away by a flash flood.

Family, friends and survivors have been quick to support her, saying she should not be blamed for the deaths. And with a brief embrace and those few words, it was possible to discern forgiveness from the Fernandeses.

Not that it changed Sullivan's mood. No one would have blamed her if she hadn't attended Floyd's funeral, let alone change her decision to attend all the others.

In a service that focused on celebrating his life, she was irrevocably drawn back into the tragedy; a lone figure sobbing when most of the other mourners were moving with the theme of forgiveness and celebration.

Sullivan was still too upset yesterday to speak publicly about her ordeal, but her boss, Sir Edmund Hillary Outdoor Pursuits Centre chief executive Grant Davidson, told the Herald on Sunday he had spoken with her and she was looking at decisions she had made that day.

"Everyone in a situation like she has been in is going to look at what they did and review those things. She made the best decisions she could have under the circumstances and I think she has been incredibly brave."

And Davidson insisted the bravery hadn't stopped there. Her decision to attend all seven funerals showed "incredible fortitude and integrity".

"In the time she knew those kids, she felt an incredible bond with them. She feels she really needs to go to those funerals because of that bond and the need to support the families and to say farewell. That shows real bravery."

Fifteen-year-old survivor Kish Proctor also spoke of Sullivan's bravery and how he would "trust her with my life".

He urged Sullivan to get on with her life, and continue her work with the Outdoor Pursuits Centre in the Tongariro National Park.


"She is an awesome instructor ... someone who is naturally gifted when it comes to the outdoors."

Board of trustees chairman Danie Vermeulen said Sullivan and the other instructors were obviously sorry, but the board had made it clear they were not to blame.

"They are broken but they are dealing with it." And he saw no reason Elim would not return to the Outdoor Pursuits Centre. "As a board we need to have a bit of a think about it, but I don't think we will think much about it," he said.

Sullivan wasn't the only one displaying strength and courage yesterday. Four days after Ruth Nixon lost her boyfriend in the tragedy she fulfilled her promise to be her sister's bridesmaid.

Ruth's boyfriend, Tony McClean, was the teacher who died on Tuesday, apparently while trying to save a student who had cerebal palsy.

Yesterday, she was bridesmaid for her sister Sarah-Jane, 29, who married Mark Broughton in Riccarton, Christchurch.

The sisters' father, Mike Nixon, said Ruth drew on support from her family and church.

"She did exceptionally well. The church in Auckland has been praying for her very, very strongly. She felt she could do it for her sister and for Tony. Tony would have wanted her to."

He said he was proud of both his daughters. "It's been lovely, it's been hard at times. We've had crying and laughing in the same house at the same time. Everyone's been really amazed they've been so strong."

That sort of spirit and sentiment also dominated the funeral service for Floyd Fernandes. There was a torrent of tributes by more than 1000 mourners for the teenager who would have celebrated his 17th birthday today.

There was also brief mention of Portia McPhail, Tom Hsu and Natasha Bray who will be laid to rest tomorrow. Anthony Mulder and teacher Tony McClean, 29, will be farewelled on Tuesday and Tara Gregory on Wednesday.

With images of Floyd projected on to a wall, his father told mourners about a son who had made him so proud.

"I will miss you nudging me in the stomach telling me I have grown fat. I will miss your talks and laughter and the music played in the house. I will miss you calling me chicken. I will miss you. I have lost a companion and a friend."

Floyd's mother Jennifer also paid tribute to her son, telling how she had lost her "biggest treasure".

"As a mother, I find it hard to stand here and share on a day such as this, but I give all glory to our God as I share my heart with you," she said.

Pastor Luke Brough, who led the service, said the tragedy was not God's will. Life was not always fair and it was not a perfect world, he said.

"When people say to me this is God's will, I say, 'Rubbish. That is not true. God is grieving too'."

He said God could have stopped the tragedy but to do that he would have had to take away free will, the opportunity to choose.

He said God's greatest blessing - freedom of choice - was also the greatest curse because "often we choose the wrong thing" and when the wrong choices were made, sometimes innocent people suffered.

He said the school was not bitter and commended the work of the Outdoor Pursuits Centre.

He said they were not pointing the finger of blame.

"That is for the experts to decide. If mistakes were made we reach out to those who made those calls with love and forgiveness."

Winkie Pratney in New Plymouth

In my last post I referred to Keith Green, a leading revivalist and Christian musician of the late 1970s and early 1980s before he tragically died in an aeroplane crash. One of Keith Green’s friends, in fact the guy who wrote the forward for the book I quoted from, and the guy who counseled Keith Green after the revival meeting I referred to, is a guy called Winkie Pratney.

Winkie Pratney is a man who has been traveling the world preaching revival to young people literally for decades. Not long after I became a full-blazing Pentecostal myself did I read his book Fire on the Horizon: How the Revival Generation Will Change the World.

So I know Pratney via his book and the accounts of others, but I have never met him or heard him in the flesh. Yesterday I discovered that Winkie Pratney will indeed be preaching at St. Mary’s Anglican Church, New Plymouth, on Sunday evening this weekend. I am hoping to get along, in spite of other commitments. But whether I go or not I would like to plug Pratney’s presence in the Naki here on my blog. I’m not sure the exact time of the service – probably 7:00pm.

Lord send a revival, and let it begin in me...

Keith Green leads revival at Oral Roberts University, Tulsa, March 24, 1979

- From No Compromise: The Life Story of Keith Green, by Melody Green; pp256-258


Then Keith honoured his own prayer of a few days earlier – to let the revival begin with him. He prayed, “Lord Jesus, I just personally repent from trusting in my own talents, my own strengths, my own abilities. God I know they’re just in vain. So Lord, before this whole body, I just repent of being self-confident and self-sufficient, and, Lord, I ask that you crush that spirit of pride and ego. Replace it with your sweet spirit of humility, God, because without you we are nothing.

As Keith openly poured out his heart, the night seemed to ignite with an even stronger sense of God’s presence. Then he said, “I feel that there is somebody here that the Lord has told to share before this body. It might be a faculty member, administrator, or student. I don’t know. But if the Lord’s told you that you’re to share, come now and do it. And make sure it’s Jesus. And Holy Spirit, I ask that you’d control it. That you don’t let this turn into soulishness.”

As Keith opened up the microphone it was almost as if the very atmosphere caught its breath for a moment. There were already thousands of people lying in the isles and on the floor, or on their knees with their faces buried in their chairs. I could hear a few nervous coughs around the arena, and it seemed like an eternity until the first person made his way slowly to the microphone to say, “God has shown me tonight that I’m not really a Christian. I’ve gone to church all my life, but it’s been a farce. There was no real commitment. I had everyone fooled except God.”

As this person was sharing, several more people made their way to the front, slowly picking their path over everyone on the floor. Each person took turns repenting for things like gossiping, not supporting the faculty, lack of prayer, being lukewarm, or being a phony Christian. Most were weeping, and there was a very tender spirit moving through the whole place.

For the next half hour or more, the confessions started getting more serious and more personal. The weeping that ccompanied these confessions was also getting more intense – maybe because the students realised they could be expelled for what they were sharing, especially the confessions about using drugs. Two or three people confessed to smoking grass or using drugs of various kinds. But these young people seemed more concerned about getting right with God than the possible consequences of their sin. Still, I wondered what the faculty members present were thinking.

Over and above all this, though, it felt like the Spirit of God had settled on us in a thick cloud. It was a brightness you could almost see – something gentle and tender, yet infinite. I knew something powerful was taking place.

So did Keith. He’d crawled under the nine-foot grand piano to pray and cry out to God. I sensed he was getting himself out of the way to let the Holy Spirit do his work. I could barely see Keith from where I was sitting. And people kept going up to the microphone, crawling over a sea of bodies to get there.

In a few more minutes, one young man got up and confessed an area of sexual immorality in his life. He was very broken and extremely sorry. This threw us into an even deeper level of God’s dealings.

Pretty soon a clean-cut, neatly-dressed young guy took the microphone. He was trembling and weeping so much before he spoke that I just knew he was going to say something pretty heavy. He started off slowly. Haltingly.

“You…you all know who I am. You think I’m one of the most spiritual students on campus. Well, I’m not. I know what I have to say may get me kicked out of school, but I believe God wants me to share it anyway…

“I don’t know how to confess this, except to just come right out and say it. I’ve been involved in homosexuality here on campus…and God has broken my heart tonight. I see how much I’ve been hurting him, hurting you, and hurting the school. I really need God to forgive me. With his help I’m going to change.”

His confession sent shock waves across the arena. Many people burst into fresh waves of sobbing as this precious brother continued to share. It was apparent that we were just coming to the deep level of breaking we’d been praying for since God told Keith to preach revival in Tulsa. The Holy Spirit was so strongly present. He had been raining on us all night, first in a gentle sprinkle, then in a steady shower.

Now it felt like the very floodgates of heaven were about to burst wide open. Whatever was about to happen, we were all willing to do what was needed, even if it took hours, all night, or all week to walk it through. What Keith had seen in his spirit was starting to take shape before our eyes.

Then I saw one of the men in pastoral responsibility at ORU threading his way across the stage toward the young man who was still sharing. He came alongside the student and put an arm around his shoulder.

This man took the microphone and assured the student that he really appreciated his sharing and that his sin was forgiven by the Lord. He also told him that ORU would take no disciplinary action against him, which I thought was really neat because the student seemed so sorry. Then the ORU official gave some guidelines for the rest of the meeting, in essence, saying, “We feel things like this are to be confessed privately–and we don't think it's good idea for any of you to share personal sins openly.” It seemed like a good principle and it was given in a loving way. But the second he was done speaking, something happened.

The change in the atmosphere was so immediate it was staggering.

Keith crawled out from under the piano and looked around the arena with questioning eyes. I could tell he didn’t know what to think. He talked a little bit and tried to encourage everyone, but he seemed at a bit of a loss. He even said, “I don’t know what happened. Everything seems different…”

Something had obviously changed, but it wasn't really clear what. There was a tangible sense of a loss of conviction, and nobody else got up to share. The Holy Spirit, it seemed, had been quenched in some way, and there was nothing you could do to whip him up or bring him back. It was over. Keith managed to close by leading everyone in a few songs of praise and worship.

As I stood to sing “I Have Decided to Follow Jesus,” my heart felt like a bag of cement. There was a sick feeling in the pit of my stomach.. I felt a sense of terrible loss. Like something great had I happened.

Bob Carter on Climate Change

Last night Federated Farmers hosted climate change scientist Bob Carter at the TET Stadium, Stratford. Carter travels the world exposing the hoax that intensifying human activity is having a direct and significant effect on dangerous climate change.

In late 2006 I saw Al Gore's "An Inconvenient Truth". It is too long ago to remember the details and contrast Gore's graphs with what I saw last night. But I have certainly come away much more skeptical about the issue, and concerned about the way Western governments are leaping into things like Kyoto, carbon credits and emission trading schemes.

Carter's thesis is laid out in the following article:

The Myth of Dangerous Human-Caused Climate Change

One of the most interesting things that occurred to me in this seminar is the increasing phenomena of bogus science and its employment for ideological causes. Seeing Carter's seminar was reminiscent of seeing a previous seminar exposing popular evolutionary theory.

The shock of uncovering the overwhelming success of the bogus science behind the climate change agenda, in influencing public opinion, was a similar shock I feel when uncovering bogus science and human development theories on subjects like homosexuality and smacking.

I am left intrigued by the psychological and sociological processes that induce people to accept this propaganda, and the way people are treating these issues with a pathos more religious than scientific, but even more egotistical than religious. Carter certainly conveyed a good understanding of how the dynamics of 21st century western politics and media are an ideal climate for bogus science. And if you consider the underlying ideologies of humanism, individualism and egalitarianism, mix this with the overwhelming human need for sensationalism, and consider the vacuum in this area resulting from the marginalisation of religion - then it is little wonder that the masses of people looking for significance and meaning are willing to throw their time, energy and devotion into such a grand scheme of human endeavour.

My chief concern is that the climate change agenda has implicitly socialist overtones, and will produce a corrupt system that becomes disconnected from grassroots landowners, farmers and industrialists, puting a dampener on individual enterprise, and feeding a multi-trillion dollar bureaucratic system to address an issue we're not even sure is an issue. All this while millions of people could be using that money for development of basic food, water and shelter industries in the Third World.

Al Gore famously said climate change is a moral issue. Bob Carter agrees.

The Ugly Truth

From New Zealand Conservative: By ZenTiger

I don't pay much credence to this "left wing ugly, right wing beautiful" theory generated by a former Italian Prime Minister. But other people seem to be taking this very seriously. Take the left wing Gonzalo, who obviously felt like life had handicapped him unfairly. Now firstly, how do I know he is left wing? Well, the moment people want to create taxes to "equalize" things we know what we are dealing with.

Gonzalo wrote a book called Ugly! which calls for a tax to be levied on good looking people. Given the current working theory that left wing politicians are uglier than right wing politicians, we can see what Gonzalo is driving at: another attack on the right. A tax on the Right Wing, and on those that score 6 or more out of 10.

Now, whilst I may be the first to poo-poo this theory, I am willing to offer up another theory that goes some way to explaining things. If you are "beautiful on the inside", then even an average or poorly looking person can seem attractive. The welcoming eyes, the open smile, the empathetic look, the head tilted in interest - these are the traits that help lift a person's attractiveness. We may not all be lookers, but your attitude to life and other people can give make you plus two or a minus three.

So yes, the tall-poppy, envious, cut every-one down to size and use the government to force ones insecurities and pettiness on to others with a myriad of laws against one thing and another - these are the left wing traits that destroy inner beauty, and we ultimately see the mind shape the body.

There are many left wing people that feign concern for fellow man. Their real feelings turn them ugly. And same with the right. If you are out just to make a quick buck and you see the wider community as impediments that need to be trampled over so you can do what you want, you're going to turn ugly.

So Gonzalo, lets have no more talk of your ugly tax. It's socialist thinking taken to the extreme, and reveals its hideous ideology in the bright light of day. And man, that's one ugly idea. You know I make sense.

Related Link: The Ugly Truth