I remember when my teenage sons first played Korn’s music for me. I found it really disturbing. It just wasn’t my kind of music. I had grown up playing blues, rock and reggae on my guitar. I found the music very dark. The discordant riffs were off-putting as were Jonathan Davis growling, sometimes screaming, lyrics. The New York Times said in 1996 that the band was “mad at everyone including themselves”. ...

Henry Youngman, a comedian who was known as ‘King of the One Liners’ once said, “I was an atheist for a while, but I gave it up, no holy-days.” Such a one liner about holy-days sums up the subject of this week’s newsletter – Easter Family Holidays. Most of us celebrate Easter holidays but where did they come from and why do we celebrate them? Most countries in the world celebrate ...

By JENNIFER ORIEL https://www.theaustralian.com.au/opinion/columnists/jennifer-oriel/harassment-of-christians-is-a-blind-spot-for-ruddock/news-story/05a151d60e067228910a442909ff8287 Editors Note: Jennfier Oriel  is probably one of Australia most most eloquent and passionate defender of faith, family and freedom. This is a copy of a very good recent article in the Australian Newspaper. The government has proposed a religious discrimination act to protect the right of Australians to live in accordance with their faith. Its response to the Ruddock ­review is preliminary and will face further ...

EDITORS NOTE: This is a very good analysis reproduced from the Australian of the current attack on religious freedom in the last week of Parliamentary sitting for  2018. Deadlock on religious freedom is a shamblesPaul Kelly Attorney-General Christian Porter during question time. Picture: Kym Smith. 11:00PM December 7, 2018 596 Comments The progressive transformation of Australia has brought the Liberal and Labor parties into fundamental conflict on the philosophical but practical ...

I love Christmas, but last week, from Australia’s point of view, could only be described as the week from hell. On Monday morning we learned the news that an Islamic terrorist had taken over the Lindt Cafe in Martin Place in Sydney’s CBD. This self-styled radical Muslim cleric was holding almost two dozen people hostage in the name of Islamic State, the most murderous group on the planet. These are the ...

We are in the middle of celebrating Easter.  Our children think that Easter is all about chocolate eggs and rabbits, but of course it is really about something far deeper and stronger.  Good Friday is called ‘good’ because it celebrates the death of Jesus Christ on a cruel cross, and Easter Sunday is a celebration of his resurrection.  Many people think of Jesus as effeminate, or as Larry Norman said, ‘a ...

As we learned in last week’s newsletter, ‘the Joy & Terror’ of fatherhood, we can experience times as fathers when we are driven to the point of extremity and simply do not know what to do. That is when we must, as MC Hammer once said, “Pray just to make it today”. From my own experience as a father, prayer has been the key to any success I have had. It ...

Earlier this year, I was contacted by Stuart Barlo from Lismore. He asked if I would come and speak at the inaugural district Lismore Man Day Conference. Stuart has been receiving our weekly Dads4Kids newsletter to encourage dads for almost ten years. He has been reading the jokes for all that time, and still gets a laugh, which I think is good news. I was humbled by the invitation, so after ...

I was driving down the highway to work the other day, after just having a week’s holiday with my kids. I was grateful, especially when I hear from so many who don’t have the opportunity of being with their children. I knew the workload would be enormous. I mean a week away from the computer alone means at least 400-500 emails will need to be answered — that’s after I’ve sifted ...

In his 1994 inaugural speech, Nelson Mandela said: Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate, our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure. It is our light, not our darkness, that most frightens us. We ask ourselves: who am I to be brilliant, gorgeous, talented and fabulous? Actually, who are you NOT to be? You are a child of God. Your playing small doesn’t serve the world. ...

I was speaking at a DIDS meeting in rural New South Wales last night and I was commending the group for becoming real lifesavers in reaching out to each other in support. I told them that this country was once renowned for its mateship, and sadly I believe we have lost that somehow. We have lost the knowledge of what being a mate is all about. It is my belief that ...

I’m tired. Last night I had just driven from Coffs Harbour to hold a DIDs (Dads in Distress) meeting in Forster, and returned in the early hours of the morning. I am on the road a lot. My car is my office, often it’s also my dressing room, and often it’s my bedroom. Often on the long hauls, I find myself talking to a very special passenger. My Lord, my Higher ...

It is not the actual divorce that hurts families. It is the pain of finding guilt in one another as divorcing couples. The fighting, the yelling, the attacking of one another’s character is what causes trauma in children and friends. Some people’s mistake is to either marry the wrong person or think they have married the wrong person. The problem then so often lies in couples trying to blame the other ...

Here’s a nice message that comes from the Bible. It went the email rounds but was anonymous, so I can’t credit the scholar. In the very centre of the Bible, Psalm 118:8, it says (I like the Amplified version translated by Jewish scholars): It is better to trust and take refuge in the Lord [God] than to put confidence in man [general term, men or women — humans in other words]. ...

A few years ago I was a happily married man — a beautiful wife, three sons, a home  that  was well on the way to being paid off, a job, and settled in the community.  We had just had our 10-year anniversary — a night on the town for the family.  A few bumps along the way, including some really tough surprises with our sons’ births, but everything was fine — ...