AUTHONOMY

I’ve spent the last three or four months playing around on a web site called Authonomy:

http://www.authonomy.com/ It is a “slush pile” for Harper Collins whereby budding authors get to post their “masterpieces” with the hope of rising to the top of the heap through means fair or foul and landing on the publisher’s desk.

Though I’ve since removed three, I had posted five unpublished manuscripts and received mainly spam comments which, rather than say anything useful about any of my books, solicited support for their work – if you scratch my back I’ll scratch yours. Backscratching is one way to climb to the top of the reams of posted manuscripts. I can’t say this appealed to my Christian sensibilities. I was happy merely to post my efforts and await unsolicited comment. These comments are supposed to help you hone your work. I received hardly any comments among which only one or two were helpful.

I found myself doing far more reading than writing as I sailed the ocean of potential books. Some material was clearly rubbish by anyone’s method of reckoning. Other samples took a bit more work before I was able to determine that I had wasted good time. I read various genres, but eventually found myself on a mission to back good Christian material regardless of genre. Invariably what seemed to me to have potential left me in a dilemma: should I back a book that had good solid Biblical material somewhere in it or should I reject it outright because it is tainted with pessimistic any-minute end-of-the=world Dispensationalism? Then there are the Theistic Evolutionist crowd with their attendant Theological Liberalism. They sometimes have some good things to say, but they pick and choose from the Bible as if it is they themselves that are infallible and not the Bible!

I think I’m over Authonomy and will pull the plug on it soon. I’ve still got a library full of good solidly Reformed books at home to read, not to mention some novels and other works. Why should I get square eyes from reading stuff on a computer screen? Away with Authonomy I say! Mind you, it is kind of addictive – I may yet have another look…

SUMMARY OF FROM MASON TO MINISTER

http://theundergroundsite.com/index.php/2011/06/author-writes-book-about-his-conversion-from-freemasonry-to-christianity-16224/
A former Freemason who is now a Presbyterian minister wrote recently a book about his spiritual journey and his conversion to Christianity.
Neil Cullan McKinlay, author of From Mason to Minister: Through the Lattice documents his travels to Scotland, Australia and Canada, and also detailed his spiritual journey from having no faith to joining the Freemasons, and then converting to Christianity, BlogCritics.org said.
McKinlay has been an ordained Presbyterian minister since 1998. He lives in Brisbane, where he works part time as an army chaplain. He writes as much as he can. His book, From Mason to Minister, is described as “Neither an apologetic nor a polemic,” Nordskog Pulbishing said on its website. http://nordskogpublishing.com/book-through-the-lattice.shtml
The book tries to correct a lot of misunderstanding and misinterpretation of Freemasonry, including its alleged relationship with mysticism and the occult. WordJourney Magazine said the book shows how Freemasonry is actually a “fraternal organization” that follows a moral code and uses symbols that are derived from the bible to contain its beliefs.
“Godly values are taught, but God is missing from the equation,” WordJourney Magazine said. In its review of the book, WordJourney notes that McKinlay comes to see that more than a moral code, a personal relationship with Jesus Christ is the “more excellent way.”
In an interview that was featured in BlogCritic.org McKinlay said his first bible was actually given to him by the Freemasons. It was “an expression of thanks for the Masonic research papers I had been writing and presenting. These papers came as a result of my reading of dusty tomes in Masonic libraries in my search for God. I then searched the pages of Scripture by and with which God revealed Himself to me in Jesus Christ.”
McKinlay told BlogCritic.org that his book talks of “Christ Moments,” where “Christ and His Kingdom is flashed before us in even the mundane activities of our daily lives.” Even, he said, while doing rituals in the Masonic Lodge. He adds, “After meeting Christ I left the Lodge and went on to study for and became a Christian Minister.”
McKinley also told BlogCritics.org that his book has subplots regarding “Solomon and his Temple, two predominant themes in Masonry. I posit the idea that, in the Bible, Solomon’s Temple, the Garden of Eden, though historical and real, pose as pictures of Christ’s Kingdom which is to come.”
The subtitle, “Through the Lattice” in McKinlay’s book is taken from the Song of Solomon 2:9, WordJourney Magazine said. The verse says, ““My beloved is like a gazelle or a young stag. Behold, he is standing behind our wall, He is looking through the windows, He is peering through the lattice.”
McKinlay likens his own spiritual journey in this way, believing that at every stage of his life, God was always watching him, WordJourney Magazine said. The book is deemed highly inspiring. It is considered a useful piece for pastors, and is lauded for being very informative about the inner workings of Freemasonry.

CLIMATE & COMMON SENSE

I believe it is simply Common Sense for everyone to have a Common Sense approach to the issue of Climate Change. Does this make sense to you?

Let’s apply Common Sense to the Climate and the current issue raised by the Climate Change Alarmists.

• Climate Change Alarmists are trying to cause panic.
• Climate Change Alarmists allege that the globe is getting warmer.
• Climate Change Alarmists also allege that the globe is getting warmer on account of Australians’ use of fossil fuels.  
• (Based on the previous three dot points): Climate Change Alarmists wish to punish Australians with a Carbon Tax to solve their perceived problem.

Let’s apply Common Sense to Climate Change Alarmists themselves.

• Climate Change Alarmists tried to panic the public back in the 70s with their “Global Cooling” mantra!
• Climate Change Alarmists are trying to panic the public today with their “Global Warming” hypothesis!
• Climate Change Alarmists today disagree with their fellow Climate Change Alarmists of the 70s.
• (Based on the previous three dot points): Climate Change Alarmists today debunk the hypothesis of the Climate Change Alarmists of the 70s as being Climate Change Cuckoos!

Let’s apply Common Sense to these two extremist views!

The 70s Climate Change Alarmists who (based on scientific study) alleged

Global Cooling

VERSUS

The contemporary Climate Change Alarmists who (based on scientific study) allege Global Warming.

The Common Sense approach towards these two EXTREMES alleged by these EXTREMISTS leaves us with the following:

• NO CLIMATE CHANGE PER SE!
• NO CLIMATE CHANGE BECAUSE OF USE OF FOSSIL FUELS!
• THEREFORE NO CARBON TAX!