Stan Walker on Compassion Day

2009 Australian Idol Stan WalkerOn Sunday 22 November 2009, 19 year old Stan Walker’s life changed forever. He became the 2009 Australian Idol.

His first single Black Box was an instant hit. His album Introducing Stan Walker was released late last year. His new single Unbroken has just been released and is receiving airplay around Australia.

International superstar Michael Bublé was one of the guest mentors for Australian Idol 2009 and after meeting Stan and hearing him sing he said, “That voice is like God kissed his throat. It’s hard when you’re a singer and you meet a better singer than you and you have to come up and mentor them.” After one performance during Idol he left Joel and Benji Madden of Good Charlotte speechless. Joel said that listening to Walker sing made him want to sing R&B music and Benji said he’d watch him perform wheather he won the competition or not. Pete Wentz of Fall Out Boy told Stan that if he had no where to go after Idol to give him a call.

Stan joined me on the phone this morning on 98.5 Sonshine FM to talk about his new single as well as his very recent trip to earthquake affected Haiti.

Today is Compassion Day so Stan took the opportunity to urge listeners to sponsor a child through Compassion Australia. You can hear our conversation by clicking on the play button of the audio player at the bottom of this post.

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Dr Jonathan Sarfati in Perth

Dr Jonathan SarfatiDr Jonathan Sarfati moved from Australia to New Zealand as a child and later studied science at Victoria University of Wellington where he received his received his B.Sc. (hons) in Chemistry and his Ph.D. (Physical Chemistry).

As well as co-authoring papers in mainstream scientific journals he has written many books and papers on a Biblical understanding of history and creation. He works full-time for Creation Ministries International in Brisbane, Australia where he is a co-editor of Creation magazine He recently joined me in the studio at 98.5 Sonshine FM.

Dr Sarfati isn’t only a respected scientist. He is one of the world’s best chess players.

Jonathan is also an accomplished chess player and is a former New Zealand Chess Champion, representing New Zealand in three Chess Olympiads (and drew with Boris Spassky, world champion 1969-1972). In 1988, the International Chess Federation awarded him the title of F.I.D.E. Master (FM).  For the fun of it, he regularly accepts challenges from multiple players while he is blindfolded. He then plays from memory with up to 12 players simultaneously. – Creation Ministries

In an age where atheism seems to be on the rise and many people in the community accept some form of the big bang and evolution as the beginnings of humanity, I asked him why he still holds so firmly to the idea of a creator God,  why is it so important and why does he pour so many resources into trying to prove something that many are still not going to believe.

Clikc the play button on the audio player at the bottom of this post to hear what he had to say.

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Christian Carnival 318

christian_carnival_lion.jpgThe carnival is back in town and we’ve had another great response this week.

The weekly Christian Carnival is an opportunity for Christian blog writers to share their best posts from the previous week. The topic of the post doesn’t necessarily have to focus on Christianity but it must reflect a Christian worldview, and the writer must be Christian to qualify.

As always it’s a real honour to be able to present such a diverse range of great posts.

Please take the time to read through each post … it’s worth it. You might also like to link to this week’s carnival so that your blog readers can enjoy the variety of styles and thought. Another way to spread the word about the Christian Carnival is to click any of the buttons below this post to share the carnival on Facebook, Twitter, StumbleUpon or any of the other sites represented.

Jason Koeppe from Live2Worship starts things off this week saying, “I’ve become convinced that we often ask God to lay out the entire plan of something and He in His infinite wisdom knows we either can’t comprehend or take it all in and so I believe He revealed to me in my life a simple strategy for difficult times when we are crying out for the full answer or full plan and He doesn’t seem to be complying. I believe sometimes He just wants us to focus on the next step.” Jason, I couldn’t agree more. Check out the post How To Hear From God – Hearing the Voice Of God at Live2Worship.

Amanda Hunt tackles a couple of issues that I’m sure we all struggle with from time to time. Her excellent post Trust and Patience is at her blog Amanda’s Musings,

Can you name all twelve disciples of Jesus Christ? We may know Peter, John, James, Matthew and off-course Judas, but what about others? Find out more about the twelve disciples of Jesus Christ, their Greek names and meaning and their occupations. Bible SEO presents Jesus’ Disciples Names: List, Meaning and Occupation at Bible Study Exposition Online.

I’m sure you’ve never forwarded those cheesey ‘chain emails’ but obviously many people can’t get enough of them. Jeff tells it as it is in his post If You Love Jesus… Forward Another Brainless Email at ReturningKing.com.

What if we could create millions of dollars only to give it away? How many missionaries could be supported? How many evangelistic outreaches could be funded? How many God glorifying books could be published? How many hungry could be fed? How many lost could be reached? BWL presents My Strategy for Giving Away Millions posted at Christian Personal Finance.

Trent Cotton says, “Trying to explain the doctrine of justification can be, in itself, a weighty subject and often confusing. If you are anything like me, I often do better with analogies or metaphors. With this in mind, let me use an analogy I think best describes the basic, rudimentary differences in the understanding of justification.” Check out Trent’s use of analogy in the pos Confessions of a Converted Catholic: Justification at Christian Men-Christian Warriors.

God can choose to work in our lives in way he wants. Joe Plemon’s post Seven Ways God Works Through Our Finances at Personal Finance By The Book helps us discover some of the ways that he works through finances.

Anthony Delgado presents an interesting look at Fruits of the Holy Spirit—Joy, Peace, Patience & Goodness at eInquisitive. In his post he suggests a very sound reason that we may not be exhibiting the fruits that we should.

Jim Edwards says, “My friend Marlin Bates was an 80+-year-old former World War II Infantry Sergeant under General Collins in conjunction with General Patton. He learned some of the following details only after the War was over. While we were out working on his land near the Mississippi River, he unveiled this fascinating true story about ‘the War to End All Wars.’ It taught me volumes about Satan. I wrote this so we don’t forget.” What did Jim discover? Find out by reading The Yalta Agreement posted at EverydayChristianFamily.com.

Do you struggle at times and wonder ‘where is God in all this’? When God doesn’t seem to be at work, perhaps he has a greater plan. Perhaps he wants you to focus on him and know that he is at work. Compassionate Action posted at Chasing the Wind may be the comfort you need if you’re facing life’s difficulties today.

Looking for help studying God’s word? Bible SEO presents a review of the top four New American Standard (NASB) study bibles available. Find out more in the post NASB Study Bible – Most Popular NASB Study Bibles posted at BibleSEO Blog.

While many of the posts in the carnival give us great instruction and food for thought, Sarah is throwing out the challenge with a very interesting theological question in her post Calling All Theoblogians #8 at This is what Sed said.

In Luke 14:33 Jesus says, “So therefore, any one of you who does not renounce all that he has cannot be my disciple.” It’s not always a ‘popular’ scripture but it’s certainly one that demands our attention. Are we prepared to take those words seriously? Barry Wallace presents Paying the Price (Discipleship, Part 4) at who am i?.

Do our beliefs about end time prophecy affect how we interact with one another in the here and now? And, how does it affect our financial decisions? Steven and Debra will challenge your thinking with the post One World Government and a One World Currency: Is This a “Sign” of the END Times? at The END TIMES Hoax.

Steven Demmler presents some brief remarks from T.F. Torrance which are put in dialogue with the methodology of the “Jesus Seminar”. You’ll find T.F. Torrance on “Historical Jesus Quests” posted at You Can’t Mean That!.

In an age where we’re more likely to do as much as is needed to get by, Weekend Fisher challenges us with “How much more” — going the extra mile at Heart, Mind, Soul, and Strength, saying, “Learning more from “Going the extra mile” than how to help ancient Roman soldiers.”

We’ve all heard it so many times and very often it can simply be an excuse to attack the ‘actions’ of others, but is it really possible to hate the sin while loving the sinner? Chris Brooks presents Hate the Sin… posted at Homeward Bound. This short, insighful post goes right to the heart of the issue and is a great challenge to us all.

Brian Marchionni believes that when looking at the manner in which the early church carried out their mission we may find some guidance as to how we can approach church planting in difficult economic times. Head to Where and Why of Church Planting posted at Boston Bible Geeks for some ancient wisdom on a modern problem.

If you’ve ever tried to explain deep theological concepts to children you may appreciate the post Blood Sacrifice which Violet N. posted at Bible Drive-Thru. It’s an explanation of the atonment that even a kid can understand from a blog of daily devotions for 8-12 year old kids

Jeremy Pierce looks at a problematic definition of the word ‘heterosexism’ in a post simply titles Heterosexism over at Parableman. I must admit that I’d never even heard the term before so I really appreciated Jeremy’s very comprehensive thoughts.

Parenting can be tough at the best of times and it can sometimes be difficult to choose a parenting style that will not only work but will honour God. Rey Reynoso presents an examination of Michael and Debi Pearl’s method of child rearing found in To Train Up A Child in the post To Train Up A Child: An Examination of the Pearl Method at The Bible Archive. The examination is extensive and sounds several warnings.

They sometimes make us smile and other times make us groan, but do ‘witty church signs’ always convey the truth? Henry Neufeld asks if a sign he’s spotted is really quoting a text in context. See what you think after you’ve read Church Sign: An Eye for an Eye posted at Participatory Bible Study Blog.

The final post for this week’s carnival comes from Jody Neufeld and it’s ‘great’ …. or is it? Jody’s post Jesus Defines ‘Great’ at Jody’s Devotionals, explores whether the definition Jesus gives of ‘great’ is same as ours.

If you’re a Christian and you missed out this week, how about choosing something to contribute for next week’s edition? It doesn’t have to be a masterpiece, just a post that outlines your point of view or is designed to get others thinking. Being part of the carnival could be a great way to gain a little extra traffic at your blog.

The easiest way to get involved is to submit your article through the Blog Carnival Submission Form. Otherwise, you can email the submission address.

Thanks for reading. Don’t forget to spread the word. Feel free to click any of the buttons below to share the carnival on Facebook, Twitter, StumbleUpon or any of the other sites represented.



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The Carnival is Coming Back

christian_carnival_lion.jpgI’m having some friends drop in next week. They’ll be visiting from all over the world and you’re invited to join us. The next Christian Carnival is being hosted here at RodneyOlsen.Net.

The weekly Christian Carnival is an opportunity for Christian blog writers to share their best posts from the previous week. The topic of the post doesn’t necessarily have to focus on Christianity but it must reflect a Christian worldview, and the writer must be Christian to qualify. You may wish to consider that the readership of the Christian Carnival will be more varied than your usual readership, and you might do better contributing a post with broad appeal.

I’ve already received a number of contributions and I’m looking forward to offering readers of this blog some great links when the carnival is published.

If you’re a Christian and you’ve never contributed before, or if it’s been a while since you have, how about having a look through your posts for this week and choosing something to contribute. It doesn’t have to be a masterpiece, just a post that outlines your point of view or is designed to get others thinking. Being part of the carnival could be a great way to gain a little extra traffic at your blog.

The easiest way to get involved is to submit your article through the Blog Carnival Submission Form. Otherwise, you can email the submission address.

The deadline for submissions is Tuesday evening at midnight, Eastern (US) Standard Time. That means it’s midday Wednesday here in Perth, Western Australia.



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Elton says Jesus was gay

Elton John has created controversy over his recent claims that Jesus was a super-intelligent gay man.

In an article titled Elton John: ‘There’s A Lot Of Hate In The World’, Elton gave Dotson Rader of Parade insights into his life. He spoke about love, drugs, fame and his long term relationship with David Furnish. His most controversial comments were about Jesus.

I think Jesus was a compassionate, super-intelligent gay man who understood human problems. On the cross, he forgave the people who crucified him. Jesus wanted us to be loving and forgiving. I don’t know what makes people so cruel. Try being a gay woman in the Middle East — you’re as good as dead.

While I completely disagree with Elton’s thoughts on Jesus being gay I must say that this isn’t the first time that someone has tried to turn Jesus into something that he’s not.

Ever since God made man in his image, man has been trying to create a god that conforms to his own image.

Elton John is an extremely talented musician who doesn’t try to hide the fact that he is gay. Is it really a surprise that he would create an image of Jesus that reflects who he would like him to be? The scriptures and history in no way suggest that Jesus was or is gay, yet that is who Elton would like him to be. It suits Elton to see Jesus that way rather than a Jesus who would challenge his thoughts or lifestyle.

In the same way many other people see Jesus in whatever way suits their own purposes. The scriptures and history in no way suggest that Jesus was or is someone who wants us all to be obscenely rich, yet that is who some Christians would like him to be and they tell us that material wealth is a necessary manifestation of God’s blessings. Even though scriptures talk about the dangers of wealth they want to run after such things and so they create a Jesus that wants them to be materially prosperous.

The Jews who were waiting for Messiah were expecting someone to lead a military overthrow. That wasn’t who Jesus was, so many couldn’t see that he was the one sent by God.

I think we all need to be constantly challenging our own image of Jesus. We can’t afford to pretend he is the person we want him to be. If we’re serious, we’ll want to meet the real Jesus. We can’t rely on second hand knowledge from parents, friends, pastors or teachers. They can all be helpful in guiding us but in the end we need to discover the real Jesus presented in the Bible.

It takes a lot of courage to open the scriptures and ask, “Who was Jesus? Who is Jesus? If I’m to follow him what does he require of me? Was he really God or just a good man?”

When we ask those questions we need to be ready to act on what we find, not on what we’d like to find or assume.

I’m pretty selfish by nature so it would suit me a lot better if Jesus wasn’t someone who asked me to always put others ahead of myself. It would be easier for me if Jesus didn’t ask me to take care of those who can’t take care of themselves. I would find life a lot easier if I didn’t have to control my thought life as much as I need to control my actions. There are many things about the Jesus I find in the Bible that challenge me but I can’t just pretend that those aspects of Jesus don’t exist. I can’t make Jesus in my own image and neither can Elton John.

The Jesus I know does share some similarities with the Jesus Elton would like to know. I also think Jesus was compassionate and that he understood human problems. I see very clearly the example he gave in that on the cross he forgave the people who crucified him. I’m in total agreeance with Elton that Jesus wanted us to be loving and forgiving.

Who is the Jesus you know?



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