AUSTRALIA Serves Up Typical PC Myths

By Dr. Ted Baehr and Dr. Tom Snyder

For several decades now, the mass media has promoted the Rousseauian myth conception of the “noble savage.” This is the false idea that the non-European, pagan cultures and indigenous people in North and South America, Africa, and Australia had an innate virtue and natural, peaceful simplicity prior to the arrival of hordes of Europeans who came and despoiled the land while killing thousands if not millions of people, including innocent women and children.

Of course, in promoting this revisionist notion of history, the mass media usually casts white society, especially Christian missionaries and political leaders, as the ultimate bad guys, who (the story goes) killed and plundered their way across the Caribbean, the United States, Canada, Mexico, Central America, Peru, Australia, etc.

That’s exactly the portrait in the new movie epic AUSTRALIA, which opens today in many theaters around the world, not just in the United States and Canada.

In AUSTRALIA, Nicole Kidman and Hugh Jackman encounter a mixed race aborigine boy, Nullah, and his grandfather, King George, the leader of the aborigines in Northern Australia in 1939-41 when the movie takes place. In the movie, Christian church leaders and local police officers are labeled as complicit in forcibly rounding up the mixed race aborigines, separating them from their mothers, and putting them in isolated schools run by missionaries.

In reality, however, the historical record is quite different. In reality, while Christian missionaries may have been paternalistic at times, it was the missionaries who saved countless aborigine children, including mixed-race ones, from the ruthless male leaders of many tribes. Not only did aborigine men often brutalize women in these tribes, but the men also raped the children, including many young males who were sodomized during secret male initiation ceremonies.

In fact, from the very first arrival of Europeans in Australia, according to Louis Nowra in his article “Culture of denial” (The Australian, March 7, 2007), the settlers often observed how “the men kidnapped women from other tribes, raped them and forced them to become their wives.”

According to books like “The Native Tribes of South-East Australia” (1904) and anthropologist’s Phyllis Kaberry’s “Aboriginal Women Sacred and Profane” (1939), a man in aborigine society “had power of life and death over his wife” and thought of women as faithless, sexually insatiable and untrustworthy.

According to many recent reports, this pattern of violence and rape in aborigine culture continues today, fueled by a skyrocketing access to pornography.

It is important to note that, in the middle to late 1800s, according to “Aborigines in White Australia,” edited by Sharman Stone for Hienemann Educational Books in 1974, and other sources, it was actually Darwin’s theory of evolution that led to an rising number of murders of aborigines, who were killed for their fossil bones. The widespread belief in Darwin among government officials also led to mixed-race children being placed in foster homes, Christian schools and government institutions, because the mixed-race children were considered “more evolved” than their full-blooded parent.

Thus, it was actually secular scientists and those in secular government who promoted racist policies against aborigines, not Christianity.

Finally, an examination of court records by us and by people like conservative commentator Andrew Bolt shows that some aborigine parents actually wanted their children to be placed in schools separate from their tribes, to give the children a better chance of improving their lot in life.

That said, it is also true that some Christians in Australia during the 1800s, unable to refute the pseudo-science that is Darwinism, began to buy into the racist lies of evolutionary theory and took part in the forced governmental removal of mixed-race children.

Other Christians, however, who were opposed to the anti-biblical teachings of Darwin, opened their homes to aboriginal children, to protect such children from being institutionalized. Some of them also protected half-castes from occasional tribal infanticide.

We had a chance to interview AUSTRALIA director Baz Luhrman briefly about these matters.

Although the movie’s production notes said he did research about “stolen” aborigine children for his movie, Baz denied any knowledge of the positive activities of many Christians to protect aborigine children from violence in their tribal communities. He admitted, however, that it probably did happen, though to what extent, he does not know.

This is the problem with today’s society.

So many people have been fed the constant lie, from the mass media and their teachers at school, that European settlers in the New World and Australia, including Christian missionaries, were evil and/or misguided, but that indigenous pagan tribes were good, peaceful, harmless, and in tune with nature.

But, as books like “Columbus & Cortez, Conquerors for Christ” by John Eidsmoe and “1492 and All That” by Robert Royal have proven, indigenous pagan cultures in North and South America not only had war, slavery, cannibalism, and rape, they also despoiled their natural environment!

Despite all these real historical facts, however, the mass media continues to foster the myth conception of the “noble savage.”

Not only does this lie romanticize pagan culture and romanticize human nature, it also is a viciously bigoted attack on the Judeo-Christian heritage of Western Civilization and the Christians and Europeans who lived by that heritage.

But, who can blame the “journalists” in the mass media and filmmakers like Baz Luhrman? For this is what we, and they, have been taught in our government-run schools and in our public and private universities, often by teachers promoting an anti-Christian agenda of social engineering.

Our children and grandchildren are also being taught these myth conceptions and lies.

It is absolutely vital, therefore, that common people of values and faith rise up against their “masters” in the mass media and in our education system, and tell the real truth about the history of Australia and the New World.

The future of our society is at stake. We must redeem the values of the mass media and the education system, eliminate these myth conceptions, and set the historical record straight!

Note:  Dr. Ted Baehr is founder and publisher of MOVIEGUIDE®:  A Family Guide to Movies, Entertainment and Culture (www.movieguide.org), an outlet of the Christian Film & Television Commission® ministry in Hollywood. Dr. Tom Snyder is editor of MOVIEGUIDE®.

To help you pick the good from the bad, please visit us daily at www.movieguide.org. - or click here for NPI’s link to Movieguide!

Note:  For more information, or to arrange an interview with Dr. Ted Baehr, founder of CFTVC and author of NARNIA BECKONS: C.S. LEWIS'S THE LION, THE WITCH AND THE WARDROBE AND BEYOND, SO YOU WANT TO BE IN PICTURES, THE MEDIA-WISE FAMILY, WHAT CAN WE WATCH TONIGHT?, and many other books, please call 1-800-577-6684.

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The Illegal Attack on the Family

Congratulations to California, Arizona and Florida in passing protection of marriage amendments in the recent general election!--Ed.

by Dr. Ted Baehr

Don’t buy the lie! Time is running out! Intentionally or not, too many in the press, the mass media, the government, and the education establishment have confused the citizens of America about the institution of marriage. As a result, California is destroying the family, and the United States is on the verge of a self-inflicted spiritual holocaust.

First of all, there are many forms of government. In our western democracy, there are at least four spheres of government:  individual government, family government, ecclesiastical government, and civil government. In the United States of America, the civil government owes its existence to the consent of the governed, not the other way around, in the tradition of the Magna Carte. Furthermore, since the Rev. Samuel Rutherford wrote LEX, REX, which clarified the rule of law posited by the Magna Carte, all of these forms of government have been under God’s Law in the United Kingdom and the United States of America. When king or ruler is above the law, he often acts in imperious and dictatorial ways, for the very nature of power is to corrupt the powerful, unless it is restrained by God’s Law. In essence, God’s Law says to love your neighbor as yourself, and the civil government is subject to that divine law.

Thus, the Declaration of Independence made it clear that King George III acted illegally when he oppressed the American colonies, because he was under the Law of God. Countries that allowed men to rule above the law have produced tyrants such as Stalin, Hitler and Mao Tse Tung. Current examples include Mugabwe, Chavez and the military junta in Burma, among many others.

It must be emphasized that marriage between one man and one woman is a God ordained, God defined, biblical act. For 1800 years in western countries, marriage was a unique institution, initiated by God when he created the male and female, presided over by Jesus Christ when he blessed the act of marriage and stated that a man and a woman would leave their parents and join together to become one flesh, and sustained by the Holy Spirit who not only holds the marriage together but also produces the offspring that God creates.

The norm in most other religions is not monogamy, although many have borrowed the form of a Christian wedding. Moreover, the state’s involvement in Christian marriage is relatively recent.

In 1837, the Rev. Henry Morris complained that the state had usurped the authority of God in marriage. Norris railed against the passage of a law on marriage by providing a detailed look at the institution of marriage. He painstakingly exegeted the scriptures in establishing his point that marriage is most importantly a religious institution, and therefore it should not be relegated to a strictly civil character:

“They took from the Clergy ‘the solemnizing of Matrimony, and put it into the hands of Justices of the Peace. . . .’ In the former instance of this desecration being ordained, the power to legislate had been seized by those who would be restrained in nothing that they imagined to do; and, in a day specified in their ordinance, ‘no other marriage whatsoever within the Commonwealth,’ but such as should be contracted. . . before a Justice of the Peace, ‘should be held or accounted a marriage according to the law of England.’ But the national principle is not yet sufficiently prostrated to make us again ripe for so arbitrary and irreligious an imposition, and therefore, by the law just come in force, you are left to form your own judgments, whether marriage is a mere civil contract, or a Divine institution ‘whether it shall be celebrated with or without any offices of religion’ whether the Church, the Conventicle, or the Register-office, shall be the place of celebration and whether the Clergyman of the Parish, the Dissenting Teacher, or the superintendent Registrar, shall officiate on the occasion.”

The Rev. Norris adds that the biblical position is that only God ordains marriage. So, in the light of history and God’s Word written, the judges in Massachusetts, California or any other state or federal court have nothing to say about Christian marriage and have no authority to define, ordain or desecrate it.

The Rev. Norris brilliantly continues in his sermon:

“by the “state of matrimony the spiritual marriage that is betwixt Christ and His Church is signified and represented. . . .”

“But that ‘the fruitful vine’. . . is not procurable by a civil contract, it cometh only of the Lord.”

His reasoning is impeccable, but many have forgotten that marriage belongs to the church. In fact, a few are very uncomfortable with that concept because of the abuse of power by some ecclesiastical authorities. Two wrongs don’t make a right, however. And they certainly don’t make a civil right to same-sex “marriage.”

With regard to the abuse of power, it must be noted that civil government is good, although there can be bad presidents, governors, judges, and other authorities. Family government is good, although there can be bad fathers and mothers. Ecclesiastical government is good, though there can be bad clergymen. The rules and the laws of the exception do not make the rule. In other words, a bad father does not give us the license to call for the abolishment of fatherhood, etc. What it does do is to give us the opportunity for checks and balances, which until recently were most perfectly expressed in our constitutional government.

The church has to reclaim marriage as its unique institution. Whatever anyone wants to do outside of the church may be their business, but it is not sanctioned by God’s Law. The state has the right to regulate what they do, because there is no liberty for license. But, the state does not have the right to tell the church that any couple outside of the faith is happily married.

We need to stand for God’s Law in the face of the power grab by those in civil authority, who know no restraints.

California and Massachusetts have not only violated God’s Law, they have also violated their own constitution and the will of the governed. When they do that, they are just like King George. They have abdicated their moral and legal authority and are subject to indictment, trial and just punishment.

Hate, not love, tolerates evil

by Dr. Ted Baehr with contribution from Dr. Tom Snyder

Tolerating self-destructive or socially destructive behavior in our children is not a sign of love, but hate, as well as parental neglect. If a child has a propensity to beat themselves or beat other children, the parents are required by love to intervene and help the child get over such abhorrent, intolerable behavior. To do anything less is a sign of child abuse!

Our narcissistic society is on the brink of stewing in the vile juice of its own self-destructive behavior. Consequently, it seems to have forgotten what love entails.

God calls us all to love our neighbor as ourselves, both Jew and Gentile. That entails helping ourselves and our neighbors get over intolerable destructive behavior, such as violence against the innocent, alcoholic stupors and perverting our children's innocent hearts and minds by frankly intervening and correcting such behavior in a manner that brings about significant change or repentance (see Leviticus 19:17,18).

Distracted by the cruel shibboleth of tolerance, even our judicial system seems confused about some very basic values.

For instance, in Germany recently, a man put an ad in the paper asking if anyone wanted to be killed and cannibalized. Surprisingly, several people answered his ad. He chose one, slaughtered and ate him. The court in Germany was hard-pressed to find a reason to convict him since both men were "mutually consenting adults."

What kind of moral idiots and mental midgets are we breeding here? How do these people even get high school diplomas, much less college degrees? There, but for the grace of God, go we!

This case and many others show how low a culture can sink when it rejects the love of God and the love of its neighbor.

True love refuses to tolerate such evil. True love affirms life. True love gives. True love shares. True love does not tolerate evil or sinful behavior, including extra-marital lust. Lust, on the other hand, consumes. It takes without permission. And, it is never satisfied.

We have moved from a society of love to a society of lust where we tolerate evil in the name of self-gratification, or in the name of trying not to "offend" another person. This is exactly what is happening when many of our leaders, including church leaders, are asking us to tolerate rampant gang crime in our inner cities, rampant illegal immigration that flouts the nation's laws, and rampant prostitution and perverse lust on our public streets.

As a result, our culture faces economic, moral and spiritual collapse, and God is warning us to turn back from the brink of self-destruction by removing His blessing and allowing the alarms of natural and social disasters to sound to wake us from this nightmare. Sadly, like Pharaoh at the time of Moses, the warning alarms of a series of plagues screaming out "let my people go" may be falling on such hardened hearts and tone deaf ears that our current governing powers will not heed the warnings, but will persist in America and Western Civilization's continued self-destruction.

To stop this descent into the personal hell of an intolerable evil and lustful narcissism that destroys body, mind, soul and spirit, those who still love their neighbor must take a stand. That stand includes:

• Praying for an awakening, for the gift of a fear of judgment, and for a knowledge of the love of God as manifested in the free gift of new life offered by God Himself, Jesus Christ, the prophesied messiah for both Jews and Gentiles.
• Reclaiming the role of the church and the family, not the state, in the rule of all matters of faith and values, including godly education and marriage.
• Exposing the fruitless works of darkness and excommunicating those in the church who pretend to be faithful while espousing a politics of "I don't care what you do" tolerance instead of love. Because they are leading others astray, these callous pretenders need to be reprimanded by a new 95 theses nailed on their doors declaring them unfit for preaching, teaching, discipling, or fellowship.
• Excommunicating those in the church and government who tolerate evil. If they persist, legal action must be brought against them in the church and against government leaders in the courts for violating the inalienable rights of people, for distorting God's Truth and for violating the Constitution of the United States of America. We need to stand for God's Law in the face of the abuse of power to inflict harm by those in civil authority who know no restraints. Doing anything less is a form of secular, if not demonic, tyranny.
• The vast majority of people have faith and values. Now, they need to exercise love by refusing to tolerate the evils destroying our culture and jeopardizing the future of our children and grandchildren.
• It's time to love others enough to stop tolerating evil!