Thoughts on the Turnbull Treachery

I was in Canberra yesterday, even in Parliament House, as Malcolm Turnbull was engaging in his act of treachery and back-stabbing. He called for his spill just moments after a group of us Christians left the building after a time of meeting with politicians, prayer and worship.

Maybe there is a bit of spiritual imagery there: God’s people leave, and evil comes in like a flood. But I will discuss spiritual reflections on this a bit later. Here I simply wish to make a few brief and obvious political observations. The spill was successful, with a 54 to 44 vote for Turnbull. Julie Bishop was chosen as Deputy Leader over Kevin Andrews, 70 to 30. Here are a few basic truths about this back-stabbing:

abbott 4-The people of Australia of course voted for Tony Abbott, not Malcolm Turnbull. He had absolutely no mandate to do what he did.

-We now have an arrogant, self-serving, power-hungry, and altogether selfish politician with little or no conservative principles running our major conservative party.

-The Liberals are now as bad as the traitorous and back-stabbing Labor Party. The instability and leadership spills make them look just as odious as when Rudd, Gillard and Shorten were doing their worst.

-Turnbull should have been booted out of the Coalition years ago. He would make a great Labor Party hack, but he has no true conservative values. He is pro-homosexuality, pro-abortion, pro-carbon tax, and so on. He is bad news, and the antithesis of everything the Liberal party should be about.

-Shame on Julie Bishop for betraying her leader, and doing all she can to out-do Julia Gillard. She needs to hang her head in shame, not gloat in her evil treachery and treason.

-It is bad enough when secular left leaders lead leftist parties. It is much worse when secular left leaders lead what are supposed to be conservative parties. This is perhaps the end of the Liberal Party, barring some miracle – and soon.

-This act of treachery will leave the party divided for years, and simply make it easy as pie for Labor to win upcoming federal elections.

-Now all the lousy agendas which Abbott worked so hard to resist will likely just roll on through – things like homosexual marriage and the globalist climate change agenda. The fact that the mainstream media and the Left have always taken so kindly to Turnbull should have been warning enough to us all.

-When homosexuals, Muslims and the lamestream media all get excited about a new Liberal leader, you know for a fact that we have the wrong leader.

-This spill has not only left many Liberal Party politicians utterly disgusted, but millions of ordinary Liberal party voters as well. Where will they now turn?

-Smaller parties or independent candidates might increase and benefit in the future because of this, but that will likely only mean more success for Labor and the Greens.

Andrew Bolt sums things up well: “Here’s Turnbull’s challenge in a nutshell: he stole the prime ministership he could not have won in an election. He stole it by boasting of superior communication skills he does not have. He will now campaign on successes by Abbott he could not have achieved himself. And he will now be the leader of a party he cannot unite.”

Perhaps one of the best commentaries on the reasons why the move was on to dump Abbott is this slightly older video by Lord Monckton. It is only 3 ½ minutes long and well worth watching and sharing. In it we hear why Turnbull was so desperate to get Abbott out before the United Nations’ Climate Change Conference in Paris on November 30 – December 11:

Spiritual considerations

Even more important of course are the spiritual realities behind all this. It is Satan who comes to kill, to steal and to destroy. He seems to have gotten Turnbull to do all three to the Liberal Party, to the electorate, and to the nation.

Now we have two godless leaders in the Liberal Party. Neither Turnbull nor Bishop have any Christian bones in their body. They are all about securing power at all costs, and morality and spirituality seems to mean nothing to them. So we have godless leaders running the Liberal party, doing their best to alienate all the conservatives and Christians who remain in it.

Christians may well have little choice but to pull out of this Party and support the smaller Christian parties. Never ending compromise and capitulation is never going to work, and at some point we may well have to wipe our hands of the major parties altogether.

However we must look to some spiritual truths here to sustain us in times of great despair and discouragement. I know millions of Christians and conservatives are right now in a time of real grief, despair and anger. But for the believer, we must always have the divine perspective on things.

And two little words often found in Scripture are what we must cling to here: “But God…” That is always our hope – our only ultimate hope. If it were not for God, and his intervention, we would all be of men most miserable. But God… He is still working out his purposes, and he has not been defeated in his overall plans and aims.

In my daily reading this morning some passages out of Hosea jumped out of the pages:

Put the trumpet to your lips!
An eagle is over the house of the Lord
because the people have broken my covenant
and rebelled against my law.
Israel cries out to me,
‘Our God, we acknowledge you!’
But Israel has rejected what is good;
an enemy will pursue him.
They set up kings without my consent;
they choose princes without my approval.
They sow the wind
and reap the whirlwind. (Hosea 8:1-4, 7)

Yep, these acts of treachery are the work of Satan, and we are asking for, and getting, trouble – big time. But as I wrote four days ago, we still need to see the bigger picture here, and realise that God is ultimately still on the throne. I wrote then about the great themes found in the book of Daniel and I said this:

This is good news indeed and well worth keeping to the forefront as we deal with increasingly hostile and anti-godly governments and world systems. As we read in Daniel 2:44-45: “In the time of those kings, the God of heaven will set up a kingdom that will never be destroyed, nor will it be left to another people. It will crush all those kingdoms and bring them to an end, but it will itself endure forever. This is the meaning of the vision of the rock cut out of a mountain, but not by human hands – a rock that broke the iron, the bronze, the clay, the silver and the gold to pieces.”

That is our one true hope – all the kingdoms of the world, all the evil rulers of this world, will soon enough come to a speedy end, and the one true King will rule forever. So let us not despair at this deplorable turn of events. God is still on the throne, and he is working out his purposes.

Keep the faith my friends. Yesterday was a bad day. But it is not the last word by any means. In the meantime we need to work even harder and pray even more. So allow the grieving process to work if need be, but then back on your feet – we have work to do.

http://www.heraldsun.com.au/news/opinion/malcolm-turnbull-stole-the-prime-ministership-he-could-not-have-won/story-fni0ffxg-1227527354753
https://billmuehlenberg.com/2015/09/11/on-the-book-of-daniel/

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66 Replies to “Thoughts on the Turnbull Treachery”

  1. I am so wild about this but I saw this verse in the comments of one of my friends Facebook pages I am trying so hard to remember-

    Do not put your trust in princes,
    in human beings, who cannot save.

    When their spirit departs, they return to the ground;
    on that very day their plans come to nothing.

    Psalm 146:3-4

  2. Thanks Bill,

    I needed some comfort and encouragement after this distressing news.

    I’ve been praying over Hebrews 11. All those great people of faith, winning great victories of faith – and then right in the middle of verse 35, the author, without missing a breath, talks of the ‘others’ who faced jeers and flogging, chains and imprisonment … They are all commended for their faith (v39) those who won great victories and those who faced jeers and flogging. Are we entering a time when the victories will be small; and the future is as grim as Hebrews 11v35b goes on to describe? Whatever, we need to fix our eyes on Jesus, only, always Jesus (12v2).

    Andrew Campbell

  3. Tony Abbott will become the leader of the National Party with Barnaby Joyce as deputy. The Nationals will field candidates in the next election including about 40 currently sitting Liberal MPs who rebadge as Nationals. The National Party becomes the major coalition party, representing traditional Australia after the next election and TA becomes PM again. Why not?

  4. As far as the politics go Bill I think that both major parties have moved so far away from their roots that they simply do not know what their foundations were. I said some years back that once John Howard went that would be the end of conservative politics as we knew it. Both major parties used to be run by people who understood their roots. Most of them had previously had normal jobs and understood the daily struggles of people. Even in the union movement that is not happening today, hence the corruption we see in the unions. Labor is now a party of the loudest voices in the twittersphere and Liberal politicians have no idea of what being a conservative is actually about. They should all be forced to read Thatchers books. She totally understood conservatism. Christians will now have to learn to live in a world of opposition to the values of Christ, much like the early church did. This will be a new world for us but one that God will honour.

  5. There is reason to be concerned as Turnbull does seem to side with the left-liberal elite eg SSM, global warming etc. But if smaller parties do benefit, it may not be Labor or the Greens who are advantaged (although this might be the case) but groups like Australian Christians, Family First etc could also benifit as social conservatives are no longer willing to vote Liberal. I also wonder if some conservative Liberals will form a splinter group. This might allow a genuinely conservative party to form as a third major force in Australian politics.

  6. This is indeed a sad turn of events. The last of the five English speaking Western nations now is at risk of following what the rest of us has already done: enacting homosexual marriage. The implications for those who believe that the climate changes all the time and not due to the presence of people are discouraging.

    My country, New Zealand, has already gone down the sad track at what Malcolm Turnbull advocates for. Did we try and do something to stop it? We’ve tried a bit, but it seems not enough. I stood, as a candidate, for a pro-family morally and fiscally conservative party but we have been attacked by the media. You can see what I stood for by going to Value Your Vote NZ. We achieved 4%, which was 1% short of the minimum required to gain representation in our Parliament. Since the election, unfortunately within the board of the Conservative Party we have had sad ructions that have spilled into the public sphere and defamation proceedings are now being taken by the founder against a ex-board member and two other individuals. I hope the Party rises again, even while recognizing that political parties are not the silver bullet. The Conservative Party tried to change NZ’s direction after seeing all the horrific laws that have come to pass over the last 40 years, but at this point, we have failed. Will we give up? No, but I can tell you now the path you are about to embark on is filled with sadness, but nonetheless, not ultimate defeat.

    John Key is similar to Malcolm Turnbull: he supports climate change by and large, voted for homosexual marriage, has failed to change our sodomy laws and abortion laws, and aided in bringing in a law that outlawed parents from disciplining their own children.

    Recently a conservative NZ lobby group, Family First, managed to get an obscene book “Into the River” taken off the shelves while its classification is re-assessed so that hopefully it can not be purchased or read by children. The media misrepresented it as banning the book and sadly even our Christian Radio station devoted an evening talk show to debate on the “book’s banning” . Really?

    These events all serve to remind me of Psalm 11:3: “If the foundations are destroyed, what can the righteous do?” It is worth reading the whole Psalm though.

    https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Psalm%2011&version=NKJV

    Are our foundations being destroyed or are they already destroyed? I believe our five nations are certainly in the former and hurrying towards the latter, as are many other nations. The righteous should still stand up and speak, even as you are Bill and many commentators on your blog do. We should still pray, still vote, still give money to God’s missions, still go and spread the gospel throughout the world, still faithfully participate in church, bring Christ’s message of repentance, holiness, judgement and love to those around us, and still pronounce the sick symptoms of our societies. Lots of sad events in recent times remind me of some words I largely agree with from another Christian recently:

    http://www.patheos.com/blogs/standingonmyhead/planned-parenthood-do-we-have-horror-fatigue

    Read the whole thing (it will take less than a minute) if you can, but for me the punchline came on the ninth and tenth paragraphs.

    I often wonder why God doesn’t judge my nation sooner for passing a homosexual marriage law, but then I reflect on my own past sin and realize that forgiveness is available to all, before they die. God’s rule is still real, the Bible’s statement that humanity needs to accept His truth and find forgiveness through repentance and believing in Jesus’ shed blood on the Cross to be saved, and the Great White Throne Judgement will still happen.

  7. Turnbull got the support of the majority he needed by promising not to implement carbon change, gay marriage etc etc. He of course is lying and those who support him know it and are lying to themselves. As one article said in the Herald, Turnbull is a bull artist without substance and put there by his cronies on the Left to ruin a great country, Australia.

  8. Turnbull lied to get the job. To ruin Australia with the help of his cronies on the Left. Assurances that there will be no carbon tax or gay marriage are all lies and the MPs who support him know it. Turnbull and his cronies on the Left are out to ruin a great country – Australia

  9. What are your thoughts about the new Australian Alliance Party? I value your comments and your godly integrity on various issues. Yours in Christ, Helen Phillips

  10. Attempts by the GSSB in New Zealand to block my comments on this page prevent me from saying what I really think about this. But the Herald summed it up when they said Turnbull is a liar and those who support him are lying to themselves. Of course he will bring in gay marriage and carbon tax etc. All with the support of the Labour Party and the Left and may I add with help from the New Zealand govt. To ruin Australia

  11. The Conservatives or Liberals have been only marginally better than the Laborites. John Key in NZ and David Cameron in the UK were the ones to usher in same-sex marriage. We need another party, not a collection of small ones, often at odds with each other.

  12. Bill, I am also interested in your thoughts on the Australian Liberty Alliance. Can’t recall if you have written up anything on this new Party already.
    It will be interesting to see what Abbott does now. He is still relatively young for a politician.

  13. Thanks Helen and Peter. Well, it is mainly a secular party, and it is mainly concerned about Islam – and rightly so. But many of its other principles and policies are more or less those a conservative or Christian could support.

    But of course it just becomes yet one more smaller party which will divide even further the votes coming from any disgruntled Coalition voters.

  14. Turnbull’s treachery is bad enough.
    But he would not have done it without all those accomplices voting for him.
    What next?

  15. It is one thing to let a [Turn]bull loose in the Canberra “china shop” – but having the same political creature run the “china shop” is sheer lunacy!

    The Australian Greens must be laughing all the way to the next election, with the major parties now all but trumpeting aloud two signature Greens’ policies! Those self-same policies have succeeded in exposing the soft underbellies of factionalism in the ALP and of the Great Divide between genuine conservatives and “small-L” Liberals in the Coalition’s ranks.

    A “Twilight of the Idols” of Australian politics is well-advanced: What if some of us stubbornly refuse to walk in the ensuing darkness…

  16. Yes Bill, we were all quite gutted last night.
    But We must keep on the good fight, and have faith on HIM who sits on the throne.
    Democracy is a system that elects the government reflecting the sentiments of the general population.
    Prayers, personal and market place evangelism, seeking more wisdom to fight the cultural war must go on regardless.

    We are called to be faithful to our confession to our generation and pass on a godly legacy to the next.

  17. Tony Slaughter, I thought exactly the same thing. A new party formed by the Nationals and almost half of the Liberals would give us someone for whom to vote. The federal Coalition has now gone the way of the state liberals in Victoria (under Baillieu and then Napthine). I will not be voting for them.

  18. The simple answer to “Why God does not judge a nation” that endorses homosexual marriage is that the issue itself is a judgement against that nation. What right would we have to expect a just and loving God to single out any issue and judge everyone on that. It is precisely because we have chosen to move away from acknowledging the ‘alone wise’ God to worshiping His creation – ongoing and growing sin against the first 2 commandments. All the rest stems from leaving ‘that which can be understood by the things that are made’ from our thinking, our worship/priority and from our legislation – what follows is really only detail – it may be a mercy, from which our nation can repent. We need to continue to pray and stand in the gap for those whom the god of this world has blinded

  19. HI Bill, As you say keep the faith. What is done is done, the last speech given by Winston Churchill to Harrow – was simple – Never, Never….never ever give up!!
    I recall my great, great uncle (a strong Christian) being ‘knifed’ by Randolph Churchill in the 1885 as leader of the Conservative Party – times are no different just different names. Faith and perseverance are touchstones we need to keep close to our hearts.

  20. Yes James, I wrote to the Australian suggesting the same outcome. The micro parties have too much ground to make up except in the Senate where I think Family First will do well. So the Nationals could well turn themselves into a truly conservative party for us to vote for.

  21. I think that we shouldn’t over-react to Malcolm Turnbull’s election as P.M. and Julie Bishop as deputy. Unfortunately this is politics in a democracy. I support Tony Abbott’s moral and other views but if a leader has lost the confidence of a majority of his colleagues and many of our voters, isn’t a change justified?
    Any leader today in most fields has a tough job. He has to balance being a strong leader with being a good consulter at the same time.
    May all Christians pray for those in Government as the scriptures exhort us to.

  22. Yeap this is practically what I got from the Lord as well. Posted this on my FB page. God has the big picture & is working to His timetable to fulfill His purposes and plans which is why this time around the enemy had succeeded where he failed to prevail before.

    “This morning my husband & I fasted and prayed. I asked God not to tell me why but to help me cope & have comfort. Well I was taken to the Book of Nahum which by the way means “comfort” . Do read it for yourself it only has 3 chapters. I got three things from this book. The first was that God is good and he is our refuge in times of trouble for those who TRUST in Him. Hey rejoice Saved Believers we can go to the Lord right now and be in His care. The second thing is God is going to punish all His enemies and destroy their plans or work (none of the wicked will escape God’s wrath). AND the third and get this. In the book of Nahum God speaks of Judah who were captive at that time but we can see it as Israel. This was significant because my heart leapt when I heard what God was going to do for Judah/Israel. Up until now Israel’s hearts have been hardened because as a nation they rejected Christ. Up until now God has been judging them and they have been suffering. Here is the good news. God is going to stop afflicting His nation and bring to them His Messiah. Right now we see Israel fulfilling their festivals and soon they will know Jesus is their Lord and Saviour. Soon they will no longer be blinded to God’s Word and be restored (read the last chapter of Amos) to the Lord and this for God’s fulfillment of His prophecies and promises to the nation of Israel. Soon the wicked will never invade them again or take land from them again.

    Nahum Chapter One

    12 This is what the Lord says:

    “Although they have allies and are numerous,
    they will be destroyed and pass away.
    Although I have afflicted you, Judah,
    I will afflict you no more.

    Look, there on the mountains,
    the feet of one who brings good news,
    who proclaims peace!
    Celebrate your festivals, Judah,
    and fulfill your vows.
    No more will the wicked invade you;
    they will be completely destroyed.

    All yet to happen but NOW is the time that it is going to happen (in a very short time it is here). We are on the cusp of the Tribulation. Praise God and rejoice. As God removes Political leaders of nations who have supported Israel like Tony Abbott, we know this is to fulfill his prophecy that ALL nations will turn their backs on Israel. One down and Canada to go and I think maybe some small nations like Vanuatu are also supporters of Israel (I can’t recall if they only had a leader who believed in God but there might be some out there). Anyway they will all be removed because the time has come. We are there. It is a matter of minutes or seconds(in God’s timing) to our rapture & no longer days or weeks(again God’s timing).

    Rejoice the world is being shaken with evil & corruption and wickedness so that people will LET GO of what they have in this world and repent and get Saved. Too many people would happily go to hell for ever if their life on this earth could be bearable or comfortable. God is looking that NONE should PERISH but all come to repentance. We want what we think is good for our nations but God wants what He knows is best for mankind. Take Heart, keeping waiting and watching for Jesus, Keep witnessing Jesus and know our time here is up very soon. Maranatha & rejoice, amen.”

  23. I recall first seeing Tony Abbott speak at a day conference in AKL. At that time, he was a minister in the then Howard government? dealing with the elderly and their various issues. I was impressed then with his sincerity, his caring attitude, knowledge of his portfolio and his appearance/conduct. Very few people in politics today would even come close to this decent, honorable man. If people want a talking head, razzmatazz etc then Abbott was not their man. But if people want a statesman with integrity then we need the quieter, thoughtful people with less ego and a great deal more substance; these qualities Abbott had in spades. Very sorry to see P.M. Abbott disposed of in this despicable manner.

  24. Actually Bill, I’m not sure it is right to say “The people of Australia voted for Tony Abbott.”
    Kevin Rudd was the PM who really pushed the idea that “I was the PM the people elected’, after he was stabbed in the back by Julia.
    BUT do we elect a prime minister? I don’t think so, Prime Ministers have always come and gone at the whim of the Party – Not the people.
    We elect our own member/s of parliament and the leader of the party that gets the most votes becomes the Prime Minister. We have never been in a position of actually voting for the prime minister in the way that people vote for the president of United States.
    On this issue Malcolm Turnbull rightly said Yesterday “the party selects the leader, not the people”.
    We have been sold the false idea that we elect a prime minister and that is simply incorrect.

  25. Thanks Peter. The electorate voted in various Coalition members, knowing full well it was Abbott, not Turnbull, who would then lead the Party. That is my point.

  26. Hi Peter,

    while you are correct in the sense of the law that we (in AU and NZ) vote for a local representative, I pay attention to what the leader of the said party stands for. What the leader at election time intends to be their manifesto is what will be implemented should they be able to form a Government. It is never the other way around that my local representative’s policy will become law unless of course it is what the leader agrees to. So on the big moral issues that I am concerned about, I am fairly sure that the leader will determine policy.

    I didn’t vote for my local MP (Murray Mccully) because of him per se, but because of his leader, John Key.

  27. Yes bill, I agree with that point, put like that, but it is the growing perception that WE choose a particular man or woman to be PM that has me concerned.
    Even Tony alluded to that yesterday.
    My point really is, that if people have the wrong perception of who they are voting for they will look at one man and vote for their local liberal because of that one man. Therefore many people vote for the wrong reason/in the wrong way.

  28. Peter, you are quite correct when you say that the electorate votes in a Party not a Prime Minister and that it is the Party who selects the PM, not the people.

    However in practical terms and in reality, who the PM (or prospective PM) is plays a huge part in deciding people’s vote. To suggest otherwise is simply not valid.

    Can you honestly tell me that if Malcolm Turnbull was leader last election that you would have voted for him? I wouldn’t and I won’t be voting for him next election, irrespective of who my local member might be.

  29. I cannot express how angry I am with this whole ordeal.

    In the space of overnight, we have gone from having a reasonably conservative government to a progressive one.

    I am so angry. All around the west the representatives of the conservative parties/ governments are a joke.

    In the UK you have the most cowardly, populist leader – he is anything but conservative. In the US it is looking increasingly like D Trump will lead the Republicans. Words cannot describe how much this saddens me. The typical insults from the left toward conservatives hold some weight if this guy gets up and leads the party to an election campaign in the US. He is a liar and will tell republican voters he will side a certain way, and then conveniently change his mind – claiming his opinions have evolved (ala Barak Obama style).

    In regards to M turnbull. He is a power hungry selfish man. He would rather risk loosing a seat in WA in order to further an opportunity to become a PM (not voted in by the masses).

    In my darkest moments I almost feel like this nation and the West in general deserves to be sacked by ISIL just to teach us all a lesson.
    After all the the west has turned to incriminating law-abiding citizens who won’t by a cake for a gay couple, meanwhile we bend over backward to the wishes for Muslim people. The West is thoroughly feminist, yet defends Islam at all costs, despite the evils happening. Despite the fact that where Islam is supposedly “moderate” – woman are the victims of all manner of crimes.

    Malcom Turnbull is an evil leader – I will not vote Liberal party next election. I am hoping a new major conservative party arises out of this mess. I will support the ‘Australian Christians’ party but unfortunately this party is unlikely to have much traction in an election.

    The fact of the matter is though – the fact that the past two parties that have governed have had a change in change in the PM on three separate occasions, plus other unsuccessful spills, shows there is something intrinsically weak with our political system. I think the major problem is a selfish electorate – so the politicians have sold out to populism.

  30. I am thinking that there are enough social conservatives in the party to stop MT from trying to implement climate change and Gay Marriage. If he tries that he will be out faster than h was in.

  31. 15 years ago I believed Turnbull to be the most dangerous man in Australia, to the Australia I believed in. He is everything that we stand against, but all wrapped up in a conservative package, with direct ties to the big end of town. When I saw him move into conservative politics it was obvious to me that he was a wolf in sheep’s clothing.

    Yesterday we saw this man wrest the crown from his ‘friend’ of many years, and assume power. A leopard does not change his spots, and Turnbull will now embark on the double-dealing necessary to bring about the liberal philosophies he has championed for years, of that you can be sure. We’ve seen Labor move far away from it’s roots as the working man’s party, and the Liberals are following suit. Turnbull will complete what Fraser started and turn the inaptly named conservative Liberal party of Australia into an aptly named liberal party.

    I do wonder if, in time, we will see it rescued from this onslaught of leftist progressive politics or whether another conservative party will rise out of it.

  32. This result is gut wrenching.

    Once again, as per usual, the conservatives are ignored and being asked to compromise.
    Even today so many Christians have said that Turnbull is still better than Shorten and if people don’t vote for him then it will be their own fault if Shorten gets in…
    Well I am sick to the back teeth of being asked to ‘suck it up’ and accept it.
    I will not vote for the LNP no matter what.

  33. IF this treachery doesn’t convince the people of Canning, what will!?
    Good Bye, Liberal Party. You are no better than Labor; though much better was expected. Irrationally, it seems.

  34. This is now the time for prayer so that we see godly things happen in this country.

  35. Regardless of our opinion re individuals in politics or in any field of leadership – regardless of their stand on various issues or their beliefs or worldview… if we have been praying for God’s will to be done on Earth as in Heaven, if we have been praying for our government and leaders, then we should not be critical of the who, what, where, why or how it all plays out but continue to pray…

    Romans 13 [Submission to Governing Authorities] Let everyone be subject to the governing authorities, for there is no authority except that which God has established. The authorities that exist have been established by God. Consequently, whoever rebels against the authority is rebelling against what God has instituted, and those who do so will bring judgement on themselves. For rulers hold no terror for those who do right, but for those who do wrong. Do you want to be free from fear of the one in authority? Then do what is right and you will be commended. …

    We know (if reading the scriptures rightly – 2 Timothy 3) that these things will happen and worse before the great and glorious day of the Lord

  36. Thanks Diana. However when Jesus asks us to pray that God’s will be done on earth, the assumption is that this is not always being done. We must not be inert fatalists here. Righteousness exalts a nation, and this is not always happening. We need to work for it and pray for it. As to Rom. 13:1-7, this is not an absolute, and sometimes we must resit unjust laws and governments, as I discuss here:

    https://billmuehlenberg.com/2014/12/03/difficult-bible-passages-romans-131-7/

    And here:

    https://billmuehlenberg.com/2015/09/09/the-state-unjust-laws-and-civil-disobedience/

  37. I woke up at 3am to get ready for work and eagerly checked the news, sure that Abbott would have seen off another challenge from Lord Malcolm of Wentworth. It was quite a shock for me to see the result.

    As I drove to work, I was pondering what this would mean for us as Australians, as conservatives and as Christians. But I felt the Lord gently remind me of my true position: “The King of your kingdom has not changed”. I am not of this world but am part of Christ’s kingdom and He is still on the throne! While I feel enormous sorrow that a fine and upstanding man such as Tony Abbott should be treated in such a contemptible manner, I am encouraged to know that, as always, Jesus is Lord of all.

  38. Dear Bill
    “Christians may well have little choice but to pull out of this Party and support the smaller Christian parties. Never ending compromise and capitulation is never going to work, and at some point we may well have to wipe our hands of the major parties altogether.”
    Well said Bill.

    It appears to me that CDP, Rise Up Australia, Family First and other Christian parties must form an alliance to get 2-3 senators into the upper house to block SSM and other Godless marriage and ministers of the Gospel across the Nation must develop some backbone to support these tiny parties.

    What gauls me, is Senator Arthur Sinodinas got into parliament in NSW on CDP references. I believe he should be in jail. The days of CDP preferencing the Liberal party should now end. Turncoat Turnbull is anti-Christian. He does not deserve any preference deal.

    I am really gutted about this removal of the democratc process by 54 politicians. I have no time for Julie Bishop. A serial traitor.

    God bless
    Phil B (Sydney)

    I am praying for prosperity (sorting the US market now) to feed some serious $$ into CDP to fight the next Federal election. I may never vote Liberal again.

  39. A number of people are talking about various Christian or near Christian conservative parties to vote for at the next election. I wonder how it is that no one has mentioned the Christian Democratic Party led by Fred Nile for some 40 years. At a resent election they came out as the 4th largest number of votes somewhat below the Greens. How about all Christians disgruntled about the LP voting for the CDP. You can’t get much more Christian and conservative in politics than that.

  40. Thank you, Bill and all commentators for educating me on the election process in Australia…I had not been seeing my Aussie FB friends much on FB lately and totally missed this cataclysmic “spill” or understood how it could have happened. A very upsetting, and yet, at the same time, encouraging thread. God bless you all and God bless Australia!!

  41. I think Tony was right on the ball when he said the media was behind this big time. They have not left him alone since he got in. They either made big news out of nothing eg the’ wink’ or wrongly reported him by anticipating his reactions or putting words in his mouth he had never said. They just made sure he looked like he couldn’t do anything right. I never saw him lose his cool or react with the indignation others would. I have every admiration for him. As someone else said he was/is a very decent, honourable man of integrity. I would even say “a man after God’s own heart” like King David. All this flack about him not representing women…he certainly represented me. I think the Liberal party have shot themselves in the foot and Australians have got what they deserve. My Hope is in God alone.

  42. I noticed that yesterday a lot of thoughtful Christians were feeling quite down. I stayed right away from all the frivolous talk at work. Rome is burning!

  43. John and Adan, I believe the reason why CDP and other small christian parties have not seen traction in recent years is because ordinary Christians are not even prepared to put their vote which is secret and nobody ever has to know where their belief is supposed to be. I am not sure what they were afraid of, destabilization or maybe lack of competence in the grass roots candidates who are being fielded. Maybe it is sign that too many people did put their trust in princes and not in the Lord. Had it been otherwise in the past, maybe what happened now would not have happened, but regardless, even when people now realize that the christian option is really the only option left and would have been a better option and still is I hope the option for the future to insure what Paul said in 1 Tim 2:1-4 for it is these candidates who wish to bring godliness to the nation under which the people can live in peace and the gospel can prosper. However, in our compulsory preferencial voting system which still operates in federal elections we must give numbers to the candidates we do not wish to see elected. So, if you have 10 candidates and only really could stand 1 or 2 to be elected you have to give each of the 10 a number, though we might wish to put them altogether at number 10, so they can still get in on preferences. I am not sure how and where to lobby to change that system, but unless it is changed, I can’t see much hope for change in the land scape of political representation.
    Many blessings
    Ursula Bennett

  44. I agree, Ursula. The fact that the Nats can co-govern in a Coalition, sit in Cabinet, but not vote for the elected PM in the Party Room is weird.
    Reform of the present democratic system is deserving and, I think, not to do so, is delusional.
    Election campaign donations to political parties, including by the alcohol industry, at a national level also appears to have fallen off the radar, or at least from the MSM.

  45. I was very saddened by the events that occurred in Canberra on 15 September 2015.

    The Lords Prayer came to my mind in Matthew 6:9-13

    Our Father in heaven
    hallowed be your name.
    Your Kingdom come,
    your will be done,
    on earth as in heaven
    Give us today our daily bread.
    Forgive us our sins,
    as we forgive those who sin against us.
    Lead us not into temptation,
    but deliver us from evil.
    For the kingdom,
    the power and the glory are yours.
    Now and for ever.

    Amen

  46. I was gutted when I heard the news but it’s good to read the encouraging verses that remind us God is sovereign. Even when we can’t see it and don’t get it.
    on another note…..Surely it’s hypocritical to believe in evolution (I don’t) and be worried about climate change?

  47. There is so much riding on this sacking and it is no coincidence…our Immigration minister has now gone and Christians are being murdered more and more each day….Satan definitely has had a hand in all this…

  48. Absolutely disgraceful politics.
    Tony Abbot deserved better, now Mr NBN blowout is in charge…God help us

  49. Dear Bill,

    Thank you for your wise words as usual. Tony Abbott did not deserve the disloyalty which brought him down. He made a few mistakes as do we all but overall he is a good and decent man who deserved to serve out his term as PM with the loyalty and support of his colleagues. He accepted the decision with dignity although he must have been hurting dreadfully. Realistically he never stood a chance with all the enemies he had at his back which illustrates just how godless and disunified Australia really is as a country. However, I think the Liberals will live to regret their extremely stupid and unprincipled actions because I think there are still plenty of Aussie battlers who believe in a fair go and who voted for him to give him that fair go and who will now turn elsewhere. I believe one of the reasons that he was hated by so many is because he is a devout conservative Catholic not a wishy washy liberal one of which there are many and the godless media, the leftists, secularists and the unchurched couldn’t tolerate that in a PM. Kevin Andrews is another of this rare breed of politician. Finally, we must be the laughing stock of the world with Australian politics habitually resorting to ‘revolving door PM’s’ as Tony Abbott so aptly put it and he is right it can’t be good for Australia.

  50. O.K. Bill, if Tony Abbott’s dismissal was not justified what was the alternative? Tony led a good opposition against a shocking Labor Government of 6 years. I believe that’s why he and his government were elected.
    After the honeymoon was over we’ve had some good decisions but quite a few disasters which are what people tend to remember.
    So to continue unchanged until the election next year would have probably got Labor back in.( Some electors have short memories!) I for one don’t want that. I guess we’ll all be wiser after that election. If Malcolm Turnbull’s Government gets elected then, a better alternative than Labor.
    Maybe the answer is to have at least 4 year terms so that a Coalition Government has time to correct any mistakes. It could even discourage a potential change, where the idea is to give a new leader about a year to win over the electors.
    The other factor I believe is that too many electors want instant results with a Government.

  51. Thanks Graham. But of course an argument is not established by resorting to unverified and unverifiable speculations about what might or might not happen in the future. Who says he would have not been re-elected, besides the secular left media and other Abbott haters? And if your question about alternatives was not just rhetorical, I can think of at least 98 others, a good number of whom would have been far preferable to the leftist, backstabbing, Labor-lite narcissist and power hungry egomaniac Turnbull. But that is assuming such a change was even needed – not an assumption I share.

    I urge everyone who claims to be conservative and has not fully fallen for this sham too carefully read what is found in this site: http://stopturnbull.com/

  52. Whatever happened to us voting leaders? We had a PM who had values and respect for God, now ousted so quickly before we could even blink. Its now free for all,. same sex marriage, open doors to Australia to Islam ….Satan is lurking and laughing…what “the people want’ is what they will get …answer seems straight forward to me.. they dont want God…end of story.

  53. Sad, sad day for Australia..Unelected new PM, with no christian values..very sly and cunning method of removing Tony Abbot…..future book title may well be “The fall of Australia”, who sold their birthright and heritage.

  54. Sorry Bill, but 97 other members of the Liberal Party did not put themselves forward for the leadership. Only 2 men did and a majority of their colleagues elected Malcolm Turnbull as leader. So, whether we agree with them or not I think we need to respect their judgment and keep Mr Turnbull in our prayers. God can certainly change the heart of anyone and achieve his purposes through anyone.

  55. Thanks Graham. It goes without saying that we pray for our leaders. But why in the world should I respect their judgment when it was a terrible decision? I can’t and I won’t.

    And I don’t buy your rather unhelpful fatalism here. By your reasoning we all should have been quite blaze about the rise of Genghis Khan or Lenin or Stalin or Hitler. Sorry, but we are always to resist evil, and the Bible says much about evil rulers, and how righteousness exalts a nation.

  56. Do you think it is possible that the 54 traitors are regretting their actions?
    I am sure that many of them did this deed because they thought they would lose the next election and therefore their jobs.
    It should be clear to them that they are now more likely than ever to lose their jobs as people vent their disgust and vow to never again vote for them.

    Maybe the sensible thing is to take a new vote next week and give them the chance to rescind their treachery?

    If they are so concerned about self preservation, that would seem the best course of action.

  57. Thanks again Bill for your feedback . This will be my last comment on this issue for now.I don’t agree that my last comments were fatalistic nor your reasoning of my reasoning. Of course we should oppose evil men such as Stalin or Hitler. I’ve always respected Tony Abbott as a person but how righteous was he if the recent comments by Scott Morrison are correct? Pray for the Coalition to get on with good Government.

  58. Thanks Graham. I am not sure anyone was claiming Abbott is a paragon of righteousness. But compared to lefty Turnbull, he is a paragon of conservative and Liberal values. That is the real point here.

    And yes we must pray for our leaders.

  59. Maybe it is time for Tony Abbott to do another Robert Menzies and form one party out of a few. If the big L liberals abscond from the Liberal Party and join the Nationals and all the Christian parties in one big Conservative party, they could become the largest party in parliament.

    It could happen but the biggest problem is the isolationist Christian Parties who don’t seem to want to give up their individuality for the good for the nation.

    They would rather soldier on and win nothing rather than unite and win government.

    If such a party came into being I would come out of retirement and put my extensive experience in campaigning to good use.

    They could call themselves the “Common Sense Party.” You know that stuff there is not much of.

  60. Thank you for your uplifting encouragement, Bill. I despaired at the rise of such a hideous spectre as this which has overshadowed our great land of the south.

    Time to suck it up and perhaps to swallow the lump in my throat. A battle may be lost but we all know who won the war from before time itself!

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