JESUS CHRISTIANS NEWSLETTER, #127, SEPTEMBER, 2010
What a month for news!
After more than a year of preparation, the week-long luxury cruise for ourselves and 22 relatives took place, preceded by a scenic and historic bus trip up the coast of New South Wales for our members from overseas, and followed by an an even more historic decision to make significant moves toward living completely without money.
Scenic New South Wales
On the trip from Sydney to Brisbane, members of the community stopped at several beaches, and visited the hippy village of Nimbin, the koala reserve in Newcastle, and the tiny village of Rappville, where the community first hit the headlines a quarter of a century ago. A trip to the local pub revealed that a mural by ex-member Kevin McKay is still on display there today.
The Luxury Cruise
Using a commuter bus, we were able to meet overseas arrivals at the airport, take them to hotels, and then get them all to the docks in time for the departure of the P&O luxury liner, Pacific Dawn, on August 7. It was a full-on week of indulgence with all you can eat meals three times a day, great shows in the International Lounge, swimming pools and a spa, exercise room, and everything from karaoke to trivia quizzes going on non-stop throughout the day.
At our first port of call, most of us went on a two-hour boat ride out to the Great Barrier Reef, where we were able to get up close and personal with the many colourful fish swimming amongst the coral. Besides snorkelling, there were rides on a semi-submersible and a glass bottomed boat, which sailed over places where the coral was no more than three feet below the surface of the water. Back on the ship, most of our guests participated in such things as a singalong, crossword puzzle quiz, and a lively discussion about our beliefs. The cruise directors made a closed bar available to us each morning for this purpose.
Joggers were startled early one morning when we conducted heats of our weekly two-mile phantom run on the jogging track at the very top of the ship. Some passengers joined in and others just cheered the runners on. We have more detailed reports on the cruise on our web site, including comments from those who attended. You can read it all here:
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Living Without Money
Prior to the cruise we had held discussions about future plans for the community, and it was decided that we will take steps over the next few years to separate ourselves more fully from the economic system, including doing away with debit cards (We already function without credit cards.) and phasing out passports rather than take ones with a microchip imbedded in them. Our ultimate goal is to live without money at all, in preparation for the coming "mark of the beast", which we feel is an implantable microchip, to be used for all buying and selling at some time in the future.
We are just now putting the final touches to a video entitled "The Tyrant Within", which deals specifically with the Mark of the Beast. We hope to have it up on our web site shortly, and out on the streets by the end of the year. The video will include about half a dozen relevant music videos as well.
Survival Outreaches and Free Work
Teams of Jesus Christians varying in size from two to five, have been experimenting with longer faith outreaches, with some exciting results. Faith outreaches are ones where we forsake our vehicles, and take no money with us. We also do not distribute literature for donations. Each team makes their own rules on top of that, but some of the rules have included not asking for food, not going to homeless shelters, not raiding bins, and refusing any offers of money. Instead, our efforts have been focused on finding ways to reach out to others. These have included making signs offering "free hugs", offering to do free work for people, distributing DVDs for free, and having Bible studies with interested contacts. Some of the free work projects undertaken included holding a tutorial on website design, cleaning homes and basements, and moving furniture. Accommodation has ranged from sleeping under the stars to staying in a squat, private homes, student quarters at a university, a church, and sleeping on the floor of a launderette. Food has not been plentiful, but it has come from some interesting sources, and has been enough to keep us going. On two separate occasions, journalists heard about what we were doing, with one journalist interviewing Simon and Alf, and another interviewing Alan and Barry. In the interviews we were able to expound more about our lifestyle and why we live the way we do.
Skydiving Plans
Ross, Fran, Simon, and Bob had planned a skydiving outing in lieu of the snorkelling trip that others took on the cruise, but bad weather forced them to cancel. However, Fran's mother has offered to jump with him at a later date. Just shows the kind of adventurous families that our members come from!
Weightlifting
Meanwhile, over in Kenya, Karl has found his own way to create new challenges, by pouring cement into metal drums to make a set of weights for a weight-lifting program that is proving popular with the local male population.
Visit from Giddy
Giddy came by and stayed for five days at Takatifu Gardens. It was good to reconnect with him after some time away. We are hopeful that there will be more contact with him in future.
Numbers down
Kenyan volunteer numbers were down this month, due to it being harvest time, when younger Kenyans help their families with the work on the shambas. However, just before harvest (during the school holiday period) we had a good week or two of inreach, including numerous Bible studies and some work on memorising Bible verse cards.
Rescuing Babies
Local custom requires that 'taboo' babies born to close relatives be killed as punishment for the liasion. In one such case, the baby's parents called on us to rescue the baby by taking it to an orphanage, which we were able to do with very little delay for paperwork.
A German/Kenyan couple who have also worked with us as volunteers, rescued a 16-month-old orphan boy from his neglectful grandmother. He weighed only 5kg, looked like a 6-month-old baby, and was suffering from rickets (soft bones) caused by not getting milk in his diet.
Hospital Visits
While visiting a friend who had been admitted to the local hospital, we chatted with a few other patients in the same ward. This has now grown into regular visits. When we first went it seemed like everyone was out to get what they could from us, but now there is a much more friendly community-like atmosphere when we visit.
Growing Chokoes
We continue to give out sprouting chokoes to older primary students. We finished one school and have expanded to another. Students seem to really appreciate them, as the chokoes reproduce prolifically once planted.
New Articles
There are three new articles on the website. One by Joe, entitled "Tribulation Vision", has been reflected in the move toward less dependence on money.
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The other two articles are by Dave. One, an inspirational, is called "Thine is the Power". It reminds us that we need help from God even to have faith.
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A specific type of depression is covered in "Laziness and Depression", where one is not aware that they are depressed, although their inactivity may be affecting others.
Forum Threads
As usual there are a lot of new topics, although some threads have strayed away from the original topic. Here are a few:
Comments on the latest whipping trial (in support of Falun Dafa), posted by Dave.
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How to Play Werewolf, posted by Fran.
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Curiosity about such things as Roland and Sue leaving the community, posted by Ian.
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Dating the Enemy (on the media link), posted by Alf (which has veered into discussion of how we judge other people).
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Top Chefs go Bin-raiding (on the media section), posted by Jackie.
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Hate site attempt to exploit Roland and Sue leaving, posted by Craig posing as someone else.
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Some Good Quotes, posted by CrossReach, which switched to talk about what people would be willing to do for ten million dollars.
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Compliments to JCs, posted by Pagan Respector.
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Balance between spiritual and physical activities, posted by Ulrike (which has drifted off into discussions of the benefits of the cruise and of running).
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Worship the Creator, not Creation, posted by Trevor (which has drifted off into talk of healthy foods).
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Accepting Godly Counsel, posted by Peter (which has drifted into discussions about whether we need scriptures to back up things that we teach).
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How to Handle Money Wisely, posted by Peter.
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How to Tell if You're One of the Two Witnesses, posted by Catherine.
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End-time Prophecy, posted by Joy.
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Homosexuality and Other Abominations, posted by Dave (which has veered into discussion over whether the Bible is the Word of God).
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Jesus 101, posted by Peter, which deals with how much theology, etc. one needs to know to be a Christian.
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Is Forsaking All a Once Only Experience? posted by CrossReach (Irish Dave).
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Making Excuses for Disobeying Jesus, posted by Peter.
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Exploitation of workers in Africa, posted by Pagan Respector.
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