WE DON'T WRESTLE BUT WE DO WRESTLE

In Narnia, Winter had had come to stay. In Middle Earth, the shadows of darkness were casting their evil doom over the lands. This shadowy evil, administered by Wormtongue, had already poisoned and possessed the King of Rohan, Theoden, and caused him to be weak and powerless both in mind and soul. In Tasmania, the real Wormtongue has continued this Middle-Earth-like strategy of stupification by weakening the minds and souls of those, like Theoden, are supposed to govern for the welfare of those they are responsible for and to. It would be utterly foolish of those who have any genuine spiritual insight to be fooled into thinking that this current Tasmanian State Political agenda was anything other than a devilish strategy to destroy the lives of the vulnerable.

For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers over this present darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places.
Ephesians 6:12

This invisible Wormtongue has craftily tricked his minions into utter delusion. Those of us who understand the ancient spiritual art of discernment, stand aghast at the bold yet ridiculous claims that black is white, murder is compassion, a baby is not human, gender has nothing to do with marriage, and good morals is a purely religious concept that has no place in a secular society. Whenever those who practice the ancient arts of discernment and objective wisdom raise concerns about this deadly trickery, the Wormtongue whispers into the inner ears of his underlings and his whisper is given voice:'These Christians belong to ancient past that has no place that has no place in our modern era...' 'These Christians are being arrogant for trying to force their ancient morals onto the rest of society...' 'These Christians are largely comprised of grey-haired middle-aged men, therefore they should be ignored...'

¶ God-devotion makes a country strong;
God-avoidance leaves people weak.
Proverbs 14:34, THE MESSAGE

Those who hold to ancient (even eternal) truths and practise the other ancient of art of case-making are mocked, ridiculed, and maligned. Wormtongue knows that his agenda of death cannot be made to sound reasoned or reasonable unless he plays some sophisticated (literally) word games and delivers some fanciful stories. Thus, murder, which has always been universally regarded as an act of evil, is deliberately lost in the discussion as Wormtongue instead prefers to refer to it as compassion. Compassion?! The very word means to journey with someone in pain ('com'= with + 'passion'= pain) yet Wormtongue's other diabolical strategy of Schooling Rather Than Educating almost guarantees that most people can't detect his hideous ruse with the language.

¶ Then Satan stood against Israel and incited David to number Israel.
First Chronicles 21:1

Tasmania is beset with several serious crises. Theses include: Australia's highest unemployment rate; the nation's worst educational outcomes (including the nation's worst literacy and numeracy standards); the lowest level of private sector investment; the nation's highest suicide rate of 15-24 year olds; the nation's lowest incomes (per capita); the nation's highest welfare dependency rates; the highest rates of personal indebtedness; the highest rates of family breakdown; and the nation's worst health outcomes. Any government faced with such urgent social and economic emergencies would be forgiven for doing all it could to focus its energies on solving them. But Wormtongue has somehow managed to dupe the agenda-makers into promoting the very cause of these despicable blights with yet another word-game - calling his grand agenda "socially progressive" (when it is in fact, extremely socially regressive!).

And no wonder, for even Satan disguises himself as an angel of light.
Second Corinthians 11:14

Wormtongue hates it when the Church stands up to him. He will ventriliquise his tired old mantras, 'Christians should say out of politics!' 'How does any of this hurt you!' through his puppets. And just to further distract everybody, he begins to tell exceptional stories. These are stories of people who are happy to be murdered, or happy to end the life of the babies, or happy offended that the rest of us will not accept that square are not round (since none us wants to 'offend' anyone). Meanwhile those who practice the ancient spiritual art of wisdom know full well that lies are being told and that exceptional stories do not form the basis of public policy for the greater good of all.

so that we would not be outwitted by Satan; for we are not ignorant of his designs.
Second Corinthians 2:11

It may be Wormtongue's weakest and most pathetic reason for justifying his insidious agenda of non-life, but he still promotes it whenever he senses it will go unchallenged. It sounds like this- But how does it hurt you? (As if our individual pain is the basis for what makes for good legislation). Of course, abortion, euthanasia and calling same-gendered relationships: marriage, doeshurt/affect/impact us all. And it does so in at least three ways. To illustrate with some real stories, I offer the following.

The New Mexico Civil Rights Commission found a Christian photographer guilty of sexual orientation discrimination for declining to photograph a same-sex commitment ceremony. The photographer has been fined $6,637.94.

The state of New Jersey revoked the tax exemption status of a Methodist church for refusing to allow two lesbians to perform a civil union ceremony on its grounds (the site has hosted church and worship services for 139 years). The state agreed with lawyers who said the church is guilty of discrimination and "could no more refuse to accommodate the lesbians than a restaurant owner could refuse to serve a black man."

Two obstetricians in North County, San Diego declined to artificially inseminate an unmarried woman for religious reasons. Lambda Legal, a gay-only issues version of the ACLU, sued the two Christian doctors for religiously motivated discrimination because the woman was a lesbian. The case has been dragged through the California legal system for the last five years.

In Canada, where same-sex laws have been around, the assault on religious liberty is even greater. Because he wrote a letter to the editor of a newspaper opposing same-sex legislation, Pastor Stephen Boission was fined $5,000 and told to "cease publishing in newspapers, by email, on the radio, in public speeches, or on the internet, in future, disparaging remarks about gays and homosexuals." In other words, he is silenced from his free speech rights, forever. He can't even publish his own opinions on homosexuality on his website – they'll be removed.
Same-Sex Marriage: How It Will Affect You, Alan Shlemon

How will Wormtongue's socially regressive policies of non-life affect each of us? They affect us by -
(i) Our individual liberties; (ii) Our parental rights and liberties; and, (iii) Our religious liberties (as some of the stories above illustrate). Whenever legislators formulate any public policy into legislation, they must do the greatest good for the greatest number. None of the current non-life policy agendas satisfy this criteria. With so many pressing problems bearing down on our State, withstanding them is not merely an ancient Christian response (which it is), it is also a decent humanitarian response. Because Christians especially care for the whole person - not just their "soul" - but their physical, mental, social, AND spiritual well-being, we dare to withstand Wormtongue and his liegemen.

Be sober-minded; be watchful. Your adversary the devil prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour. Resist him, firm in your faith, knowing that the same kinds of suffering are being experienced by your brotherhood throughout the world.
First Peter 5:8-9

It's why we see teaching children to read, write, calculate, reason, and create as a vocation, not merely a profession. It's why we see tending the sick, frail, injured, or dependent, as a vocation, not merely a profession. It's why we see those who manufacture, produce, farm, mine, and create, as being in a vocation not merely a job. And it's why we see those in politics as removing the obstacles for people in these various vocations from fulfilling their callings. This is why we wrestle.

¶ "You are the salt of the earth, but if salt has lost its taste, how shall its saltiness be restored? It is no longer good for anything except to be thrown out and trampled under people's feet.
¶ "You are the light of the world. A city set on a hill cannot be hidden.
Nor do people light a lamp and put it under a basket, but on a stand, and it gives light to all in the house. In the same way, let your light shine before others, so that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father who is in heaven.
Matthew 5:13-16

Our wrestling is not to be thought of as merely tackling Wormtongue's vassals on their turf - no, we wrestle Wormtongue in a different realm. This realm is not some fanciful Narnia or Middle-Earth, but where each of us live work and recreate. Yet the result of our wrestling prayers, prophetic utterances, preaching, teaching, witnessing, reasoning, and worship of the One True God, is that the Enemy's minions are thwarted in carrying out their Master's schemes. As we take our stand, our grander and truer mission of seeing the people we care about hear and receive the eternal message of God's redeeming love through Christ is all the more likely when the truth is more widely published. We wrestle not (against flesh and blood) but we do wrestle.

Put on the whole armor of God, that you may be able to stand against the schemes of the devil...praying at all times in the Spirit, with all prayer and supplication. To that end keep alert with all perseverance, making supplication for all the saints, and also for me, that words may be given to me in opening my mouth boldly to proclaim the mystery of the gospel,

Ephesians 6:11, 18-19

Ps. Andrew