I preached at Nowra City Church on Sunday 25th January 2015: the day before Australia Day: on the Christianity in our culture, heritage and famous people from our past. Here is some of my research. Makes interesting reading.

1) The birth of our constitution.

As one of the Constitution’s most distinguished co-authors, Sir John Downer, declared in 1898: “The Commonwealth of Australia will be, from its first stage, a Christian Commonwealth.”

2) Former Australian Treasurer Peter Costello explains the Judeo Christian Tradition that forms the basis of our society: in a speech from 2004.

(This is not the full script)

When Jesus told his disciples that they would be witnesses in Jerusalem, Judea, Samaria and the uttermost part of the earth, the known world consisted of the Roman Empire – the Mediterranean and surrounds.

No one in the Roman world, no one in the Jewish world, knew of Australia. From the then known world of the Mediterranean, Australia was beyond even the uttermost parts of the earth.

And yet the teaching of Jesus came to Australia. It took nearly 18 centuries. And we can pinpoint quite accurately the first time a Christian service was held on Australian soil. The sermon was preached by the Rev. Richard Johnson, Chaplain of the First Fleet. It was preached on Sunday 3 February 1778 under a large tree in Sydney. His text was from Psalm 116 Verse 12: “What shall I render unto the Lord for all his benefits toward me?”

The first Australian Christian service was a thanksgiving service. It was thanksgiving for a safe passage in dangerous sailing ships, on a dangerous mission half-way around the world.

Two hundred and twenty six years later we meet tonight to mark a “National Day of Thanksgiving” for all the benefits rendered to us, in the modern Australia.

Of course, the members of the First Fleet were not the first people to come to Australia. The Aboriginal people were here long before that and I am proud to honour descendants of those first Australians. But it was the First Fleet that brought the first chaplain and first knowledge of the Christian faith to Australia. This was the critical and decisive event that shaped our country.

If the Arab traders that brought Islam to Indonesia had brought Islam to Australia and settled, or spread their faith, amongst the indigenous population our country today would be vastly different. Our laws, our institutions, our economy would all be vastly different.

But that did not happen. Our society was founded by British colonists. And the single most decisive feature that determined the way it developed was the Judeo-Christian-Western tradition.

As a society, we are who we are, because of that heritage.

I am not sure this is well understood in Australia today. It may be that a majority of Australians no longer believes the orthodox Christian faith. But whether they believe it or not, the society they share is one founded on that faith and one that draws on the Judeo-Christian tradition.

The foundation of that tradition is, of course, The Ten Commandments. How many Australians today could recite them? Perhaps very few. But they are the foundation of our law and our society, whether we know them or not.

The first Commandments: Thou shalt have no other God before me; Thou shalt not make any graven image; Thou shalt not take the name of the Lord in vain; Remember the Sabbath and keep it holy; are the foundation of monotheism.

The Commandments: Honour thy father and mother; Thou shalt not commit adultery; are the foundation of marriage and the family.

The Commandment: Thou shalt not to kill; is the basis for respect for life.

The Commandment: Thou shalt not steal; is the basis for property rights.

The Commandment: Thou shalt not bear false witness against thy neighbour; and Thou shalt not covet thy neighbour’s property; is the basis of respect for others and their individual rights.

These are the great principles of our society. On them hang all of the laws and institutions that make our society what it is.

When Moses gave the Ten Commandments he initiated the rule of law. From the moment that he laid down these rules it followed that human conduct was to be governed according to rules – rules which were objectively stated, capable of being understood and, if necessary, enforced by the Hebrew judges. Prior to that the people of the ancient world were governed by Rulers rather than rules. The ruler was much more subject to whim and capricious behaviour. Rulers were not subject to independent review or interpretation. The rule of law is the basis for our constitution and justice system.

And so we have the Rule of Law, respect for life, private property rights, respect of others – values that spring from the Judeo-Christian tradition.

3) The Christian basis for the Union Jack.

I blogged this point in a separate blog.I was really amazed to find that the Union Jack represents three very godly and passionate men.  Click here to read that blog.

4) Some of Australia’s famous poetry.

Here is the Poem by Banjo Patterson: The Bush Christening

On the outer Barcoo where the churches are few,
	And men of religion are scanty,
On a road never cross'd 'cept by folk that are lost,
	One Michael Magee had a shanty.


Now this Mike was the dad of a ten-year-old lad,
	Plump, healthy, and stoutly conditioned;
He was strong as the best, but poor Mike had no rest
	For the youngster had never been christened,


And his wife used to cry, "If the darlin' should die
	Saint Peter would not recognise him."
But by luck he survived till a preacher arrived,
	Who agreed straightaway to baptise him.


Now the artful young rogue, while they held their collogue,
	With his ear to the keyhole was listenin',
And he muttered in fright while his features turned white,
	"What the divil and all is this christenin'?"


He was none of your dolts, he had seen them brand colts,
	And it seemed to his small understanding,
If the man in the frock made him one of the flock,
	It must mean something very like branding.


So away with a rush he set off for the bush,
	While the tears in his eyelids they glistened-
"'Tis outrageous," says he, "to brand youngsters like me,
	I'll be dashed if I'll stop to be christened!"


Like a young native dog he ran into a log,
	And his father with language uncivil,
Never heeding the "praste" cried aloud in his haste, 
	"Come out and be christened, you divil!"


But he lay there as snug as a bug in a rug,
	And his parents in vain might reprove him,
Till his reverence spoke (he was fond of a joke)
	"I've a notion," says he, "that'll move him."


"Poke a stick up the log, give the spalpeen a prog;
	Poke him aisy-don't hurt him or maim him,
'Tis not long that he'll stand, I've the water at hand,
	As he rushes out this end I'll name him.


"Here he comes, and for shame! ye've forgotten the name-
	Is it Patsy or Michael or Dinnis?"
Here the youngster ran out, and the priest gave a shout-
	"Take your chance, anyhow, wid 'Maginnis'!"


As the howling young cub ran away to the scrub
	Where he knew that pursuit would be risky,
The priest, as he fled, flung a flask at his head
	That was labelled "Maginnis's Whisky!"


And Maginnis Magee has been made a J.P.,
	And the one thing he hates more than sin is
To be asked by the folk who have heard of the joke,
	How he came to be christened "Maginnis"!

5) The Coronation of the Queen.

This is an excerpt take from the Coronation script that was used to Coronate Queen Elizabeth II in 1953.

Here is a link to a clip of the Coronation Ceremony from 1953

Coronation ceremony has essentially remained the same for over a 1000 years.

King Edwards chair (named for Edward the Confessor) is the throne for the coronation – it has the Stone of Scone in it.

The Stone of Scone )—also known as the Stone of Destiny, and often referred to in England as The Coronation Stone—is an oblong block of red sandstone that was used for centuries in the coronation of the monarchs of Scotland, and later the monarchs of England and the Kingdom of Great Britain. Historically, the artefact was kept at the now-ruined Scone Abbey in Scone, near Perth, Scotland. It is also known as Jacob’s Pillow Stone and the Tanist Stone, and in Scottish Gaelic, clach-na-cinneamhain. Its size is about 26 inches (660 mm) by 16.75 inches (425 mm) by 10.5 inches (270 mm) and its weight is approximately 336 pounds (152 kg). A roughly incised cross exists on one surface, and an iron ring at each end aids with transportation. The Stone of Scone was last used in 1953 for the coronation of Elizabeth II of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland.

Various theories and legends exist about the Stone’s history prior to its placement in Scone: Legends place the origins of the Stone in Biblical times and consider the Stone to be the Stone of Jacob, taken by Jacob while in Haran. (Genesis 28:10-22).

At the coronation

The Archbishop of Canterbury: “Will you solemnly promise and swear to govern the Peoples of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, the Union of South Africa, Pakistan and Ceylon, and of your Possessions and other Territories to any of them belonging or pertaining, according to their respective laws and customs?”

The Queen: “I solemnly promise so to do.”

The Archbishop of Canterbury: “Will you to your power cause Law and Justice, in Mercy, to be executed in all your judgments?”

The Queen: “I will.”

The Archbishop of Canterbury: “Will you to the utmost of your power maintain the Laws of God and the true profession of the Gospel? Will you to the utmost of your power maintain in the United Kingdom the Protestant Reformed Religion established by law? Will you maintain and preserve inviolable the settlement of the Church of England, and the doctrine, worship, discipline, and government thereof, as by law established in England? And will you preserve unto the Bishops and Clergy of England, and to the Churches there committed to their charge, all such rights and privileges, as by law do or shall appertain to them or any of them?”

The Queen: “All this I promise to do. The things which I have here before promised, I will perform, and keep. So help me God.”

Once the taking of the oath concludes, an ecclesiastic presents a Bible to the Sovereign, saying “Here is Wisdom; This is the royal Law; These are the lively Oracles of God.” The Bible used is a full King James Bible, including the Apocrypha. At Elizabeth II’s coronation, the Bible was presented by the Moderator of the General Assembly of the Church of Scotland. Once the Bible is presented, the Holy Communion is celebrated, but the service is interrupted after the Nicene Creed.

After the Communion service is interrupted, the crimson robe is removed, and the Sovereign proceeds to King Edward’s Chair, which has been set in a most prominent position, wearing the anointing gown. (In 1953, King Edward’s Chair stood atop a dais of several steps.) This mediaeval chair has a slot in the base into which the Stone of Scone is fitted for the ceremony. Also known as the “stone of destiny”, it was used for ancient Scottish coronations until brought to England by Edward I. It has been used for every coronation at Westminster Abbey since. Until 1996 the stone was kept with the chair in Westminster Abbey between coronations, but it was returned that year to Scotland, where it will remain on display in Edinburgh Castle until it is needed for a coronation.

Once seated in this chair, a canopy is held over the monarch’s head for the anointing. The duty of acting as canopy-bearers was performed in recent coronations by four Knights of the Garter. This element of the coronation service is considered sacred and is concealed from public gaze;  it was not photographed in 1937 or televised in 1953. The Dean of Westminster pours consecrated oil from an eagle-shaped ampulla into a spoon with which the Archbishop of Canterbury anoints the Sovereign on the hands, head, and heart. The filigreed spoon is the only part of the mediaeval crown jewels which survived the commonwealth. The Archbishop concludes by reciting a blessing.

The Sovereign is then enrobed in the colobium sindonis, over which is placed the supertunica.

The Lord Great Chamberlain presents the spurs, which represent chivalry. The Archbishop of Canterbury, assisted by other bishops, then presents the Sword of State to the Sovereign. The Sovereign is then further robed, this time putting the Robe Royal and Stole Royal on top of the supertunica. The Archbishop then delivers several Crown Jewels to the Sovereign. First, he delivers the Orb, a hollow golden sphere set with numerous precious and semi-precious stones. The Orb is surmounted by a cross, representing the rule of Jesus over the world; it is returned to the Altar immediately after being received.

(The Orb is a religious symbol that represents the Monarch’s role as Defender of the Faith and as Supreme Governor of the Church of England.)

Next, the Sovereign receives a ring representing the “marriage” between him or her and the nation. The Sceptre with the Dove (so called because it is surmounted by a dove representing the Holy Spirit) and the Sceptre with the Cross (which incorporates Cullinan I – the worldest second largest diamond ) are delivered to the Sovereign. As the Sovereign holds the two sceptres, the Archbishop of Canterbury places St Edward’s Crown on his or her head. All cry “God Save the King [Queen]”, placing their coronets and caps on their heads. Cannons are fired from the Tower of London.

6) Christening of Prince George

Prince George’s Christening 23^rd Oct 2013

Palace officials said water from the River Jordan – where Christians believe Jesus Christ was baptized – was used for the christening.

7)  Robing of the Mayor (This is the process to Commission the Mayor that was used by a member of the Clergy to install the new Mayor of the Shoalhaven)

Here is a link to some of the ceremony.

CEREMONIAL ROBING OF THE MAYOR

Madame Mayor, Councillors, General Manager, Members of Council Staff, ladies and gentlemen.

We are assembled here to invest the Mayor with the symbols of his office, and to seek the Blessing of Almighty God on the work of the newly elected Council.

We congratulate the Mayor and all Councillors on being chosen by the people to hear the responsibility of government in this City.

The origin of Local Government is found in the divinely inspired work of Moses in preparing the Jews for life in their new land. Elders were selected to govern the people in all their social life. Of the duly selected ten, three acted as administrators and judges in cases of dispute, three were collectors and guardians of revenue, two were teachers, one was an interpreter and one was a chaplain.

In the Christian era, John Calvin at Geneva, with respect for the ancient Jewish system, appointed twelve men to govern the City.

From these, there has been developed systems of Local Government with democratic principles, and of all forms of government, it is certainly the closest to the people.

Local Government began here in 1868, some 144 years ago, when the Municipality of Numbaa was proclaimed.

It is our tradition for the Mayor to wear, on official occasions, a robe and gown, with bands, and a Mayoral chain. They are symbols of important features of the office.

(PLACE THE GOWN ON)

The gown gives dignity and distinction. It is long to cover the whole person. It is worn to put out of sight, or to supersede all merely personal plans and purposes.

As Mayor, you can wear the Gown with honour to yourself, as you give yourself in service for the welfare of this City.

(PLACE ON THE BANDS)

The bands you wear are similar to the two strips of white linen worn by ordained Ministers of Religion, and Judges, Barristers and Lawyers, and others with authority in the administration of Law.

They symbolise learning in Latin and Greek, the ancient cultures that are the foundations of our law and political ideas.

(PLACE ON THE CHAIN OF OFFICE)

The Chain bears on its links the names of your predecessors in office.

It reminds you of the tradition of government into which you have entered, and the new link in the chain that is placed in line today will join together the past and the future.

Madam Mayor: The people of the Shoalhaven City will ever pray for purposeful and progressive term of office.

May the Lord bless you and keep you; may the Lord make his face shine upon you, and be gracious unto you; may the Lord lift up His countenance upon you; and give you peace.

8) Praying to open Federal Parliament

Standing orders [for Australian parliament] require the Speaker of the House of Representatives and the President of the Senate to read a prayer for the parliament and the Lord’s Prayer at the beginning of each sitting of the Parliament of the Commonwealth of Australia:

Almighty God, we humbly beseech Thee to vouchsafe Thy blessing upon this Parliament. Direct and prosper our deliberations to the advancement of Thy glory, and the true welfare of the people of Australia.

Our Father, which art in Heaven: Hallowed be Thy Name. Thy Kingdome come. Thy will be done in earth, as it is in Heaven. Give us this day our daily bread. And forgive us our trespasses, as we forgive them that trespass against us. And lead us not into temptation; but deliver us from evil: For Thine is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory, for ever and ever. Amen.

9) Swearing in in court

Witnesses

Before giving evidence, the magistrate will ask each witness to swear an oath on the Bible (or other holy book) or make an affirmation (promise) to tell the truth. It is important that the witness takes an oath according to their religious beliefs.

The following oath and affirmation are given in the Supreme Court and District Court:

Oaths

‘The evidence which you shall give to the court and jury sworn between our sovereign lady the Queen and the prisoner/s at the bar shall be the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth, so help you God.’

The witness will respond: ‘So help me God.’

10) 800 Light Horsemen

This is a quote from Col Stringer’s book The 800 Light Horseman.

Beersheba, meaning “well of the oath”, so named by Abraham in the book of Genesis. The well had provided water not only to Abraham, but to Moses and David. Any army approaching its life-giving wells has to march for days through the waterless Sinai desert. All the Turks had to do was hold off an attack for one day and the merciless desert sun would do the rest. Despite constant assaults by the combined forces of the British and Australian armies, the place could not be taken. Then came the fateful day of October 31 1917. The generals were desperate, 50,000 British infantry with tank support had been driven back into the desert. With the sun about to set and with no water for many miles, disaster stared them squarely in the face. The Australian Light Horse Commander Chauvel’s orders were to storm Beersheba, it had to be won before nightfall at all costs. The situation was becoming grave as they were in urgent need of 400,000 gallons of water for men and horses.

Chauvel concocted a crazy plan. Why not let his 800 horsemen charge the Turkish artillery? A cavalry charge across 6000 yards of open terrain straight into the face of the massed Turkish guns. It sounded like a recipe for disaster. No wonder the German Officer commanding the Turkish defences described the Aussie Light Horsemen as “madmen!” For a start the Light Horse were not cavalry, they were mounted infantry. They had no swords or lancers but were equipped with rifles and bayonets designed for infantry warfare. But left with virtually no alternative the desperate General gave the order for the last great cavalry charge in history! The 800 young men mounted their magnificent Walers (horses) and lined up to face the Turkish guns, their young faces bronzed and tanned from the desert sun, their emu plumes swaying in the breeze from their famous slouch hats, rifles swung across their backs and bayonets in hand. History was about to be written. These 800 young men were about to open the doorway to the liberation of Jerusalem!

The Light Horsemen charged magnificently across the dusty plains, so fast that the Turkish artillery could not keep pace with them and the “mad” horsemen were able to slip under their guns. As they leapt the trenches laced with machine gun bullets, a magnificent cheer went up from the British ranks, even some of the Turks stood and applauded, such was the magnificence of the feat. Although hopelessly outnumbered and outgunned they charged on. Beersheba – the gateway to Jerusalem, fell that day, not to the British, German or US Armies – but to the Australian Light Horsemen! End Quote

Ultimately this act of bravery paved the way for the birth of the modern day nation of Israel.

The charge, shown in a 1940’s movie.

11) Australian Money.

The text for this point was taken from the Website A Tribute to Influential Australian Christians https://atributetoaustralianchristians.wordpress.com/

George Taplin (1831 – 1879) missionary and teacher

By helping the Ngarrindjeri people become literate and numerate and to acquire trades Rev George Taplin enabled them to survive and flourish in European society. Today hundreds of their descendants remain in various districts of Australia; their durability can largely be attributed to Taplin. Two Christians he influenced included James Unaipon and his son David Unaipon – the man on our $50 note.

The church, which is located at Point McLeay, South Australia.  It is located on the corner of Seymour St and Unaipon St and is now honoured on the $50 note.

This is the actual church

David Unaipon – the inventor
David Unaipon was born in 1872, at Point McLeay on a South Australian Christian Mission, and trained to be an Aboriginal Christian Preacher. Soon he was acting as a spokesman for the Indigenous community and by the early 1900’s was famous. He won nationwide respect and his articles about Aboriginal Myths and Legends were published in newspapers and Christian magazines, a first for an Aborigine. In 1909 Unaipon invented an improved mechanical hand piece for shearing sheep by changing the motion of the blades from circular to straight. While he obtained a patent for his new shears he was never properly protected and it was others who gained financially from his invention. That didn’t stop Unaipon. Interested in aerodynamics he conducted experiments involving the flight of boomerangs and then predicted the invention of Helicopter flight. He was called Australia’s Leonardo and came up with ideas for a centrifugal motor and a multi-radial wheel idea.

The Reverend John Flynn was an Australian Presbyterian minister who founded the Royal Flying Doctor Service, the world’s first air ambulance. Flynn received an Order of the British Empire in 1933. He is featured on one side of the current Australian 20 dollar polymer note. “He brought gladness and rejoicing to the wilderness and solitary places”. He is now featured on the $20 note.

Mary Reibey, an orphan from Bury, Lancaster was convicted of stealing a horse at the age of thirteen and transported in 1792. She became a very successful business women, taking over her husband’s commercial and shipping activities. She was accepted as an emancipist in polite society, returned temporarily in triumph to Lancaster and died a pillar of the Church of England in Sydney in 1855. She is now featured on the $20 note

A faithful Christian, electronic tinkerer and scientific inventor, Hermann Alfred Traeger, gave the Outback, and the Royal Flying Doctor service, a way of fast contact via the innovative local sustainable technology of the Pedal-Powered Wireless which he invented. His invention is on the $20 note.

12) Captain Cook

The renowned English navigator and explorer Captain James Cook had been baptised in the Anglican parish church of Marton-in-Cleveland in north Yorkshire in 1728, but was a nominal Anglican only. Nevertheless, he was a moral man and never cursed or swore and would not permit profanity on board his ships.

Before he sailed, Cook’s wife Elizabeth gave him an Anglican prayer-book from which source he named a number of places on Australia’s coast after the days of the church year on which his ship reached them, such as the Whitsunday Passage and Islands, Trinity Bay and the Pentecost Islands.

13) Australia’s Constitution.

(From Wikipedia)

As one of the Constitution’s most distinguished co-authors, Sir John Downer, declared in 1898: “The Commonwealth of Australia will be, from its first stage, a Christian Commonwealth.”

The Constitution of Australia Bill was passed by the Imperial (British) Parliament on July 5, 1900. Queen Victoria assented four days later, and in September proclaimed that the Commonwealth of Australia would come into existence on the first day of the 20th century (January 1, 1901).

Like Sir John Downer, many of the other leading writers of the Constitution had strong views on the importance of Christianity to the Commonwealth. For example, Sir Henry Parkes, known as “the Father of Australia’s Federation”, believed that Christianity comprised an essential part of Australia’s common law.[3] In a column published in the Sydney Morning Herald(August 26, 1885), Sir Henry stated: “We are pre-eminently a Christian people — as our laws, our whole system of jurisprudence, our Constitution… are based upon and interwoven with our Christian belief.”

Similar views were found among the drafters of the Constitution Bill in 1897. Among these were Edmund Barton, who entered politics under the influence of his Presbyterian minister, and the leading federalist and statesman of his day, Alfred Deakin. On the day following the referendum concerning the draft of the Constitution, which was held in New South Wales, Victoria and Tasmania on June 3, 1898, Deakin humbly offered a prayer of thanksgiving for all the progress that had been made, asking for Christ’s blessing on the endeavour: “Thy blessing has rested upon us here yesterday and we pray that it may be the means of creating and fostering throughout all Australia a Christ-like citizenship.”

Here is the relevant statement in the Preamble to the Constitution.

Whereas the people of New South Wales, Victoria, South Australia, Queensland, and Tasmania, humbly relying on the blessing of Almighty God, have agreed to unite in one indissoluble Federal Commonwealth under the Crown of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, and under the Constitution hereby established:

14) Arthur Stace.

(Wikipedia)

For thirty-seven years, Arthur Stace wandered the streets of Sydney before dawn chalking an anonymous one-word sermon on the pavement. The word was ‘Eternity’ and he wrote it more than half a million times. It intrigued Sydneysiders who pondered its meaning whilst trying to identify its mysterious author.

Arthur Stace was born in a Balmain slum in 1884 to a family of alcoholics. Stace learned to fend for himself at an early age, sleeping on bags under the house to avoid his drunken parents, stealing food and assisting his sisters who ran brothels. By his 20s he was in and out of prison for housebreaking and other offences and had developed a heavy drinking habit. Left half-blind after a gas attack in WW1, he slipped further into poverty and such extreme alcoholism that he was in danger of becoming a permanent inmate of the mental asylum. No matter what he tried, he couldn’t give up the drink.

In 1930, hungry, hopeless and desperate, he stumbled into St Barnabas’ Church on Broadway where he had heard there was free food available to those who listened to the preaching. Struck by the Christians he met there, Stace got down on his knees and prayed.(on the night of August 6th, 1930 – see text below).  He gave up the drink and began to work.

Some months later, (probably a few years later on Sunday night November 14th 1942 – see text below) in a church in Darlinghurst, he heard the preacher shout, “I wish I could shout eternity through the streets of Sydney. Eternity, eternity, eternity.” Stace was powerfully struck by the words and said he felt a great call from the Lord to write the word Eternity. He had a piece of chalk in his pocket so he bent down and wrote it on the pavement. “The funny thing is I could hardly spell my own name. I had no schooling and couldn’t have spelt ‘Eternity” for a hundred quid. But it came out smoothly in beautiful copperplate script. I couldn’t understand it. I still can’t.”

Arthur Stace lived with his wife in Pyrmont. His daily routine was to wake up at 4:00am, pray for an hour then head to whichever suburb he thought God was directing him to, writing ‘Eternity’ every hundred yards or so. The message could be seen on walls and footpaths, prompting people to consider eternity itself. The police very nearly arrested him 24 times for defacing the pavement. “But I had permission from a higher source,” said Stace.

Stace regarded his unique style of evangelism as a serious mission given him by God. Throughout years of speculation in Sydney, he kept his identity quiet. However, he was finally identified by a churchman in 1956. Stace gave his first interview to the Sunday Telegraph in 1956.

Writing Eternity wasn’t all Arthur Stace did to help men and women come to know Jesus. On Saturday nights he led gospel meetings, with Open Air Campaigners, at the corner of Bathurst and George Streets – just across from the Cathedral. At first he did it from the gutter but in later years he had a van with electric lighting and an amplifier. Stace eventually became a member of St. Barnabas’ Broadway, where he had first heard the gospel in 1930.

Arthur Stace died at the age of 83 in 1967. Ten years later, a plaque was dedicated to him in Sydney. The message ‘Eternity’ was spread to billions of people during the millennium festivals of 2000 as the word was written in fireworks above the Harbour Bridge.

There were many more examples I could have used. I thank God for our Christian Heritage and the Judeo Christian foundations of our nation that are still very much a part of Australian culture.

I encourage you to share this blog on Social Media.

Peter Pilt

Categories: Australian, Nowra City Church, Sermon Notes, Theology

Tags: Arthus Stace, Australia's Christian Heritage, Captain Cook, Christian basis for Australia, Christianity and Money, God on our Money, In God we Trust, Judeo Christian ethic, Peter Costello on the Christian Foundations of Australia., Peter Pilt on Australia, Peter Pilt preaches on Australian Culture, Union Jack, Where is God in Australian Culture