Cyclone Yasi Blows in for Danny Boy.

A week can not go by without our Pastor Dan Nalliah shooting his mouth off about about the perils of an atheist prime minister in these turbulent time when we all need to embrace the great fairy in the sky. Ms Gillard it seems has not made reference to "our prayers are with the victims" etc. Danny boy in fact praises secular hypocrites who have paid verbal homage to the great fairy. The context is a giant cyclone off the coast of North Queensland.

“However, for the past several weeks, right through the flood crisis across Australia, I have not heard our Prime Minister call the people of Australia to pray and ask God for protection and for help for the tens of thousands of people who have become victims of this major disaster,” he said.

“Even the secular media personalities stated several times, ‘Our prayers and thoughts are with you’, but did we hear our PM make any such statements at all or did I just miss out on it?”

And guess what? God apparently answered John Howard's prayers to end the drought.

Dr Nalliah said, conversely under the Howard Government when Australia was going through a major drought crisis, he recalled how Mr Howard called on the nation to pray for rain in 2007, then followed a National Prayer Gathering in Federal Parliament on 22 October 2007. Within 24 hours the rains started pouring down in many parts of Australia.

How fortunate for God that wickedness only needs to be punished in a la nina year. How ironic for Pastor Dan to talk of democracy when he is looking forward to an absolute dictatorship in the afterlife. Can we look forward to the good pastor also embracing free speech by allowing dissenting voices in his blog. I thought not.

It is hard to imagine the anyone imagining themselves to be SO IMPORTANT that the infinite god cares to send a cyclone their if they offend them. Such arrogance.

Pastor Dan is also savage on Bob Brown, the openly gay leader of the Greens (which is to say he's not a hypocrite) and calls Bob effectively the deputy PM.

The most interesting aspect is the praise of hypocrites. Those secular figures who said "‘Our prayers and thoughts are with you", whether they are believers or not. This is a sticking point for Danny boy. However much Danny likes to quote the bible and this time he quotes 2 Chron 7:14 he neglects to notice other parts of the bible he is in conflict with. In the case of the blog entry being critiqued he forgets about Matt 6:5. taken from the KJV.

And when thou prayest, thou shall not be as the hypocrites are: for they love to pray standing in the synagogues and in the corners of the streets, that they may be seen by men. Verily I say unto you, They have their reward.

It's just as well for Pastor Dan and all the other pastors that most Christians can not be bothered to read the bible. The power of the pastor few depends on the ignorance of the Congregational many.

On the issue of hypocrisy Danny boy throws a bone to faith diversity.

...irrespective of whether they were Christian, Buddhist, Hindu or Muslim and asked for help or at least called the nation to pray for protection and for the victims of the disaster,” Dr Nalliah said.

I suspect that such tolerance has its limits, especially considering the court case cases concerning Danny and his church ignoramus. Again actions speak louder than words, especially words of prayer. Danny, like the hypocrites of Jesus times, is fond of saying a prayer of tolerance and diversity for public consumption.

Prayer does not help with natural disasters. Some of the worse natural disasters have occurred in areas of the world which are the most devout. In these areas emergency response has also been the least sufficient. We have a better record of preparing and responding to natural disasters in Australia with far lower death tolls and in a country which is far from devout as say the Philippines or Haiti. No, survival belongs to the prepared and the proactive; not to the devout. Prayer has never saved anyone's life. In the event of a cyclone bringing inside potential missile objects, taping up windows, filling up containers with drinking water, evacuating if need be has saved more lives than any chant to any fairy.

What is needed from a prime minister or premier in response to a cyclone like Yasi is not inane chanting but air force resources, provision of evacuation centres, medical supplies and personnel, and all manner of other emergency personnel.

The like of the Catch The Fire Ministries seek to profit from natural disasters in the same way that Christopher Columbus profited from a solar eclipse, pretending to be an agent, or in contact with the agent, of the natural event and manipulating others to their designs.

Here's a hint Danny boy. Floods and cyclones are called natural disasters. Not supernatural disasters.

Catch The Fire Kiss In at Springvale

Oh those so superior souls of the king of kings had a get together at the Springvale Town Hall as 750 mostly theologically illiterate holders of the after life insurance policies and passport holders to that absolute monarchy in the sky came to be stupid in company. One stupid person by himself is a small comedy but 750 is a tragic comedy of cosmic proportions. The whole of so much collective stupidity is greater than the sum of the individual parts thereof. From the good CTFM page:-

"In Melbourne, around 750 Christians united as the Body of Christ at the Springvale Town Hall to corporately worship, pray and sing praises to the King of Kings and Lord of Lords on behalf of our nation of Australia."

Hardly a ringing endorsement of democracy in the hereafter. No what these sheep want in the afterlife, what they are singing their praises to, what they will do anything to have a piece of is a heavenly recreation of Augusto Pinochet's Chile. No one needs to be reminded of the Lords Prayer "on earth as in heaven". Yes very much the political agenda of fundamentalists of all colours. I say bully to kings and lords on earth or off the planet.

But they were not alone. Also present was a protest against these prophets of hate. Their stated purpose;

"On Australia Day as Pastor Danny Nalliah and his 'Catch the Fire Ministries' congregate and spread their hateful bigoted views along side other denominations; we will be making a stand not just as Atheists, but also as advocates of reason, compassion and common sense."

We learn that this prayer meeting went for 3/12 hours. My! Not quiet as egotistical a performance as Jimmy Jones of Jones Town. yet another Lord of the theologically stupid. We remember that nut was also a germicidal nut at the centre of a murder/suicide episode taking the lives of 900 people. This is an example of what is possible with the teamwork of of so many like sheep minded. I have noticed that manic motivational success hawkers sound a lot like manic evangelical hawkers and that manic evangelical hawkers sound a lot like manic motivational success hawkers. Amway and Billy Graham make good bed fellows.

Among those addressing the flock was Rev Donnie Swaggart, the son Jimmy Saggart, that hypocrite who gave such a brilliant performance of repentance on TV after doing exactly what he had accused others of doing. Donnie boy was preaching about Ahab and Jezebel. No one really knows the crimes of Jezebel but poor old Donnie's father had consorted with worse women than her. Still no reason not to preach from a glass house. Perhaps like Jesus little Donnie had come to save the women of Australia from the his father.

The main crime of Jezebel seems to have been that she just didn't have a lot of respect for YHWH. Having read the bible (something most Christians don't do) I can see why. Her end came when she was thrown out of an upstairs window. Her body was then run over backwards and forwards by a chariot. A typical loving example of a bible story.

If you missed this terribly exciting event you can order the DVD of the event by emailing angelene@catchthefire.com.au or calling (03) 9794 8211 to order the Australia Day DVD. I must confess I personally missed this event. Or a piece from youtube.

Personally I was too busy watching grass grow to watch fully grown adults speak in tongues and sprout messages of hate in the name of Christ.

The Flood of Absurdities Continues

Our glorious Pastor Dan just can't help himself from seeing biblical implications in floods of biblical proportions in Queensland. In his post Floods in Australia- Is it God, the devil, or a natural disaster? By Pr Daniel he comes to a ludicrous apology of why a loving father (the god) is not responsible for disasters occurring to recalcitrant children who do not want honour and obey the instructions of their loving father (who just happens to drown the whole world).

Hold on to your hats for this little non sequitur.

“If my daughter or son tell me that they are leaving home because they don’t like all the rules and regulations, but I tell them that the rules and regulations are because we love them and want to protect them from getting into trouble. But if they still choose to go and I hear that they got into some trouble, would it be fair for them to blame me??”

Wow Pastor Dan to imagine that the less than omnipotent human father actually makes trouble for his recalcitrant children for which he's not responsible. Pity the non human animals who also suffered because some 2 legged creature didn't care to get down on his knees to kiss deistic arse.

The "devil will definitely destroy us as the Word of God also says in John 10:10" he goes on to say. This is pure anthropocentrism, egotism and narcissism on behalf of the good pastor and his oh so very important flock. The good pastor then tells us the story of Job when God had a little bet with him. The omniscient deity should really choose his poker mates with more care I think. The story of Job is well known of course but our illustrious pastor misses the point of the story of Job as he misses almost all of the bible. In Job, the man Job asks some of the best questions ever asked and God comes up with some of the dumbest answers of all times. In summary the reason why Job suffered so was because God can produce this and produce that and do this and do that which we are to believe cancels out any and all moral questions.

The post by Pastor Dan where he dumps everything into the lap of the all time bad guy Satan Danny forgets nicely and conveniently that the bible can be used to

1. prove that Satan is a son of God and
2. that Satan and God and the same entity.
   

It's just as well for Dan the pastor that most really committed Christian do not care to think really hard or even to read the bible. Wow in taking out a contract for after-life insurance you would that consumers would read the fine print. You wouldn't trust the word of a used car salesman, why would you trust the word of a self appointed pastor of a god? Let's face it some of them have been pretty scary.

Satan is called a son of God in Job 1:6 up front. In 2 Samuel 24:1 God orders Daid to do a census of Israel. This for the purpose of punishing David. What a twisted tyrant is this god. In 1 Chronicles 21:1 Satan makes David take a census. There is one, way and only one way, for neither to contradict each other. This isn't very hard or complex logic but is beyond that which most followers of Pastor Dan would bother. That is if Satan and God are the same entity. That of course contradicts Job 1:6 where Satan is a son of God. God must be his own son who impregnated his own mother to produce the only begotten son (except for those mentioned in Genesis 6 and of course in Job.

Maybe God can only blame his MPD self after all. Or maybe the whole thing is just a croc. Shock! Horror!

Guess who's coming to town.

We seen the father tearfully break down in what can only be described as an academy performance on TV. The father being Jimmy Swaggart. Now just like in a bible story the son is coming to save us all. Glory hallelujah it's Donnie Swaggart. Yes the CTFM is keenly awaiting the arrival in Melbourne of the son. Read all about it.

To refresh memories of events in the distant past concerning the father, he who consorted in less than holy ways, we can click on the wikipedia article.

Catch The Fire Ministries are quiet proud of the pedigree of Donnie the younger. In this post CTFM straight out front proclaim Donnie the son of Jimmy. Either CTFM have amnesia (a useful adaptation for holy rollers) or an incredibly low IQ. Once again something we find in the fundy mob. Yes indeed these are the people who put the 'fun' into fundamentalism.

From the 27th to the 30th January Donnie will be doing the rreturning Messiah bit with hallelujahs and glory be god theatre here in Melbourne Australia.

We just can not wait. And we wait for the years ahead to see if young Donnie can match his father in the high drama and low comedy department human failings. He's got the genes. He shall see.

Resurrections in Brazil

Yes the good folk at Catch the Fire Ministries have done it again. They're just full of miracles. Australia has not been the only place experiencing floods. Brazil has had its floods and the CTFM will have us believe that 16 victims have resurrected. In this post it's only mentioned in brief passing but what can you expect. These are Latin Americans, not as important as us anglo-white folk so they deserve a shorter blip on God's radar screen. Instead they leave a link from one group of nutjobs to another wacky group of nutjobs. At least the Latin American site has a modicum more of scientific technique than the Australian nutjobs.

Pray for Swan Hill - BTW we need $1.2 milion SVP.

Yes the floods in Victoria have attracted the attention of the Catch The Fire Ministries like flies to stinking dung looking for opportunities for beastly propagation. In this post the glorious Pastor Dan issues an urgent call for lots of people to matter a lot of words. The omnipresent, omniscient, omnipotent god who apparently can save the situation at a blink and has known about this upcoming flood since the beginning of time will be impressed by enough people chanting and prostrating themselves. Not to wory our heroic Pastor Dan is on the case. "Once again would you please prayerfully petition Heaven’s throne room and ask the Lord to stop the river from reaching its peak as predicted." Yes it apparently worked to halt the Brisbane flood from reaching its predicted peak so what was good for the Brisbane River must also be good for the River Murray.

This supposes that the wide margin of error with even modern day forecasting and the inexact nature of the science is not a simpler and easier explanation for the Brisbane flood not acheiving its predicted peak. The good pastor uses the fallibility of human knowledge about the natural environment as evidence of a god at work. No Ockam's Rzaor for Pastor Dan and the good people at the Catch The Fire Ministries. No chance at good analysis of observed events to verify or falsify a god hypothesis. If a god can be made to be understandable then it was God. If not then we can still see the hand of God, no matter what is observed.

Under the entry for unfalsifiable in the dictionary there should be a mention of CTFM as an ongoing example.












Other items in his post is a prayer for Australia Day. Patriotism and religiosity seem to fit neatly together. And yes they are close to settling the purchase of a property for $580,000 secured with a loan for $280,000 for their big church. The CTFM will need $1.2 million to finish the project. Hint hint. Cough up. We need your money, lots of it. God apparently doesn't come cheap.

If you want to cough up to help realise the vision for a god with what seem like Champaign tastes you can click here and give give give to the omnipotent god who should in theory not need anything from anyone.

Intro - Why this blog?

The purpose of this blog is to be a dedicated vehicle for comment and observation of the Catch The Fire Ministries site. Check it out. It's a scream. Tragic and comical at the same time.

I am an atheist and a long time poster to the newwsgroup alt.atheism under the handle of Meteorite Debris. I have become increasingly disturbed by the rising influence of the religious right in social policy formation. It is high time that the secular foundations of Australia were energetically and passionately defended.






Unlike Daniel Nalliah of the CTFM I will not be censoring comments critical of this blog. One thing we should remember about about the kingdom of God as awaited by Daniel and his eke is the 'kingdom' part, an absolute monarchy come dictatorship. One reason I wouldn't want to go there even if it existed. Omniscience means nothing has be be decided democratically. What's the point? Everything is known and anyone who disagrees with Pastor Daniel is obviously a minion of the devil.

While my comments would not be welcomed on Pastor Dan's site they will be posted here. BTW Dan you're perfectly welcome to post here because I do not live in an absolute monarchy nor do I look forward to migrating to any such place in my after-life. Can you imagine migrating to a country where the national emblem is a man being tortured to death on a crucifix?


So who are the Catch The Fire Ministries? On his bio and vision page we have this.

The Initial Vision - RISE UP OR PAY THE PRICE!

“Dear Family in Christ,

On April 9, 2000 at 5:00am while in Ethiopia the Lord Jesus Christ woke me from sleep and spoke about Australia. He very clearly told me, “Son, if my people will rise up and be proactive, they will stop the disaster which is coming on the land. But if my people sit back, relax and be reactive they will pay a heavy price to take back their land spiritually.” He then spoke to me through (The Bible) 2 Chr. 7:14 and said, “Gather my people across the land together and tell them to humble themselves, repent, pray and seek my face in one accord, then I will heal their land.” This was the start of RISE UP AUSTRALIA prayer meetings.

You get the picture. God will bring disaster upon us all but he desperately tugs at Pastor Dan to get enough people to plead with him to stop what he has the power to stop by himself. Either the god has MPD or is into some weird psychological game playing.

Pastor Dan likes to get his hand in practising every logical fallacy possible. Take for example his post Prayers answered - Brisbane river did not reach its expected peak. The infamous Brisbane flood did not reach the expected peak of 5.5 metres. Pastor Dan tells us God had answered his prayers. If the peak had exceeded the expected peak Pastor Dan would've told us that God was showing his displeasure. Here Pastor Dan shows us what is meant by unfalsifiable. In an earlier post. Are the QLD floods the result of Kevin Rudd speaking against Israel?, Pastor Dan explained that the comments by Kevin Rudd on Israel had caused the floods.

To buy into the matterings of Pastor Dan one has to put away their brain and latch onto whichever logical fallacy Pastor Dan has used to rarify his imaginary revelations from an imagined god.