As always with these newsy posts, anything I’ve added is in the bluey/greeny/turquoisey colour…

KEVIN Rudd (Australian Prime Minister) and Malcolm Turnbull (Leader of the Opposition) have offered an historic apology to “forgotten Australians” and former child migrants who suffered abuse, exploitation and neglect in institutions and foster homes.  There were emotional scenes in Parliament House’s Great Hall as the Prime Minister said sorry to those children whose childhoods were snatched away, as some survivors sobbed while others stood and cheered. A few angrily demanded compensation.

The event was the second landmark apology by Mr Rudd, who in February last year said sorry to the Aboriginal Stolen Generations. Andrew Murray, a former Australian Democrats senator who was instrumental in establishing the first of several Senate inquiries into church and state-sanctioned abuse, demanded the government establish a reparations fund. He said helping survivors of childhood abuse was a matter of reparations.

“When you look worldwide, harsh things have happened to people, whether it’s the Jews in Germany or indigenous people in America – it is reparations that is the word used,” he told reporters in Canberra on Monday. “Compensation is just one part of that.”

In delivering the apology, Mr Rudd apologised for an “ugly chapter” in the nation’s history: “Sorry that as children you were taken from your families and placed in institutions where so often you were abused . . . Sorry for the tragedy, the absolute tragedy, of childhoods lost. “We look back with shame that many of these little ones who were entrusted to institutions and foster homes instead were abused physically, humiliated cruelly, violated sexually. And we look back with shame at how those with power were allowed to abuse those who had none.”

The Opposition Leader was choked with emotion as he recounted stories of small children separated from their siblings and abused. “You were failed by the system of care,” Mr Turnbull said. “For far too long, your stories were not believed when they should have been, and for that too we apologise, and we are sorry.” He urged Australians to speak out if they suspected children were being abused today.

Mr Rudd promised priority aged care services and support for those Forgotten Children, frightened to return to institutions. The government will fund a national database to help people find siblings and relatives they have lost, support projects with the National Library and Museum to ensure their experiences are not forgotten, and provide money to advocacy groups. About 500,000 children were placed in institutions and foster homes between 1920 and the 1970s. In addition, about 7000 British children were sent to Australia and institutionalised.

Source: Compiled by APN from media reports

APN Editors note:  Ten years ago the British Prayer Movement, at the invitation of the Australian Prayer Network, sent a team of around 50 leaders and Intercessors to Australia to apologise for the sins of their nation in the foundation years of European settlement, in what became known as British/Australian reconciliation.  I was privileged to be part of some of these early reconciliation meetings in my hometown of Moree, a town known for its past racial problems and now a centre for the ongoing reconciliation work between Aboriginal & white Australia

In particular they apologised for the massacre and ill treatment of the Indigenous People of our nation by those who came in the name of Britain to the shores of this great land, and also to the many thousands of child migrants who were sent here by the British Government without their parents knowledge or permission, to empty crowded orphanages in Britain.

Whilst the issue was dealt with on a spiritual basis ten years ago it has only been in the past two years that the natural outworking of that intercession has been seen. The apologies given by the Federal Government to our Indigenous Australians last year and the apology given on Monday to the forgotten and abused Australians, including the child migrants sent here by Britain, complete in the natural what was begun in the spiritual 10 years ago.  

We praise God for these apologies which will have far reaching consequences in both the spiritual and natural realms, not to mention in the lives of those people directly impacted by the events for which the apologies were given. The apologies go a long way in helping to heal some of the “wounds of our childhood” as a nation, which were spoken of prophetically at the time of the British visit as being on the heart of God in convicting both the British and Australian prayer movements to journey down the path of repentance and forgiveness relative to these areas of our nation’s life.    

Posted via web from Preposterousness

Continuing from my post after the first session of Bill’s conference, and some tweets about it being the most amazing 24 hours of my life, here’s my attempt to put into words what this weekend meant to me :

* I’ve often come back from conferences ‘hyped’ and ready to do stuff.  Once the hype wears off, so does the desire to do stuff.  There was no hype here.  In fact, almost the opposite.  DaySpring Church are probably one of the most old-school-yet-modern pentecostal churches in Sydney and flowing in extended free-worship, prophecy, healing, etc is normal for them, which is undoubtedly one of the reasons why Bill has taken on apostolic leadership for the church.  Both Diane and I have come away from the weekend feeling a shift in our mindsets, a shift in our spirits, and completely unhyped.  Just ready to move deeper into the mysteries of our wonderful God.  Everyone else who has been there this weekend is feeling the same.

* If you’re not familiar, do some research on Bill and Beni Johnson (his wife) and their home church Bethel in Redding, CA.  Their ministry has seen people raised from the dead, creative healings, countless other miracles, and all without any of the flashiness that can sometimes be part of these ministries. They are real people.  They both had people in the conference congregation praying for them, laying on hands, etc.

* David Crabtree, the pastor of DaySpring, gave a snippet of his awesome teaching series on grace.  In short, grace doesn’t just mean “unmerited favour” like so many of us think.  Try some word substitution with some key verses and you’ll soon see that “empowered presence” is really what God is getting at.

* By far the majority of the sessions were designed to help us walk in authority when we pray, especially for healing or recreative needs.  We weren’t just receiving, we were doing.  Practical workshops in any other context always leave me feeling “ugh”, but this was so beautiful, natural and real that I soon realised this is how I need to live my whole life.  One thing Bill said that really resonated with me was about why some are healed and some aren’t, etc, etc.  This is not a direct quote, not even close, but I’m going to put it on here as a quote…for effect, ya know.

Jesus came to earth, fully God and fuly human, yet stripped himself of His divinity in order to live as humans except that He was completely without sin.  He was therefore totally reliant on the power of the Holy Spirit to “do” all the things He did (and remember, if all of that was written down, there would not be enough room in the entire planet to house it).  When Jesus died for us, we too became blameless, sinless.  He then sent the Holy Spirit to live in and with us.  So from the day of pentecost onwards, we have had exactly the same “tools” at our disposal as Jesus did.  The only thing which prevents us from being as effective in our lives as Jesus was is our self-imposed separation from the fullness of the Holy Spirit.  In other words, our free-will.  We have all we need, we just don’t use it, or even realise it.  The reason some are healed and some aren’t is that I’m not aware of everything that is going on, I’m not in that place of total submission to the Holy Spirit.

And that was from just one minute of the hours of gold this ministry team brought.  The way he explained this made so much sense.  If I haven’t made sense, and you wanna know more, leave a comment and I’ll try to elaborate or simplify.

That’s all I can process for now.  I do plan on doing another post with some more of the thoughts from our notes (actually, Diane is likely gathering some thoughts for that post – a guest post from my wife!), but we eventually stopped taking notes as we’ve ordered the CDs.  There is just too much to take in all at once.  I take comfort in knowing that I’m not the only one who thinks this way too, others who’ve heard Bill speak before didn’t even start taking notes and just ordered the CDs before the conference even began…they were ahead of the game.