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It has taken a month, but Australia’s election results were finalized today. Here are reports from the German and Japanese press:

4 August 2016

Australia’s far-right makes real gains

The nativist One Nation party has gained seats in Australia’s Senate. Its four newly elected senators will give the rightist fringe party of Pauline Hanson unprecedented influence in the closely divided upper house.

The Australian Electoral Commission finalized the outcome of the July 2 national election on Thursday, showing a closely divided Senate with the openly anti-Islam One National party likely to emerge as a crucial tie breaker.

That’s because Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull’s conservative coalition saw its Senate numbers shrink from 33 to 30 in the 76-seat upper chamber. The opposition center-left Labor Party has 26 senators and the Greens party has nine senators.

Turnbull will need the support of at least nine of the remaining 11 senators to pass any laws and will likely look to One Nation’s controversial leader Pauline Hanson for support in pushing his agenda, which already includes the total rejection of asylum-seekers arriving by boat.

Her unexpectedly influential position after an indecisive election – Hanson and a small handful of others will likely form a bloc whose vote would determine the passage or rejection of legislation – mean that mainstream politicians ignore her at their peril.

Fear of attack fuels the far-right

Regular discussions about the danger posed by violent Islamists has entered Australia’s mainstream, helping to fuel the far-right. …

Some of Hanson’s policies mirror US presidential hopeful Donald Trump’s, including a halt on Muslim immigration. The 62-year-old from Brisbane, who left school at 15, also says mosques and schools should be under mandatory video surveillance and favors banning the wearing of women’s burqa and niqab veils in public.

Brian Burston, who represents One Nation in New South Wales, Australia’s most populous state, said that a moratorium on Muslim immigration was needed to alleviate community fear. …

Race relations in Australia remain tense and there are fears that the openly xenophobic policies of One Nation could incite violence on the street.

In another parallel with Trump, the One Nation leader’s public appearances have attracted protesters and supporters in numbers rarely seen in Australian politics. http://www.dw.com/en/australias-far-right-makes-real-gains/a-19447851

Australia’s fractious Senate finalized a month after election

August 4, 2016

Turnbull formed the government after his coalition won a majority of just one seat in the House of Representatives, where the majority party forms the government, but its Senate minority status means it will need support to pass any laws.

The opposition center-left Labor Party has 26 senators and the Greens party has nine senators, which means Turnbull will need the support of at least nine of the remaining 11 senators to pass any laws.

But that includes Pauline Hanson’s One Nation party, which has four senators. The party has called for trade protection and opposes Muslim immigration, while Turnbull has ruled out any deals that would compromise Australia’s nondiscriminatory immigration policy.

On Thursday, One Nation Senator Malcolm Roberts told news conference that the country’s anti-racial discrimination laws should be changed because he said they limited free speech.

“When we have free speech curbed, we don’t talk about the real issues — tax, Islam, terrorism, the economy,” Roberts said. http://www.japantoday.com/category/world/view/australias-fractious-senate-finalized-a-month-after-election

Expect civil unrest and violence in Australia. Expect civil unrest and violence in the USA after its November 8, 2016 election.

So, it is not just the USA and UK that have had strange political situations in 2016. If Prime Minister Turnbull has to work much with Pauline Hanson and Malcolm Roberts, this may prove problematic.

Interestingly, the word “Australia” seems to signify south or southern land:

The name Australia derives from Latin australis meaning southern, and dates back to 2nd century legends of an “unknown southern land” (that is terra australis incognita). The explorer Matthew Flinders named the land Terra Australis, which was later abbreviated to the current form. http://www.sheppardsoftware.com/Oceaniaweb/factfile/Unique-facts-Oceania2.htm CCESSED 08/04/16

This is interesting, because speaking of southern lands, perhaps like Australia and New Zealand, notice a prophecy in Isaiah 49:12:

12 Surely these shall come from afar; Look! Those from the north and the west, And these from the land of Sinim. (Isaiah 49:12, NKJV)

ecce isti de longe venient et ecce illi ab aquilone et mari et isti de terra australi (Isaiah 49:12; Jerome translation: Latin Vulgate Bible)

Some have speculated that the lands from afar, specifically Sinim (NKJV)/isti de terra australi (Latin Vulgate) could be referring to certain modern lands in the South Pacific.

For example, Wikipedia (accessed 03/14/12) has stated:

Australia…the name Australia is derived from the Latin australis, meaning “southern”. The country has been referred to colloquially as Oz since the early 20th century…

Legends of Terra Australis Incognita—an “unknown land of the South”—date back to Roman times and were commonplace in medieval geography, although not based on any documented knowledge of the continent. Following European discovery, names for the Australian landmass were often references to the famed Terra Australis.

The earliest recorded use of the word Australia in English was in 1625 in “A note of Australia del Espíritu Santo, written by Sir Richard Hakluyt”, published by Samuel Purchas in Hakluytus Posthumus, a corruption of the original Spanish name “Tierra Austral del Espíritu Santo” (Southern Land of the Holy Spirit) for an island in Vanuatu. The Dutch adjectival form Australische was used in a Dutch book in Batavia (Jakarta) in 1638, to refer to the newly discovered lands to the south. Australia was later used in a 1693 translation of Les Aventures de Jacques Sadeur dans la Découverte et le Voyage de la Terre Australe, a 1676 French novel by Gabriel de Foigny, under the pen-name Jacques Sadeur. Referring to the entire South Pacific region, Alexander Dalrymple used it in An Historical Collection of Voyages and Discoveries in the South Pacific Ocean in 1771.

Notice something that the late Herbert W. Armstrong taught about what this passage of scripture in Isaiah 49:12 may be referring to:

Referring to the house of ISRAEL, not Judah (Isaiah 49:3,6), God says: “Behold, these shall come from far: and, lo, these from the NORTH and from the WEST; and these from the land of Sinim” (Isa. 49:12). In the Hebrew, the language in which this was originally inspired, there is no word for “northwest,” but this term is designated by the phrase, “the north and the west.” It means, literally, the northwest! The Vulgate renders “Sinim” as “Australi,” or “Australia.” So we now have the location northwest of Jerusalem and even spreading around the world. (Armstrong HW. THE UNITED STATES AND BRITAIN IN PROPHECY, 1954, 1967, 1972, 1975, 1980 edition)

Notice some comments on Isaiah 49:12 about Sinim:

Isaiah 49:12
Meaning, the south country, so that Christ will deliver his from all the parts of the world. (Geneva Notes, PC Study Bible formatted electronic database Copyright © 2003, 2005, 2006 Biblesoft, Inc. All rights reserved.)

Isaiah 49:12

Behold, these shall come from far … and these from the land of Sinim. The Arabians and other Asiatics called China Sin, or Tchin: the Chinese had no special name for themselves, but either adopted that of the reigning dynasty or some high-sounding titles. This view of “Sinim” suits the context, which requires a people to be meant “from far,” and distinct, from those “from the north and from the west” (Gesenius). (Jamieson, Fausset, and Brown Commentary, Electronic Database. Copyright © 1997, 2003, 2005, 2006 by Biblesoft, Inc. All rights reserved.)

Sinim

a people noticed in (Isaiah 49:12) as living at the extremity of the known world. They may be identified with the classical Sinoe, the inhabitants of the southern part of China. (Smith’s Bible Dictionary)

Isaiah 49:12…

From the land of Sinim – There have been many different opinions in regard to the ‘land of Sinim.’ The name ‘Sinim’ (סינים siyniym) occurs nowhere else in the Bible, and of course it is not easy to determine what country is meant. It is evident that it is some remote country, and it is remarkable that it is the only land specified here by name. Some, it is said, should come from far, some from the north, others from the west, and another portion from the country here specifically mentioned. Jerome understands it of the south in general – Isti de terra Australi…The Chaldee also interprets it as Jerome has done, of the south. The Syriac has not translated it, but retained the name Sinim…Grotius supposes that it means the region of Sinim to the south of Palestine, and Vitringa also coincides with this opinion…

Gesenius supposes that it refers to the Chinese, and that the country here referred to is Sina or China. ‘This very ancient and celebrated people,’ says he, ‘was known to the Arabians and Syrians by the name Sin, Tein, Tshini; and a Hebrew writer might well have heard of them, especially if sojourning in Babylon, the metropolis as it were of all Asia. This name appears to have been given to the Chinese by the other Asiatics; for the Chinese themselves do not employ it, and seem indeed to be destitute of any ancient domestic name, either adopting the names of the reigning dynasties, or ostentatiously assuming high-sounding titles, as “people of the empire in the center of the world.” (Notes on the Bible by Albert Barnes [1834]. viewed 03/13/12)

The above is interesting and perhaps Isaiah 49:12 hints that Australia/New Zealand, which are lands of the southern hemisphere and past China (from the perspective of Jerusalem), could have possibly been identified so long ago. This is not necessarily specific identification of the lands now known as Australia and New Zealand but it seems possible. From a Jerusalem perspective, Australia and New Zealand are far off lands and in the south east (and north and west were referring somewhere else–possibly the UK and USA respectively).

It may be of historical interest to realize that the Church of God has long taught that Australia faced threats from Asia, and in particular mainland China. Notice something published by the old Radio Church of God in 1963:

Simply because of her geographical situation, Australia is a land of opportunity. Yes, OPPORTUNITY- opportunity for the teeming masses of Asia! …

lndonesia is only ONE of Australia’s worries!

Still further to the north lies the sprawling mainland of Red China. Standing on the Baok of China, like a sentinel on the alert, is the booming, highly industrialized nation of Japan with its progressive millions!

Australia is in trouble-and doesn’t know it! (Armstrong GT. Australia’s Deadly Peril! Plain Truth, February 1963, p. 9)

What if Britain Enters the Common Market? …

Faced with this potential effecr of the Common Market-Australia has been FORCED to look hopefully toward ASIA for new and expanded outlets for its produce! …

Australia, like all of Israel, is headed toward captivity! …

Just as ancient Israel made the mistake of seeking to the Gentile nations for her protection, making pacts and treaties, instead of trusting in God-so is modern-day Israel guilty of the same sin! Australia at the present time is linked with Gentile nations as a member of SEATO, the Southeast Asian Treaty Organization. She like other nations of Israel, is looking to Gentile nations for protection from her potential enemies.

This practice God condemns. …

While the United States and Great Britain are faced with the prophesied revival of the “beast,” a union of ten powerful nations in Europe, forming the rebuilding of the ancient Roman Empire, Australia may well be taken over by an entirely different enemy! Australia, trying to populate and industrialize to stave off Communism, may become the SLAVES OF COMMUNISTS! And -make no mistake about it-aggression is actually BEING PLANNED against Australia! (Armstrong GT. Australia’s Deadly Peril! Plain Truth, February 1963, pp. 42-44)

Well, Britain did enter the old Common Market and as the 1963 article indicated, Australia has become more and more dependent upon Asian markets. Furthermore, as the 1963 article suggested, Australia is becoming vulnerable for captivity from China.

Back in 2009, I wrote that it looked like China could possibly end up with the land of Australia and Japan with that of New Zealand.  When I wrote that, I was unaware that the old Radio Church of God had written something similar (the first time I saw that 1963 article was July 14, 2016).

Anyway, I expect problems in Australia and its eventual loss of sovereignty. I also expect New Zealand to lose its sovereignty.  Though it is likely that the USA and UK will lose theirs first (Canada too, will lose its sovereignty).

Some biblical and Chinese prophecies that could point to Australia and New Zealand are in the article Will the Anglo-Saxon Nations be Divided and Have People Taken as Slaves?

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This entry was posted on Thursday, August 4th, 2016 at 6:00 am and is filed under Prophecy.

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