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I learned to read very quickly, and that was my main strength in school. I was good at maths, but excellent at reading. I remember in year 1 or 2 one time when the class had to read a book, I was finished very quickly before the rest of the class, and I
think it was Sr Frances taking the class a the time who told me to read it again, and I did so very quickly, a lot of the class still reading. I had free time for a little while and thought about stuff. I remember getting in trouble once and being told
to go down to stay with the kindies. But I was too embarrassed, so hid behind the kindies class, and looked under the school at the stuff they kept there. Later on I went to the section were the toilets were. I got caught out the next
school day and told
Sr Susan I was were the toilets were, not telling her I was at the other part of the school. Another lie. But I didn’t get into too much trouble. I remember sporting carnivals. I never got any places, ever, at any sporting carnival. I don’t think I
ever came last, but I was always down near the bottom. Once I got a fifth place, just missing out on a forth and a white ribbon. I was no good at sports to start off with. But, later on, when I was with my friends from the public school (the gang I got
into) we played a season of Indoor Cricket in the B Grade competition, and we actually won it. There were only 4 or 5 teams, but we still came first, and I got invited to play that day in the A Grade final, which I did. We lost, but I always remember we
could have won. The problem was we thought the ‘Hot’n’Tots’ were invincible, and we lacked confidence, but they played poorly in that final. We lost, but we might have won with the right motivations. But I still got a trophy for wining in the B
Grade final with my team, and that was about the only sporting triumph I have achieved in serious competition. Although I was on the winning team for the UPC
Oldies vs Youngies cricket competition for both the first 2 years, once on the oldies and once
on the youngies. I think I was the only person who could claim I was on the winning side for both years. One of those years I made a ’50 Not Out’ and matched Jonathon Downs effort (the Pastor John Downs’ son). It was a mandatory retirement at 50.
Of course, Jonathon was a much better batter than myself, and had all the shots. But my innings started slowly, and worked up gradually. And towards the end I started hitting ‘4s’. I guess I go slow to start with but gradually build up strength.
Either way I was pretty happy to match Jonathon’s score. The gang I joined was a Cooma game arcade group of kids. I started going there to play games at about 14 or 15 and Damien Asanovsci and Peter Dradrach befriended me. I had never really had
friends, but they seemed to care. And those few years were some of the best years of my life. Peter and Damien, alongside Michael Werle and Michael Gratwick and Keith Willis and Mark Post were the gang, and we listened to Heavy
Metal and played Indoor
cricket. The bands we listened to were ‘Metallica’ and ‘Iron Maiden’ and ‘Motley Crue’ and ‘Def Leppard’ & ‘Megadeth’ mainly, as well as
‘Helloween’. I liked Bon Jovi because Damien had given me a copied tape of ‘Slippery When
Wet’. It was the first major album I had listened to, apart from a ‘Black Funk’ tape from probably Boney M or someone similar, and a few kids tapes. I thought the album was incredibly cool and became the biggest Bon Jovi fan in Cooma most likely. I
ended up seeing them in Sydney in 1989 alongside my friend ‘Noodles’ who lived near the train station in Cooma. The only other live concert of a big act
I have seen is ‘Rebecca St James’ in Sydney in the early 2000s. The Bon Jovi concert was far
too loud, and I had borrowed my brothers binoculars without asking him to see the band. There were 2 rock chicks in front of us and they went wild. But we were way up the back, and the view was not fantastic. Still, I can claim to have seen Bon Jovi live
in the 1980s, and that is a big deal to me. I bought a t-shirt at the concert which had a big heart and a dagger on it, and they still use that symbol. I was
on Austudy at the time and was buying all the Bon Jovi cassettes and records, and had a number
of posters and magazines. I even bought a metal ‘New Jersey’ badge, which I
lost later on in life. They were the biggest band for me to start with, and my favourite for a long time. No band really ever replaced them as my favourite, but I have a lot
of favourite bands and artists now. Iron Maiden, Def Leppard, Queen, Alice Cooper, Madonna, Spice Girls, Britney Spears, Billie Piper and so many others are big on my list, and I have owned probably over 1000 CDs by now. But with my
schizophrenia I
usually end up either destroying them, or trading them back for others, or selling them, or giving them to family members. But I am less attached to a CD as a possession now anyway, and FM104.7 plays all the new hits and radio is usually enough. Freddy
Mercury from Queen went on about the ‘Disposable Pop’ idea. And these days what I know is that new hits always come along, and new artists always replace the old, and you don’t have to stay attached to the same old music forever. Some styles seem
to stay in vogue now, and older styles come back from time to time. I think Billy Joel sums it up – ‘Everyone is talking about the new style funny but its still rock and roll to me.’ We were in Berridale for the 1970s, Cooma for
the 1980s and
Canberra for the 1990s and beyond. I did go back to live in Cooma in 2001 briefly and in 2007 briefly, and in 2009 until the present moment, were I am living both in Cooma and Canberra. I have a cheap flat I am renting whose lease
expires shortly, and I
am undecided wether I will keep the flat or not. Berridale was a blissful town to grow up in. We went to Catholic Church on Sundays, the whole family, and I did that every week until I was 16, when I went my own way on beliefs. I remember looking up at
the crucifix and realizing that was the Jesus fellow. I remember praying the rosary in the rosary group which came to our house. I remember the statues of angels at the church which were put up in the attic of the church I think (because of something to
do with protestant discussions at the time – I am not sure though). But, whatever else, church was extremely boring, a massive guilt trip, and I never really liked it that much. Later on as an altar boy it was alright because I was doing something, but
I couldn’t abide sitting in the pews. I never liked church, and that was that. At 16 Mum went on a holiday to England with Greg, and I stopped going to church. When she got back I was so headstrong that she didn’t try to persuade
me to go back and
that was the end of the matter. From there I gradually drifted into Agnosticism, and while over the next few years I strongly considered atheism, I
never quite made the commitment to that viewpoint. At that stage my faith was a
work in progress. In 1990
we came to Canberra, first in Kambah and then in Gilmore and then in late 1990 to 29 Merriman Crescent Macarthur, were I am right at this moment in the front middle room typing this away (Tuesday 2nd of March, 2010). We will get up 20 years at this place
later on in the year, and that is a pretty good achievement. But it is still taking a while to get used to even the suburb, and I haven’t totally done that yet. In a strange way Tuggeranong is still new territory to me, and the rest of Canberra as well,
but I am gradually getting used to it as home. Actually, Cooma is home as well
these days, and I suppose I am basically a ‘Monaro’ boy. I also have a younger sister, Jacinta, and a younger brother, Gregory. They are both married and Jacinta has 3
kids and Gregory has 1. In my early 20s I was studying at the Canberra Institute of Technology, undertaking an Associate Diploma of Business in Office
Administration. I ended up completing all the requirements, with 3 distinctions, 5 credits, and many
passes. It was during the latter half that I had my crises of faith and finally
went back to church. But I had an accident in testing my faith, jumping off a bridge barefooted near parliament house. I turned schizophrenic that day. I blacked out
immediately after stepping off the bridge, and woke up a while later on the ground. The ambulance came shortly, and I was in hospital for a couple of weeks. It was when I went nuts, and I am still essentially a Schizophrenic. From there it was off to
Catholic Church in Gowrie for a while, but I was witnessed to by Pentecostal girls, and ended up going to Potters House Christian Church. In fact, I attended a service there just this Sunday – my first in a good few years as I
don’t go anymore, no
longer being a Christian. I was at Potters House for about a year, then off to United Pentecostal Church because I no longer believed the Trinity. But the ‘Oneness’ was wrong also, and I ended up ‘Unitarian’ in faith. After 6 months at Hughes
Baptist church attending occasionally I became a ‘Noahide’. That was a leap
of faith in January 1999 and now, in March 2010 I am still a Noahide. So I have
11 years up and hopefully am slowly gaining some credibility for my faith. Jesus talks about
traditions of men being taught by the Pharisees as commands of God. I agree with him, and thus disregard the Mishnah and Gemara (the Jewish Talmud’s). There are different ways of looking at the Jewish Bible itself, and I would probably make a ‘
Hexateuch’ argument if I had to, but I am no longer sure it really matters. In the end conversion to Judaism has simply not been an option, and the Noahide
thing is working for me very well indeed. I am happy with it, content with my situation, pleased
that Haven Noahide Fellowship today has 3 official members, with reasonable potentiality for growth, and happy that Yahweh is not asking me to do anything in particular out of the ordinary. I have had ‘Rainbow’ witnesses at key points over the last
decade and it seems to me that the Rainbow as the Covenantal sign of my covenant is really, in truth, the one to stick with. Scripture declares it an ‘Everlasting Covenant’ so, to me, faith in an everlasting Covenant leads to
everlasting life. Now,
my books. Morning Stars was begun the writing of in the year 2000. I began it at work in AQIS one day in the Exdoc section. Saruviel popped in pretty quickly, and I think the name was bubbling away from ‘Suvrael’ the southern
continent of Silverbergâ€
™s ‘Majipoor’. Lord Valentines Castle, The Majipoor Chronicles and Valentine Pontifex were awesome, and some of the many fantasy and sci fi epics I have consumed. ‘Morning Stars’ the title comes directly from Job 38:7 KJV. It was borrowed
directly from that translation. It took 5 or 6 years to write the first version
of Morning Stars (the currently paperback published version of 100 copies only), but writing took off very quickly after that point. I write heaps now. People occasionally
ask me were did I come up with me ideas about angels. Well, Michael and Gabriel
come from the Book of Daniel in the Old Testament, and Gabriel appears in the Gospels, and Michael appears in ‘Jude’ and in the ‘Revelation’ in the New Testament. I
have also read some of the ‘Pseudepigrapha’ and Michael and Gabriel and a number of others appear in 1 Enoch in the Pseudepigrapha. Some churches actually hold to 1 Enoch as scripture, and for biblical students I strongly encourage you to go check it
out because Jesus quotes the hell out of it. Metatron is in one of the Enoch’s as well (there are 3 Enoch books, I think) and he has a heap of names
in there, well over 70. The Rabbinic literature goes on about various angels, and Muslim literature
also does as well. Also, don’t forget the Doreen Virtue Books and many others
out there. Currently Angel Books are doing well, and I am aiming to get the major fantasy niche in this market if I can. I cheekily call ‘Chronicles of the Children of
Destiny’ the third volume of the Pseudepigrapha. I guess, because the Pseudepigrapha is public domain, and if I had the money, I might consider publishing it myself one day under the ‘Noahide Books’ imprint and adding the first ‘Arc’ of the
Chronicles to it and calling this the third volume of ‘Haven Noahide Fellowship’s’ own Pseudepigrapha. Recognition from the big churches and the
big Jewish and Muslim movements might not be easy, or it might end up being quite easy – you never
know. But we are actually quite serious about being NON-cultic, quite serious about being lawful and in harmony with the general rules and customs of the land, and quite serious in our devotions to God. On salvation, we generally teach that this is
mainly God’s business. Iron maiden sing a song which says ‘There’s not a God to save you if you won’t save yourself.’ Some Christian fundies will argue that works aint gonna do it, and that only faith in Jesus death is going to get you there.
But Jesus teaches in revelation to one of the churches a doctrine which says ‘I have not found your works perfect.’ Of course, the New Testament can be argued on Calvinistic and Armenian standpoints, but taken as a whole – ie the
27 books being the
New Testament, I would actually agree that you probably need to be a Christian to be saved, doctrinally. But it depends how you view it. For example, you can’t enter the kingdom of heaven unless you are born again. Is this the New Jerusalem? Thus, if
you are not born again, like John the Baptist in Jesus own words, is the new EARTH available instead? Jehovah’s witnesses think so. Is this were the Catholics go? As in there creed they say ‘The Life of the World to Come’, which is the standard
Jewish doctrine on salvation. The World to come – the new earth. Of course Isaiah goes on about a new heaven BUT ALSO a new earth. Are there different destinations for different folks. Jewish salvation is works oriented. I think Catholics seem to be of
that mould also these days. The fundies are faith oriented. Is it a different destination for different groups? So if you are not Born Again my fundamentalist friend, I know you can’t enter the Kingdom of God, but is that
Kingdom the New Jerusalem? And
if it is, is the New Earth available instead? Interesting question. You see, Jews actually do have faith. And they have faith in God, and not Jesus. Will this works doctrine of salvation get them the ‘New Earth?’ Perhaps, I think. Perhaps. Anyway,
just so you will actually know, Haven’s own doctrine of salvation for us Noahides in particular in Haven Noahide Fellowship is that God is the saviour. Jews have to circumcise to maintain their own covenant. Christians have to baptize to maintain their
own covenant. We believe Noah’s covenant is totally up to God’s own effort.
You see, we can’t make a rainbow – only God can make a rainbow. So we don’t even bother to save ourselves. We do whatever the heck we want to, can be slack and second
rate on spirituality if we want to, occasionally little devils on legal issues (as the Coloured Devil’s would testify), but, in general, happy enough and amused by all the entertainment. You see, God didn’t actually give us Noahides a doctrine of
salvation, so we do bugger all, smile that the rainbow still pops up for us every now and again, and thank our lucky stars we don’t have to slave away at
the Sabbath, or confess every sin under the sun in true Johannine fashion. Amen
and amen and amen.
But enough with religion. I am tired, thirsty and hungry, and fortunately the kitchen is still were I would imagine it to be. This chronicle is finished for the moment, but I will give you some more thoughts later one. Cheers. Daniel


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