Signs of the Times - August 2022

Greg’s

MIRACLE RECOVERY

BMX, drugs and finding Jesus

THERE IS NO HELL

SECRETS FOR A LONGER LIFE

A CHRISTIAN PERSPECTIVE ON THE WORLD TODAY

IN THIS ISSUE

WE CARE ABOUT YOU!

AUGUST 2022

DEATH WRITTEN ALL OVER ME

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CURRENT

04 WHAT IN THE WORLD 24 AN ANTIDOTE

FOR ADDICTION The surprising solution to substance abuse

WELLBEING

12 SECRETS TO A LONGER,

HEALTHIER LIFE

38 BUILDING A BETTER

HOUSE A Pasifika perspective on depression

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FAITH

06 REST FOR A RESTLESS

WORLD One day that offers a path to peace

18 THERE IS NO HELL

Is it time to reevaluate hell?

30 ASK PASTOR JESSE 52 THE FINAL

WAKE-UP CALL Cracking the code on a difficult-tounderstand part of the Bible

60 WHY A HEALTHY GUT IS

GOOD FOR IMMUNITY

FIND US ON SOCIAL MEDIA 2

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MAKE A DIFFERENCE

58 VALLEY OF PLENTY

CULTURE

46 THE UNLIKELY STORY

BEHIND A BLOCKBUSTER Desmond Doss was a hero for the most unlikely reason

FUN

62 CROSSWORD & SUDOKU

This magazine is in your hands right now because someone cares about you. Stop on that thought for a minute. Isn’t it comforting to know someone cares? In this disconnected, sometimes difficult life, someone really, truly cares for you!

More than just care, the person who made it possible for this magazine to find its way into your hands is praying for you and may have even contributed financially to make this connection possible. What a thought! Someone cares for you; someone is praying for you. Even though you may not believe in prayer or God or any of that stuff, I hope you believe in love. Because this magazine has been put together with prayers and love by our team just for you. Within the pages of this magazine, I hope you’ll find plenty to reflect on. There are practical health tips on how to live longer and better (p12), inspirational true stories (p32), some important stories on mental health (p24 and p38) even some puzzles in the back—something for everyone in this little magazine and we put it together every month because we care. Because we believe that Jesus’ call to love one another extends to everyone. And so we keep praying for you. Just know that the God who worked out a way for this magazine to find its way into your hands today, is the same God who we believe can help you with anything in your life you’re facing. He cares about you just as much (even more) than we do.

If you have anything you’d like us to pray for don’t hesitate to reach out on <signsofthetimes. org.au/help>.

Jarrod

JARROD STACKELROTH Editor

VOL 137 NO 8 ISSN 1038-9733 EXECUTIVE PUBLISHER Brad Kemp EDITOR Jarrod Stackelroth ASSOCIATE EDITOR Jesse Herford ASSISTANT EDITOR Zanita Fletcher COPYEDITOR Tracey Bridcutt GRAPHIC DESIGN Theodora Pau'u Talia Valderrama Nerise McQuillan PHONE +61 2 9847 2222 EMAIL info@signsofthetimes.org.au WEBSITE signsofthetimes.org.au ADDRESS Adventist Media PO Box 1115, Wahroonga New South Wales 2076 SUBSCRIPTIONS Kelli Geelan PHONE +61 3 5965 6300 Australia/New Zealand, $A26; South Pacific countries, $A41; Other countries $A51 Published since 1886, Signs of the Times is printed 11 times a year by the Seventh-day Adventist Church and is registered as a periodical.

Seventh-day Adventist Church (SPD) Limited ABN 59 093 117 689 NOTE The inclusion of a person or their image within does not imply their endorsement of the Seventh-day Adventist Church or its beliefs.

Unless otherwise stated, Bible verses are from the Holy Bible, New International Version®, Anglicised. Copyright © 1979, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc®. Used by permission of Hodder & Stoughton. All rights reserved worldwide.

COVER IMAGE: Clayton Gallego

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CU

R RENT

“HE TĀNGATA, HE TĀNGATA… THE PEOPLE, THE PEOPLE”

WHAT IN THE WORLD HAIR MATS MOP UP OIL SPILLS

PLANES FUELLED BY ANIMAL FAT

UNITED KINGDOM

AUSTRALIA

Hairdressers in the United Kingdom are protecting the environment with hair clippings. A company, Matter of Trust, makes hair mats and booms— tubes packed with hair placed on the shores of beaches—to clean up oil spills and prevent oil from getting into waterways. A one kilogram mat can soak up five times its weight in oil. Over 550 salons and pet groomers have joined the initiative and many individuals are also donating their hair.—The Guardian

NEPAL

After 36 days, 10 members of an all-black climbing team reached the summit of Mount Everest. Even though hundreds attempt to climb Everest each year, only 10 black people have reached the peak. The team, aged 29 to 60, wanted to inspire people of all colours to interact with the outdoors and to chase their own personal mountains.—CNN 4

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CONNER BAKER—UNSPLASH, WIKIMEDIA COMMONS, DAMLA OZKAN—UNSPLASH, WIKIMEDIA COMMONS

RECORD FOR EVEREST

Used vegetable oils, animal fat and canola oil will be transformed into a sustainable fuel for planes in an Australia-first project in central Queensland. The new plant in Gladstone will convert these fats and oils into sustainable lowcarbon aviation fuel. The plant will manufacture fuel similar to diesel but will be 100 per cent sustainable.

They hope to roll it out by 2025.

—The Queenslander

A Māori proverb expresses that people are the most important thing in the world.

Could it be true? Below are 5 surprising benefits of being part of a community: 1. It helps us be better and do better We are more likely to implement better lifestyle habits and achieve goals when we belong to a group of people who care for and believe in us.

2. It benefits our physical health Loneliness causes our cortisol levels to soar and can cause as much stress on the body as experiencing a physical attack. Combined results of more than 100 studies show that strong social relationships are as important to our health as not smoking.

3. We’re happier Good social relationships are the single most individual factor for the world's top 10 per cent of happy people. When we have positive interactions with people, our bodies generate dopamine, killing pain and giving us a little high.

NEW FROG SPECIES

PAPUA NEW GUINEA

A team of scientists have discovered a new frog species in the crocodileinfested swamps of New Guinea. The frog's closest known relative is the Australian green tree frog. However, due to its cacao-coloured skin, researchers dubbed it the “chocolate frog”—also known as Litoria mira, which means “surprised” or “strange” in Latin.—9 News

4. It brings healing Just as some of our biggest wounds come from people, so can some of our biggest healing come from people. Being a part of a community can help individuals recover from depression, trauma, hurt and grief.

5. We live longer Friendship in our day-to-day lives has been shown to add years to life and life to our years.

References: Dr Darren Morton, Live More Happy (Victoria: Signs Publishing, 2018) Jennifer Jill Schwirzer, 13 Weeks to Joy (Idaho: Pacific Press, 2019)

FA IT H

FOR A

t s e R

RESTLESS

In a world that is constantly moving, working and striving, it can be difficult to truly rest. One day a week offers a path to peace unlike any other.

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WORLD

By Kirsten Lundqvist

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tion. Every seventh year was called Shmita: a sabbatical for the earth.

The Torah (the first five books of the Old Testament in the Bible) prescribed that for the entire year, all Jewish-owned land in Israel was not to be worked but be left fallow.

Anything that grew there should be given away. Furthermore, at the end of the Shmita year, all debts were to be forgiven. The term “fallow” refers to land that is ploughed and tilled but left unseeded during the growing season. Giving the land a breather allows the soil to recover its production potential and reduce population levels of pests. Whereas the land can work well within a seven-year cycle of production and rest, I know I would struggle to work six years and only rest on the seventh!

LYNDON STRATFORD—GETTY IMAGES

B

reathe.

Has anyone ever told you to take a deep breath: inhale, then exhale? During a stressful situation, a panic attack, or if you’re a woman in childbirth, we are constantly reminded to remember to breathe.

We need to breathe to keep living. It should come as no surprise that our earth does, too. One of the more surprising effects of the global pandemic was that early on, satellites observed the world’s air growing cleaner. We saw images of reduced pollution in places like India and China and according to the International Energy Agency, average activities on the world’s roads fell by almost 50 per cent compared to 2019. Did you find it easier to breathe during this time? Often, we pay more attention when it’s difficult to breathe, as was the case with the massive Australian bushfires in 2020 where we, as far away as New Zealand, could see and smell the smoke!

Perhaps, for our planet to experience true rest and restoration, it needs to breathe. In this article, I am inviting you to reflect on the cycle of rest and restoration. If it’s needed for the earth, then how much more do we as humans need it?

The ancient Jewish calendar had exactly that: a year of restora-

If you are not a farmer (and less and less of us live in such direct connection to the land), this might not be so relevant, but you may still be interested in the part about forgiving debts. Of course, this would be catastrophically bad news for banks and investment firms but what about you?

Think of your debt—how would your life change if it was all suddenly forgiven? According to the biblical narrative, pausing regularly restores us to wholeness in a way that was divinely intended from the very beginning. In the story, as part of the process of Creation, God dedicated an entire 24-hour period to the restoration of humanity and the world. Everything on earth was created for humanity to work six days and then for us to take the seventh to rest and breathe (Genesis 2:2, 3). Here at the beginning of the Bible, we see how for the first time, our concept of time is divided into a cycle of seven. In the biblical narrative, this seventh day is referred to as the Sabbath.

God’s design was that the seventh day would be for reflecting on the purpose of existence; a day of rest

and restoration, to reset our overloaded lives to breathe and focus not on our work, but on God and His work.

Is that something only needed in ancient times? Who doesn’t need a time out from work and all the demands in our modern era? This ancient principle of a day of rest has benefits even today. It can provide a base—an anchor in a world that is difficult to navigate. It also challenges us in our overworked lives to take 24 hours for rest (and that isn’t merely a nap). In our time of information overload and urge to prove ourselves in everything we do, we would do well to remember that the first book of the Bible, Genesis, is still relevant for our world today.

The Sabbath has, since its inauguration, been the focal point for the Jewish faith. Again and again in the biblical narrative, the Sabbath appears as a recurring theme. After the Creation story in Genesis 1 and 2, we see the Sabbath return in what we call the 10 Commandments, the teachings God gave Moses on Mount Sinai (Exodus 20:1–21). They map out God’s good principles for living in relationship with creation and its Creator God. Later in Exodus 31, God affirms that the Sabbath will be a bond between God and His people.

“Say to the Israelites, ‘You must observe my Sabbaths. This will be a sign between me and you for the generations to come, so you may know that I am the Lord, who makes you holy” (verse 13).

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It might have been well for our Jewish brothers and sisters to celebrate the Sabbath, but how is this relevant for us today?

When Jesus came onto the scene in the first century, He invited His followers to embrace the fullness of the Sabbath. The Gospels (the four biographies of Jesus’ life you can find at the beginning of the New Testament) show how Jesus clearly followed the traditions of Judaism, including the Sabbath. Yet we also read in the Gospels how this day of rest had somehow become a list of “dos” and “don’ts”. Jesus reminds us of the true purpose of the Sabbath in Mark 2:27, 28, when He says “The Sabbath was made for people, not people for the Sabbath.”

Jesus here is moving the Sabbath beyond man-made rules and regulations and shows that the intention behind the Sabbath is about our

It might have been well for our Jewish brothers and sisters to celebrate the Sabbath, but how is this relevant for us today?

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CHALFFY, PETMAL—GETTY IMAGES

From here on, Sabbath becomes a commitment. This commitment doesn’t change throughout the Bible, just as God doesn’t remove the benefits of the Sabbath. These 24 hours reset the order of Creation. In them, we recognise God’s divinity and humanity’s limitations. This time taken out of our work-life routine gives our body and mind the breathing space to reset and be restored in our relationships with one another and with God. Rabbi Samson Hirsch says that the Sabbath was given to humanity “In order that he should not grow overweening [egotistical] in his dominion” of God’s Creation. On the day of rest, “He must, as it were, return the borrowed world to its Divine Owner in order to realise that it is but lent to him.”

relationship with Creation, humanity and God. Setting aside a day in our week makes sense, not just from a restorative viewpoint but also from the perspective of building relationships.

In a society where we strive toward achievements, possessions, performance and busying ourselves in work to simply get more, Sabbath can become an antidote to the pressure, if we embrace it.

To simply be in the presence of our Creator God, letting us breathe, enjoying family and community is cleansing. “Your body, soul, and family require rejuvenation,” claims Jewish educator Fred Claar.

The restoration of our environment and innermost being moves us to express gratitude for this 24-hour period and leads us to a space of wholeness and gratitude. A pause in our packed lives has the potential to

transform us, our community and our environment. In as much as Creation needs to breathe to experience restoration, God in His divine wisdom knew that we needed a Sabbath space to reconnect and restore.

For all Creation and humanity in particular to breathe.

The biblical origins narrative tells of a God who breathed His breath of life into Adam to create humanity.

Then God gave the seventh day for all Creation to rest, breathe and be transformed. To rest in God is to reconnect with the very Breath of Life itself.

Kirsten Lundqvist is a Danish pastor who currently resides in Wellington, New Zealand. She enjoys ministering in both secular and Jewish contexts.

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SECRETS TO

a longer, healthier life

By Christiana Leimena

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SKYNESHER—GETTY IMAGES

Is the secret to living longer down to luck?

Or is there a way you can not only live longer, but with a better quality of life?

ost people cringe when they consider the thought of ageing. Seeing others struggle in old age doesn’t make it appealing. Many expect the experience of ageing to be bleak, limiting and “the end of the road”. For many, the experience involves at the very least some bone weakening, eyes straining, frequent bladder emptying, bowel movement lessening and of course the dreaded Alzheimer’s disease.

While it’s understood that ageing is simply getting old, the scientific world defines ageing as “the time-related deterioration of the physiological function necessary for survival and fertility”1. With time the body is exposed to a myriad of damage from toxins or other harmful agents. When the body is receiving more damage than it has the ability to repair, it will begin to deteriorate and eventually lose its function. This is similar to what happens to a house when its owners are unable to make regular repairs as it is exposed to weather or intruder damage.

There are a number of causes of ageing. Oxidative damage is caused by free radicals oxidising cells. This then causes inflammation that leads to damage and ageing2. These free radicals come from UV light, other inflammatory agents, air pollution, ionising radiation and bad lifestyle habits, including smoking.

Another cause is the shortening of repeated segments at the end of our chromosomes, known as telomeres.

These telomeres are like the plastic tip at the end of your shoelaces.

Shorter telomere length has been associated with an increased risk of chronic disease and reduced mortality3. Additionally, there are mutations in the LMNA gene that causes early ageing, a condition known as Hutchinson-Guilford progeria syndrome4.

Many people have attempted to beat ageing by researching how to slow its progression, beat the cause or mask its effects through surgical intervention. Many books, magazines, documentaries, vitamins, cosmetics and antioxidant supplements claim to help slow or stop the progression of ageing. Let’s face it—no-one wants to get old. Perhaps many of us have gerascophobia, which is a fear of getting old.

There are people in this world who have discovered the secrets for combating ageing and are living like the young at an old age. A documentary called How to Live Forever interviewed different longlived people and Jack Lalanne was featured. He was an American fitness trainer, nutritional guru and passionate about living well. Although he didn’t reach the centenarian lifetime, he lived a healthy, fit and vibrant life until he passed away at 97 after contracting pneumonia. In Loma Linda, California, one of the “Blue Zones” with a dense population of centenarians—Seventh-day Adventist Marge Jetton lived to 106 years of age5. Believing in the importance of AUGUST 2022 • SIGNS OF THE TIMES.ORG.AU

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“ the little things, Jetton had a routine. She rose early at 4.30am for her morning prayers and reading, lifted weights and rode 13 kilometres per day, volunteered and switched to a plant-based diet in her 50s. Both Lalanne and Jetton lived until a ripe old age without experiencing the negative ageing effects many others suffer.

Simple habits may be the keys to beat ageing.

After all, who wants to live longer but suffer daily from the effects of ageing? Dan Buettner, the journalist who traversed the globe to interview centenarians in the five Blue Zones, has seen the common factors that kept the world’s oldest people young and experiencing low rates of chronic disease. Interestingly, these factors are not difficult, rather simple lifestyle habits that have been regarded by millions as unim14

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SHAPECHARGE—GETTY IMAGES

These longer living, happy people have a predominantly plant-based diet, eat until only 80 per cent full with regular fasting. portant. These longer living, happy people have (1) a predominantly plant-based diet and eat only until 80 per cent full (Okinawans call this concept hara hachi bu) with regular fasting. They have (2) active daily routines with activities that raise their heart rate and exercise their muscles. They also (3) have sufficient sleep every day. People in the Blue Zones tend to (4) be people of faith, have purpose in life and (5) a healthy social network. These habits have also been found by different research groups to reduce their risk of developing chronic disease, including Alzheimer’s disease. Perhaps we need to revisit the simple things in life.

Various research groups have uncovered habitual patterns against ageing for living longer, healthier and happier. A Harvard study found that by living out these five lifestyle factors, your life expectancy at age 50 increases by 14 years for women and 12.2 years for men, compared to those who don’t6. Again, these five lifestyle factors are basic everyday approaches: having a nutritious diet, doing regular exercise, maintaining a healthy BMI, not smoking and minimal alcohol. Another study by Dr Dean Ornish investigated how three months of comprehensive lifestyle

changes increased telomere length after five years of follow-up in men who had low-risk prostate cancer7.

The adopted lifestyle changes by these men were: nutritious plantbased diet, regular 30 minutes of daily walking, stress management exercises (stretching, deep breathing, meditation, progressive relaxation) and increased social support.

Additionally, the myth that older adults can’t learn new skills has been disproven. In fact, neurogenesis research has shown that the adult brain has more plasticity than previously thought8. This means that as one continues to learn in their old age, they will gain more experience and insight. In fact, in order to reduce the risk of developing dementia, older adults need to learn new hobbies to improve their memory, as well as engaging in regular social activities to boost their cognitive health9, 10.

Learning is certainly not just for the young.

Although genetics accounts for longevity, it only contributes 20–30 per cent while a larger percentage of influence comes from lifestyle choices with regular physical activity, nutritious diet choices, maintaining a healthy weight and environmental influences11, 12. Optimising our AUGUST 2022 • SIGNS OF THE TIMES.ORG.AU

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For lifestyle tips and wellbeing articles like this SUBSCRIBE NOW

lifestyle can maximise our longevity within the biological limits.

Having longevity in the family genes does help and coupling it with healthy behaviours will increase the chances of slowing ageing and improving your health. Why not add years to your life, but more importantly add life to your years? What choices will you make today for the most important investment—your health?

1. Gilbert SF. Developmental Biology: Sunderland (MA): Sinauer Associates; 2000. Available from: <ncbi. nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK10041/>.

2. Liguori I, Russo G, Curcio F, Bulli G, Aran L, Della-Morte D, et al. Oxidative stress, aging, and diseases. Clin Interv Aging. 2018;13:757-72. doi:10.2147/ CIA.S158513.

3. Shammas MA. Telomeres, Lifestyle, cancer, and aging. Curr Opin Clin Nutr Metab Care. 2011;14(1):2834. doi:10.1097/MCO.0b013e32834121b1.

4. Audrey Gordon LG, Kelsey Tuminelli. Hutchinson-Gilford Progeria Syndrome. Rare Disease Database [Internet]. 2021. [cited. Available from: <rarediseases.org/rare-diseases/hutchinson-gilford-progeria/>.

5. Owaves Team. Day in the life: Marge Jetton2020. [cited. Available from: <owaves.com/day-plan/day-inthe-life-marge-jetton/>.

6. Li Y, Pan A, Wang DD, Liu X, Dhana K, Franco OH, et al. Impact of Healthy Lifestyle Factors on Life Christiana Leimena has worked in cardiovascular Expectancies in the US Population. Circulation. research in the areas of molecular cardiology and 2018;138(4):345-55. doi:10.1161/CIRCULATIONhypertension. She obtained her PhD through the AHA.117.032047.

University of New South Wales and did her postdoc7. Ornish D, Lin J, Chan JM, Epel E, Kemp C, Weidner toral training at Loma Linda University, California.

G, et al. Effect of comprehensive lifestyle changes She has a passion in educating and promoting on telomerase activity and telomere length in men with biopsy-proven low-risk prostate cancer: whole-person health and nutrition. She 5-year follow-up of a descriptive pilot study. Lancet loves the outdoors and cooking.

Oncol. 2013 Oct;14(11):1112-20. doi:10.1016/s14702045(13)70366-8.

8. Gage FH. Adult neurogenesis in mammals. Science.

2019 May 31;364(6443):827-8. doi:10.1126/science.

Living longer aav6885. and healthier is 9. Kempermann G. What Is Adult Hippocampal Neurogenesis Good for? Frontiers in Neuroscience. clearly not a product 2022 2022-April-15;16. doi:10.3389/fnins.2022.852680. of random luck. The 10. Berdugo-Vega G, Arias-Gil G, López-Fernández A, Artegiani B, Wasielewska JM, Lee C-C, et al. lifestyle habits of the Increasing neurogenesis refines hippocampal centenarians together with activity rejuvenating navigational learning strategies and contextual memory throughout life. Nature research findings can be Communications. 2020 2020/01/09;11(1):135. doi:10.1038/s41467-019-14026-z. summarised as: a wholesome 11. Passarino G, De Rango F, Montesanto A. plant-based nutritious diet, regular Human longevity: Genetics or Lifestyle?

It takes two to tango. Immun Ageing. daily exercise, maintaining a healthy 2016;13:12-. doi:10.1186/s12979-0160066-z. weight, good sleep hygiene, healthy 12. Chudasama YV, Khunti K, Gillies social support, continual learning of CL, Dhalwani NN, Davies MJ, Yates T, et al. Healthy lifestyle and life expecnew things, and having purpose and tancy in people with multimorbidity meaning in life. in the UK Biobank: A longitudinal cohort study. PLOS Medicine.

2020;17(9):e1003332. doi:10.1371/ journal.pmed.100333.

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FA IT H

THERE IS

NO HELL

A devil with a pitchfork, fire and brimstone, and unending torture: this is the classical picture of hell. But is there a better alternative to consider?

IG0RZH—GETTY IMAGES

By Jarrod Stackelroth

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anyone he was shouting at or why we were there. Some of us were just having a look, others going out for a family dinner (Vegas also has cheap all-you-can-eat food options). How could he be sure they were damned?

“Jesus loves you, mate . . . and everyone here.” That was what I wanted to say to him . . . but I didn’t.

I chickened out. Instead, we got off the escalator and kept walking like everyone else, pretending to ignore him as he kept shouting.

What if I told you that hell isn’t real? At least not in the way it is depicted in popular culture, as a

“

What if I told you that hell isn't real?

DANIEL-GUTKO-A—UNSPLASH, ROMOLOTAVANI—GETTY IMAGES

DANIEL GUTKO—UNSPLASH

“Y

ou’re going to hell!” The words dripped with a violence, barely contained.

“Repent of your wickedness,” a voice called again from the middle of a mob holding placards. I didn’t appreciate these words being directed at my wife and I. We were spending a weekend in Las Vegas on our way from the breathtaking vistas of the Grand Canyon to the colossal beauty of Yosemite Valley. We weren’t there to gamble, drink, party—in fact the hotel we stayed in didn’t have a casino or smoking area attached, for which we were thankful. We’d heard Vegas was a great place to get luxury accommodation for a cheap price (most guests spent money on alcohol and gambling, enabling the hotels to offer cheap accommodation). And it was interesting to see this cultural landmark up close—the glittery attractions designed to draw your eye and hopefully loosen your wallet.

“The end is near,” the man shouted. The phrases were a bit cliched and less of a sermon than a pointed rant.

There was nowhere to escape as we descended an escalator and this group of people stood at the bottom.

People around us looked unconcerned at the threats of eternal damnation. Some were looking at the small group and laughing; most were pretending to ignore them and quickly hurried past.

A thousand things ran through my mind. The man didn’t know

burning torture chamber, staffed by demons and populated by the bad, the evil, the “unsaved” and well, anyone who doesn’t agree with certain Christian ideas.

You might be OK with the idea of people like Hitler or Stalin going there. It gets a bit tricky when we start wondering about less obviously evil individuals. What about a sex slave who was sold into the profession as a child? What about someone who is usually decent but cheats on their wife? What about someone who lives as well as they can but doesn’t believe in God? Now it’s becoming more uncomfortable. If Christians claim that God is love, then does burning people forever who don’t believe in Him make Him loving?

Not all Christians believe in the version of hell I’ve just painted. Even in Jesus’ day there were disputes about the afterlife.

I’d like to provide an alternative story by looking a little into where the concept of hell came from and perhaps supplying an alternative.

It is beyond the scope of this article to give an overview of the theological arguments about the doctrine of hell. Theologians, authors and others have been exploring ideas of the afterlife for thousands of years. In recent years, a number of mainstream Christians have debated and discussed the existence of hell. Rob Bell was rejected by many evangelicals after his book Love Wins questioned the doctrine. Francis Chan and Preston Sprinkle wrote Erasing Hell in response (full disclosure: I have not read either books). The movies Hell and Mr Fudge (2012) and more recently Come Sunday (Netflix 2018), based on true stories, bring the debate onto the screen, albeit in AUGUST 2022 • SIGNS OF THE TIMES.ORG.AU

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There must be bliss and benefit offered. But what about the terrible people? Those who kill and abuse and manipulate and don’t seem to get their own back in life. Shouldn’t they be punished in some way to pay for their “sins”, to balance the scales? It may sound good to have a mechanism to punish evildoers but the existence of an eternal hell creates problems. Who gets to decide who is forgiven and who is condemned?

Why do liars and cheaters seemingly receive the same severity of punishment as murderers and psychopaths?

And why is there so much conflicting evidence in the Bible as to the exact nature of this place?

Though the existence of hell is seemingly ambiguous in the Bible, there IS plenty of evidence to suggest that a person who dies is in a state similar to sleep. “But a man dies and is laid low; he breathes his last and is no more. As the water of a lake dries up . . . so he lies down and does not rise; till the heavens are no more, people will not awake or be roused from their sleep” (Job 14:10-12) one biblical author puts it. “For dust you are and to dust you will return” (Genesis 3:19).

For me personally, the concept of hell does not measure up to the character of the God I believe in.

Taking the words of the apostle John very seriously, I believe that “God is love”. One of the most famous Bible verses in the world says that God loved the world so much, that He sent Jesus so that whoever believed in

PROSTOCK-STUDIO, DIETERMEYRL—GETTY IMAGES

a dramatised fashion. My point is that it is not a universally accepted Christian doctrine as some may have you believe.

The concept of hell, as commonly understood, is trying to solve a big logical problem—the immortal soul, which came into Judaism and Christianity via Greek philosophy.

A very natural human distaste for death leads people to search for what happens after. It is nice to think that my dead loved ones are somehow guiding me and watching over me.

And if this world is filled with so much pain and suffering then surely eternal life must be better than this.

Him would have the chance to have life eternal (John 3:16).

We don’t know what eternal life looks like and the Bible doesn’t paint a full picture. The ancients had a very different image of the afterlife than what we have received from medieval Christianity. It certainly doesn’t look like floating on a cloud in a toga playing a harp.

In reality the Bible is much more interested in speaking about how to live your life well on this planet than what happens to you in the afterlife. It does speak to the longing we all have for the brokenness we experience daily to be mended. The end result is this Earth renewed and restored to a place without death and tears and pain. That is the vision the

prophets and authors of the Bible describe. In the same way, we should look at how to bring the restoration and joy of the promised renewal to this current life we live.

Many people reject belief in God or reading the Bible because of what they think Christians believe about hell. I’m inviting you to revisit the Christian faith and consider what a relationship with a just, loving, eternal Being who cares about you and doesn’t want to burn you forever in hell might look like.

We could all use more peace and restoration. Even the guy in Vegas at the bottom of the escalator.

Jarrod Stackelroth is the editor of Signs of the Times Australia/New Zealand and Adventist Record.

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AN

ANTIDOTE FOR

Addiction

BY TONY PARRISH

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COLDSNOWSTORM—GETTY IMAGES

Andrew is a drug addict, but found an unlikely antidote to his addiction: a loving connection.

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“

I

am a pastor. I don’t often like admitting that. It’s a conversation killer. People feel they are supposed to act a certain way around pastors.

They feel like they can’t be their authentic self. If a person finds out part way through a conversation that I am a pastor, they often begin to apologise for everything they have said prior to that point, swear words included. Nevertheless, I feel like a pretty normal person. I like to make new friends, get to know people, find out about their work, passions, hobbies, opinions, skills and other interesting things. But when I mention what I do for work, it often ends my ability to get to know them.

However, that was different with Andrew.

I met Andrew one week at church.

We briefly chatted then I carried on with the rest of my duties.

During the week I received a call from Andrew. He was stranded and needed to be picked up, so I agreed to go and get him. He was quite a distance from town, so I plugged it into my GPS and off I went. I turned on to a quiet, narrow road and then onto an even quieter, narrower farm road. At this point I thought to myself: there is no way Andrew is out here. There’s nothing out here.

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Eventually I pulled into a gravel driveway and drove down a hill, round a few corners and then found a ramshackled collection of buildings. Sure enough, there was Andrew, looking ragged but ready to go. This is not the kind of vulnerability a person usually exposes the pastor to, yet I was happy to be there. As we drove away, Andrew began to tell how he got to be in that predicament and how uncomfortable he was sharing it with me. It involved drug-seeking, a gambling windfall, being jumped, losing the windfall, getting picked up by a friend, more drugs then finally getting stuck with no transport and no friend. That is, except for me. So began a great friendship.

Andrew and I were from the same town and were the same age.

Our upbringings were similar. He, like I, had loving parents and good siblings. He went to good schools and excelled at academics and sports.

However, his dad didn’t necessarily model love in a healthy way. He loved Andrew’s achievements more than Andrew himself: achievements like making the first 15 in rugby or being named Most Valuable Player.

Still, Andrew never thought of himself as a victim. He thought he

PYROSKY—GETTY IMAGES

The very thing that brought love and affection from his father . . . drove Andrew toward addiction.

had everything needed to be successful. But at age 11, the sexual abuse started: from an athletics coach. The very thing that brought love and affection from his father became the thing that drove Andrew toward addiction.

This coach took a particular interest in Andrew and began to groom him. What started as special attention escalated to trips to nudist camps and shared showers. Andrew didn’t share what was happening with anyone.

When his grandfather died, alcohol was served at his wake.

Andrew, a young teen disguising a big secret, had a few drinks.

He found drinking to be a social lubricant. He could come out of his shell. He could mix with the adults. He could be funny and charming.

The escapism of the alcohol was intoxicating. From alcohol he advanced to cannabis then to LSD and benzodiazepines, until, in his early twenties, he was making homebake—the illicit combination of morphine and heroin. Mixed into this experience were overdoses, arrests and convictions, psychosis, halluciAUGUST 2022

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“ The opposite of addiction is connection.

is connection.”

That was a profound statement.

It seemed that in my chosen career path, this is exactly what the church should excel at: providing connection to those trapped in addiction. When sober, Andrew and I shared many fantastic moments. Yet there were still other moments where once again I was faced with the fallout of his addictions. The addicted Andrew didn’t care about work, family, friends or consequences. The sober Andrew was smart, funny, an awesome uncle to his nieces and nephews, a friend, a deep thinker, competent and reliable.

When sober he sought help. He enrolled in rehab. He went to therapy.

He took part in support groups. That is, until inevitably the aforementioned screw-up would occur.

I found a profound statement spoken by the writer Johann Hari during a TED Talk in 2015. Hari shared the research of Dr Bruce Alexander, which concerned rats and

IMAGE SOURCE—GETTY IMAGES

nations and a lifestyle of gambling, theft, fraud, and selling cigarettes and drugs to fund his habit. Then there was the rehab. It was a consistent pattern. He was a junkie.

It went something like this: Screw-up (the actual word he used is stronger): the step where Andrew was in his junkie mode.

Clean-up: the step where Andrew made right, sought help, went to rehab.

Build-up: the step where Andrew applied the skills and techniques to break out from the pattern.

And then . . . the screw-up—a trigger, a moment, a reminder and the addiction came back, full-circle.

Over and over again, this has been the consistent pattern in Andrew’s life. He went to rehab 16 times. Yet during the build-up stage, he had been able to finish a degree. During the screw-up he has lost jobs, relationships, been to prison and so on.

Yet here he was in my car, battered and bruised with a black eye after trying to buy methamphetamines.

He was an addict. For my part, I was doing my best to listen and be empathetic. His experience was completely foreign to me. I was the missionary kid from a Christian family. I was also a teetotaller—no alcohol, drugs or cigarettes. We’ve met many times since that first drive. We’ve played golf together, hung out, had meals, studied the Bible and shared stories from our past. One thing Andrew said that has always stuck with me was this: “The opposite of addiction

addiction. The experiment showed how 100 per cent of isolated rats would become addicted to druglaced water. Dr Alexander adapted the experiment with one of his own.

He created a fun and connected space for rats with other rats, things to do and food to eat; everything a rat could dream of. In this space, none of the rats succumbed to addiction. As Johann Hari concludes: “addiction is about your cage”.

If your life is connected, your addictions become a lot less rewarding. We need relationships, work we care about, family and friends, things to do, purpose and meaning.

Hari goes on to say that addiction is “not being able to bear to be present in your life”. So how could I, the teetotaller, help? I could be present in someone else’s life. I could help provide meaningful connections.

I could point to a God who in Jeremiah 31:3 says: “I have loved you with an everlasting love; therefore I

have drawn you out with kindness.”

I could help my church become an intentional safe space. Our church could start a 12-step program like Celebrate Recovery or we could help support a residential rehab program like Step-7. If nothing else, I could simply love like Jesus.

If the opposite of addiction is connection, then I choose to connect. After all, that is what Jesus did.

If we want to help the people in our life who are struggling with addiction, perhaps we should focus more on connection. Perhaps we shouldn’t expect them to clean up first, but be there when they screw up, help them clean up, resource their build-up and do it all over again if necessary.

As many times as it takes. Andrew has just left rehab again; I’m still his friend and we are planning a guys’ trip soon. I’m hoping it’s building up to something great.

Tony Parrish is a pastor, husband and dad living in Taranaki, New Zealand.

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FA IT H

Hi! I’m Jesse and I don’t have all the answers. As a pastor, there are questions I’ve encountered over and over. They’re sometimes about theology and the Bible, but more often they’re about everyday life, and they can’t be answered easily or quickly. If you’ve never had the opportunity to ask a pastor tough questions this is the place to ask them, and I’ll do my best to respond honestly, authentically and biblically.

I've been hurt by church leadership and I don't trust or respect them anymore. I know I probably should go back to church but it's so difficult. What should I do?—Anne, NZ Unfortunately Anne, there's no easy answer to your question. Many of us have been hurt by church leaders before (to greater or lesser extents) and many of us remain in church regardless! However, there are a lot of people like you who have been hurt to the point where you wonder if going back is even an option. I've thought about this a lot and have come up with three main ideas:

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SIGNSOFTHETIMES.ORG.AU/ASKJESSE

(1) There are some problems worth working through.

What do I mean by that?

Simply put, change won't happen if we stay on the sidelines. It can be painful to engage with unhealthy culture but if no-one stands up and challenges it, who will? This can be an incredibly difficult thing to do, as no-one likes conflict (well, almost no-one). Either way, challenging church leaders is seldom pleasant and if they have gathered supporters around them, things can potentially get ugly. This is also something that depends a lot on your personality. Some of us have no problem challenging the status quo but most of us would probably rather do anything else.

Regardless, if it's worth changing, it's worth challenging.

(2) Don't stay in a toxic relationship long enough to become a victim.

When a counsellor meets with a person who's in a relationship with an abusive partner, their advice is usually the same: get out! Before any healing can occur, the victim needs to be separated from the perpetrator of the abuse.

Unfortunately, churches too can become abusive. Sometimes all it takes is for a small group of people to take charge and before you can say "amen", your church becomes something else entirely.

The sad reality is, most people are not confrontational so rather than face the toxicity head-on, most people simply look the other way, pretend the problem isn't

there or just shift blame to avoid taking responsibility. If you've challenged church leaders and they're unwilling to make real change, sometimes the best thing you can do for yourself and for the rest of the church is to leave.

(3) Your old church isn't the only place God is working.

If you feel disconnected from God because of the way the church hurt you that's completely understandable.

However, know this: God is good even when the church isn't and He's still working even if the church doesn't.

Whether it be a group in the living room of your home, a huddle of hot drinks at a cafe or a mountain biking group in nature, there are still numerous opportunities available for us to gather together, break bread, pray for each other, serve our community and study the Scriptures that don't involve sitting in a pew on a weekend service. After all, Jesus urges us to not neglect meeting together (Hebrews 10:25) but doesn't specify that we need to do so "at church". Some of the most powerful movements in the history of Christianity came about because people humbled themselves and prayed even while the established religious powers remained corrupt.

Either way, know that God is still with you. He hasn't abandoned you. Though what you're going through is painful, I know that some of the most beautiful things are born out of the worst pain.

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DEATH written all over me: BMX, DRUGS AND FINDING JESUS

Greg had lost all hope and even wished for death.

God had other plans.

CLAYTON GALLEGO

By Greg Fernance

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four seizures every day causing incontinence, just totally knocked out on the ground, not breathing—“grand mal” seizures. There was not much hope for me.

for me. That’s why I got into the tattoo scene. A lot of my tattoos are skulls. My theory was that I was going to be buried in a coffin with no clothes, just a full suit of tattoos—death written all over me because I was going to die.

dark places

Doctors told me. “You’ll never work or drive again. This is your life now.”

Hearing that, I just gave up. I started to drink more. I started to get on really hard drugs: not just pot, but chemicals and ice. I really started

fairy tales?

My dad would send pastors to me all the time. Here we go, I would think. This guy is going to tell me about some fairy tale that’s written in

I just gave up. I started to drink more and started to get on really hard drugs . . .

to get into some bad stuff. With that lifestyle and no job, you have to find a way to pay for drugs. I ended up stealing copper and doing jobs for people that I shouldn’t have been working for to earn cash to feed my addictions.

My life just got worse. Doctors told me I’d die if I didn’t stop living the life I was living.

My ageing parents were worried.

People in the community would pull me up and say, “You’re a dead man walking. We can see that your life isn’t going to last.”

I just thought: who cares! It’s over

CLAYTON GALLEGO

I

stopped attending church when I was 15 or 16. At a young age, I’d been taken off my parents after false accusations, and I questioned how God could do that to good Christian people. So, after leaving home, I got mixed up in drugs and alcohol and started to live a reckless life.

I got into the BMX scene and was lucky enough to get some sponsorships. I rode with some guys who were really good but also were travelling a lot for BMX. I thought I would become a famous rider but that’s not what happened. Instead, I had three major accidents.

In 2007, I fractured my skull in two places and had a bleed on my brain. I woke up in the hospital on a spinal trolley, thinking: Oh no.

My life’s done. It took 12 months to walk again and the entire time, I was housebound. To cope with it, I turned to alcohol and drugs.

I had my second accident in 2009.

I fell off the back of a car when we were “out bush” drinking with mates. This one really messed me up.

Doctors said, “If you hit your head again, you’re going to die.”

I recovered miraculously and started riding again a few years later. But, in 2012, I came off my bike again. When I hit the ground, I went into violent convulsions. I was rushed down to Prince of Wales Hospital in Sydney.

Turns out, I’d gained severe epilepsy with my third brain injury.

I would have two, three, sometimes

this little book. I’d just push them off until one day I met Steve Magitis, who came to pastor here at Grafton church.

He’d led a life like mine, doing similar things. When I met him, he never mentioned God. He just built a friendship with me. Then one day he said, “I want to study the Bible with you.” I took that as an opportunity to take another pastor down.

Before the study, I was at my mate’s place, getting on the gear and drinking so I arrived at that Bible study off my face.

I remember sitting on my parents’

lounge rubbing my hands, waiting for Steve to come in so I could show him what his Bible was really all about.

We opened in prayer and he started reading from the beginning of the Bible—the book of Genesis.

“God created the heavens and the earth.” So simple. As he read down the passage—about God speaking and things coming into existence—before I could even get a word out, the Holy Spirit hit me in the face, like a brick. I hung my head in shame, crying, knowing there was a God out there who loved me, even though He knew everything I had done. I heard that still small voice the Bible talks about, whisper to me and God said, “I know where you’ve been. I know what you’ve done. And I still love you.”

The next day I woke up and I decided: that’s it. No more drugs.

I went out to the coast and just cried out to God saying, “If You’re really there, You need to change me.”

“You need to pull me away from the scene I’m in, from the people I’m around. My friends are going to jail, people are getting sick with too many drugs.” And my life was that way too.

As I prayed that prayer, I made the decision not to touch drugs again.

Alcohol took a little bit longer and smoking was the last one.

saved

A few weeks later I had another hospital visit. When the doctor came into the room she looked different.

“Your epilepsy: it’s gone!” she said.

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reunited

In the process of coming back to God, I began praying for my little girl—taken from me when she was only three months old.

I’ll never forget the day I had in court. Family court was packed.

People were standing around the walls but there as I was sitting in the waiting area, there was a spare seat 36

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next to me. It was the same thing in the courtroom—people decked out along the walls, but once again a spare seat next to me. This happened three or four times as I went in and out of the courtroom.

I began to think: man, do I stink or something? I heard that small voice again saying, that seat is for Me. It was God’s way of telling me “I’m here with you today.” To my surprise and joy, I was awarded 100 per cent custody of my daughter. I took her home that day.

program that would show me what the story of the Bible was all about, from beginning to end.

The only problem was that I didn’t own a computer. Nor did I have access to a printer or the internet. I was barely literate (I learned to read through reading the Bible). So I prayed again.

Someone who had never bought me a Christmas present before bought me a laptop. Somebody else gave me a printer. Then my church decided to pay for my internet for 12 months so I could study while sharing Bible studies in Grafton.

provision

As I studied the Bible my hunger for God grew. I decided I needed to work for Him. And, to do that, I needed to leave my job.

But now I had a daughter to take care of. So, I prayed, asking God: how is this possible? God seemed to respond: give Me everything. I decided I was going to serve God wholeheartedly and yet I didn’t know how we were going to survive. Yet through miracle after miracle God provided for us.

I would pull out my Bible at Bible studies and 100 dollar notes would fall out. We got down to our last carton of eggs—all the food we had in the house—and there was a 50 dollar note in the carton. Money arrived in my account from people I didn’t know.

The local church supported me. I was a single dad, but life was starting to come back together. I knew I had to do further study so I enrolled in a

love unexpected

CLAYTON GALLEGO

“What do you mean it’s gone?” I asked. “That’s not possible.”

If you know anything about epilepsy, you will know it doesn’t just disappear. “It’s gone. Your brain function is normal. Your scans are clear. You’ll be able to get your driver’s licence back. You’ll be able to live a normal life. We can’t explain how this has happened. This is a miraculous recovery.”

“I know it’s possible,” I told her.

“God healed me.”

“Well, if that’s what you believe, that’s what you believe,” she said. But I knew God had answered my prayer and had something special in store for my life.

I went home and stuck my head in the Bible. I wanted to get to know the Person who knew everything about me and still cared.

I got my (driver’s) licence back.

I returned to work. And as my relationship with God grew, I wanted to share with other people that their life didn’t have to be in chaos and turmoil; chasing drugs and running from the police. It was possible to live free from it all.

During that time, I had a call from a girl who wanted Bible studies.

“How many days are you in town?” she asked.

“Two,” I said.

“Well, I’ll have studies on both days,” she replied. Bonita had a real passion for God; I could see it in her eyes. She ended up helping me give Bible studies to others and attending church.

Our friendship developed. I had the privilege of baptising Bonita and

we got engaged and were married within a few months. I proposed to her in Grafton Seventh-day Adventist church.

Soon after we married, we had our first child together—a honeymoon baby. With my oldest daughter who is now eight and four foster children—her half siblings—we now have a full house. And my wife is pregnant again!

God truly delivered everything I had lost.

There are still tough times, living in a broken family. God forgives you for what you have done, but the consequences are still there.

However, I can deal with today’s tough moments instead of giving up, because now I have Jesus. He’s always there to pull me through life’s trials.

There is always hope because if God can bring me from that sort of life to where I am today, God can do that for you too.

Greg Fernance is serving his home community as the pastor of Grafton Seventh-day Adventist Church.

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W

ELL B EING

G N I D L BUI

a better HOUSE

By Adrielle Carrasco 38

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-GRAVITY- —UNSPLASH

Many assume having faith in God will protect us against depression. But does the God of the Bible really promise that?

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“

S

ome years ago, I was in a very low place. I was deeply depressed, feeling paralysed by my anxious thoughts. I was also suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder related to starting a new job. I didn’t know what was happening but I knew something was wrong. Feelings of inadequacy invaded my thinking and took control of my mind. I began to believe the world would be better off without me.

Acknowledging suicidal ideation—this pattern of entertaining thoughts of suicide—is difficult for anyone. Our bodies are complex and our minds are heavily influenced by trauma, repressed experiences, relationships and neurochemicals.

This may not be the case for everyone as there are other well-researched factors that cause similar symptoms.

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I do understand how victims of physical or sexual abuse suffer long-term effects, but have also come to realise that the corrosive effects of unhealthy relationships can etch themselves deeply into our being and erode our confidence and sense of wellbeing. Growing up in a Christian home, I and those around me viewed depression as inherently “bad”.

Over time and with therapy, I have been able to come to the realisation that the roots of my feelings of inadequacy and despair lay in my upbringing. For context, I grew up in a typical Pasifika (Pacific people living in New Zealand and Australia) family. We were extremely tightknit and God was central to all our decisions. Overly harsh discipline was combined with the moralistic expectations that came with being

FERNANDOAH—GETTY IMAGES

As an avid swimmer, it often felt like I was barely treading water . . .

the spirited youngest daughter of a church minister. In my case, this led to feelings of inadequacy and unworthiness that in later years seriously affected my mental health.

The idea that I could experience thoughts of suicide seemed incompatible with my Christian faith. Until I had my crisis, I also believed that my faith was directly connected to my health. Erroneously, I believed that if I had strong faith, then God would see me through every challenge, be they physical or mental. Therefore, I should not be experiencing thoughts of inadequacy or unworthiness!

Living through a deep bout of depression is not easy. It takes a lot of resilience to come out the other side.

The great Winston Churchill (former British prime minister) described his

bouts of depression as a “black dog” that followed him around. Honestly, sometimes it feels that way. As an avid swimmer, it often felt like I was barely treading water, doing just enough to keep my head from going under. Occasionally I had the feeling of being at the bottom of a deep pit and seeing the top of the hole as a small light—both very reminiscent of my actual childhood, with fears of not being able to breathe underwater or being stuck in a dark place with no light. No matter how people describe their experiences when going through depression, for those individuals they are real and a huge challenge to overcome.

As a Pasifika, sadly I was not alone. The suicide statistics for Māori and Pasifika in Aotearoa New Zealand are over-represented1. We AUGUST 2022 • SIGNS OF THE TIMES.ORG.AU

41

mental wellbeing and overall health.

As a result, I felt that the session we had on stress was one of the most powerful. The course participants came to a new understanding of how the major factors that contributed to increased rates of obesity and type 2 diabetes were related as much to mental wellbeing as they were to what they ate or how they moved.

There is a common misperception that Pasifika are laid-back and easy-going with not too much to worry about. Actually, we know that Pasifika living in New Zealand are more likely to be financially challenged, living in multi-generational housing consisting of six or more residents cramped into a substandard dwelling. We also know they are more likely to be devout church supporters as well as culturally and spiritually obligated to be involved with their communities. They are

SUPPLIED, HEALTH.GOVT.NZ

know that many who attempt suicide live with depression and anxiety and most have little to no idea of how to get through it2. So, what makes it difficult for Māori or Pasifika to get the help they need when dealing with mental health issues?

Some time ago I was supporting a group of about 20 Pasifika people as they journeyed through a lifestyle program called CHIP (Complete Health Improvement Program, now known as PIVIO). PIVIO is best known for advocating a healthy lifestyle through a focus on diet and an increase in physical activity, but the last few sessions focus on the emotional and mental aspects of health. For our Pasifika group, it was noteworthy that while they were buzzing with excitement about how they were feeling from their change in diet and physical activity, they had not explored the correlation between

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also much more likely to be victims of domestic violence3. All of these factors create an environment where stress, anxiety and in many cases, depression will thrive. Of course, these factors are not unique to Pasifika people, yet they do feel added pressure from their families and faith community. Added to this is the expectation of maintaining a façade of being happy and well—largely because not doing that could be misconstrued as a lack of faith in God or perceived as shameful to their family or church.

If living in a faith-based community can potentially have such negative consequences, how then can belief in God bring peace and stability to one’s life?

Professor Sir Mason Drurie is a well-known and respected health leader in New Zealand. In the 1980s he designed the Te Whare Tapa Wha model of care4. This model of health uses the symbolism of the whare (Te Reo Māori word for “house”, pronounced “fuh-ree” with a rolled “r”), where each wall of the whare helps to support the other three. When one side is weak or crumbling, the other three are affected, which in

turn affects the overall stability of the whare.

His analogy is that we, as complete human beings, are the whare and each wall represents a different aspect of our overall health.

For example, one wall represents our physical health, another our emotional/social health, another our mental health and the last our spiritual health. When one wall is damaged, we need to build resilience by mending it while at the same time supporting the others to bring strength and stability to the building. Each is as important as the others.

Our idea of a loving God cannot be limited to loving only one aspect of our person.

God’s love is not limited to those who struggle with just physical or spiritual health. He loves us even when we struggle mentally. God doesn’t just look at us at our best; He loves us as a whole person. I was wrong to think that my faith in God would automatically preclude my mental health crises. In fact, it was my belief in the full extent of God’s love that helped me through it.

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free

respect all aspects of our wellbeing in order to manage during times of crisis or to negate the corrosive experiences of daily life. If you’d like to take a step toward mental wellness today, visit <piviohealth.com>.

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LIVE EVENT

Adrielle Carrasco is the health ministries leader and liaison for women's ministry for the Seventh-day Adventist Church New Zealand Pacific. She lives in Auckland, New Zealand.

1. <mentalhealth.org.nz/suicide-prevention/statistics-on-suicide-in-new-zealand>.

2. <health.govt.nz/your-health/conditions-and-treatments/mental-health/preventing-suicide/suicidal-feelings-what-look-out>.

3. <pasefikaproud.co.nz/assets/Resources-for-download/PasefikaProudResource-Nga-Vaka-o-Kaiga-Tapu-Main-Pacific-Framework.pdf>.

4. <mentalhealth.org.nz/getting-through-together/ wellbeing-for-parents-and-whanau/te-whare-tapawha-GTT>.

Hear more about Greg’s

miraculous story FLY VIEW PRODUCTIONS—GETTY IMAGES

that helped. My physical health required me to eat well, get good rest and be more physically active.

My emotional health required me to practise gratitude, maintain a routine and set goals. My spiritual health required me to trust in the God who loved me despite my negative thoughts and feelings of despair.

While there were many other tools that were useful, I found these to be what worked best for me and in using them I was able to support and build resilience for my mental wellbeing. I needed medication and psychotherapy to help me navigate life at that time and I also needed to learn that being mentally unwell holds no more stigma than being physically unwell.

If anything, my mental health crises taught me the very real importance there is in maintaining a balanced life through a sustained belief in a higher power. Just like in the analogy of the whare, we need to

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By Nathan Brown

COURTESY DESMOND DOSS COUNCIL

I

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n one sense, it was hardly an unusual story: a big-budget Hollywood war movie with a big-name director and famous actors, featuring long and ultra-violent action sequences, with heroes and enemies. And—of course—critical and popular acclaim and a string of major awards, including two Oscars for its technical production. But in another sense, it is one of the most unlikely stories: a United States army medic who—because of his faith—refused to carry a gun, even in the midst of one of the bloodiest battles of World War II, yet was the first conscientious objector to receive the Medal of Honor for his heroic actions on that battlefield.

The unlikely true story is that of Desmond Doss, a medic in the United States Army’s 77th Infantry Division deployed to the Pacific in 1945 and engaged in the fierce

Battle of Okinawa against the Japanese Imperial Forces. Doss was raised in Lynchburg, Virginia, as a Seventh-day Adventist Christian and was committed to keeping the 10 Commandments, including the commands to “Remember the Sabbath . . .” and “Thou shalt not kill” (see Exodus 20:1–17)—even amid the worst of the fighting at Okinawa’s Hacksaw Ridge. And it was on this battlefield that he rescued as many as 75 injured soldiers, lowering them safely down a cliff face while under fire himself, all the while praying to be able to rescue “one more” of his men, some of whom had previously ridiculed him for his faith.

Doss’s remarkable story was retold in 2016 in Mel Gibson’s Hacksaw Ridge, with the role of Desmond Doss played by Andrew Garfield.

Filmed in Australia, it also features a number of recognisable local actors AUGUST 2022 • SIGNS OF THE TIMES.ORG.AU

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At that time, Benedict and his family were living near Doss in Tennessee and this allowed him to spend time with Doss and earn his trust. “Hollywood had been chasing him to tell his story for 55 years and he kept saying no,” Benedict recalls.

“So one day we were standing in front of a grocery store in Tennessee and I told him that I really felt that his story would be valuable and inspirational to the whole world, and my commitment to him was that I would answer to God first, him second—and everyone else could get in line.

“I really meant that because we would get one chance to tell his story and it is such an inspirational story that we had to tell it in a way that was very clear, compelling—and authentically straightforward. He got a big smile and agreed on the spot then and there that we would do it.”

Benedict remembers the relationship that he grew with Doss as

AUGUST 2022 • SIGNS OF THE TIMES.ORG.AU

COURTESY DESMOND DOSS COUNCIL

in smaller roles, including Hugo Weaving, Rachel Griffiths and Sam Worthington. Also listed among the many people in the production team is a less well known filmmaker, Terry Benedict. He devoted some 17 years to telling this story, including making his own documentary about the Desmond Doss story—The Conscientious Objector, launched in 2004—and spending time with Doss in this process, remaining friends with him until Doss’s death at age 87 in 2006.

“I first read Desmond’s story as a kid,” Benedict explains, “and it stuck with me my whole life. When it came back around in 1999, I remembered just how much that story affected me as far as Desmond standing up for his belief system and having faith that God would carry him through whatever he faced. And when I met Desmond, I realised that really was who he was and it made me want to tell his story even more.”

an older man as one of the most influential in his life. It affected him personally and also became a major part of his professional life.

“When I was making the documentary, there was a moment when I was discouraged and wondering how I was going to get this to come together in a way that would meet the standard of excellence that I was expecting of myself and of our team.

Desmond asked me what was wrong, noticing that there was something on my mind. And I shared with him what I was feeling. He just kind of smiled and said, ‘Everything’s going to work out because you’ve made a commitment to God to tell my story in a way that can inspire others.’ Then he just said a little 30second prayer—and this was typical of Desmond—that cut to the bone and it would feel like everything was going to be OK. The burden was lifted.”

One of the unintended benefits of this long-term project for Benedict was that his young children got to know Doss, someone he considered a true role model. “When we talk about role models, we’re often disappointed when our role models fail us—but Desmond as a role model didn’t fail and I think that’s what makes his story so amazing,” Benedict explains. “He was not a perfect human being, but the way he carried himself in a very honest, transparent manner. Whatever flaws were there, we can see and accept, but the overriding theme of his story

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was that he was able to carry the day because he had this faith in God and he wasn’t going to allow anything to interrupt that relationship.”

When invitations had come to work with Hollywood studios to retell Doss’s story, he was concerned about how he would be portrayed and whether “Hollywood” would understand the faith that was foundational to who he was and his actions on the battlefield. After Doss’s death, Benedict became one of the protectors of this legacy and this was his key contribution to the Hacksaw Ridge project.

“I had given him assurances that I would do my best to always protect the essence of his character,” says Benedict. “So when Andrew Garfield came on board to play Desmond, he wanted to portray him as transpar50

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ently and as honestly as he could. We thought it would be a good idea if he came down to Tennessee and visited the pivotal geographical places in Desmond’s life. It gave Andrew the chance to see the very humble environment that Desmond grew up in, as well as connecting with me who had got to know Desmond closely.

We talked a lot about Desmond, the man and his faith. I think that translated incredibly well to the screen.

If you watch the documentary then Hacksaw Ridge, Andrew’s performance is pretty amazing in how seamlessly he represented Desmond.

He really did a terrific job.”

This was the culmination of a long process of dedication to telling this story, first as a documentary and then in its big-budget theatrical form. After completing the docu-

mentary, there was a 10-year process of sporadic meetings with production companies and producers in Los Angeles before progress seemed to be made.

“I really needed to make sure that we were going to create a team that was committed to sticking to Desmond’s story and what it meant as a story of character, faith and commitment. When Mel Gibson finally came on board, things really started to click along and then the other actors joined the team as well.”

So, after such a long development process—spending so much time with Desmond Doss’s story and walking the red carpet at the Oscars ceremony in 2017—what does Benedict hope those who saw the film or continue to watch it today will take away from it?

“I hope they will see that there is value in having a faith-based life,” Benedict says. “And, despite having to swim upstream at times with your faith, that at the end you can always rely on your faith in God to carry the day. That’s what Desmond would want, because that’s what his life was based on.”

To discover more about the story of Desmond Doss, visit <faithofdoss.com>.

Nathan Brown is an author and book editor at Signs Publishing Company. He enjoys history and is an advocate for social justice causes. He writes from Warburton, Victoria.

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FA IT H

THE FINAL

WAKE-UP CALL

We all need a wake-up call now and again.

This one has cosmic repercussions.

I

remember years ago driving to my hometown of Robertson in the Southern Highlands of NSW, Australia. It was a wet, foggy evening, and as I was nearing the crest of a hill on the outskirts of the village, I noticed a small, grey form rapidly approaching. Out of nowhere, a voice told me: “Veer to the right, now!” Startled, I did as I was told, and as I swerved at 80km/hour, I

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looked to the left to see an enormous wombat crossing the road where my car would have been.

If you’ve never encountered one before, let me explain. A wombat is a marsupial native to eastern Australia that is small, pudgy and can grow up to almost 40kg. They’re often referred to as “furry rocks”, as their weight and low centre of gravity make them remarkably deadly to

FERNANDOAH—GETTY IMAGES

BY JESSE HERFORD

speeding motorists. If you hit one side-on, you’ll risk flipping your car.

Hitting it head-on will risk you severely damaging your undercarriage.

Either way, the wombat probably wouldn’t be that pleased.

I was shaken at this near miss, as was my girlfriend in the passenger’s seat. When I asked her if she had told me to veer right, she replied that she hadn’t. It was like a higher power

had given me a wake-up call just at the right time.

We all need a wake-up call from time to time. I like to think I’m smart enough to deal with life on my own, but really, I don’t have all the answers. Like that night in Robertson, sometimes I need a wake-up call. Perhaps one of the most significant wake-up calls in the Bible is a scene in the book of Revelation AUGUST 2022 • SIGNS OF THE TIMES.ORG.AU

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TO FEAR OR NOT TO FEAR? (Revelation 14:6, 7)

The first angel’s message is not for any one group of people or nations: this Gospel ("Good News") has always been for everyone, and at the final moment of earth’s history, it remains an inclusive invitation.

Through His life, death and resurrection, Jesus has rescued humanity from the power of sin and is reaching out to all people to find ultimate restoration in Him. The message is simple: because of what Jesus has done, we are all invited to fear God! That seems contradictory. I don’t know about you, but there are a few

“

Violence can never win over the transformative power of love . . .

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things I’m afraid of. Heights, snakes and small, dark spaces feature on the list. But God? Certainly, many of us grew up with the image of a lightning-throwing, angry deity. But if we’re being honest, that image describes Zeus much more than it does the God of the Bible. Luckily, the Greek language helps us out here.

The word phobeomai means “to reverence”. John is drawing from a wellknown Old Testament idea: fearing God means taking Him seriously as the Creator of all things, putting our trust in Him and worshipping Him. To fear God is not to be afraid of Him. Rather, to do so is to fully surrender to Him as our Creator.

THE THREE ANGELS' MESSAGES OF REVELATION 14 SUMMARISED

1 2 3

END OF AN EMPIRE (Revelation 14:8)

Babylon is another recurring theme in the Bible. Once an ancient empire, it eventually became in the biblical imagination a symbol for any power structure that represents authoritarianism, violence and greed. Here the second angel’s message is of celebration: Babylon is fallen! For all its opulence, power and terror, it has been revealed for what it truly is: a hollow pretender.

Selfishness will never truly triumph over selflessness. The threat of violence can never win over the transformative power of love and any system that perpetuates the ideals of Babylon will in the end collapse under the weight of its own corruption.

(14:6, 7) Worship God! The time of no return has come.

(14:8) Babylon has fallen!

(14:9–11) If anyone remains committed to Babylon and its corrupt ideals, they will experience the eternal consequences of God's justice.

ETERNAL CONSEQUENCES (Revelation 14:9–11)

DZIMA1, GOODGRAPHIC—GETTY IMAGES

involving the worship of a hideous beast, an ancient empire and three mysterious angels. You can read the entire passage in Revelation 14:6–12, but for now we’ll focus on a few key moments.

The third angel’s message continues the theme of the first and second.

It’s a call to worship, as well as a reminder of the consequences for those who perpetuate the corrupting evil of Babylon. If we persist in giving ourselves over to selfishness, violence and greed, we will eventually bring about our own undoing.

It’s at this point we should address a misconception in the text. The last portion seems to suggest that those who worship the beast will be burned in hell forever: “They will be tormented with fire and burning sulfur in the presence of the holy angels and the Lamb.

And the smoke of their torment will

rise forever and ever. They will have no relief day or night, for they have worshipped the beast and his statue and have accepted the mark of his name” (Revelation 14:10, 11).

A surface-level reading would seem to support the popular idea of an everlasting hell where sinners are tormented endlessly, unable to die.

The problem is this picture doesn’t harmonise with the rest of Scripture.

The language of “fire and sulphur” echoes the Old Testament story of Sodom and Gomorrah. These were two ancient Middle Eastern cities who were destroyed by God because of their evil. Just like the smoke that rose from the two cities (Genesis 19:28), the smoke that rises from the remains of Babylon represents the finality of AUGUST 2022 • SIGNS OF THE TIMES.ORG.AU

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its judgement [To learn more about final resting place (pun intended). an alternative to the idea of an eternal This wake-up should be confronthell, check out page 18]. In the same ing for all of us. The good news is the way, Isaiah prophesies that God fact that because we’re able to talk would punish the kingdom of Edom about it, it means we still have time with fire and sulphur that would left! Scenes like this are designed to “not be quenched day and night” invite us to see the world the way (Isaiah 34:8–10).1 If you were to take God sees it and respond to Him. The a trip to the Middle East today, you three angels’ messages may be full of wouldn’t see Sodom, Gomorrah or dense language, but to boil it down, Edom still burning. Fire consumes their message is simple. God is and never preserves, as one scholar reaching out to you and I, imploring remarks.2 us to put our trust in Him before In the biblical it’s too late. We imagination, often think things death (not eternal are always getting suffering) is the better but with wars ultimate result of raging around us, It's God's deep sin. God does not economies on the take pleasure in brink of collapse desire that you the suffering of and the reality of a humans, so if you or and I will be able global pandemic, to experience new it’s clear to me that I choose not to put our trust in Him, this world has an life in a remade the most merciful expiry date. It is thing He could do is world one day.

God’s deep desire honour our choice that you and I will as well as the natural consequence of be able to experience new life in a it. The tragic truth is that there is no remade world one day. If you want to life apart from the life giver Himself. respond to God’s wake-up call, get in Anyone who chooses not to live in a touch with a local Adventist church relationship with God will in the end today by visiting <adventistchurch. no longer have access to life itself. com/locations/>.

If we choose to live in a trusting Jesse Herford is a pastor and associate editor for the Australian/New Zealand edition of Signs of the Times. relationship with God, it’s like enterHe lives in Sydney, Australia with his wife, Carina and ing into divine rest. By contrast, if we their dog, Banjo. reject God’s way of love and embrace 1. Ranko Stefanovic, Revelation of Jesus Christ: Commentary on the Book of Revelation, Second Babylon, we will be barred from Edition, 460-461. it (Hebrews 4:1–11). Like Sodom 2. Stefanovic, 461. and Gomorrah, our acceptance or rejection of God will determine our

“

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Signs of the Times radio is being enjoyed all across Australia and New Zealand on Faith FM and online. The Signs of the Times team discuss the latest in current world events, faith and wellbeing with experts and guests. Ready to feel informed and inspired?

K

CE

EN

MA

EA

DIFFER

VALLEY OF plenty “I don't think anyone should go hungry, especially in Australia. With the cost of living going up a lot lately, more people are going to need help, and the needs are going to be greater.”

by Ashley Stanton

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community through their actions and service.

“I have only ever received really positive and grateful feedback from clients regarding the hampers they have received from ADRA,” says Ginette Beguely, emergency relief coordinator/ caseworker at WCC. “Many clients have told us that the hampers are incredibly lovely and well thought out in terms of what is provided.”

For many of the volunteers involved, they desire to show their community that they care about them and that their doors are always open to offer love and support.

“I think being involved with the ADRA pantry is a great way to help people that are going through some hard times,” says Ricklin. “And I trust it gives hope to those who may have lost a bit of hope. It shows we care about them.

“It means a lot to me that I can be Jesus’ hands and feet to those around me in my community. Jesus said, ‘Freely you have received, freely give.’”

ADRA supports a wide variety of ministries and initiatives throughout Australia and New Zealand.

Ashley Stanton lives in Sydney, where she works in its communication and marketing team. Signs of the Times is a proud partner of ADRA.

Honest feedback from a recent client: I walked alone.

Starving and desolate Broken and bereft I prayed for relief Searching on barren land For a modicum of peace No light to be seen And when all hope was gone In my place stood a withered twig The bright dawn Of a prayer answered Of salvation on the darkened hue There was YOU

SUPPLIED

T

his quote is from Ricklin, a volunteer at the ADRA Plenty Valley program in Victoria. This program operates a community food pantry, run by volunteers from the local Plenty Valley and Mernda Community Seventh-day Adventist Churches. In a state that has endured devastating bushfires and the debilitating effects of Covid lockdowns, the demand for food relief has never been greater. Ronni Kahn, founder and chief executive at OzHarvest, says that searches for food relief on their website are up 62 per cent from pre-Covid times.

And the team at ADRA Plenty Valley are doing their part to help their community get through these difficult times.

“We have a team of volunteers who shop and deliver personalised food hampers to clients referred to us by Whittlesea Community Connections (WCC),” says Donna Pascoe, manager of ADRA Plenty Valley. “We provide fresh fruit, vegetables and meat along with non-perishable food items and toiletries.

We are here to serve!”

Desiring to be a beacon of hope in challenging times, the ADRA Plenty Valley team are motivated by their Christian values to share the love of God with their

AUGUST 2022 • SIGNS OF THE TIMES.ORG.AU

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W

ELL B EING Our immune system and our gut microbiota (the bacteria in our gut) work together to create our body’s first line of defence against invaders—preventing harmful bacteria, or pathogens, from living in our gut. In fact, the majority of our immune cells actually live in our gut and help shape the composition of bacteria in our gut.

Our gut bacteria talk to our immune cells, “training” them so they can identify what is a dangerous invader, like a virus, from what is a friendly substance, or even our body’s own cells and tissues.

Our gut bacteria also digests our food, breaking it down into nutrients and metabolites that help trigger a range of functions in our body that are important for good immunity. This includes telling our body how to fight harmful pathogens, stopping the growth of pathogens and helping to manage inflammation.

So what foods are best for a healthy gut?

WHY A

HEALTHY GUT IS GOOD FOR IMMUNITY

Gut health plays a crucial role in supporting our immune system. To put it simply, a healthier gut means you have a better chance of warding off bugs and germs. But why?

WHOLEGRAIN BREADS AND CEREALS Foods high in wholegrains and cereal fibre help create a healthy gut by increasing diversity of gut bacteria and providing the prebiotics to fuel them.

Wholegrains and cereal fibre contain resistant starch and soluble fibres that are digested, or “fermented”, by the gut bacteria.

GETTY IMAGES

FRUIT AND VEGGIES Fruit and veggies also contain fibres and prebiotics that feed the gut bacteria.

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Next time you're at the supermarket add these budget friendly and naturally high in prebiotics fruit and veggies to the list— asparagus, onions, cabbage, apples and pears. Grab some chickpeas and tree nuts while you are there too.

High fibre vegetarian and vegan diets have been shown to create a more diverse range of beneficial bacteria and a more stable environment in the gut, than diets that include a high amount of meat (and may also be lower in fibre). They also contain powerful plant compounds that help to increase bacteria diversity.

Specifically, the polyphenols in plant foods increase Bifidobacterium and Lactobacillus—gut bacteria that provide anti-pathogenic and anti-inflammatory effects.

PROBIOTIC FOODS Probiotics are found in some yoghurts and fermented plant foods like sauerkraut, kimchi and pickles, and fermented drinks such as kombucha and kefir. Probiotics are beneficial live bacteria or yeasts found naturally in the gut and in some foods.

So, while we can increase the diversity of gut bacteria by feeding them well with prebiotics, we can also add more bacteria to our gut with probiotics.

As well as eating a healthy diet, drinking plenty of water, exercising regularly, ensuring you get enough sleep, and keeping your stress in check are all factors that influence immunity.

For more information and research references check out the full article on the Sanitarium website.

For more information and research references check out the full article on the Sanitarium website.

AUGUST 2022 • SIGNS OF THE TIMES.ORG.AU

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FUN

CROSSWORD

CROSSWORD CLUES

How closely have you been reading? Each keyword in this puzzle is also contained within this edition of Signs of the Times.

Happy digging!

DOWN 1 Originally called "The Landlord's Game" 2 A place where people are unexpectedly longlived 3 The Te Reo Māori word for "house" 4 New Plymouth is the most populous town in this region 7 An unexpected gift, undeserved from God 9 Desmond Doss called himself a "conscientious" what?

13 "To the tooth"

SOPHIE TURNER—UNSPLASH

Hint: 4 Down

EDUCATION.COM

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ACROSS 5 What do a cat, a medic and Spider-Man have in common?

6 A rare pine tree 8 The seventh day of the week 10 A city in which to gamble your money away 11 "To reverence" 12 Someone who cuts your hair 14 Ink on your skin

SUDOKU EASY

6

5 7

2

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9 6

6 9

4 9

1

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3

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8 1

8 6

3

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HARD

6 2 1

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SOLUTIONS AVAILABLE ONLINE SIGNSOFTHETIMES.ORG.AU AUGUST 2022

• SIGNSOFTHETIMES.ORG.AU

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