Signs of the Times - August 2019

AUGUST 2019

KEN DUNCAN’S

BIGGER PICTURE WILL YOU BE MY NEIGHBOUR?

HOLY SPIRIT what the Bible says

A CHRISTIAN PERSPECTIVE ON THE WORLD TODAY

IN THIS ISSUE

AUGUST 2019

KEN DUNCAN'S BIGGER PICTURE PAGE 32 Take a wider view

6 CURRENT

WHAT IN THE WORLD STEWARDS OF THE UPPER HOUSE What drives a Christian to become involved in politics?

13 YOUR SAY Social media speaks out on Christians in government 14 WILL YOU BE MY NEIGHBOUR? Change countries; change your perspective 4 6

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54

WELLBEING

20 EASING THE PAIN Is surgery the best

solution for back pain?

38 GO HEALTHY FOR GOOD Health news for every body 60 HOW TO GLOW FROM THE INSIDE OUT Foods that are good for you and your skin

FAITH

26 COMING HOME

God made families 40 THE HOLY SPIRIT What does the Bible say?

CULTURE

46 THE GOSPEL ACCORDING

TO LEONARD A grandmother mourns 54 WHY WE LOVE TO PLAY THE GAME OF THRONES Lessons from HBO's hit television show

SCIENCE & TECH

52 THE CUTTING EDGE What’s happening in

research, engineering and technology?

FUN

62 CROSSWORD & SUDOKU Have you been paying

attention? Yes, there will be a test!

FIND US ON SOCIAL MEDIA 2

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/SIGNSOFTHETIMES

FROM THE EDITOR

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here comes a strange dilemma when we humans manage to sort out the basics of survival and have time to consider the world we live in—and the inner universe of the heart, mind and soul. While we derive pleasure from exploring deeper and expressing ourselves through the sciences, technology, sports and the arts, we’re too often left with the feeling that something is missing—sometimes it just seems so pointless.

Tragically, some lose their lives through depression and suicide as these spiralling thoughts drag them down—Lenny’s story (page 46) is a sobering reminder of this. Others find a passion and follow it singlemindedly, as we see with a number of our politicians (page 6). Even fiction explores these themes—check out Mark Hadley’s Game of Thrones wrap up for a sterling example (page 54).

The search for meaning and purpose has preoccupied human beings for millennia. King Solomon (900s BC) devoted an entire book of the Bible, Ecclesiastes, to complaining about how pointless life seems and how his various projects, pursuits and pleasures failed to fill the void in his soul.

It’s an experience paralleled by Australia’s pioneering panoramic landscape photographer, Ken Duncan, the subject of this month’s cover story (page 32). And, strangely, the conclusions that both Duncan and Solomon came to are strikingly similar. It seems that focusing on me, me, me, ends in misery. We need a higher purpose; a wider view. I pray this month’s Signs magazine will help you find it.

Kent

KENT KINGSTON Editor

VOL 134 NO 8 ISSN 1038-9733 EXECUTIVE PUBLISHER Brad Kemp EDITOR Kent Kingston ASSISTANT EDITOR Daniel Kuberek COPYEDITOR Tracey Bridcutt GRAPHIC DESIGN Nerise McQuillan Theodora Amuimuia 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, $A26; New Zealand, $NZ26; 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 PHOTO: Selfies—Ken Duncan

@Kent_SignsMag AUGUST 2019 • SIGNS OF THE TIMES

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WHAT IN THE WORLD RE-TYRED, BUT BACK IN BUSINESS

DIMINISHING PROSPECT UNITED KINGDOM

Miniature pigs may sound like a cute fantasy, but scientists have predicted their place in the future. According to a study by the University of South Hampton, UK, animals are shrinking due to environmental changes. The body mass of mammals is collectively predicted to decrease by 25 per cent during the coming century.—New Daily

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GOH RHY YAN, KAMERON KINCADE, MATTHEW SPITERI—UNSPLASH, MARIJA JOVOVIC—GETTY IMAGES, FREEPIK

AUSTRALIA

A new green recycling plant for expired tyres is up and running northwest of Dubbo, NSW. The Environment Protection Authority finally issued a much-sought-after licence for the project to go ahead.

Instead of discarding old tyres into landfill they will now be recreated into oil, steel and carbon at the plant. The process is called destructive distillation and will, at full capacity, repurpose 685,000 tyres per year.—ABC

PHOTOGRAPHY ONLY REMEMBER 10% People

NORDIC PARADOX SCANDINAVIA

The most feminist countries in the world have the highest rates of Intimate Partner Violence against women (IPV). Are these statistics skewed because Scandanavian women are more likely to report IPV? No. It turns out they are actually less likely to report IPV. According to The Guardian, no country is doing enough to reach the goal of gender equality by 2030.—harvardpolitics.com / The Guardian

SLOW-MOVING PROGRESS CHINA

The decline of elephant poaching is connected with a drop in the Chinese economy. Numbers started to decline before the 2017 ban on ivory trading.

In the three years leading up to the ban, the price of ivory declined by 50 per cent. And the poaching mortality rate has dropped from 10 per cent in 2011 to 4 per cent in 2017. Experts say it's a positive trend but still not enough to sustain a steady population of elephants.—The Guardian

of information three days after hearing it.

When COMBINED with

PICTURES this

INCREASES TO 65%.—MDG Advertising

Of the 1.2 TRILLION PHOTOS taken in 2017,

85% were on SMARTPHONES. Only 10.3% were on DIGITAL CAMERAS.—Moblivious

Earlier this year, photography was named ONE of the 25 WORSTPAID occupations in the United States, based on WORK

ENVIRONMENT, STRESS LEVELS,

FUTURE PROSPECTS and INCOME. —PetaPixel

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STEWARDS OF THE

Upper House

What drives a Christian to become involved in politics?

Three stories; three different journeys of how faith is expressed in public service.

BY DANIEL KUBEREK

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IMAGES BY DANIEL KUBEREK

Young Liberal Josie Jakovac is studying Law/Commerce at Sydney University.

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n an age where the place of Christianity in society is hotly debated, faith-based voters are seeking like-minded representatives.

But for those who heed the call, what are their drives and motivations for working in public service? To find answers, I sought out the help of three Christians who represent three different parties with unique ideologies. Mitchell Strahan is a theology graduate who stood as a candidate for the Liberal Democrat party in the 2019 NSW state election. Desley Scott is the former Labor Member for the state electorate of Woodridge in Queensland, where she served for almost 14 years. And Josie Jakovac, who is in her second year of Law/ Commerce at the University of

Sydney, is a member of the NSW Young Liberal movement, electorate officer for Federal Member Julian Lesser (Berowra) and campaigned in both the recent NSW and Federal elections.

As I sat with Strahan, he thoughtfully recounted his journey of running for the Ku-ring-gai electorate in March this year. “I remember back when I was much younger I was following Australian politics,” he said. “When I was about 10 years old, I said I wanted to go to the UN one day.” While politics was always an area of interest, Strahan studied and completed a degree in theology in 2014 and has since been working while also studying a Masters in secondary teaching.

While Labor lost 44 seats (and the government) at the 2012 Queensland election, Desley Scott easily held Woodridge.

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PATRICIA JANNIDES—NEWSPIX, PARLIAMENT HOUSE—WIKIMEDIA COMMONS

Scott joined me over the phone from Queensland, having retired as an MP in 2015. Her story begins far from the usual Labor hotbeds of university politics and trade unions.

“I left [high] school after two years because not a lot of us went on to senior at that stage,” she said. “Apart from going along and voting on the particular person who was running and reading bits and pieces of them, politics wasn’t something I was really interested in . . .”

Listening to 19-year-old Jakovac, her burning passion makes it clear that she has ambitions to be a rising force in her sphere of influence. “I’ve always felt this deep conviction that this is the path that I’m supposed to take,” she said. “The night after I was offered a place at Sydney Law School, mum shared with me that when I was a toddler I used to sit next to her in the kitchen with a little meat hammer, smashing it on the benchtop, going ‘Order in the court!’… So, I really have always loved the law and politics.”

It was that drive that led her to an internship on Capitol Hill earlier this year, working for Senator Jim

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. . . three Christians who represent three different parties . . .

Inhofe—chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee—in Washington D.C. These are three unique individuals with three very different upbringings. Strahan found that his desire to become politically involved came amid turmoil. “It was a really stressful time for me. There was the thought I should be getting a job, settling down, working, showing that I can provide,” he said. “I found myself re-assessing everything.

I walked a fine line between holding onto God and letting go of God. . . . And part of that questioning was my politics.” After a lot of prayerful soul-searching, he made a decision to join the Liberal AUGUST 2019 • SIGNS OF THE TIMES

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. . . the call can come during times of difficulty or in unexpected moments . . .

Democratic party in July 2018.

Scott’s story in politics began with a job as an electoral officer in her local Member’s office. Working in the administration team for 16 years—including taking care of up to 46 phone calls a day—prepared her for a phone call that would change everything. After the resignation of the incumbent Member, she got a phone call from then-Queensland Premier Peter Beattie. “He said ‘Desley, we want you to run for Woodridge.’ The election was only five weeks away. I said ‘Peter, there’s no way in the world I want to run for parliament. I’m too old.’

I was 52. I said, ‘I’m uneducated . . . I’m a Seventh-day Adventist, I go to church on a Saturday.’ Peter said, ‘Look, all I want for you is to keep looking after the people of Woodridge the way you’ve been doing.’” Despite much hesitation, Scott accepted the call the following 10

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“God . . . doesn’t force us to do things . . .”

Libertarian Mitchell Strahan.

morning, beginning what would be an incredible late-blooming career in Queensland’s Parliament.

For Jakovac, reflecting on her journey has highlighted God’s leading in her life. “I wanted to join the Liberal Party for a long time,” she said. “But I was focusing a lot on my studies. . . . University of Sydney (USYD) law is very competitive. You need that 99.5 [ATAR] otherwise it doesn’t happen directly. . . . For my high school certificate, I got in the 98’s, which I was proud of but it wasn’t high enough. . . . My prayer throughout Year 12 was always, ‘Heavenly Father, my school is small, but I am going to give these exams everything I have. If this is the path You want for me, You need to be the

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IMAGES BY DANIEL KUBEREK

one who carries me over that line.’”

It was only after being one of the last people allowed in to the Future Leaders Scheme that Jakovac’s dream of studying law at USYD was realised. “I was dux and school captain.

So they [USYD] considered this all and offered me a place straight out of high school.” Not only that, but she reached out to a friend she happened to meet overseas three years earlier at the International Science and Engineering Fair, who travelled to her and helped sign her up to the NSW Young Liberals. “Every step I take in this direction, God reminds me He’s in control,” she said, seeming to glow with purpose.

In the same way that God works in mysterious ways, the call can

come during times of difficulty or in unexpected moments, or it can be part of a destiny when viewed in hindsight.

But even holding to a shared faith can translate into contrasting political doctrines. Strahan attributes his belief in libertarianism—the emphasis of political freedom and a key view of his party—to his understanding of God. “He is a God of love and doesn’t force us to do things. . . . The party I’m a part of is all about individual choice, individual responsibility. And letting people make choices, as long as those choices don’t hurt others.” For Scott, in contrast, a core part of her politics is social justice. “I always say that if you look at my politics, I’m in the right of my party. But if you look at my church, I’m probably a little to the left of my church,” she said. “I guess the reason that I’m at home in the Labor Party [is that] we have that heightened sense of social justice.” Evident in these stories is that sharing a faith doesn’t necessarily translate into sharing political views.

Valuing different issues leads to unique political views, in the same ways that the apostle Paul emphasised freedom of conscience in the Bible. “You, my brothers and sisters, were called to be free. But do not use your freedom to indulge the flesh; rather serve one another humbly in love” (Galatians 5:13).

The Bible presents a unique set of beliefs to a secular world, and following the Christian faith can

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be challenging—there’s a constant awareness for a politically involved Christian that they’re not just accountable to their party or electorate, there’s also a divine Upper House they’re called to represent. Balancing this can be hard, but each of my interviewees has found that their peers respect them for their faith. For Scott, it was about holding strong to her religious principles. “Most times when I would be invited to something on the Sabbath, [I’d say] ‘Look, that’s my day at church. But I’d love to come to your organisation another time. . . . All of my colleagues knew my faith.”

Jakovac expressed a similar commitment. “I think it’s all about consistency. . . . People expect most politicians and lawyers to say one thing one day and do something else the next,” she said. “But having those really resolute things that your worldview is built [around], you know what you stand for. . . I’d never lose my faith. If anything it’s been sharpened, because I’ve had to defend it at times. I find most people really respect that about me.”

But what about freedom of speech? The dismissal of rugby player Israel Folau for voicing his religious views has kept the issue at the forefront of mainstream news for months. So how can Christian voices in parliament help in maintaining freedom of religion? Strahan believes that a separation of church and state is the key. “I believe the government should be secular and should work 12

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to represent the interests of every person, regardless of their beliefs,” he said. “We only need to look at the countries with state religions to see that that has led to a lot of hardship and suffering for minorities.”

Strahan, Jakovac and Scott all agree that churches as institutions should not be involved in politics—but religious people still need representation and protection.

“Australia is growing more and more secular. But the majority of people in this country still have some sort of faith. That’s exactly why we need [Christians] in the legal and political spaces,” Jakovac said. “Because we need leaders who can be there to speak up for our churches. We need people willing and able to serve their communities, which includes protecting people of faith.”

Strahan summed up what it takes to make a difference as a Christian: “You have to be there. Once you’re there, regardless of whether you try with big things or small things, that’s when things start to happen. I do remember the words of Jesus when He said that ‘Whoever can be trusted with very little can also be trusted with much’” (Luke 16:10).

Daniel Kuberek describes himself as a political centrist. He is assistant editor of Signs of the Times.

Your

SAY

Church[es] that involve in politics around the world is not to be trusted.

—Jinniya McIver

should Christians be involved MORE or LESS in politics?

Often governments in many countries oppress their own people. . . . The people who live in such countries are helpless and are very afraid, they cannot talk, their human rights are taken away. If Christians are the so-called good people who don’t talk on their behalf and turn a blind eye to the atrocities, killing, what would Jesus say?—Pouthong Hour

Seeing how we Christians have to live here as well, yes we should, especially now it seems other politicians want to silence us out of existence.—Evelyn Cooke

If we don’t stand up for what we believe in, our national moral compass will be ‘to and froing like the wind’.—Elizabeth Upjohn

Religion in politics has caused most of the wars in history.—Dean Charles Massam

Our main calling is to share the gospel.

Not dictate or push our beliefs via political clout. . . . There is an overall moral standard of virtually every faith or belief. Maintain these for social structure, but please let’s not combine church and state.—Elizabeth Bamford

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Will you be my

BESTGREENSCREEN—GETTY IMAGES

NEIGHBOUR?

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Struggling to understand the refugee experience? You may catch a glimpse if you move to a new country for work or family reasons.

BY KIRSTEN OSTER LUNDQVIST

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cially when you cross continents and cultures. For some of us it’s a privileged choice; for others there are no choices—the move comes out of a desperate need.

People have always been on the move—to explore, to make better lives or to flee in fear. Whether it’s Europeans migrating to Australia or New Zealand, Polynesians sailing into the Pacific or central Asians moving to Alaska. And of course travelling has become easier and faster with time.

When our family moved across the world to New Zealand, it was a choice for us to leave all we knew.

Making the decision without having visited the country previously did

DJANGO—GETTY IMAGES

ome of us are nomadic by nature. We might not live in a tent, but we move to work in a new place, sometimes a new country or even a new continent.

Anyone who has moved to a new neighbourhood will tell you that it involves learning a whole new geog­ raphy of living—finding where to shop, what schools are best for your kids, deciding on utility companies and fitting yourself into your new home while evaluating what level of neighbourly interaction you want.

And that’s before you even begin to consider having to learn a new language and a new culture.

Moving is one of the most stressful events in our lives—espe-

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give me some anxiety, but as I have one of those nomadic hearts and have lived on four continents and worked in six countries, I looked at it as more of an adventure than a source of fear.

And we were welcomed to New Zealand; we were made to feel at home. Within a matter of days I found that my heart resonated with our new country and I merged myself into a new culture. It didn’t take long until I discovered that the rhetoric among politicians and media regarding immigration and refugees was very different to what I had experienced in Europe.

There, I’d witnessed growing and quite disturbing anti-immigration attitudes filtering through the fabric of society; such language is not as common here.

This was really evident when, in March this year, 50 people were killed in a house of worship and the nation of New Zealand came together in shock, mourning and solidarity. “They are us” became the repeated response to the tragedy, quoting Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern. In the midst of the shock, there also came recognition that this type of hatred had found fertile ground here. In the aftermath of the terror attack, how we choose to respond will have an effect on healing the country and the people, but will also send a clear message that such hatred is not reflective of the majority of the population.

Visiting the Te Papa national

museum in Wellington was an eye-opener for me. The exhibition, Passport, focuses on the people who have migrated to New Zealand in the past 200 years. What struck me was a section of the exhibit that told the stories of the refugees who had come to New Zealand—where they had come from and why. These were refugees who had no hope of remaining in their home country, if their country still existed—people who had left everything behind.

Unlike me, they hadn’t had their stuff shipped over in a container; but, like me, they were people who were becoming part of a nation they didn’t grow up in.

They didn’t have the privileges that come from being a pale, blonde European like me. And, unlike a refugee, I don’t know war, I haven’t lived in fear of my life. But we have all come to New Zealand; we have moved into a new community asking, “Will you be my neighbour?”

People of faith are called to love their neighbour, and we do okay with loving people who are like us; we tend to move in circles with people from similar ethnic and social backgrounds. But what happens when someone who doesn’t look like you stands at the door of your community and asks, “Will you be my neighbour?”

One of the challenges for nations today is the volume of people migrating. Even though people migrated to and from these same countries in centuries past, now some governAUGUST 2019 • SIGNS OF THE TIMES

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for safety. But what if it were you ments are closing their doors, saying, or me? The sobering, stark reality “There is no room here.” that it could have been me who We are often told through the was rejected at the door doesn’t sit media and by our politicians that there is a refugee crisis. But is it really well. I can’t help remembering two well-known sayings of Jesus. First, a crisis, or is the problem how we see the Golden Rule: “Do to others what each other’s humanity? One church you would have them do to you” in the Netherlands decided to make (Matthew 7:12). That’s a principle a difference. According to The New that challenges me to see the world York Times, the Hague-based Bethel from the other Church held an person’s perspecuninterrupted worship service tive—to develop from October empathy. Then 26, 2018 to JanJesus challenges His disciples uary 30, 2019, on caring for taking advantage each other as if of an old law of . . . see the they were caring sanctuary that world from the for Him, their prevented police Messiah: “Whatfrom entering other person's the church ever you did for building to one of the least perspective . . . arrest and deport of these brothers an Armenian and sisters of asylum-seeking mine, you did family taking for me” (Matrefuge there. Nearly 1000 priests and thew 25:40). Those are particularly pastors from various denominations bracing words for me as a Christian: each took their turn at leading the not only am I to imagine myself in service, while worshippers also the other’s shoes, I am to recognise came and went. After 96 days of Jesus in the face of the most disaduninterrupted worship, a political vantaged—to see them as someone compromise was reached and the of supreme value and importance. family was told their deportation When we fail to look through would be postponed while their case history, it’s easy to forget how many is reviewed. of our fellow citizens—or their anIt’s easier to distance yourself from cestors—came as refugees from other the refugee crisis when you haven’t places, or left their country to be able met any refugees, or your family to feed their family and not fear a hasn’t fled their homeland, looking war. Exploring Te Papa’s exhibition,

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I walked down the timeline on the floor detailing when the different refugee groups had been welcomed into New Zealand. As I reached the beginning of the line, I saw that the very first refugee group New Zealand welcomed in 1865, were my people—refugees from Denmark.

That hit home . . . hard. How often do I reflect on my heritage and recognise that at one time in history, my people needed to flee to a new country as refugees?

It was a profound realisation.

Here I am in a country that opens its doors to people fleeing war and persecution, but I never thought of my

people group as refugees—today we are a privileged country. My arrival to New Zealand was from a safe and wealthy nation, but, nevertheless, at one point in history, members of my tribe had stood here and asked, “Will you be my neighbour?”

If I wasn’t northern European, white and blonde, but from a different nation, standing at your border, or moving into your neighborhood, would you welcome me?

Kirsten Oster Lunqvist is an international Dane who has fallen in love with her new home of Wellington, New Zealand. As a pastor and communicator, she enjoys connecting with people.

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W

ELL B EING

Easing

THE PAIN

Chronic back pain is common. But when is it serious enough to consider going under the knife?

YURI ARCURS—GETTY IMAGES

BY SUVI MAHONEN

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n a sunny morning in July 2017, Gold Coast Titans second-rower Chris McQueen nervously lay waiting on a hospital gurney. He watched as the anaesthetist wiped his arm with an alcohol swab and winced as the needle of the intravenous cannula pierced his skin and slid up his vein.

McQueen was about to undergo a cervical spine total disc replacement and anterior cervical fusion to help repair damage sustained through eight years and 154 first-class games of brutal tackling in the NRL. He had felt comfortable with his decision to proceed with the surgery but, as he lay bathed in the slab of fluorescent lights, a wave of what-ifs hit him. What if something went wrong? What if he was paralysed?

What if he could never play another game of rugby again?

Just then his spinal surgeon, Dr Laurence McEntee, entered the anaesthetic bay wearing blue scrubs and a clean-shaven smile.

“We’re ready to go,” McEntee told McQueen, shaking his hand. “Any questions?”

“Will I be any taller after you replace my disc?” McQueen asked.

McEntee laughed. “Maybe by a millimetre or two.”

After McQueen was wheeled into the theatre, McEntee reviewed the diagnostic images one last time—he could see the bulging discs and bony spurs that were causing pain and numbness down both his arms and keeping him from his beloved game.

Once McQueen was asleep McEntee secured his head to the operating table with long strips of duct tape.

Then he put on a mask, scrubbed his hands, gowned and gloved and, taking a scalpel, made his first incision, being careful to avoid the Harry Potter Deathly Hallows tattoo splayed out on the burly man’s neck.

Although McQueen, at 29, was relatively young to be having this kind of surgery, he was far from unique. In fact, McEntee himself had had a similar operation at only 28.

“People don’t realise that spinal deterioration begins from their late teenage years onwards,” McEntee told me. “Generally, it’s a non-painful process with everyone’s spine wearing out at different rates.”

According to the Australian Institute of Health and Welfare, chronic back pain affects 3.7 million people and is the third leading cause of disease burden in Australia. In 2009 the direct healthcare expenditure on back pain alone was $1.2 billion.

McEntee says it’s a massive problem. “It’s probably the number one leading cause of musculoskeletal disability, certainly in working-age people.”

The causes of back pain are myriad, including muscle and ligament strain, inflammation, osteoarthritis, scoliosis and compression fractures secondary to osteoporosis.

However, McQueen was suffering from another common cause: radiculopathy, also known as nerve compression.

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This condition arises from the spine’s complex anatomy. The spinal column consists of 24 vertebrae, along with the sacrum and coccyx.

There are two main parts of a vertebrae: the body; and the vertebral arch, which forms a bony tunnel that protects the spinal cord.

The vertebrae are joined to each other by intervertebral discs, which are composed of an outer fibrous ring and an inner gel-like centre.

As we age the discs become more fibrous and less elastic, leading to disc shrinkage and bulging which can press on nerves. With trauma the fibrous ring can rupture, leading to extrusion of the gel-like centre and further nerve impingement.

With ageing and degeneration, bony spurs can grow out from the edges of vertebral bodies also causing nerve compression.

Management includes activity modification such as avoiding heavy lifting or prolonged sitting.

Paracetamol and non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs can be used to help with pain.

Most episodes of radiculopathy are self-limiting. However, if severe symptoms persist, surgery may be required to help relieve pressure on the nerves. This could involve removing part of a damaged disc, removing an entire damaged disc or joining vertebrae together to prevent movement and nerve impingement (spinal fusion).

“With the proper approach to the diagnosis and treatment of people, 22

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and then the right operation on the right person for the right reason, the results can be spectacular and really change people’s lives,” says McEntee.

There is limited evidence that surgery for chronic, non-specific, lower back pain is beneficial.

However if surgery is warranted, it’s often no easy task to have it.

Waiting times for public orthopaedic outpatient clinics are often substantial, with equally long waits once patients are seen before they can actually have surgery.

As a result, many, who can afford to, have turned to the private health care system to have their spinal surgery done. According to Private Healthcare Australia, more than 13,000 spinal surgeries were covered privately in the 2016–2017 financial year, costing health funds more than $380 million.

But even with private health cover, there can be nasty surprises. Spine Society of Australia president Dr Michael Johnson is concerned many private patients will only discover they are inadequately insured when they reach the stage where surgery is required.

“An example of this is nerve compression in the neck, known as cervical radiculopathy, which leads to pain and upper limb weakness,” he said. “Under new clinical categories, patients with Silver cover will only be covered for a posterior cervical decompression to treat this problem. In most cases, this is an inferior option as the dissection of the paraspinal

“

. . . the results can be spectacular and really change people's lives . . .

Spinal surgeon Dr Laurence McEntee

muscles leads to increased pain, higher infection rates and longer hospital stays.”

But Private Healthcare Australia CEO Dr Rachel David defends the tiered coverage model, saying private health needs to be sustainable. “This ultimately benefits all Australians by keeping pressure off the public hospital system,” she said.

Thankfully, up to 90 per cent of patients who see an orthopaedic surgeon won’t require surgery, says McEntee. “The vast majority of people can generally manage with regular exercise, maintaining good weight and posture, core muscle and back muscle strengthening exercises, and from physiotherapy.”

Indra Richmond-Suherman is a Darwin-based physiotherapist who recommends applying localised

heat for an acute disc bulge, taking anti-inflammatories and walking for at least 30 minutes a day.

He gives patients targeted exercises and stretches designed to reduce irritation of the sciatic nerve and improve back movement.

“Education is important regarding minimising aggravating movements,” he said. “This includes stopping bending movements, minimising bending-type stretches and getting out of their chair every 30 minutes.”

Surfers Health Medical Centre chiropractor Kate Hayter recommends staying positive. “There’s a big mental barrier when it comes to injured backs. But if you stay positive that can really help.” She says it’s important to persevere with rehabilitation. “People stop too early when they’re out of pain, but they don’t AUGUST 2019 • SIGNS OF THE TIMES

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realise that they’re still vulnerable to re-injury.”

Two hours after McQueen was anaesthetised, he woke to find his surgery was complete. The first thing he did, when it came time to change his bandages, was check to make sure his neck tattoos were intact.

Within a week he was moving his neck and getting back to his normal day-to-day life. Beginning with gentle exercises and rehabilitation weights, he began to slowly build up his strength. In January 2018, after having signed a three-year contract with the Wests Tigers, he was given the green light to begin full training again.

“I was still under-done in terms of my conditioning and just being back to NRL standard of footy, so I

started the season in reserve grade,” McQueen said. In round 11 he was called to the senior team for their clash against the Penrith Panthers, and subsequently played two more first-class games for the Tigers during the 2018 season.

He is pleased to report that he has full range of movement in his neck and no longer suffers from any radiculopathy. For anyone struggling with nerve compression, McQueen recommends surgery. “If you’re going ahead with the surgery, absolutely just look forward to it,” he said.

“Because it’s going to change your life for the better.”

Suvi Mahonen is a freelance journalist with an interest in health and wellness. She lives on Queensland’s Gold Coast with her family. This article was first published in The Australian. Used with author’s permission.

NIGEL HALLETT—NEWSPIX

Back in the game: Chris McQueen is now signed with the Wests Tigers.

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FA IT H

COMING

God made families. We messed them up. But whether our families are loving or dysfunctional, we all understand the importance of belonging and the pull of home.

BY LYNDELLE PETERSON

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HISPANOLISTIC GETTY IMAGES

HOME

I

love to travel. I love experiencing different cultures, food, places and faces. I love new experiences, unfamiliar streets and interesting languages. I love the rush of catching trains, running for planes and heading to new places of all sorts of colour and variety. I even love the packing and unpacking, the long-haul flights, the airline food and endless hours in transit lounges playing cards or searching for cafes where I can recharge my phone and use the free wifi.

But by far my favourite part of the whole travel experience is coming home and walking through the international arrivals gate—the familiar Aussie accents that fill my ears, the recognisable sights, smells and sounds. Then, as I pass through the exit gate I’m confronted with an array of eager-looking people, each desperate to catch their first glimpse of a loved one who they may not have seen for a very long time. There’s a barrage of colourful flowers, homemade signs and balloons energetically bobbing around in anticipation. There are tears and embraces as the distance that was once between loved ones is no longer a barrier. It’s heartwarming—you see the very best of humanity and I always feel a deep swell in my chest as I walk through those gates.

There’s something deeply comforting about the familiar. The familiar is what we are at ease with; the surroundings that bring peace, serenity and a sense of home. The AUGUST 2019 • SIGNS OF THE TIMES

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familiar is the place where we feel safe. The word “familiar” comes from the Latin root word familia, meaning family or household. It’s a word that at its very core implies being around those we love. But for many families this isn’t the case. The international arrivals gate may present a picture that’s heartwarming and love-filled, but for many people thoughts of family and home conjure up very different emotions. In the best and worst circumstances, our homes and families hardly ever live up to our hopes and expectations. Homecomings can often be painful, emotional and leave us feeling even more alone.

no safe place

Overworked, overtired, underpaid parents are often stretched thin and struggling to find the time and energy to really stop and be present for their kids. The day-to-day stresses of modern life are putting increasing pressure on families. And, despite increased public awareness, rates of family violence and dysfunction refuse to diminish.

According to the Family Peace Foundation, “Over one million Australian children are raised in family violence, whilst many more are regularly exposed to high levels of family conflict, which amongst other things have been linked to child and adolescent depressive symptoms.”

In Australia, domestic violence is a modern-day epidemic that’s tearing families apart. The statistics from the ABS are eye-opening: one in six Aus28

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“

. . . the Bible records the real story of a broken world where the perfect family doesn’t exist.

tralian women and one in 16 men have been subjected, since the age of 15, to physical and/or sexual violence by a partner. In New Zealand, it’s even worse, with more than one in three women suffering domestic violence at some point during their adult lives. The Women’s Refuge service reports that they receive a phone call about domestic violence once every six-and-a-half minutes, on average, most often from the police.

For too many people, family life is not the safe haven of peace that it was originally intended to be.

Often we think that if we can just earn a little more money, get things right with our marriage or have better behaved children, we will be able to have some peace and harmony. It’s difficult not to feel overwhelmed by the issues that face

modern families—to see the fractures and feel powerless to do anything about them.

PEOPLEIMAGES—GETTY IMAGES

in the beginning

In the Bible we read that relationships were fractured from the very beginning of the earth’s existence.

If we were to flip through its pages, searching for a picture of the ideal family, we would really struggle to find an example, because the Bible records the real story of a broken world where the perfect family doesn’t exist.

The creation account in Genesis 1 and 2 tells us how God created man and woman as a reflection of Himself. Yet this original family was fractured very early on in the narrative—the very next chapter in fact, Genesis 3. Relationships deteriorate

further into conflict and violence, as one son murders the other (Genesis 4). As history begins to unfold in the early books of the Old Testament we read about families facing all sorts of extremely challenging situations: generational secrets, cheating, deception and theft. There are instances of emotional abuse, domestic violence and sexual assault. We read about poly­gamous marriages, incest, adultery and the constant mistreatment of women and children in the human family.

So why does the Bible speak so loudly about dysfunctional families yet seem so quiet when it comes to harmonious families? Well, for one thing, the stories we read are not prescriptive but descriptive, meaning that they are merely communicating the challenges and issues that faced a AUGUST 2019 • SIGNS OF THE TIMES

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is together better?

What’s startling to consider is that nothing has really changed. Most families aren’t harmonious because humanity is not harmonious. We are alienated people, estranged from each other and from God. If we take a group of disaffected, selfish people and put them together in a home, sharing possessions and all the most intimate moments in our lives; if we take all those differing personalities, interests and distributions of power, abilities and opportunities and ask

“

We are alienated people, estranged from each other and from God.

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them to live in harmony, then it’s no wonder that conflict arises.

Yet, regardless of our dysfunction, research tells us that it is actually more harmful for us to be alone.

In God’s original, perfect creation, there was one thing that wasn’t quite complete: “It is not good for man to be alone,” said God. “I will make a helper suitable for him” (Genesis 2:18). The marriage relationship was created because God recognised and understood the human need for connection. Relationships are a lot like food: absolutely necessary for survival, but the wrong type can do serious harm, especially with repeated exposure over long periods

BIG AND SERIOUS—GETTY IMAGES

typical family in the ancient Middle East. If there’s a lesson to be learned, it’s often what not to do.

of time. In 2013, a New York Times blogpost pointed to a whole raft of studies revealing that loneliness can impair health by raising levels of stress hormones and inflammation, and increasing the risk of heart disease, arthritis, type 2 diabetes and dementia, as well as having a huge negative impact on mental health.

This is nothing new. University of Michigan research published by Science in 1988 found that “social isolation is on a par with high blood pressure, obesity, lack of exercise or smoking as a risk factor for illness and early death”. So how do we find a sense of peace and security when a dysfunctional relationship can be just as damaging as being alone?

God-shaped hole

In the midst of our dysfunction we find a startling reality. God chooses to use family as the chief biblical metaphor to describe how He relates to us. When communicating through the Bible about how we are to view Him, He describes Himself as the perfect Father, Jesus as the loving Brother (Romans 8:29) and the Holy Spirit as a constant Companion (John 14:26–28). God as Creator is called the Father of Israel (see Deuteronomy 32:6, Jeremiah 31:1–9, and Psalm 89:23–26) and as He cares for, comforts and nurtures, He is described using the imagery of a mother (Isaiah 66:13).

In the picture of God we see family and relationships perfected. When we cannot find function or peace in

the many relationships that surround us, we can look to the ultimate example of Father, Mother, Brother and Friend.

While the idea of coming home can bring mixed emotions, the Bible does speak about one homecoming that will be decidedly joyous. No earthly homecoming, no matter how memorable, can compare with the joy of coming home to God. His love is the source of all human and earthly love—“We love because he first loved us,” says 1 John 4:19.

The love of God is more enduring and stronger than that between a husband and wife, a parent and child, brothers, sisters or the closest friends. It is because of God’s love that we even have the capacity for family and to love at all! More than 1500 years ago, Augustine of Hippo (in current-day Algeria) suggested that the desire of the human heart for connection was a symptom of its God-shaped hole: “You have made us for Yourself,” he prayed, “and our hearts are restless until they find their rest in You.” If your heart is restless, struggling to find peace in an earthly home; if you find yourself longing for something more, there is a Father whose desire is nothing more than to welcome His children home.

For help with family violence issues, call 1800 Respect on 1800 737 732 (Aus) or Women's Refuge on 0800 733 843 (NZ). Contact police for emergencies.

Lyndelle Peterson is a pastor and mother of two. She lives in Melbourne, Australia, and is passionate about helping people connect with God and find His mission for their lives.

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P RO LE FI

KEN DUNCAN’S

R E G G I B

PICTURE

Photographer Ken Duncan came to the world’s attention with his spectacular panoramic landscape images. But these days, he’s encouraging people to take a wider view.

BY KENT KINGSTON

K

en Duncan is intense and excitable—a big man who favours bold floral shirts. His focus isn’t on his well-deserved fame as Australia’s pioneering panoramic landscape photographer, which has garnered him multiple awards, but on his involvement with the remote central desert Aboriginal community of Haasts Bluff/Ikuntji. And the dream of a giant cross.

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how it began

It probably shouldn’t be surprising that Ken has ended up passionate about Indigenous issues—his parents spent some years as missionaries in remote Indigenous communities. “I had beautiful Christian parents,” he says. “I had no excuses, but I was one of those rebellious ones—I had to go off and hit a few brick walls. When I

story with this. And that turned into a money-making thing; selling cameras and stuff. But I lost my passion—I got caught up in possessions and houses; what they call ‘success’. But I found that I didn’t own my possessions, they owned me; I was just feeling crowded in by everything and I thought, There’s got to be more to life.”

It was a new model of the AUGUST 2019 • SIGNS OF THE TIMES

SUPPLIED BY KEN DUNCAN

left school I was told I’d be the least likely to succeed.”

But despite the teenage attitude, Ken discovered something that would define his life. “I was 16 at a Christian youth camp—I took a black-and-white photo and then I processed it. And I saw this print that I’d taken that morning coming up in a tray, and to me that was an epiphany: Whoa, I can tell a

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dawning realisation rather than a sudden flash of insight. “I look back now and I see clearly where God was really trying to get my attention,” he says, pointing to a number of dramatic turning points, including his escape from the dark spiritual powers of witchcraft and a close call with hypothermia in Tasmania. But God was also whispering to his heart through the quiet majesty of the landscapes he was photographing, an experience he’s now keen for others to share. “The whole intention for me is really to try and remind people of the beauty of God’s creation—so they can reflect on the bigger picture.

People even now say, ‘Show me God,’ and I say, ‘All you’ve got to do is open your heart and open your eyes—He’s surrounding you.’”

making a difference

The Ken Duncan products that

SUPPLIED BY KEN DUNCAN

Widelux swing lens camera that sparked something in Ken, even as his existential angst continued to bubble away. “I found out about this panoramic camera that our company was bringing in,” he says. “I took it over to a surfing trip in Bali and when I came back, [developed the film and saw the results] I said, Man, this is the medium I’ve been looking for! I decided to sell everything and take off—photograph Australia.

“Really, my journey to start with was to try and find a meaning to life.

I went through Buddhism, Hinduism, Aboriginal spiritualism, all sorts of things. And constantly, all the way along, I’m taking photos—and, if you are really genuine about photography, at some point you’ve got to look at the photos and you start to realise there’s something behind it.”

Like most people’s conversions to Christianity, Ken’s involved a

“All you’ve got to do is open your heart.” Ellery Creek Big Hole, Northern Territory

caught the public’s attention in the 1980s were his limited edition prints of panoramic landscapes, dubbed “Panographs”. Australians suddenly discovered the impact of a high-­quality framed photograph presented as art and it wasn’t long before homes, commercial spaces and public buildings were displaying Ken Duncan’s work (and other photographers were rushing to replicate his success).

Ken says he’s received “thousands of letters” from people who have come across one of his prints or coffee table books at a crucial time in their lives—hospitalisation or even the brink of suicide. Time and again, the beauty of these images has been a powerful catalyst for positive change and healing. “For me that’s the ultimate compliment,” he says.

Ken clearly loves having a camera in hand, but, for him, it’s important

to step out from behind the lens and engage with the people around him.

That’s how he found himself, more than 15 years ago now, in a crucial conversation with an Aboriginal elder at Uluru. Ken was expressing his frustration at the permits and regulations that control photographers’ access to Aboriginal sites in the Northern Territory, when the elder cast the restrictions in a different light. “He said, ‘Well look, all these people come out here and take photos,’” Ken recalls, “‘but what do they ever put back into our communities? Our kids have no access to this technology that you all take for granted—we’re sort of left behind.’

“This was a really valid point,” Ken remembers. “So that’s where we started—doing some workshops out in the remote communities with some kids who were suffering from petrol sniffing. We grabbed this AUGUST 2019 • SIGNS OF THE TIMES

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whole bunch of them and took them out bush with cameras.

And after two or three days we started really connecting with them. By the end of about 10 days they were just new people.”

Wanting to avoid the all-too-typical pattern of oneoff charitable projects, Ken and some supporters decided to put down roots in Haasts Bluff, 230 kilometres west of Alice Springs. “I saw in this community a real hope,” says Ken, who admires the deep Christian spirituality he’s seen there. “We gave the kids access to computer programs like Final Cut Pro for editing movies, PhotoShop, and ProTools for music and in no time flat they’d be doing it better than we would be. It’s just an amazing way for them to tell their stories and create income streams and still have connection to their land, which is so important—it’s where they draw their inspiration from.”

Under the umbrella of the Walk a While foundation, which Ken helped establish, there’s now a media training centre at Haasts Bluff, as well as a young couple based in the community permanently as trainers.

Haasts Bluff: “. . . my favourite part of Australia . . . “

Ken Duncan with kids participating in Walk a While programs.

higher purpose

In 2009, Ken was visiting central Australia for an Easter 36

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The track to the top of Memory Mountain is now complete.

SUPPLIED BY KEN DUNCAN

worship festival, when a number of Aboriginal elders and others approached him separately, saying that attendees had been seeing visions—vivid mental pictures of a cross on Memory Mountain, a rocky outcrop about 15 kilometres out of the Haasts Bluff community.

Initially Ken thought this was some kind of spiritual metaphor, but when the elders asked him to help with the government permissions and paperwork to erect the cross, he realised that they hoped to make these visions a literal reality.

Even then, he imagined, as he puts it, “a couple of four-by-twos, a couple of bags of cement”. It wasn’t until he’d agreed to help out that he fully realised what the local people had pictured—a cross of at least 20 metres high; a major feat of engineering and bureaucratic wrangling.

“We’ve raised $800,000 for the cross,” says Ken. “We’ve got the track all the way to the top—we wanted to be environmentally friendly; we didn’t want to scar the mountain; we used Core 10 steel, which rusts and blends in.

Now we’ve got to raise another $600,000 to build the cross—some of that money has already been promised. We know basically everything we need to do, down to every nut and bolt.

“I know beautiful landscapes— this is my favourite part of the whole of Australia, scenically.

From the top you see some of the

tallest mountains west of the Great Divide. This cross at night, it will just glow. You’ll see it from the east for miles and miles, floating in space.

“I believe this cross is like God putting a battle standard in the heart of the nation whereby He’s getting our focus back. And it doesn’t matter whether a person is Christian, non-Christian, whatever—everyone will be welcome to go and pray on that mountain.

It’s about a focus point and the Aboriginals, they’re the ones who’ve come up with this vision.

You wait and see when that cross goes up, the tribes will come from all around.”

Ken is excited about the poten­ tial that the cross on Memory Mountain will have for tourism and the local jobs that will flow from it. But despite his commitment to seeing Indigenous people empowered, he’s cynical about the increasingly divisive political climate in Australia and around the world. He has no illusions about where the ultimate answer lies: “We need to get people focused back on our only hope, and that’s Jesus—not a denomination, not a brand, just Jesus. We need to be living Christianity, not just talking about it.”

Find out more about Ken Duncan, Walk a While and the Memory Mountain cross at <kenduncan. com> and <walkawhile.org.au>.

Kent Kingston is editor of Signs of the Times. He lives with his family in NSW’s very photogenic Lake Macquarie region.

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W

ELL B EING

GO HEALTHY for good WITH

DR NERIDA MCKIBBEN

MIND THE GAP

EMPTY CALORIES, EMPTY PROMISES

New Australian research shows that TV ads for unhealthy foods and drinks are more likely to be seen by kids in countries that have voluntary industry codes of practice for responsible advertising even than in countries with no codes at all. Children’s dietary preferences and health are affected by advertising and, if governments follow World Health Organization recommendations to regulate TV advertising of dietary products, they could change the health of the next generation.—University of Wollongong 38

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BRAIN BOOST TIPS

The World Health Organization has released tips to prevent dementia, which is predicted to triple over the next 30 years.

Maintain a healthy blood pressure, cholesterol and blood sugar; exercise regularly, don’t smoke, avoid harmful use of alcohol, control weight and eat a healthy diet.—WHO

ANTON SHULGIN, VESNAANDJIC, JUANMONINO, ALBINATIPLYASHINA, CIPHOTOS, MILAN JOVIC—GETTY IMAGES

A University of Auckland study has shown more than 40 per cent of kids in northern NZ have one or more decayed, missing or filled teeth by the time they start school. Rates are even higher for ethnic minorities (44% Asian, 59% Maori, 65% Pacific islander). This compares to rates of 25 per cent in England, 35 per cent in Wales and 34 per cent in Queensland. Access to dental care, community water fluoridation and socio-economic deprivation all affect risk.—NZ Medical Journal

TINY TOXINS?

Nanoparticles are present in many food items and may harm human health. A University of Sydney research team assessed the impact of food additive E171 (titanium dioxide nanoparticles), a whitening agent added in large quantities to many foods and medicines. They found that E171 affected gut microbiota in mice in a way that would predispose them to inflammation of the colon. While E171 is approved for use in food, this research adds to ongoing questions regarding its safety.—University of Sydney

PLAYING ON THEIR MINDS

BITTERSWEET Sugar in drinks is more dangerous than sugar in foods, say experts who reviewed the existing evidence from around the world. The concentration, quantity and speed at which sugar is digested determines the degree to which it affects our metabolism, setting us up for obesity, diabetes and tooth decay.—Obesity

Electronic gaming is a popular, and often solitary, pastime for children. Norwegian researchers followed a large group of kids from six to 12 years of age to see how gaming affected social development.

They found that greater social competence predicted less gaming two years later and that more gaming at age 10 predicted less social competence at age 12, but only in girls.—Child Development Dr Nerida McKibben, a New Zealand obstetrician and gynaecological surgeon, passionately enables people to achieve their greatest health potential. Wanting everyone to live life to the fullest, she integrates wholistic principles into medical treatments and procedures. For more, go to www.hop.ec/gohealthyforgood AUGUST 2019 • SIGNS OF THE TIMES

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FA IT H

THE

IPOPBA—GETTY IMAGES

HOLYSpirit

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What does the Bible teach about this mysterious Third Person who is God? How can we connect with Him?

BY JOTHAM KINGSTON

SIGNSOFTHETIMES.ORG.AU • AUGUST 2019

Y

ou’ve got to remember that the people early on in Bible history knew very little about God’s personality. Abraham, for example, was born into a pagan family who “worshipped other gods” (Joshua 24:2) when God selected him as the father of the special family through whom God would restore the human race. God was careful to explain that the other “gods” were not genuine.

“There is only one God,” he said (Deuteronomy 6:4).

Skip forward to the time of the New Testament and you can understand why many of Abraham’s Jewish descendants struggled with Jesus’ claim to be God and to have a “Father in heaven”. “That’s not possible,” they said. “There’s only one God.” “Yes,” Jesus replied, “I and the Father are one” (John 10:30). Proving His identity through signs and miracles and, ultimately, His resurrection, Jesus also talked of a Holy Spirit as a Third Person of God, who was also “One” with Him and His Father. One or Three? This puzzle is what led Christian author Tertullian in the third century to invent a new word, trinity, in an attempt to come to grips with how God described Himself as “Three” and “One” at the same time.

The Holy Spirit, the third “Person” of God, is perhaps not so easy to identify with.

Whereas Jesus, who is God, has a human body, with human DNA and is limited to one place at one time, His Spirit is “omnipresent”—at all locations at once. And that’s just the start. This article describes in broad brushstrokes what the Bible teaches about the nature and activities of the Holy Spirit.

God’s Power—the Holy Spirit

Jesus had the power to perform miracles: He made sick people well, raised the dead, controlled storms and turned water to wine. In the closing days of Jesus’ time on earth, He promised this same power to His followers: “You will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you” (Acts 1:8). Consequently, a few pages forward in the Bible, we see this promise kept. The Holy Spirit arrived in spectacular fashion, with an earthquake and the sound of wind, as “tongues of fire” landed on the believers’ heads (Acts 2). Filled with this power, the rag-tag band of Christ followers spoke in other languages, healed the sick, raised the dead and began to take the message of Jesus to the world. Furthermore, AUGUST 2019 • SIGNS OF THE TIMES

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this early community of Spirit-led people shared their possessions and had “everything in common” (Acts 2:44). They had “deacons” and “elders”, but they were a very different “organised religion” from what we see in contemporary society.

They were driven to love each other from the heart; they knew the secret of how to be content in any and every situation (Philippians 4:12).

a final generation

While genuine followers of Jesus have been empowered by the Holy Spirit ever since that time, the Bible teaches specifically that in the last moments of this era of human history, there will be a group of people who are empowered by the Holy Spirit in the same way as Jesus’ first followers: “In the last days, God says, I will pour out my Spirit on all people. Your sons and daughters will prophesy, your young men will see visions, your old men will dream dreams. Even on my servants, both men and women, I will pour out my Spirit in those days” (Acts 2:17, 18).

The Bible’s final book, Revelation, describes these people in two ways: First, they have a personal experience of Jesus. Second, they have the Holy Spirit (19:10). It’s predicted that these people will move out of corrupt organised religion (“Come out of her, my people”—18:4) and will live out a life of radical, day-to-day faith in Jesus (“They follow the Lamb wherever he goes”—14:4).

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dwelling inside you

The Bible teaches that while the Holy Spirit is omnipresent, He prefers to dwell inside people. “Do you not know that your bodies are temples of the Holy Spirit, who is in you, whom you have received from God?” asked the apostle Paul (1 Corinthians 6:9). Thus there is a direct connection between your mind and God’s mind—the Holy Spirit can directly communicate with you via this connection.

“

. . . there is good reason Jesus described the Holy Spirit as a “Comforter”.

People who resonate with God in this way are described as having the “mind of Christ” (2 Corinthians 2:16) or as being “led by the Spirit” (Romans 8:14).

NORTONRSX—GETTY IMAGES

what does the Holy Spirit feel like?

If the Holy Spirit is living inside of you, and connecting directly with your thoughts and emotions, can you feel His presence? Many people who invite God into their minds report a deep sense of peace and rest. This is in line with biblical teaching, such as Jesus’ words in John 20:21, 22: “Peace be with you! . . . Receive the Holy Spirit.”

Personally, I have experienced episodes of what I can only describe as the Holy Spirit brooding over me. Just a few months ago I was driving alone, and praying my way through a particularly difficult ordeal, when

I gradually became conscious of a heaviness above me. I felt pins and needles over my head and shoulders and had a strange, but not unpleasant, sensation of inhaling. This experience was so strong that I thought it best to pull over to the side of the road.

After a minute or two, the sensations faded and I was left with a sense of comfort . . . that I was not alone in the personal battle I was fighting. God was with me. I guess it felt like a hug, and there is good reason Jesus described the Holy Spirit as a “Comforter” (John 15:26, KJV).

The Holy Spirit is not just a Comforter. He is also a Teacher, who communicates ideas. Jesus promised His followers, “But when he, the Spirit of truth, comes, he will guide you into all the truth. He will not speak on his own; he will speak only what he hears, and he will tell you what is yet to come” (John 16:12).

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spiritual gifts

It’s no wonder that Jesus described people led by the Spirit as people who move like the wind: “The wind blows wherever it pleases. You hear its sound, but you cannot tell where it comes from or where it is going. So it is with everyone born of the Spirit” (John 3:8). So how is it possible that these unfettered, Spirit-led individuals who move like the wind, can actually live in any kind of harmony with one other? Surely, that would be like herding cats? The key point here is that Spirit-filled people are all moving in cooperation with the same Spirit, like blades of grass rippling with the wind—not in lockstep unison, but in harmony. Furthermore, the Bible describes a community of people who use their power not to lord it over one another and keep others in their

PALIDACHAN—GETTY IMAGES

It’s worth remembering that, just as the best teachers don’t talk all the time, there are times when the Holy Spirit, while present, also falls silent.

However, it is quite possible to learn to pick out God’s tone of voice in your mind in the same way that you can recognise friends and family simply from their voice over the phone. Hence Jesus said, “My sheep listen to my voice. I know them and they follow me” (John 10:26, 27).

Personally, I have had times where the Holy Spirit has communicated specific information very clearly. I recall praying about the dismal state of my marriage in our first year when I felt something like a curtain open in my head and a stream of very clear, cogent thought: Let me introduce you to your sparring partner. She is coming at you with a stick. The stick is a lie she has been led to believe about her lack of value as a person. You have a sword.

Your job is to hit the stick out of her hand without hitting her—to choose the right words to cut her free instead of cutting her down.

There have been other times when the Holy Spirit has impressed on my mind to go to a certain location at a certain time, and I have found myself in a serendipitous meeting, being able to offer help or comfort to a person who needed it.

Again, at other times the Holy Spirit has brought snippets of the Bible to my mind, or has directed me to open a Bible and look up a certain verse for guidance to help me deal with a specific situation.

“

. . . a community doesn’t have to be a large gathering.

place, but to serve one another and build others up.

In fact, the Bible details a list of “gifts” or abilities that were specifically given by the Holy Spirit to help build up the community. Some, for example, were given a special ability to teach, others to heal, others to prophesy, others to speak in foreign languages (1 Corinthians 12:7).

These gifts still function today and are not restricted to people who have been followers of Jesus for a long time. Every person who follows Jesus has been given a spiritual gift.

To begin to identify yours, find a community of believers and notice how you build others up.

‘but I’m isolated’

themselves unattached to a community of Spirit-led people and don’t know where to start. If this is you, then I leave you two bits of good news in parting. First, a community doesn’t have to be a large gathering.

Jesus said, “Where two or three are gathered in my name, there I am with them” (Matthew 18:20). And, secondly, the Bible teaches that if you have the Holy Spirit, “. . . you do not need anyone to teach you. But as his anointing teaches you about all things and as that anointing is real, not counterfeit—just as it has taught you, remain in him” (1 John 2:27).

Jotham Kingston is a high school teacher who lives with his family near Kempsey, on Australia’s east coast.

There are many people who are drawn to follow Jesus, yet find AUGUST 2019 • SIGNS OF THE TIMES

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GOSPEL

according to Leonard Through the anguish and depression that ended my grandson’s life, he caught a glimpse of a Father who loved him.

BY ALETA BAINBRIDGE

Len and the author Christmas Len and 2018 the author, Christmas 2018

46

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the beginning

I held Thelma’s hand throughout the birth of my first grandchild. I was there when they placed that newborn on his mum’s breast, plump as a puppy, grunting from the amniotic fluid he’d inhaled. And into the breast of this newborn grandma there sprang a love and a bond that grew stronger as the years went by.

Leonard was a beautiful child with blond curls and a sunny disposition.

His blue eyes observed life with a wisdom beyond his years. His young mother had been seduced by

the charm and lies of an older man who’d conveniently disappeared once he’d realised she was pregnant.

Angry, disillusioned and fiercely independent, Thelma set out to make her way in the world as a single mother. Lenny suffered much heartache from the insecurity and frustration that this life produced.

More serious than the struggle to make ends meet was the unkind treatment that came his way by those men who were willing to be involved with his mother, but not her little boy. As children often do, Lenny blamed himself. His earliest memory was of riding his tricycle in a figure of eight around and around the driveway, while inside his mum and her boyfriend yelled at each other.

“Grandma,” he whispered as he told me later, “I knew they were fighting about me.”

melancholic

The textbooks tell us that loud noises and violence raise the levels of anxiety in the gentle soul who feels helpless amid the turmoil. This sense of frustration can become a deep-seated anger. Anger turned outwards is displayed in violence, but anger turned inwards can metastasise into depression. Leonard was an easy victim for those peddling weed. They assured him that it would sweeten life and ease the nightmares that filled his nights with terror.

In a letter to his uncle, Lenny wrote: “I am of the opinion that I am a melancholic with a loud voice.

AUGUST 2019 • SIGNS OF THE TIMES

SUPPLIEDSUPPLIED

BY ALETA BAINBRIDGE

BY ALETA BAINBRIDGE

I

t was the call we’d most dreaded.

I heard Thelma’s anguished voice clearly across the surging ocean that separates us: “Please pray, Mum! Lenny’s battling for life. He hanged himself. We’re waiting for the paramedics.”

My response was calm; it’s my way when there’s a crisis. Only God hears the silent scream. He heard it that day. He heard the agonised pleas of a family begging Him, “Please give Lenny another chance.” He saw a group of young people gathered in a park after church as they prayed and rallied around Richard, Thelma’s brother, urgently pleading for Lenny’s life. He marked how earlier that day, Lenny’s sister, Angie, had dropped into the prayer box at church a note saying, “Lord, I’m praying today especially for Lenny.”

I know that every prayer ever prayed for Leonard was presented to God in those last moments of his life.

47

. . . I have a tendency to use drugs to dull my pain and occupy my mind so that I don’t drive myself insane with thoughts like, How do I become understood? What makes me so misunderstood? Am I stupid, arrogant, stubborn or so beyond most people so that no one sees me?”

Lenny tried to fathom who he was.

In one of our discussions on the subject, we recognised that of the four personality types described by the Greek and Arab ancients—sanguine, phlegmatic, choleric and melancholic—we both leaned towards the latter. Melancholic individuals tend to be analytical and detail-oriented.

They are deep thinkers and feelers.

They are introverted, thoughtful and reserved. They seek to be self-reliant and are often anxious. That summed Lenny up pretty well. Except for the loud voice. His perceptive sister believes that he developed the loud voice in an attempt to be heard.

fatherhood

His lack of a loving, supportive father-figure caused Leonard much heartache. In his anger he distanced himself from God. But not long ago he watched a DVD entitled Seeing God as a Perfect Father by Atlanta pastor Louie Giglio. When the message sank home the phone line virtually crackled with Lenny’s excited words, “Grandma, God is my Father. He is my perfect Father. I can see how He has led me through the years.” It was the beginning of a much better relationship with 48

SIGNSOFTHETIMES.ORG.AU • AUGUST 2019

God, but by no means a perfect one.

Lenny’s prayer journal reveals much of his thinking at this time: 26/11/2018 My dearest Father, my Protector, the One who sees all, rebukes when needed, shows all kindness when needed. I come before You again, begging for Your forgiveness for letting go and losing sight of You again.

28/11/2018 Dear Heavenly Father, I know I’m being brief, but thank You for all You have done. I have a problem: I don’t have the depth to stand by You. I want all the things I shouldn’t. You see what’s in my mind and I trust You to understand my unspoken words.

15/12/2018 My Father, what can I do? I’m worn and beaten and don’t have strength. I am broken and feel like there’s no way to fix it. You say You won’t give me something that I can’t handle. If that’s true, I’m a failure or so slow that, at this rate, I’m not even a point of a per cent. I have achieved nothing and have no value to anyone’s life. I trust no one, not even You, not because I don’t want to, but because I’m broken.

I don’t want to learn anymore. I just want it all to stop.

I’ll never forget Lenny’s words when he learned he had made a girl pregnant in spite of their precautions. “I’m not ready to be a dad, Grandma,” he raged. “I’m still dealing with my own stuff and cannot give

a child a stable home and adequate paternal guidance.”

His premonition of disaster was realised. Melissa moved away and, although Lenny went to be with her during the birth of little Nathan, he was never able to pull the situation together, no matter how hard he

believing the lie

Leonard said that he used drugs to dull his pain and help him to find meaning for his life. But although recreational drugs may give a brief sense of relief, that wears off. The pain and anxiety come back and the user is soon seeking the next

“

tried. The lack of a steady job made it impossible to pay regular support for his child so Melissa and her family denied him visiting rights. His parting letter reveals his heartache: Nate, my son, I did my best to be in your life and I have loved you till my bones have ached. I’m sorry that you have to go through life with just a mother, but it’s for your own good. I would just have hurt and damaged you in a way you could not have come back from.

All the love I have, Your Dad!!!

dose. Instead of helping Lenny, the drugs devastated his life. Drugs affect the mental functions of the brain and cause confused thinking and detachment from reality. The user’s depression is aggravated until it becomes a chronic and often fatal disease. The use of drugs affects the chemical balance of the body and takes its toll on the bones, teeth and hair. Lenny could not eat without pain, which affected his nutrition and caused weight and hair loss.

For Lenny and for those around him, the happiest times were when AUGUST 2019 • SIGNS OF THE TIMES

SUPPLIED BY ALETA BAINBRIDGE

You see what’s in my mind and I trust You to understand my unspoken words.

49

he was free from his addictions.

He longed to be forever free, but believed this was beyond his grasp.

In his depressed state he saw himself as a failure, a burden to those around him. Tragically and wrongly, he believed that those close to him would be better off without him. He lost all hope for the future and saw death as the only solution.

But he’d believed a lie. The reality of his life did not match his skewed thoughts. Help was on the way; a place at a rehabilitation centre was earmarked for him the day before he died, but the family were notified too late. If only he’d held on for just one more day . . .

Rather than being of no value to this world, Lenny was loved by young and old alike. Bradley, his seven-year old nephew, said sadly, “I’ll miss the piggy-backs Lenny gave me.” The elderly landlord wept as he told Thelma how he would miss Lenny’s readiness to help with whatever needed to be done. We all miss his quirky sense of humour and his innovative solutions to knotty problems. He phoned me 10 minutes before he took his life, but I didn’t hear the phone ring. Our chats always resurrected hope in his heart.

If only . . .

And so, indeed, we are left with the useless “if onlys”. The “could haves”, “would haves” and “should haves”. We are left with the aching void of a precious life lost. Leonard’s pain is over; ours has just begun.

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Leonard and God

If ever there’s been an example of a person impacted by a broken world and taking a path contrary to God’s rules for abundant life, it’s Lenny.

He had no right to take his own life.

Only God, the Giver of life, has the right to take it. He gave His own life, died rejected and alone, to rescue those who had fallen into desperation. This gives Him the sole right to judge the Lennys of the world and claim them as His own. For all Lenny’s mixed-up thinking, I’m glad that, as his final journal entry shows, he went to his rest not fearing God’s condemnation, but with a firm belief in his Father’s amazing grace.

The song Who Am I? by Casting Crowns meant a lot to Lenny—there were times when it cut through his despair and anguish, and spoke hope and peace to his soul. It gave him a sense of his true identity. I wish he’d been able to hold on to its message more firmly. It’s a prayer to God that I hold close to my heart: Not because of who I am But because of what You’ve done Not because of what I’ve done But because of who You are. . . .

I am Yours.

If this article has brought up any distress or difficult feelings, please speak to a trusted support person or call Lifeline on 13 11 14 (Australia) or 0800 543 354 (New Zealand).

Aleta Bainbridge lives in Sydney and is a partner in ministry with her pastor husband, Garth.

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C

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CE/ TE

THE CUTTING EDGE

2019 NEW WEAPONS AGAINST CANCER Colorectal vaccine The cancer is difficult to detect in early phases and treatment has proven difficult. The new vaccine will target the GUCY2C molecule found in the cancer.—New Atlas M O L E C U L E S

Cancer killer Researchers from the University of Oxford claim to have developed a virus that kills carcinoma cells. The “dual action” virus could start being tested in humans as early as 2020.—Belfast Telegraph

F L AT B A C K G R O U N D

UPCOMING

FACIAL RECOGNITION TECHNOLOGY NOT A GAME ANYMORE Stadiums Queensland (SQ) has trialled facial monitoring on unsuspecting sports fans and concert-­ goers, without any prior indication or warning. An SQ spokesperson said it is being used to “identify patterns and anomalies in crowd behaviour”.—ABC 52

SIGNSOFTHETIMES.ORG.AU • AUGUST 2019

WIKIMEDIA COMMONS, FREEPIK, VUZIX, METAMORWORKS—GETTY IMAGES

Trojan horse Up to six different forms of cancer have been successfully treated by a new “trojan horse” drug. It contains a toxic chemical able to attack a tumour from within.—The London Economic

CHRISTIAN ASTRONAUTS BUZZ ALDRIN Famous for partnering Neil Armstrong on the 1969 Apollo 11 moon landing, Aldrin also performed a communion service on the moon. With wine and bread from the Webster Presbyterian church, where he was an elder, he performed the rite and read part of the Gospel of John.

JOHN GLENN A devout Christian and the first American to orbit the earth. After complet­ ing his final space flight in 1998, he said, “To look out at this kind of creation and not believe in God is to me impossible.

It just strengthens my faith.” He died in 2016, aged 95.

JAMES IRWIN The eighth person to walk on the moon (1971). After NASA he became a born-again minister. “I guess I was also a sceptic in my early days, but I’ve come to believe what the Bible says is true," he said. He died in 1991, aged 61.

SPEC OPS American company Vuzix has partnered with Dubai’s NNTC to create smart glasses with cameras to enable public surveillance. The iFalcon Face Control Mobile augmented-reality glasses will have an 8mp camera built into their frame, with the ability to scan faces and match them with a database of one million people. The glasses are already being used for security operations in Abu Dhabi.—Vox

SECRETS STRIPPED AWAY A German user of Chinese social media network Weibo says he has developed an algorithm that can identify more than 100,000 women in adult website videos. While initially claiming it will curb infidelity by giving the “right to know on both sides of the marriage”, he has since said it will help women discover if personal material has been uploaded to the net. Experts have slammed the alleged software as misogynistic and a form of harassment.—Vice AUGUST 2019 • SIGNS OF THE TIMES

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Why

WE LOVE TO PLAY

THE

GAME

OF

BY MARK HADLEY 54

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IMAGE—HBO

THRONES

W

hen you play the game of thrones, you win, or you die.

There is no middle ground.

So says Queen Cersei, summing up the ethos undergirding the eightyear drama that was Game of Thrones (GoT). The series’ success has been credited with everything from cementing the popularity of fantasy as a television genre, to encouraging video piracy across the planet.

However viewers came to it, though, the series has achieved an audience in the hundreds of millions, making it one of the most popular TV shows in history. Earlier this year the final, record-breaking episode settled who will sit on the Iron Throne and the question can finally be asked: Why did we love it so much?

A word of assurance and warning for laggard viewers first. There will be no spoilers from season eight ahead, so readers sharpening their Valerian steel can put down their whetstones. For those who are yet to start watching, though, you’ve had eight years to catch up, so you will have to forgive me if I drop the odd secret from the first seven.

By the time its final season went to air, GoT was already sitting on an average viewership of 10 million viewers per episode in the United States alone. DVD and Blu-ray collections have also broken all of producer HBO’s first-day sales records—and expected to do so again with the release of Season 8 to Blu-ray by the end of the year. And on the darker side of the ledger, Bit­

Torrent trackers revealed that a single 2012 episode had been downloaded more than 4.2 million times, roughly equal to its broadcast audience. Paid licence or illegal download, however you slice it, television viewers have loved the epic battle over the mythical kingdom of Westeros.

GoT has not been short on industry approval either. Review aggregators Rotten Tomatoes and Metacritic have consistently awarded it a status equivalent to “universal acclaim”.

GoT also won scores of commendations since its debut, including five Screen Actors Guild Awards, a Peabody and 47 Emmys, making it the most awarded show in Emmy history. Probably most telling of all, the language of GoT has found its way into popular vocabulary, with phrases like “Game of Thrones” being used to describe the Syrian civil war and Khaleesi emerging as a popular girl’s name in America.

The trouble is, this success just shouldn’t have happened in the West, where individualism, feminism and sexual tolerance are constantly celebrated. GoT is awash with explicit nudity, violence and sexual abuse, especially towards women. Progressive publications and liberal commentators have decried its content as “senseless, objectifying imagery” and “torture porn”. Its writers have defended their choices by saying the content is truthful to both history and human nature, where such things are disturbingly common.

Regardless, audiences have continued AUGUST 2019 • SIGNS OF THE TIMES

55

Petyr “Little Finger” Baelish 56

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nity, you need to limit your tank of overflowing freedom.”

Community and relational connections require boundaries in order to deepen. Likewise, a life purpose grows in value even as we limit our choices to achieve it. But the ability to choose anything, without limit, effectively diminishes the value of everything. Our devotion to freedom at all costs has perversely reaped a harvest of disconnection and purpose­lessness.

So what has this to do with GoT? Well, one way of looking at its roster of characters is a list of those who acknowledge no limits, but have no community or meaning to speak of, and those who have deliberately limited their freedom for the sake of the other two. In short, the villains and the heroes.

There are a range of bad guys who fit the bill, like Petyr “Little Finger” Baelish who will literally prostitute anything to gain power, but whose betrayals remove any prospect of relationship. The vile

Joffrey Baratheon

Cersei Lannister

IMAGES—HBO

to tune in because, I believe, alongside these culturally unacceptable inclusions, GoT supplies the most attractive fantasy of all: meaning.

Cultural analyst Mark Sayer says media consumers are desperately searching for meaning in a world that has been flooded with freedom.

He believes human life is best described as an interconnected system of three reservoirs or tanks that, when properly balanced, enable flourishing. Firstly, humans need meaning; to feel like what they are doing is important. Secondly, they need a sense of community; relationships at personal and public levels. Thirdly, they need freedom; the power to express themselves as individuals.

The problem, according to Sayers, is that in Western countries the third tank is draining the rest: “We have an overflowing sense of freedom.

What that also means is that our tank of meaning is very low. To have a sense of meaning, to also have a sense of relationality and commu-

King Joffrey refuses to deny himself anything—“Everyone is mine to torment!”—and his self-indulgence results in a pointless, meandering evil. Even Queen Cersei, a sometimes­-sympathetic character, is so unrestrained in her pursuit of safety that it ultimately leaves her standing alone. In each case the freedom to do whatever the heart wants results in humanity being reduced.

Walking in the light of our approval, though, are characters whose freedom is balanced by a greater meaning. Tyrian Lannister might appear morally flexible, but his sense of equality sees him regularly favouring the downtrodden and preventing the wheels of power crushing the helpless. As he confesses to Bran his protector, “I have a tender spot in my heart for cripples, bastards and broken things.”

John Snow, the downtrodden “bastard”, is furnished with every reason to betray his oath to the Night’s Watch, but counts honour more important than self-service.

Tyrian Lannister

Finally, the Queen of Dragons herself, Daenerys Targaryen, is a heroine defined by sacrifice: “I am the dragon’s daughter, and I swear to you that those who would harm you will die screaming.”

Her determination to use her power to protect her people, destroy slavery and enact justice constantly limits her choices, but ultimately builds her reputation.

We may live in a culture that values freedom over devotion, but history regularly demonstrates the power of a devoted life. In his book, Man’s Search For Meaning, psychiatrist and Holocaust survivor Viktor Frankl famously noted that it wasn’t the strongest who survived the Nazi death camps, but those whose lives centred on some form of meaning.

“Those who have a ‘why’ to live,” he wrote, “can bear with almost any ‘how’.”

At some level, we suspect that meaning, not freedom, is the key to our survival. But is this just a plot device for epic television? Or does

John Snow

Daenerys Targaryen AUGUST 2019 • SIGNS OF THE TIMES

57

it have a foundation in real life? Do of life”, Jesus was warning that “life is humans in fact have a chief meaning more than food, and the body more to pursue? Strangely, up until about than clothes” (Luke 12:23).

50 years ago, you stood a good Daenerys was one character at chance of getting an answer to that least who understood that the power question from any number of young to act without limit never ends well: children.

“Lannister, Targaryen, Baratheon, Right up until the 1970s it was Stark, Tyrell . . . they’re all just spokes not uncommon for children attendon a wheel. This one’s on top, then that one’s on top, and on and on it ing Sunday Schools in Australia to spins, crushing be taught the those on the Westminster ground.”

Catechism. The Yet GoT’s first question of drama was set in this summary of a make-believe Christian belief world, and so addressed the could never do very issue of life more than reflect purpose: our yearnings.

Q. What is the . . . the power to The Bible, chief end [goal] of act without limit though, is our man? history. It’s God’s A. Man’s chief never ends well. message to real end is to glorify people who God, and to enjoy struggle with Him forever. a real darkness By submitting when it comes ourselves to God, to direction. we find our place And so, if we’re in the cosmos as seeking meaning that will balance His children, and so are enabled to out freedom and deliver lasting enjoy His fatherly love, free of fear community and relationships, we and struggle. The Bible overflows need look no further than the words with this meaning-found-through of Jesus: “I am the light of the world. submission. The book of Ecclesiastes Whoever follows me will never walk calls it, “the duty of all mankind” in darkness but will have the light of (12:13) and so the Gospel of Matlife” (John 8:12). thew encourages us to “seek first” God’s kingdom and character (6:33).

Mark Hadley is a Sydney-based screen critic and Why? Because 2000 years before the cultural commentator. first internet search for “the meaning

“

58

SIGNSOFTHETIMES.ORG.AU • AUGUST 2019

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ELL B EING

HOW TO GLOW FROM THE INSIDE OUT

SUPPLIED

If you think a cabinet crammed with beauty concoctions is the secret to glowing skin, you’d be partly right. While a consistent cleansing routine can help, it’s actually a combination of genetics, lifestyle habits and diet that’ll keep the body’s largest organ looking its best.

60

SIGNSOFTHETIMES.ORG.AU • AUGUST 2019

The foods we put on our plate can have a positive impact on the health of our skin. In fact, recent studies have shown that drinking smoothies rich in carotenoids—a type of phytonutrient found in foods that are often red, yellow or orange (eg, pawpaw)—can actually make skin look more golden and healthy!

As a general rule, foods that are good for you are also good for your skin. Look for fruit and veggies packed with dietary fibre, vitamins A, C and E, minerals such as potassium and phytochemicals.

While no one food is a cure for skin problems, regularly including skin-friendly foods in your diet will help give you a gorgeous glow.

VEGETABLES AND FRUITS Look for fruits containing a good combination of vitamins and minerals, especially ones with red, yellow or orange hues.

Try: pawpaw, pineapple, berries, avocado, kale, spinach, carrot and sweet potato / kumara.

WHOLEGRAINS Packed with dietary fibre, minerals, vitamins and phytochemicals, wholegrains are a great source of nourishment for your skin.

Try: buckwheat, barley, quinoa, wheat and rye.

NUTS AND SEEDS These little nutrition nuggets contain B-vitamins, essential fats, vitamins and minerals like selenium, a powerful combination for glowing skin.

Try: Brazil nuts (selenium), walnuts, almonds and pistachios.

SOY FOODS Containing essential fats, phytoestrogen, vitamins and protein, soy foods are a great addition to your diet. Your skin will thank you for it.

Try: soybeans, tofu and soy milk.

PLANT PROTEINS Our skin, hair and nails are mostly protein and, happily, there are plenty of plants packed with proteins that can help you shine.

Try: broad beans, chickpeas and peas.

It’s also important to know what you should avoid—think foods that are high GI (glycaemic index), highly refined flours and sugars, and those foods that contain trans fats. And, of course, alcohol and tobacco should be avoided to keep you glowing inside and out.

Article courtesy of Sanitarium Health Food Company. Visit sanitarium.com.au or sanitarium.co.nz and subscribe to Wholicious Living for more great health and nutrition info each month.

AUGUST 2019 • SIGNS OF THE TIMES

61

FUN

CROSSWORD Hint: 5 Across

PAUL MANNIX, FLICKR

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

Happy digging!

EDUCATION.COM

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SIGNSOFTHETIMES.ORG.AU • AUGUST 2019

CROSSWORD CLUES

ACROSS 4 File-sharing computer program 5 Sandstone monolith in Australia’s centre 6 Capital of New Zealand 9 To feel sad or depressed 11 Sharp blade used in surgery 12 Fictional kingdom in Game of Thrones 13 Could wrap you around . . .

14 Periodic element with the symbol “K” DOWN 1 To currently hold office 2 Swing lens panoramic camera developed in Japan, 1958.

3 Political beliefs that emphasise free will and liberty 7 To be in all places at the same time 8 To travel and live without fixed home 10 Medical condition— sideways spinal curvature

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