Signs of the Times - November 2018

NOVEMBER 2018

1918 – 2018

ANZAC SOLDIERS SPEAK

CENTENARY OF THE ARMISTICE

HYPERSONIC TRAVEL AND THE END TIMES

KEVAN’S JOURNEY AS A BACKPACK

A CHRISTIAN PERSPECTIVE ON THE WORLD TODAY

IN THIS ISSUE

NOVEMBER 2018

ANZAC SOLDIERS SPEAK PAGE 32

An Aussie historian unearths the true story and spirituality of WWI's faithful diggers.

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CURRENT

WELLBEING

FAITH

WHAT IN THE WORLD OUR REFUGEE PROBLEM They asked for help: we locked them up 12 HYPERSONIC TRAVEL AND THE END TIMES Did the Bible predict Elon Musk?

18 STREET SIGNS The future of travel: the public speaks out

20 THE DEPRESSION–

26 KEVAN’S JOURNEY

CULTURE

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4 6

32 FAITHFUL DIGGERS

36 48

50

How religious were the ANZACs?

FIND US ON SOCIAL MEDIA 2

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INFLAMMATION LINK RAINBOW SUSHI ROLLS No rice required GO HEALTHY FOR GOOD News snippets for every body THE FATHER ROLE MODEL Your kids are watching. . . and learning GREENING OUR CONCRETE WORLD High-rise living and homegrown food

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AS A BACKPACK The kindness of friends and the kingdom of God 38 PALE BLUE DOT We’re a tiny dust mote floating in an endless universe 42 ROMANCE, JOB HUNTING AND SALVATION

FUN 62 CROSSWORD & SUDOKU

FROM THE EDITOR They called World War I “the war to end all wars”. It didn’t and it wasn’t.

The 11th of November this year marks 100 years of the signing of the armistice that officially ended hostilities in 1918. But, as it turned out, World War I was just the tragic opening to a century of blood. Some estimates of the number of people who died due to war or warrelated causes during the 1900s exceed 200 million.

The cumulative grief is impossible to imagine; each of those deaths represents a tsunami of loss that smashed through families, communities and nations, leaving trauma, wreckage, and silent numbers and names on history’s page.

But even then, despite the pleas of “lest we forget”, the violence has continued into the 21st century and, as usual, it’s ordinary mums, dads and kids who bear the brunt. More than 68 million people right now have fled their homes due to conflict or persecution. Once more the numbers overwhelm us, but the suffering is real (see page 6).

Will we humans be able to save ourselves through our own cleverness? Some of our smartest minds suggest Mars may be an option if it all goes pear-shaped here (page 12). But, honestly, given our track record, I doubt it. Technological progress is not enough—we need transformation at a much more fundamental level. In the kindness of friends or even strangers (page 26) we catch a glimpse of what a world reclaimed and renewed by God might look like.

Kent KENT KINGSTON Editor

VOL 133 NO 11 ISSN 1038-9733 EXECUTIVE PUBLISHER Brad Kemp EDITOR Kent Kingston ASSISTANT EDITOR Daniel Kuberek COPYEDITOR Tracey Bridcutt GRAPHIC DESIGN Theodora Amuimuia Nerise McQuillan PHONE +61 2 9847 2222 EMAIL info@signsofthetimes.org.au WEBSITE signsofthetimes.org.au ADDRESS Adventist Media PO Box 1115, Wahroonga New South Wales 2076 SUBSCRIPTIONS Kelli Geelan PHONE +61 3 5965 6300 Australia, $A26.00; New Zealand, $NZ26; South Pacific countries, $A41.00; Other countries $A51.00 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®.

Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984 by Biblica, Inc®. Used by permission of Zondervan Publishing House. All rights reserved worldwide.

COVER PHOTO: Unknown ANZAC soldier, Australian War Memorial collection, freepic.com.

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WHAT IN THE WORLD AUSTRALIA

KEEPING PREGNANT WOMEN POSTED A series of 2400 “Drinkwise” posters for pregnant women has been withdrawn. Text included: “it’s not known if alcohol is safe to drink when you are pregnant”.

Doctors blasted the poster for understating the dangers of alcohol, criticising the conflict of interest from Drinkwise’s funders—alcohol companies.

The updated poster instead encourages women to abstain in the interest of the health of their baby.

—Sydney Morning Herald

Hundreds of Chinese Uighur Muslims are being forced into “indoctrination camps” as part of a sustained government crackdown on religious groups. The revelation comes after a confirmed eight churches were shut down and crosses in at least four regions were removed from buildings.

—NewDaily, ChristianHeadlines 4

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PHOHTO—OMAR A, NURSINGSCHOOLSNEARME.COM

CHINESE PERSECUTION

?

4 MILLION AUSTRALIANS have

MENTAL OR BEHAVIOURAL CONDITIONS.

WANT A LIFT? A space elevator to the International Space Station (ISS) may become reality, according to researchers from the Shizuoka University in Japan. The team plan to launch an experiment, releasing a small cubic satellite from the ISS connected to a steel cable. It has boosted interest in developing a large-scale space elevator connecting Earth to an orbiting satellite.

—Space.com

SUICIDE

accounts for more deaths in young Australians than car accidents.

(Source: Beyond Blue)

New Zealand has the

HIGHEST SUICIDE RATES

among 15–19 year-olds in any OECD country.

NEW ZEALAND

WIKIMEDIA COMMONS, GETTY IMAGES

CHARITY CASE The High Court has upheld the denial of Family First’s charitable status. Justice Simon France said the organisation’s advocacy for the natural family “cannot be shown to be in the public benefit in the charitable sense”. Critics have linked the decision to the country’s samesex marriage laws.—Mercatornet

MENTAL HEALTH ISSUES

among 15–24 year-old New Zealanders have DOUBLED SINCE 2012.

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OUR REFUGEE

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PROBLEM “Australia is full”—it’s a statement that ignores the thousands of refugees seeking escape from conflict into a better life. Is it a moral failing when we hope to rid ourselves of asylum seekers?

BY NATHAN BROWN NOVEMBER 2018 • SIGNS OF THE TIMES

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n 2015, I was part of a group visiting a number of sites from biblical and early Christian history in the nation of Jordan. Our guide was Jacob, a Jordanian Christian. As well as the specifics of the places we visited, he was proud to tell us about his country and the role it plays in the world historically and presently.

One of the things that took me by surprise was his obvious pride at Jordan’s ability to host refugees from the neighbouring war-torn nations of Syria and Iraq. At the time, the Za’atari refugee camp in the country’s north was the fourth largest “city” in Jordan, hosting about 150,000 people. For a nation of nine million people, they were accommodating a refugee population of about 750,000.

This situation is certainly not without its challenges, but for Jacob and many of his fellow Jordanians it was something to admire. “We are proud that our country is a safe place that people want to come to,” Jacob explained. “And we are pleased that we have the resources to be able to help them.”

After 15 years mired in Australia’s ugly politics regarding refugees and asylum seekers, this was a breath of fresh air, a reminder that Australia’s political expedience is not how it has to be and that there are other nations who choose differently.

The contemporary political mire regarding asylum seekers began with former prime minister John Howard and his hard-line response to the

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Tampa “crisis” in August 2001. Australia had had a chequered history in relation to migration and refugees, but in the 1980s had generally responded positively to people in need, particularly the Vietnamese “boat people” of that time. But by refusing to allow the 433 asylum seekers taken aboard the Norwegian freighter to land in Australia, Mr Howard found a politically galvanising issue, spurred by the growing fears of terrorism after September 11 that year, and used it to win the federal election that November.

Since then, Australia’s treatment of asylum seekers has been largely a competition between the two major politically parties—goaded on by politicians and media on the further right—as to who could maintain the most anti-asylum seeker stance.

While occasional deaths at sea as a result of unsafe journeys and unscrupulous people smugglers were undoubted tragedies, these were used as pretexts to further harden the re-

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sponses, and so to further play to and aggravate the fears and prejudices of Australian voters.

This policy reached a low point in 2013 when the Abbott government instituted the policy that no asylum seekers who arrived in Australian waters by boat would ever be allowed to reach Australia. Instead, they were to be “outsourced” to Regional Processing Centres on Nauru and Papua New Guinea’s Manus Island, detention centres that had been set up as part of the “Pacific Solution” by the previous Labor government. At great expense to Australia, these boat arrivals were sent to these neighbouring nations, cajoled into choosing to return to the dangerous nations they had escaped from and otherwise left to wait indefinitely.

Our “refugee problem” was “solved”! From behind the veil of secrecy that descended with the advent of the new Border Force regime, we were assured that the boat arrivals had been stopped—and the collat-

eral human damage for this policy “success” was so removed as to be almost out of sight and out of mind for many Australians.

Five years later, the situation is even worse. More than 1600 of Australia’s asylum seekers—almost all of whom have now been processed and found to be genuine refugees, people who have escaped from their home country because of a real fear for their lives—remain on Manus Island and Nauru. These are remote tropical islands with limited infrastructure, support or opportunities, and resentful local populations.

The refugees arrived in Australian waters as people who had escaped trauma via dangerous and harrowing journeys. Their physical and mental health has deteriorated with years of detention. Cases of suicides and selfharm, whether as a form of protest or a symptom of despair, are becoming more common.

This year, a number of cases in Australia’s Federal Court have seen refugees challenging their lack of medical care. The cases have involved a variety of medical and mental health issues. The Australian govern­ ment did not even try to deny its responsibility for the health and wellbeing of these refugees. And in every case the challenge to the limited care provided has been successful, with orders made for the patient to be moved to Australia for the provision of proper medical diagnosis and care.

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A SHORT HISTORY OF OFFSHORE DETENTION Asylum seekers are being held on Manus Island and Nauru for extended periods of time.

Why do asylum seekers hope to come to Australia?

And what happens next?

According to the Refugee Council of Australia, the biggest reasons for people to seek asylum are escaping conflict, persecution, natural disasters and development-induced displacement.

locations will always be a difficult task. In his findings in relation to the much-publicised death of Hamid Khaezei—the 24-year-old Iranian asylum seeker, who eventually died from a tropical infection in a Brisbane hospital in 2014—the Queensland Coroner recommended that moving refugees to a more accessible location would be a significant step toward better health care. But he also urged that medical decisions—such as provision of appropriate treatment and medical evacuation when necessary—must be made for medical reasons, not political considerations, as often seems to be the case.1 The Australian government’s prioritisation of politics over human need has not gone unnoticed. Addressing the 38th Session of the United Nations Human Rights Council on July 2, Daniel Webb, of the Human Rights Law Centre, put it like this: “The denial of essential medical care has become the latest political tactic 10

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33 boats and 771 asylum seekers were turned back between September 2013 and June 2018.

(Senate Estimates and Australian Border Force)

As of May 2018, the average time that people are held in detention is 436 days. And 259 people were held for more than 730 days in 2017–2018.

(Refugee Council)

used against the refugees indefinitely imprisoned on Manus and Nauru.”

He described the current approach as a deliberate plan by politicians to “harm refugees for their own political ends” as a form of “brutal and deeply cynical politics”.2 In June, the Australian govern­ ment quietly settled a lawsuit brought on behalf of the men detained on Manus Island. Each detainee received a payment of between $50,000 and $70,000 for the suffering they have experienced in detention, even while that detention and the suffering it brings is continuing—with no end in sight.

Our refugee problem is not asylum seekers or refugees. We have never been “swamped” with refugees in anywhere near the numbers that are still housed and cared for in Jordan. As a country with a larger population, more space and more resour­ ces, we have never been asked to bear anything like the cost that they have

FREEPIK.COM

372 Manus detainees have been accepted by the US, and 161 rejected since May 21, 2018. 646 people from Manus Island and 165 from Nauru returned to their homelands, 494 people have been relocated to Australia for medical treatment.

Manus Island Regional Processing Centre officially closed as of October 2017, after the Supreme Court of Papua New Guinea made it illegal. Eight other detention centres process asylum seekers—Nauru Regional Processing Centre is currently the third-largest.

(Refugee Council)

(ABC News)

been prepared, even proud, to pay.

Which demonstrates our real refugee problem—a lack of compassion.

In June, Minister for Home Affairs Peter Dutton warned Australians that any acts of compassion in relation to refugees might undermine Australia’s border security policies.

The larger issue for Mr Dutton and his political colleagues is that true compassion would undermine not only his signature policy but also their ability to use these issues for electoral purposes. When a nation’s leaders feel the need to warn its people against compassion, we are facing more than a refugee problem.

At the inauguration of the nation of Israel about 3500 years ago—a group of people who had escaped over borders from oppression and slavery—its new citizens warned that other nations would be blessed and cursed depending on how they treated people, particularly those most in need: “Cursed is anyone who

Around 109 children have been held in Nauru for at least the last four years. In August, it was reported that up to 30 of the children were suffering an epidemic of mental disorders.

Amnesty International, Refugee Council, SBS)

withholds justice from the foreigner, the fatherless or the widow” (Deuteronomy 27:19). Whether or not this curse would arrive by act of divine judgement, it would be fulfilled by an absence of compassion and what that means for what a nation is and what its people are becoming. From my conversation with Jacob in Jordan, it seems we need to re-discover our sense of compassion and that might best begin with a compassionate response to the people and the problems we have created on Manus Island and Nauru.

Nathan Brown is a book editor for Signs Publishing in Warburton, Victoria. He is a passionate social justice activist.

1. For more on these Coroner’s findings, see “Immigration Bureaucrats Still Undermining Doctors Despite Hamid Khazaei’s Death” by Sara Townend: <https://doctorsmakechange.org/updates/2018/8/27/immigration-bureaucrats-still-undermining-doctors-despite-hamid-khazaeis-death>.

2. For more on the failures of medical care on Nauru, see “A Cynical Politics of Medical Neglect” by Nathan Brown and Sara Townend: <https://wp.avondale. edu.au/news/2018/08/03/a-cynical-politics-of-medical-neglect/>.

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AND THE END TIMES

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IC TRAVEL Where are technological advances taking humanity?

BY DANIEL KUBEREK

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would be possible to travel from one side of the world to the other in under an hour. His promotional video depicted a flight from New York to Shanghai lasting just 39 minutes. This caught my imagin­ ation. But not everyone was convinced. It seemed impossible a rocket could take off from one

launch-pad and land on another, let alone carry humans safely. The journalist covering the story returned to the newsroom after the conference full of scepticism.

But Elon Musk’s claims weren’t as far-fetched as they seemed. Online video began emerging of successful SpaceX test landings on launch-pads and ocean barges. The line between science and fiction had blurred.

Suddenly the unbelievable was believable.

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lon Musk visited my hometown of Adelaide, South Australia, twice in 2017. As you’d expect, he was greeted by huge public and media interest. People were excited that our humble little city would receive attention from the man behind Paypal, Tesla and SpaceX. Musk’s first visit was in connection with a public announcement that Tesla was building an industrial mega-battery to solve South Australia’s power problems. Typically, these matters are the topic of debate for a long time in parliament, but not with Elon Musk. “Tesla will get the system installed and working 100 days from contract signature or it is free,” he famously declared on Twitter.

And sure enough, the battery was built within that timeframe, and began supporting South Australia’s power grid. Within a month it had proved its worth, backing up the Loy Yang coal power plant when it went offline.

The second time Musk visited Adelaide was for the Internat­ ional Astro­nautical Congress. I was intern­ing at a television news station that week and narrowly missed out on attending Musk’s keynote on the Friday afternoon. The main thrust of his talk, which I livestreamed from the office, was the feasibility of a reuseable SpaceX rocket that could eventually send people to Mars.

Additionally, he proposed rocketpropelled travel between locations around the globe, suggesting it

within reach

We live in a world where charis­ matic entrepreneurs can make incredibly complex ideas seem simple—and then make them reality.

However, the most sophisticated technologies pale in comparison to the complexity of the human body and the miracle of our very existence,

“

it’s important to get a self­ sustaining base on Mars . . .

which can be described in just one sentence: “So God created mankind in his own image, in the image of God he created them; male and female he created them” (Genesis 1:27).

The rapid advancement of technology does raise questions about our place on this earth. God may have created the world, but, if some of earth’s big thinkers have their way, we may even end up living on Mars. Elon Musk himself believes

that life on earth is heading towards destruction and suggests Mars could be a worthy Plan B. “It’s important to get a self-sustaining base on Mars because it’s far enough away from Earth that [if war breaks out] it’s more likely to survive than a moon base,” he told delegates at SXSW earlier this year. “If there’s a Third World War we want to make sure there’s enough of a seed of human civilisation somewhere else to bring it back and shorten the length of the dark ages.”

Clearly there is significant motivation to advance technology in order to avert an impending disaster, and for humanity to remain in control.

Is that what God intended for us, or does He have another plan?

ancient prophecy

The Bible predicted the state of the world in our time many centuries ago. When God revealed the future to Daniel—describing it as the “time of the end”—He said “many shall run to and fro, and knowledge shall be increased” (Daniel 12:4, KJV).

Sound familiar? There is an abundance of evidence to suggest that we are indeed in a period where knowledge is significantly increasing and our transport technologies have enabled us to “run to and fro” more than at any time in history.

Prior to the mid-1880s, everyday travel included horse-drawn vehicles and the cutting edge of transportation was steam-powered trains or ships. After that point there was NOVEMBER 2018 • SIGNS OF THE TIMES

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a boom in knowledge and understanding of mechanical engineering.

Germany’s Karl Benz is thought to have invented the first automobile in 1885, paving the way for rapid, personal overland transport. Then the Wright brothers cracked the code on air travel in December 1903, when they embarked on their first flight, which lasted for just under a minute.

In the 115 years since, technological development has skyrocketed into a new sphere of engineering. Boeing recently released a hypersonic aircraft concept, predicted to fly between six and 12.5 times faster than a commercial airliner—between 6000 and 12,000km/h. The hypersonic aeroplane would also be at least three times faster than the legendary but now decommissioned Concorde, which travelled at more than twice the speed of sound. “We’re excited about the potential of hypersonic technology to connect the world faster than before,” said Kevin Bowcutt, chief scientist of hypersonics at Boeing in a press release.

knowledge increase

It has only taken humanity about a century to shift from the first-ever flight to air travel at ballistic missile speeds. And that’s after thousands of years of fairly static human existence that still continues unchanged in many parts of the world.

Records are not only being broken in air travel, but also in ground transport. Karl Benz’s 1885 automobile had one cylinder and pro16

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duced a mini­scule 0.75 horsepower.

These days, the current production vehicle record is held by the Hennessey Venom F5, packing an engine delivering 1600hp and a top speed of 484km/h.

Electric cars, a concept that Elon

Dreams are free. The F5 will set you back $US1.6m.

Musk’s Tesla helped popularise, have seen huge strides in engineering advance­ment. In March at the Geneva Motorshow, Croatia’s Rimac Automobili announced that their all-electric Concept Two would accelerate from 0 to 96km/h in 1.85 seconds, making it a contender for the world’s fastest production car (if it’s ready to launch in 2020, as planned). According to theverge.com, a whopping 1914hp engine, 2552 times more powerful

our destiny.

The Bible reminds us countless times that when events seem to be spiralling out of control, God remains in charge: “Do not fear, for I am with you; do not be dismayed, for I am your God. I will strengthen you and help you; I will uphold you with my righteous right hand” (Isaiah 41:10).

While the description of the end times in Daniel 12 accurately predicts the highly sophisticated and advanced world we live in, the Bible also alleviates fears for the future by showing that everything happens according to God’s plan. “‘For I know the plans I have for you,’ declares the Lord, ‘plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future’” (Jeremiah 29:11). The world around us is a constant reminder that, while humanity gives the illusion of control, there is an Almighty Creator who ultimately has foretold these events, and will guide us into a bright future.

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than Benz’s first vehicle, provides the Rimac Concept Two’s acceleration.

All these technological advancements come with a purpose. The old power grids are failing; we acquire new batteries. The current forms of aviation are slow; we plan on using

rockets and hypersonic aircraft to save us time while we “run to and fro”. Internal combustion vehicles pollute the environment; they’re being replaced with the fast, new and eco-friendly electric cars.

But what about the increasingly uninhabitable nature of our world?

Elon Musk’s comments about emigrating to Mars reveal our awareness of humanity’s fragile existence on this planet, as well as our arrogant confidence that we are in control of

Daniel Kuberek wishes he drove a Subaru WRX and is assistant editor for Signs of the Times.

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S T R E E T S I G N S

What is the future of travel?

I think [electric cars] are dangerous, so petrol is better. [My husband] says “next time you buy a car, buy Tesla”. I say no. I watch the Tesla in the magazine. They say “Oh, [it costs] $120,000.” But I say no, that’s no good. That’s impossible. How come it’s like that? I think that they’re silly. Every day a new one is coming, but the original is always better.—Theresa

I reckon we should be going backwards—take the toll off the earth.

More public transport, people walking and riding their bikes more. . . . In a car, you’re not going to be meeting people. [When you’re] walking around, [you] run into people and interact with them.—John

I’d love to see flying cars. I think they are cool. The use of magnets more so in public transport. . . I think we’re moving more towards electricity and electric-powered vehicles. For a car I would [switch to electric] but for a motorbike I like the sound too much, so I’d keep it at petrol.—Matt

I think eventually [rocket travel] will be accessible to everyone. It’s the same as when hot air balloons were first crea­ted. When you think about it now, it was only for people who had lots of money. And it was for exclusive VIPs. Now it’s available to anyone.—Sarah

I definitely think we have the potential to end up on Mars, but the proviso is we need enough time to develop the technology. Given all the current problems we have in the world—things like climate change, threats of nuclear war and all sorts of problems—I’m unsure we’ll be given enough time to colonise other planets.—Adrian

IMAGES BY DANIEL KUBEREK

Solar vehicles need to be developed. . . you can drive them in the morning for your daily travel commute. Solar is a big area that must be tapped. . . . When we are using irresponsibly the resources available to us, they come with a cost. It will negate the cost that we are bearing now if we use that technology.—Enil NOVEMBER 2018 • SIGNS OF THE TIMES

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ELL BEI NG

THE DEPRESSION– INFLAMMATION LINK

BY MIKAELA BORROTT

MIXMIKE—GETTY IMAGES

Lifestyle medicine is showing us more about the simple ways we can improve our health and our mood.

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ating a little from standard medical procedure, he also asked her about her mood. She said she felt “very low”; she was tired much of the time, had a hard time sleeping and was losing the will to live. So Bullmore added depression to his diagnosis of rheumatoid arthritis.

So was this a medical or a psychological issue? A common prescription doctors give for depression is a selective serotonin re-uptake inhibitor (SSRI), which increases the level of the neurotransmitter serotonin in the brain. What’s surprising, however, is that there’s no way to test neurotransmitter levels. Thus, there’s no way to know, other than through trial and error, whether a person’s serotonin level is adequate.

This problem led Bullmore to extend his research into another field of medical practice: immunology. An immune response involves inflammation, which results from an increase in blood flow to the area of an infection or injury. This increased blood flow is triggered by the release of chemicals from white blood cells into the blood and affected tissues.

White blood cells act like good guys, fighting bacteria and viruses in the body. But with auto-immune disorders the good guys can turn on us and start fighting our healthy cells.

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ou’re running late, you still have a thousand things to do, and the deadlines are closing in. And it isn’t just today. Every day you feel stressed.

Now note the result: your body becomes inflamed, and the inflammation enters your brain. You feel depressed. That chain of cause and effect sounded like a stretch to me at first, but Dr Edward Bullmore’s research1 provides powerful evidence that inflammation in the body can cause depression in the mind.

Today Bullmore is a professor of psych­iatry at the University of Cambridge in the UK. However, back in 1989, when he was a medical student, a patient with an auto­ immune disease was referred to him.

Her immune system was attacking her body, causing inflammation and swelling in her joints. After a routine exam, Bullmore diagnosed her with rheumatoid arthritis. However, devi-

Immun­ology research shows links between inflammation and diseases such as diabetes, heart disease and Alzheimer’s—and also depression.

Bullmore discovered that the blood from people who said they felt depressed showed higher levels of inflammation—the more depressed they felt, the more inflammation was found in their blood. And because the genes common to depressed people are also the genes for immune function, it seems this is a causal link rather than merely a correlation. The mutation of one key immune function gene, olfactomedin 4, causes a strong inflammatory response to certain types of bacteria when it enters the gut.

The Bible suggests something quite consistent with this observation. Proverbs 12:25 says, “Anxiety in the heart of man causes depression, but a good word makes it glad” (NKJV2). Stress causes inflammation in the heart and eventually throughout the whole body, which can lead to depression.

We experience more stress in this day and age than ever before, leaving our bodies chronically inflamed.

One in 10 people is depressed and that statistic is on the rise. This suggests that our lifestyle produces the inflammation that may trigger depression.

I turned to internationally recognised Australian lifestyle medicine expert Dr Darren Morton to find out more about this issue. Both his recent book Live More Happy and his

online self-guided program, The Lift Project, arose out of his desire to “let people know there are scientifically proven ways to lift your mood and your life”. The Lift Project includes 10 online lessons and combines strategies from the fields of neuro­science, positive psychology and lifestyle medicine to lift your mood and your life.3

the problem

When we take a closer look at what makes us more likely to experience depression, most of the risk factors are lifestyle related and, therefore, can be reduced with lifestyle changes. “Many of the modern lifestyle habits are pro-inflammatory and what we know is that more trad­ itional forms of lifestyle are actually anti-inflammatory,” says Morton. He addresses these pro-inflammatory aspects of our modern lives in The Lift Project—including poor nutrition, lack of physical activity, pesticides and environmental toxins—and suggests simple yet effective strategies. By implementing these lifestyle changes, the causes of depression are addressed rather than just alleviating a symptom or two in the short term.

Morton goes on to point out that “what we actually now know is that probably the root cause of most chronic conditions is actually a low-grade systemic inflammation”.

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the lifestyle shift that needs to take place to improve these conditions.

Scientists have shown that the highly processed foods many of us eat today are pro-inflammatory, and not only does the body have an inflammatory response to these foods, it also launches an immunological defence.

Historically, most people died from infectious diseases such as tuberculosis, smallpox or influ­enza.

People experienced low energy as their body conserved energy for fighting off foreign invaders, and they went into social isolation to stop the spread of infection. Low energy and social withdrawal are also symptoms of depression—considered in that light, we can see how depression could be a useful way for the body to avoid contracting a disease. But today, Morton says, the highly processed foods we consume on a daily basis are recognised as foes by our bodies and result in symptoms that are similar to those of infectious diseases. Interestingly, low mood can also be a symptom of food intolerances to gluten and dairy.

Maybe dep­ression is also the body’s natural reaction to foods it isn’t used to or that it recognises as enemies.

what to do

Eating more anti-inflammatory foods can help in the fight against low mood.

These foods include fibre, which is found only in plants. Due to 24

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the strong association between poor health of the “good bacteria” in the gut and the resulting adverse mental and physical health problems, our gut is sometimes referred to as the second brain. These microbiota feed on fibre, so there’s a positive link between the consumption of fruit and vegetables on the one hand and people’s emotional vitality on the other. The more fruit and vege­tables we eat, the happier we’ll feel!

Many times, when one of my counselling clients has said they’re feeling depressed, not enjoying the things they usually do and not even sure if they want to be alive, it has also come up that they aren’t exercising, aren’t eating healthily and are withdrawing from people, including those they love and from whom they usually seek comfort (or should). These behaviours are all pro-inflammatory, Morton says, as is the emotion of loneliness.

As a counsellor, I can unpack the beliefs my clients have about themselves as well as the emotions they’re experiencing over what’s happening in their lives. From that I can teach

the Bible says

What fascinates me is the apparent evidence that God used these lifestyle interventions to help the Old Testament Hebrew prophet Elijah.

1 Kings 19 recounts the story of how Elijah, fleeing for his life, went alone into the wilderness and prayed for the Lord to take his life. Then he stopped to sleep for a while.

He was clearly depressed, feeling worthless, fatigued, socially withdrawn and suicidal—all symptoms of depression. Verse 7 says that an angel appeared to him and told him to get up and eat and move forward on his journey. Later in the story, God provided Elijah with a helper named Elisha, who was to be his assistant. Yes, God provided depression-fighting opportunities for Elijah, encouraging him to eat properly, to keep moving and to get support.

Does today’s lifestyle produce the inflammation that may trigger depression? Medical science suggests that the answer is yes, as does the anti-inflammatory effect of effective lifestyle changes. And both recent scientific research and the ancient wisdom of the Bible suggest some practical ways forward.

Mikaela Borrott is a qualified counsellor with an interest in child and youth wellbeing. She lives and works in the Lake Macquarie region of New South Wales, Australia.

1. This article’s discussion of Dr Bullmore’s work is based on William Leith, “The Depression Epidemic and Why the Medical Profession Is Failing Patients,” The Times, April 21, 2018, available from thetimes. co.uk/magazine/the-times-magazine/the-depression-epidemic-and-why-the-medical-profession-is-failing-patients-cgd08lbv6.

2. Bible verses marked NKJV are taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used with permission. All rights reserved.

3. For more information about The Lift Project or to sign up, go to The Lift Project website at theliftproject. global.

NOVEMBER 2018 • SIGNS OF THE TIMES

FCAFOTODIGITAL—GETTY IMAGES

them some techniques for coping with stress. These insights can all be a useful part of the healing process and contribute to personal growth, but they can also take time.

What many of my clients don’t realise until I tell them, however, is that implementing simple lifestyle changes can provide a boost in mood fairly quickly; my clients can help themselves in the long term by treating the body’s inflammatory response. Morton says that even gentle physical motion for less than 10 minutes is enough to change your mood, and science indicates that the day after consuming more fruits and vegetables you’ll feel happier. These are small steps with rapid results that may provide that extra boost you need to lift your life and mood.

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KEVAN’S JOURNEY AS A BACKPACK

BY VANESA PIZZUTO

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K

evan exudes warmth. I can feel it as strongly as if I were sitting right next to him. I am interviewing him online, from London.

But there is something about this joyous ginger man that shrinks the distance between us and makes me feel like I am downtown in Fort Wayne, Indiana, having a cuppa with him. He cracks jokes about his wheelchair and living with Spinal Muscular Atrophy (SMA), and his boyish laughter is infectious. In long, unhurried sentences, he tells me about growing up in North Carolina, about his loyal college friends, and how he ended up travelling around Europe strapped to a backpack.

When Connie, Kevan’s older sister, was diagnosed with SMA, a genetic disease affecting the part of the nervous system that controls voluntary muscle movement, the doctors recommended his parents not have any more children. Undefeated, the Chandlers decided they would take the risk and love any future children the same. A year and-a-half later, Kevan was born, the youngest of three siblings.

Growing up, they took it one day at a time. Kevan says they would look at what they wanted to do, and what they could do, to find a balance between the two. “Sometimes this meant letting go of things you wanted to do,” says Kevan, “but others also pushed you” out of your comfort zone.

More often than not, finding the balance meant getting creative.

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Kevan remembers his older brother cutting cardboard horses and attaching them to his wheelchair so they could play cowboys. He remembers his dad, an aeroplane mechanic, fitting his wheelchair with a special metal frame so he could play football with his primary school friends— years before powerchair football was popularised.

It was during the formative years of his childhood, which Kevan simply describes as “happy”, when he learnt to use an unconvent­ional, community-oriented approach to problem-solving, and where he developed an unquenchable thirst for adventure.

While in college, studying towards a counselling degree with emphasis

on prison ministries, Kevan and his friends decided to explore the local sewers. I cannot fathom why anyone would want to do that, but Kevan blames it on watching Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles as a child. As sewers are not exactly wheelchair accessible, Kevan’s mates strapped him to a makeshift backpack—he weighs around 30 kilos—so he could be part of the smelly adventure. It was deep in the sewers, of all places, where Kevan and friends had a true Eureka moment: “Where are we going next?” It was a simple question that would completely redefine accessibility.

SUPPLIED

European tour

Kevan’s dream was to visit Europe.

But the places he wanted to see were not wheelchair-accessible. So, after designing a new backpack, in June of 2016 he and a group of friends spent three weeks backpacking through France, England and Ireland. Four of his friends took turns carrying him, while the other two filmed the experience. After all, “if you’re going to do something so crazy, you should probably document it, right?”

Adventure met them at every corner, from dance parties in France to monastic climbs in Ireland. They saw the world as it is meant to be seen: in the company of friends.

I ask Kevan what it felt like to leave his wheelchair at Atlanta airport and completely depend on others to carry him for three weeks.

He says one of the main challenges

“

What if accessibility is less about ramps and more about people helping people? was letting go of control. “When I’m in my wheelchair, I may be limited in where I can go, but I am in charge. In the backpack, I can go practically anywhere—I don’t have to worry about ladders or even mountains—but I’m at the mercy of those carry­ing me. The experience made me realise that I’d traded one freedom for another. And one freedom is not greater than the other, they are just different.”

After returning to the USA, Kevan spent four months writing a book about his experience, which he hopes to publish soon. While writing The View From Here he realised that one of the greatest blessings of the trip was seeing the kingdom of God NOVEMBER 2018 • SIGNS OF THE TIMES

29

coming to earth. He saw it in the kindness of his friends and in the way people were reacting to their adventure. “People would stop us to say that this is what they needed to see: people loving each other. It was like a drink of clean water to them.”

Just like Jesus predicted, these Christian friends were known by their love (John 13:35).

“Near the end of the trip, it really hit me,” Kevan confesses.

“I asked the Lord why these guys were doing this. He very clearly said, ‘because they love you in the same way that I love you. It is My love coming through them.’”

the mission

While preparing for the adventure, which Kevan and friends aptly named “We Carry Kevan”, the word spread about this backpack for disabled people and this group of brave friends who were redefining accessibility. People from all over the world started contacting the team, asking about the experience, the backpack and where to find people who were willing to carry them.

The interest was such that, upon returning from the trip, Kevan started a non-profit organisation to inspire communities to reimagine accessibility.

“What if accessibility is less about ramps and more about 30

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people helping people?” Kevan asked me, suddenly taking on the role of the interviewer. I found myself answering that maybe it was always meant to be about community. On an emotional and spiritual level, I know this to be the only path to healing. My friends have carried me to Jesus on many occasions when I did not have the strength to go on—much like the story of the paralysed man in the Bible (Luke 5:18-25). Why should accessibility be any different?

This summer, Kevan and friends are travelling to China. With the help of Show Hope, an organisation that supports orphans with disabilities, Kevan and his squad will visit care centres to encourage the children and deliver backpacks.

Kevan is looking forward to taking these children for walks, with the help of the caregivers. Some of these children have never seen an adult with disabilities thriving, and Kevan hopes to inspire them to embrace their full potential.

SUPPLIED

at the King’s table

“There is a lot more to us than our physical bodies,” Kevan says as we wrap up the interview. Then he shares the story of Mephibosheth from a perspective I’ve never considered before. Mephibosheth, the son of Jonathan and grandson of King Saul, was living with a disability. The boy was five years old when his father and grandfather were killed in battle. It was custom-

ary when a king was defeated to kill any descendants so there would be no lineage of that ruler to claim the throne in the future. Trying to save his life, Mephibosheth’s nurse picked him up and fled. But as she hurried, the boy fell and became lame in both legs (2 Samuel 4).

When David became king, he wanted to honour the memory of his best friend, Jonathan. So he invited Mephibosheth, by now an adult with a son of his own, to eat at his table.

“The beautiful thing about eating at the table is that your legs are hidden,” enthuses Kevan. “This disabled guy is sitting at the table with David’s mighty men. He is on the same level with the guy that slayed a lion.” It’s such a beautiful analogy of God’s kingdom: at His table we are all equal.

We find our identity in our relationship with Christ. Sitting at His table, we are reminded of the intrinsic value He has bestowed upon us, regardless of any physical, emotional or spiritual limitations.

“Our relationship with the Lord overrides whatever is going on in our lives,” muses Kevan. “We can say, ‘My arms don’t work, my legs don’t work,’ or even, ‘My situation stinks at the moment.’ But, I am a child of God. And that overrides everything. It’s a beautiful thing.”

Vanesa Pizzuto is a freelance journalist and radio broadcaster living in London, UK. Find out more about Kevan Chandler and his friends at WeCarryKevan.com.

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CUL

TU RE

BOOK REVIEW Anzac Spirituality: The First AIF Soldiers Speak.

By Daniel Reynaud (2018, Australian Scholarly Publishing) Reviewed by Geoff Treloar

ANZAC SOLDIERS SPEAK

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AUSTRALIAN WAR MEMORIAL COLLECTION.

I

have a long daily commute to and from work between my home in the Blue Mountains and the Australian College of Theology in Sydney. In many ways it is the best part of my day; I get to do what I like doing without interruption: reading. For the last couple of weeks this reading time has been more than usually pleasurable as I have read two very good books, one of which is Daniel Reynaud’s Anzac Spirituality: The First AIF Soldiers Speak.

The first thing is that it tackles a big subject; one that really matters and warrants our attention. While it looks like a micro-study of the soldiers of the First Australian Imperial Force (AIF), in fact the ultimate subject is the Great War of 1914–1918. However construed, the Great War was genuinely a world-historical event which cast its long shadow over the century to follow.

Questions abound: How did it happen?

What was at stake? What was it like to live through? In its own way Reynaud’s book contributes to the answers to these large questions.

He foregrounds the soldiers of the First AIF—a highly significant group of men called upon to actually fight the war—and spotlights the spiritual component of their lives. The chapters seemed to get better as I worked my way through; the subject matter became more and more gripping. The account begins with the “enforced spirituality” of “compulsory church parades”, but moves on to “spirituality of choice”, the group and personal practices that expressed what was truly believed and lived. It next treats re-

sponses to the ethical dilemmas of war in the chapter “God of Battles” before moving to the everyday spiritual beliefs of the men and how these worked out in the extraordinary lives they were obliged to live under fire. Then there is a chapter on the chaplains and the challenges they faced, but alongside of it is another on the non-formal, less structured beliefs of the men.

“

the First AIF. . . men called upon to actually fight the war

I like this movement from the official to the unofficial, from the compulsory to the voluntary, from the outward to the inward, from the orthodox and defined to the heterodox and inchoate. It seems to me a method for establishing the truth, for getting at the reality of the spirituality of the First AIF. This concentration on the rank and file is unusual in the literature on the religion of Great War soldiers. It is much more common to focus on the officers and the chaplains. As I read the way the war was experienced in the training camps and at the front, I felt that I was getting to know the men of NOVEMBER 2018 • SIGNS OF THE TIMES

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the First AIF. It is not hard to see why.

The book’s apt sub-title is The First AIF Soldiers Speak. They do indeed! Reynaud has given them a voice through extensive quotation. Here’s one example from June 24, 1917 when Corporal Wilfred Denver wrote from a Roman Catholic standpoint: If I should be killed I go to a much happier world than this. When I see thousands dying all around me day after day I have a different view of life to what you people have. You would think it terrible if I was killed but I am quite unconcerned about it. While I am in this world I must fight for justice and destroy the wicked even though I risk my life in doing so.

This at least is how one high-minded young man faced up to the ever-­ present prospect of death—or at least how he said he did to his people at home.

Other readers will find their own favourites. After all, there are 260 of these biographies from which to choose—an impressive feat of close, detailed research.

And, to come to the central claim of the book: many of the men of the First AIF were religious—in different ways and in different degrees. Reynaud has given us a fuller portrait of the spiritual dimension of life in the First AIF. We see it in Bible reading, praying and hymn singing, voluntary church attendance and fellowship groups; wrestling with the temptations of new-found freedom and the low ethical standards of service life; belief in the righteousness of their cause; questioning of and even 34

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impatience with the shibboleths of peace-time religion; signs of puzzling over the moral ambiguities of the conflict and even assigning a metaphysical dimension to the process of modern warfare.

At this point I should say that I like the way the book has been written. First, it is grounded in research that is enterprising and comprehensive. A long list of newspapers—many of them from remote and out-of-the-way places (who would have thought of using the Kyabram Free Press and Rodney and Deakin Shire Advocate?)—take their place alongside mainstream city and denominational publications and the surviving diaries and letters of service­ men as the primary sources of the investigation.

And second, Anzac Spirituality is an exercise in historical interpre­tation and should be judged as such. I find that the assessment of the evidence is judicious, neither exaggerated nor triumphalist. Spirituality is identified, but certainly not overstated. Grounded in a rich strain of evidence, measured in its views, focused on the past and not on the present, this in my judgement is good history, which was pleasurable and rewarding to read as I made my daily trek from Leura to Sydney and

WIKIMEDIA COMMONS

AIF reinforcements from the 40th Battalion prepare to ship out from the Melbourne docks.

back again.

Of course, Reynaud is not the first historian to address the subject of the religion of Australian Great War soldiers. The pioneer was Bill Gammage, who opined that “the average Australian soldier was not religious”. This view was challenged almost 20 years ago by the American scholar Bob Linder, who discovered the presence in the ranks of “the godly digger”. Reynaud’s extensive research builds on Linder’s work and consider­ably nuances it.

Reynaud calculates that at least 20 per cent of the men of the First AIF evinced a degree of spirituality during their service lives. This should hardly surprise us—at the time almost 100 per cent of the adult Australian population declared in anonymous censuses that they believed in God. There were also relatively high levels of church attendance and the 15 years before the war was a time of intense and successful revivalism. Indeed, it occurred to me as I read Reynaud’s book that the First AIF

presents something of a snapshot of early 20th century Australian religion.

It does appear that the overall tend­ ency in terms of religious belief was for the men who survived to emerge from the war much the same as when they entered it, although possibly chastened and refined in their outlook. Nobody denies that some men lost their faith because of the ordeal of the war. But others found it. Reynaud’s book adds to the growing body of evidence that forces a reconsideration of the “loss of faith” narrative of the Great War and its larger context, the secular­isation of the modern world.

Anzac Spirituality is a genuinely world-ranking book. I really appreciate it for its qualities as a work of history and its value as a resource for understanding a truly important aspect of our past and its meaning for the present.

Geoff Treloar is director of learning and teaching at the Australian College of Theology in Sydney.

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R E CI P E

PREP: 20 MINS COOKING: 15 MINS SERVES: 4 INGREDIENTS

1 cup black quinoa, rinsed and drained 2 cups water 2 tbsp apple cider vinegar 4 sheets nori ½ small fresh beetroot, peeled and cut into matchsticks ¼ capsicum, peeled and cut into matchsticks ¼ carrot, peeled and cut into matchsticks handful of pea sprouts Avocado cream 2 avocados, peeled and chopped 3 tsp apple cider vinegar ¾ tsp salt

METHOD 1.

2.

3.

4.

5.

6.

7.

Place quinoa, water and vinegar in a saucepan. Bring to boil then reduce heat, cover and simmer for 10-15 minutes or until water is absorbed. Stir well and set aside until lukewarm.

Place a sheet of nori, shiny side down, on sushi mat or bench.

Spread quinoa over nori, leaving 2cm at short end.

Arrange ¼ of avocado cream, raw vegetables and sprouts in the centre of quinoa.

Roll up firmly towards the end with a 2cm gap. Cut in half.

Repeat with remaining nori sheets and ingredients.

Serve with soy sauce. Makes 8 (2 per serve).

Avocado cream 1. Place all ingredients in a food processor and blend until smooth and creamy.

PER SERVE: Energy (kJ) 1183; Cal 282; Protein (g) 8.9; Fat (g) 13.8; Saturated fat (g) 2.8; Carbohydrate (g) 27.2; Sugars (g) 3.6; Sodium (mg) 331; Potassium (mg) 633; Calcium (mg) 42; Iron (mg) 3.0.

Recipe courtesy of Sanitarium Health & Wellbeing. Visit sanitarium.com.au or sanitarium.co.nz and subscribe to Recipe of the Week for a delicious plant-powered recipe in your inbox each week.

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SIGNSOFTHETIMES.ORG.AU • NOVEMBER 2018

rainbow sushi rolls A totally plant-based, high-protein dish that will have you coming back for more!

NOVEMBER 2018 • SIGNS OF THE TIMES

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FA IT H

PALE BLUE DOT Consider the size of the universe. We’re tiny—but not insignificant.

BY TY GIBSON

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THOM SCHNEIDER—UNSPLASH, NASA/JPL

I

n 1977 the United States launched a spacecraft called Voyager. As the first space probe to soar beyond the solar system, and as the farthest man-made object from Earth, Voyager is in a class of its own. But it gets better, because ultimately this mere machine gave us a priceless gift.

Voyager was designed for a one-way “photo journalism” trek to the outer reaches of our solar system and beyond—into interstellar space. After travelling at a speed of 225,000 kilometres per hour for 13 years, Voyager found itself 6 billion kilometres from Earth.

The year was 1990 and we were about to see ourselves in a whole new light. At the request of popular astronomer Carl Sagan, NASA sent Voyager a command to swivel around and take one more series of photos before continuing on its journey away from our world. Sixty ultra high-resolution images were snapped.

Of course we had no idea what kinds of images Voyager would capture. But one of them in particular took our breath away. The stunning photo was appropriately named “The Pale Blue Dot”. It was our little planet. Earth. There we were.

The human race. Just hanging there within the enormity of space like a mere speck of punctuation. Almost unnoticeable. Sagan captured the reality of our smallness when he described Earth as “a mote of dust suspended in a sunbeam”.

Commenting on the photo, Sagan wrote, “Our planet is a lonely speck in the great enveloping cosmic dark. In our obscurity, in all this vastness, there is no hint that help will come from elsewhere to save us from ourselves.”

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We are so, so very small, aren’t we? And yet, the amazing thing is, we are so massively significant in the eyes of our Maker. After contemplating the enormity of space and the vastness of the universe, the ancient Hebrew king, David, prayed, “What is mankind that you are mindful of them, human beings that you care for them?” (Psalm 8:4). The short answer given in the Bible is that humans are of extreme significance to God simply, and profoundly, because He loves us. These prophets convey the message that God knows each one of us by name. He is perfectly aware of, and totally devoted to, each person with the acute sensitivity a mother has for her child. Each morning when you first awake His eyes are on your face. The first time you crack a smile, His heart leaps with delight. When your eyes tear up, He takes notice and feels your pain.

The suffering created by bad human choices pierces His heart with agony.

In contrast to this picture of God painted by these ancient prophets, both Plato and Aristotle portray God as a kind of “Absolute Being”, completely “Other” and “Transc­endent”, so much so that God must be void of any and all emotions. If God is perfect, the reasoning goes, He cannot experience any change within Himself in the form of emotional movement. Following the Greek lead, Western Christian thought came to characterise God with the word “impassible”, which simply means without pathos or feeling.

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But this popular Western picture of God doesn’t square up with God humb­ling Himself to become a member of the human race and then pouring out His life for us in that singular passionate act of love at the cross. Here is pathos at its height of expression! Here is emotion of the most extreme kind! Here is nothing short of an astronomical love that soars beyond all self-interest!

It must be true that God loves with a strong emotional passion, because we were made in His image, and we certainly love deeply.

I’ll never forget the day I held my newborn son in my arms. He was so small and yet so huge in my estimation. Somehow I knew that I loved him beyond all self-interest. The moment he came into the world, I felt that his value transcended my own. And I knew I would die for him if I had to.

God feels the same way about you and me. He knew that the moment He created the human race, He would love us more than His own life, and that, if we should choose selfishness over love, it would cost Him His own life to bring us back to Him. And that’s precisely what He did give for us. His life for ours!

Voyager gave us the pale blue dot.

But the sacrifice of Christ on the cross gave us blood-red proof of God’s amazing love.

Ty Gibson is a pastor and author based in Oregon, USA. This article is adapted from the digma.com video series. Used with permission.

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FA IT H

ROMANCE, JOB HUNTING & SALVATION

What has Jesus been doing in heaven since His death and resurrection?

BY BJORN KARLMAN

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STURTI—GETTY IMAGES NOVEMBER 2018 • SIGNS OF THE TIMES

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R

omantic initiatives work a lot better when you have someone credible vouching for you. I should know. Part of the reason I’m married to my wife, Jammie, is that I had the best advocate available when we were getting to know each other.

Within a day after Jammie and I announced that we were dating, her sister Jofe called me and, with a stern voice, said she needed to ask me some questions about myself.

I barely knew Jofe, so I’ll confess I felt a little intimidated. She started by warning me that I’d better think carefully about my answers, because she intended to share them with her whole family.

We covered my general background, work experience, plans for the future and a slew of other areas of my life. She made me sweat, but it was worth it. Because, from that moment on, Jofe stood up for me, made me look good to the family, got me out of trouble when I committed cultural faux-pas (my in-laws are Filipino; I’m Swedish) and gave me the occasional pointer on how to avoid looking completely clueless to my future wife. Jofe was and still is, quite literally, a godsend.

In addition to being a good advocate in romantic relationships, a good mediator’s usefulness extends to all kinds of situations, and nowhere is this more apparent than in our relationship with God. There’s enormously good news about who stands as our Friend and Advocate in heaven: Jesus Himself.

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Jesus, our Mediator

The Bible retells how Jesus was born as a baby; lived a perfect, sinless life; died to save us from our sins and rose from the grave before going back to heaven. But that’s not where the action ends. Jesus hasn’t spent the last 2000 years lounging around while angels fan Him with palm fronds. No, what He’s been doing is extremely important.

Just as the Old Testament high priests ministered on behalf of the Israelites before God, so Christ has been the Mediator before God for all His people in the heavenly sanctuary.

Hebrews 8:1,2 clearly identifies Jesus as our High Priest, sitting down “at the right hand of the throne of the Majesty in heaven, and who serves in the sanctuary, the true tabernacle set up by the Lord, not by a mere human being”. In the previous chapter, it says that Jesus became “the guarantor” (Hebrews 7:22) or “mediator of a better covenant” (Hebrews 8:6,7). As our High Priest, Jesus represents us before God, cleanses us of sin and empowers us to live meaningful, victorious lives.

We learn from Bible prophecy that Jesus’ heavenly work on our behalf shifted into high gear as He began the final part of His atoning ministry by moving into the most holy part of the heavenly sanctuary. Daniel 8:14 describes this phase by saying that “the sanctuary will be cleansed”.

Just as earthly priests cleansed the ancient Hebrew sanctuary on the day of atonement, so Christ cleanses our

“

PACIFIC PRESS­—GOODSALT.COM

Jesus represents us before God

record of sin and gives us eternal life through the perfect sacrifice of His blood (Hebrews 9:11–28).

Daniel 7:9–14 describes a heavenly court scene where books are opened. As Christ—“one like a son of man”—enters the Most Holy Place in that sanctuary, He opens the heavenly records and shows the entire universe that those who have died believing in Him, together with those who remain alive and faithful to Him until His return, will all reap eternal life. This work of Christ in the Most Holy Place of the heavenly sanctuary shows the whole universe that God is just and that those who will be in heaven receive eternal life because they’ve accepted Christ’s sacrifice and remained loyal to Him. As Jesus reviews our lives, He demonstrates to all created beings

that God’s decisions regarding every human being are both fair and based on grace and love.

dealing with sin

In doing this work, Christ is dealing with the sin problem. Before Creation, a heavenly plan was devised to rid the world of sin should it ever arise (1 Peter 1:20), and in His work in the heavenly sanctuary, Jesus is implementing that plan.

And Christ’s ministry isn’t just about dealing with our past sins; in His work on our behalf, He also gives us the power to live a joyful life with Him today and in the future. We can claim God’s power over sin through Jesus’ atoning, mediating work. The Bible says that because of Christ’s sacrifice, we can approach God “boldly”(Hebrews 4:16) and “in full NOVEMBER 2018 • SIGNS OF THE TIMES

45

assurance of faith” (Hebrews 10:22).

We aren’t saved because of any credentials we possess that would qualify us for eternal life; we’re saved because when God looks at us, He sees His Son’s perfect life and sacrifice. Hebrews 4:16 makes clear that, as we come to God through Jesus, He is more than willing to give us the grace to live a victorious life with Him. Jesus understands what we’re going through, and He’s sympathetic to our need for help. He understands the trials, temptations and hardships that are ever-present in our lives. Hebrews 4:15 reminds us that “we do not have a high priest who is unable to empathise with our weaknesses, but we have one who has been tempted in every way, just as we are—yet He did not sin”.

We can be sure that Jesus deals with us mercifully. He’s totally invested in seeing us succeed. Through His Holy Spirit, He’s in us, helping us to overcome the world (John 14:17; 2 Peter 1:3,4).

better than a sharp résumé

Although earthly comparisons will never capture Christ’s ministry in the heavenly sanctuary perfectly, let’s compare job hunting with what Jesus does for us.

Recent job market research reveals that up to half of the people who are hired come from referrals. Perhaps the biggest reason for this is that when job candidates are referred for a position, they basically come 46

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pre-vetted. The system doesn’t always work perfectly, but the basic idea makes sense: a trusted person with an “inside track” to the prospective employer can make good things happen for a job candidate. Especi­ally when you’re just starting out in the world of work, a good reference can be better for your chances of landing a job than your résumé. And the reason is obvious: the track record and credibility of your referee speaks on your behalf and makes up for gaps in your knowledge, training and background. He or she has become your mediator and intercessor.

Similarly, in spiritual terms, none of our efforts or achievements will make our heavenly résumés look more attractive. The only reason we’re forgiven and qualified for heaven is Christ’s sinless track record.

His perfect life stands in place of ours as heaven’s record books are reviewed. Christ, as “the author and finisher of our faith” (Hebrews 12:2), is the ultimate “in”.

So I urge you to spend time getting acquainted with your heavenly Mediator. He understands your situation because He experienced what you’re going through. He’s here to help you and to “present you before [God’s] glorious presence without fault and with great joy” (Jude 24).

After a South-East Asian missionary kid childhood, Bjorn Karlman has continued to live and work internationally in the UK, Thailand and Argentina as a writer, editor and humanitarian volunteer. He and his wife currently live in California.

WORDS

TO LIVE BY

“For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.” (John 3:16, NIV) What does the life of Jesus mean for your life today?

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GO HEALTHY for good WITH

DR NERIDA MCKIBBEN

TIME FOR A PHONE CURFEW?

Mobile phone use between 10pm and 6am is common in children, making them 50 per cent more likely to lose sleep and to have poorer health, according to a large Australian study.

Controlling for age and gender, nighttime phone use was associated with five times higher odds of texting in anger, four times higher odds of receiving hurtful messages and three times higher risk of being cyberbullied. On the other hand, the odds of building friendships increased by 20 per cent.—Sleep

Psychological distress, including depression and anxiety, may increase the risk for cardiovascular disease in people aged over 45. Researchers at the University of Edinburgh, UK, and the University of Queensland assessed levels of psychological distress in 221,677 people and followed their lives for more than four years. Compared to those with low levels of distress, men with high/very high levels had a 22 per cent increased stroke risk and a 30 per cent increased heart attack risk. For women, there was a 44 per cent increased stroke risk and an 18 per cent increased risk of heart attack.—CTV 48

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DONALD IAIN SMITH, WILDPIXEL, STEVE DEBENPORT—GETTY IMAGES, PIXABAY

MIND-BODY CONNECTION

YOU BOOZE, YOU LOSE

STEP IT UP! People who speed up their walking pace could live longer, according to researchers at the University of Sydney.

Average-pace walking reduced the risk of death by 20 per cent compared with a slower pace. For those aged 60 and over, average-pace walkers have a 46 per cent reduction in the risk of death from cardiovascular causes compared to a slow walker. There is a 53 per cent reduction for walkers with a fast pace (5 to 7 km per hour).—UPI

Authors of the Global Burden of Diseases, Injuries, and Risk Factors Study­ say “alcohol use is a leading risk factor for global disease and causes substantial health loss”. They found the risk of death “rises with increasing levels of consumption, and the level of consumption that minimises health loss is zero”.

—The Lancet

SPOT THE DIFFERENCE

Scientists in Western Australia trialling an experimental blood test that detects melanoma found that it was able to accurately identify 79 per cent of those with the disease, and 84 per cent without.

The test needs to have at least 90 per cent accuracy before being used in clinical practice—the team is optimistic that with further work this will be achieved.—CNN Dr Nerida McKibben, a New Zealand-born 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 NOVEMBER 2018 • SIGNS OF THE TIMES

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ELL BEI NG

A vital part of being a great father is effective role modelling.

BY PATRICK O’NEILL

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THE FATHER ROLE MODEL

SEBASTIAN LEON PRADO—UNSPLASH

P

ractise what you preach was one of the first lessons I remember from my father.

It was true when his father taught him and it is still true today. All children are well aware of when a parent is being two-faced—you are a fool if you think otherwise. I had just dropped family off at the airport and on the way home I decided to stop at a restaurant with my wife and six-year-old son. Just prior to this I had announced to the world that I was now a vegetarian. At the restaurant I ordered surf and turf. “What’s surf and turf, Dad?” asked Joshua. “Steak and seafood, son!” said I. Joshua then asked, “What does hypocrite mean, Dad?” A father has life-enhancing potential. A good father will develop happy and healthy children who see their dad as the ideal role model. These children will also have their father’s values and their behaviour will reflect this. The alternative is a father who will

either embitter a child or leave the child unable to meet his ever-changing perfectionist expectations.

Organisational psychologist Bernard Bass described two leadership approaches that are vital for a father to understand. A transform­ ational father will intrinsically motivate his children to do more than just what they are required to do—it’s about building relationships and the satisfaction that comes from solving problems or achieving goals. In contrast, a transac­ tional father promotes blind compliance to rules through rewards and punishments.

Basketball coach John Wooden, who led his UCLA players to 10 NCAA national championships in a 12-year period, stated that being a role model is the most powerful form of education.

But too often fathers neglect the importance of their role modelling—they get so caught up in making a living they forget to make a life. In both NOVEMBER 2018 • SIGNS OF THE TIMES

51

Australia and New Zealand there is a catastrophic lack of male role models. Census data show that about 1.8 million Aussie kids and 320,000 Kiwi kids live in homes without fathers. The statistics are skewed to the detriment of communities with a high proportion of Maori or Australian Indigenous residents—about a third of kids in these communities are growing up without a dad; a new generation that will struggle to escape their parent’s disadvantage.

Dictionary.com describes a role model as “a person whose behaviour, example or success is or can be emulated by others, especially by younger people”. A really outstanding paper on role modelling was completed by a Canadian Medical School. It stated that role modelling is an excellent teaching methodology and came up with a five-item conceptual model: 1. The role model must be excellent at what they do 2. They must be consistent in good behaviour, both verbal and non-verbal 3. They must be able to perform in demanding situations 4. They must be prepared to perform to expectations 5. They should have humility and be aware of personal shortcomings.

It should be noted here that the above would nearly be impossible for a transactional leader, who does not have to perform to expectations and does not have to be aware of their 52

SIGNSOFTHETIMES.ORG.AU • NOVEMBER 2018

own personal shortcomings—all they have to do is wave the rule-book in people’s faces.

So how can we extend this fiveitem model of role modelling to fatherhood?

1. EXCELLENCE

In 2014 the Dads4Kids Fatherhood Foundation stated that excel­ lence in fatherhood behaviour is taken to mean “fathers who, in word and deed, are responsible, involved, protective, loving and committed to the wellbeing of their children”. A judge will also tell you that a father must be non-abusive. A father must set boundaries and consequences, otherwise he cannot be a role-model.

In 2014, family researcher Laura­Lynn Stewart stated that these boundaries cannot be self-serving, they must benefit the child.

2. CONSISTENCY

Set boundaries with agreement from the whole family and with kindness. When setting a boundary there must be a consequence if the boundary is broken. However, setting boundaries and not following up with the agreed consequence is more harmful than not having a boundary at all, according to the Raising Children Network. Always deliver the consequence to any bad behaviour.

In 2007, Natasha Cabrera and her fellow researchers concluded that parental consistency is hugely important and beneficial to the developing minds of children. A consistent

approach means the child is never confused as to the outcome of their actions. A wonderful consistency for a father to show is that not only does he listen to his children, but he also models it by listening to their mother.

PEOPLEIMAGES­—GGETTY IMAGES

3. PERFORMANCE

Children love to see their dads perform in demanding situations.

One of the most damaging male role models is the father who does nothing yet controls. Don’t sit in your chair barking out orders. Leading and teaching your children in acts of kindness and empathy is the way ancient texts have taught us. If you can’t fix a car, order a mechanic.

If you can’t fix a computer, order a technician.

But weed the garden, wash the

car; teach your children maths and how to read.

4. PREPARATION

To me this means that a father should have a solid value system.

Having strong specific values means that when a situation presents itself your mindset is prepared—you don’t have to think hard about what you will do. My personal value system is based on the last six commandments from Exodus 20—Honour your parents/carers, don’t steal, don’t lie, don’t commit adultery, don’t kill and don’t lust.

Now with a specific values system you should react appropriately to expectations. A doctor is expected to save lives; a father is expected to protect and lead his family. A father will provide finance for his family; he NOVEMBER 2018 • SIGNS OF THE TIMES

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5. HUMILITY

Finally, all good role models know their limitations. Talk to your mates, talk to your parents, talk to your wife—each of these people will know something about your character that will limit your effectiveness as a father. Your anger, your domination, your lack of awareness and listening will all affect your ability to be a great dad. You may be fortunate enough to know your weaknesses and limitations—pray about those limitations, seek advice and have someone to be accountable to.

When my wife and I started to foster children, we role-modelled a protocol of equity and fairness.

At times we would have more than 20 children in the house. One of the ways equity was expressed was correction through family council.

My role was primarily as adjudicator.

Anyone could bring any grievance to the family meeting and all discipline would be decided at council. I would listen and then paraphrase what I 54

SIGNSOFTHETIMES.ORG.AU • NOVEMBER 2018

thought had been expressed. This role-modelled listening. For correction the accused would be given every opportunity for explanation. Then anyone else in the family could respond in any fashion—again I would listen and then repeat back to the speaker what I believed they had said. Finally I would ask the group if they were all finished. Upon agreement my wife and I would deliberate and decide on any penalties as required. This role-modelled unity and equity in a marriage. The children all responded well as they believed they had been heard fully.

After a visit with his birth family, one of my 13-year-old foster sons stated that he had had a very valuable and positive time. Upon asking his mother I discovered that after a squabble with his sister he had set up a family council, which he adjudi­ cated, ending with a fair and equit­ able outcome, much to the amusement of his mother.

A father who is a loving role model will develop happy and healthy children with the capability to embrace the notion of being a wonderful community member. Pray for wisdom to be a great dad.

Patrick O’Neill has fathered six of his own kids, two step-kids and more than 30 foster children.

He has qualifications in psychology and business management and lives on NSW’s Central Coast.

EDWARD CISNEROS—UNSPLASH

will not abuse his power, his position or his wife or kids; he can teach his family the skills he has learnt over a lifetime; he will affirm each member of his family with empathy and kindness; and he will motivate his family with considered leadership.

RAISING

CONFIDENT

KIDS

Every parent wants what’s best for their child. Give your child the best of yourself, too.

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GREENING OUR CONCRETE WORLD

PHOTO—INDIRA NAIDOO

The move to city living doesn’t have to mean the end of home-grown fruit and veggies.

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BY SUVI MAHONEN SIGNSOFTHETIMES.ORG.AU • NOVEMBER 2018

A

year after I moved to Surfers Paradise I stepped out onto the balcony of our high-rise apartment and surveyed the desolation of my attempt at a garden. Tiles scattered with dried-out bird poop and potting mix. Herbs either dead or wilting. A drooping pink petunia losing its petals. In fact the only plant thriving was a nameless weed with feathery fronds sprouting near the handrail.

I thought about the tropical garden I’d left behind in Airlie Beach. I missed the fragrant frangipanis, the vivid red pitcher plants, the bananas and pawpaws growing by the pool deck. I missed the hours spent outside pottering around in my wide-brimmed hat and soil-stained gardening gloves.

I knew when I’d moved that my 35 square metres of balcony space wouldn’t be able to reproduce what a quarter acre of rain-soaked soil in the tropics could. But even so, my efforts were beyond abysmal.

In a fit of pique I threw it all away.

I hastened the death of the struggling plants by dumping them in the apartment’s industrial bin. I swept the decks and scrubbed the tiles and cleaned the glass and in the end I was left with uninterrupted views of the Nerang River and a living space that, to be honest, was a little more depressing.

As an Australian I was far from unique in having made the transition from a detached house to apartment living. According to the Australian

Bureau of Statistics 10 per cent of Australians were residing in an apartment on the 2016 census night and over the past 25 years the number of apartments in Australia has increased by nearly 80 per cent to more than 1.2 million dwellings, which equates to one occupied apartment per five occupied houses. And this trend is only accelerating, according to Associate Professor Hazel Easthope of the University of NSW’s City Futures Research Centre.

“Our population is growing rapidly and it’s growing in the cities,” she told me. “We are increasingly living in apartments but whether we are choosing to or whether it’s a trade-off between affordability, amenities and location is another question.”

To those who transition to apartment living, Easthope advocates not abandoning our horticultural interests like I had so readily done.

“There’s a lot of evidence that green infrastructure has substantial environ­mental benefits, social benefits and economic benefits. If we can find ways to provide more green spaces and natural systems such as green walls, gardens and parks in our apartment developments, this will provide incredible value.”

One company helping to achieve this goal is Sydney-based Junglefy, a green roof and wall business. “People feel happier around nature, so plants in cities provide the opportunity for people to retain that natural connection,” said managing director and co-founder Jock Gammon.

NOVEMBER 2018 • SIGNS OF THE TIMES

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One Central Park, Chippendale, Sydney.

flowers and vegetables.

Clark, 90, a retired nursing matron, took delight in my interest in her garden and quickly rustled up a balcony-sourced salad containing mint, chives, tomato and romaine lettuce.

“Moving into the apartment was very frustrating at first,” Clark told me, commiserating over my own gardening woes. “Before I came here, I had a very big garden and I used to grow all my own herbs and vege­ tables.”

I asked her what the secret to her balcony garden was. “When I fill a pot with potting mix, I add some blood and bone and mix it in well so it doesn’t burn the plants,” she said.

“I make the soil really damp and

SARDAKA—WIKIMEDIA COMMONS, SUPPLIED

“Research shows plants make people healthier and work better.”

One of the projects that Junglefy maintains is the world’s tallest vertical garden, more than 130 metres high and 1200 square metres in size, which hangs off the One Central Park high-rise residential building in Chippendale, Sydney. Designed

by French artist and botanist Patrick Blanc, the garden, which holds plants together with multi-layered matting and waters them through a dripper irrigation system, contains more than 35,000 plants from 383 species, including acacias, correa, dianella and grevillea.

“The vertical gardens at One Central Park were a world first, and now, four years on, they are still thriving,” said Gammon. “Living infrastructure on buildings increases biodiversity and reduces the heat load on buildings, meaning they absorb less heat and require less air-conditioning.”

This is in stark contrast to my own building, whose concrete façade was recently sprayed with bleach to get rid of its accumulated dust and grimy black stains from traffic pollution. The bleaching ended up killing a potted lemon tree on my neighbour Joan Clark’s balcony.

The first time she invited me to her apartment it was mid-afternoon and her back balcony overlooking the Nerang River and the Gold Coast hinterland was alive with colour.

Along the railing, the sun-bathed border was pleasantly crammed with pots and growing boxes full of herbs,

Joan Clark with her manageable, portable and beautiful garden. And the view! . . .

then once I’ve planted the seedlings I cover them with newspaper to protect them from the hot sun for a day or two.”

Former ABC TV and SBS news anchor Indira Naidoo knows what it is like to regularly eat fresh produce grown from her own balcony. The best-selling author of The Edible Balcony and The Edible City harvests everything from tomatoes, straw­ berries, herbs, lettuce, beetroot, broc­ coli, eggplants, potatoes, lemons and passionfruit grown on her 20 square metre balcony on the 13th floor of an apartment building in Sydney’s Potts Point.

“Growing food in small spaces is an international trend that is just going to continue as people become more aware of climate change and global food issues,” she told me when I spoke to her following an “Edible City” food conference in Sweden where she was a headline speaker.

Naidoo has seen a big shift in people’s attitudes to balcony gardening since she started her own balcony

garden a decade ago.

“When I started doing this, everyone said, ‘Why would you do that when you can just go to the supermarket and buy food?’”

Now Naidoo travels around Australia conducting balcony-­gardening workshops and advising body corporates and city councils on how to develop apartment green-growing programs.

“Sure, you’re not going to be able to grow everything you eat from a balcony,” she said. “But you can certainly grow all your own herbs, lettuces and spinach, and then, as you get more proficient and comfortable, you can add other vegetables as well.”

Naidoo believes that with little effort, we can all reduce our carbon footprint. “Even if you only ever grew your own lettuces, it would make a huge difference,” she says.

With all the perceived benefits of high-rise gardening, one would think that a well-maintained balcony garden would only draw praise from your neighbours. Unfortunately the reality is often not so simple.

“When you’re living in an apartment, you’re in very close quarters, so you have to be mindful of what effects it has on the neighbours,” Naidoo says. “Occasionally dead leaves fall over the balcony and there are people who don’t want any leaves anywhere—they don’t think it’s beautiful organic matter, they just think it’s rubbish.”

Tyson D’Sylva, ACE body corpoNOVEMBER 2018 • SIGNS OF THE TIMES

59

TOP TIPS TO BECOME AN EXPERT BALCONY GARDENER

BY INDIRA NAIDOO

START SMALL

Buy some basil and a pot. Fill the pot with organic potting mix. Put it in a sunny spot on your balcony and give it a good water every couple of days and see how it goes.

GET TO KNOW YOUR BALCONY SPACE Whether you’re north-facing or west-facing is going to affect the quality of the light you get.

DIFFERENT PLANTS NEED DIFFERENT CONDITIONS Basil needs lots of bright light.

Lettuce needs a shadier spot.

SUPPLIED

TAKE IT SLOWLY and learn as you go.

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SIGNSOFTHETIMES.ORG.AU • NOVEMBER 2018

rate manager in Adelaide, says that while your balcony is a private space, you should check your policy when you buy into a building because there may be some restrictions. The main issue D’Sylva sees between residents is overwatering of pot plants.

“Overwatering causes a slip hazard to people and water stains down the building,” he said. “You’ve also got issues where people don’t waterproof their balcony adequately, and it causes the tiles to lift and a deterioration of the balcony’s foundations, which can lead to internal concrete cancer.”

Another bone of contention is unkempt gardens. “If residents want to green the outside, then they need to maintain it,” says D’Sylva. “You don’t just want to have dead twigs outside in a broken terracotta pot.

Plants that are not maintained can discourage people from buying into that building.”

The caretaker of my own building, Gary Tresize, has been dealing with issues between residents over the past 23 years. “Problems come up when people don’t do the right thing and place water catchment containers under their pots,” he told me. “Plants can also attract insects and birds, which not everyone appreciates. Lazy pruning is another issue. You’d be amazed by how many people just throw their cuttings off the edge of the balcony.”

Naidoo’s advice is to be considerate of your neighbours and be ready to share your own produce. “I once had an incident where I was pulling some

carrots out of a pot and the dried out carrot tops fell onto my neighbour’s balcony,” she said. “He left me a note saying, ‘Stop throwing rubbish onto my balcony.’ So I made him a carrot cake, using carrots from my own garden. And when my second book on balcony gardening was launched I saw him at the bookshop, buying a copy of the book!”

Naidoo has inspired at least seven other residents in her 20-storey building to create an edible balcony.

“You don’t have to be an experienced gardener, because it’s just a few pots,” she said. “But it’s such a joyful thing to do. I can’t wait to see a new bud or a new seedling sprout. And then there’s the taste. It tastes better than anything you can buy at the supermarkets. I love it when I have friends and family for dinner and I go, ‘Let me just go out onto the balcony and pick some tomatoes and lettuce for the salad.’”

I won’t pretend that my own balcony garden is flourishing just yet, but inspired by talking with Naidoo, I’ve been down to Bunnings and purchased some potting mix, planters and catchment containers.

I intend to start off slow—chives, mint and lettuce. When I told Clark my plans she was pleased.

“I’d love to help you get started,” she said, smiling at me. “Gardens are like good friends. They’ll always give you a second chance.”

This article first appeared in The Australian. Used with permission. Photos supplied by author.

NOVEMBER 2018 • SIGNS OF THE TIMES

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FUN

CROSSWORD 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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SIGNS OF THE TIMES • OCTOBER 2018

CLUE: 12 DOWN

CROSSWORD CLUES

SUDOKU

ACROSS 4 Colloquial name for an Australian soldier 7 Medical term for joint pain and/or stiffness 8 The definition of a couple after their wedding 10 Papua New Guinea island where asylum seekers are detained 11 2014 film directed by Christopher Nolan 13 To be on the shortlist for a job 14 A disease causing gradual brain deterioration

DOWN 1 A supersonic passenger airliner 2 A person who makes rulings in court 3 Bible character: grandson of King Saul 5 Structure erected during the Israelites’ desert wanderings 6 A Croatian electric hypercar 9 The study of living organisms 12 A famous 1854 Ballarat miners’ rebellion

MEDIUM

3 5

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3 4

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HARD

5 9

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4 2

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SOLUTIONS AVAILABLE ONLINE SIGNSOFTHETIMES.ORG.AU OCTOBER 2018 • SIGNS OF THE TIMES

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