Signs of the Times March 2025

It takes a village a christian perspective on the world today

In this issue March 2025 WHAT IN THE WORLD 04 THE GOLDEN ARCHES' LESSON IN UNITY 06 ALAN WALKER: THE MAN WHO FOUNDED LIFELINE 18

IT TAKES A VILLAGE TO HEAL A CHILD

The church that saved my life.

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MAKE A DIFFERENCE: LOVE THY NEIGHBOUR 24 HAPPINESS IS BUILT 26 BOOK REVIEW: JUICE 40 HOW TO WIN AT PARENTING: KIDS NEED MORE SLEEP THAN YOU THINK 44 THE MAD MONK AND THE CASE FOR GOOD THEOLOGY 46 ASK PASTOR JESSE 52 EATING, DRINKING, REDEEMING 54

ANXIETY VS ABUNDANCE: CULTIVATING A BETTER MINDSET

PLANT FOODS THAT PACK A PROTEIN PUNCH 60 SUDOKU AND CROSSWORD PUZZLE 62

Kokoda almost broke me.

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@SIGNSMAG

An attitude of gratitude Two of the most important people in my life have birthdays in March. My soon-to-be five-year-old daughter and my wife (I won’t tell you how old she will be). In fact, my wife celebrated her birthday in hospital the year our daughter was born.

While not everyone makes a big deal about birthdays, they are a celebration of another year of life and an opportunity to practise gratitude. I’ve been thinking a lot about gratitude recently, as I am starting to realise how important it is to have an attitude of gratitude.

My daughter herself was somewhat a miracle for us, after struggling to fall pregnant in the first seven or eight years of marriage. Seeing her joy at little things, like pizza for dinner or her countdown to her birthday, brings great joy to us. I’m thankful for my beautiful children every day.

I’m also thankful for my wife. She does so much for our family: filling and maintaining our social calendars, packing lunches, ensuring everything is organised when we travel or leave the house, staying in touch with family and friends, and working to contribute to the family.

I’m thankful for the work I’m privileged to do with this magazines and for all the times and places God has led me in my life.

I'm also thankful for you! That you’ve picked up this magazine and that something inside was prepared beforehand just for you to read today.

When I spend time thinking about what I’ve got to be grateful for, it takes my focus off myself and my troubles.

Studies have shown that it is good for our mental health to make gratitude a regular practice.

So join me in finding things to be thankful for this month.

JARROD STACKELROTH Editor

VOL 139 NO 2

ISSN 1038-9733 EXECUTIVE PUBLISHER Brad Kemp EDITOR Jarrod Stackelroth ASSOCIATE EDITOR Jesse Herford ASSISTANT EDITOR Zanita Fletcher COPYEDITORS Melody Tan Tracey Bridcutt GRAPHIC DESIGN Theodora Pau’u Talia Valderrama PHONE +61 2 9847 2222 EMAIL info@signsmag.com WEBSITE signsmag.com ADDRESS Adventist Media PO Box 1115, Wahroonga New South Wales 2076 SUBSCRIPTIONS Kelli Geelan PHONE +61 3 5965 6300 Australia/New Zealand, $A28/$NZ30; South Pacific countries, $A41; Other countries $A51 Published since 1886, Signs of the Times is printed 11 times a year by the Seventh-day Adventist Church and is registered as a periodical.

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

Unless otherwise stated, Bible verses are from the Holy Bible, New International Version®, Anglicised.

Copyright © 1979, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc®. Used by permission of Hodder & Stoughton. All rights reserved worldwide.

COVER IMAGE: Talia Valderrama

WHAT IN THE WORLD The search for Noah’s Ark TURKEY

Art therapy for children AUSTRALIA

One in seven Australian children experience mental health challenges before the age of 14. The Art Gallery of New South Wales partnered with the Black Dog Institute to run kids programs that foster creativity and emotional exploration through art.

Research revealed that participants experienced a 15-29 per cent decrease in anxiety and depression.

The program emphasised family involvement, providing children and parents with tools to navigate mental health challenges.—Childs Magazine 4

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WIKICOMMONS, VLADA KAPOVICH, BEYZAA YURTKURAN, KAROLINA GRABOWSKA—PEXELS

After decades of speculation, a boat-shaped mound, three kilometres from the TurkeyIran border, has again captured the world’s attention. A team of archaeologists collected samples of soil and rock from the site to determine the age and composition of the formation.

The samples dated between 3500 and 5000 years old (perfectly matching the biblical timeline of Noah’s flood) and the physical characteristics aligned closely with the description of the Ark found in Genesis 6:15.

The team’s findings suggest the area was likely submerged in a vast body of water at some point.—News.com.au

WWII shipwreck cleanup PACIFIC ISLANDS

The Pacific nations have penned a joint request to Japan, urging the nation to take responsibility and address the remnants of World War II shipwrecks in their waters. Oil leaks from the corroding fuel tanks of sunken vessels are putting coral reefs, mangroves and fisheries at risk, while unexploded ordnances and hazardous materials pose future hazards. It is estimated that there are more than 3000 vessels scattered across the Pacific Ocean.—Nikkei Asia

Learning more about AI NEW ZEALAND

As societal awareness of artificial intelligence (AI) technology grows, many students in New Zealand are expressing interest in AI-related degrees. This interest spans across health, geography, ecology, law and more. More universities are offering or planning to offer a master's degree in the subject.—The New Zealand Herald

Scared of needles?

UNITED STATES

In an attempt to create needle-free administration of drugs, researchers have taken inspiration from squids, which use jets to propel themselves through the ocean and shoot ink clouds. Oral drug administration is not possible for many drugs.

So, researchers are creating an ingestible capsule that releases a burst of drugs directly into the gastrointestinal tract. This will help administer drugs to patients who are afraid of needles and eliminate the need to dispose of sharp needles.

—Nature Portfolio MARCH 2025 • SIGNSMAG.COM

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DECLAN SAN—UNSPLASH

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The Golden Arches’ lesson in unity McDonald’s pioneered the model of fast-food restaurants we all know today. A crucial change in their company direction provides an important lesson for Christians.

JOSH WOOD

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n 2010 I received my first passport. Since then, I have been privileged enough to travel to numerous countries. While countries differ so widely from each other and each has its own different sounds, smells and norms, I always find a sense of familiarity, comfort and intrigue when I see those magical golden arches.

McDonald’s, a company founded in the United States of America, has expanded to more than 36,000 locations in more than 100 countries around the world1 since businessman Ray Kroc joined the team in 1954.

While there is a sense of familiarity with McDonald’s, I am always intrigued by the differences in the menu offerings from Australia to the US, South Africa, Italy, Singapore, India and beyond.

The arches remain the same, but the menu provides a diversity that has obviously taken into consideration the expectations of the society it serves.

you want fries with that?

In 2016, I watched The Founder starring Michael Keaton as Ray Kroc. The film tells the story of the beginnings of McDonald’s (albeit with a little bit of creative licence—it is Hollywood, after all). The systems and processes in the first McDonald’s stores in San Bernardino, California, enabled efficiency like Kroc had never seen before and managed to create something uniquely fresh and new in the American roadside drive-in diner experience.

Kroc recognised there was something special and unique about these processes and set about partnering with the McDonald brothers to change the world.

Initially, as McDonald’s started to expand and offer franchise opportunities, Kroc was bullish in his approach, demanding homogeneity in the experience and flavour. If you were a McDonald’s restaurant, you would be expected to do things a certain way—and the burgers would always taste the same whether you were in San Bernardino, California or Seattle, Washington.

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POLINA TANKILEVITCH—PEXELS

Cultural and religious observances forced McDonald’s to reassess its need for uniformity . . . and instead move toward a unity of mission

The approach across the United States was consistent and precise.

a strategic shift

However, as the expansion of McDonald’s continued and restaurants started opening outside of North America, the control of Kroc and that of the McDonald’s Corporation had to change. How do you sell a Big Mac in India where the consumption of beef is frowned upon? The cultural and religious observances of India (among others) forced McDonald’s to reassess its need for uniformity in practice and product—and instead move toward a unity of mission.

The same principle that McDonald’s was forced to recognise about the importance of being united in its mission rather than its practice also applies to the Christian Church.

For more than 2000 years, Christianity has been preaching its message all over the world.

And, for more than 2000 years, that mission has been consistent, even though there have been advances in culture, civilisation and technology. Though technology has enabled our access to the world to become much quicker and more convenient than in previous centuries, the mission of the Church has not changed— though the Church’s methodology has evolved across the years and across oceans. Your methodology can only evolve when you are focused on unity of mission—rather than practice.

the non-negotiables

It is the belief of Christians that Jesus selflessly volunteered Himself from heaven to earth and died like a common criminal in place of you and I—every person throughout history: past, present, future. Not only this, but Christians also believe that Jesus rose to life again, defeating the power of death and that He is returning someday soon.

This belief (particularly in the fact Jesus was then

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raised back to life) spurs Christians on. It creates within followers of Jesus a desire to share the hope of eternity with Jesus—in a world made new.2 This is the mission of Christianity—to share the news of a God who loved us so much, He made a way for us to be with Him forever, in a world made new. It is a mission expressed in different ways by different people presenting it in the only way they can to the culture they find themselves in.

united, not uniform

BRETT SAYLES—PEXELS

This spirit of unity in mission does not restrict diverse cultural and social identities—rather, it embraces them. Unity in mission does not disregard the range of abilities and thinking, rather it harnesses them. Unity in mission recognises that with cultural, social and even personal differences, our mission is

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not hindered, but strengthened. And while this certainly creates tension (and often confusion), it enables this mission to be carried further than if Christianity took a homogenous approach—replicating churches and expressions as though we are all robots.

Yes, I have been able to visit different McDonald’s restaurants in my travels but I have also been able to visit a variety of different churches all around the world. Every one of these churches has the same mission, though they go about it in diverse ways. It is exciting to see how Christians live out this mission in their own unique way. While all churches have a corporate worship experience, I am encouraged that it differs from church to church and country to country. The mission of the church however, that is “to share the good news of a God who loved us

so much, He enacted a plan to enable us to be with Him forever”, happens in other more practical ways than a corporate worship gathering. Some churches provide this hope through meal programs and food pantries, others through op shops. Still, other churches opt to hand out literature or assist in garden care for their community members while others fundraise and volunteer to free those in slavery.

All these different approaches still provide hope of a better future because of Jesus.

As much as the golden arches provide me with a sense of familiarity, the sense of intrigue they provide me is more evocative as I search not just for what is the same, but, more importantly, what is different as McDonald’s contextualise their product for any given local market. The same is true for the church. Often defined

by the symbol of a cross, the warmth of seeing “my people” express the same love and hope in Jesus is always welcomed. However, more than that, I am always excited to see how this or that church uniquely expresses that mission within their community: communicating the love and hope we have in Jesus in a way uniquely contextualised for any given community.

Josh Wood is a pastor in Melbourne, Australia.

1. <mcdonald’s.com/us/en-us/about-us.html> 2. John 3:16

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Anxiety vs abundance: CULTIVATING A BETTER MINDSET

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JARROD STACKELROTH

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When I least expected it, I was hit with an anxiety attack. It also made me reevaluate what I believe about God and life.

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efore setting off to walk Papua New Guinea’s Kokoda Track, I was worried about a few things: blisters, staying hydrated, getting gastro (I’ve contracted it before in PNG—not a pleasant experience), being physically up to the challenge, having the right equipment . . . the list could probably go on. One thing I was not worried about was having a panic attack. Little did I know, it would happen to me less than 24 hours into the trek.

Let me rewind a little. Walking Kokoda was a bit of a bucket list item. For many Australians, Kokoda holds a special place in their heart as the scene of an important historical campaign in World War II. A limited number of Australians fought a rear-guard action to stop the Japanese army reaching Port Moresby—and ultimately, Australia.

They fought across rugged mountain and jungle terrain with limited supplies and many challenges.

I was walking to write about the event for 10,000 Toes, a group that does amazing work tackling lifestyle disease in the Pacific. But it was also a personal journey. I was joined by my mother and brother, who, since I left home, I’ve only seen about once a year. I was really looking forward to

the experience and had been training hard for months. However, the first morning did not go well.

We set off Sunday morning at 4am. The rain was incessant, turning the dirt track to clay, slippery and treacherous. After a hard day of walking and being separated from my family, I was so grateful to arrive at camp. But when I greeted my brother with open arms, his next words shattered my satisfaction of surviving the day.

“I’ve stuffed my shoulder,” he said, tears in his eyes. “I can’t get my pack off.”

I helped him and we called a nurse over to assess the damage. The worst had been done. He had fallen on that first steep descent and landed on his arm. We later found out, through scans back in Australia, that he had probably dislocated it. His shoulder had gone back in but not before damaging the joint.

That night, lying on my thin hiking mattress, my mind would not stop going over what would happen the next day. My heart rate was around 120 beats per minute and would not slow down and my mind was racing as fast as my heart. Would they go home tomorrow? Was my dream of spending a week hiking with them

"I've stuffed my shoulder," he said, tears in his eyes. "I can't get my pack off."

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shattered? Should I go too, giving up on all I’d worked for? I was in severe distress and spent a very unsettled and anxious night. Long story short, I completed the track—but they did not. They had to turn around and hike the 11 hours back to the start with some porters. I was shattered.

The event stayed with me for months after.

Working with a counsellor sometime later, I realised that the event (and being unable to shake it afterward) impacted me so much because it was a clash of my two highest values: family and high work ethic. To stay and finish the trek was to honour my work commitments— but to “abandon” my family. This cognitive dissonance created mental fallout.

However, both values have one thing in common. They are both driven, in a large part, in me trying to live up to my need not to let anyone down. This pressure probably mostly comes from me, yet in my perception it comes from outside myself. Dig a little deeper and for me personally, any anxiety I feel is centred around an insidious lie at the centre of everything: that I am not enough.

the anxiety epidemic

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Maybe you’ve got a similar, familiar lie. Fear you’ll be rejected at every turn, fear you’re not worthy, fear of inadequacy, fear of being alone, fear of turning into someone you’re trying to escape, fear of never finding true love. Some of these fears can drive MARCH 2025 • SIGNSMAG.COM

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anxiety in us—becoming a fear that haunts many of us.

In the West, we are living through a mental health crisis. Between 2020 and 2022, more than 17 per cent of Australians had experienced a 12-month anxiety disorder. Almost 20 per cent of Americans experienced an anxiety disorder in the past 12 months, while New Zealanders also suffer high rates of anxiety with around 1 in 5 people experiencing mood and anxiety disorders.

The American Psychological Association describes anxiety as an emotion characterised by feelings of tension, worried thoughts and physical changes like increased blood pressure. It is considered a future-oriented, long-acting response broadly focused on a diffuse (non-concentrated) threat. For the record, I’ve never been diagnosed with a mental health condition.

However, I’ve wrestled with anxious thoughts, come close to burnout and live with a spouse who has been treated for depression.

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consider the birds

Some ancient wisdom from Jesus can help us address the root of some of these existential questions. In perhaps His most famous teaching, known as the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus has a section of three teachings on money. But the final teaching in this triplet focuses on worry and Jesus expands it beyond money to other material concerns.

In Matthew 6:25–27, Jesus says: “Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink; or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothes? Look at the birds of the air; they do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much more valuable than they? Can any one of you by worrying add a single hour to your life?”

He identifies clothes and food as root causes for worry. In first century Palestine, these things were much harder to acquire than they are

drives us. Am I enough?

If my kids embarrass me, what will people think of my parenting? If something goes wrong at work, I link it to my value as a person. That question, Am I enough? keeps echoing through the chambers of my mind as I get stuck in cycles of negative thinking, stressing about tomorrow and what my future holds.

Shame can creep in and corrupt anything good. It is hard to believe in the abundance mindset.

Jesus says, “You don’t need to be enough. God cares for you and is willing to open His storehouse of abundance to you. God is enough— and you are made in His image.”

He adds: “God will provide. God will show up for me. I am loved; God knows the future and has it under control.”

You may believe in God’s provision like Jesus did but look at the outcomes of having an abundance mindset as compared to the scarcity mindset (competition, insatiable striving, worry about tomorrow).

Having a mindset of abundance gives us space to be creative, serve others and find generosity, peace and contentment.

To me, those things seem worth striving for.

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

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in modern society. Yet, Jesus goes on to say that the birds and the flowers have everything they need; that they are clothed more beautifully than the most beautiful fashion model and the birds are fed every day. If we dig a little deeper, food and clothing could be stand-in examples of appetite and appearance. Appetite represents the concern that “I have enough”.

Appearance can stand in for “what others think of me”. We get dressed up to impress others and are fixated on our reputation management.

Jesus recognises these as sources of concern for His listeners, and yet He believes in a different mindset: an abundance mindset. In Jesus’ worldview, God provides everything needed. That is how He can say, “Do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself” (6:34).

An abundance mindset, as demonstrated by Jesus, is the opposite of a scarcity mindset. A scarcity mindset says there is not enough to go around, that we must be in competition with others—always comparing, cynical, climbing the ladder. Getting stuck in a scarcity mindset tires us out and can lead to consistent negative thinking and mental health challenges.

Anxiety says: “I must provide; I have to show up and show out; and I am alone.” The comparisons that chase us on Instagram*, our fear of failing—they all whisper the lie, “I am not enough.”

It is the insatiable hunger that

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Alan Walker: The man who founded Lifeline SIGNSMAG.COM • MARCH 2025

Once called the "Conscience of the Nation", Reverend Sir Alan Walker was a controversial figure in his day—but his legacy reaches further than he could ever have imagined.

EMMIE WILLIS

WESLEY MISSION

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ne of the main goals of genuine Christians is to be more Christlike. That is to say, to become more like Jesus. For Reverend Sir Alan Walker, this meant loving people like Christ did and standing up to any social injustice he saw. Ordained into the Methodist Church in 1935, Walker studied for the ministry in London, UK, but returned to New South Wales, Australia, where he held various minor appointments. As a devoted and outspoken pacifist, the start of WWII made his opinions unpopular and he was transferred to the small mining town of Cessnock. There he became aware of a conflict between the locals and the owners of the mines. Walker decided to do an indepth study of the sociology of the town and wrote the book Coaltown, published in 1944. Unlike many other academic authors, Walker was not afraid to take a strong political stance and champion the underdog.

Issues that are now taken for granted were, at the time, very controversial.

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to discuss the first draft of the Declaration of Human Rights.

The end of WWII made his pacifism even more unpopular, and he was “rehabilitated”, being transferred to Waverley, NSW, where he built on his passion for preaching “where ordinary people go” in public spaces.

Walker was known to be approachable; he would answer the phone at all hours of the day or night and often gave a quote to any journalist who called him. He strongly opposed gambling and drinking and wasn’t afraid to speak out on issues—even if his opinion was unpopular. He openly opposed White Australia Policy, the Cold War, apartheid and the Vietnam War. He was also very outspoken for racial equality, frequently quoting Martin Luther King during the late 1960s and ’70s.

Mission). During his 20 years there, the church had a period of remarkable growth. Walker introduced many projects, including residential hostels, school for seniors, a singles society (who awarded Jim McLaren, a Catholic priest, “single of the year” in its first year) and Vision Valley Conference Centre, among others.

He had a true love for people and community and wanted to help as many people as possible. Walker told Wesley Impact! magazine in 1961, “Today there is a larger need; moral, psychiatrical, personal, emotional.

People and homes are breaking down constantly under the pressure of today’s life. Moral and spiritual poverty take their place beside physical poverty. To the Central Mission come an endless stream of people at the end of their tether.”

on the silver screen

turning point

In the late 1950s, Walker started a television show called I Challenge the Minister. In it, he challenged people to ask a question that he would then answer. Unlike a lot of religious leaders at the time, Walker did not brandish a Bible like a talisman and begin each answer with a quote.

Instead, he talked about the issue from a practical perspective and gave a well-thought-out answer with biblical grounding. This show still holds the record for most popular religious show in Australian television.

In 1958, he was transferred to what was then called the Central Methodist Mission (now Wesley 20

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Late one Saturday night in 1961, Walker received a phone call from a man in distress. The man described how unbearable his loneliness was, how he was broke and how he had nothing left to live for. Walker talked the man into meeting face-to-face rather than taking any action immediately but before the meeting took place, the man took his own life.

Walker responded by gathering 30 people together to pray and during that prayer meeting, the idea was suggested for a 24-hour counselling team, able to respond to other such crises. Thus, Lifeline was born. There was plenty of work to do to turn the

walking the walk

Walker wasn’t just vocal about his convictions—he lived them. One of the most difficult things Christ instructed His followers to do is found in Matthew 5:44: “But I tell you, love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you.” Walker not only accepted this ideal—he internalised it. There is, historically, tension between Protestants and Catholics, especially on matters of belief and Walker had led Protestant marches through the centre of Sydney. This put him at odds with the Catholic diocese of Parramatta, Sydney, who responded by getting to know Walker. It would have been a strange sight to see these two leaders of religions who were trying to influence their communities in sometimes opposing directions, having conversations together. Stranger still, those conversations developed into

WIKICOMMONS

idea into reality but with a dedicated team, the first Lifeline centre was opened on March 16, 1963, by Sydney Lord Mayor Harry Jensen. Two hundred volunteers spent six months training and Sydneysiders made good use of the hotline with 1000 calls in the first month alone. Lifeline was such a success that it spread throughout Australia. In 1966, Walker started Lifeline International and took his counselling service overseas.

By 1973 almost every capital city in Australia had a Lifeline presence and 100 cities internationally had crisis hotlines affiliated with Lifeline. New York City alone had 80,000 calls during its first year. These days, Lifeline is one of the most well-known crisis hotlines; its phone number can be found in many places showing people where to find help when they need it.

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a friendship and through the years, whenever he had a question about something that was happening in the Catholic Church, Walker would ring the bishop of Parramatta, Bede Heather, to ask his opinion, which he was happy to give. Later, Heather would say of Walker, “I came to know Alan quite well, especially in the ’90s when we became not very close friends, but good friends.” One of Bishop Heather’s warmest memories about his religious rival and friend was the annual invitation from Walker to give a talk to the students at the Pacific School of Evangelism about the Roman Catholic approach to evangelism.

Walker was not afraid to take a strong political stance and champion the underdog

When Sydney Morning Herald decided to reintroduce the racing guide after it had been absent for some years due to wartime restrictions, Walker strongly opposed the decision. The chairman of the paper, Warwick Fairfax, met this opposition by inviting Walker to lunch. When it was over, Walker walked away with an invitation to regularly write articles for the Herald. These articles were rarely censored and instead, when Fairfax disagreed with Walker,

Emmie Willis is an avid reader and passionate writer. She lives in Brisbane, Australia, with her husband, son and two cats.

WESLEY MISSION

later life

he would write an article himself and put it on the same page so the two opposing views could be seen side-by-side.

In 1955, Walker was honoured through appointment as Officer of the Order of the British Empire in the Queen’s Birthday Honours List for service to the Waverley Methodist Mission. In 1981, he was knighted for “services to religion”. In 1997, Walker was named as one of 100 people recognised as an Australian Living Treasure.

In 2001, he was awarded the Centenary Medal for “service to Australian society”.

Walker died in January 2003, leaving a legacy through his actions, the projects and missions he helped, the convictions he shared fearlessly and most of all the demonstration of the way Christ loves people, that will live on for generations.

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make a difference

Love thy neighbour

How the Adventist Development and Relief Agendy (ADRA) is making a difference in Annie's life.

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hen Annie walked through ADRA’s doors for the first time 13 years ago, she was homeless. She had just left an abusive marriage and was alone.

“When I first went to ADRA, it was because I didn’t have a place to live,” says Annie. “I was on the street. I had nowhere to go.”

Annie heard about ADRA through the homeless community. Not only did ADRA provide Annie with food support, she was also connected with one of the social workers who helped her access affordable housing. Since then, Annie has been living modestly, but well. She cares for her home and rescue cats with pride, still visiting ADRA for food when her pension doesn’t stretch far enough.

“It’s not always easy to live on what you get in the pension,” Annie says. “Because you've got medication, food, transport and all that. It doesn’t always cover everything. But if you are a little bit too short, you just go to ADRA and get help. And that gets me back up again.”

Annie is among the 3.3 million* Australians feeling the pressure of

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the cost-of-living crisis.

“You go into a supermarket, and everything is higher in prices than it has been before. Same with medication. But (ADRA) helps me with food.”

At 74 years of age, Annie is facing homelessness once again.

“The biggest worry in my life is whether I can stay in this place,” she says. “I’ve got a little paradise here; I don’t want to be moved out of this. I love going out and cutting the lawn and all that. Keeping it nice and clean and saying, ‘I can look after it.’ It’s private here. I love it. And I wouldn’t like for that to be taken away from me.”

Annie is currently connected with one of ADRA’s social workers who is trying to keep Annie in her home.

“If I have a problem, I know I can just go to ADRA,” Annie says. “I just pray to God that they do not take (my home) away from me now.”

While Annie's future is uncertain, she is grateful for the support she has received from ADRA. “Anyone who is having a problem, go to ADRA, because ADRA has been there for me for over 13 years. I’ve been down so far, you can’t believe it. But they always managed to get a smile on my face and give me a helping hand. Thank you.”

Ashley Stanton serves in ADRA Australia’s communication and marketing team. She lives in the heart of Sydney with her husband and two cats. To learn more about ADRA, visit <adra.org.au>. * As of 2022, 3.3 million people in Australia, including 761,000 children, live in poverty. <povertyandinequality.acoss.org. au/a-snapshot-of-poverty-in-australia-2022/>.

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Throughout history, people have asked, "What makes us happy?"

Scientists are discovering it's not about what we have, but what we do that truly makes the difference.

CARMEN LĂIU

I

remember being asked a question a long time ago that really puzzled me. I had to describe “a

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happy day”. Recalling all the happy, interesting, downright glorious days I've experienced, it wasn’t clear to me

what criteria I should use to choose one.

Happiness is a complicated thing, at least when you’re born with receptors sensitive to all the vibrations of pain around you. So, I simultaneously felt the guilt of not being happy enough and the guilt of being happy

while many other people’s lives seemed so difficult.

Professor of psychology, Sonja Lyubomirsky, states happiness is closely linked to our health and success.¹ There is ample evidence that happy people are healthier, more creative, earn more money, are MARCH 2025 • SIGNSMAG.COM

TIM MARSHALL—UNSPLASH

Happiness is built

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more productive, cope better with adversity and are more likely to get married.

what’s the secret?

To achieve greater happiness, we should first know what makes us happy. More time? More money?

A life partner? Losing 10 kilos? As desirable as attaining these things might be, they don’t increase our long-term happiness, at least not significantly, says Lyubomirsky.

Lyubomirsky’s research shows that 50 per cent of the factors that affect happiness are genetically determined, while circumstances account for 10 per cent of our happiness.² So let’s say there were 100 people in a theatre at different points on a happiness continuum, even if we could turn them all into identical siblings, they would still have different levels of happiness, just with the differences reduced to 50 per cent.

On the other hand, if we put all 100 of them in the same circumstances (equally beautiful or healthy, live in the same house, have the same partner, experience the same suffering, etc), the differences in their levels of happiness would be reduced by only 10 per cent. The remaining 40 per cent is related to people’s behaviour. The key to increasing happiness, Lyubomirsky concludes, lies not in changing genetic factors (which is impossible) or circumstances (also sometimes impossible), but in the daily actions we take.

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out of breath, but feeling good

Physical activity goes hand in hand with happiness, researchers found in a 17-month study.³ Participants downloaded an app that asked them to rate their mood at different times of the day and then answer questions about how active they had been in the previous 15 minutes.

The volunteers reported feeling happier after moving around in the previous 15 minutes compared to sitting or lying down, even though their physical activity was generally light. The study also found that people who moved regularly were more likely to consider themselves happier than those who spent most of their time in a chair. Although researchers have not established whether physical activity makes us happier or whether happiness makes us more physically active, it is clear there is a positive association, direct or indirect, between happiness and physical activity, which has been found in several studies.⁴ Researchers from the University of Michigan analysed 23 of the most relevant studies on the link between physical activity and happiness. Most of the studies analysed were observational and a few were experimental. People started exercising and the researchers measured the intensity of their happiness before and after they became more physically active.

These studies involved more than 500,000 people from teenagers to the elderly, from many ethnic groups and with different socioeconomic

statuses. Each study found a link between physical activity and increased happiness. The type of exercise or the amount of time spent exercising didn’t make much of a difference.

And even 10 minutes a day was associated with a better mood.5 “Exercise is like an intravenous dose of hope. And it’s any form of movement that you’re willing to do with any part of your body that you can still move,” says Kelly McGonigal, lecturer at Stanford University.6 For

those struggling with depression or anxiety, clinical studies show that 20 to 40 minutes of physical activity done daily or a few times a week, can have significant benefits. This includes light activities like gardening or walking. There are also studies showing just two to three minutes of exercise can boost a person’s energy and mood for several hours.7 McGonigal says when our muscles contract, they release specific substances called myokines that make us more resilient to stress and help us recover from trauma. The myokines released by regular exercise could even suppress tumour growth, helping to actively fight cancer cells.8

gratitude, often

After analysing several dozen experimental studies, researchers Dunigan Folk and Elizabeth Dunn concluded there is strong evidence for the benefits of expressing gratiMARCH 2025 • SIGNSMAG.COM

FIONA SMALLWOOD—UNSPLASH

Happiness has only 10 per cent to do with our circumstances and four times as much to do with our behaviour

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tude. Gratitude makes us feel better, the studies show, but the effects don’t seem to last more than a day . . . all the more reason not to deny ourselves the experience of gratitude too often.9 Psychologists Robert Emmons and Michael McCullough asked participants in a study on gratitude to write a few sentences each week.

Those in the first group were asked to write about the things they were

physically active and even visited the doctor less than those who focused on unpleasant events.10 Psychologist Martin Seligman tested the effects of various positive psychology interventions on 411 people who were asked to write about their early memories. The biggest impact—a huge spike in happiness levels that lasted for a month—came from the task of writing and personally delivering a letter of gratitude to someone who had never been thanked for their kindness.11

the power of connection

grateful for that week, while those in the second group were asked to write about all the irritating or unpleasant things that happened each day. Those in the third group were asked to write about events that had affected them, without emphasising whether they were positive or negative. After 10 weeks, those who expressed gratitude for what they had experienced were more optimistic and satisfied with their lives, more 30

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The mere presence of other people in our lives enhances our happiness, according to a study by US researchers on a sample of 222 college students. Comparing the happiest with the unhappiest participants, the authors of the study found one major difference between the two groups: the happiest students spent less time alone than the least happy. However, it’s not so much the number of people you have close to you, but the quality of your relationships with them.12 Interestingly, the happiness of our friends also contributes to our happiness, according to researchers Nicholas Christakis and James Fowler. The pair found that in social networks, happiness can be contagious up to three degrees of separation from its source (a person is one degree away from their friend, two degrees away from their friend’s

friend, three degrees away from their friend’s friend’s friend, and so on). If a person is one degree away from someone happy, they are 15 per cent more likely to be happy themselves. At two and three degrees of separation, the chances of happiness contagion are nearly 10 per cent and 5.6 per cent, respectively.13 As happiness expert Daniel Gilbert points out, “We are happy when we have family, we are happy when we have friends and almost all the other things we think make us happy are actually just ways of getting more family and friends.”

confused by the contemporary model of happiness. If happiness has only 10 per cent to do with our circumstances and four times as much to do with our behaviour, then at its core it remains a verb. We just have to choose our verb wisely. We can’t wait for it to appear out of nowhere, we can’t hunt it down in all the places we think it might be—we must build it. Day by day, we allow those around us to bask in its light, while we drip kindness and care over the troubled moments of someone less fortunate than ourselves.

doing good makes us feel good

1. <nytimes.com/roomfordebate/2015/07/02/the-relentless-pursuit-of-happiness/pursue-happiness-but-in-moderation> 2. <ibris.ro/cum-sa-fii-fericit-sonja-lyubomirskyams973-92057-6-1.html?gad_source=1&gclid=EAIaIQobChMIntLH6ZCxiQMV1KKDBx24ch5lEAQYASABEgIkmvD_BwE> 3. <nytimes.com/2017/01/25/well/move/get-up-and-move-itmay-make-you-happier.html> 4. <record.umich.edu/articles/study-suggests-people-shouldget-moving-get-happier/> 5. Ibid.

6. <edition.cnn.com/audio/podcasts/chasing-life/episodes/ e5eab6ea-8efa-11ee-ae9c-df272340c5dc> 7. <edition.cnn.com/audio/podcasts/chasing-life/episodes/ e5eab6ea-8efa-11ee-ae9c-df272340c5dc> 8. <sciencedaily.com/releases/2021/10/211005101902.htm> 9. <pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/37474838/> 10. <pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/12585811/> 11. <health.harvard.edu/healthbeat/giving-thanks-can-makeyou-happier> 12. <journals.sagepub.com/doi/abs/10.1111/1467-9280.00415> 13. <bmj.com/content/337/bmj.a2338> 14. <greatergood.berkeley.edu/article/item/how_to_make_ giving_feel_good> 15. <becomingminimalist.com/helping-science/> 16. <80000hours.org/2012/08/should-we-sacrifice-doingwhat-we-love-to-make-a-difference-part-1/> FREEPIK.COM

Researcher Elizabeth Dunn points out that studies have shown that people who donate are happier than those who don’t, regardless of their financial situation. In fact, the act of giving has the same effect on happiness as doubling your salary.14 While depression, anxiety or stress are associated with a degree of self-centredness, focusing on the needs of others removes negative emotions.15 When we help another person, we enter a positive feedback loop: doing good makes us feel good, and that good feeling makes us more likely to do good.

Professor Seligman says out of all the activities scientists have tested so far, altruistic acts have produced the most significant increase in wellbeing.16 This is good news for happiness seekers, who are both fascinated and

Carmen Lăiu is an editor at the Romanian edition of Signs of the Times, as well as ST Network.

MARCH 2025 • SIGNSMAG.COM

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It takes a village to heal a child One young woman's story of how love and community helped her heal from a painful past.

ANONYMOUS, EDITED BY ZANITA FLETCHER

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TALIA VALDERRAMA

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M

y nana was my favourite person in the world. From as young as three, Mum would drop me off at church, help me put my backpack on and I’d waddle in to meet Nana. During worship, we’d cuddle through the songs. She was an amazing singer; I was tone-deaf.

She’d whisper to me, “You have an amazing voice . . . you’re not quite hitting it . . . we can get you there.”

This is what my Saturday looked like every week until I moved away for university at 18. I always felt so loved by her—but she was the exception.

growing up

My family and I lived on a farm in a small country town in Australia.

When I was a toddler, my parents and grandpa left the church, after being quite involved. When Mum left, she entered a long period of rebellion—as if secretly she always wanted to live another life. I grew up hearing her say things like her biggest regret in life was that she was a virgin bride.

Most nights she’d be out drinking.

Dad used to take me to the pub in my pyjamas to try to convince her to come home. There were a few nights we slept in the car because she’d locked the house behind her for a night out. We’d wake at five in the morning to her coming up the driveway in a taxi—only to react to our grumpy faces by saying, “I’m not dealing with this.” I always felt what I’d describe as an “ick” at that farmhouse. It didn’t feel warm—not like home is supposed to.

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a shift in the family

When I turned 12, I found out Dad wasn’t my real dad. He could never have kids, though he also didn’t particularly want them. So Mum went and got a donor, even though he told her not to. To make matters worse, my parents only told me because they were getting a divorce and thought this would be a good time to spill the beans. Dad figured since I wasn't technically his, it made sense for me to go live with Mum in town.

For a while, I’d see him every second weekend. But some days he’d call and say, “You can’t come.”

Which eventually turned into, “You can’t come anymore.” Occasionally, we’d still go out for dinner, which would sometimes result in us arguing and a few times him saying, “You’re not even my kid.” I think he regrets saying that now.

the church across the street

Our house was across the road from a Seventh-day Adventist church, meaning I was able to walk myself over each Saturday. Looking back, church was a safe place for me.

It was only a small church with about 50 people, but I loved it. No-one was yelling or doing anything crazy and people there looked out for me.

Although church was good for me, home had a different influence on my life, which came out at school. I talked a lot of cheek to my teachers and I’d do anything to gain people’s approval, racking up several suspensions. I had lots of friends, but always

I remember thinking, My mum hates me.

I always felt she didn't like me, but that day I was sure of it. felt empty, lonely and insecure. My hair was wildly frizzy, and I wasn’t pretty or skinny like the other girls.

unliked and unloved

GETTY IMAGES

During this period, my relationship with Mum hit an all-time low.

Still drinking a lot, she also got on the drug ice, which made her angry, emotionally unstable and physically abusive. One night my brother had to pull her off me and hold her down. I went into my room, only to hear her bawling her eyes out to her friend on the phone saying, “I’ve taken all these pills . . . I don’t want to live anymore.”

She ended up in hospital that night. The next morning she arrived home as I was walking out to catch the school bus. We stood at the door and she stared at me blankly. She still had a red stain around her lips from the wine she’d drunk the night before. Without saying a word, I walked past her and got on the bus.

All day I remember thinking, My mum hates me. I’d always felt she didn’t like me, but that day I was sure of it.

Another night she said, point blank, MARCH 2025 • SIGNSMAG.COM

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in two different worlds

In my teenage years, I started smoking and drinking. I’d throw parties for my friends because Mum would encourage it. One Saturday, I left church early to host a party. I was trying not to drink at the time, but had 150 underaged kids in the house drinking, all doing shots with my mum. The police came and shut that party down. When they walked in Mum was passed out. One of the cops looked at me and said, “Man, what are you doing?” I was living a double life and wasn’t a great representation of a Christian. But I was doing my best.

My friends liked Mum because she’d buy them drinks, teach them to roll joints and open her doors when they’d skip school. To others, she was the life of the party, but when it was just us at home, the emptiness and rage would come out. So, when she sat me down in my senior year of school and told me she’d been offered a job three hours away, I insisted she go. We arranged for me to live with my aunty and uncle, which I was excited about since I was close with my cousins and would see them at church. My cousin and I shared a tiny room, and it was an absolute mess. But it was the best. Their

family was a great influence on me.

I never lived with Mum again.

Although I insisted she go, part of me wanted her to fight to stay. As a result of not having loving parents growing up, I was constantly seeking validation from people and was obsessed with other people’s parents liking me. That’s why I was always so drawn to church—because of the idea that somebody loved me.

Not just somebody, the God of the universe loved me.

small acts, big impact

I never spoke about home life at school; I tried not to let my emotions show. But on the morning of my high school graduation, I couldn’t help but cry because neither of my parents had come. Driving home, I got a call from one of my teachers asking me to meet her at a café. She knew my life was hard and would often check on me. That day she bought me lunch and gave me a small present and a card I still have today. I remember feeling so uncomfortable, yet at the same time so loved.

After school, I got accepted at university. Mum promised to give me money for my dorm but didn’t follow through. I freaked out. How would I afford it? Days later, a man from church knocked on my door. He handed me a plastic diary, the kind you get for free in the newspaper, and said, “My wife and I got this for you. We thought you could use it for university.” I went to my room and opened it, and all this cash fell

GETTY IMAGES

“I hate you . . . I wish I never had you.”

I was young, so never thought that this could be coming from a place of mental health struggles or drug use. I just thought I must be really unlovable.

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out—the exact amount I needed for first semester. I screamed with excitement, then felt so awkward that I drove to their house and tried to give it back. They said, “If you give that back to us, we’re putting it straight in the bin. Either you take it and use it or it’s going to waste.” Of course, I took it.

University was a transformational time for me. I made a lot of great friends and started to realise that what happened to me growing up wasn’t normal. I saw a counsellor and went on a journey of unpacking things and healing. The hardest thing I ever had to do was pray for Mum. I’d pray God would help me forgive her, that He would give me the strength to let go of things and that I’d feel genuine love towards her. When I told her I forgave her, it improved things for a while. But then we’d have massive fights because Mum was still Mum. Forgiveness, I’ve learned, is a continual thing.

loved by many

Growing up, I was always envious of other people’s families. But when I look back, I feel so thankful for all the people God put in my life to care for me—neighbours, great-grandparents, friends at college, teachers, aunties and uncles, and most of all my nana.

When my nana was older, she was diagnosed with Alzheimer’s disease.

One day I visited her and with teary eyes she said to me, “I just want to say, Jesus brought you into my life because you were the reason I 38

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stayed in church.” I couldn’t believe it. “What do you mean? You’re the one that kept me in church,” I replied.

She told me she was embarrassed to show up as the pastor's wife without the pastor after he left the church, so would take me. At times things were difficult and she was tempted to stop going, but she stayed because she saw how much I enjoyed it. The two of us cried together that day.

We hadn’t realised how much we had both meant to each other in such difficult periods of our lives. She showed me unconditional love and I learnt a lot about God from her.

a lifelong journey

I’ve come a long way and I’m proud of where I am today. But I still struggle with doubts and the insecurities I adopted as a child creep up on me here and there. Yes, I’m more confident, but there’s moments I feel awkward, alone, and at times, unloved . . . just like I did as a young girl.

But I remind myself to keep moving forward. And most importantly, that I’m a child of God, a daughter of the King. And if I believe He is amazing, then wouldn’t the things He owns and creates be amazing as well? * Names have been left out of this story with respect to those who are still alive. Interview and edit by Zanita Fletcher, assistant editor for the Australia/New Zealand edition of Signs of the Times.

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book review:

JUICE

Tim Winton's most recent novel is a commentary on human nature as well as his own religious pacifist convictions—in a brutal, post-apocalyptic Australia.

NATHAN BROWN

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immediately raises echoes of Cormac McCarthy’s The Road—and, on the whole, Juice shares a similar sense of bleakness and desperation. But Juice spends more time retelling the narrator’s story and the larger context of the environmentally challenged world. Vague in many respects, the storytelling allows the reader to imagine the catastrophes that have taken place in the history of the narrator’s time. But even the unnamed narrator’s storytelling has an element of desperation, as he uses his stories to try to establish common ground and arouse the sympathies of a captor.

Despite the obviously degraded ecosystems in which the story takes place, the natural world is still celebrated in Winton’s writing, both in memory and in the state presented in the story. Even a broken world, in which summers are fatal and force the characters to live underground, retains beauty. As the narrator’s mother teaches him, “The

The natural world is still celebrated in Winton’s writing, both in memory and in the state presented in the story MARCH 2025 • SIGNSMAG.COM

WIKICOMMONS & H3MINS—PEXELS

I

n my humble but literary-educated opinion, Tim Winton is Australia’s finest living novelist. Since winning publication of his first novel in a competition for young writers in 1981, he has had 10 more novels published, as well as collections of stories, plays, books for younger readers and a handful of non-fiction works. Winton has won Australia’s top literary prize—the Miles Franklin Award—on four occasions. He might now be in line for a fifth.

Having grown up on the unique and beautiful southern coast of Western Australia, the natural landscape is a recurring character in Winton’s stories, in his non-fiction writing and in his activism for a variety of environmental causes and organisations in his home state. He has been a prominent spokesperson for coastal and marine conversation, including a major campaign for protection of the Ningaloo Reef off northwestern Western Australia.

Winton even has a fish, native to that region, named after him.

With this background, his new novel Juice has been much anticipated, much lauded and makes the difficult leap, demonstrating that a novel with a cause can also be an engaging read. Juice fits neatly into the growing genre of climate fiction, set perhaps a couple of hundred years in the future in a post-climate apocalyptic world.

The frame story sees the narrator on the road with a young girl who he has promised to care for, which

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Winton describes himself as a religious pacifist and the undertones of faith in Juice are mostly recognisable in the occasional references to and quotations from the “Ancient Sagas”, a number of which are Bible verses that befit the moods and longings of the characters.

Juice is intended to be confronting. It is one novelist’s attempt to jolt our world to greater action in response to climate change and environmental degradation. It is anger borne of love—for the natural world and for the human beings who sometimes forget how much they are a part of the environment in which they live. In a recent interview, Winton concluded with his belief that each of us, but also our societies, politicians and other leaders, will shape the future of our planet by our choice between life and money. In his estimation, it is becoming increasingly clear that we cannot serve both.

If you have come across Winton’s work in the past, Juice is a point worth re-engaging his literary work.

If not, please accept this author recommendation as a gift from a literary-educated friend who is excited to share some of Australia’s best work.

Nathan Brown is book editor for the Signs Publishing Company, based in Warburton, Victoria.

WIKICOMMONS

first form of revelation is the natural world. Wild, living nature, coherent, intact, independent and unknowable in its abundance and fecundity—its fertility” (page 347).

But Juice is also a brutal story, in its human world as well as the natural world. The narrator is drafted into a guerilla activist force that is working to eliminate the descendants of the families, brands and companies that have destroyed the former world. While the violence is mostly alluded to rather than described, these grim themes and strong language make this a book for mature readers.

The titular “juice” is a reference to the constant struggle for energy in a heat-blasted world, but also to the courage and resilience that allow the characters to continue to struggle for existence, to tell their stories and to resist the destructive forces that continue to be a presence in their world: “A free citizen, a volunteer, can do things for pride and for principle, in hope, and in desperation, that a despot and his vassals simply cannot” (pages 376–7).

Belying the motifs of revenge and violence—perhaps a narrative enactment of Revelation 11:18 (the last book of the Bible) and its promise (or warning) that those who destroy the earth will ultimately be destroyed—

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how to win at parenting

I

n young children, we know having inadequate sleep can affect their mood. As your child grows older, the effect of lack of sleep worsens to the point where they become at higher risk of mental health issues and academic problems. Not only that, a habit of staying up late can also negatively impact their health and wellbeing.

So how much sleep does your child really need? The following is a guide by Australia’s Sleep Health

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Foundation (see table). Keep in mind, younger children will meet these hours in one or two naps on top of their night sleep.

Bedtimes during early childhood may vary depending on a family’s schedule. However, by the time children start going to school, recommended bedtimes tend to be similar for most children since most would be expected to be at class at around the same time.

What this means is that if your

KAMPUS—PEXELS

Kids need more sleep than you think

Not recommended

0–3 months

14 to 17

Less than 11 hours; more than 19

4–11 months

12 to 15

Less than 10 hours; more than 18

1–2 years

11 to 14

Less than 9 hours; more than 16

3–5 years

10 to 13

Less than 8 hours; more than 14

6–13 years

9 to 11

Less than 7 hours; more than 12

14–17 years

8 to 10

Less than 7 hours; more than 11

child is staying up late on school nights, there’s a very high chance they’re going to school with a huge sleep deficit.

“When adolescents sleep, neural pathways are refined and strengthened, emotions are processed, learned information and memories encoded, muscles are repaired and grow, and many other systems in the body complete essential tasks. Adolescents have a deep need for sleep because of the magnitude of these changes,” write Heather Turgeon and Julie Wright in their book, Generation Sleepless.

Turgeon and Wright’s statement applies to younger children as well, due to the vast amount of growth and development. They suggest five healthy sleep habits we should have, using the word sleep as an acronym:

• Set a regular sleep time • Lay out three routines: winddown, bedtime and morning • Eliminate unhelpful sleep associations • Eliminate light and make the bedroom a cave (dark, cool and quiet) •Practise a sleep-friendly daytime.

Here are four ways we can encourage and make it easier for our kids to experience quality sleep.

1. Teach them healthy sleep habits: 2. Be involved—creatively 3. Monitor use of smart devices 4. Be wary of overload from academic and extracurricular activities.

Melody Tan is a passionate advocate for empowering mothers through connection, faith and digital engagement. She is project manager of Mums At The Table. She lives in Sydney with her husband and their primary-school-aged son.

Mums At The Table is a multimedia initiative aimed at supporting mothers in their parenting journey through parenting resources, as well as connecting with mums through local events. For more parenting tips, visit <mumsatthetable.com>.

MARCH 2025 • SIGNSMAG.COM

GALINA YAROVAYA—PEXELS

Recommended total hours of sleep

Age

45

Rasputin is perhaps one of the most controversial historical figures in the Russian Orthodox Church. What can we learn from him more than 100 years later?

BRUCE MANNERS 46

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MARCH 2025 • SIGNSMAG.COM

WIKIICOMMONS

THE MAD MONK AND THE CASE FOR GOOD THEOLOGY

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T

he Oxford Online Dictionary describes theology as “the study of the nature of God and religious belief”. That’s a helpful understanding, but let’s begin with some seriously bad theology as practised by the Russian mystic and faith healer Grigori Yefimovich Rasputin.

Rasputin is oftentimes called “The Mad Monk” after the title of a 1966 film about him, Rasputin: The Mad Monk. Author and historian Aja Raden describes him this way: “He cut a remarkable figure, given his massive size. His long, dirty, tangled hair and his beard didn’t do enough to cover a genuinelyfrightening face that included a broken nose, rotten teeth and cartoonish, demonic eyebrows over his most famous feature: pale mesmeric eyes, featuring pupils he could allegedly contract and expand at will.

“He seemed to take pride in his disgusting appearance—once returning from a pilgrimage having gone six months without changing his clothes. One man claimed he smelled like a goat.”1 He moved to Saint Petersburg and, in 1903, predicted that Tsarina Alexandra would finally give birth to a son—even though she was ageing and already had four daughters. He even put a one-year deadline on his

“prophesy”. Alexei, the heir to the throne, was born in 1904. After Alexei was diagnosed with hemophilia (a disorder where your blood doesn’t clot properly), the Tsarina met Rasputin, and the relationship was sealed when Alexei fell one day while playing and almost bled to death.

“Somehow, Rasputin succeeded in stopping the bleeding, after which he earned Tsar Nicholas’s goodwill and Alexandra’s unwavering devotion.”2 He was accepted into high society while at the same time keeping his low-brow approach to life—he was illiterate, ate with his hands and referred to the Tsar and Tsarina as “Mama” and “Papa”. And he had an open door and acceptance into society—mostly.

Raden adds that, “Undoubtedly the royal couple felt really cool having their very own, salt-of-the-earth, peasant holy man—complete with magic powers.”3

WIKICOMMONS

Essentially, sex with [Rasputin] was like an act of religious purification

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but wait, there’s more!

Rasputin never took holy orders to officially be a monk (with a wife and three children he didn’t qualify)—but he did wear the clothes of a monk.

His theology came from an apostate sect within the Russian Orthodox Church of the time. The stand-out belief of this sect was that the only way to reach God was through great

sin. Preaching that “without sin, there is no repentance”, Rasputin wandered the country, encouraging sin. He even claimed "he could take on the sins of women . . . by sleeping with them, thereby supposedly helping them find the ‘grace of God’.

Essentially, sex with him was like an act of religious purification.”4 You don’t have to be a Christian to recognise something so wrong—abhorrent even—with this approach. For those of us who are Christians, we simply need to ask, “How does Rasputin’s approach stack up against the example set by Jesus?” For the Christian, Jesus is our prime example.

the case for Jesus

When Bono, lead singer of U2, was asked about Jesus, he responded, “The secular response to the Christ story always goes like this: He was a great prophet, obviously a very interesting guy, had a lot to say along the lines of other great prophets, be they Elijah, Muhammad, Buddha or Confucius. But, actually Christ doesn’t allow you that. He doesn’t let you off the hook.

“Jesus says, ‘I’m not saying I’m a teacher . . . I’m not saying I am a prophet. I’m saying: I’m the Messiah.’

And that makes a huge difference.”

Bono suggests we could handle a prophet like John the Baptist. “But don’t mention the ‘M’ [Messiah] word! Because, you know, we’re going to have to crucify you.”5 Pastor and cultural critic Timothy Keller unpacks this in his book The MARCH 2025 • SIGNSMAG.COM

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Reason for God, “There is, then, a great gulf between understanding that God accepts us because of our efforts and the understanding that God accepts us because of what Jesus has done. . . . Religion operates on the basis ‘I obey—therefore I am accepted by God.’ But the operating principle of the gospel is ‘I am accepted by God through what Christ has done—therefore I obey’.”6 Accepted by God, through Jesus.

the grace factor

Jesus lays out His vision in John 3:16,17: “For this is how God loved the world: He gave his one and only Son, so that everyone who believes in him will not perish but have eternal life. God sent his Son into the world not to judge the world, but to save the world through him.”7 That’s grace—something undeserved. Paul builds on this in Ephesians 2:8: “God saved you by his grace when you believed. And you can’t take credit for this; it is a gift from God.” Paul also adds in Romans 11:6: “And since it is through God’s kindness, then it is not by their good works. For in that case, God’s grace would not be what it really is—free and undeserved.”

Keller points out that the primary difference between religion and the gospel (good news from God) is motivation: “In religion, we try to obey the divine standards out of fear. We believe that if we don’t obey we are going to lose God’s blessing in this world and the next. In the gospel, the motivation is one of gratitude for the 50

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blessing we have already received because of Christ.” Put another way, he adds, “While the moralist is forced into obedience, motivated by fear of rejection, a Christian rushes into obedience, motivated by the desire to please and resemble the one who gave his life for us.”8 There’s a recognition of the reality that “everyone has sinned; we all fall short of God’s glorious standard. Yet God, in his grace, freely makes us right in his sight. He did this through Christ Jesus when he freed us from the penalty for our sins” (Romans 3:23,24). That’s empowering.

a problem with grace?

God’s grace truly is amazing.

Freely given, He accepts us as we are and helps us become the best version of ourselves. Some see grace as if it were a Monopoly-type “get-outof-jail-free card”. Nothing could be further from the truth. There’s an expectation of a change in the life of individuals who accept the grace offered—but we don’t do the changing. God does it in us.

For instance, Jesus was in the temple in Jerusalem teaching when teachers of religious law and Pharisees dragged in a woman who had been caught having sex while unmarried. In front of the crowd, they challenge Jesus. “Teacher . . . this woman was caught in the act of adultery. The law of Moses says to stone her. What do you say?” (John 8:4,5). The text specifically tells us that they were attempting to trap

is a gift from God. For we are God’s masterpiece. He has created us anew in Christ Jesus, so we can do the good thing he planned for us long ago” (Ephesians 2:8,10).

Paul’s main mission in his letters, it seems, is to encourage Christians to work together, supporting each other while promoting and following the way of Jesus. Grace is real, as is the Christian responsibility for others—according to both Jesus and Paul, and other biblical writers.

That makes for good and practical theology.

Bruce Manners is an author, retired pastor and former editor of the Australia/New Zealand edition of Signs of the Times. He is based in Lilydale, Victoria.

1. Aja Raden, The Truth About Lies: The Illusion of Honesty and the Evolution of Deceit. Atlantic Books, London, 2021.

2., 3., 4., Ibid, Raden.

5. Cited in Timothy Keller, The Reason for God. Riverhead Books, New York, 2008.

6. Ibid, Keller.

7. Scripture quotations marked (NLT) are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright ©1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.

8. Ibid, Keller.

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CHERMITI MOHAMED—UNSPLASH

Him “into saying something they could use against Him”.

Jesus doesn’t speak or even ask the obvious question, “Where is the man with whom you were performing the forbidden sex act?” He begins writing in the dust with His finger.

What He writes is not known—the sins of the accusers is a popular guess. Finally, Jesus stands up and says to them, “Let the one who has never sinned throw the first stone!”

They quietly slip away from the scene until only Jesus and the woman are left.

Jesus stands and asks, “Where are your accusers? Didn’t even one of them condemn you?”

“No, Lord,” she says.

And Jesus said, “Neither do I. Go and sin no more.”

She is to go and straighten her life out—to take responsibility for her life. Jesus gave her life back to her.

The apostle Paul wrote, “God saved you by his grace when you believed.

And you can’t take credit for this; it

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As a pastor, there are questions I’ve encountered over and over again, sometimes about the Bible but usually about everyday life. If you’ve never had the opportunity to ask a pastor tough questions this is the right place!

Why do Christians teach that unbelievers will burn forever in hell?

Historically, the teaching of hell has been for Christians a chief concern for their fellow humans. Imagine you're a Christian who believes in heaven and hell and, as such, you believe that one day, you will rise to eternal bliss. Meanwhile, you're next-door neighbours with a Muslim, a Sikh or an atheist. You believe that if no-one does anything to convert your neighbour, upon death they will be faced with an eternity of torment, unable to die but nonetheless receiving lethal punishment of the cruellest order— forever. Then extend this thought experiment to entire neighbourhoods, towns, cities—countries, even. Think of nations like Tunisia, Algeria or Somalia where Christians make up less than 0.01 per cent of the population. Imagine that every person in those countries is destined for eternal damnation. What a torturous (excuse the pun) thought!

It may sound too horrific to imagine, but for many Christians today, this is how they see the world.

It's understandable why the threat of hell has been used so effectively through church history. What better way to ensure the masses behave, pay their offerings and refrain from theft, murder and all forms of debauchery 52 SIGNSMAG.COM • MARCH 2025

than the reminder that God can see everything they do and will happily punish them for eternity if they don't get their act together? Of course, this is a fairly cynical view and we should acknowledge that many thousands of thinkers through church history have earnestly and honestly grappled with the Scriptures regarding hell.

If you've never given much thought to the Bible's perspective on life after death, you'd be forgiven for thinking the view I've just put forward is the only one. However, in reality, there are a multitude of views on the topic.

Some believe hell is metaphorical or a kind of spiritual reality. Others have suggested the view of temporary suffering, that eventually, all will be consumed. Then there's the Seventhday Adventist view (shared by others throughout history): that hell is not a place of eternal torment, but a moment of total destruction for any who reject God's goodness.

We should first define our terms.

The key concept that will determine how we see hell is "eternal". When we encounter passages in the Bible like “Then he will say to those on his left, ‘Depart from me, you who are cursed, into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels'" (Matthew 25:41) or “Then they will go away to eternal punishment, but the righteous to eternal life” (25:46, italics added), it's understandable to interpret "eternal" to literally mean "without end".

However, the ancients had a different conception of the meaning of eternity than we do. For example,

In Genesis 19, God destroys the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah. In Jude 1:7, the author describes the cities' punishment as "eternal fire". If you were to travel to the sites of Sodom and Gomorrah today, you will find no eternal fire nor will you witness the continued suffering of the cities' inhabitants. The conception of "eternal" punishment in the minds of biblical authors is that of final punishment. The results of hell are eternal—not hell itself.

There are many other examples we could draw from Scripture that affirm God's plan for dealing with sin is destruction, not eternal torture. If you want to see for yourself, read Psalm 10:25, Isaiah 28:21 and Ezekiel 18:23.

We should ask, "What kind of God burns sinners forever in hell—and finds pleasure in it?" I don't know about you, but that's not a God I could worship.

While we should be serious about the consequences of evil, I can't stomach the notion that God would punish people eternally based on a short life here on earth. According to Revelation 21:4, after God deals with death and suffering forever, "'He will wipe every tear from their eyes. There will be no more death’ or mourning or crying or pain, for the old order of things has passed away.” That's the God I serve.

Want to get your question published in the next issue? Ask Jesse a question by scanning this code!

MARCH 2025 • SIGNSMAG.COM

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Communion is a strange Christian tradition. The first recorded historical account of it gives us a fascinating insight into its ancient meaning—and meaning for you, today.

JESSE HERFORD

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Eating, drinking, redeeming

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I

f you’ve ever been to a Christian church, there’s a good chance that occasionally you’ll have experienced an unusual ritual involving bread and grape juice: the Lord’s Supper, or as we’ll refer to it, Communion. Depending on the denomination, your experience may vary wildly. You may be offered a cup that everyone collectively sips out of, accompanied by a piece of bread.

Others will offer a small cup with a cracker. So, what is Communion?

Communion is depicted in three of the four New Testament Gospels (Matthew, Mark and Luke). This was the meal Jesus and His disciples shared on the eve of Jesus’ crucifixion. It was a meal inundated with prophecy and symbolic meaning.

The early Christians, in remembrance of this, began a practice that would be called Eucharist (Greek for “thanksgiving”) and later, “The Lord’s Supper” or “Communion”. The first historical record of Communion is in the apostle Paul’s first letter to the

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church at Corinth. Paul says, “For I received from the Lord what I also handed on to you, that the Lord Jesus on the night when he was betrayed took a loaf of bread, and when he had given thanks, he broke it and said, ‘This is my body that is for you.

Do this in remembrance of me.’ In the same way he took the cup also, after supper, saying, ‘This cup is the new covenant in my blood. Do this, as often as you drink it, in remembrance of me’” (1 Corinthians 11:23–25, NRSVUE*).

a very Corinthian Communion

By all accounts, the church at Corinth was highly stratified, consisting of at least one public administrator (Erastus), a Jewish synagogue leader (Crispus), several respected heads of households (Chloe, Stephanus, Titus, Justus and Phoebe), merchants (Priscilla and Aquila) as well as a collection of unnamed people belonging to the “destitute” class (those who

the heart of the problem

If you’re noticing a class imbalance here, you’re on the same wavelength as Paul. When he writes 1 Corinthians 11, he’s angry. “For when the time comes to eat, each of you goes ahead with your own supper, and one goes hungry and another becomes drunk” (1 Corinthians 11:21). Imagine going to dinner at someone’s home and when you arrive, you are ushered into a room with only the people in your socio-economic class. In the main dining area with the most sumptuous feast are the rich and powerful. Next door in the living room, the middle class with a lesser version of that meal.

Then, in the front entryway with the shoes and jackets, the poor who are forced to dine on the scraps. It’s a disturbing arrangement—yet this simply was Roman convention. This is why Paul later says, “Whoever, therefore, eats the bread or drinks the cup of the Lord in an unworthy manner will be answerable for the body and blood of the Lord” (1 Corinthians 12:27). In other words, the Corinthians’ willingness to divide themselves along the societal lines of the “haves” and “have nots” was a shameful indictment of

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were either labourers or lived in subsistence and slaves).1 Unlike today’s large churches, early Christians gathered to worship mostly in homes. The Corinthians’ host would have likely been Gaius, a wealthy man who had been Paul’s travelling companion and one of his first converts.

Modern archaeology has uncovered in Corinth the existence of Roman villas that contained a large dining area called a “triclinium”. It would have been set up with tables in a long “U shape”, with participants sitting on the ground.

Adjacent to the triclinium would have been several rooms that could have accommodated those who didn’t fit in the main space. In typical Roman convention, the host with his honoured guests, friends and family (fewer than 10) would have sat in the triclinium itself, with other guests dining in the adjacent rooms.

The destitute would have eaten in the atrium and were served the worst of the food.2 It appears that the Corinthians dined according to these social divides.

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Imagine going to dinner and when you arrive, you are ushered into a room with only the people in your socioeconomic class

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the first Communion

We know that Paul is modelling this meal off the last dinner Jesus had with His disciples. This begs the question then, what is the meaning of the Lord’s Supper, according to Jesus? When He spoke about His body being broken and blood being spilled “for you”, He meant several things at the same time.

First, Jesus allowed His body to be beaten, bruised and ultimately killed so you could be made whole: mind, spirit and body. But Jesus didn’t stay dead. The hope of the resurrection can be your hope too when you become a follower of Jesus—that death isn’t the end and you can look forward to the day when all things are made new—a day that Jesus promised is coming, soon.

Second, Jesus didn’t just die for you alone. He died (and rose!) for the sake of the Church—His body. Paul compares the diverse community of believers to a body in the next chapter: “For just as the body is one and has many members, and all the members of the body, though many, are one body, so it is with Christ” (1 Corinthians 12:12). In the Church, each person is of equal value—no matter their social status, talent or wealth. Communion is an opportunity to remind ourselves of who we are and who God is. Just as each

Christian belongs to Jesus, so too do they belong to each other.

why did Jesus need to die at all?

The truth is, no matter how good you think you are, there are areas of your life you’d rather not think of. I don’t mean the time you told a little white lie or cheated in Monopoly. There is shame in the darkest recesses of each of us that make us feel worthless; wounds that threaten never to heal, regardless of whether they were of your doing or were done to you. When you partake in Communion, you participate in a symbolic practice—yet a practice that has very real effects. As one commentator put it, Communion is the “bridge that connects the two most important events in redemptive history”3—the resurrection and the second coming. In the resurrection, Jesus dealt with your shame, so you no longer need to live enslaved by it in this life. In the second coming, He will destroy it forever, fulfilling His promise to “cast all our sins into the depths of the sea” (Micah 7:19).

Jesse Herford is a pastor and associate editor for the Australia/New Zealand edition of Signs of the Times. He lives in Cooranbong, Australia with his wife, daughter and miniature schnauzer.

1. Wright, NT, & Bird, MF, The New Testament in Its world: an Introduction to the history, literature, and Theology of the First Christians. Zondervan Academic, 2019.

2. Ángel Manuel Rodríguez, Andrews Bible commentary: light, depth, truth. New Testament. Andrews University Press, 2022.

3. Ibid. * Scripture quotations are taken from the New Revised Standard Version Updated Edition. Copyright © 2021 National Council of Churches of Christ in the United States of America.

Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.

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TALIA VALDERRAMA

Jesus and the Church for whom He died. Those who follow dehumanising Roman conventions will be held to account.

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PLANT FOODS THAT PACK A PROTEIN PUNCH There is an abundance of delicious plant foods that deliver a powerful protein punch.

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why do we need it?

Protein has been long heralded as the post-exercise recovery musthave—but the truth is that proteins play a role in almost every biological process and their functions vary widely. Eating a diet higher in protein could play an important role in healthy weight management as found in a CSIRO report.

how much do we need?

For most people, a varied and healthy diet will provide enough protein. Having more protein doesn’t mean we store it for later—we simply excrete it. Men up to the age of 70 are recommended to have at least 64g per day, whereas women should aim for at least 46g.

Try these five sources of plant protein that really pack a punch:

1. soybeans

(1 cup, 16.3g protein) Whether you eat whole soybeans or products made of soybeans like tofu, tempeh or soy milk, you will reap the protein

benefits. Remember, when choosing your soy milk, opt for one that is fortified with calcium and B vitamins like So Good™ Soy Milk.

2. pistachios

(30g handful, 6g protein) A perfect healthy on-the-go snack, a handful of pistachios pack a protein punch and are a good source of vitamin B6, which is needed for energy production. Opt for unsalted pistachios to make the most of them.

3. peanut butter

(1 tbsp, 5g protein) In addition to protein, this versatile spread also provides niacin and magnesium for an energy boost. There are a range of peanut butters to choose from to suit your own tastes and needs, including ones with no added sugar or salt.

4. peas

(1 cup cooked, 8g) Like all legumes, peas are a protein hero and boast fibre for gut health, vitamin C for immunity and vitamin K, which helps your blood to clot.

5. quinoa

(½ cup cooked, 3.8g protein) Quinoa is not only a delicious glutenfree grain, it is also a source of all nine essential amino acids, iron, folate and magnesium. Try using it in baking or to make into a delicious breakfast pudding.

KAROLINA GRABOWSKA—PEXELS

P

rotein is a macronutrient that consists of amino acids. Our body cleverly makes some amino acids itself but there are nine “essential” amino acids that we need to get from the food we eat. If a food contains all nine of the “essential” amino acids, like the humble soybean, it is called a complete protein.

Article courtesy of Sanitarium Health Food Company. 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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Crossword Puzzle

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!

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7 8 9 10

nder of McDonald's NG made famous during WWII rder suffered by Alexei

Across: 4. this author's work echoes in Tim Juice 5. kids need more of this than you 8. was founded in 1963 in Sydney,

crossword clues DOWN 1 Businessman who joined the McDonald's team in 1954 2 A track in PNG made famous during WWII 3 A blood disorder suffered by Alexei Romanov 6 A Roman eating chamber 7 Preached that "without sin, there is no repentance" 9 A book written about the Australian town of Cessnock ACROSS 4 This author's work echoes in Tim Winton's novel Juice 5 Kids need more of this than you might think 8 Was founded in 1963 in Sydney, Australia 10 A macronutrient that consists of amino acids

SUDOKU easy

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SOLUTIONS AVAILABLE ONLINE SIGNSMAG.COM/FUN MARCH 2025 • SIGNSMAG.COM

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