War Cry 23 January 2021

BBC reporter on the States, the tsunami and The Salvation Army

WAR CRY

23 January 2021 20p/25c

Secret singers are on song But who are the stars behind the masks in ITV show?

Rapper’s faith helps him overcome his trauma

The Salvation Army is a Christian church and registered charity providing services in the community, particularly to those who are vulnerable and marginalised. Motivated by our Christian faith, we offer practical support and services in more than 700 centres throughout the UK to all who need them, regardless of ethnicity, religion, gender or sexual orientation. To find your nearest centre visit salvationarmy.org.uk/find-a-church

What is the War Cry? The Salvation Army first published a newspaper called the War Cry in London in December 1879, and we have continued to appear every week since then. Our name refers to our battle for people’s hearts and souls as we promote the positive impact of the Christian faith and The Salvation Army’s fight for greater social justice.

WAR CRY Issue No 7509

Editor: Andrew Stone, Major Deputy Editor: Philip Halcrow Production Editor: Ivan Radford Assistant Editor: Sarah Olowofoyeku Staff Writer: Emily Bright Staff Writer: Claire Brine Editorial Assistant: Linda McTurk Graphic Designer: Rodney Kingston Graphic Designer: Mark Knight Email: warcry@salvationarmy.org.uk The Salvation Army UK Territory with the Republic of Ireland 101 Newington Causeway London SE1 6BN Tel: 0845 634 0101 Helpline: 020 7367 4888 Subscriptions: 01933 445445 (option 1, option 1) or email: subscriptions@satcol.org Founder: William Booth General: Brian Peddle Territorial Commander: Commissioner Anthony Cotterill Editor-in-Chief: Major Mal Davies Published weekly by The Salvation Army ©The Salvation Army United Kingdom Territory with the Republic of Ireland ISSN 0043-0226 The Salvation Army Trust is a registered charity. The charity number in England, Wales and Northern Ireland is 214779, in Scotland SC009359 and in the Republic of Ireland CHY6399.

Printed by Walstead Roche Ltd, St Austell, on sustainably sourced paper

Your local Salvation Army centre

INFO 2 • WAR CRY • 23 January 2021

EDITOR From From the editor’s desk

AS the United States enters a new era after four years of President Trump, this week’s War Cry has a distinctly transatlantic flavour to it.

We feature the BBC’s New York correspondent, Nick Bryant. In his interview he speaks about the dramatic impact Covid-19 has had on the city he now lives in. ‘I never thought I’d see New York in the state that it’s in,’ he tells us. ‘The most energetic city in the world was in a coma-like state, and it still is.’

Nick also speaks about the way that the presidency of Donald Trump has affected the whole country and reflects on his British childhood and the positive influence growing up as a member of The Salvation Army had on him.

American rapper Lecrae also talks about his childhood in this week’s War Cry. Sadly, his experiences as a boy were not positive.

Before his tenth birthday, he was sexually abused by a relative and physically abused by his mother’s boyfriend. As an adult, this led to him self-medicating with pills for depression as he struggled to keep his marriage afloat.

Lecrae found, though, that the Christian faith helped him to move on from his problems and to forgive those who had abused him.

‘You realise your own imperfections and that God is still gracious to you, so you want to be gracious to other people,’ he tells us as he goes on to explain about the hope that his faith gave him. ‘If you have that hope, you can move forward,’ he says.

Millions of other Christians found that same hope when they decided to follow Jesus. As a result, their lives were changed and they were able to move on and discover a new life for themselves.

The hope that Jesus offers is available to everyone. We all have the opportunity to start a new era in our lives, if we’ll turn to him.

FEATURES

CONTENTS

What is The Salvation Army?

3

It’s a cover up!

The Masked Singer keeps viewers guessing

5

Compliments of the season

A day set aside for encouraging others

6

Life all rapped up

Music star has found restoration

8

Disunited States of America?

BBC reporter on the divisions in the US

REGULARS

12

Team Talk

13

Keys to the Kingdom

14 Puzzles 15

War Cry Kitchen

6

8

Front-page picture: ITV

15

ITV

TELEVISION

Wide of the mask Viewers struggle to guess who the mystery singers are, writes Andrew Stone

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HO’S behind the mask?

That’s the question that has been baffling viewers and a celebrity panel on Saturday evenings in ITV’s The Masked Singer.

From the start of the series, 12 stars have disguised themselves by dressing as – among other things – a grandfather clock, a Viking warrior, a seahorse and a badger to sing in front of a studio audience as well as millions of viewers at home. The live audience vote for their favourite singers, with the least popular facing the possibility of being unmasked at the end of the show.

Before each performance, a number of clues are given as to the true identity of the singer. Those clues are considered and deliberated by celebrities Mo Gilligan, Davina McCall, Rita Ora and Jonathan Ross as they try to work out who the mystery singer is.

So far, they have managed to identify former Spice Girl Mel C, who was disguised as a seahorse, and actress

Sophie Ellis-Bextor was disguised as an alien in the first episode

The celebrity panel enjoys one of the performances

Martine McCutcheon hidden in a swan costume. However, they failed to spot that the alien was singer Sophie Ellis-Bextor or that former footballer Glenn Hoddle was the grandfather clock.

Whether the panel successfully guesses the mystery star is not important for the shinyfloor show, where each celebrity happily takes off their mask, knowing it is all part of the fun of the programme.

Outside of a TV studio, however, there are times when removing a mask can have more dramatic consequences.

During the coronavirus pandemic, mask-wearing has been a vital part of the battle against the virus and, in some circumstances, lowering the mask is against regulations. But there are also times when the masks people wear are not literal face coverings.

Sometimes we can try to hide who we really are and what we really think. We put on an act to mask our true feelings or behaviours

because we are worried that if other people really knew what we were like they might reject us, leaving us alone and isolated.

But there is someone who knows exactly what we are like and accepts us anyway. God sees who we truly are.

A singer from Bible times wrote: ‘You have searched me, Lord, and you know me. You know when I sit and when I rise; you perceive my thoughts from afar’ (Psalm 139:1 and 2 New International Version).

There are no aspects of our personality or our behaviour that are masked from God. He knows them all – including those things we try to keep hidden from other people – and he still loves us even though we are far from perfect.

Yet God doesn’t want us to stay as we are. He wants to help us overcome the things that we are ashamed of and become better people who are able to enjoy our lives more. That is because of, as another Bible writer put it, ‘his great love for us’ (Ephesians 2:4).

Despite who we are or what we have done, we can all experience God’s love – without having to disguise who we are.

We can try to hide who we really are

23 January 2021 • WAR CRY • 3

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CLIFF RICHARD revealed that speaking openly about his Christian faith had been ‘more important’ to him than his pop career, when he was interviewed by Lauren Laverne on Radio 4’s Desert Island Discs.

Reflecting on the time when he first shared his faith publicly at a Billy Graham rally in 1966, Cliff said: ‘It was a terrifying moment for me. I was so scared. But it did lead to me beginning to be able to speak the name Jesus without feeling embarrassed. I don’t know why people are embarrassed by that, but they sometimes are. I don’t feel that embarrassment any more.’

Cliff explained that having had thoughts of retiring from pop to become a teacher, he came to the realisation that ‘I can be a pop star and still be a Christian and the two don’t have to be at loggerheads’.

During the programme, Cliff chose the Christian song ‘It is Well’ on which he duetted with Sheila Walsh as his favourite track, adding: ‘Faith can get us through some of the most disastrous periods of our life.’

THE UK public have become more compassionate since the start of the Covid-19 pandemic, according to an online poll commissioned by Christian Aid. Of those who took part in the survey, 27 per cent said that they were writing more notes to people that they don’t see often, while 25 per cent revealed they were saying hello to strangers in the street more than they did before.

The poll of 2,090 UK adults, conducted by research consultancy Savanta ComRes in December, also found that the public’s interest in global affairs had increased, with 41 per cent of people saying that they worried more about what is happening in the world than before Covid-19.

Do you have a story to share? a warcry@salvationarmy.org.uk @TheWarCryUK TheWarCryUK

B salvationarmy.org.uk/warcry

Salvation Army provides shelter in wake of Cyclone Yasa SIX Salvation Army buildings in Fiji were opened as evacuation centres after Cyclone Yasa tore through the islands last month.

More than 200 people who were forced to leave their homes took shelter in the centres.

The category 5 tropical storm brought down trees and power lines, damaged buildings and caused roads to be blocked. The Salvation Army provided food and clean water in the immediate aftermath, and is planning longer-term relief.

Emergency supplies were distributed from Salvation Army locations in Labasa and Taveuni. In Savusavu on Vanua Levu – the second-largest and worst-hit island – a Salvation Army rugby team

worked to repair buildings in the community.

Captain Andrew Moffatt, The Salvation Army’s leader for Fiji, who travelled to Vanua Levu to support the local response, observed that the damage was extensive.

Noting that Cyclone Yasa came just a few months after a similarly damaging storm, Cyclone Harold, Captain Moffatt says that emergency supplies have been ‘used extensively over the past 24 months, with increased incidents of severe weather events, and are in need of restocking and refurbishment. There will be an ongoing need for recovery relief – especially food and building equipment and materials in the northern region and offshore islands.’

A building damaged by Cyclone Yasa and (right) one of the Salvation Army evacuation centres in Savusavu, Fiji 4 • WAR CRY • 23 January 2021

FEATURE

xcxszt Specialist support for slavery survivors THE Salvation Army is providing additional long-term specialist support to modern slavery victims as part of a new and extended government contract.

The latest five-year government contract means that the church and charity can offer a ‘reachin’ service, which allows each victim to keep in contact with the organisation beyond their initial recovery.

Specialist staff across England and Wales will help individuals with finding a job, translation services and counselling.

The Salvation Army will also provide a 24-hour referral line seven days a week for those who are identified as needing immediate accommodation.

Major Kathy Betteridge, director of The Salvation Army’s antimodern slavery work, said: ‘We are excited to embark on this latest step with survivors, aiming to rebuild shattered lives and give people the means to move towards independent and brighter futures.’

Since 2011, The Salvation Army has provided specialist support to more than 12,500 adult victims of modern slavery and human trafficking.

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MANY people have seen their Christian faith grow stronger since the outbreak of Covid-19, according to research by United Christian Broadcasters (UCB).

In the survey, Faith During Lockdown, which was based on more than 1,000 respondents, 55 per cent said their faith had grown stronger since the outbreak of the pandemic and approximately two thirds (64 per cent) said that prayer and reading the Bible had helped ‘a great deal’.

Sheron Ferguson, director of communications at UCB, said: ‘It’s encouraging to see that many people are finding that, despite the difficulties, their faith is being strengthened.’

A word is worth its weight in gold ‘Well done’ ‘Good job!’ ’ ‘Way to go!’

‘Thumbs up’

Compliments make a good return, writes Sarah Olowofoyeku

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HEY are words that are free to give but can be of great value to whoever receives them. Tomorrow’s National Compliment Day (Sunday 24 January) is a day for making a conscious effort to appreciate and praise the people around us.

American authors Kathy Chamberlain and Debby Hoffman created the day in 1998 as a way to ‘remind people that compliments are easy ways to connect positively with others’. The idea has spread to the UK, and in 2021, with so much bad news around and the turmoil of being in a pandemic, positive connections with people are even more valuable. While we may not be able to see many others in person, we can give a kind word via text or a video call.

An experiment by Japanese scientists in 2012 found that people perform better when they have been given compliments. Participants in the study were asked to learn and perform a specific finger pattern on a keyboard.

Once participants had learnt the finger exercise, they were separated into three groups. In one group, an evaluator complimented participants individually. In the other two groups, participants either evaluated themselves or watched another being complimented.

When they had to repeat the finger exercise the next day, the group of participants who received direct compliments performed better than those from the other groups. According to Professor Sadato, ‘to the brain, receiving a compliment is as much a social reward as being rewarded money’.

Whether received or given, compliments also activate dopamine – also known as the feelgood chemical on your brain. Compliments can boost someone’s mood; they can make somebody feel seen and appreciated.

A proverb in the Bible supports these ideas. It says: ‘Kind words are like honey – sweet to the taste and good for your health’ (Proverbs 16:24 Good News Bible).

The Bible is full of insights into the human condition. Its words reveal our ultimate value – that God loves us, and sent Jesus to die so we could be reconnected with him. Knowing that God thought us worth such a sacrifice is the greatest compliment of all.

We can give a kind word via text or a call

23 January 2021 • WAR CRY • 5

Rapper wants people to find liberation and restoration Grammy winner LECRAE tells Emily Bright about his new book and how his faith helped him deal with childhood trauma

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IP-HOP artist Lecrae had hit a high note in his career by the time his first book, Unashamed, was published in 2016. Four years earlier, he had won a Grammy in the best gospel album category for Gravity and in 2014 picked up another for best contemporary Christian music performance/song for his track ‘Messengers’. He had even met President Obama, which gave him reason for hope.

‘Meeting him was a picture of what could be, that people who look like me can rise to the highest of places, even in a country or a system where everything was built to oppress you and to keep you down. That was inspiring,’ he tells me in a video call from the States.

Despite Lecrae’s career success, he was struggling in his personal life as a result of childhood trauma. He was self-medicating with pills for depression and anxiety, trying to keep his marriage afloat and barely having a moment to spend with his children.

He explores the challenges he faced in his latest book, I Am Restored, and in the accompanying album, Restoration. In the book, he writes that he was terrified that people would view him as a fraud. Depression compounded his inner struggles.

‘It’s nightmarish,’ he tells me. ‘You’re doing everything you can to stop the faucet of negative thoughts, but they just keep pouring on.’

He hopes that sharing his experiences will encourage others to seek the help they need and be freed from their pain. ‘I just wanted people to be able to have a story that they could relate to that would help them find liberation and restoration,’ he explains.

Lecrae went through unimaginable trauma as a child.

He recalls in his book how, before his tenth birthday, he was sexually abused by a relative and physically abused by his mother’s boyfriend. In his father’s absence, his extended family encouraged him to become a ‘tough guy’ and pick fights. During summers with his uncles, he witnessed shootings and drug arrests.

But he found a way out through rapping.

‘I just wanted to be a part of something, especially in the community that I grew up in,’ he recalls. ‘It was what everybody was involved in, so that drew me to it.’

He gained respect from his schoolmates for his rapping prowess,

6 • WAR CRY • 23 January 2021

INTERVIEW

which then evolved into a passion and a career.

Eventually, because of his Christian faith, he was able to forgive those who had abused him. He says: ‘I think you realise your own imperfections and that God is still gracious to you, so you want to be gracious to other people.’

Lecrae decided to become a Christian when he was 19 years old. The decision would shape the course of his life and career.

He has been influenced in his exploration of faith by reading AfricanAmerican theologians. He writes in his book that ‘we all need to read a broad collection of voices. Women, people of colour, global voices and marginalised people groups all have something to

teach us.’ He adds that God has a lot to say about overlooked communities, and ‘came into the world as a disenfranchised man, a brown-skinned Palestinian Jew’.

Lecrae tells me: ‘Jesus was the people’s person. He was there for the people who were struggling. He cared for them. He talked to women, he talked to prostitutes, he talked to tax collectors, he talked to all the people who were forced underground by the power of Rome at the time.’

Lecrae aims to support the disenfranchised communities on the west side of Atlanta, and has been working in prisons, providing masks for people during the Covid-19 pandemic, and, as he puts it, ‘trying to plead cases for individuals who need the extra attention and care’.

His faith drives a belief that there is

We’re sometimes taken off course, but God is gracious

always hope for anyone, even in the darkest of circumstances.

‘My faith is everything,’ he emphasises.

‘It’s the foundation, it’s the building blocks, it’s where you begin to believe that change can happen and restoration is possible, that healing can happen. If you have that hope, you can move forward.

‘I believe that we were all made with purpose, worth, and for glory. We’re sometimes taken off course, but God is gracious and loving and wants to see us restored. Lives can be redeemed.’

l I Am Restored is published by Zondervan

23 January 2021 • WAR CRY • 7

REPORTER COVERS USA

Nick Bryant

As a new era begins in American politics, BBC New York correspondent NICK BRYANT shares with Emily Bright his recollections of covering the good and the bad of life in the US

T

HROUGHOUT his US election campaign, Joe Biden vowed to ‘restore the soul of America’. The voters decided that they wanted him to undertake that task when they elected him as their 46th president, giving him the responsibility to ‘preserve, protect and defend the constitution of the United States’. At his side will be Kamala Harris, who made history as the first woman, and first black and Asian American, to be elected as vicepresident.

The scale of the task that the two newly elected figureheads face was brought home two weeks ago by the storming of the US Capitol, the symbolic heart of American democracy, by some pro-Trump supporters. The news reports of that action shocked many around the world.

8 • WAR CRY • 23 January 2021

Among those reporting on the events was Nick Bryant.

As the BBC’s Washington correspondent from 1998 to 2003 and New York correspondent for the past seven and a half years, Nick is well versed in American political life. He expects that Biden’s presidency will be ‘the soft jazz after the heavy metal of the Trump years’. But he adds that significant challenges lie ahead for the incoming president.

‘Joe Biden has said that he’ll try to heal this deeply divided country, but that’s a real problem right now. People can’t even agree on a set of facts,’ he says.

‘The disputed election was a case in point. There are still millions of Republicans who believe that the election was rigged, even though the Trump White House has not been able to substantiate

any of its claims of fraud. So you have two very different realities, underlining and creating this sense of two Americas.’

Nick’s experience as a BBC correspondent, spanning 25 years, has equipped him to deliver insightful and authoritative accounts of such world events. He began his career working at the Evening Standard, and then worked at the Daily Mail for a year before joining the BBC trainee scheme in 1995.

Four days after joining the scheme, he received an unexpected phone call.

‘I just happened to be home on a Saturday night, watching Match of the Day,’ he remembers. ‘It was the time before mobiles, and they were ringing other correspondents, but no one was home. It was the night Israeli prime minister Yitzhak Rabin was assassinated. It was

INTERVIEW

A’S STARS AND STRIFES PA

Capitol Hill is stormed during the ratification of Joe Biden’s presidency

my first foreign story and set me on the path I’m on today.’

Since then, he has covered many major news stories including the IRA’s bombing of London’s Docklands in 1996, Princess Diana’s funeral in 1997, the Good Friday Agreement of 1998, the aftermath of 9/11 and the Asian tsunami on Boxing Day 2004. He has reported from Pakistan, India and Australia, and has even been embedded with the US military in Afghanistan. As he travelled from conflict zones to natural disasters, Nick was struck by the fast response of relief services, which included The Salvation Army.

‘When I started working internationally, I saw The Salvation Army’s extraordinary

work globally,’ he says. ‘On 9/11, The Salvation Army were giving food and sustenance to the rescue workers who were working 24/7. In the aftermath of the Asian tsunami, I remember seeing Salvation Army officers driving around trying to reunite parents with their lost children. In many cases, that reunion didn’t happen, because the children were dead.

‘I’ve seen the work the Army does in many American inner cities with drug and alcohol rehabilitation. I remember that on the night the IRA bombed the South Quay in London, the Army were there straightaway with emergency trucks providing food, coffee and tea for firefighters working through the night.

‘Journalists find themselves in the middle of some terrible situations, and almost invariably, you’ll find the Army there as well, trying to bring relief and comfort.’

His appreciation for the Army stems back to his own upbringing in its churches in Bristol and Birmingham in the UK. ‘I was very luckyin that I went to some great universities,’ he says, ‘but I always felt that The Salvation Army was one of the places that I learnt the most about human nature, about values, about decency and about helping others. The experiences I had there were hugely formative.

‘I was in a place of worship with people from all sorts of backgrounds, socially,

I saw The Salvation Army’s work globally

Turn to page 10

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23 January 2021 • WAR CRY • 9

From page 9 economically, educationally, and it just didn’t matter where people came from. I saw all the great work that the Army had done, and it introduced me to the poverty in my home city of Bristol. My mum used to help run a soup kitchen, we used to go to a men’s hostel and I also performed in prisons with my Salvation Army band.

‘Even though I’m not formally part of The Salvation Army any more, it is still very much part of me.’

After his positive Salvation Army experiences, he decided to attend a Methodist church soon after he became Washington correspondent in 1998.

He was in for a shock when he saw who were among its congregation. He recalls: ‘When I was first there, I thought “I recognise this building”, and I couldn’t quite work out why. I realised afterwards it was because I’d seen it on the TV so many times, with shots of Bill and Hillary Clinton leaving church.

‘You had to go through metal detectors to get in, the pews were all surrounded by secret service guys and women in plain clothes.

‘I suspected the lead soprano in the choir was packing an automatic weapon in her cassock,’ he laughs, before adding more seriously: ‘It was a fascinating experience to see the Clintons up close, especially in prayer.’

One memorable weekend, the preaching came from an unexpected and surprising source.

‘I always remember the church service on the final Sunday of the Clinton presidency,’ Nick says. ‘Bill Clinton actually gave the sermon. I was scrambling around for a pencil and something to write on, and I started frantically writing notes as he was speaking. Hillary delivered the Bible reading. It was remarkable.’

Throughout his time as a BBC

PA

Washington DC erupted with joy that night

Barack Obama takes the oath of office to become US president in 2009

10 • WAR CRY • 23 January 2021

correspondent in the US, Nick has become well acquainted with the remarkable and unexpected.

‘There has been an amazing run of stories and history to report on,’ he says.

‘We covered 9/11, the lead-up to the Iraq war, the 2008 financial crash and the elections of Barack Obama and Donald Trump. What struck me was how often we ended up covering these mega stories.

Stories that previously seemed to come around once a century now seemed to come around every year or 18 months.’

N

ick was there when Barack Obama was declared the winner of the 2008 US election and became the first AfricanAmerican to be elected to the office of US president.

‘Washington DC, which was a predominantly African-American city, erupted with joy that night,’ Nick says. ‘It was extraordinary to see an AfricanAmerican become the occupant of a White House that was built by slaves.

And that was a moment frankly, as somebody who studied for a doctorate in racial politics, that I just didn’t think I’d see in my lifetime.

The hope was that he could heal the racial divides in the country.’

An equally memorable event was seeing an utterly contrasting man take up the post eight years later.

‘I was about 50 yards away on Capitol Hill when Donald Trump delivered the “American carnage” inaugural address. What was so striking was the huge differences between the two presidents, and the fact that they were figureheads for two such different countries.’

In recent months, the news agenda has been monopolised by the devastation caused by coronavirus.

INTERVIEW

Nick walks through a tank graveyard in Afghanistan

‘I never thought I’d see New York in the state that it’s in,’ he asserts. ‘The most energetic city in the world was in a coma-like state, and it still is. It has been extraordinary to tell the political, the health, the economic and the political fallout from coronavirus. It’s the biggest story of our careers.’

Part of the problem, he says, is the lack of a clear and uncontested medical consensus on how to respond.

‘As well as a pandemic, we’ve had an infodemic, and the spread of misinformation online has been problematic. Clearly some of the misinformation has come from the White House. That has been a problem throughout this crisis. Trump’s words are often so at odds with the words of his public health officials, like Dr Anthony Fauci, on things like the wearing of masks.’

Nick elucidates how such a divisive figure as Trump took power in his latest book, When America Stopped Being Great.

He tells me: ‘Donald Trump should not be seen as a historical accident. He’d almost become historically inescapable by 2016. So many political, economic, technological, sociological and even

cultural American trend lines converged and culminated in his presidency.

‘And the fact that he did so well again in 2020 underscores the idea that his victory four years ago was not a fluke. More than 74 million people voted for Trump in 2020.

He won 25 states and almost 47 per cent of the vote. And ahead of time, he had said he wasn’t going to commit to a peaceful transfer of power.

Even so, he managed to get a huge amount of support amongst the American people.’

Nick argues that the political failings of governments dating back to the 1960s paved the way for Donald Trump’s divisive rhetoric and presidency.

He says: ‘You have a succession of polarising presidents – Bill Clinton, George W. Bush, Barack Obama, Donald Trump – and you’ve got to this situation now, where this country is almost irrevocably divided.

‘My book tells the story of America’s polarisation, and sets out why the United States of America has become such a disunited country to the extent we almost live in two Americas now, a shared continent occupied by warring political tribes.’

I’m intrigued to get his take on this

America is a disunited country

month’s attack on the Capitol. ‘The storming of the Capitol was shocking, but it wasn’t surprising,’ Nick remarks matterof-factly.

‘You can see it as almost an inevitable consequence of years of shrill antigovernment rhetoric, years of hatred of Washington DC, years of misinformation being spread on the web and years of polarisation.’

Only time will tell if the presidency of Joe Biden will heal these divisions. But you can rely on the fact that Nick will be watching and reporting on all that goes on.

l When America Stopped Being Great will be published by Bloomsbury Continuum in March

23 January 2021 • WAR CRY • 11

EXPLORE

Prayerlink THE War Cry invites readers to send in requests for prayer, including the first names of individuals and details of their ­circumstances. Send your Prayerlink requests to warcry@salvationarmy.org.uk or to War Cry, 101 Newington Causeway, Lon­don SE1 6BN. Mark your correspondence ‘Confidential’.

j

Becoming a Christian

There is no set formula to becoming a Christian, but many people have found saying this prayer to be a helpful first step to a relationship with God

Lord Jesus Christ, I am truly sorry for the things I have done wrong in my life. Please forgive me. I now turn from everything that I know is wrong.

Thank you that you died on the cross for me so that I could be forgiven and set free.

Thank you that you offer me forgiveness and the gift of your Holy Spirit.

talk ‘ ’ Team talk TEAM TALK We can find freedom, as a rule

Claire Brine gives her take on a story catching the attention of War Cry reporters

TWO weeks ago, on BBC One’s Breakfast programme, England’s chief medical officer, Professor Chris Whitty, warned that ‘the next few weeks are going to be the worst weeks of this pandemic’. Those days are here now. And as the UK continues to suffer, the government is appealing for everyone to stick to the lockdown rules.

Ever since the first lockdown was announced in March last year, rulebreaking and rule-bending has been a problem. Dr Daisy Fancourt, who conducts the Covid-19 social study at University College London, has looked into reasons why. Earlier this month, she wrote in The Guardian that ‘compliance began to decrease’ last year for several reasons.

First, people ‘felt safer’. Secondly, many felt the updated rules were ‘too complex to understand’. Thirdly, ‘the revelations’ about the actions of former government adviser Dominic Cummings ‘changed the tone’. Social responsibility ‘suddenly seemed less necessary’.

While this list of reasons offers insight and explanation, it does not excuse rule-breaking. The coronavirus is still a problem. Therefore, everyone needs to play a part in helping to overcome it.

Dr Fancourt went on to say that following the rules by ‘modelling good compliance is the responsibility of us all’.

It’s the biggest new year’s resolution we could make – but she is right to issue such a challenge. Because, when it comes to Covid, we know by now that our actions don’t affect just us. They have an impact on those around us. We have a duty of care to our neighbours – a duty that goes back to biblical times.

Reflecting on the words of Jesus to ‘love thy neighbour’, the Archbishop of Canterbury recently took to Twitter to explain how we can do that during a global pandemic. The Most Rev Justin Welby posted: ‘Staying at home is loving your neighbour. Wearing a mask is loving your neighbour. Keeping your distance is loving your neighbour. Washing your hands is loving your neighbour.’

As the next few weeks of lockdown life unfold, perhaps it’s time for many of us to reframe how we see the rules. Because when we focus less on what we are missing, we can focus more on what we are giving. There may be restrictions on what we can do, but we can find freedom in thinking of others and loving our neighbour.

Our actions don’t affect just us

Please come into my life by your Holy Spirit to be with me for ever.

Thank you, Lord Jesus.

Amen

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War Cry 101 Newington Causeway London SE1 6BN

Basic reading about Christianity Information about The Salvation Army

Looking for help?

Contact details of a Salvation Army minister Name Address Extract from Why Jesus? by Nicky Gumbel published by Alpha International, 2011. Used by kind permission of Alpha International

Or email your details and request to warcry@salvationarmy.org.uk 12 • WAR CRY • 23 January 2021

EXPRESSIONS

Q

QUICK QUIZ 1

2

What was the surname of the fictional aristocratic family headed by the Earl of Grantham in the TV drama series Downton Abbey?

A 4

5

6

Who won five consecutive Wimbledon men’s singles titles from 1976 to 1980?

Which of Shakespeare’s plays begins with the lines, ‘When shall we three meet again/ In thunder, lightning, or in rain’?

What is the capital of Morocco?

On what type of sale does a conveyancer provide legal advice?

ANSWERS

1. Crawley. 2. Abbey Road. 3. Björn Borg.

4. Macbeth. 5. Rabat. 6. Property.

3

Which Beatles album is named after a London street?

In this occasional series, Nigel Bovey unlocks the mystery of the Kingdom of Heaven, which Jesus speaks to his disciples about in Matthew’s Gospel

The Kingdom approaches I

N his first recorded use of the expression ‘Kingdom of Heaven’, Jesus says: ‘Repent, for the Kingdom of Heaven has come near’ (Matthew 4:17 New International Version). In doing so, he rules out a number of misunderstandings.

Jesus says that the Kingdom has come near, not that it has come. While the life, death and resurrection of Jesus are important components of God’s mission to save, redeem and renew the world, the task is not yet complete. The Day of the Lord, the time when Jesus Christ will return, is still in the unknown future.

The notion of ‘near’ is as much an expression of place as it is a way of denoting time. The Greek word used is engizo, which means ‘approach’ or ‘draw near’ and is applied in the Bible to describe place and time. The Kingdom of Heaven is not wishful thinking about a comforting afterlife. It is not pie in the sky when we die. It is not escapism from the realities of this The Kingdom world. By saying ‘come near’, Jesus teaches that, whatever happens in the of Heaven hereafter, the Kingdom of Heaven is about the here and now. operates Having talked about the Kingdom, Jesus differently then shows the difference the Kingdom can make. Matthew links Jesus’ ‘proclaiming the good news of the Kingdom’ with his ‘healing every disease and illness among the people’. These people included ‘those suffering severe pain, the demon-possesssed, those having seizures, and the paralysed’ (4:23 and 24).

Although Matthew does not use the word ‘miracle’, he records instances of Jesus healing crowds and individuals. Jesus restores lepers, outcasts because of their disease (see 8:1–4). He delivers people from evil spirits (8:28–34). He heals women, considered second-class citizens (9:18–22), and he raises a dead girl (9:23–26).

Not only has the Kingdom come near, but it also includes those often marginalised by society. When it comes to personal status, accessibility and qualifications, the Kingdom of Heaven operates differently from the standards of this world.

The Kingdom coming near means that, whoever we are, we can have more than a future hope for when we are dead. Jesus can make a difference while we are alive.

23 January 2021 • WAR CRY • 13

CROSSWORD CROSSWORD PUZZLES

QUICK CROSSWORD ACROSS 3. Toupee (3) 7. Mend (6) 8. Admire (6) 9. Extract (6) 10. Merited (6) 11. Headgear (3) 12. Crib (6) 14. Even (6) 17. Superior (6) 21. Emerge (6) 24. Everything (3) 25. Horse pace (6) 26. Bigger (6) 27. Close-fitting hat (6)

28. Shiny (6) 29. Cereal (3)

DOWN 1. Vault (6) 2. Fetid (6) 3. Squirm (6) 4. Welcomes (6) 5. Take too far (6) 6. Apprehend (6)

12. Taxi (3) 13. Falsehood (3) 15. Chart (3) 16. Belonging to a female (3) 18. Dodged (6) 19. Aptitude (6) 20. Sword (6) 21. Assert (6) 22. Clergyman (6) 23. Opposed to (6)

SUDOKU Fill the grid so that every column, every row and every 3x3 box contains the digits 1 to 9

HONEYCOMB HONEYCOMB

9 5 4 4 7 9 3 2 2 8 6 1 3 9 7

1. Agree 2. Swoop suddenly to catch prey 3. Debris from a demolished building 4. Person who cuts men’s hair 5. Dull and depressing 6. One of the Mr Men characters

ANSWERS

2 1 8 4

6 5

7 2

8 3 1

WORDSEARCH AD ASTRA

ARMAGEDDON ARRIVAL

BACK TO THE FUTURE DIVERGENT

EDGE OF TOMORROW EX MACHINA

HONEYCOMB 1. Concur. 2. Pounce. 3. Rubble.

4. Barber. 5. Dreary. 6. Greedy.

QUICK CROSSWORD ACROSS: 3. Wig. 7. Repair. 8. Revere.

9. Elicit. 10. Earned. 11. Hat. 12. Cradle.

14. Smooth. 17. Better. 21. Appear.

24. All. 25. Gallop. 26. Larger.

27. Beanie. 28. Glossy. 29. Rye. DOWN: 1. Cellar. 2. Rancid. 3. Writhe.

4. Greets. 5. Overdo. 6. Arrest. 12. Cab. 13. Lie. 15. Map. 16. Her. 18. Evaded.

19. Talent. 20. Rapier. 21. Allege.

22. Parson. 23. Averse.

GEOSTORM GRAVITY

INCEPTION

INTERSTELLAR

JURASSIC WORLD MAN OF STEEL ROGUE ONE

STAR TREK BEYOND THE AVENGERS

3 1 5 8 9 2 6 4 7

THE MARTIAN

8 6 7 5 3 4 9 1 2

9 2 4 7 1 6 5 3 8

5 4 1 3 2 8 7 9 6

6 3 8 4 7 9 1 2 5

2 7 9 6 5 1 4 8 3

4 8 3 9 6 7 2 5 1

1 9 6 2 8 5 3 7 4

7 5 2 1 4 3 8 6 9

SUDOKU SOLUTION

THE MATRIX

7 1 3 9

7 2 8 3 1

14 • WAR CRY • 23 January 2021

7 8 9

ORDSEARCH ORDSEARCH ORDSEARCH ORDSEARCH ORDSEARCH

Each solution starts on the coloured cell and reads clockwise round the number

7

3 Look 8 up, 9 down, 5 6forwards, 2 4 backwards 1 7 and diagonally on the grid to find 1 these 6 science 2 4 fiction 3 7films 8 9 5 5 7 4 1 8 9 3 6 2 Q L G F K V N M D W U A O W I 8 5 7 3 4 6 9 K M 2 1W N E G I V C L C A P R T O Y S W F L 9 3 1 2 7 5 W J 6 S S D 8 4 A N X L B K R R G T Z R M I O G Z N T R T S Y R V D T Y R M 2 4 6 8 9 1 7 5 3M T E R S W I H A N O D D E G A M R A 6 9 5 7 1J B 4 L 2S I 3 O N 8 R U Q T V K D E M W H A G M A U 4A S 1 O M G C M L 3 9 2 8 U 5Y V 7 T 6O M O L R M Q T H E A V E N G E R S F 7 2 8 6 5 3 1 I 4 O S 9 E R U T U F E H T O T K C A B

H D L R O W C I S S A R U J Q N E T T V S E Q O R L R T K J I K I C G E Y X G K D I V E R G E N T X Y E Z E F D G B F Y T O Z U G C Y T U P W L E X Q E L N E X M A C H I N A T P S G Z I Y I W Z W P J F V C S G I Z Y L F G O L V A H B C A G V A D O Q L S G T N A Q P B M R H N U J F N A I F N P D L Z K N G I L P O I S T Y F

2 6

8

D Butternut squash stuffed with lentils, nuts and apricots Ingredients

Method

2 butternut squash

100g pine nuts

For the filling

2tbsp lemon juice

1tbsp olive oil

½ tsp vegan stock powder

1 red onion, finely chopped ½ tsp smoked paprika

1tsp sage, roughly chopped

4 garlic cloves, crushed

Salt and pepper For the garnish

100g walnuts, roughly chopped

1 raw beetroot, peeled and diced into tiny cubes

3 tomatoes, roughly chopped 20g dried apricots, roughly chopped

1tbsp fresh parsley, roughly chopped

300g cooked Puy lentils, drained and rinsed

Smoked paprika

15g raisins

SERVES

4

100ml boiling water

1tbsp fresh sage, roughly chopped

Shakshuka Ingredients

Method

1tbsp olive oil

Heat the oil in a large nonstick pan over a medium heat and add the fennel seeds.

Cook for 1 minute. Add the onion and garlic and cook for a further 3 minutes. Mix in the red pepper, smoked paprika, tomatoes and a pinch of turmeric, salt and pepper.

Continue cooking for 25 minutes until the peppers are soft, adding water if needed to keep the dish from drying out.

½ tsp fennel seeds 1 small onion, finely diced 1 garlic clove, finely chopped 1 large red pepper, deseeded and finely sliced 1tsp smoked paprika 400g can chopped tomatoes Turmeric Salt and ground black pepper 4 free-range eggs 2 medium wholemeal bread slices, toasted

Preheat oven to 180C/350F/Gas Mark 4.

Wrap each butternut squash in foil and bake them in the oven for 50 minutes or until soft. Once cooked, set aside and allow to cool.

Meanwhile, mix the stock powder with the water. Gently fry the onion in the oil for 5 minutes in a pan, then add all the filling ingredients and simmer for 15 minutes. Season to taste with salt and pepper. Set aside.

Once the squashes have cooled, cut each in half and scoop out the seeds along with a little of the flesh. Add the filling mixture to the squash halves and bake for a further 10 minutes in the oven.

Garnish with the beetroot, herbs and a pinch of smoked paprika, to serve.

Make 4 small wells in the tomato and pepper sauce, then break an egg into each.

Cover and continue cooking for a further 5 minutes until the egg whites are done.

Spoon 2 spicy tomato eggs on each plate and serve with the toasted bread.

Recipes reprinted, with permission, from the Vegetarian Society website vegsoc.org

SERVES

2

23 January 2021 • WAR CRY • 15

We live by faith, not by sight 2 Corinthians 5:7 (New International Version)

WAR CRY