War Cry 4 May 2019: Selected articles

4 May 2019 • WAR cry • TELEVISION 3

BBC/World Productions Ltd

After his arrest, Ted’s future is called into question

ON THE LINE H

OLDING more tension than a suspect squirming under interrogation, Line of Duty’s arresting series finale could at last reveal the identity of mysterious criminal mastermind ‘H’ on BBC One tomorrow (Sunday 5 May).

Detective Sergeant Steve Arnott (Martin Compston) and Detective Inspector Kate Fleming (Vicky McClure) from AC-12, the police’s anti-corruption unit, are hoping their investigations will unmask a police insider running an organised crime syndicate.

Throughout the past four series, the detective duo have uncovered a plethora of police officers who have made grave errors of judgment.

Mugshots of the guilty boys and girls in blue are plastered over AC-12 investigation boards, indicating a long line of questionable characters.

This series has been no different, with PC Maneet Bindra (Maya Sondhi) being compromised by her corrupt cousin, and rogue undercover officer John Corbett (Stephen Graham) taking drastic and ultimately deadly measures to destroy a network of crooked coppers. Both, though, paid with their lives as they got caught up in a web of deception and brutality spun by the organised crime group.

Even the ‘Gaffer’, Superintendent

Police anti-corruption unit closes in on criminal coppers, writes Emily Bright Ted Hastings (Adrian Dunbar), looks as if he has stumbled into some trouble, casting furtive glances across the office, deviously ditching his laptop and giving questionable orders as the investigation progresses.

Indeed, as Ted faces a charge of conspiracy to murder, his past decisions threaten to ambush him and steal away his future.

Many Line of Duty characters have struggled to escape the cycle of bad decisions, with their actions robbing

Ted’s past decisions threaten to ambush him and steal away his future them of hope for the future. Whether it’s for accepting bribes, surrendering to blackmail or subverting police protocol, all corrupt characters seem to face either a lengthy jail sentence or a grisly end at the hands of criminals.

Although we may not all face such drastic consequences for our actions, we can still feel haunted by our past. It

can seem that no matter how hard we try, we cannot escape our previous pain or mistakes. Whether we’re struggling with our finances, trying to repair broken relationships or recovering from an addiction, it can sometimes seem that the future looks bleak.

But Bible writer Paul, who made many bad decisions before deciding to follow Jesus, explains that God offers us the chance to start again.

He says: ‘Anyone who belongs to Christ has become a new person.

The old life is gone; a new life has begun’ (2 Corinthians 5:17 New Living Translation).

Paul explains that, instead of seeking human approval and chasing after our own desires, we can instead look to trust God, who through his Son, Jesus, offers us unconditional love and forgiveness instead of judgment.

No matter what we may have done, God invites us to break free from the prison of our past and pursue a life following his guidance.

A relationship with God is surely something worth investigating.

8 INTERVIEW • WAR cry • 4 May 2019

Brush with ill health leads to painting ROBERT BINDA

As the world marks the 500th anniversary of Leonardo da Vinci’s death, it is a fine time to get acquainted with a young contemporary artist.

SARAH OWUSU tells Sarah Olowofoyeku about the experience that led her to paint Sarah Owusu

A

Nina Simone

LTHOUGH she enjoyed art at school and took the subject up to A level, Sarah Owusu did not begin painting seriously until she was in her twenties. The background to her becoming an artist was a sudden period of ill health.

Sarah explains how in July 2012 she went to the dentist.

‘I thought I was just going in for a standard filling,’ she begins. ‘But I got up and noticed that my face was a bit droopy.

The dentist told me not to worry, it was just the anaesthetic. I couldn’t feel anything, but I thought it was what everyone feels after the dentist.’

The next morning, Sarah woke up to find that the left half of her face was paralysed. ‘I could not move anything,’ she says.

‘It had drooped and I could only blink with one eye. My mouth was twisted, my nose was twisted. I was so frightened.’

On calling her dentist, 22-year-old Sarah was urged to go to A&E. There she was diagnosed with Bell’s palsy, a facial paralysis. ‘I was told that the dentist had hit the cranial nerve in the left side of my face, which is responsible for the reflexes and muscles on that side of my face.

‘I remember asking the doctor: “How long is this going to last?” He said that I had an extreme case, so it could be permanent. There was a high chance my face would never return back to normal.’

Sarah was put on a course of steroids, taking some ten pills every day.

‘It was the scariest thing I’ve faced in my whole life,’ she says. ‘I spent every single day crying, but after about two weeks I realised that I’d had enough of crying. Every time I felt sad, I would run to my laptop and put on some gospel music to lift my spirit. I began praying too.’

Sarah continued to listen to positive music and pray, but she soon felt a voice speaking to her – and it was telling her to paint.

‘Because of what I was going through at the time, I was weak in my faith,’ she admits, ‘and at first I shrugged off the urge. But I kept getting this feeling to paint. So I decided to obey that voice, which I now know was the voice of God. ‘I went to the store and bought two cheap canvases, paint and some brushes. I had no idea what I was doing. I painted how I was feeling and put my emotions on the canvas. There

4 May 2019 • WAR cry • INTERVIEW 9

A pastor (left) and Maya Angelou (right) was a lot of red, because I was angry and sad.

‘I was afraid to show anyone that painting, but when I went to the hospital for a check-up, the doctors were surprised that my face had improved so much and asked how.

‘I said it was because of God, and of course they laughed! As I was getting better and my face had significantly healed, I said to myself: “Sarah, God is clearly doing something for you. There’s no way you can keep it to yourself.”’

About a month after receiving the diagnosis and some two weeks after picking up the

I realised that what I was going through was to help others paintbrush, Sarah decided to share her painting and experience online. She soon received an email from a young woman also experiencing Bell’s palsy.

It was a turning point for Sarah in her faith, and marked the beginning of her career as an artist.

‘I knew it wasn’t a coincidence that the girl messaged me,’ Sarah says. ‘It showed me that God is real. I realised that what I was going through was not just about me, but so that I could help others. I thought it was important for me to continue painting and using the gift God had given me.’

After about a year, Sarah had completely recovered from Bell’s palsy, but she carried on creating works of art. Today she paints in a unique style that she calls Owusuism, an aesthetic characterised by bold colours and patching on the faces of her subjects.

Of Ghanaian heritage, Sarah primarily creates portraits of notable and ordinary people in black history, because of her desire ‘to educate and to allow black people to have a positive view of themselves’. She believes it is important for people to see representations of themselves in art.

‘In art galleries it’s rare to see paintings of black people or by black artists, so that’s another reason why I want to paint.

‘My art isn’t religious,’ she adds, ‘but I paint what I feel led by God to paint.

‘Going through facial paralysis helped me to discover my purpose, and I’m confident that I’m doing the work God has called me to do.’

Sarah adds the finishing touche s to a painting of Martin Luther King Jr

12 INNER LIFE • War Cry • 4 May 2019

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 requests to Prayerlink, War Cry, 101 Newington Causeway, Lon­don SE1 6BN. Mark your envelope ‘Confidential’.

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.

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

Thank you, Lord Jesus.

Amen

Nigel Bovey gives chapter and verse on each book in the Scriptures

Esther

STHER is one of only two books E in the Bible not to mention ‘God’.

Nevertheless it is an account of divine

providence.

As it opens, Xerxes is King of Babylon.

His grandfather, Cyrus, had allowed a number of Jews to return to Jerusalem to rebuild the Temple. Many Jews, though, still live in Babylon.

Xerxes is throwing a public banquet. He summons his queen, Vashti, but she refuses to appear. Enraged, Xerxes dismisses her from court (chapter 1). The search for a new queen commences.

Mordecai, a Jew whose grandfather had been exiled, takes his cousin and fosterdaughter, Esther, to the court with strict instructions that she should not reveal her ethnicity. Xerxes makes Esther his queen.

After overhearing conspirators, Mordecai tells Esther of a plot to kill the king. She tells Xerxes and the plotters are executed (chapter 2).

Xerxes orders his subjects to bow down to his newly appointed prime minister, Haman.

When Mordecai refuses to do so, Haman

issued orders for there to be a purge against all Jews (chapter 3).

Mordecai asks Esther for help, reminding her that if the king learnt about her heritage, she too would be killed (chapter 4).

Esther asks Xerxes to host a dinner with Haman as the sole guest. When Haman receives an invitation to a second such soirée, he is overjoyed, even though he is still irritated by Mordecai’s uncivil disobedience (chapter 5).

Mordecai is to be honoured for saving the king’s life

Haman plans to ask Xerxes for permission to kill Mordecai. However, in the meantime sleep-robbed Xerxes reads the report of how Mordecai unearthed the earlier assassination plot. With Haman ready to ask permission to kill Mordecai, Xerxes tells him that Mordecai is to be honoured for saving his life (chapter 6).

At the second supper, Esther tells Xerxes that she is a Jew and that Haman is behind the purge. Xerxes leaves the room to think.

When he returns, he sees what he thinks is Haman attacking Esther. Haman is impaled on the pole on which he f relie , planned to kill Mordecai (chapter 7).

‘For if you remain silent at this time arise from Xerxes makes Mordecai prime and deliverance for the Jews will family er’s fath minister and, at Esther’s request, r you and you but e, plac r anothe allows his Jewish subjects to defend have you t tha but ws kno who And sh. will peri themselves against the purge. The h a time as come to your royal position for suc Jewish community celebrates with ) sion Ver al the feast of Purim (chapters 8 and 9). this?’ (Esther 4:14 New Internation

Key verse

Extract from Why Jesus? by Nicky Gumbel published by Alpha International, 2011. Used by kind permission of Alpha International

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