Signs of the Times

September 2003

Mel Gibson’s Passion

One of the strange things about our culture’s fascination with celebrity is how we think we know the people whose names and faces clutter our screens and magazine covers. But, sometimes, they surprise us. One such is actor Mel Gibson.

The Future of Christianity

Twenty centuries of Christian history indicate the resilience of the faith, its viability for people of different regions and cultures. They tell us the perils of human subjectivism and the horrors that may ensue from bigotry and unreason.

Forgiving Killers

Ginn Fourie’s daughter died when gunmen went on a killing spree inside a popular eating place. Letlapa Mphahlele had ordered the attack. White South African and black South African, they are now friends. Fourie has forgiven him despite his refusal to say sorry.

The Facts About B12

Vegetarian diets—whether lacto, ovo-lacto or vegan—can each easily supply all the nutrients needed for vigorous good health, with the possibility of one exception—vitamin B12.

The Neglected Part of Communion

If you’re at all familiar with a Christian church, you’ll have noticed a feature of worship called Communion. It goes by other names, such as the Lord’s Supper or the Mass. Although it’s conducted in different ways, with different theological interpretations, it’s nevertheless one aspect of worship common to mainstream Christianity. But for many people, Communion has about as much meaning as does a midmorning snack. However, when you study it in the Bible, you soon discover there’s much more to it.

Judgment Day

And in the even grander context of earth’s history, as viewed by the wider universe, it is necessary to judge humankind too, collectively and individually, for it too demands judgment. And judgment comes.

The Internet Advantage

It has its downside, of which we hear much—pornography and online gambling, for example, but you can read about that somewhere else this time. Of its benefits, four categories of benefit stand out. There are more.

An Educated Difference

We go into our kindergarten. Tuul, the kindergarten’s ADRA project manager, is a Russian-trained special-needs teacher, and she proudly shows us her work. On the walls are bright displays of students’ work, on the windowsill pink animals shaped from playdough. Students want to shake our hands and give traditional welcomes, all the while pointing to the latest evidence of their schooling.

Finding a Faith to Live By

Although he’d been raised without a belief in a personal God, Min-hunge says he always believed there must be “Someone out there” who created the things in the world. At university he attended a Christian fellowship meeting and, although he says they made a great impression upon him, those leading out were too controlling, so he stopped attending.

The Prophecy of the Fleeing Woman

Satan, in his fury, had unleashed a landslide of terror upon the church in wilderness isolation. Buried beneath it, clinging to life like Stuart Diver, she was almost dead. But, like Stuart Diver, she didn’t die. She emerged from the accumulated rubble of centuries to stand up for her Lord, proclaiming the truth that triumphed with her.

When Papa Lived in the Attic

Now Papa needed every cent he could earn to support us, so he couldn’t live under quarantine and stay out of work. But he couldn’t afford to pay room and board elsewhere, either. It was decided he would live in the attic. The door from our regular living quarters to the attic was sealed off. The only way for Papa to reach his new home was to climb a long ladder leaned against the outside of the house. He carried up a portable kerosene stove, some canned goods and utensils.

You Can’t Catch Me!

Polly Waffle was big for Year 5, and very, very quick. His coordination was impressive and when he smacked the ball with one of his big paws, it was like a Scud—fast, low and deadly. Left hand, right hand—it didn’t matter. Average in the classroom, he was a playground legend and he ruled the handball court. He was king, and he knew it!