Tragic

Eight teenage girls have committed suicide in the first 7 months of this year in Victoria, a marked increase in the number of young women taking their lives in a tragic toll being closely watched by the Victorian Coroners Court. The alarming rise has been recorded by the court amid a deepening youth mental health crisis that expert professor Patrick McGorry has described as a “shadow pandemic”. New court data reveals 8 girls committed suicide to July 31, up from just one in the first 7 months of last year. In the same period in 2019, Coroner’s Court statistics show three teenage girls took their own lives while the number was four in 2018 and three in 2017. “The court has noted a potentially higher than expected number of suspected suicides among women under 18 this year,” a court spokeswoman said.

“While it is too early to determine whether this represents a trend, the court is continuing to monitor closely.” The rise in suicides comes as the state is gripped by a teen mental health crisis that experts are linking to Covid-19 and lockdowns. Teenage girls are among the hardest hit with increasing eating disorders, self-harm and suicidal thoughts or actions during the 18-month pandemic. Professor McGorry, who heads youth mental health service Orygen, said problems suffered by young Victorians had grown worse and health services were overwhelmed. “The system is drowning or crumbling,” he said. “This is the shadow pandemic. And every lockdown makes it even worse.

“It’s not that the government hasn’t recognised the problem, it’s that they don’t have the same sense of urgency, federal or state, about addressing it like they do with Covid.” Professor McGorry described this year’s eight suicides as a “real phenomenon” and said they needed to be considered in the broader context of the pandemic and lockdowns. “There is an increase in deaths and that is occurring from a rising base of suicidal behaviour particularly among young women,” he said. “There has been a very substantial surge, 20 to 30 per cent of deliberate self-harm and suicidal behaviour that is occurring in particularly young women and that is what is flooding into emergency departments. “The coroner is cautious about over-reacting. You have to put the number of suicides in context of the rising tide of suicidal behaviour amongst young women.” Girls have been hit during the pandemic as they battle eating disorders.

There was a sharp increase in new eating disorder cases early this year, from a weekly average of 654 in 2020 to 878 this year, a 34% jump. The number of teenagers rushed to hospital after self-harming and suicidal thoughts spiked 51%, rising from a weekly average of 98 in 2020 to 148 this year. The most serious cases, where teenagers have needed resuscitation and emergency care, jumped 44.9%, with the 2020 weekly average of 19.8 rising to 28.7 this year. Victorian Liberal Democrats MP David Limbrick said he was concerned the Andrews government did not understand how lockdowns affected the mental health of young people. “They have been saying they have been spending huge amounts of money on mental health, and yet children who need help can’t get access to it,” he said.

Limbrick went on “The mental and physical health effects of lockdowns on children are catastrophic. They are becoming socially isolated.” Mr Limbrick said schools should be immediately opened, and the government should set a date when all pandemic restrictions end. Resilience speaker Graeme Cowan has spoken about his 5 year battle with depression, and the habits he has cultivated to look after his mental health amid uncertainty. The Victorian government acknowledged the emotional toll of lockdowns. “We know how tough repeated lockdowns are on all Victorians, and that the emotional, social and financial toll of the pandemic is profound for so many people, but we just can’t risk the devastation of an uncontrolled outbreak of the Delta variant spreading rapidly across the state,” a spokeswoman said.

The government said it had invested more than $225m to help boost mental health services during the pandemic, and also referred to its $3.8bn delivered in this year’s state budget to implement the findings of the mental health royal commission. A spokeswoman for youth mental health organisation Headspace said their national online and phone counselling service noted a spike in demand “associated with strict lockdown periods both in Victoria and in other states experiencing heavier restrictions, such as Greater Sydney and NSW.” The government did not respond to questions about the eight suicides, pointing to broader court data that showed overall suicide numbers in 2020 were in line with those in 2019.

A senior child psychiatrist said the rise in teenage girls committing suicide reflected health department data confirming a mental health crisis. “There has been a sustained increase in referrals and presentations of young people with self-harm and severe emotional distress,” the expert said. “The data shows this demand has persisted independent of whether the state has been in lockdown or not. “One might hope there could be as much attention paid by the press and the government to suicides, and the monthly reports on children’s mental health presentations as there is on Covid cases and hospitalisations each day. “ But we in the field are no longer holding our breath. “The continuing injury, fear and despair will continue to take their toll, long after the active trauma of restrictions ever ends.”

Source: Compiled by APN from media reports

Against the grain

Outspoken biologist and atheist has suffered a minor stroke, forcing him to cancel his planned speaking tour of Australia, which was scheduled for late this month. I'm praying for his recovery, because I wouldn't wish suffering a stroke on anybody, and also because the Bible commands praying for your enemies (Matthew 5:43-48).

Praying and stuff

http://www.pastornet.net.au/renewal/journal1/robinson.html

Could Afghanistan be the world's quarry?

Afflicted by years of civil war, Afghanistan is one of the world's troublespots. The situation there has particular relevance for Australia. We currently have troops deployed there, and fleeing this turmoil, thousands of Afghan refugees have either entered or attempted to enter Australia in recent years. Members of the terrorist group Jemaah Islamiah, which has carried out attacks against Australians and Australian interests, are believed to have received their training in Afghanistan. This article is posted here as a reminder to pray for stability in Afghanistan.

The Pentagon has announced that Afghanistan holds up to $1 trillion worth of untapped mineral deposits which could transform the $12 billion economy of the war-torn and poverty-stricken nation. It could however also be a negative according to U.S. officials. The deposits include huge amounts of iron, copper, gold, cobalt and other metals like lithium but observers caution that it remains to be seen what the effect will be. Officials are hopeful that mining will become the base of the Afghan economy, which is currently dependent on opium production and narcotics trafficking.

Some experts say the announcement is far too premature, because the actual recoverable amount could vary wildly from estimates and cannot be accessed whilst Afghanistan is a war zone. And while the mining possibilities could transform the Afghan economy, it also opens Afghanistan up to the possibility of abuse by giant corporations and an increased intensity in the Taliban's fight for control of the country and its resources. Pray that the mineral deposits in Afghanistan will eventually raise the standard of living and help stabilize the nation, not plunge it further into war.

Source: Intercessors for America

The climate is changing

The following is an editorial from Brian Pickering of the Australian Prayer Network. I've posted it here because it reminds me to persevere in prayer, because God does hear and answer our prayers, even if the answers we receive are not always the ones we want.

The commencement of a New Year is always an exciting time providing as it does an opportunity for a measure of new beginnings. Will 2010 however bring anything new or will it be simply more of the same? As Christians our hope is not in what we can see, hear or touch, but our hope is in a realm that cannot be seen but which nevertheless is overwhelmingly real. Whilst the focus of the whole world in recent weeks has been on whether the physical climate is warming, and why, quietly, almost imperceptably, God has been increasing the spiritual temperature of the world.

That temperature change is not easily discernable on a day by day assessment but there are in the terminology of the global financial crisis of the past year, "green shoots" of hope emerging for those who have eyes to see and ears to hear what the Spirit is doing across the world today. I believe there is a change occuring in the spiritual temperature in Australia, and across the world. Intercessors are beginning to pick up this change, which is not dramatic as in a "change of season", but nevertheless still very significant. 

A change of season is like a transformation from winter to summer or reverse. We are in the midst of such a change of season that began around 3/4 years ago and which is continuing. A change in the spiritual temperature however is like experiencing a welcome warm burst in the midst of a prolonged cold spell.

So what are the signs evidencing this change. Firstly I believe there is a developing disillusionment that promised and hoped for change in recent years has not born the fruit many were expecting. The lack of a meaningful outcome from the Copenhagen Conference, the current unrest in a number of Islamic countries such as Iran, Pakistan and Iraq, and the re-emergence of the terrorism threat to international air travel are all evidence that man does not have the answers to the worlds major problems. 

Philosophies such as secularism have similarly failed to provide a new dawn of enlightenment.  Political leaders across the world who promised change and answers for their people, have also been unable to deliver anything of real significance and the hope that many invested in them is beginning to wane. In this climate of lost hope many are looking for alternative sources for the answers. As Christians of course we know that there is only one answer to the problems of humanity and He is Jesus. But is the world ready yet to listen to such a proposition.

This change has great significance for the Christian church although it will not automatically be converted into "unqualified advance".  It will require great sensitivity and wisdom on the part of Christian leaders to harness this change, with it just as easily passing us by as another lost opportunity. People have already rejected religion as having any answers. There is however increasing evidence of renewed interest in Kingdom Christianity which allows people to experience Jesus without necessarily having to embrace "religion".

There is also a detectable increase in the faith level of many committed Christians. New ministries with a Kingdom focus, are emerging at a rapid rate and having great influence in areas that are at present away from the public eye.  Many of these ministries are springing up in areas where Christianity has not had previous influence and people who were previously antagonistic to things "religious" are now becoming inquisitive and open to a practical expression of the Gospel not tainted with "religion".

This change in the spiritual climate is resulting in fresh winds of the Spirit emerging. Whereas the winds of change have in recent years been headwinds blowing against the Christian faith, the "wind change" is now resulting in decisions and trends beginning to turn around and go the way of upholding Christian values and virtues. There will always be a mixture of victories and defeat as the battle continues to rage but it is the level of the spiritual temperature that determines which side of the "balance" the most victories fall on.

Have you noticed the increasing number of positive stories emanating across the world that have populated our recent newsletters both at the national and international level. Here are some recent examples:

The enemy's plans are being exposed in many different areas of life, with resultant change occurring in both political and social aspects of the life of a number of nations across the world.

A huge Christian gathering has taken place in Vietnam against the wishes of the atheistic Government.

The House of Lords has upheld free speech by defeating attempts to muzzle Christian critique of Islam and homosexuality in Britain.

The ACT Government banned Focus on the Family from their schools and then had to reverse the decision when accusations against them were proven false.

The Victorian Government upheld the right of the Church to discriminate in employment against those holding opposing views to Christianity.

The YMCA in parts of America has moved to reclaim its Christian heritage.

Unravelling of Sharia finance deals in Dubai have caste doubts on Islamic teaching and laws on matters of finance.

A former Dutch Parliamentarian has admitted legalizing euthanasia was a mistake.

A Canadian pastor has been exonerated of hate speech crime for speaking out against homosexuality.

British Christians have won their case after being accused of insulting a Muslim customer.

Euthanasia has been rejected in the South Australian Parliament

Euthanasia has been defeated in the Tasmanian Parliament.

Residents of Wichita in Kansas have run adult businesses out of town.

Iranian Christian women who refused to deny their faith have been freed from prison in Iran.

Steps have been taken in both Australia, and just recently in India, to limit access to internet pornography.

These are just a few examples of how the spiritual climate is changing. Maybe small signs in the bigger world picture, and it does not mean the war has been won but the battle has certainly not been lost. Even though we may continue to lose some battles in the short term let us be encouraged to believe that God is still very much at work in His world and His unmerited favour still rests with His people if we will but be available and obedient, holding firm to His teachings and His ways.

Now is the time for genuine faith, not religious rhetoric, to emerge. A new day is dawning. The Kingdom of God is advancing. The enemies plans are unravelling. New expressions of Christianity are emerging. Will 2010 be a year when we, the people of God, rise above our fears and negativity as our faith in Christ rises to where our trust in Him outweighs our fear of what the enemy is doing?  I believe it will be and that we can approach 2010 with renewed faith and hope.

Territory taken from us as a result of our past fear and lethagy will be restored to those who choose to walk by faith, walking humbly and obediently in the revealed will of God. Watch what God is doing in the nations. Watch for new emerging leaders who will come forth, not promising a world from which God is banished, but a return to a recognition that the "ancient paths" of righteousness and justice remain our only hope of making our world a better place to live.

Watch for emerging cracks in the facade of other world religions as disunity and infighting reveals their inability to provide hope of a new future. Watch as secularism continues to implode, its ideas being increasingly seen as irrelevant in a world looking for real answers and hope. Watch as the world rejects "religion" in all its forms but increasingly is drawn to the teachings of Jesus with new expressions of Kingdom living emerging in the most unlikely places. Let us move into 2010 therefore with renewed confidence and hope, not in our ability to overcome, but in His ability to open the way forward for us to advance behind Him.

Nil by mouth

We at Crossway Moreland are encouraged to devote part of or all of the first week of every month fasting. This means going without food, going without certain types of food, or abstaining from certain leisure activities. The idea is to use the time that you spend doing these things praying instead. The idea is to help you to grow spiritually, to seek to discern God's will for your life in a certain area, or to intercede for the needs of others. Some Christians do what is called a Daniel fast. Like the Old Testament prophet Daniel, they abstain from eating luxury foods for the duration of the fast.

This might get me into trouble, but with some creative exegesis, I've come up with the concept of the Ezekiel fast. Ezekiel was mute except when God had a message for him to give to the people of Israel (Ezekiel 3:25-27). Apparently there is some conjecture over whether God caused Ezekiel to lose the ability to speak, or whether it was a self-imposed ritual dumbness. Either way, it added to the impact of his prophetic utterances, and it lasted until news reached him of the fall of Jerusalem (Ezekiel 24:27).

The idea of the Ezekiel fast will be to go without talking to anyone for an extended period of time. This reminds me of a joke about a man who joins an order of monks who practice a ritual silence that restricts them to speaking two words per year. As you can imagine, this would be quite a stretch for me, especially since I'm so extroverted and talkative, and I'm not sure that I'd be up to the task. I'm tempted to take a softer option and abstain from television or DVD viewing instead.

Pray for North Korea

North Korea is probably the world's only remaining hardline Communist regime, and may be accurately described as an oppressive, Stalinist backwater, with one of the worst human rights records of any nation in the world.

Whilst government rhetoric proclaims freedom of religion, the reality is far different. Between 50,000 and 70,000 Christians are currently suffering in prison camps. People are still putting their lives at stake by trying to flee to China. After crossing the border, several people have converted after coming into contact with Christians. Considering Christianity to be a tremendous threat to stability in the country, the North Korean government hunts Christians all over the country, especially those who try to return from China. They are frequently arrested, tortured and even killed.

To find out more about how you can support North Korean Christians, visit:

http://www.prayfornorthkorea.org/Home.htm

http://sb.od.org/index.php?supp_page=wwl_top_ten&supp_lang=en

Reflections on Psalm 7

Each day at Kingsley College begins with spiritual focus, where a staff member or student leads us in prayer and devotional reading of a passage from Scripture. Occasionally this task falls upon me, as it did last Wednesday.

Today’s reading came from Psalm 7, written by King David, the greatest of all ancient Israel's kings. To do something a bit different, I used Eugene Peterson’s paraphrase, The Message. The language is somewhat lurid in places, but does a good job on conveying the meaning of the words of this Psalm to contemporary readers.

APPLICATION

What we see here is that David was threatened by his enemies, as often happened during his life. This time he mentions Cush. Cush was from the tribe of Benjamin, which means that he probably followed Saul. As I’m sure you all know, Saul considered David to be his enemy.

We see him once again pouring out his heart or even complaining before God. He’s asking God for help and deliverance, but he knows that he can’t expect it if he is as guilty before God as his enemies are. He may not have sinned in the same way his enemies have, but he's still a sinner.

David knows that compared to his enemies, he’s done no wrong, but in the end, as we read elsewhere in Scripture, none of us are righteous in God’s eyes. None of us are without sin. God’s justice applies equally to all of us. Those of us who have faith in Jesus can trust and rejoice in God’s mercy. We have righteousness imputed to us through Christ.

It’s very humbling to read these words coming from a great man of God like David. Despite his failings, he was described as a man after God’s own heart. This is a reminder to us all, and certainly to me, to keep a short account with God.

You’ll never get me standing here and telling you to do things that I’m not prepared to do myself. If nothing else, this is a reminder to all of us of how important it to use your prayer time to confess your sins to Him. It’s a good thing to trust in His justice, but all of us need to trust in His mercy as well. I’ll leave you to ponder that.

PRAYER

Heavenly Father, how grateful we are for your justice; that one day you will defeat all evil forever. We, as your children, are also grateful for your mercy towards us. But help us all not to take this for granted.

We ask this in Your Name.

Amen.

Various things

To paraphrase Eddie McGuire, what a week it's been in Christendom. On Wednesday night, Third Day brought their unique brand of Southern rock gospel to a capacity crowd at Richmond AOG. I've been waiting two years for them to play in Melbourne again, and it was worth the wait. This band doesn't just sing about Jesus to sell records; they also live out their faith, using their influence to support the work of World Vision and other Christian development agencies working in the developing world. In my opinion, Cry Out to Jesus was the show stopper. Without going into specifics, this song really speaks to my heart, reminding me to perservere in my faith even when things become difficult in certain areas, as they sometimes do.

Yesterday was Australia Day, and 5000 Christians from around Melbourne gathered at Festival Hall to pray for our nation. Our churches, political leaders, educational institutions, indigenous communities, and youth were all brought before God in prayer. Christians have been praying for months about the state of our nation. It has been suggested by those in prayer ministry that the current water crisis is reflective of a spiritual drought afflicting the church in Australia. The only way for this situation to be reversed is for God's people to turn back to Him. Repentance is a common theme throughout many of the Old Testament prophetic books. God often said to His people, "Return to Me, and I will return to you." Yesterday's meeting was just the beginning of a time of rediscovering this truth.

Persecution

November 12 and 19 have been designated as International Days of Prayer for the Persecuted Church. To find out more about prayerfully interceding on behalf of persecuted Christians around the world, go to www.idop.org.

A PRAYER for the PERSECUTED CHURCH:

‘I love you, O Lord, my strength. The Lord is my rock, my fortress and my deliverer; my God is my rock, in whom I take refuge. He is my shield and the horn of my salvation, my stronghold. I call to the Lord, who is worthy of praise, and I am saved from my enemies.’ (Psalm 18:1-3 NIV)

O Lord our deliverer, deliver us from evil.

Sovereign Holy God, we marvel at your work amongst the nations and we trust you. As we bring our requests to you, please forgive our sins, overlook our weaknesses and hear and answer our prayers for the sake of your Kingdom and glory.

We pray today for our brothers and sisters who live with sadness, trauma and fear; and who live with daily hardship, discrimination and persecution because they have taken your name and are Christians in a world that hates Christ.

We bring before you our persecuted brothers and sisters whose lives and security are daily under threat. We bring before you especially those who are imprisoned and those who are branded ‘apostate’ and sentenced to death because they have turned to Jesus.

Lord our deliverer, deliver them from evil.

We bring before you our persecuted brothers and sisters whose lives have been shattered by religious repression, violent religious hatred and jihad, as they now face the daily struggle to maintain faith, hope and grace to forgive, as Satan attacks their hearts and minds.

Lord our deliverer, strengthen their faith and deliver them from evil.

We bring before you those who through ignorance, blindness, demonic interference and sin have set themselves against your Church, and yet are merely sinners in need of the Saviour.

Lord our deliverer, convict them of sin and deliver them from evil.

We bring before you all those who profess Christ and yet are soft, luke-warm, un-caring, un-regenerate, fearful or lazy. Lord, may your Spirit awaken, revive, reform and embolden us all to seek and embrace your call upon our lives as ambassadors for Christ, no matter what the personal cost.

Lord our deliverer, forgive us our sins and deliver us from evil.

We pray to you, the only living God, the sovereign Almighty God for whom nothing is impossible. We ask that you the God of Peace [Hebrews 13:20] will intervene in the conflicts in this world. We especially pray that you will ‘frustrate the ways of the wicked’ [Psalm 146:9] and disrupt, expose, and destroy terror networks and the illegal trade in weapons and ammunition. Put an end to this trade in death; shatter its foundations and strike its roots; disrupt its progress and starve it in the field, for the sake of your Kingdom and glory.

Lord, may your Spirit embolden and compel your Church to preach the whole gospel. May conviction of sin abound, may righteousness spring up, may persecutors of the Church be transformed into preachers of the gospel [Galatians 1:23], may liberty fill the earth so the sower may overtake the reaper [Amos 9:13], and may all who see it rejoice in the Lord.

We thank you for your grace and mercy.

Deliver us from evil O Lord our deliverer,
so we may live to serve you,
for the sake of your kingdom and glory.
In the name of Jesus. AMEN.