News Briefs for January 23, 2020
News reports from Jack Van Impe; O’ahu’s Adventist Health Castle Hospital; Loma Linda University Health; ADRA Philippines; Adventist University of the Philippines and Adventist International Institute of Advanced Studies:
Jack Van Impe, an Evangelical televangelist who spent decades warning that the end of the world was near in ways some thought were parallel to Adventist evangelism, is dead at 88. He and his wife were longtime hosts of a show that mixed Bible teaching with current news and focused on Bible prophecies about the Second Coming. He left Trinity Broadcasting Network (TBN) in 2011, after accusing megachurch pastors Robert Schuller and Rick Warren of advocating a mix of Islam and Christianity. TBN was so embarrassed by the episode that it refused to air the segment.
Ask Sara-May Colon, chaplain at Adventist Health Castle Hospital in Hawaii, about service and she will tell you that it is a compass to betterment. “I love to serve because it opens life up to unexpected opportunities and, honestly, makes me feel good … about the world and about the possibilities of myself,” she says. “I have found that serving others has not only defined my soul clearer than anything else, but it has shown me that the world becomes a bit more hopeful when we show up in love to all moments … even the beautiful, broken moments.”
The hospital serves the entire island of O’ahu. Chaplain Colon is part of a new generation of Adventist young women who sense God’s call to pastoral ministry. Her parents are retiring from the denomination’s General Conference staff after careers that included serving as missionaries overseas and pastoring in New York City. More at: https://www.adventisthealth.org/castle/
From a Loma Linda University Health news story – Eating walnuts may help slow cognitive decline in at-risk groups of the elderly population, according to a study conducted by researchers in California and Spain.
The Walnuts and Healthy Aging Study, published this month in The American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, found that walnut consumption by healthy, elderly adults had little effect on cognitive function over two years, but it had greater effect on elderly adults who had smoked more and had a lower baseline of neuropsychological test scores.
The study examined nearly 640 free-living elders in Loma Linda, California, USA, and in Barcelona, Catalonia, Spain. For two years, the test group included walnuts in their daily diet, and the control group abstained from walnuts.
Walnuts contain omega-3 fatty acids and polyphenols, which have previously been found to counteract oxidative stress and inflammation, both of which are drivers of cognitive decline.
Joan Sabaté, MD, DrPH, professor of nutrition and epidemiology at Loma Linda University School of Public Health and the study’s principal investigator, said this was the largest and most well-controlled trial ever conducted on the effects of nuts on cognition.
ADRA Philippines has been distributing aid to those worst hit by the Taal volcano eruption on January 12. According to its Facebook page, the agency has given out 1,192 bed kits distributed to the affected families in Cavite and Batangas. ADRA Philippines is fundraising for a second wave of relief and is matching donations to the Taal Volcano Eruption Response. Give via PayPal by clicking the link below.
https://www.paypal.com/cgi-bin/webscr?cmd=_s-xclick&hosted_button_id=BKP3ATDHXZ6SC&source=url
TO Donate via DIRECT DEPOSIT (BPI, PNB, or BDO)
Bank: Bank of the Philippine Islands (BPI)
Bank Name: Adventist Development and Relief Agency
Bank Account Number: 8501-0028-37
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Bank: Philippine National Bank (PNB)
Bank Name: Adventist Development and Relief Agency
Bank Account Number: 243-8700022-88
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Bank: Banco de Oro (BDO)
Bank Name: Adventist Development and Relief Agency Foundation (ADRA) Inc
Bank Account Number: 01-16480013-62
Donors outside the Philippines can use XOOM or Remitly to do a Direct Deposit into the agency’s BDO account.
Due to the January 12 Taal volcano eruption in the northern Philippines, classes were suspended at the Adventist University of the Philippines. Per a Facebook update from the university, classes will resume on Monday, January 27. Volunteers have helped clean up the heavy ash fall at the university. Face-to-face classes at the nearby Adventist International Institute of Advanced Studies restarted on January 22.