All posts filed under: z146

Study suggests divorce increases the risk of dementia

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I find it difficult to write on divorce, because there can be legitimate reasons for a marriage breakdown and sometimes a person has no choice because one partner wants out of the marriage. But we are living in a society where marriage is increasingly devalued and looked upon as being as disposable as a paper cup. But the Bible states that God hates divorce and warns of it being a violent act as it involves separating two people who in Biblical terms were one flesh (Mark 10:8). “For the Lord God of Israel saysThat He hates divorce,For it covers one’s garment with violence,”Says the Lord of hosts.“Therefore take heed to your spirit,That you do not deal treacherously.” Malachi 2:16 NKJV And this cutting apart has the potential to harm all involved including children (here, here and here) and the couple divorcing. Aside from the negative emotional and economic consequences of divorce, studies also reveal divorce can physically impact the health of the people involved. And this was the conclusion of yet another study that provided …

Anointed worship song leads man to confess to murder?

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An interesting story emerged during the recent trial of Danny Dashay Holmes about the power and anointing on Christian music. Danny was on trial in Indiana, for the December 16, 2016, murder of Cesar Lopez-Flores. According to the Daily News Journal (DNJ), after kidnapping a woman by the name of Brittany Johnson, Danny forced Brittany to drive to Lopez-Flores home where Danny and others murdered Lopez-Flores. Johnson was then released unharmed. During his trial in August 2019, Danny dramatically announced to the court he would plead guilty to the murder. Danny stated that a year earlier he had become a Christian, but what prompted him to confess was Big Daddy Weave’s song called “Redeemed.” Now I must confess I had never heard of Big Daddy Weave, but the Christian band features a former worship leader of a church in Pensacola Florida, Mike Weaver. And though I had never heard of Big Daddy Weave, I am apparently one of the few who hasn’t because the video of the band’s song “Redeemed” has been viewed over 39 …

Credit: Ruby Babson/Flickr/Creative Commons

Perdóname por el bien de tu corazón

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English version: Forgive for your heart’s sake Cuando Jesús habló sobre el perdón Fue muy claro en una cosa: si no perdonamos a los que nos ofenden, Dios no nos perdonaría. 14 Porque si perdonáis a los hombres sus transgresiones, también vuestro Padre celestial os perdonará a vosotros. 15 Pero si no perdonáis a los hombres, tampoco vuestro Padre perdonará vuestras transgresiones. (Mateo 6: 14-15 LBLA) A veces me pregunto si luchamos para perdonarnos a nosotros mismos por las cosas que hemos hecho en el pasado, este es un signo de bloqueos espirituales causados por nuestra falta de voluntad para perdonar. Estos bloqueos nos impiden experimentar plenamente el perdón de Dios. Sin embargo, un artículo sobre John Hopkins Medicine, perdón: Su salud depende de ello , proporciona una razón más para perdonar. Tenemos que hacerlo por el bien de nuestra salud física. Como muchos de los mandamientos de Dios, como la circuncisión que mejora la salud de un hombre , la necesidad de perdonar es otra sección en el manual de Dios sobre el funcionamiento apropiado del …

Study says optimists more likely to live longer

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According to the Daily Mail, researchers from Boston University stated that optimists tend to live longer than those with a more pessimistic view of life. The researchers came to this conclusion after monitoring the attitudes and lives of 69,744 women and 1,500 men. The women (aged 58 to 86) were surveyed for ten years and the men (aged 41 to 90) tracked for 30 years. During this period, the researchers asked them a series of questions to determine if their outlook on life was negative or positive. They concluded that on average men with the most optimistic view extended their lives an additional 11% and women 15% when compared to their negative counterparts. They also found that optimists were more likely to hit 85 years of age with 70% more men and 50% more women reaching that age. Their findings were published in the journal entitled “Proceedings of the National Academy of the Sciences.” According to the researchers, optimistic people were defined as those who believed “the future will be pleasant because one can control …

Who Are You?

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One of my favorite crime shows, CSI, has a theme song that goes: “Who are you? Who, who, who, who?” Oddly enough it a song by a band called The Who. So who are you? Are you the same in public as in private? Are you really what you do? Basically we hide our true self while presenting what we think is a more acceptable self to others. This protects us from getting hurt and hurting others. At least that is the rationale. But doesn’t this just exaggerate fear? I mean the longer I hide myself the more I fear someone will see the real me and never ever stop slapping me. I even want to slap myself sometimes. Fear prevents us from being who we really are, so we often hide behind performance, jobs, looks, and other things the world tells us equals success. Don’t believe me? Remember how anxious you were the last time you had a bad hair day? This is all about your identity. Who you are is a fundamental question …

Dating Advice From Jesus

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Have you noticed all the protests in the news lately? People are angry, and they are in the streets, in many parts of the world. And now, the protesters are protesting other protesters. Where I live, Chinese protesters are protesting against other people from China, who are in the streets protesting, and in the whole world, demonstrations come with counter-demonstrations. We have an epidemic of intolerant demands for tolerance: Imagine if a young man joined his friends at a demonstration rally, for some important cause, and in the middle of the action, he noticed a young woman among the counter demonstrators; and imagine if they were attracted to each other. If their convictions were sincere, there is no possibility that they could make a personal connection because they belong to different tribes. Modern culture works against connections and relationships between people. I’m not really talking about dating; I’m talking about our modern tribalism. It is fashionable today to disconnect from others, and to hate and never forgive. The other side is wrong because it is …

What it means to go the extra mile

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For years my life revolved around how people hurt and wronged me but the light has recently been turned on exposing areas where I may have offended or hurt others in the past.  As God revealed this to me, I have done my best to make amends and it has been hard work. It’s never easy admitting that I was the one who erred, and I was the one doing the offending. It is all about going that “extra mile” in our Christian walk. Though the phrase going the extra mile is in our modern vernacular, in fact it has a Biblical root and comes from a statement Jesus said to His disciples: “If anyone forces you to go one mile, go with them two miles. “ (Matthew 5:41) In this verse, Jesus was describing the practice of “impressment” that was common at that time. According to Roman law, any Roman soldier could order a Jewish civilian to carry the soldier’s baggage, often his heavy armor, for one Roman mile  (1.45 km). Obviously, the Jews …

Why we missed the communion service on the moon

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The British newspaper, The Guardian, recently told the story of how astronaut Buzz Aldrin had communion on the moon. On July 20, 1969, Buzz and fellow astronaut Neil Armstrong were the first people to actually stand on the moon, during their visit as part of the Apollo 11 mission. Of course many will remember Armstrong’s memorable words as the first man to step on the moon when he said: ”That’s one small step for man, one giant leap for mankind.” While most people remember “one small step for man” in an article on Space, Neil said he had actually said “a man” but the “a” wasn’t heard in the broadcast that travelled 238,000 miles (ca. 383,024 km). And though his words are remembered as the most iconic moment on the Apollo 11 lunar landing, there was a less known, and in fact, if The Guardian article is right, a suppressed religious event. Buzz Aldrin was also an elder at Webster Presbyterian Church in Webster, Texas about 30 miles (ca. 48 km) outside Houston. He had …

Evidence of the Babylonian siege of Jerusalem reopens an ancient mystery

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Archaeologists working on the site of the Temple Mount in Old Jerusalem discovered evidence of the Babylonian conquest of Jerusalem in 587/586 BC when both the city and the Temple were basically destroyed. The siege recorded in several books of Bible tells how King Nebuchadnezzar also took tens of thousands of Jews into captivity. According to the team, made up of archaeologists from the University of North Carolina at Charlotte (UNC) and Israel’s Haifa University, they discovered several evidences of the attack including a layer of ash indicating a massive burning and more importantly Scythian arrowheads that were used by Babylonian soldiers. Since the Babylonian arrowheads were mixed in with the ash it is strong evidence the burning was associated with Babylon’s attack on Jerusalem. They also found evidence of houses being left in shambles which again would be expected after the city was taken. In an interview with the Jerusalem Post, UNC professor Shimon Gibson stated: “They (Scythian arrowheads) were fairly commonplace in this period and are known to be used by the Babylonian …