All posts filed under: z28

Marriage offers protection. Photo: angelo23/Flickr/Creative Commons

Study: Marriage increases cancer survival rates

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A new study published by Fremont’s Cancer Prevention Institute of California and the University of California San Diego School of Medicine may have unlocked why married people have a better chance of surviving cancer. Over the years, several studies have shown that married people have higher survival rates than their non married counter parts when it comes to dealing with this disease. In this particular study, researchers looked at 783,167 patients and determined that unmarried men were 27% more likely to die from cancer than their married counterparts and unmarried women 19% more likely. The group then decided to remove other socio-economic factors such as finances that could potentially affect a person’s ability to survive cancer. In America, it can impact the type of health insurance a person can buy. Once these factors were removed, they discovered that an unmarried man’s chances of dying from cancer was still 22% higher than his married counterpart and for unmarried women it was still 15% higher. The researchers concluded that though other socio-economic factors contributed to a person’s …

Mexico's Mt. Popocatepetl came to life earlier this week in spectacular fashion. It is one of the world's three super volcanoes. Photo: LEOHM1/Flickr/Creative Commons

Most dangerous volcano in Mexico comes to life

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Mexican news media are reporting that Mt. Popocatépetl (Aztec for smoking mountain) came to life earlier this week spewing ash three kilometers in the air. It is Mexico’s most dangerous volcano and reports are coming in that it blew “incandescent fragments” 1.6 kilometers away. The volcano has been showing signs of activity since late March. According to authorities, the volcano began spewing out ash at 2:32 AM Monday morning (April 18, 2016) covering homes and vehicles in nearby Puebla city (population three million). You can watch the eruption in the video below: Mexico’s National Disaster Prevention Center has warned people to stay at least 12 kilometers away from the volcano. If Mt. Popocatépetl ever fully erupted, the results would be catastrophic. There are about 25 million people living near the volcano including the 18 million inhabitants of Mexico City only 70 km (43 miles) away.   Concerned experts are keeping a close eye on the developing situation. Mt. Popocatépetl is one of the three super volcanoes that I have referenced in previous articles, the other two …

God want to heal our brokeness. Photo: Howard Hall/Flickr/Creative Commons

Circle of Love

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It had been a year since I lost my son to suicide and I was invited to join a new women’s group at church. I wanted to stay home and not risk baring my heart to anyone. God knew I needed this group of women and gently pushed me out the door of my comfort zone. To be honest, I was angry with my son for choosing to leave us the way he did. I am a resilient person and found myself able to move forward in my life despite our loss.  My resiliency, though, left me unable to express myself and release my grief. There were five women in this group and each of us had our own pain and grief to deal with. Some of us were angry with God for the circumstances we were facing.  Others, like myself, were angry at our loved one for the choice they had made. We were all here to release the pain and guilt of poor choices made and we began to realize that we needed …

Boy raised from the dead in California

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With 67.5 million members and 384,000 ministers, the Assemblies of God is the world’s largest Pentecostal denomination and fourth largest religious organization. It appears one of those pastors, Eric Angeles, who lives in Bellflower, California and pastors New Hope International Christian Church in nearby Norwalk, raised a boy from the dead. Eric was at home one December morning preparing for a board meeting at the church later that evening when a pick up truck hit a boy on the street outside his house. After hearing the noise, Eric and his wife Ruth rushed outside to see a young boy lying lifeless on his back with his mouth and eyes open. The collision had thrown him 50 feet. The Montanez family who lived on the same street had also heard the commotion. Looking out they saw their son lying on the road and the distraught parents were gathered around their son when Eric and his wife got the scene. While others were checking his pulse to see if he was still alive, the Holy Spirit impressed …

Busy street in Kathmandu, Nepal. Photo: Ben Ward/Flickr/Creative Commons

Power of God impacts High Caste Hindu priest

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Kosh Dahal was not only a Hindu priest living in Kathmandu, Nepal, he was also was part of the privileged high caste. There are four official castes or classes in the Hindu religion — Brahmins, Kshatriyas,Vaishyas and Shudras. There is a fifth group, not included, which is the lowest of the low — the Dalits often called the untouchables. As a Brahmins, Dahal lived a life of privilege as a veterinarian living in Kathmandu. So when a Christian evangelist approached Dahal with the Gospel, he was not interested because he perceived Christianity as a lower caste religion. Christianity has made major inroads among Indians particularly the Dalits. In his testimony reported on God Reports, Dahal initially put the Christian off, but the man kept coming back. He was taking a great risk doing so because it is illegal to proselytize in Nepal. Finally, in frustration Dahal threw out a challenge stating he would pray 20 minutes to this Jesus each day, ten minutes in the morning and again in the evening, asking this Christian God …

Crucifixion by Dutch painter Rembrandt Harmenszoon van Rijn (1606-1669)

Some say Easter is early this year, one ancient scholar says it’s right on time

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I have heard a few comments that Easter is early this year, which leads to the obvious questions why is it early and why do the dates fluctuate so much? Well you can blame the council of Nicea, held in 325 AD, for this. During that meeting the early church leaders laid down the calculation used to determine the date for Easter. At the time, there were two camps with differing opinions as to when Easter should be celebrated. There were those who felt it should be held at the same time as the Jewish Passover when the Romans crucified Christ. Since the Bible describes Jesus as the Paschal lamb (1 Corinthians 5:7), this seemed the logical choice. However there was a second group wanting to separate it from the Jewish Passover, since the Jews had rejected Jesus as their Passover lamb. This was only partially true as thousands of Jews did accept Jesus as the Jewish Messiah. It was this latter group that won the day at Nicea. Easter would be separate from the …

Photo of the Heart shaped leaf that fell at Laura's feet as she meditated on God's love for her.

Struggling to believe God’s love?

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[by Laura Fauchon] For many years I struggled to understand God’s love. The unsettling events of my life (sexual and physical abuse ) often kept me awake at night. I would cry myself to sleep asking God to help me and take the pain away. How could a loving God be so absent and seemingly distant during these times? Although I grew up being taught that God loved me and died on the cross for my sins and that He heard my prayers, I felt He did not care. I would struggle with being told God is a very present help in times of trouble. If this was true, then where was He? A wise and godly woman years ago helped me on my journey to healing.  It was through her mentoring and fellowship that I began to heal from the hurt and pain I endured. Coming to the realization that this abuse was not my fault was a stepping stone to my healing.  Then, by the grace of God, I was able to forgive …

Families are the happiest when attending church.

Study: Marriages are the happiest when couples attend church

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A study released by the Institute of Family Studies concluded that marriages are the happiest when both members of a couple attend religious services or if the husband does. In contrast, the least happiest are those where neither person attends or the just the wife does. The study entitled Better together: Religious attendance, gender and relationship was written by W. Bradford Wilcox of University of Virginia’s National Marriage Project and Professor Nicholas Wolfinger from the University of Utah. For their report the two analyzed data from the National Survey of Religion and Family conducted in the US in 2006. After accounting for other factors such as economic well-being and education, they discovered: 78% of couples when both or just the husband attended church considered themselves “very” or “extremely” happy. 67% of couples considered themselves happy when neither attended services. Only 59% of couples said they were happy when just the wife attended religious services. The two stated that the reason they believe religious services are a contributing factor to successful relationships is because they are …

Painting of David slaying Goliath with the giant's sword by Guillaume Courtois (1628-1679) Wikipedia

Shin or forehead and does it matter?

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First of all let me state categorically it doesn’t matter, but the discussion provides a unique twist on a favorite Bible story. In the English language we have many words that have more than one meaning take “fly” as an example. It can refer to an insect or “flying” through the air. “Bark” can refer to the outer layer of a tree, or the sound of a dog. In these cases, context means everything. In the Hebrew we can have the same thing happening. Take the story of the epic battle between David and Goliath. In the account found in 1 Samuel 17, we read that the Israeli army was faced off against the Philistines. The Philistines had a giant named Goliath. Standing over 9′ tall, each morning he would come out in full armor and parade in front of the Israelis, shouting for one of them to take him on in one-on-one battle. His challenge was all about fear and intimidation and it was working. No one was brave enough to challenge the Philistine …

Survey shows divorce often doesn’t end well — for children

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[by Dean Smith] There used to be a time, a long time ago, when parents in troubled marriages stayed together for the sake of their children. Sometimes those marriages actually turned around. Other times they struggled through. But those days are long gone. Today divorce is easy. If the billboards in North America are right, you can get a simple divorce for $399 and sometimes they go on sale. But those prices are deceiving because for children, depending on their age, the cost of divorce can sometimes be very expensive. Some end up paying for their parents’ divorce the rest of their lives. Resolution is an English legal organization made up of 6,500 lawyers who specialize in family law. They recently commissioned a survey to find out how divorce affected children. They surveyed 500 kids (aged 14 to 22) in England and Wales asking them pointed questions on the impact of their parents’ divorce.