.: health.mental, emotion, and spiritual health

I will make this statement over and over and over again as you read through this website and any related literature that I generate. Do not expect to cure cancer—you are stuck with it as long as you live. Put it in remission and keep it there, but regardless of what you ultimately choose to do about it, never, never expect it to be gone for good.

Before we go any further, it is imperative to understand that no matter what, your mind is one of the most powerful weapons you have in your arsenal. If you do not have the will to fight, the will to survive, you will not. It is just that simple. You must decide that no matter what course of action you take, whether it be conventional medicine, alternative medicine or a combination of the two disciplines. You will not succeed if you do not firmly and fundamentally believe you can be a survivor.

What Can I Do?
Basic Anxieties
If There is a God, Why is There Pain, Suffering, Death?
Why Should I Believe in God?
The Power of Prayer
Facing Trials
Feeling Alone?
Making Tough Decisions
Your Body's Mortality and Your Soul's Immortality

What Can I Do?

1. Everyone fights depression and despondency at times like this. But, and the large but here is that you must have a positive mental outlook all the time. Belief in yourself and in God will be all that sustains when everyone else around you fails.
2. It takes literally years (between 2 and 3 at a minimum) before your cancer is identifiable to current testing techniques. With very few exceptions, you have the necessary time to research what will be best for you. Doctors on the other hand will often times act like a high pressure used car salesman and if you don’t jump at what they offer IMMEDIATELY, you will not see the next morning’s sunrise. Don’t do it until you are sure that it is the very best possible alternative for your condition. But delaying this decision temporarily this is not license to put off research and decision making indefinitely. Time is short. Time is precious. Time is your most valuable commodity. Use it wisely.
3. Educate yourself about your disease. The more you know, the better off you will be when it comes to making the right decisions for you. This will seem overwhelming at first. It is tough on your mental state, but you will succeed if your persevere.
4. Pick a course of action and stick to it. Only you can judge what is right for your circumstances. No matter what, you must fight it and fight hard. It is a fight to the death and your life is what hangs in the balance.
5. Get nutritional help/counseling before you worry about too many other aspects of your treatment program. Your body is its own best defense against cancer and you must support it by feeding it correctly and caring for it.
6. One of the things you will discover is that many of your friends will begin to avoid you once they learn about your cancer. Sometimes it seems like they are afraid that it is a contagious disease and that any form of contact is likely to infect them also. Most of the time, however, it is an awkwardness, an uncomfortableness in knowing they are well and you are not. They are afraid of hurting you, of offending you because they are well and seem to have no limitation placed upon their lives where your life is certainly headed a different direction. At times it becomes more important for you to reassure them you are not a china doll that will be broken if touched. Don’t be afraid to take the first step and tell them you still think of them as friends and want to do things with them.  You might be quite surprised by the results. But be aware it will not work with every time.
7. For your own mental health sake, find a support group or at least other cancer victims/survivors you can talk with. They will help you cope as you will help them. There is no substitute for sharing with someone else laboring under the same burden.
8. Don't forget your family. They are suffering right along with you. They will need as much support as you do, in their own way. They may not appreciate everything you are thinking or feeling from a first hand perspective, but it is just as real and terrifying to them as it is to you. Don't shut them out. Don't abandon them. The decisions are ultimately yours, but let them be part of what you are going through.
9. Consider for a moment what the legacy you leave behind will be. How you have faced life and dealt with the difficult decisions? How you raised and nurtured your family? How have you treated others? What was important to you, money, fame, glory, other temporal things, God? How will others, especially your children remember you? These are some of the important things to consider. It is never too late to change what you are doing, if you do not like what you see.

Attitude; attitude; attitude...that’s the name of the game. Chuck Swindoll said, “I am convinced that life is 10% what happens to me and 90% how I react to it. And so it is with you.” The goal is to live as long as you can with reasonably good health. Do not forget for a moment, that eventually you will die. The time you have should be quality time. The time you have should be without worry or fear. The more time you spend worrying, the greater the probability for cutting your life short.

Your immune system, your body in general, and your mental state can suffer greatly if you live in a state of fear about what might happen. Fear, or maybe more appropriately, anxiety, is a very powerful emotion. Your mind’s eye perceives the possibility of what can happen. It is only a possibility, but in your mind it is real. The agony, the pain, everything in your “vision” of the future is real to you. You suffer greatly on the expectation of something that you do not know for sure will happen. That is the first major hurdle to overcome. CHANGE THE ATTITUDE!!! The best cure of anxiety or fear of the future I have ever come across is found in the New Testament of the Bible.

For this reason I say unto you, do not be worried about your life, as to what you will eat or what you will drink; nor for your body, as to what you will put on. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothing?

Look at the birds of the air, that they do not sow, nor reap nor gather into barns, and yet your heavenly father feeds them. Are you not worth much more than they? And who of you by being worried can add a single hour to his life?

And why are you worried about clothing? Observe how the lilies of the field grow; they do not toil nor do they spin, yet I say to you that not even Solomon in all his glory clothed himself like one of these. But if God so clothes the grass of the field, which is alive today and tomorrow is thrown into the furnace, will he not much more clothe you? O ye of little faith!

But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be added to you. So do not worry about tomorrow; for tomorrow will care for itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own.”  Matthew 6:25-34

Basic Anxieties

Lets explore some of those fears or anxieties that could be consuming you. The rest of this section and indeed the balance of this website is devoted to helping you deal with cancer and the anxieties you are facing.

• How am I going to pay the bills? An 80/20 insurance policy can still leave you tens of thousands of dollars in debt. Your job could disappear. You could face the very real possibility of never being able to work again. All issues to deal with and no easy answers, but the key here is that you do not know what the future holds.
• You have no idea of what is going on. You are on the edge of loosing control of the situation. Cancer can easily control everything you think about or do. You do not know what treatment is best. And on and on it goes. It is a foreign world to you. You have no idea how to control today yet alone control tomorrow or the day after that. Again, no matter how much you worry about it, dwell on it, be consumed by it, you do not know for sure what tomorrow will bring. Put all these future issues aside and deal with today’s problems. There will be plenty of time for tomorrow’s concerns when tomorrow arrives.
• Pain in the present and the pain of future surgery are truly great sources of anxiety and fear. I’ve had enough bad stuff happen to my body over the years that just thinking about cutting me half way around my stomach to pull out a kidney is enough to send shivers up my spine. That’s the power of anticipation, of anxiety. I already have a reference point from prior experiences and just the thought of major intentionally administered pain is a terrible thing for me. Yet, I do not know if this will indeed occur. Nor do you know if something like that will be necessary in your case. That is part of what the decision making process is all about. It is defining what is important to you and how you will deal with things such as pain.
• The final thing I will throw out at this point is the fear of death itself. Thank God that at least this is one thing that does not bother me. Yet for many, many people, it is the single biggest hurdle they have. Cancer kills people. But then again, everyone will die at some time. How you deal with your body's mortality and soul's immortality is key to how you handle the fear (or lack of) concerning death.

The antithesis of fear is faith; to accept without doubting; to believe. That is what anchors me. That is what acts as my guidepost. It is a simple concept. We’ll explore that in a little while.

Everything you read on this website is focused on changing your lifestyle. Some things are easy to accomplish and others are agonizingly difficult. There are no quick fixes, magic bullets, ultimate cures. Cancer is by definition, a mutation going on inside your body brought about by something throwing your body out of balance. You can quite possibly put it into remission. You can quite possibly live the balance of your life and never see a sign of it again. There is no way to tell what your future holds for you. Or, there may be nothing that can be done, regardless of how hard you wish or try...you loose. BUT how you face your mortality and ultimately your immortality is the single greatest decision you will make in this life. Again, what you decide to do is up to you. I can show you what I believe and what brings me comfort and joy. I can give you a simple blueprint for eternal security, but the choice is yours and yours alone. Never forget, at some point you will ultimately die, even if it is not because of cancer. You need to consider that fact as part of your overall lifetime strategy. 

If There is a God, Why is There Suffering and Pain and Death?

So, if there is a God, why does He allow pain and suffering and death? Tough question. Here is some food for thought on that issue.

God created man as a being with the free will choice to accept (and worship Him) or reject Him. HINT: This is the basic purpose of life...the praise and worship of God.

“Thou art worthy, O’ Lord, to receive glory and honor and power: for Thou hast created all things, and for Thy pleasure they are and were created.”   - Revelation 4:1

Through one man, sin entered this world. With sin came pain, suffering, and death. Everyone is subject to the effect of sin. Everyone is born in sin. Everyone will die. No physical body is immortal. You physically cannot escape the consequences of sin. Your soul is a different matter, however. Regardless of whether or not you accept or reject God, your soul lives on. You can deny it. You can deny the existence of God. Those choices and their consequences are yours and yours alone. You can also deny the existence of a literal heaven and hell; but you cannot escape the consequences of that decision. Simple choices that only you can make.

To believe there is no God and that evolution is correct, you must also subscribe to the concept that suffering, disease, and death are indeed the history of this world. Without God, there is no real hope that things will get better. That in and of itself is very depressing.

In the book, Darwin, The Life of a Tormented Evolutionist, by Desmond and Moore, comes the reason he rejected God and conceived his infamous treatise, “On the Origin of Species” in 1859. “Annie’s (Charles Darwin’s infant daughter) cruel death destroyed Charles’s tatters of beliefs in a moral, just universe. Later he would say that this period chimed the final death-knell for his Christianity...Charles now took his stand as an unbeliever.” Untold millions throughout the course of history have made this same choice. A grim picture. A grim future. Your choice?

So why does God allow individual suffering? For one thing, it forces you/me/anyone facing it to examine our lives and relationships with God. Although I can readily admit I would much prefer not to go through this, it has given me pause to consider just what I have done for the glory of God. Also, without the prompting of a life threatening condition, this website would not have come into being. Part of what suffering offers is the opportunity to comfort others facing similar situations. Nothing beats having someone to help share the burden that has been there, done that, and gotten the tee shirt (so to speak) .

We see time in a linear fashion. Our reality is here and now. Yet there is another entire dimension of time and space that we, as of yet, cannot penetrate. This is what Einstein put forth with the theory of special relativity. (See my short section on understanding the workings of time) If we were privy to the omniscience and omnipresence of God, we could see what the future holds for us, which would be far too much for most of us to bear.

Because we have the free will to make decisions, there are results and consequences that change all the time in our lives. God may remove people from this life to save them pain and suffering. How’s that for a concept? Because you can only see the single dimension of time that we occupy, you have absolutely no idea of what lies ahead in anyone’s future. God has a plan that is perfect. From your perspective; from my perspective, it may seem tragic and unwanted, but we do not see the whole picture, nor will we in this life. Perhaps that is why sometimes nothing works to resolve illness or injury. Sometimes nothing seems to stop the wanton, wholesale misfortune of entire nations. Sometimes the grief and pain are so devastating that it is impossible to comprehend how all this could possibly be allowed. Yet with each instance, something good has come of it. After each disaster whether man-made or natural has come a time of healing that outweighs the misfortune. This is my conjecture. I have seen many things around the world that cannot be answered by any other reason or logic. And no, science does not have all the answers, nor will it ever.

Why Believe in God?

Why do I believe in God? Lets consider for a moment Darwin’s premise based upon the concept of evolution involving natural selection. Since the advent of DNA testing and the human genome experiment and mapping programs, the world of Darwinism has suffered a major blow from the secular scientific community.

Every living thing has “blocks of information” contained within them that define their characteristics. We call these blocks, DNA. In order to argue that natural selection and the evolutionary mutations of Darwin’s premise are what created all known forms of life on earth today, it is necessary to demonstrate that these processes produce “new” information that is ultimately responsible for the design of a new being. Anyone familiar with basic high school biology can tell you that natural selection is a readily observable process. The only slight problem here is that natural selection only operates on the existing information found in DNA. It does not and frankly cannot create new strains of DNA (i.e. you cannot combine a plant and an animal and come up with a hybrid plant-animal). It just does not work that way. Example: Lions, tigers, and house cats are all of the same basic genetic family. You can conceivably cross the DNA between any of these and create a new “breed”, BUT you cannot take the DNA from a house cat and cross it with a horse and come up with a whole new species. This would be a case of increasing the knowledge level of the DNA. That’s a fancy, scientific way of saying that DNA is changed beyond its basic genus.  Natural selection simply allows a specie or family to adapt to their environment, nothing more.

Dr. Lee Spetner of Johns Hopkins University wrote a book entitled “Not by Chance”. In this very detailed and well documented manuscript he deals specifically with this issue. “All point mutations that have been studied on the molecular level turn out to reduce the genetic information and not to increase it.” On page 143 Dr. Spetner goes on to say, “ The NDT (neo-Darwinian theory) is supposed to explain how information of life has been built up by evolution. The essential biological difference between a human and a bacterium is in the information they contain. All other biological differences follow from that. The human genome has much more information than does the bacterial genome. Information cannot be built up by mutations that lose it. A business can’t make money by losing it a little at a time.” Skip up to page 159… “The neo-Darwinians would like us to believe that large, evolutionary changes can result from a series of small events if there are enough of them. But if these events all lose information they can’t be the steps in the kind of evolution the NDT is supposed to explain, no matter how many mutations there are. Whoever thinks macroevolution can be made by mutations that lose information is like the merchant who lost a little money on every sale but thought he could make it up in volume…”

In a nutshell, evolutionary scientists cannot get around this one roadblock. This view of Dr. Spetner’s is not his alone. A great percentage of the scientific community now subscribe to it as it has been proven numerous times in laboratories all over the world. In fact, there has never once been a report of any increase in DNA information in any mutation test that has been run. Not one! Oh well…

I could spend literally hours writing about the supposed technical aspects of the evolutionary process based upon the current biological science. However, that is not the purpose of these few brief paragraphs. I simply want to demonstrate in a very succinct manner that evolution does not work as a theory. Therefore, the accepting of God and the Biblical account creation is based upon sound scientific principle, not simply ignorant misconception. In spite of scientific evidence that backs the Biblical account of creation, I live by the concept of faith. It took many years for science to catch up to what I have believed all along.

Belief in God is the first step to inner peace. But believing and accepting are two different things. I believe communism exists throughout the world. I do not accept it in any form. In the same manner, many people believe God exists, but they reject him for whatever reason(s) they choose. Again, this is a matter for you to decide. You can accept or reject God, that is your free will choice to do so.

Salvation is one of those very maligned concepts in our enlightened world. Just ask any atheist or agnostic and they will tell you that accepting a belief in some form of deity is archaic as the horse and buggy or worse. They are sure that you are simple, ignorant, and beneath them. After all, they are educated, enlightened and do not need such silly myths and legends to bring them happiness.

The fundamentals of being at peace with yourself are rooted in understanding what it takes to have eternal security. Although your body will eventually die and return to the earth, your soul will live on. Knowing that no matter what happens to the temporal part of your existence (your body) will not effect the eternity of your soul, is what either brings you peace or distress. What you choose to believe is your business. I can only present to you what works for me. That’s why when I found out my days may be very short indeed, it was not a moment filled with terror. Now, I am not looking to die any sooner than necessary, but I firmly believe that the day I shed this body, another life for me in the presence of God will begin that is eternal in nature. This is the sum and substance of what fundamental Christianity is based upon. In order to gain an eternal presence with God requires an understanding of why man was created, how he fell from the grace of God, and the part that Christ played in redeeming mankind from their sinful state. It is not complicated. It costs nothing other than your believing.

Way back near the beginning of this page, I listed what I believe to be the reason man was put on this earth...to worship/praise God. Revelation 4:1, “Thou art worthy, O’ Lord, to receive glory and honor and power: for Thou hast created all things, and for Thy pleasure they are and were created.” This is why Adam was placed on earth.

Everyone knows the story of Adam and Eve and the “apple” which in literal Hebrew is fruit, not apple. At any rate, sin entered the world when Adam made the free will choice to go against the commandment of God not to eat of the tree of knowledge found in the garden. From that point onward, man was condemned by his actions. Simply put, sin is the breaking of God’s law. We can either sin by doing what we are commanded not to do or not do what we are told to. Everyone has sinned during their life. Romans 3:23, “For all have sinned and come short of the glory of God.”

Sin took away the physical immortality of Adam and all his descendents which include both you and I. When Adam chose to sin against God, the ultimate penalty was eventual death. The Hebrew definition of death is “separation.” The Bible teaches there are 3 types of separation that can occur.

First, spiritual death serves to separate you from God, even though you are still alive physically. “And you has he given life who were dead in trespass and sins.” Ephesians 2:1.

Secondly, physical death separates your body from your soul. The condemnation of Adam to face physical death is found in Genesis 3:19, “In the sweat of thy face shalt thou eat bread, till thou return unto the ground; for out of it wast thou taken; for dust thou art, and unto dust shalt thou return.”

Finally, eternal death is what separates man from God through all eternity. Revelation 20:15 “And whosoever was not found written in the book of life was cast into the lake of fire.” Now, if you do not believe that heaven and hell are literal places, then this last passage will not bother you, will it?

History shows us that tens of thousands of people have tried to find a way to earn eternal life. It goes on and on and on today. Just look around you and before long, you will find someone who believes that his immortality is guaranteed by how much good work he does, how much money he gives away, etc… Yet, there is no “earning” or “paying for” or “buying” your salvation. It is a freebie and this is what makes it so difficult for most people to accept. It is a gift from God and you cannot buy it at any price.

“For grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: It is a gift of God: not of works, lest any man should boast.” - Ephesians 2:8,9

The whole issue from the time of Adam until the birth of Christ dealt with an atonement or covering of sacrificial blood to deal with the sin of the world. Each person was required to sacrifice an animal to God to temporarily take his sin away. This was required to be repeated throughout his lifetime. God sent his son Jesus to become the sacrificial lamb and die on the cross at Calvary as a one time sacrifice for all the world. The only thing people needed to do is believe in Jesus as the savior. No other sacrifice is necessary.

“But God commendeth His love toward us, in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.” - Romans 5:8

Now, the only thing required of you is to ask God’s forgiveness for your sinful actions and accept that Christ died for your sins.

“Believe in the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved.” - Acts 16:31

The promise extended by God concerning immortality is three fold. First there is eternal life. Second, anyone who believes in Christ as savior will never face judgment, regardless of past sins. Lastly you pass from eternal condemnation to eternal life.  

“Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that heareth my word, and believeth on Him that sent me, hath everlasting life, and shall not come into condemnation; but is passed from death unto life.” - John 5:24

Now, whether or not you choose to believe in eternal life, a literal heaven and hell, and that Christ died for your sins is a matter between you and God. You have the ability and the power within you to accept or reject his offer of salvation. Like everything else you are now facing with a potentially lethal disease coursing through your body, this is a decision that no one else can make for you.

The matter of choosing eternal life with God is easy to accomplish. Simply ask for forgiveness, believe that Christ died for your sins and you accept that sacrifice on your behalf. I can tell you that a firm belief in God and Jesus Christ brings peace to me. But, I can do no more than present the concept to you. It is your choice, just as how you deal with putting cancer in remission is ultimately decided only by you.

There is so much to teach on the subject of Christianity that I hardly know where to begin. Yet, the focus at this point is to get you thinking, looking, digging. This is a quest that will last you the rest of your life, no matter how long or short your time is. Because this is a very troubling, disturbing period in anyone’s life, there is always need for comfort. With that in mind, lets look at just a couple of other things.

The Power of Prayer

One of my favorite passages was best paraphrased by Chuck Swindoll whose website is listed in the related links area. “Worry about nothing, pray about everything.” Philippians 4:6-7, “Be careful for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your request be made known unto God. And the peace of God, which passeth all understanding, shall keep your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus.” Your illness is not yours alone, if you choose to believe such. Accepting Christ as savior opens a whole new world. Share your problem with God. Don’t worry about what you have, for worrying will not change anything for the better. Give the problem to God and let him deal with it.

Do not overlook the power of prayer. The thing to remember here is be careful for what you pray for; you may just get it. As I sat waiting for the doctor to tell me all the ramifications of the pain involved in passing kidney stones, I quietly said, “Dear God, I really don’t want to go through a battle with kidney stones.”

Well, to make a long story short, that prayer was answered… In spite of the levity with which the above scenario was presented, it is very, very important to remember that God does answer all prayers. It may not be the answer we want or expect (remember, "no" is an answer), but rest assured all prayers are answered in one fashion or another and everything does work to the will of God according to His plan.

Facing Trials

James writes about facing trials. If this situation is not considered a trial, then I know not what is.

“My brethren, count it all joy when ye fall into diverse temptations {archaic English for trials}, knowing this that the trying of your faith worketh patience. But let patience have her perfect work, that ye may be perfect and entire, lacking nothing.” - James 1:2-4

If ever there was a time for patience, this has to be it. Again, a key factor in survival is reducing stress. Have faith and patience.

Feeling Alone?

Somewhere during this trial, perhaps from one end to the other, you will quite possibly find yourself standing alone. At times it is really tough to find someone to share with; to talk with; just to be there when things look pretty dreary. No matter what, no matter how nasty it seems, God is there. You may find it difficult to believe, but I have yet to see that principle fail. Hebrews 13:5 "I will never leave thee nor forsake thee."

Decisions

So, what is “right” for you? Having trouble making decisions? Doctors want to operate right NOW and you just don’t know what to do?  As I'm sure you've already experienced, there are times when you don't have the answers, and neither does anyone around you.  You're getting lots of opinions, but you don't know which to accept.  Fortunately, there is always someone who has the right answer.

 “If any of you lack wisdom, let him ask of God, that giveth to all men liberally, and upbraideth not; and it shall be given him. But let him ask in faith, nothing wavering.” - James 1:5-6

There probably won’t be writing on the wall (but never count that out--in Daniel 5, the Babylonian king Belshazzar got exactly that) . There probably won’t be a lot of demonstrative “signs and wonders” pointing the way, but there might be. In any case, the most important part is to listen your heart and God will place the answer there that is right for you.

Your Body's Mortality and Soul's Immortality

“He that heareth my word, and believeth on him that sent me, hath everlasting life, and shall not come into condemnation, but is passed from death unto life.” - John 5:24  

Part and parcel with this time of trial in your life is to consider the mortality of this life and the immortality you face. These things will absolutely happen, without a doubt. The only thing that matters is whether you choose eternity with God or you pass into condemnation. Don’t put this decision off. Eternity is but a heart-beat away.

“The fool hath said in his heart, there is no God.” - Psalms 53:1

In the reference materials section of this website, you will find a number of references where you can learn more God and his plan for your life.