Christian Natural Health

When we think of meditation, a lot of us think of chanting and things affiliated with other religions--but at its core, that's not what it is. Meditation can simply be calming the mind by disciplined focus on some external stimulus, like your breath, your heart, or the ambient sounds around you... and if your mind is scattered and flitting from topic to topic, there is certainly great physiologic value in this, as it will get you out of "fight or flight" and into the parasympathetic "rest and digest" state. Also, if your mind is too loud, it makes it all but impossible for you to hear the voice of the Holy Spirit--so quieting your mind through this form of meditation is valuable for that reason as well. Biblically, though, meditation is more than just quieting your "monkey brain." That just gets you back to neutral. Rather, biblical meditation involves focused thought upon an idea long enough for you to get a picture in your mind of what you're contemplating. We all do this all the time; it's just a matter of what we're thinking about. Andrew Wommack likes to say that if you know how to worry, you know how to meditate. Worry is meditation upon something negative. Paul tells us what we should be meditating on in Philippians 4:8: "whatever things are true, whatever things are noble, whatever things are just, whatever things are pure, whatever things are lovely, whatever things are of good report, if there is any virtue and if there is anything praiseworthy--meditate on these things." The reason this is so important is because scripture tells us that our thoughts determine what we believe, just like planting seeds will determine what kind of harvest we get. Proverbs 23:7 says, "for as a man thinks in his heart, so is he." We can act contrary to what we truly believe for a short period of time, but what we think in our hearts is who we really are, and it will come out eventually. This is why Jesus said that the most important parable He ever taught was the Parable of the Sower (Matt 13:3-23). In the parable, the "seed" is the Word of God, and soil is the hearts of the listeners. It's the state of the soil which determines how well that seed will grow and produce a harvest. There are other possible seeds besides God's word, though--in the parable, there were thorns and tares in one type of soil, too. Jesus later defines these for us as "the cares of this world and the deceitfulness of riches" (Matt 13:22), which can choke the Word such that it becomes unfruitful. Those sound like typical sources of worry to me. Think of thoughts in general--any type of thought--as a potential seed that can eventually bear a harvest if you plant it and cultivate it (or meditate upon it until you can see it in your mind). A stray thought here or there can't do this any more than a seed can without the right environment for it to grow--which is why we're told in scripture to take our thoughts captive (2 Cor 10:5). Think of this like weeding the 'garden' of your heart. If you don't want the harvest, then pluck up the plant before it can bear fruit--or, better yet, avoid exposing yourself to the seed in the first place, if you can control it. This isn't always possible, but we can choose what we watch, what we listen to, what kind of church we go to (one that preaches faith or unbelief), and what kind of people we spend time with. "Bad company corrupts good character" (1 Corinthians 15:33)--so if you surround yourself with people who are negative, complaining, undisciplined, or any other negative character trait, most likely it'll rub off on you eventually. Those people influence how you think, and unwittingly this plants "seeds" in your heart that will eventually bear a harvest, if they are allowed to do so. It takes discipline to control our imaginations, of course. Just like the Second Law of Thermodynamics describes entropy in the universe (which means that left to themselves, all systems go from order to disorder), so the tremendous power available in our minds will accomplish nothing if we don't focus it appropriately. Worse, if we use our imaginations for an actively destructive purpose like worrying, we might end up with exactly what we're essentially "believing" for. A medical example of this is the placebo versus the nocebo effect: about 30% of people (probably those who are most "suggest-able") in clinical trials will typically get better even if they're given a sugar pill rather than the actual medication being tested, because they believe it will help them. Their minds make it work. The nocebo is the same principle in reverse: if you believe something will make you worse, it very well might, even if the substance itself is neutral. This is the whole concept behind affirmations, or positive confessions: say something long or often enough, and eventually it'll sink down into your subconscious mind, and you'll start to believe it--even if you don't at first. Not what we superficially say, but what we truly believe, determin

Jack Dell’Accio, CEO & Founder of Essentia, has been focused on analyzing sleep for over 20 years! Of most importance to Jack is the impact of restorative sleep in terms of recovery from disease, prevention of disease, longevity, and performance. Jack has worked with some of the world's top athletes to optimize their recovery and performance. Through the years, he has worked directly with health gurus, professional athletes and teams in the NBA, NFL, MLS, and over 25% of active NHL players on creating healthy sleep performance. Essentia’s organic mattress has been recognized by several internationally renowned organizations including the Mayo Clinic’s Well Living Lab. Essentia has been named the #1 foam mattress by Consumer Reports for 7 consecutive years. Now, Jack is proud to present the results of a double-blind sleep study of professional athletes which proves Essentia can extend the time spent in REM and Deep Sleep cycles by 20% to 60%! To learn more about Jack and Essentia, see myessentia.com Discover more Christian podcasts at lifeaudio.com and inquire about advertising opportunities at lifeaudio.com/contact-us.

Nate Birner graduated from Michigan Lutheran Seminary in 2003, and has been fitness coaching since 2005. He left the church entirely for most of his career in fitness. Multiple (and sometimes traumatic) injuries and surgeries slowly revealed to Nate that he had made fitness into an idol in his life. Now he has a more balanced approach to health and fitness, and owns a strength training gym in Cedar Park TX called Fit Goal Culture. Nate is using his new book, "God's Fingerprint on Fitness,” to encourage Christians struggling with their health and weight to take steps towards fitness, and to encourage fitness enthusiasts and coaches to lead their clients to take steps toward a deeper relationship with God. To learn more about Nate, see natebirner.com, where you can also download the first chapter of the book. You can also follow him @natebirner on Instagram. Discover more Christian podcasts at lifeaudio.com and inquire about advertising opportunities at lifeaudio.com/contact-us.

Dr. Afton L. Hassett is an Associate Professor and Director of Pain and Opioid Research in the Department of Anesthesiology at the University of Michigan. She is a principal investigator at the Chronic Pain & Fatigue Research Center who has over $14M of research funding from the National Institutes of Health (NIH). Viewed as a leader in the field of chronic pain and resilience, she recently gave the Keynote address at the 2023 Pain Consortium Symposium on Advances in Pain Research for the NIH. While studying established treatments for chronic pain and developing new approaches is her passion, her frustration is that exciting research discoveries rarely make it to the people who could benefit the most. Thus, Afton’s mission was to write Chronic Pain Reset to bring evidence-based strategies from research and academic medical settings directly to people who live with chronic pain with the hope that they will gain new tools to lead more rewarding lives with less pain. To learn more about Dr Hassett, see aftonhassett.com You ca get her book, Chronic Pain Reset, here. Discover more Christian podcasts at lifeaudio.com and inquire about advertising opportunities at lifeaudio.com/contact-us.

How to deal with stressful situations: pray and then let God's peace rule: Pray and thank God for the answer in advance, and you will have peace: "Do not be anxious about anything, but in every situation, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus." Philippians 4:6-7 Col 3:15: "Let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, since as members of one body you were called to peace. And be thankful." 2 Thess 3:16: "Now may the Lord of peace himself give you peace at all times and in every way. The Lord be with all of you." Fearing circumstances is not from God: 2 Tim 1:7: "For the Spirit God gave us does not make us timid (give us a spirit of fear), but gives us power, love and self-discipline." If you are weary, let God refresh you: "Cast all your anxiety on him because he cares for you." 1 Peter 5:7 Matthew 11:28-30: "Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy and my burden is light.” Hope, faith, and trust which comes from love are antidotes to fear: Believe you have it before you pray: Hebrews 11:1: "Now faith is confidence in what we hope for and assurance about what we do not see." When you understand His perfect love, you will trust: 1 John 4:18: "There is no fear in love. But perfect love drives out fear, because fear has to do with punishment. The one who fears is not made perfect in love." Luke 1:37: "For no word from God will ever fail." Psalm 56:3: "When I am afraid, I put my trust in you." Isaiah 40:31: "but those who hope in the LORD will renew their strength. They will soar on wings like eagles; they will run and not grow weary, they will walk and not be faint." "Do not let your hearts be troubled. You believe in God; believe also in me." John 14:1 "Peace I leave with you; my peace I give you. I do not give to you as the world gives. Do not let your hearts be troubled and do not be afraid." John 14:27 God delivers from fear and rescues from the trouble that besets you: Psalm 55:22: "Cast your cares on the LORD and he will sustain you; he will never let the righteous be shaken." If you trust, you will flourish no matter the circumstances: Jeremiah 17:7-8: “But blessed is the one who trusts in the LORD, whose confidence is in him. They will be like a tree planted by the water that sends out its roots by the stream. It does not fear when heat comes; its leaves are always green. It has no worries in a year of drought and never fails to bear fruit.” Heb 13:5-6: 'God has said, “Never will I leave you; never will I forsake you.” So we say with confidence, “The Lord is my helper; I will not be afraid. What can mere mortals do to me?”' Psalm 34:4: "I sought the LORD, and he answered me; he delivered me from all my fears." Psalm 34:17: "The righteous cry out, and the LORD hears them; he delivers them from all their troubles." "So do not fear, for I am with you; do not be dismayed, for I am your God. I will strengthen you and help you; I will uphold you with my righteous right hand." Isaiah 41:10 Joshua 1:9: "Have I not commanded you? Be strong and courageous. Do not be afraid; do not be discouraged, for the LORD your God will be with you wherever you go.” Isaiah 35:4: "say to those with fearful hearts, “Be strong, do not fear; your God will come, he will come with vengeance; with divine retribution he will come to save you.”" Psalm 23:4-6: "Even though I walk through the darkest valley, I will fear no evil, for you are with me; your rod and your staff, they comfort me. You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies. You anoint my head with oil; my cup overflows. Surely your goodness and love will follow me all the days of my life, and I will dwell in the house of the LORD forever." "When anxiety was great within me, your consolation brought me joy." Psalm 94:19 "And God is able to bless you abundantly, so that in all things at all times, having all that you need, you will abound in every good work." 2 Corinthians 9:8 Proverbs 3:5-6: "Trust in the LORD with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways submit to him, and he will make your paths straight." God will meet your needs as you seek Him: "Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink; or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothes?" Matthew 6:25 "Consider the ravens: They do not sow or reap, they have no storeroom or barn; yet God feeds them. And how much more valuable you are than birds!" Luke 12:24 "Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own." Matthew 6:34 Discover more Christian podcasts at lifeaudio.com and inquire about advertising opportunities at

Today's podcast comes from this blog post, How to Stimulate Autophagy to Live Longer and Healthier Discover more Christian podcasts at lifeaudio.com and inquire about advertising opportunities at lifeaudio.com/contact-us.

Kelly Needham is a servant of Jesus Christ, a student of the Bible and COO of her home, where she lives with her husband, Jimmy, and their five children. She is the author of Friendish: Reclaiming Real Friendship in a Culture of Confusion (Thomas Nelson, 2019) and has been a contributing author to many other books, including Faithful (David C. Cook, 2021) and Beautifully Distinct (Good Book Company, 2020). She has served on staff at multiple churches, serving in youth, college and women's ministry. Kelly currently co-leads a women’s teaching program, training women to accurately handle the word of truth and co-hosts a podcast, Clearly with Jimmy and Kelly Needham. Whether writing or speaking, Kelly’s aim is to convince as many people as possible that nothing compares to knowing Jesus. You can find Kelly's books, podcast, and learn more about her at jimmyandkelly.com Discover more Christian podcasts at lifeaudio.com and inquire about advertising opportunities at lifeaudio.com/contact-us.

Dr. Alan Bauman is an accomplished hair restoration physician, known for his expertise in treating hair loss and his pioneering work in the field. His state-of-the-art "Hair Hospital" in downtown Boca Raton, FL, covers 12,000 square feet and is recognized worldwide for its advanced hair restoration technologies. His dedication to the field of hair restoration has earned him many accolades throughout his career. He is one of approximately 200 physicians worldwide to have achieved certification from the American Board of Hair Restoration Surgery (ABHRS). He has pioneered numerous technologies in the field of hair restoration. Dr. Bauman's expertise has made him a highly sought-after speaker and guest expert. He has been featured in hundreds of news stories in the media. Dr. Bauman has also been recognized for his contributions to the field of healthcare, receiving the 2022 "Lifetime Achievement Award in Hair Restoration" and being named one of "10 CEOs Transforming Healthcare in America" by Forbes. To learn more about Dr Bauman or for a consultation, visit baumanmedical.com Discover more Christian podcasts at lifeaudio.com and inquire about advertising opportunities at lifeaudio.com/contact-us.

“Be still, and know that I am God; I will be exalted among the nations, I will be exalted in the earth.” Psalm 46:10 That's a command for all of us, but some of us find it easier to do than others. I do a lot of neurotransmitter testing in my practice: urine testing for brain signaling chemicals, including serotonin, dopamine, norepinephrine, epinephrine, GABA, glycine, and glutamate. I used to simply feed the appropriate pathways with the precursors if they were low, and feed the enzymes for metabolism if one was too high, to try to balance things out. I still do that to an extent, but I've also started to recognize patterns. Sometimes a neurotransmitter test can suggest to me that someone is low in some of the cofactors (vitamins or minerals) for certain pathways. Other times, it can suggest that there's a common genetic predisposition to metabolizing neurotransmitters in a particular way. I also used to do a lot more genetic testing than I currently do (for a variety of reasons, though it can still be useful). Sometimes the genetics can tell me that someone will tend to make an excessive amount of a particular neurotransmitter, or that they don't tend to make enough of it, or that they tend to break it down really fast, or break it down really slowly. That can help inform what I see on neurotransmitter testing, and how I might go about trying to maintain balance, once we've achieved it. There are certain personality types, as well as patterns of thinking, that go along with patterns of neurotransmitters. Serotonin and dopamine tend to be an especially striking see-saw. Those with high (but not too high) serotonin tend to be very laid back and in the moment. Those with high (but not too high) dopamine tend to be very driven, always checking off their to-do list, and then moving straight on to the next thing. Too much of either one, or too little of either one, can lead to a particular type of anxiety or depression. Those with excessively high (but more often excessively low) norepinephrine or epinephrine (together known as adrenaline) tend to be jumpy, and constantly in fight-or flight mode. Usually I see this pattern in people who have been stressed out for a long time. Some of these patterns can be explained by the genetics, but it's also true that neurotransmitters and thoughts are a "chicken-or-egg" scenario: which comes first? We all are familiar with the downward spiral of negative thinking: the more you do it, the harder it is to stop. I think this is why Paul told us to take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ," (2 Cor 10:5), and then to think on "whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable—if anything is excellent or praiseworthy—think about such things." Phil 4:8. We do have a choice--but our habitual thinking makes this easier or harder to do. A few years ago I read a fascinating book called "The Molecule of More" by Daniel Lieberman. It fleshed out not so much the acute imbalances, but the personality types that go with certain patterns. Lieberman categorizes norepinephrine, along with serotonin, oxytocin, and endorphins, as “here and now,” or H&N neurotransmitters, meaning they help with enjoyment of the moment and satisfaction in one’s actual, current experience. By contrast, the neurotransmitter dopamine is all about novelty and desire (it is the "Molecule of More," as in always wanting more). The moment that a pleasure is no longer unexpected, or a goal is achieved, dopamine is quenched. The enjoyment associated with expected pleasures or enjoying what one already possesses requires the H&N neurotransmitters–and certain kinds of people are predisposed more toward one over the other. The highest achievers in history tended to be very dopamine dominant, with all its attendant benefits and pitfalls. They are constantly driven, and usually obsessed with achievement and efficiency–but this also means they are rarely “happy”, where happiness is defined by satisfaction with what they actually have. Many of them are more susceptible to affairs and divorce, because for them, it’s more about the thrill of the chase than the actual relationship. They often care for humanity in the abstract, but have little patience with individual people. But on the plus side, they also are quite resilient to adversity and change, since novelty produces the dopamine spike they crave. On the flip side, those more predisposed genetically to the H&N neurotransmitters tend to be happier and more content, and to have stronger interpersonal relationships, but far less driven to achievement, and less resilient to the stress of change. Lieberman doesn't argue that either is "better" than the other per se; each has their own strengths and weaknesses (and he also makes the fascinating argument that one's political leanings can often be affiliated with certain patterns of neurochemistry, too). If you tend toward the H&N neuro

Dr Jacob Teitelbaum is one of the most frequently quoted integrative, pain and fibromyalgia medical authorities in the world. He is the author of the best-selling From Fatigued to Fantastic!, Pain Free, 1,2,3!, The Complete Guide to Beating Sugar Addiction, Real Cause Real Cure, The Fatigue and Fibromyalgia Solution, Diabetes Is Optional and the popular free Smart Phone app Cures A-Z. He is the lead author of 8 studies on effective treatment for fibromyalgia and chronic fatigue syndrome, and a study on effective treatment of autism using NAET. Dr. Teitelbaum appears often as a guest on news and talk shows nationwide including Good Morning America, The Dr. Oz Show, Oprah & Friends, CNN, and FoxNewsHealth. Learn more at: Vitality101.com endfatigue.com You can get Dr Teitelbaum's personalized analysis at energyanalysisprogram.com You can contact Dr Teitelbaum for information sheets on various conditions at [email protected] Discover more Christian podcasts at lifeaudio.com and inquire about advertising opportunities at lifeaudio.com/contact-us.

The biggest obstacle to faith for a lot of people is this: “If God is all powerful, then why does He cause (or allow) bad things to happen?” There's something fundamental that we must establish before we ever address this question directly: God is good, all the time (James 1:16-17). We know this, at least in part, by what Jesus did. Jesus said that he who has seen him has seen the Father (John 14:8-9), and Jesus went about doing good, and healing all that were oppressed of the devil (Acts 10:38, Matt 15:30, Matt 4:23-24, Matt 8:16, Matt 9:35, Matt 10:1, Matt 12:15, Matt 15:30, Luke 4:40, Luke 10:9). He never refused healing to anyone who came to Him. He never harmed anyone "for their own good," or put a disease on anyone "to teach them something" or "to discipline them." Not once. In fact, He actively worked against all sickness and disease, to destroy the devil's work (1 John 3:8). He is the same today as He was when He was on earth (Hebrews 13:8). God the Father doesn't change either (Malachi 3:6). We know of God's character from His names in the Old Testament. He is Jehovah Nissi (The Lord my Banner - Ex 17:15). He is Jehovah-Raah (The Lord my Shepherd, or My Friend - Gen 48:15, Psalm 23:1, 80:1, Ez 34:11-15). He is Jehovah Rapha (The Lord That Heals, Ex 15:26). He is Jehovah Shammah (The Lord is There - He has not abandoned you: Eze 48:35). He is Jehovah Tsidkenu (The Lord Our Righteousness, Jer 23:6, 33:16). He is Jehovah Mekoddishkem (The Lord who Sanctifies You: Ex 31:13, Lev 20:8). He is Jehovah Jireh (The Lord will Provide, Gen 22:14). He is Jehovah Shalom (The Lord is Peace, Judges 6:24). He is Jehovah Sabaoth (The Lord of Hosts, 1 Sam 1:3, Ps 24:9-10, 84:3, Isa 6:5). Many other scriptures establish His goodness. He is ONLY good. (1 John 1:5, Psalm 84:11-12; Psalm 146:6-10; Psalm 107:9, Psalm 31:19, 1 Tim 4:4-5, Eph 1:3, Romans 8:28, Ps 103:2-5, Ps 145:16-19). God doesn’t do bad things to His children. Yet He’s powerful enough that for those who trust in Him, He can take even terrible circumstances that were not part of His plan, and bring good out of them.“And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose” (Romans 8:28). Those who know their scriptures well may point out Old Testament passages that sound like God, in fact, did do evil things. One example is in 2 Sam 24:1, when it says the Lord moved David (in pride) to count the number of his subjects... and then condemned David's sin in having done so (2 Sam 24:10) and punished him severely for it. Yet the exact same story appears in 1 Chron 21:1, where it says Satan moved David to number Israel. This is a very rare glimpse into what was happening in the spiritual realm in the Old Testament, where there is almost no doctrine of Satan. The primary exception to this is at the beginning of the book of Job; otherwise Satan is only mentioned by name here, and in Zechariah 3:1-2. (He is mentioned in Genesis 3 as "the serpent," of course, and also as Lucifer in Isaiah 14:12 and Ezekiel 28 as well.) The Old Testament had almost no doctrine of Satan because the people had no authority over him under the Mosaic covenant. What good would it do to learn that you have a bloodthirsty enemy, but there is nothing you can do to protect yourself from him? Because of this, in the Old Testament, anything supernatural, good or bad, was attributed to God, whether God was the instigator or not. The New Testament (and the revelation in Job 1:6-12) shows that this is not the case; there is a spiritual war going on, and we have an adversary who hates us. (For more on how God's dealings with man changed with different covenants, see my Blood Covenant biblical retellings duology: Blood Covenant Origins and Blood Covenant Fulfilled.) So if God doesn't cause bad things to happen, why do they happen? Evil comes about as a result of one of or a combination of three things -- 1) Satan, the enemy of God and therefore of us, who would like nothing better than to see us destroyed:“The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy; I [Jesus] have come that they may have life, and have it to the full” (John 10:10).1 Peter 5:8 — “Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil walks about like a roaring lion, seeking whom he may devour.” 2) A fallen world that will be redeemed one day, but isn’t yet: “For the creation was subjected to frustration, not by its own choice, but by the will of the one who subjected it, in hope that the creation itself will be liberated from its bondage to decay and brought into the glorious freedom of the children of God” (Rom 8:20-21). and 3) people who are sinners, and either aren’t yet saved or aren’t yet perfected:“There is no one righteous [apart from God], not even one; there is no one who understands, no one who seeks God” (Rom 3:10-11). But if God is truly sovereign, or all-powerful, even if He doesn't cause bad things to happen, doesn't He at least allow them, for H

Dr. Erik Korem has always been driven by a relentless pursuit of high performance. As time progressed, that drive became a purpose — to improve the lives of others in ways they didn’t know were possible. Whether fueling the performance of NCAA athletes or the U.S. Dept. of Defense, implementing one of the NFL's first sports science programs, or coaching Olympic gold medalists, his desire to leave people and places better than he found them is unwavering. Now, as Founder and CEO of AIM7, he’s employing his unique expertise as an applied performance scientist to unleash the true power of wearables in a way that tangibly improves the lives of others. Their proven algorithms analyze users' health data and provide custom recommendations for enhancing the mind, body, and recovery process. Leveraging the science of adaptive capacity, Erik and his team are unlocking a new level of human performance for anyone with a wearable device. To learn more about Erik, you can find him on Instagram and YouTube @ErikKorem Discover more Christian podcasts at lifeaudio.com and inquire about advertising opportunities at lifeaudio.com/contact-us.

Sam Black is a renowned author and expert in the field of pornography recovery. As the Director of Recovery Education at Covenant Eyes, he brings a wealth of experience to his work, having joined the organization in 2007 after a distinguished 18-year career as an award-winning journalist. Sam is the author of two groundbreaking books: "The Healing Church: What Churches Get Wrong About Pornography and How to Fix It" and "The Porn Circuit: Understand Your Brain and Break Porn Habits." He has also edited 16 other books on the impact of pornography and regularly speaks at parenting, leadership and men's events across the country. Sam's deep knowledge and compassionate approach have helped countless individuals and families find healing and hope. To learn more about Sam, see thehealingchurch.com, or go to the app store and download the Victory App for content! Discover more Christian podcasts at lifeaudio.com and inquire about advertising opportunities at lifeaudio.com/contact-us.

There is a bit of a debate amongst believers regarding how to reconcile scripture with scientific claims about the age of the earth. Many assume that the evidence that the earth is millions of years old is water-tight, and therefore we only have three options: find a way to fit millions of years into the Bible somewhere, reject clear scientific evidence, or reject the Bible entirely. Those who do try to cram millions of years into scripture have to do it somewhere in Genesis 1. I've heard this done in two ways. One is the gap theory, which places millions of years in between Genesis 1:1, when God created the heavens and the earth, and Genesis 1:2, when the earth was without form and void. The idea is that earth was created once, destroyed, and then remade in between the verses. There's a fascinating book called "The Invisible War" by Donald Barnhouse that makes this claim fairly compellingly -- but so far as I can tell, even if one were to subscribe to this idea, the earth was still remade in Genesis 1:2--at which point the clock should start over. This won't "solve" the biblical young earth problem. The other possibility uses 2 Peter 3:8, which says that "a day to the Lord is as a thousand years," to extrapolate that a day is also to the Lord as millions of years. Therefore, the six days of creation were actually millions of years apiece. There are a number of philosophical problems with this. In certain places, scripture is poetic and should be interpreted as such. Psalm 91, for instance, says that "He shall cover you with His feathers, and under His wings you shall take refuge" (91:4). This is obvious poetry, meant to evoke the image and feeling that God protects us the way a mother hen protects her chicks. It would be absurd to think this means that God has literal feathers. Many of the psalms employ similar poetic imagery, as do many of the prophetic books, Song of Songs, etc. These should be interpreted as poetry, and not as literal historical books. But Genesis is written like an historical book. Genesis 1 is about as clear as it could possibly be that we're talking about six literal days. After each day the scripture says, "so the evening and the morning were the (blank) day," to illustrate that we are talking about 24 hours. Also, Genesis says after each day, "And God saw that it was good." Death is not good; death is the result of sin (Romans 6:23). Sin didn't happen until Genesis 3. If each of the six days of creation was actually millions of years, do we suppose that no creatures died during that entire time? And if death did enter before Adam and Eve ever sinned, then how was creation pronounced "good"? Romans 8:19-22 tells us that even creation groans under the weight of corruption--it too must ultimately be redeemed. When did it become corrupted, if not by sin in Genesis 3? Finally, if Genesis 1 is really a metaphorical abstraction representing millions of years of evolutionary change, what other apparently historical scriptures can be allegorized? Was there really a flood? How about a real resurrection? In short, what can you trust? The Bible is either true or it's not. If the Bible is literally trustworthy, what do we do with all the evidence that "proves" the earth is millions of years old? Does "science" actually prove this? Carbon-14 dating is the best known dating method that most people think of in conjunction with this question. The most common isotope of carbon is C-12, but all carbon-based life forms start out with a certain, albeit very small, amount of the C-14 isotope in life. C-14 is radioactive, which means over time (after death) it decays via beta decay, in which one of its neutrons becomes a proton, turning it into nitrogen. The half life of C-14 decay is only 5700 years, give or take 30 years in either direction. That means it takes roughly 5700 years for half the amount of C-14 that started out in organic material to decay into nitrogen--so you can't use C-14 dating for anything older than 100,000 years. Past that point, there shouldn't be any C-14 left. And yet, some dinosaur bones have been found to still contain C-14 (https://www.icr.org/article/radiocarbon-dinosaur-other-fossils). How is this possible, if they are supposed to be millions of years old? Those who defend the evolutionary time scale will claim that the C-14 must have crept in via contamination. Yet there are even more remarkable findings in dinosaur bones than C-14. Many still contain intact biomolecules (here's a comprehensive list: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1eXtKzjWP2B1FMDVrsJ_992ITFK8H3LXfPFNM1ll-Yiw/edit#gid=0). These include hemoglobin and blood residue (https://www.icr.org/article/a-80-million-year-old-mosasaur-fossil), retinal tissue, and skin (https://www.icr.org/article/original-tissue-fossils-creations-silent). Ages at a greater timescale than 50-100K years are determined via radiometric dating of igneous rocks (those formed by volcanic eruption), often using potassium-40, which deca

Steve Wiideman is the CEO of Wiideman Consulting Company. Specializing in SEO Strategy, Steve likes to organize search into specific disciplines broken down by business model. For natural search, Steve believes in only three fundamental requirements: Relevancy, Visibility and User Behavior. For local search, Data, Landing Page, Citation and Reputation are the keys to success. While serving as an adjunct professor at UCSD and CSUF, Steve is also building the Academy of Search, while volunteering time to help improve transparency and industry standards as an agency trainer. At the forefront of SEO, Steve has a front-row seat to how AI is changing the landscape of various industries. Discover more Christian podcasts at lifeaudio.com and inquire about advertising opportunities at lifeaudio.com/contact-us.

Let's grant for the moment that somehow, the fully functional and the irreducibly complex genetic code necessary for a single eukaryotic, or even prokaryotic cell, came into existence by happenstance (or by panspermia, perhaps, or by an infinite number of parallel universes -- pick your deus ex machina mechanism). Even with a "cheat" like this, could the evolutionary process take it from there? Spontaneous genetic point mutations, in which one of the four DNA base pairs is swapped for another, do occur from time to time, at a rate of around 1.1×10−8 (https://academic.oup.com/genetics/article/156/1/297/6051861?login=false) per base pair per generation (that's one in 100 million). However the vast majority of these are either negative or neutral. They're typically neutral if they occur in the non-coding segment of DNA, which is not used as blueprints for proteins. (We're still not entirely sure what the purpose is of all this non-coding DNA. There was a time when all of it was thought to be "junk," or leftovers from previous evolutionary steps. Now we know that at least some of it serves a purpose: of regulation, saying when a given sequence should or shouldn't be transcribed, where the coding gene begins and ends, binding sites for the transcription mechanism to begin, kind of like the coupling component of a zipper, and things like that. Telomeres, the caps on our chromosomes now known to be one of the determining factors of biological age, are also part of non-coding DNA. Other segments of it protect the structure of the chromosomes so that they maintain their integrity during cell replication. No doubt more purposes will be understood in time, but I seriously doubt any of it will turn out to be "junk"). Negative DNA mutations in coding sequences is one of the mechanisms by which cancer occurs. These can be either "nonsense" or "missense" mutations. Nonsense mutations are when a point mutation forms what's called a "stop" codon (where a codon is a set of three base pairs, forming a "word" of sorts.) Rather that continuing to code for a protein, the stop codon in the middle of the sequence would simply prematurely truncate the protein code entirely. Missense mutations occur when a point mutation switches one codon to another... like turning "cat" into "bat" or "rat," with an entirely different meaning. Each codon calls for a different amino acid, so such a mutation may substitute a different one with different chemical properties, which (if those properties are different enough) might contribute to different stereochemistry, or folding of that protein once made. The stereochemistry largely determines the protein's function, so it might be thus altered (and nearly always for the worse)... though there are are redundancies, such that multiple codons call for the same amino acids (there are only twenty amino acids, after all). So it's possible the mutation might be "silent" even if in a coding sequence of DNA, in this case. Environmental factors known to increase DNA mutation rates include things like ionizing radiation (UV, x-ray, gamma ray, etc), and various carcinogenic chemicals. If these mutations occur in germ cells, they can be passed on to progeny, assuming that the mutation isn't rapidly fatal before it can be passed on. In some cases, the resulting "disease" may confer a survival advantage in a given environment--for example, sickle cell anemia, a point mutation that changes the shape of red blood cells. It does indeed cause severe disease, but it also happens to protect against malaria, endemic in Africa. This is probably why sickle cell is far more common in Africa that in other parts of the world. But it's quite a stretch to say that was a "positive" mutation. Sickle cell anemia manifests with recurrent hemolytic crises, in which red blood cells burst, leading to severe low levels in the bloodstream (which means not enough oxygen for the tissues). Red blood cells can also get stuck in small vessels, leading to clots, spleen and liver enlargement, etc. Sure, the mutation happens to have a survival benefit in Africa, but "positive," the way a sudden functioning eye might be? I don't think so. And that's the thing: we can't point to a single known unequivocally positive DNA mutation. The most we can do is identify some "bad" ones that happen to have a silver lining in a particular environment. From there, evolutionists extrapolate (tremendously!) that in the distant past, many such mutations must have occurred--even though we have no evidence that they did, and all evidence we do have seems to suggest otherwise. I've seen some sources that speculate that positive mutations occur about 1/1000 times per generation, though the paper, "The population genetics of mutations: good, bad, and indifferent" (https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2871823/) makes the point that this is an exceedingly difficult number to quantify, because how one mutation might interact with another, let alone how multiple

Suzy Griswold is the Founder and President of HealingStrong. Suzy is a 13+ year Thyroid Cancer Thriver. After surgery and conventional treatment failed and subsequent scans revealed lymph node involvement, Suzy ultimately took a very different route to healing that was revealed after much prayer and research. When friends and family noticed the transformation, they asked Suzy to meet with their loved ones. In 2012, Suzy began HealingStrong as a blog post. That was just the start and as she brought together a group of natural thrivers and caregivers in her living room to pray about next steps, the vision for the very first HealingStrong conference in 2013 became a reality. It began a grassroots movement in small group communities that continues today. To date, 450 groups around the US, Canada, and 8 International countries have been a part of HealingStrong. HealingStrong continues to empower, inspire, motivate and equip group participants and members to live more whole and hope filled lives. For more on HealingStrong, the conference, resources, and finding a group, see www.healingstrong.org Discover more Christian podcasts at lifeaudio.com and inquire about advertising opportunities at lifeaudio.com/contact-us.

Let's bypass the idea that DNA, the blueprint for proteins, couldn't come about by random chance. Perhaps the process worked backwards: perhaps the proteins came first. That was the concept behind the Miller-Urey experiment of 1953, in which the chemicals thought to have been present in earth's "primordial soup" (water (H2O), methane (CH4), ammonia (NH3), and hydrogen (H2)) were all combined and subjected to electricity, meant to simulate lightning. Proteins are made of 20 amino acid building blocks, and this experiment successfully produced more than those 20 (there are more possible amino acids than just those used in our own core set). This experiment was heralded as proof of abiogenesis, or the production of life from non-living matter. There are a number of major problems with this, though. First, the amino acids produced in this experiment and in all subsequent experiments like it produce a racemic mixture of amino acids, meaning the orientation of the molecules is a combination of non-superimposable mirror images of one another. This refers to the positions of non-symmetrical components of the amino acids, whether they're on the right or the left side (much like our thumbs on our left and right hands appear on opposite sides, as non-superimposable mirror images of one another). However, in nature, amino acids are almost exclusively in the L-form. Its opposite, called the D-form, causes the subsequently formed protein to mis-fold. Since a protein's 3-D structure is determined by the chemistry of its building blocks, and the structure is critical to its function, this makes a protein built of a racemic mixture of amino acids non-functional and toxic to life. This problem has never been circumvented in the laboratory. But even supposing it were, supposing the early environment beginning with chemicals in the primordial soup might somehow produce only L-form amino acids, we'd still have the information problem. Without DNA instructions to tell the body which amino acids to use in which sequence, the average length of a mammalian protein is about 400 amino acids in length. The probability of each amino acid out of 20 being placed in the correct sequence at random is (1/20)^400. If you plug odds like that into an online calculator, what you get is: zero. The probability is effectively zero. And that's just the random formation of a single protein, assuming the orientation of all the amino acids was somehow magically corrected. A single irreducibly complex cell would require somewhere between 3-500 of those. (And that's not even addressing the entirely separate question in abiogenesis of "what constitutes life." A dead body has all of those functional proteins, but they no longer do anything. Why not? What is the indescribable "something" that they have lost--and thus, what would need to be bestowed upon a spontaneously produced protein to cause it to function, even supposing such a protein could be produced in the first place?) Discover more Christian podcasts at lifeaudio.com and inquire about advertising opportunities at lifeaudio.com/contact-us.

Dr. Matt Queen is the L.R. Scarborough Chair of Evangelism ("Chair of Fire") and professor of evangelism at Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary in Fort Worth, Texas, where he also serves as Interim Provost and Vice President for Academic Administration. The author of Recapturing Evangelism: A Biblical-Theological Approach (B&H Academic, 2023), Everyday Evangelism (Seminary Hill Press, 2020) and Mobilize to Evangelize (Seminary Hill Press, 2018), in addition to having edited and contributed chapters in numerous other books, Dr. Queen has been published in multiple academic journals and serves as Associate Pastor of Evangelism at Lane Prairie Baptist Church, Joshua, Texas. Additionally, he serves as an evangelism consultant for the Southern Baptists of Texas Convention and regularly leads evangelism workshops and preaches in churches across the country. To get Dr Queen's book, go to thegospelinvitation.com , or for more info about him, see swats.edu Discover more Christian podcasts at lifeaudio.com and inquire about advertising opportunities at lifeaudio.com/contact-us.

This week's podcast comes from this blog post: Which Supplements Are Right For You? Discover more Christian podcasts at lifeaudio.com and inquire about advertising opportunities at lifeaudio.com/contact-us.

Darwin's original tenants of his theory as laid out in his 1859 seminal work, "The Origin of Species," were these: that all organisms evolved from a common ancestor via minor, undirected changes, and that natural selection determines which of those random mutations get passed down to future progeny. Variations that confer a survival advantage allow the creature who inherits it to live long enough to procreate, and pass down that change to the next generation. Darwin successfully demonstrated "microevolution" with his Galapagos finch study, showing that finches confined to a particular island would evolve differently shaped beaks over time, in accordance with their available food sources. Similar processes have been demonstrated within many other species as well, and few would dispute that such microevolution does, in fact, occur. But Darwin then extrapolated this process, assuming that over the eons, such tiny changes could allow one species to evolve into another. Leaving aside the philosophical objections we've already covered in previous episodes, such as irreducible complexity and information theory negating the possibility of this occurring, is there any evidence that it nevertheless did occur? If it did, the fossil record should be riddled with examples of transitional species--some of which might have been "dead ends," but many of which should have been ancestors halfway between one species and another. Darwin himself wrote in "The Origin of Species," "Why then is not every geological formation and every stratum full of such intermediate links? Geology assuredly does not reveal any such finely graduated organic chain; and this, perhaps, is the most obvious and gravest objection which can be urged against my theory. The explanation lies, as I believe, in the extreme imperfection of the geological record." In other words, he figured that in time, and with acceptance of his theory and with scientists all over the globe searching for such evidence, the "missing links" would eventually be found. So, 164 years later, with belief in evolution dominating almost the entire scientific community, have any fossils of missing links been found? A quick YouTube search on evolutionary fossils presents the first arthropod, mollusk, insect, etc as "missing links." They're the "first" because of where they were found in the rock strata (where deeper is older). But all of the creatures presented are part of recognizable classes of creatures alive today, though those exact species are often extinct. This means they're the end of a line; they're not an intermediate on the way to anything we can identify. (Some of the species aren't extinct at all though, and the exact same organism is still alive today. This is what evolutionists call "stasis": no change over millions of years.) The only possible true missing link of which I'm aware is one found in the 1860s, during Darwin's own lifetime, called archaeopteryx. It was a fossil showing characteristics of both a bird and a reptile, and it is the basis of the widely supposed belief that dinosaurs are the ancestors of birds. Larry Martin, paleontologist from the University of Kansas, said in 1985 that archaeopteryx is not a true transitional species, but merely an extinct type of bird. According to wikipedia, twelve such fossils of archaeopteryx have been found, and all around the same area of Germany, encased in limestone. Since only 12 fossils of this same species were found in a very localized area, Martin's explanation makes the most sense. We should have found many more intermediates all over the world, in various stages of transition, if the hypothesis that dinosaurs were the ancestors of birds was correct. (We also wouldn't have expected the two to coexist either, if one were the ancestor of the other, but apparently according to both the Smithsonian and National Geographic, they did.) A few other possible contenders for "missing links" have been found over the years, but the case for each of them has been weak at best. One was the Java Man, found in 1891, supposed to be a missing link between humans and apes. All that was found of it was a skull, a femur, and three teeth. These were later determined to have belonged to three different species. Another was the Piltdown Ape, found in England in the early 1900s, also speculated to be a missing link between apes and humans. In Nov 1953, however, Time Magazine published collected evidence of multiple paleontologists that this ape too was comprised of fossils from three different species. The BBC later called it "the biggest hoax in British history." Peking Man was found in China in the 1920s, another supposed common link between apes and humans. All that was found of it were fragments of skull and teeth. Yet another was "Lucy," found in East Africa in 1974, another supposed common ancestor between apes and humans. Because of the structure of her knees, hands, and feet, which were not at all similar to humans, Dr Charles Oxn

This week's podcast comes from this blog post, Hormesis. Discover more Christian podcasts at lifeaudio.com and inquire about advertising opportunities at lifeaudio.com/contact-us.

In the 1940s, as digital communications ramped up, Claude Shannon codified basic concepts of how to send and receive information along digital channels. His abstract model of communication goes like this: the message source creates a message in an encoding language, transmits the message, and then on the other end it is decoded by the message receiver. If there is a message with any coherence to it, there must be a message source. DNA is an extraordinarily coherent message. It's encoded in nucleotide bases, decoded by first RNA and then transcribed into proteins, which then fold in 3-D shapes that determine their functionality based on the chemistry of the protein sequence. A classic argument is the infinite monkey theorem: this is the idea that if you gave a monkey a typewriter, given infinite time, he might at least once by happenstance write Shakespeare's MacBeth (or War and Peace, or pick your favorite work of literature). Of course, one major problem is that no one argues that there was infinite time--most secular scientists believe the earth is a mere 4 billion years old. The probability of any combination of events occurring in sequence with one another requires multiplying the probability of each individual event--say, a correct first letter out of 26, times the probability of a correct second letter out of 26, times the probability of a correct third letter out of 26, and so on. The probability thus shrinks exponentially. Hamlet is around 130,000 letters. The probability of a monkey typing all 130,000 letters in the correct sequence is thus 1 part in 3.4 × 10^183,946. To put that in context, there are only 7 x 10^27 atoms in the entire universe, and 10^80 protons (since atoms are made of both protons and neutrons bound together in the nucleus). Even if every one of those protons was a monkey who had been typing at random continuously from the estimated time of the Big Bang (usually supposed to be some 13.7 billion years ago), it would still be statistically impossible for one of those protonic monkeys to accidentally produce Shakespeare's Hamlet. In order to have even a one in a trillion probability, we'd have to introduce the multiverse once again--there would need to be 10^360,641 universes, each filled with protonic monkeys typing at random for 13.7 billion years (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Infinite_monkey_theorem#cite_note-10). So for all intents and purposes, the supposition of the Information Theorem is absolutely correct. If there is a coherent message, there must have been a mind to generate it. Information doesn't come from nothing. It cannot. Discover more Christian podcasts at lifeaudio.com and inquire about advertising opportunities at lifeaudio.com/contact-us.

Dr. Haley Perlus knows what it takes to overcome barriers and achieve peak performance. As an elite alpine ski racer, she competed and trained with the best in the world, pushing herself to the limits time and time again. Now, with a PhD in sport psychology, Haley continues to push boundaries and drive peak performance, helping athletes and Fortune 100 executives reach their goals. Haley works with individuals and teams to manage and expand their energy capacity while increasing resilience, focus and drive. Dr. Perlus is a highly sought-after keynote speaker, professor, author and consultant to Division I athletes. She has spoken at many events some of which include VISTAGE, Tec Canada, Elite Fitness and Performance Summit and Trilogy Athletes. She is an adjunct professor at the University of Colorado lecturing on applied sport and exercise psychology at the graduate level. She has authored several books including The Ultimate Achievement Journal and The Inside Drive and her articles have been featured in publications such as Thrive Magazine, Fitness Magazine, IDEA Fitness Journal, EpicTimes, Telluride Inside, MyVega and BeachBody®. Dr. Perlus earned her PhD at the University of Northern Colorado with an emphasis on social psychology of sport and physical activity, her MS at the University of Florida in sport pedagogy and her bachelor’s degree at the University of Western Ontario in kinesiology. Haley loves both water and snow skiing, and hiking. Her favorite meal is anything that requires only chopping or blending. To learn more about Dr Perlus, see www.drhaleyperlus.com Discover more Christian podcasts at lifeaudio.com and inquire about advertising opportunities at lifeaudio.com/contact-us.

An age-old objection to the concept of evolution is that of the blind watchmaker, and it goes like this. If a man were to find a working watch in an apparently abandoned place, far from civilization, which would be more probable: that the elements all happened to combine perfectly in the wind and heat and rain, such that a watch resulted by mere happenstance--or that another individual who had purchased the watch from an intelligent designer had been in that same place before, and had simply lost it? It's popularly believed that this argument has been discredited, but I've yet to hear the actual counter-argument to refute it. Darwin himself wrote of his theory of evolution, "If it could be demonstrated that any complex organ existed which could not possibly have been formed by numerous, successive, slight modifications, my theory would absolutely break down." In other words, any organism, or component of an organism, that was irreducibly complex would discredit his theory. He could say this in his day, because at the time, biochemistry was entirely unknown. Author Michael Behe wrote in "Darwin's Black Box" that it was once believed that insects arose spontaneously from dung and spoiled food, because if left to themselves for any length of time, one might go away, return, and find organic material infested with them. When small organisms were assumed to be very simple, this seemed believable. Now we know better. Even the simplest cell is unbelievably complex--akin to an incredibly efficient city in which each citizen knows and performs his job. These jobs include protein synthesis and breakdown, energy production, repair, and communication within the cell and with the outside world, not to mention complete replication of itself. The concept of irreducible complexity, as Behe defines it, is to first determine the function of the system and all the system's components, and then to determine if all of those components are required for its function. If so, then by definition, that system could not have come about by gradual changes. If it did, natural selection would have no reason to select each iteration on the way to functionality, because each in-between step would be at best, useless, and at worst, fatal. The classic example of the former is the eye. Earlier iterations of this incredibly complex system could not see, and would thus be useless. Therefore, natural selection would have no "reason" to pass on the non-functional, half-formed system to future generations. An example of the latter is the clotting cascade: an intricate internal and external feedback system allows blood to clot without a runaway clotting process that might solidify all the blood in the body at once. If the system did not work at all, though, even a minor injury would cause the creature to bleed to death. Objections to the concept of irreducible complexity tend to sidestep actual biochemical mechanisms in favor of conceptual precursors. These argue that light sensing organs were a precursor to the eye, for instance, and did confer survival advantage, and were thus passed down via natural selection. But since tiny steps cannot be demonstrated by which the one evolved into the other, this is a conceptual rather than a physical precursor, much like, as Behe argues, a bicycle might be a precursor to a motorcycle. The former is a much simpler means of transportation on wheels, but you can hardly make small, slight modifications to a bicycle and turn it into a motorcycle from the preexisting components of the bicycle. Even if one were to bring in outside parts to assemble, intermediate phases would still be utterly useless until the whole upgrade were complete. That scenario wouldn't represent evolution anymore, but something else altogether--something called punctuated equilibrium. The theory of punctuated equilibrium tries to rescue evolution from both the quandary of irreducible complexity, as well as the absence of fossil intermediates (which Darwin had predicted we'd be swimming in by now, if his theory were correct). The theory, proposed by Niles Eldredge and Stephen Jay Gould in 1972, holds that evolution occurs in large jumps rather than tiny small changes. This theory reminds me of the deus ex machina literary device: "and then the gods came down and fixed everything." (Only, not God, you understand.) In literature, this device is considered a cop-out. Authors employ it only when they have no idea how to fix the mess they've created. But that's not the case in science, apparently. Discover more Christian podcasts at lifeaudio.com and inquire about advertising opportunities at lifeaudio.com/contact-us.

This week's podcast comes from this blog post, How Salt Affects Insulin Resistance. Discover more Christian podcasts at lifeaudio.com and inquire about advertising opportunities at lifeaudio.com/contact-us.

Even if one were to believe that life evolved on its own, the physical laws are peculiarly conducive to life, apparently fine-tuned to an extraordinary degree. Stephen Hawking wrote in "A Brief History of Time": “The remarkable fact is that the values of these numbers [the constants of physics] seem to have been very finely adjusted to make possible the development of life.” Other prominent (non-believing) scientists who authored books on the subject of anthropic fine-tuning include Roger Penrose, Frank Tipler, and Paul Davies.There are four fundamental forces that define the subatomic world: gravity (which still isn't fully understood), electromagnetism (the attraction of opposite charges, enabling electron orbitals to remain in proximity to the nuclei, necessary for formation of chemical bonds), the strong nuclear force (binding atomic nuclei together), and the weak nuclear force (which allows protons to become neutrons and vice versa). If gravity were much weaker, matter would not be sufficiently attracted to each other and planets and stars wouldn't be able to form. If it were only slightly weaker, stars would not explode and distribute the heavy elements formed in their cores, necessary for life. If gravity were stronger, smaller and thus shorter-lived stars would have formed, burned out faster, and likewise would not have been massive enough to explode and distribute heavy elements for life. If the electromagnetic force were stronger, the electrons would collapse into the nucleus of an atom, rendering chemistry impossible. If it were weaker, electrons would not hover around the nucleus at all, likewise rendering bonding and thus, more complex molecules impossible. If the strong nuclear force were 50% stronger, hydrogen (the simplest atom and starting point for nuclear fusion in stars) would have been consumed in the early universe. If it were 50% weaker, fusion would either not have occurred at all, or would not occur to the degree necessary to form heavier elements. In order to produce adequate carbon and oxygen for life, the strong nuclear force could not deviate from its present strength much at all. If the weak nuclear force were weaker, conversion of neutrons to protons would be much faster, and thus, hydrogen in stars would turn into helium too fast--ultimately causing the stars to burn up too quickly. In addition to these, the ratio of the masses of protons to neutrons is exactly as it must be for DNA to be possible. The masses of neutrons relative to protons are also exactly as they must be to allow heavy elements to form, without causing all stars to collapse into black holes. The convection in earth's core runs on radioactivity. If there were any less fuel, it might not have eventually formed iron, necessary for the production of earth's magnetic field which protects us from the sun's harmful solar wind, or charged particles that might otherwise destroy us. Any more radioactive fuel, and we'd be constantly beset by earthquakes volcanic eruptions, the ash of which would blot out the sun. Along the same lines, if earth were less massive, the magnetic field would be correspondingly weaker. As a result, the solar wind could strip away our atmosphere and thus, our breathable air. If it were more massive, earth's gravity would correspondingly increase, which would at a certain point cause a more uniform surface (no mountains or sea floors). This would distribute the oceans across earth's surface, making us a water world. In order for water to be present on a planet at all, it must orbit its star at a precise distance, called the circumstellar habitable zone; too close and we would experience the same runaway greenhouse effect that is believed to have occurred on Venus (water evaporates, concentrates in the atmosphere, traps the sun's rays, and the temperature eventually becomes an oven). Too far, and it will freeze into an ice planet. The only way to prevent the water from freezing would be to increase atmospheric carbon dioxide to trap the sun's heat, but too much CO2 would mean not enough oxygen necessary to sustain life as we know it. Our sun also has to be exactly the right size. Too small, and it would be a red dwarf, emitting far less light, and most of it in the red end of the spectrum. This would greatly impede photosynthesis, as plants require both sufficient sunlight, and both blue and red spectrum light as well. Impaired photosynthesis means not enough oxygen. A smaller star would also have a much closer circumstellar habitable zone; the problem is, a much closer orbit to a star would dramatically increase the tides on the planet, too. This would cause the planet to become tidally locked, like Pluto and its moon, Charon. This means one side would always face the star, while the other would always face away, causing dramatic temperature variations. If the sun were larger, its light would be more toward the blue end of the spectrum, which would allow for oxygen production, but would leave

This week's podcast comes from this blog post, Does Salt Raise Your Blood Pressure? Discover more Christian podcasts at lifeaudio.com and inquire about advertising opportunities at lifeaudio.com/contact-us.

Rev. David Peterson is an ordained pastor and board-certified chaplain, with over thirty years of experience in ministry to congregations, as well as chaplaincy experience in hospitals, fire/EMS, law enforcement and hospice. He's provided emotional and spiritual care on the scenes of devastating events from 9/11 to school shootings and various community tragedies and in 1994, founded Shepherd’s Staff Pastoral Services, where he was able to provide spiritual care to thousands via chaplains he trained and placed at long term care facilities across the U.S. A study in resiliency and forgiveness, David has lived all his life with tremors in his hands and arms and navigated the bullying, harassment and embarrassing moments it has invited from those who lack understanding and empathy. And at the age of 12, he was targeted by a neighborhood pedophile who used alcohol, pornography and affirmation to abuse him sexually, emotionally, spiritually and mentally. Years of silence, anger, shame and self-destructive behaviors followed before healing and forgiveness transformed him. David and his wife, Arden — as well as their four sons and their families — reside in Chesapeake, Virginia. To learn more about Pastor David or to get his books, go to davidpetersonbooks.com To check out some of his sermons, see - apostles-lutheran.org Discover more Christian podcasts at lifeaudio.com and inquire about advertising opportunities at lifeaudio.com/contact-us.

Dr. Tait is the founder of ORIGEN Orthopedics and Optimal Health, a medical practice that applies the principles of Functional and Regenerative Medicine with the goal of helping patients lengthen the lifespan of their joints, while simultaneously improving their total health and quality of life. ORIGEN is the only Orthopedic clinic in the region exclusively focused on non-surgical solutions. Dr. Tait has authored three books and has created two courses on his Integrative Regenerative approach to Orthopedic care and optimal health. He gives more than a dozen talks per year on his unique approach to optimizing one’s human potential. To learn more about Dr Tait, see www.origenortho.com ebook: 3 Reasons Doctors Never Get Surgery: tinuyrl.com/neversurgery Video: Stem Cell 101 Masterclass: tinyurl.com/helphealing Discover more Christian podcasts at lifeaudio.com and inquire about advertising opportunities at lifeaudio.com/contact-us.

Today's meditation comes from Psalms 6, 38, 39, 42, and 43. Discover more Christian podcasts at lifeaudio.com and inquire about advertising opportunities at lifeaudio.com/contact-us.

Today's podcast comes from this blog post, How Alkalinity Reduces Risk of Metabolic Disease. Discover more Christian podcasts at lifeaudio.com and inquire about advertising opportunities at lifeaudio.com/contact-us.

Bonnie Gray is a Soul Care mentor and the author of Breathe: 21 Days to Stress Less and Transform Chaos to Calm, Whispers of Rest, Finding Spiritual Whitespace and Sweet Like Jasmine, an ECPA 2022 Christian Book Award Finalist. Heaving healed from PTSD, Bonnie is passionate about helping thousands of listeners detox stress and flourish in emotional wellness with God’s love through soul care, Bible Study and prayer. Bonnie is a trusted voice writing for Proverbs 31, Christianity Today and Relevant Magazine. To learn more about Bonnie, subscribe to BREATHE: The Stress Less Podcast, take her Soul Care Quiz at SoulCareQuiz.com, find her book at thebreathebook.com or follow her at @thebonniegray on Instagram. Discover more Christian podcasts at lifeaudio.com and inquire about advertising opportunities at lifeaudio.com/contact-us.

This week's podcast comes from this blog review of Preventing and Dissolving Kidney Stones. Discover more Christian podcasts at lifeaudio.com and inquire about advertising opportunities at lifeaudio.com/contact-us.

Don Newman has more than twenty years of experience in ministry and leading prayer, and is also the acting Executive Director of Publishing for Salem Author Services, a division of Salem Media Group. As a passionate historian of the church and revival, Don has benefited from the writings and stories of many great intercessors of the church, including some of his own ancestors. These inspired truths are all part of his new book Praying for Reign. It is easy to underestimate the impact of prayer; however, Don believes we can develop a thoughtful, intentional prayer practice—a practice rooted in understanding the types of prayers God yearns for us to pray. Cultivating this type of prayer practice is revolutionary, both of our own lives and the world around us. It’s the first step for those who wish to be a part of the army that establishes God’s kingdom here on earth… and it all starts when we learn how to Pray for Reign. Don and his wife Tracee live in Central Florida. They have been married for almost 40 years and have three children and six grand-children. You can preorder "Praying for Reign" here, or you can get his previous books "Respond Up" here, or "Don't Just Speak It, Write It" here. See his YouTube channel, Living a Life Worth Remembering, here. You can also join his private prayer group on Facebook - just search for "Praying for Reign" and ask to join! Discover more Christian podcasts at lifeaudio.com and inquire about advertising opportunities at lifeaudio.com/contact-us.

This podcast come from this blog post on the Health Benefits of Nattokinase. https://www.drlaurendeville.com/health-benefits-of-nattokinase/ Discover more Christian podcasts at lifeaudio.com and inquire about advertising opportunities at lifeaudio.com/contact-us.

Dr. Richard Ruhling was board-certified in Internal Medicine and had a Cardiology Fellowship before teaching Health Science at Loma Linda University, a community featured on the National Geographic cover story on Longevity as the only ‘Blue Zone’ for health in North America. There, he gained insights on how the body is designed for self-healing, without the need of prescription drugs that have become a leading cause of illness and death. For more on Dr Ruhling, see his website, healthhappinessdestiny.com. Discover more Christian podcasts at lifeaudio.com and inquire about advertising opportunities at lifeaudio.com/contact-us.

Dr. Glenn Daman is a pastor in Stevenson, Washington with over 35 years of experience in the pulpit. Author of 'The Lighthouse: Discovering Security in the Radiance of God's Character', as well as five books related to rural church ministry, he is a graduate of Western Seminary and Trinity Evangelical Seminary. He serves on the Board of Directors of Village Missions. Glenn and his wife, Becky, have two children. He enjoys photography and woodworking. To learn more about Dr. Daman, see theattributesofgod.net or you can get his book on Amazon here: https://amzn.to/3IZespi Discover more Christian podcasts at lifeaudio.com and inquire about advertising opportunities at lifeaudio.com/contact-us.

This week's podcast comes from this blog post on My Do-It-Yourself Skincare Routine: https://www.drlaurendeville.com/my-do-it-yourself-natural-skincare-routine/ Discover more Christian podcasts at lifeaudio.com and inquire about advertising opportunities at lifeaudio.com/contact-us.

Commands to praise or be thankful:Sacrifices of thanksgiving were commanded for the Israelites: Levicitus 7:12-15, but He wanted it to be from their own free will (Lev 22:29)Deut 10:20-21: "You shall fear the Lord your God; you shall serve Him, and to Him you shall hold fast, and take oaths in His name. He is your praise, and He is your God, who has done for you these great and awesome things which your eyes have seen."Many of the psalms are trying to stir up the speaker or the crowd to praise, vowing "I will" praise (sometime in the future), or do such-and-such, that I might praise, or (these people) will praise, or saying "let me" or "let [some third party]" praise the Lord, as if asking for God's help in doing it, in addition to actually praising God:Psalm 9:11: "Sing praises to the Lord, who dwells in Zion! Declare His deeds among the people."Psalm 29:1: "Give unto the Lord, O you mighty ones, Give unto the Lord glory and strength."Psalm 30:4: "Sing praise to the Lord, you saints of His, And give thanks at the remembrance of His holy name."Psalm 33:2: "Praise the Lord with the harp; Make melody to Him with an instrument of ten strings."Psalm 47:1, 6-7: "Oh, clap your hands, all you peoples! Shout to God with the voice of triumph!... Sing praises to God, sing praises! Sing praises to our King, sing praises! For God is the King of all the earth; Sing praises with understanding."Psalm 66:1-2, 8: "Make a joyful shout to God, all the earth! Sing out the honor of His name; Make His praise glorious.... Oh, bless our God, you peoples! And make the voice of His praise to be heard."Psalm 68:4, 32: "Sing to God, sing praises to His name; Extol Him who rides on the clouds, By His name Yah, And rejoice before Him... Sing to God, you kingdoms of the earth; Oh, sing praises to the Lord, Selah"Psalm 98:4: "Shout joyfully to the Lord, all the earth; Break forth in song, rejoice, and sing praises."Psalm 100:4: "Enter into His gates with thanksgiving, And into His courts with praise. Be thankful to Him, and bless His name."Psalm 117:1: "Praise the Lord, all you Gentiles! Laud Him, all you peoples!"Romans 15:11: “Praise the Lord, all you Gentiles! Laud Him, all you peoples!”2 Cor 2:14: "Now thanks be to God who always leads us in triumph in Christ, and through us diffuses the fragrance of His knowledge in every place."2 Cor 4:15: "For all things are for your sakes, that grace, having spread through the many, may cause thanksgiving to abound to the glory of God."We should bring praise to God (when people see us): Eph 1:11-12: "In Him also we have obtained an inheritance, being predestined according to the purpose of Him who works all things according to the counsel of His will, that we who first trusted in Christ should be to the praise of His glory."The Holy Spirit in us is to the praise of His glory: Eph 1:13-14When we bear fruits of righteousness, it is to God's glory and praise: Phil 1:11Our faith brings praise to God: 1 Peter 1:7Eph 5:20: "giving thanks always for all things to God the Father in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ."Col 3:15: "And let the peace of God rule in your hearts, to which also you were called in one body; and be thankful."Col 4:2: "Continue earnestly in prayer, being vigilant in it with thanksgiving"1 Thess 5:18: "in everything give thanks; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you."1 Tim 2:1: "Therefore I exhort first of all that supplications, prayers, intercessions, and giving of thanks be made for all men,"1... Discover more Christian podcasts at lifeaudio.com and inquire about advertising opportunities at lifeaudio.com/contact-us.

This week's podcast comes from this blog post, Keeping Your Glycocalyx Healthy https://www.drlaurendeville.com/keeping-your-glycocalyx-healthy/ Discover more Christian podcasts at lifeaudio.com and inquire about advertising opportunities at lifeaudio.com/contact-us.

Mimi Kroger is a powerful Health & Weight Loss Coach with a heart for helping others healthrough Biblical principles. After healing from an eating disorder, body image issues, lupus, and other life traumas with God’s help, Mimi started Healthy Happy & Heavenly to guide her clients to health and wholeness rooted in a relationship with the Holy Spirit. Her mission is to bring others into the same freedom she’s received through faith-based coaching, nutritional guidance, and discovering the root causes of emotions. As a bestselling author, speaker, nationally certified personal trainer, nutrition guide, and behavior change specialist, Mimiempowers her clients to become the healthiest versions of themselves - mind, body, and spirit. Mimi is a mom to an awesome adult son, and she resides in Colorado with her loving husband, Ben. They have one tenacious Yorkie named Hugs!To learn more about Mimi, see healthyhappyandheavenly.com. Discover more Christian podcasts at lifeaudio.com and inquire about advertising opportunities at lifeaudio.com/contact-us.

Dr. Peter Kozlowski uses a broad array of tools to find the source of the body's dysfunction: he takes the time to listen to his patients and plots their history on a timeline, considering what makes them unique and co-creating with them a truly individualized care plan. Currently, he works with patients online and in person via his Chicago, Illinois, and Bozeman, Montana-based offices. Dr. Kozlowski did his residency in Family Practice but started training in Functional Medicine as an intern. He trained in the clinics with leaders in his field, including Dr. Mark Hyman, Dr. Deepak Chopra, and Dr. Susan Blum. He is the author of “Get the Func Out” and “Un-Func Your Gut.”To learn more about Dr Koz, see doc-koz.comYou can get his book "Get the Func Out" here: https://www.amazon.com/Get-Func-Out-Functional-Medicine-ebook/dp/B0B9RNYNZN/ref=sr_1_1?crid=CNLO8SH0BZHV&keywords=get+the+func+out+peter+kozlowski&qid=1670010607&sprefix=Get+the+func%2Caps%2C379&sr=8-1and "Un-Func Your Gut" here: https://www.amazon.com/Unfunc-Your-Gut-Functional-Emotional-ebook/dp/B095L4DV4D/ref=sr_1_2?qid=1670010629&refinements=p_27%3APeter+Kozlowski+MD&s=digital-text&sr=1-2&text=Peter+Kozlowski+MD Discover more Christian podcasts at lifeaudio.com and inquire about advertising opportunities at lifeaudio.com/contact-us.

Hermann Eben has served in various executive management roles for 40+ years in the business arena. Hermann’s world was devastated in 1991 when he received a phone call. The caller told him that his wife, Louie, was having an affair and that a package would be coming to prove the allegations. After seeing the evidence, he called his pastor, who decided it would be best for Hermann and Louie to meet with Dr. Marlin Howe to work through their relationship. The church had been using Dr. Howe’s Hope for the Family video series for about five years.God did a fantastic thing and restored their marriage. After a couple of years of God’s blessing and healing, Hermann and Louie decided, with the approval of the church elders, to use their experience to help others. And that is what they have been doing for 30 years. With the foundation of Dr. Howe’s work and blessing, Hermann developed GR8 Relationships (www.gr8relate.com) in 2000. He and Louie have held countless weekend seminars, met with couples one-on-one, and facilitated weekly study groups. Together they are on a mission to restore marriages and relationships.For more on Hermann and Louie and to get their materials, see www.gr8relate.com Discover more Christian podcasts at lifeaudio.com and inquire about advertising opportunities at lifeaudio.com/contact-us.

This week's podcast comes from this blog post: Glutathione, Master Antioxidant https://www.drlaurendeville.com/articles/glutathione-master-antioxidant/ Discover more Christian podcasts at lifeaudio.com and inquire about advertising opportunities at lifeaudio.com/contact-us.

Jack Countryman is the founder of JCountryman gift books— adivision of Thomas Nelson—and is the recipient of theEvangelical Christian Publishers Association’s Jordan LifetimeAchievement Award. Over the past thirty years, he hasdeveloped bestselling gift books such as God’s Promises for YourEvery Need®, God’s Promises for Men®, God’s Promises forWomen®, God’s Blessings Just for You® and The Red LetterWords of Jesus. Countryman’s books have sold more than 27million units.To get Jack's new book, the Miracle of Peace, see here: https://www.amazon.com/Miracle-Peace-Find-Every-Challenge-ebook/dp/B09Z95PF6X/ref To get God's Promises for Your Every Need, see here: https://www.amazon.com/Gods-Promises-Your-Every-Need-ebook/dp/B00AQ0AO9G/ref Discover more Christian podcasts at lifeaudio.com and inquire about advertising opportunities at lifeaudio.com/contact-us.

In this special episode, Dr. Deville shares a preview of Life After Addiction, a free podcast that discusses life, addiction, and recovery all from a biblical worldview. Discover more episodes of Life After Addiction: Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/life-after-addiction/id1369658074Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/0kXYdWEjco8VwTvePNsmpLLifeAudio: https://www.lifeaudio.com/life-after-addiction Discover more Christian podcasts at lifeaudio.com and inquire about advertising opportunities at lifeaudio.com/contact-us.

Today's podcast comes from this blog post, The Adverse Effects of PPIs: https://www.drlaurendeville.com/articles/the-adverse-effects-of-ppis/If you're interested in finding a doctor near you, see: https://wholehealthdr.com/ Discover more Christian podcasts at lifeaudio.com and inquire about advertising opportunities at lifeaudio.com/contact-us.

Today's meditation comes from John 4:1-42. Afterword: I didn't include this story in my "Daughters of Zion" biblical retellings (you can find that here: https://www.amazon.com/Daughters-Zion-Biblical-Retellings-Gray-ebook/dp/B08XJLWZG2/?_encoding=UTF8&pd_rd_w=26DTl&content-id=amzn1.sym.e4bd6ac6-9035-4a04-92a6-fc4ad60e09ad&pf_rd_p=e4bd6ac6-9035-4a04-92a6-fc4ad60e09ad&pf_rd_r=ETX87PBBDTT19TDXZC6Z&pd_rd_wg=WUc3Q&pd_rd_r=3c275bbc-e63d-462c-a711-66ae5d526364&ref_=pd_gw_ci_mcx_mr_hp_atf_m) only because the theme of that book was miracles experienced by women, and not just biblical stories in which a woman was prominently featured. Otherwise, this would have been one of the big ones. The story only appears in the gospel of John, though it makes sense why John specifically would have chosen to include it. The theme of his gospel is love. The Jews of Jesus' day scorned Samaritans, and from a religious standpoint, it would seem that there were good reasons for this. The Samaritans were Jews who had intermarried with pagans of neighboring nations, violating God's commandments to Joshua (Joshua 23:11-13), and falling prey to the doctrine of Balaam (from Numbers 23-24). God specifically told the Jews not to intermarry with those who worshipped other gods, lest they be led into idolatry. But when Assyria captured Samaria (2 Kings 17:5-41), the Assyrian king sent foreigners into the land who worshipped other gods. The Jews there did intermarry with them, and incorporated their pagan practices into their worship of Yahweh as well. Because of this, devout Jews wanted nothing to do with Samaritans, and wouldn't allow them to worship at their temple. The Samaritans had thus erected their own temple for worship instead (John 4:19-20). Even among her fellow Samaritans, though, this woman was an outcast. This is implied by the fact that she went alone to the well in the heat of the day, rather than in the morning when it was cooler, with all the other women. Her story, as Jesus revealed it, indicates the probable reason for this: her immoral behavior presumably caused the respectable women of the town to look down on her. This was probably why she was so shocked when Jesus spoke to her, even humbling himself to the point of asking her for a favor. (I'm sure He really did want a drink, though, as we're told earlier in the story that He was weary from his journey, and it was mid-afternoon so possibly it was hot, John 4:6. The story never mentions that the woman actually gave Him a drink, so as I wrote the retelling, I kept thinking, He's still thirsty...) Jesus' humility in asking the woman for a favor probably lowered her defense mechanisms initially, but I love how Jesus proceeded to dismantle whatever remained of them with just a few sentences. Every "chick flick" or "chick lit" story features an archetypical down-and-out heroine, embittered by the adversities of life. She then surreptitiously encounters a romantic hero who is the very embodiment of perfection. He's not only handsome, confident, and kind, but also several rungs above her on the social ladder to boot--but he's never arrogant about it. He sees through our heroine's prickly defenses to the soft heart she's trying to protect, and he's absolutely taken with her. From that point on, he pursues her relentlessly, refusing to be dissuaded. Try as she might, she can't resist him--because as frightened as she is of letting herself be vulnerable, all she's ever wanted is for someone to look past her faults, see her for who she truly is, and love her anyway. She falls in... Discover more Christian podcasts at lifeaudio.com and inquire about advertising opportunities at lifeaudio.com/contact-us.

Dr. Nasha Winters is a global healthcare authority and best-selling author in integrative cancer care and research consulting with physicians around the world. She has educated hundreds of professionals in the clinical use of mistletoe and has created robust educational programs for both healthcare institutions and the public on incorporating vetted integrative therapies in cancer care to enhance outcomes. Dr. Winters is currently focused on opening a comprehensive metabolic oncology hospital and research institute in the US where the best that standard of care has to offer and the most advanced integrative therapies will be offered. This facility will be in a residential setting on a gorgeous campus against a backdrop of regenerative farming, EMF mitigation and retreat, as well as state of the art medical technology and data collection and evaluation to improve patient outcomes.To learn more about Dr Nasha, follow her at www.drnasha.com, or follow the progress of her integrative hospital at www.mtih.org. You can also find her book, "The Metabolic Approach to Cancer", here: https://www.drnasha.com/matcbook/ , or her book, "MISTLETOE AND THE EMERGING FUTURE OF INTEGRATIVE ONCOLOGY" here: https://www.themistletoebook.com Discover more Christian podcasts at lifeaudio.com and inquire about advertising opportunities at lifeaudio.com/contact-us.