HEALING GOD’S WAY

Addressing the mind-body-spirit connection.
Kiri Christina Hyatt, editor

-----------------------------------------

You may forward this newsletter to anyone you feel could benefit from it.
To receive Healing God’s Way:

http://www.aocommunities.org/news.htm

===============================================

1. MINISTRY ARTICLE: TRAIN WRECKS
   By Kiri Christina Hyatt (c)

It was October 2006 when I sat at a bus stop about 130 yards from some railroad tracks. Suddenly the familiar ding-a-ling sound of the crossing gates coming down filled the air. A thought instantly popped into my mind, "oh no, what if the train falls off the tracks?"

That thought may seem like a peculiar thought to you but not to people who live around me. I live in Bexar County (pronounced bear) which has miles of Union Pacific rail track, much of it

inside the San Antonio city limits. Union Pacific has a problem. Their trains keep falling off the tracks. Since mid 2004 trains have been derailing on a regular basis.

On October 17, 2006, about 1100 yards from my home, and a block from that bus stop, seventeen boxcars left the tracks. Two of the boxcars would end up in people’s homes. Fortunately no one was inside either of the homes at the time, but one house was damaged beyond repair. An entire neighborhood was traumatized. I live only 280 yards from those same tracks, one small block away.

So a week later when I heard the familiar sound of the crossing gates announcing that a train was approaching it was reasonable that I might have a moment of fear. In fact as I have reviewed newspaper articles in preparation for writing I came across the story of a man who is suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder as a direct result of the train crash. Watching a train jump the tracks and plow into your neighbor’s house would be a scary event.

Since that day I have done something that everyone should do but very few people actually do. That is to analyze our thoughts. The question to answer is not why did I think that thought, but where did that thought come from? That is, who put that thought into my head?

Most of us assume our thoughts are our own thoughts. We assume we are producing the thoughts we think. If it flows through my brain, then I must have thought it. That is simply not true. The truth is our thoughts come from several sources.

I am a spirit being who can think and lives in a body. The same is true for you. Your body is not you, it is just your house. Because we are spirit beings other spirits can communicate with us. The Holy Spirit can communicate to us. Angels can communicate to us. Demons can also communicate to us. Not everything that pops in your mind or my mind is a thought that originated from you or me. Many of our thoughts come from other spirits.

We need to become discerning about the thoughts that enter our brain. Is that thought really from me or from a spirit. Some thoughts of course do come from our own minds. A few minutes ago I thought, "I am hungry". I really was hungry and so I got up and made myself something to eat.

Many thoughts though come from somewhere else. They seem to just pop into our heads. We need to recognize those thoughts and become discerning as to their origins.

First John 4:1 says, "Beloved, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits, whether they are of God…"

We need to learn to test our thoughts. After I analyzed the thought that popped into my head while waiting at the bus stop, I realized it had not come from me. That thought seemed to have come out of nowhere. I had not feared another train derailment so it made no since for me to think something like that. In fact as I thought about that thought, I realized it had come from another source. Another spirit had spoken those words to me and at the time I had simply assumed I was the thinker.

It also was not something the Holy Spirit would have told me. I know that because this thought produced a moment of fear.

Second Timothy 1:7 says, "For God has not given us a spirit of fear…"

If a thought produces fear, then most likely the Holy Spirit is not the author of that thought. Also, the thought did not instruct me to act. If God or one of His angels had been speaking to me, first, I would have been told to run or something like that, and second, the train then would have actually derailed. Paralyzing fear never comes from God.

The thought I had on that October day clearly came from a demon. He spoke to my spirit in a way to trick me into thinking that the thought came from me. He spoke fear into my mind. Demons express themselves through humans. When we believe the things they tell us then we are allowing them to express themselves through us.

1 Thessalonians 5:21 says, "Test all things;"

That includes our thoughts.

Dear Heavenly Father,

Help me to remember that I am a spirit being that has a body and a mind. Help me to learn to discern when evil spirits are speaking to me. Help me to learn to reject those thoughts that are not mine but are actually demons trying to express themselves through me. Please send the Holy Spirit to be my teacher in this area of my life. I ask this in the name of Jesus, my Lord and Savior. AMEN.

P.S. It was not a train that caused the crossing gates to be lowered, but a pickup truck fitted to drive on railroad tracks. When I saw that little pickup truck driving down those tracks I burst into laughter.

><> ><> ><> ><>

2. MESSAGE FROM A FRIEND

THE BIG SISSY
One summer evening during a violent thunderstorm, a mother was tucking her small son into bed. She was just about to turn off the light when he asked in a trembling voice, "Mommy, will you sleep with me tonight?" His mother smiled and gave him a reassuring hug. "I can’t, Dear," she said, "I have to sleep with your daddy." After a long silence he said, "The big sissy."

Contributed by: Robert Leroe

><> ><> ><> ><>

3. SITE OF THE WEEK

Find out what is God is doing in my life, in the ministry, and whatever is on my mind.

http://aocommunities.blogspot.com/

If you know of a site that has been very beneficial to you, please let Healing God’s Way know about it

DISCLAIMER: The following news stories are provided as a source of scientific information on mind/body medical research, environmental issues, and other topics.   AOCCCI does not necessarily agree with all the viewpoints or suggestions expressed in these articles. Not all viewpoints and/or therapy modalities recommended in these secular news stories are compatible with Christianity. If you have any questions or doubts about a therapy mentioned in a news story below,feel free to contact AOCCCI for advice.   These news stories are provided as a public service only.  

4.1 Fruits and Veggies Boost Memory
    August 13, 2002
    By Kathleen Doheny, HealthScoutNews Reporter

TUESDAY, July 16 (HealthScoutNews) -- Eating more fruits and vegetables has always been smart, but new research shows just how smart it is.

Two new animal studies have found that antioxidants in fruits and vegetables can improve learning and memory, and they minimize the effect of aging on the brain. Certain foods do a better job of this, the studies show, because they have higher levels of antioxidant activity.

Antioxidants can undo cell damage caused by renegade "free radical" molecules, and previous studies have shown they can prevent disease and improve mental functioning, among other things.

"What we have done is focus on the fruits and vegetables high on the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) list of antioxidants," says Paula Bickford, a senior career scientist at the James A. Haley Veterans Hospital in Tampa and lead author of both studies, just published in the Journal of Neuroscience.

The USDA ranks foods by their antioxidant content. Spinach, spirulina (an algae often sold in capsule form in health food stores) and apples were particularly beneficial for learning and memory, Bickford says.

In the first study, the researchers fed a group of rats a diet rich in spinach, while another group got regular rat chow, all for six weeks. The rats were then measured for their performance on a traditional learning test: They were exposed to a tone, then exposed to a puff of air to the eye. The researchers studied how long it took rats in each group to learn to blink to avoid the air puff.

"The ones on spinach learned to make the association with fewer trials," Bickford says. "By the third day, they were at their learning maximum. It took the [other] rats five or six days to learn.

"We think that what we are experiencing [in the rats] is an improvement in neuron functioning. Because we improve the ability of the neurons to communicate, it is easier for the animals [on the spinach-enriched diets] to learn," she adds.

In the second study, the researchers compared three types of diets, again fed to rats: one group got a diet enriched with spirulina (high in antioxidants), another group got apples (moderate in antioxidant activity), and a third got cucumber, which is low in antioxidants.

"Initially, I was amazed," Bickford says. "We were seeing effects within two weeks with the apple and spirulina diets."

When the rats' brain functioning was evaluated, the researchers found the accumulation of inflammatory substances in the brain that typically occurs with age had been reversed in those on the apple and spirulina diets, and that they had better neuron functioning.

The amount of apple in the apple-enriched diet, for instance, was about 1 percent of the diet, Bickford says, which translates to about an apple a day.

Bickford can't say the study applies to humans, but she thinks it might.

"I've always eaten a lot of fruits and vegetables," she says. Since the study results, she's boosted her intake even more, she adds.

Another antioxidant researcher says the study is interesting, but not yet reason enough to change your diet.

"We have done similar studies," says Raj Sohal, a professor of molecular pharmacology and toxicology at the University of Southern California School of Pharmacy in Los Angeles.

In one instance, Sohal and his team gave animals supplements of the antioxidant vitamin E and found it improved memory in up to 15 percent of the animals.

The unanswered question, he says, is, "to what extent are we correcting a deficiency?" When and if that is the case, he adds, someone who already gets the recommended amounts of antioxidants may not benefit by taking even higher amounts.

"These are just preliminary," he says of the Florida studies. "They have to be replicated. The study is interesting in the sense that these kinds of studies are needed."

However, it shouldn't, for instance, cause a cucumber lover to give up the vegetable, he adds.

~~~~~~~~~~~~

4.2 Fruit, Veggies Tied to Lower Pancreatic Cancer Risk
    Apr 01, 2005
    By Amy Norton

NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - New research from Canada suggests that a diet rich in fruits and vegetables may help prevent pancreatic cancer, a particularly deadly type of tumor.

The findings, based on a comparison of 585 pancreatic cancer patients and about 4,779 adults without the disease, suggest that the risk of the cancer declines as fruit and vegetable intake increases.

Among cancers, pancreatic tumors have one of the most dismal survival rates, with less than 5 percent of patients still alive 5 years after diagnosis. The poor prognosis is in large part due to the fact that the disease is rarely caught early.

Because of this, uncovering the modifiable risk factors for the disease is vital, according to Dr. Parviz Ghadirian of the University of Montreal, one of the authors of the new study.

Using data from a large study of Canadians diagnosed with cancer between 1994 and 1997, Ghadirian and his colleagues found that higher intakes of fresh fruit and cruciferous vegetables, such as broccoli and cauliflower, were associated with a lower risk of pancreatic cancer.

For reasons that are unclear, the relationship was confined to men; those with the highest fruit and vegetable intakes were about half as likely to develop pancreatic cancer as those with the lowest intakes. There was no clear association between diet and pancreatic cancer risk among women.

The findings, published in the International Journal of Cancer, add to a growing body of evidence on the role of diet in pancreatic cancer risk. Some research has tied higher consumption of fruits, vegetables and fiber to a lower risk of the disease, while other studies have suggested that diets heavy in saturated fat, salted meats or dairy products may raise the risk.

In the current study all of the subjects filled out questionnaires on their lifestyle habits, which included reporting how often they'd eaten various foods over the previous two years.

In a separate newly published study of the same group, Ghadirian and his colleagues found that the antioxidant lycopene, specifically, appeared protective against pancreatic cancer -- again, only men.

Lycopene, obtained mainly through tomatoes and tomato products, belongs to a family of plant compounds called carotenoids, some of which are converted in the body to the antioxidant vitamin A.

In the current study, adults with high intakes of fruits and vegetables tended to favor fresh fruits like apples, oranges and cantaloupe, and cruciferous vegetables like broccoli and cauliflower. These foods, Ghadirian and his colleagues note, are key sources of carotenoids and vitamin C. another antioxidant that has been tied to lower pancreatic cancer risk.

It's thought that antioxidants may help ward off cancer by mopping up oxygen free radicals -- molecules that, though a natural byproduct of metabolism, can result in potentially disease-causing damage to cells over time.

With its often rapidly fatal course, the only way to address pancreatic cancer right now is through prevention, Ghadirian and his colleagues note in their report.

Not smoking is one way to do that, Ghadirian said, and following a diet rich in fiber, fruits and vegetables may be another.

SOURCE: International Journal of Cancer, May 1, 2005.

~~~~~~~~~~~~

4.3 Fruits, vegetables guard against lung cancer: study
    September 27, 2005

CHICAGO (Reuters) - A diet rich in fruits and vegetables appears to provide protection against lung cancer, according to research published on Tuesday.

The agents believed responsible are plant-derived compounds known as phytoestrogens found in soy products, grains, carrots, spinach, broccoli and other fruits and vegetables, the report from the University of Texas M.D. Anderson Cancer Center in Houston said.

The compounds have been shown to have a protective effect against some solid tumors but there has been little research focused on dietary intake and lung cancer, the study added.

"Our main findings were that patients with lung cancer tended to consume lower amounts of phytoestrogens" than healthy people without the disease, the report said.

The apparent benefits were found in both people who never smoked and those who were still smoking -- but it was less evident in people who had quit smoking, for reasons that were not clear, the report added.

Smokers are 20 to 30 times more likely than non-smokers to contract lung cancer, one of the deadliest types of cancer, according to U.S. government figures.

The findings were based on a look at 1,674 lung cancer patients and 1,735 matched healthy people with similar backgrounds who were interviewed from July 1995 through October 2003.

IMPORTANCE OF DIET

The study was published in this week's Journal of the American Medical Association, along with an editorial from researchers at Dartmouth-Hitchcock Medical Center in Lebanon, New Hampshire, who said doctors need to talk more with their patients about the importance of diet in preventing cancer.

"Patients should be informed that they may further reduce their risk of developing cancer by adopting a diet rich in fruits and vegetables," the editorial said.

In a related study published in the same issue researchers at Copenhagen University Hospital in Denmark said heavy smokers -- defined as those who go through more than 15 cigarettes a day -- can reduce their lung cancer risk by cutting back, although the reduction is not proportional.

"A smoker who cuts back on the number of cigarettes by half reduces the risk of lung cancer not by half, but by 25 percent. So the risk is reduced but not just as much as the number of cigarettes," said Nina Godtfredsen, chief author of the study.

"Reducing tobacco consumption from approximately 20 cigarettes per day to less than 10 was associated with a 27 percent reduction in lung cancer risk compared with unchanged heavy smoking," the study said.

"Participants who were continued light smokers or who quit smoking ... reduced their lung cancer risk by 56 percent and 50 percent, respectively, compared with persistent heavy smokers," the researchers added.

The research involved 11,151 men and 8,563 women, aged 20 to 93, who attended two consecutive examinations from five to 10 years apart between 1964 and 1988, with several years of follow-up

~~~~~~~~~~~~

4.4  Fruit and vegetables cut stroke risk: study
     By Patricia Reaney
     Jan 26, 2006

Eating more than the recommended five portions of fruit and vegetables a day can further reduce the odds of suffering a stroke, researchers said on Friday.

An analysis of eight studies that looked into the impact of fruit and vegetables on stroke showed that the more healthy foods people consumed, the less likely they were to have a stroke, which is a leading cause of disability and death.

"For the first time we have shown a quantitative relationship between fruit and vegetable consumption and stroke," said

Professor Graham MacGregor of St George's medical school at the University of London.

"It has been known that fruit and vegetables seem to reduce stroke but it wasn't known how much they did it by," he added in an interview.

In the analysis of research involving more than 257,500 people from Japan, Europe and the United States, the scientists found that people who ate more than five servings of fruit and vegetables a day had a 26 percent reduction in stroke compared to individuals who consumed less than three servings daily.

"It is a very important finding because it really shows that the quantity of fruit and vegetables you should be eating is more than five a day," MacGregor said.

The average fruit and vegetable consumption a day in most developed countries is 3-5 servings. A serving of vegetables is 77 grams (2.7 ounces) and 80 grams (2.8 ounces) for fruit, according to MacGregor and his team.

INCREASED POTASSIUM

Strokes are caused by a blockage in an artery leading to the brain or bleeding in or around the brain. About 17 million people die each year of cardiovascular diseases, particularly heart attacks and strokes. High blood pressure, diabetes, smoking, raised cholesterol, obesity and lack of exercise are risk factors.

Fruit and vegetables are full of nutrients such as vitamin C, beta carotene and potassium as well as plant proteins and dietary fiber.

The researchers suspect that potassium is an important factor in preventing stroke.

"We've know that if you give people addition potassium it lowers blood pressure," said MacGregor, who reported the research in The Lancet medical journal.

"By increasing to five servings a day from three you would increase your potassium intake by about 50 percent," he added.

MacGregor said fruit and vegetables also are less calorie-dense, have very little fat and contain antioxidants which may also be beneficial.

~~~~~~~~~~~~

4.5 Americans still not eating their veggies, CDC says
    Mar 15, 2007

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Americans are not eating anywhere near enough fruits and vegetables and are putting themselves at risk of heart disease, cancer and other health problems, government researchers reported on Thursday.

Fewer than a third of more than 300,000 people surveyed in 2005 said they ate the absolute minimum recommended number of fruits and vegetables, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention researchers found.

"In 2005, approximately 32.6 percent of the U.S. adult population surveyed consumed fruit two or more times per day, and 27.2 percent ate vegetables three or more times per day," Heidi Blanck and colleagues wrote in the CDC's weekly report on death and disease.

U.S. government health experts say people should eat at least five servings a day of fruit and vegetables, and the newest guidelines advise that adults eat three to five servings of fruit and four to eight servings of vegetables every day.

These recommendations are based on medical studies that have shown that people who eat any less of these foods have higher rates of obesity, heart disease, cancer and perhaps diabetes, Alzheimer's and other diseases.

Blanck's team used data from the 2005 Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System, which is a long interview of adults about health and eating habits.

They used the interviews of 305,504 adults, asked questions such as how many potatoes they eat a day, not including French fries, fried potatoes or potato chips, or how many carrots.

College graduates, people who earned more than $50,000 a year and people of healthy weight ate the most fruits and vegetables. Men ate the fewest vegetables, with just 22 percent reaching the three servings a day level.

Blanks said the findings show that CDC and other agencies need to do more to persuade Americans to eat fruits and vegetables.

===============================================

Healing God’s Way is published bi-weekly by Alpha Omega Christian Communities For The Chemically Injured, inc. (AOCCCI), a Ministry sustained by the prayers and contributions of you, our supporters.

Amazon

There are many links to Amazon available on AOCCCI’s web site. Some links are to books or services you might find helpful. Other links allow you to do your own search. A percentage of every purchase you make from Amazon, when you go through AOCCCI’s web site, goes towards the work of AOCCCI.

You are welcome to submit a testimony,story, or message that you feel will help others toward the path to spiritual, emotional, and physical healing.