As we age, we tend to gain weight, especially in our abdomens. In addition to making it more difficult to fit into last year’s swimsuit, belly fat can have a significant impact on our health.

That’s because the fat doesn’t just sit there, spoiling your silhouette. Belly fat and its companion, visceral fat—the fat that hides deep in your body—continuously create inflammatory compounds that wreak havoc in your body, increasing the risk of heart disease, diabetes, cancer and many other conditions.

Don’t despair, though, because there are seven surefire ways to melt belly fat away.

1. Exercise before breakfast. A British study found that exercising before breakfast burns more body fat than exercising later in the day. As an added bonus, greater amounts of artery-clogging fats in the blood that cause heart attacks are reduced in early morning workouts. Participants underwent three trials one to two weeks apart, involving walking briskly for an hour before eating breakfast, taking the same walk after eating breakfast, or not exercising at all. Although exercising increased the amount of fat their bodies burned when compared to not exercising, exercising before breakfast caused a greater loss of fat—up to 33 percent more than exercising after breakfast.

2. Eat good fats. A diet rich in monounsaturated fats (MUFAs), such as olive oil, avocados, nuts and seeds, can help melt away belly fat. Most experts agree that olive oil is one of the best for cooking and salads because of its high MUFA content, which lowers LDL (“bad”) cholesterol. In addition, olive oil contains compounds that signal to your brain that your stomach’s full, causing you to eat less and feel satiated longer.

3. Jog instead of lifting weights. Researchers at Duke University found that aerobic exercise is a much more efficient way to lose belly fat than resistance training or a combination of the two. A study of overweight adults ages 18 to 70 determined that aerobic training burned 67 percent more calories when compared to resistance training.

4. Eliminate trans fats. Although large amounts of trans fats have been eliminated from many foods, it’s still hanging around in some vegetable shortenings, cookies and snack foods. (Beware of the ingredient “partially hydrogenated oil”). Research at Wake Forrest University found that monkeys who were fed a Western-style diet that included trans fats gained 7.2 percent more body weight than those who were fed a diet of monounsaturated fats, such as olive oil. The number of calories and amount of fat in both diets was identical. Most of the weight gain was in the abdominal area.

5. Reduce stress. When you’re stressed, your body releases a powerful hormonal mixture of adrenaline, cortisol and insulin, which not only increases your appetite and causes your body to produce more fat, but also usually sends the extra fat straight to your waistline. For an immediate reduction in stress, close your eyes and take long, slow, deep breaths for about five minutes. Your stress level will fall—and so should those belly-bursting hormones. 

6. Get enough sleep. Not getting enough sleep can throw off your body’s natural rhythm and cause you to produce a great quantity of fat-inducing hormones, similar to hormones created when you’re stressed. One study found that people who got sufficient sleep gained less belly fat over a five-year period when compared to those who were sleep-deprived.

7. Eat fiber. Researchers at Wake Forest Baptist Medical Center found that simply eating more soluble fiber from vegetables and fruits reduces visceral fat. They found that every 10-gram increase in soluble fiber eaten each day decreased the amount of belly fat by 3.7 percent over five years. Adding moderate activity decreased belly fat even further to 7.4 percent. Foods high in soluble fiber include apples, oats, peas and beans. Two small apples contain 10 grams of soluble fiber.

A study from Penn State found that people who ate a healthy diet that included all whole grains lost more belly fat than people who ate the same diet but ate refined grains instead. In addition, their levels of C-reactive protein (CRP) were lowered by 38 percent, while levels remained the same in the group who ate refined grains. High levels of CRP are linked to heart disease.

For the original article, visit .

Suffering and crises of faith were no strangers to the life and ministry of itinerate Bible teacher and author Ron Dunn.

Despite Dunn’s life being marked with personal pain and loss, including his life being cut short by pulmonary fibrosis at the age of 64, his influence continues to echo through countless pastors and church leaders.

Tom Elliff, president of the SBC’s International Mission board, called Ron Dunn “the prophet.” The late Adrian Rogers said Dunn was “in a class by himself.”

Ron Dunn: His Life and Mission, a new biography by Ron Owens from B&H Publishing, captures the story of a man who became an inspiration and mentor to many of today’s Christian leaders.

Owens’ biography details Dunn’s significant successes early in his ministry, and maintains those times were vital to what was to come later. “What God did in his heart in those days, unknown to him at the moment, was preparation for testings and opportunities ahead that many of us would not choose,” said Owens.

In 1975, he resigned a successful pastorate at MacArthur Boulevard Baptist Church in Irving, Texas, to devote time to teaching and writing. He spoke at conferences around the globe, including becoming the only American to repeatedly speak at the Keswick Conference in England.

Less than three months after beginning his new ministry, he and his wife, Kaye, lost their oldest son Ron Jr. to suicide, which plunged Dunn into a 10-year bout with clinical depression. Later Kaye endured chemotherapy for lymphoma, and their daughter Kim developed complications from an auto accident that ultimately led to the partial amputation of her leg.

Through peaks and valleys, Dunn continued to speak and write until just before his death, encouraging pastors, church leaders and Christians around the world through in-depth, biblical sermons and honest portrayals of his own life.

“Ron was a man of keen intellect, and he loved the study of the Scriptures,” said Owens. “He was never content with a superficial grasp of a passage, but took the time to think, research and pray much over it.”

His first book, Any Christian Can, was published in 1976. He went on to write six books including Will God Heal Me? and Faith Crisis, both of which are being rereleased by B&H to coincide with the new biography.

Dunn’s trials demonstrated that his faith was foundational for him and educational for others.

“He preached out of his pain,” said former LifeWay president Jimmy Draper, “and that was an incredible ministry.”

Elliff said the faith of Dunn and his wife “had been hammered out on the anvil of their own experience.”

“Simply knowing Ron and Kaye had also faced some of life’s extremities gave his message an authenticity that can be gained in no other fashion,” continued Elliff.

Having Dunn as a mentor and friend, Michael Catt, pastor of Sherwood Baptist Church in Albany, Ga., saw him as “a man who lived many days in the valley. Yet regardless of the trial or test, he would ascend to the pulpit to preach of the victory we have in Christ.”

As a preacher and author, Dunn said his purpose was to accurately explain Scripture, which makes it entirely appropriate that, according to those who knew him, his life was a clear demonstration of Philippians 3:10.

Like the Apostle Paul, through many personal trials and tragedies, Dunn strove toward a goal of knowing Christ “and the power of His resurrection and the fellowship of His sufferings.”

For Kaye, that goal comes across in the biography, stating she believes Owens “beautifully and prayerfully captured the essence of Ron’s life and ministry on paper. You will get to know the real Ron Dunn through reading this book.”

Aaron Earls is a writer for LifeWay Christian Resources.

It is of the utmost importance and significance to the kingdom of G-d that at this time the church fully comprehends the unique roles that both Israel and the church are still to play out before Messiah returns. This would also be inclusive of Jewish believers from within the church who are called to be a light back to their own people.

As the apostle Paul has instructed, we are not to be ignorant to this mystery (Rom. 11:25). Yet there seems to be a great deal of misunderstanding in this regard—not simply toward Jewish believers, in how they should reflect their faith in Yeshua, but also in our reconnection as a spiritual family, as up to this point we are so very separate.

In fact, a good amount of what we hear and read from within the church continues to fuel this separation, either through the doctrine of replacement theology that teaches the church has replaced Israel, or through teachings that promote a continued separation right until the end with G-d dealing with Israel on His own apart from the church. However, with all of my heart as a Jewish believer who has come to love his Gentile family as his very own, I believe both of these teachings and positions to be incorrect.

For one moment, let’s look at G-d’s family between Jew and Gentile as a circle. The Jews were brought in first into their half and then removed through their unbelief, while the Gentiles came into their half after Christ through a remnant of Israel that started the church. So, from G-d’s perspective, His spiritual family between Jew and Gentile has never really co-existed. And yet we hear the cry of Jesus from deep within His heart in John 17 that His family would be one. And it does not take much to read between these lines that Jesus was not just referring to all believers being united here in these Scriptures, but also that His Jewish and Gentile family would be one.

Read it carefully and you will see that first He prays for His Jewish apostles and then, in verse 20, He switches to pray for those who will believe in their message, who up to this point are mainly believers from the nations (Gentiles), that we would be one. But the devil has ravaged the relationship between the two groups (Jew and Gentile), because he knows what is at stake when we truly reconnect as a spiritual family, which I will explain in more depth in part 2 of this message.

In light of the end times in which we are living, we must stop looking at Israel and the Jewish people as they are currently and start to see them by faith through the word of G-d, which tells us that the veil over their souls is only temporary and that it will be lifted (Rom 11:25-27). Indeed, Israel is a covenant people who must be spiritually restored before the L-rd returns in accordance to His promises to them through His word. We must begin to see them as part of the family of G-d who is yet to be restored to the circle and love them with the Father’s heart, a Father who longs for His firstborn children to come home. Nothing less will do. We (the rest of G-d’s children in His family) must also begin to see Israel’s spiritual awakening as tantamount to G-d’s end-time glory plan and begin to take it on as our very own. For isn’t that what family is supposed to do for each other? Have we been missing something here?

In fact, I believe that G-d has designed His end-time plan so that neither group can come into its fullness without the other and that we are intricately linked together in His final end time mercy plan to take full dominion over heaven and earth—for Israel to receive salvation and for the church to be G-d’s salvific agent to help bring it to pass. If this is truly the case, then we will need to take a good, hard look at what we currently believe, especially if it is keeping us apart from our divine destiny to help the L-rd return to the earth. Church, this is serious stuff!

I know these are challenging words to many of us, but they are written and bathed in the love of Christ so that, at this time, the body of Messiah through Jew and Gentile would truly unite and understand the depths of their callings to help usher in the final chapter of the book and see Jesus reign upon the earth. For when the church accepts the reality of these circumstances, we will also begin to discover the significance of our own end-time role, which is to help release life back to our firstborn brethren, Israel, and see the family of G-d finally restored. Oh, my G-d, what an honor He is actually bestowing on His end-time church, which is why our generation and the ones that tarry in the church to the L-rd’s coming need to make adjustments toward Israel. Now is the time of their restoration and salvation. As Jesus told us, the first would be last and the last first!

One, With Distinct Roles

To still believe the church has replaced Israel when all of the Scriptures regarding Israel’s restoration to the land have already been fulfilled is silly. Both Moses and the prophets clearly pointed out that Israel would be brought back first and then spiritually cleansed. You must read these Scriptures, for the Word of G-d does not lie (Deut. 30:4-6; ; Ez. 36:22-28)!

If you honestly believe this or are teaching it to the church, you truly need to repent and allow the L-rd to correct your heart as well as your theology and support of His spiritual family, for there is no condemnation in Christ. I would also really encourage you to read my new book, The Ezekiel Generation, which launches in October and addresses this subject in detail where you can find healing and restoration in this regard.

However, there are also many willing believers in the church thinking that the “one new man” in Christ has eliminated any differences between Jews and Gentiles. This also is incorrect. The apostle Paul never meant to eliminate the distinctions between Jewish and Gentile believers, but rather emphasized that in the Spirit of G-d, we now have complete equality and are co-heirs of the promises of Israel’s covenants, both Jew and Gentile alike. This was actually challenging for first-century Gentile believers to process in light of Israel’s rich heritage, which is why the apostle Paul worked so hard to communicate this essential principle to them.

If Paul meant to eliminate the distinctions between Jew and Gentile, then why did he adapt himself when he went back to Jerusalem, so he could effectively reach his own Jewish brethren with the gospel (Acts 21:17-26)? If he truly taught that the distinctions between Jew and Gentile were eliminated in Christ, why did he act in this fashion? No, he was a Jew to the Jews and a Gentile to the Gentiles, because he fully understood those he was ministering to in the hope that he could reach them for G-d (1 Cor. 9:20-23).

The apostle Paul’s emphasis in the Galatian epistle does not eliminate Jew or Gentile but rather focuses us on our position in the Spirit through Christ: “You are all Sons of G-d through faith in Jesus Christ, for all of you were baptized into Christ have clothed yourselves with Christ. There is neither Jew nor Greek, slave nor free, male nor female, for you are all one in Christ. If you belong to Christ, then you are heirs according to the promise” (Gal. 3:26-29).

This is why these different references were good for this analogy, as we know that while as men and women, for example, we are now equal in the Spirit through Christ, it does not eliminate the differences between us as men or women or even husband and wives. But in Christ, we are one!

Nor did it necessarily change a slave’s rights at that time. But it did in the Spirit, and so it is with Jew and Gentile. There is no longer any difference between us as His children, for we are one and are now co-heirs.

We can also see this unity and distinction within the Trinity itself. While the Father, Son and Holy Spirit are all one, they each play out unique and different roles from within the unity of G-d. And this is also true of G-d’s family in the Spirit between Jew and Gentile, which we must now learn to accept and bless to encourage Israel’s spiritual awakening, which has to come to pass so that the end may come.

As a result, our roles remain—and thank G-d that they do—which up to this point we have not understood too well. Instead, when a Jewish person has come to faith in the church, we have expected them to conform to Gentile customs. But may this never be, because they have been called and chosen to become lights back to their own people, and so instead we should be supporting and blessing them into this calling to help win the Jewish people to faith.

I am not suggesting that Jews go back to the law for any dependency for salvation, but rather are free to live as Jews in their own heritage in however the Spirit leads them to reach their own. Nor am I criticizing Gentile customs, many of which I now enjoy myself.

But as a believer and follower of Jesus, have I not been set free from the law that I may have liberty in the Spirit? Is it not liberty to move with my Gentile-believing family and liberty to move as a Jew along with my customs and heritage? It is not liberty to celebrate the feasts of the L-rd, most of which focus on Yeshua Himself and the Holy Spirit? In fact, as a Gentile believer, do you not have liberty to celebrate the feasts also? There are appointed feasts and times in the Spirit that I honestly feel we have been robbed of through the church’s disconnection from its Jewish apostolic roots and heritage.

In order for this to happen in G-d’s body at this time, there must be a spiritual reconnection between us as His children, which is vital for Israel and the church. It is vital for Jews to come into the salvation of the L-rd and for Gentiles to fulfill their destiny in arousing Israel to envy and releasing the mercy of G-d back to them. Just as G-d used Israel to give birth to the church, now in turn to fulfill His family circle, we would give birth back to them. It makes so much sense when you think of it in this light.

In part 2, we will address the incredible significance of the church’s end-time role to bring glory to G-d. We will also address some of the barriers the enemy has placed in our way from the church’s past to prevent us from coming into this destiny, some of which are of a sensitive and delicate matter that we will need to face in order to come into this time.

Hold on. It’s going to get really good.

Grant Berry is a Jewish believer in Yeshua/Jesus and author of The New Covenant Prophecy and The Ezekiel Generation. He has founded Reconnecting Ministries with the specific focus to help the church reconnect spiritually to Israel and considers it vital to the kingdom of G-d in the last days. His message focuses on the unity, love and healing that the Father wants to bring between Jew and Gentile yet clearly points out the differences and misunderstandings between the two groups. Now is the time to look more carefully into this mystery to make way for healing and reconnection in the Spirit. For more information, please visit .

I’m not a controversial kind of gal. Controversy’s not my shtick nor is it a factor, for me, in what New York Times best-selling author Malcolm Gladwell calls “stickiness.” In fact, I look forward to controversy about as much as I look forward to catching the Ebola virus or bird flu.

Why the aversion to debate? I find that although a small segment of the population tends to come alive at the smell of political, cultural or social disagreement, the vast majority of people I know are turned off or prematurely shut down at the whiff of conflicting ideas.

It’s one thing to have an opinion. It’s another thing to inflict it on someone else in the form of verbal haranguing.

That’s why I always feel a little edgy when I’m cornered by someone who just has to know my opinion on a topic such as women in ministry, homosexuality and the church, or religious involvement in politics. It’s at these moments that the idea of crawling under the table or running to the ladies room is most appealing. “Waiter, check, please!”

I used to think that people liked to ask me tough, controversial questions because I am a writer and speaker. Now I realize it’s for a much less profound reason: I have a pulse. That little heartbeat qualifies me to weigh in on some pretty heavy issues.

One question that caught me a little off-guard recently—with no table or restroom in sight—was whether we are living in the end times. It’s a simple question, but what surprised me most about it was not the question itself but rather who was asking it.

The person wasn’t someone who had stayed up too late watching Jack Van Impe on TBN. Rather, he was a young, hip 20-something. I could tell from the sincerity in his eyes that he really wanted to know. And perhaps he was tapping into a question we all quietly ask ourselves from time to time.

Are we living in the end times?

I recognized something about the question. After you interview enough people you discover a simple but profound journalistic truth: If you ask the wrong question, then you’ll get the wrong answer. So I gently prompted the 20-something to reword the question.

I think you mean, “What if we are living in the end times?”

Without an exit sign in sight, I continued, “And that begs the question, What if we’re not?”

“What do you mean?” he pressed.

“Well, I think when we look around, it’s hard to deny that on many different levels—politically, socially, economically and religiously—things on the world’s clock are slowly winding down. I think we all have a sense, a quiet wonderment, of, Could this be it? That means every day of knowing and following Jesus is all the more important.

“But what if we’re not living in the end times?” I went on. “What if it’s our children’s generation or our children’s children’s generation? Or a generation 100 or even 1,000 years from now?

“Then what are we doing to raise them up? What are we doing to reach out, impart and breathe life into their souls as vibrant carriers of the faith?

“Whether or not we are living in the end times, we need to live with one arm reaching forward and one reaching back,” I concluded. “We need to be learning and gleaning everything we can from the generation that has gone before us and at the same time imparting as much as we possibly can into those who will follow.

“In other words, regardless of what age we’re in, we’re still the plan. We’re still the ones called and created to take the wildest good news to the ends of the earth and beyond. We’re still the ones designed to transform our world, to embroider a God-infused design on the fabric of our culture and to raise up those who carry not just the message but the life of the message to the next generation.”

I paused.

“Are you in?” I asked.

“Yeah,” he replied.

“Me, too.”

And in that brief moment I realized that the presence of conflicting ideas—that which pushes us forward and presses us back—isn’t so bad after all. Maybe there is something that can be learned from controversial issues. Maybe the next time one of those topics comes up, I won’t be so quick to run away.

So, how do you feel about women in ministry?

Margaret Feinberg, , is the author of more than a dozen books, including God Whispers, twentysomething and What the Heck Should I Do With My Life? She hopes you’ll continue the discussion online at .

Since I was first born again, God has allowed me to witness spirits of error and full-blown deception over and over. And He’s called me to confront it more times than not. I’ve wept over souls falling headlong into pits of deception and been persecuted for walking away from ministries where strong delusions were leading people away from Jesus.

But make no mistake, there’s a huge difference between discerning a spirit of error that keeps people from a full understanding of Jesus and accusing people of full-blown heresy that keeps people from receiving salvation. Even though deception is running rampant in the body of Christ, I shun the work of heresy hunters who have made it their mission to discredit anyone and everyone with whose theology they some small a point of contention.

I get emails from heresy hunters every day suggesting I expose some ministry or another (and sometimes calling me foul names for hitting “delete”). Most of the Christian personalities these heresy hunters are working to expose aren’t heretics at all, though most flow in a measure of error because none of us have it all right all the time. Some are clearly deceived, but they still don’t qualify as heretics. I also get emails from heresy hunters who sometimes disagree with what I write. But an email last week from a woman named Yvonne took the heresy hunting to a hellish level.

A Heresy Hunter Baits Me

“As I read the seven signs of a cult as outlined by Mike Bickel (sic), I must say my extensive experience with IHOP members, an IHOP church and the written and recorded claims of IHOP founder Mike Bickel (sic), IHOP fits all seven signs of a cult!,” she argued. “You should read this online piece from the Christian Apologetics and Research Ministry.”

The Holy Spirit prompted me to take the time to click the link and read the material. It was utter nonsense. Noteworthy is the fact that the author of the piece quoted extensively from Pastor John MacArthur’s work to discredit the International House of Prayer (IHOP) in Kansas City, a 24/7 prayer and worship movement led by Mike Bickle. Also noteworthy is the fact that McArthur is organizing a “strange fire” conference in October, claiming that the charismatic movement “offers to God unacceptable worship, distorted worship. It blasphemes the Holy Spirit. It attributes to the Holy Spirit even the work of Satan.”

Dr. Michael Brown has been pleading with Pastor MacArthur’s ministry to sit down and discuss his inflammatory claims about the charismatic movement. Brown has appealed to him to embrace God’s true fire. Brown noted how Pastor MacArthur’s scathing indictment names “fine godly leaders like Mike Bickle and Lou Engle, claiming that they are guilty of blaspheming the Spirit.”

Condemning Me to Hell

Yvonne seems to be coming from the same spirit. Again, after I reviewed the material she sent I told her it was nonsense. Her response to me: “Depart from me I never knew you, is what you will hear when you stand before Him, for promoting and profiting from a heretical cult. I should have realized you were part of it.”

How sad for the likes of Pastor MacArthur and Yvonne, both of whom I am convinced love God and His Word, to harass and persecute their brothers and sisters in Christ in this manner. Of course, Yvonne was quoting from the passage from the Sermon on the Mount in which Jesus told many who will say to Him, ‘Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in Your name, cast out demons in Your name, and done many wonders in Your name?’ And then I will declare to them, ‘I never knew you; depart from Me, you who practice lawlessness!’” (Matt. 7:22-24)

Yvonne’s indictment doesn’t bother me a bit. I just look back to the introduction of the Jesus’ Sermon on the Mount: “Blessed are you when they revile and persecute you, and say all kinds of evil against you falsely for My sake. Rejoice and be exceedingly glad, for great is your reward in heaven, for so they persecuted the prophets who were before you” (Matt. 5: 11-12).

As much as I respect those who are faithful witnesses to the truth—and as much as I acknowledge there is strange fire in the charismatic movement and deception (and even heresy) in some camps in the body of Christ, we have to be extremely cautious in flippantly condemning someone to hell because they don’t agree with us.

When it comes to heresy we expose it and refuse to fellowship with those propagating it, but even then we don’t chase them down and persecute them. We pray that God will break in with light and expose the darkness that has clouded their minds. To take any other approach is simply a wrong spirit that could ultimately lead you into a deeper deception than the one you believe they are exposing. Amen.

Jennifer LeClaire is news editor at Charisma. She is also the author of several books, including The Spiritual Warrior’s Guide to Defeating Jezebel. You can email Jennifer at  @ or visit her website here. You can also join Jennifer on Facebook or follow her on Twitter.

Even the cleanest homes have billions of germs, but some places in your home are far worse than others. In a recent germ study, microbiologists from National Sanitation Foundation (NSF) discovered that six of the dirtiest places in the home were in the kitchen. Below are the top 10 dirtiest places, along with tips for cleaning.

1. Dish sponges and scrubbers. According to NSF, the sponge or scrubber in your kitchen sink is the dirtiest place in your home and probably contains both E. coli and salmonella. The study found that after three weeks of use, 70 percent of sponges contained bacteria. To kill germs, place sponges in the microwave for two minutes. You should replace them at least every two weeks.

2. Kitchen sink. NSF found that because of the frequent contact it has with food, your kitchen sink may be 100,000 times more contaminated than your bathroom sink. Your toilet may be cleaner than your kitchen sink, says Eileen Abruzzo, director of infection control at Long Island College Hospital of Brooklyn, N.Y. What should you do? Thoroughly scrub the entire surface once or twice a week with hot water and soap.

3. Toothbrush holder. This was the third “germiest” area in the study. According to NSF, the average toothbrush holder is crawling with more than 2 million cells of bacteria. Research by Charles P. Gerba, Ph.D., of the University of Arizona, found that flushing the toilet sends a spray of bacteria into air, which can float around the bathroom for at least two hours before landing on surfaces. Not only should you clean your toothbrush holder thoroughly once or twice a week, but it’s also best to purchase one made from stainless steel or plastic.

4 and 7. Pet bowl and toys. Pet dishes and toys were a source of coliform, staph, yeast and mold in many homes. These items should be washed daily, either in a sanitizing dishwasher or scrubbed by hand with hot, soapy water. Soft toys should be washed at least monthly with other laundry on the hot water cycle.

5. Coffee maker. According to NSF, bacteria and mold thrive in the dark and damp areas of your coffee maker. Cleaning the inside every couple of month (assuming you use it every day) will not only keep it clean but also improve the taste. Fill the water reservoir with about four cups of vinegar and let sit for 30 minutes. Then turn it on and allow the vinegar to cycle through. Finally, run two or three additional cycles with water until the vinegar odor fades.

6. Faucet handles. Faucet handles in both the kitchen and bath contained coliform bacteria as well as yeast mold. You should clean them daily with non-toxic disinfecting cleaner or nontoxic disinfecting wipes.

8. Kitchen countertops. This high-traffic area collects germs all day long from purses, grocery bags, various raw food containers, dishes and more. Kitchen surfaces should be washed at least daily and after every meal with hot, soapy water.

9. Stove dials. The controls that adjust your stove’s heat are some of the filthiest places in your home. This is because you constantly touch them while handling food. Check your stove’s manual to be safe, but you should be able to remove the dials and either put them in the dish water or wash them with warm, soapy water.

10. Showers and bathtubs. Finally, the NSF found the bacteria staphylococci in 26 percent of the bathtubs and showers they studied. This bacteria causes various staph infections, including those in the urinary tract. The best practice is to use a natural, nontoxic and nonabrasive tub and shower spray daily.

Other common sources of bacteria include TV remotes, salt shakers, keyboards, cell phones, makeup bags, light switches and the interior of the refrigerator. According to the Centers for Disease Control, bacteria and viruses can live two hours or longer on most home surfaces—much longer in dark and moist areas.

Don Colbert, M.D., is board certified in family practice and in anti-aging medicine. He also has received extensive training in nutritional and preventive medicine, and he has helped millions of people discover the joy of living in divine health.

For the original article, visit .

Day after day, Aniij came home from work completely drunk and he beat his wife and two young children. Jeevitha and Kamboj, 11 and 12 years old, had not always suffered under the drunken, angry hand of their father. Their home had been safe and happy before Aniij had become addicted to drugs and alcohol.

Jeevitha and Kamboj were cared for by staff members at the Gospel for Asia Bridge of Hope center they attended, but once they left the walls of the center, there was no peace in their lives. Not only had substance abuse taken over their father, but also every time there was a half or full moon, evil spirits controlled him.

When the Bridge of Hope staff members heard about what was happening to the children and their mother at home, they visited the family to share Christ and pray with them. In answer to their earnest prayers, God delivered Aniij from the bondage of demons and his addictions.

Aniij is now building a small house for his family, and the joy and safety that will surely fill it are from Jesus Christ.

“My life is changed because of my two little children who attend the Bridge of Hope center,” Aniij said. “They prayed for me, and I see that their lives have been transformed through Bridge of Hope. I want to see my children growing in the knowledge of God.

“I will live my life as a good father so that my children can follow me in the days to come.”

Traditionally, outsiders arriving on the shores of the Ninigo Islands were greeted by spear-wielding Seimat people with a question: “Why have you come?” If their intent was to fight, battle commenced, but if they came for peaceful purposes, the spears were planted in the sand and a warm welcome was given.

As people arrived on the shores of Patexux Island in late May, the response to the question was this: Kako kau meng solian ti Jises, Kakai Haeu ti Kakai Seimat (“We bring the Good News of Jesus, God’s Word in the Seimat language”). Spears were planted in the sand and guests were welcomed from seven other countries representing all the people who had been praying for many years for this day to arrive.

Seimat people had gathered on Patexux from the eight main island communities, Lorengau on Manus Island (370 kilometers east) and other parts of the country to join in this historical event, the third New Testament translation completed in Manus Province.

At the beginning of the main Dedication program, a team of Seimat men carried in a traditional sailing canoe bearing Beata Wozna (Poland), Theresa Wilson (U.K.), and a box of Seimat New Testaments.

Wozna and Wilson have worked with the Seimat people since 2003 to develop mother tongue literacy in the schools and communities and to translate the New Testament with a team of men and women from the two denominations represented in the Islands, all with the support of churches in Poland, Scotland and England.

The arrival of the Seimat New Testament was celebrated with dancing, singing, drama and a huge feast including pork and seafood fresh from the Pacific. There were speeches of acknowledgment, gratitude and above all encouragement to the Seimat sailors to treasure this gift from God as the essential foundation for wise and godly living and the basic nourishment for the Christian’s daily walk.

In an Amish kitchen in Bird-in-Hand, Pa., in the heart of Dutch country, I saw a sign I’ll never forget: “Too soon old, too late smart.” When I saw it, I thought it was memorable but hardly meaningful. I was 21. Now the words are meaningful, but I can barely remember the farmhouse. I am 64.

Sometimes I have the fantasy that I will sit up on my deathbed and cry out, “Oh, I get it,” and lie down again and die. The Amish have it right.

Recently a friend said he wished he were 21 again. The thought held little interest for me, but he made an intriguing counteroffer: What if you could be 21 and know what you know now?

That held more allure, but it begged a question: What, if anything, do I now know that I wish I had known at 21?

I came up with 10 things, none of which I think I would have placed on my priority list at age 21.

1. Inner healing is greater than outward success. It is probably impossible to arrive at 21, let alone 64, without wounds in the inner person—deep wounds that need God’s healing grace. The more I see of inner healing and the more I face up to my own inner wounds, the more I wish I had let Messiah touch my deepest hurts earlier in life. That childhood hurt, that hidden outrage, that long-suppressed horrific memory can lurk like a monster in the basement waiting for years, even decades, to rise and wreak havoc.

Hiding the monster, denying that it’s down there, is a dangerous game. The temptation is to create an alternative reality where success and accomplishment and appearances seem so very real and the monster but a mirage. If I were 21 again I would bore down into the inner world of me and find Christ’s healing touch in the darkness under the floorboards.

2. Mercy is greater than justice. I have found that many in the church want the wayward to “get what’s coming to them.” Too often, there is a shortage of mercy among the followers of Christ, who blessed the merciful in His most famous message, the Sermon on the Mount. Were I 21 again, I would learn and practice mercy, knowing that later I would need it.

Churches, boards, denominations and individual believers who hanker for justice when a colleague stumbles may be planting for a bitter harvest. They gloat over the sins of others, humiliate the fallen and demand their administrative pound of flesh.

Competitiveness and legalism are the death of mercy. Mercy makes love real, acceptance and understanding a practice, and tenderness a way of life.

3. Kindness is better than being right. Just before my friend Jamie Buckingham died, I asked him for a word of wisdom. He said, “It is better to be kind than to be right.”

At 21, I advocated my positions too aggressively. I argued with an eye toward winning, unconcerned about the heart of my “adversary,” who may not have been adversarial at all. I made debate a contact sport. In preaching I let the bad dog off the chain, to the applause of the gallery.

Should time travel be mine and were I to be back in the land of 21, I would be kinder and less concerned with being right. Too many young adults give little thought to kindness.

They Twitter hurtful words like poisonous birds. Their humor is mocking, acidic and unkind. And they are more concerned with being thought clever than with being kind. The value of gentleness has declined on the world market; if I were 21 again I would wish to know the worth of a kind word.

4. Serving is better than being served. Encircled by their entourages, the “success” merchants of modern Christianity place high dividends on being catered to. When I was a pastor, the church I led invited a singing group to come minister. Their list of special demands, including a particular type of orange cut into equal fourths (I kid you not), was five pages long. We canceled.

I wish I had known at 21 how hollow is all that outward stuff. I wish I had known that caring, not being cared for, is what Christ had in mind.

I wish I had changed more diapers instead of leaving that to my wife. I wish I had served more meals, carried more bags, held more doors and lightened more burdens.

5. Brokenness is the doorway to wholeness. This mysterious paradox was hidden from me at 21. I feared brokenness. I ran from it, and when it got too close fought it off with all my might.

If I had but known brokenness was the key to my healing, it would have lifted such fear from me. I thought it would maim me at least and maybe even kill me. Now I know that there is very little real wholeness that does not emerge from real brokenness.

6. Truth is liberating and devastating. Jesus said, “You shall know the truth, and the truth will make you free.” My friend Jamie tacked on, “But first it will make you miserable.”

How true. There is a phrase popular among many young adults that I quite like despite my usual distaste for pop jingoes. It is, “Keep it real.” I am not sure of all that is meant by it, but I know what I mean by it.

I wish I had known not to fear the truth about myself. I wish I had known that the temporary misery of the truth was worth going through to find the freedom that it brings.

7. Learning is greater than education. I am a university president, and Oral Roberts University (ORU) is a great university. I am not saying that higher education is unimportant. What I am saying is, I hated getting educated.

At 21, I was a miserable college senior. I was a miserable student from the first grade right through high school and on through three degrees. I was miserable because I did not understand the connection between education and learning.

If I were 21 again, I would still go to college. But this time I would go to learn not just to graduate. I would unleash my curiosity, embrace the process, worry less about my grades and enjoy learning.

How strange that I love to learn at the age I am now. I read voraciously—any subject. I want to know, to understand, to go deeper. If I were 21 again I would take that to college.

8. Giving is sweeter than gaining. I believe in the laws of the harvest. If there is any place in the world that understands “seed faith” it is ORU. Seed faith is not a new idea to me. I believed it at 21. I practiced it and am blessed today because it is real.

Yet I wish that at 21 I had known the sheer joy of giving. I know God will bless us when we give, and sometimes we have made this merely a method to gain. I wish I had realized the joy of generosity. I would have given more and delighted more in the good that giving does and less in the returns it provides.

9. Forgiveness doesn’t fix everything. Not the happiest truth I wish I had known, but it’s among the most sobering. Had I known this I might have been less callous, less reckless and more mindful of the cost.

There are things, relationships and hearts that once broken cannot be fully “fixed” by forgiveness. The wound, the uncaring and insensitive word—they may be forgiven, but the damage from them may never quite be right again.

When I was 21 I just wanted to be forgiven. I wish I had known to do less damage.

10. Prayer is more powerful than persuasion. In all of life, at every age, conflict is an inescapable reality. I wish I had known younger that in conflict and crisis talking to God works better than talking to people. At 21, due perhaps to youthful arrogance, I thought that I could talk my way through everything.

Self-sufficiency, a dangerous habit, breeds prayerlessness. The older I get I find that crisis drives me faster to my knees and more slowly to the phone.

I have seen God turn hearts around, change organizations and melt opposition by prayer alone—when no persuasive speech could have made a difference. If I were 21 again, I would spend more time talking with God and less (far less) persuading others to do what I want.

I wish I had known more than I did at 21. I might have considered one or two of these truths, but I doubt I wouldhave fully appreciated their value.

I do not think I want to be 21 again. But if I had to, if some evil genie made me go back and live it all over, then these are the things I would want to know and the things I would want to believe. 

Mark Rutland is the author of 13 books. He also leads a missions and church-planting organization, Global Servants.

Transgender celebrity B. Scott has filed a multimillion-dollar lawsuit against Black Entertainment Television (BET) Networks and its parent company, Viacom, for discrimination.

Identified as Brandon Sessoms in the lawsuit, Scott alleges the television network discriminated against him while he was working as a style stage correspondent for the BET Awards pre-show on June 30 by forcing him to dress more masculine.

According to the suit, Scott is an “openly gay TV and Internet personality, advice columnist and entrepreneur [who] indentifies his gender identity as transgender. B. Scott’s gender identity is separate and distinct from his sexual orientation.”

Scott was wearing flowing pants with a matching tunic and high heels at the start of the show—an outfit he claims was approved by producers. But he says after the first segment, they forced him to ditch the feminine image.

“After his first segment, B. Scott was literally yanked backstage and told that he ‘wasn’t acceptable,’” the lawsuit alleges. “B. Scott was told to mute the makeup, pull back his hair and he was forced to remove his clothing and take off his heels; thereby completely changing his gender identity and expression. They forced him to change into solely men’s clothing different from the androgynous style of dress he’s used to, which he was uncomfortable with.”

Though he did change into a blue blazer, slacks and loafers for the second segment of the pre-show, Scott claims he was still replaced by another host. He is seeking $2.5 million in damages and an apology from the network.

“Let’s be clear—I’m suing BET and Viacom for a true public apology and to be fairly remunerated for the time lost, humiliation and emotional distress this entire situation has put me through,” he said in a statement.

BET and Viacom have not responded to the lawsuit, but the network did issue an apology on July 2.

“BET Networks embraces global diversity in all its forms and seeks to maintain an inclusive workforce and a culture that values all perspectives and backgrounds,” the statement read. “The incident with B. Scott was a singular one with a series of unfortunate miscommunications from both parties. We regret any unintentional offense to B. Scott and anyone within the LGBT community and we seek to continue embracing all gender expressions.”

Scott, however, has rejected the apology.

“While I want nothing more than to put this incident behind me and move on with my life,” Scott said in a press release, “I still wholeheartedly believe that I’m entitled to a true public apology. BET’s non-apology statement added more insult to injury. What happened to me was not a ‘miscommunication’ nor was it ‘unintentional.’ It was wrong.”