Do you remember when modern terrorism was birthed? Yasser Arafat, who won a Nobel Peace Prize, is known as the father of modern terrorism. He was the first to perpetrate hundreds of massive terrorist attacks against civilians in Israel and abroad.

It was in the late 1950s that this Egyptian-born man co-founded an organization called Fatah, the “Movement for the National Liberation of Palestine.”

By 1965, his gangs were targeting and bombing Israeli villages, water pipes and railroads. Fatah destroyed homes and killed Israelis. This was, by the way, before Israel’s crushing victory in the Six Day War of 1967, before Jerusalem came into Israel’s hands, and years before a single Jewish family settled in the West Bank.

Soon after the Six Day War, Arafat’s Fatah joined and became the dominant member of the Palestine Liberation Organization, an umbrella group of Palestinian terrorist gangs. A few months later he was appointed chairman of the Executive Committee. The PLO then entered the international arena.

On Feb. 21, 1970, he ordered that a SwissAir flight bound for Tel Aviv be blown up, and it killed all 47 people aboard. A second plane he bombed on the same day was able to land without crashing.

Without so much as taking a deep breath, Arafat went after Israeli school buses, killed nine children and three teachers, hijacked two more planes, and continued his killing spree. He dispatched members of the Japanese Red Army to Tel Aviv’s Lod Airport and killed 27 people.

In 1972, his terrorists attended the Summer Olympic Games in Munich and killed 11 athletes. He had found his calling: 21 children killed with hand grenades besides the teachers in a small town in Galilee. Raging through the streets, the terrorists killed other civilians at random, including two Arab women; more killings in the town of Beit She’an, six shot in a coastal hotel, 21 dead after Fatah terrorists took over a bus on the Haifa-Tel Aviv highway.

In 1985, terrorists boarded the Italian cruise ship Achille Lauro, shot a wheelchair-bound elderly Jew, and threw him and his wheelchair overboard.

In September 1993, Arafat wrote a letter to Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin stating his PLO accepted Israel’s right to exist and committed itself to the Middle East peace process and a peaceful resolution of the conflict between the two sides. This process was called the Oslo Accords—so named because of secret negotiations in that Norwegian city—and held great hope in Israel.

However the terror attacks did not cease. Encouraged by Arafat’s belligerent speeches against Israel, the Palestinians understood that Arafat’s life calling was still intact—to destroy Israel. The PLO continued its pursuit of terrorist attacks against Jews—their goal to utterly destroy them.

Near Bethlehem, Arafat declared, “We know only one word—’jihad, jihad, jihad, jihad.’ Whoever does not like it can drink from the Dead Sea or from the Sea of Gaza.” (Yediot Ahronot; 23 Oct. 1996)

He continued to proclaim jihad: “O my dear ones on the occupied lands … intensify the revolution and the blessed intifada … we must burn the ground under the feet of the invaders.” But all that was in Arabic. In English he preached peace. In Arabic he declared war to the bitter end.

In the year 2000, under the auspices of President Clinton, Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Barak made a serious offer to give Arafat 92 percent of the West Bank and half of Jerusalem to make peace.

Arafat said NO. Arafat didn’t want to found a Palestinian state. This statement must be repeated constantly. He wanted to destroy Israel. Many years later, his wife, Suha, revealed that he had told her at that time to remain in Paris because he was about to start a new intifada. In her words, Suha said: “Camp David had failed, and he said to me, ‘You should remain in Paris.’ I asked him why, and he said, ‘Because I am going to start an intifada. They want me to betray the Palestinian cause. They want me to give up on our principles, and I will not do so.'”

“‘I do not want Zahwa’s [Arafat’s daughter’s] friends in the future to say that Yasser Arafat abandoned the Palestinian cause and principles. I might be martyred, but I shall bequeath our historical heritage to Zahwa and to the children of Palestine,'” Suha quoted her late husband as saying.

And so Arafat plotted and planned a war that went on for four years, murdering 1,053 Israelis. The Israeli government says somewhere around 2,124 Palestinian combatants were killed, 55 percent of the total Palestinian deaths. Of those, over 500 Palestinians were killed by the Fatah forces.

It was a terrible time in Israel. Buses and restaurants were blowing up. Israel’s emergency volunteers picking up body pieces from the floors and streets. Only when Israel built the West Bank Protection Barrier (a wall in some places) did the killings stop.

Arafat left his legacy—thousands dead and tens of thousands wounded and maimed. He also left in Arab banks an estimated US$1.3 billion to $6.5 billion to his wife and child—taxpayers’ money from the West, of course. Besides the dead, he left his people nothing.

At anytime when Arafat was downing planes or blowing apart Israelis, the democratic nations could have easily stopped the operations of this terrorist organization. Any single nation could have ended Arafat’s career back then. Indeed the United Nations made sure that Israel did not destroy the PLO.

Since he was fighting the Jews, he was seen as a “freedom fighter” and had much favor with not only the Arab world and its friends but also the “enlightened” world. After all, he had won the Nobel Peace Prize. The world sowed the wind and is now reaping the whirlwind.

Along with her husband Ari, Shira Sorko-Ram is the co-founder of Maoz Israel Ministries, a Messianic Jewish ministry, in Israel.

For the original article, visit maozisrael.com.

In the summer of 1985, an engineer named Roger Boisjoly noticed a flaw in the solid-rocket booster that was used to help launch the space shuttle. The large rubber O-rings that seal the joints between sections of the booster were experiencing erosion—particularly in cold weather when they shrank. When the joints are compromised, the booster can leak super-heated gas from its solid fuel, acting like a cutting torch that can burn through the metal skin of the adjacent external fuel tank and ignite its explosive liquid hydrogen fuel.

Foreseeing that the problem would result in catastrophic failure, he sent a warning memo to decision makers at both his company and NASA. That warning and several more that followed were ignored.

The morning of January 28, 1986 was crisp and cold. Unwavering, NASA continued with the launch of the space shuttle, Challenger. The first 60 seconds of the launch seemed to go according to plan. A nervous Boisjoly turned to a colleague and said that they had dodged a bullet. Fourteen seconds later, his worst fears were realized. The Challenger exploded taking the lives of seven people.

In a similar way, marriages can experience eroding intimacy. These problems can seem small; however, over time, they can cause a marriage to break apart. It’s important to see the warning signs and act on them. Are you and your wife experiencing these four signs of an unhealthy marriage?

1. Keeping secrets. Have you erased emails, text messages, phone logs, or website history so your wife wouldn’t see it? Has there been activity on your Facebook account you can only participate in when she isn’t around? When things are difficult, it is tempting to seek excitement in forbidden places. Keeping secrets creates division and deepens disconnection. If you aren’t connected to your wife, you are going to connect to something or someone else. Don’t deceive her. Let her in and do whatever it takes to come together.

2. Leaving things unsaid. Sometimes in marriage you have to choose your battles and let things go. Are you doing that too often or about critical issues? Have you kept your opinion on an important matter to yourself because you were afraid how your wife would react? Intimacy involves good communication and knowing one another. Leaving your honest opinion and perspective unsaid leads to her knowing you less. Gradually you will drift from her like a boat untied to a dock. Stop withdrawing and say it. If it unsettles things, then you just need to work through it.

3. Overly kid-focused. Are all of your discussions about your kids and their schedules? Kids are a huge responsibility and require a lot of discussion. They will dominate your minds, make you exhausted, and need a lot of attention. There are seasons when that’s fine. However, your kids will eventually move out, and when they do it will be you and your wife again. It’s easy to become strangers when all eyes are fixed on the kids. Move your eyes to her and zero in. She needs to be the first person in your life.

4. Seeking distractions or time away. Is it nice to be away on a business trip? Are you staying late at work when you don’t have to or looking for other ways to delay heading home? Do you and your wife watch TV in different rooms? Do you immediately head out to the garage to work on the car after dinner? The road to separation is filled with small decisions. [Click to Tweet] You can’t have intimacy in different rooms, and the problem is not going to work itself out. Go home and be with her. Remove the distractions and re-engage.

Sound off: Out of the four signs above, which do you think is the most common?

Huddle up with your wife tonight and ask, “Do you see any of these signs in our marriage?” 

© 2014 All Pro Dad. All Rights Reserved. Used with permission. Family First, All Pro Dad, iMOM, and Family Minute with Mark Merrill are registered trademarks.

For the original article, visit allprodad.com.

A new implantable heart device has been developed that has proven effective in reversing heart failure—even in some patients with severe cases.

The device—called the C-Pulse—is essentially a cuff that wraps around the aorta and pumps blood from the heart around the body, Medical News Today reports. 

Half of all heart-failure patients die within five years of diagnosis. Heart failure occurs when the heart is unable to pump enough blood and oxygen around the body to support other organs. More than 5 million people in the United States have the condition.

But the new device could improve the survival odds of such patients, according to lead researcher William Abraham, M.D., of The Ohio State University Wexner Medical Center.

“The optimal drug therapies we have today often aren’t enough to manage this disease for some patients,” said Dr. Abraham, who reported the results of his team’s research on the C-Pulse in the Journal of the American College of Cardiology: Heart Failure. “So we are always looking for new types of therapies.”

For the study, Dr. Abraham and his team implanted the C-Pulse device in 20 heart-failure patients. After a year, 16 of the 20 patients showed significant improvements in symptoms.

For the original article, visit newsmaxhealth.com.

Someone once said, “One man’s junk is another man’s treasure.” Or woman’s in my wife’s case.

She loves yard sales—a lot. On Saturday mornings, when I should be allowed to sleep in, she wakes me up at dawn. She is already dressed and has the newspaper spread out on the counter. The classified section is open, and the page is covered with bright yellow circles.

Those circles lay out the destiny for my “morning off.” They’re all the yard sales that seem to show promise of a treasure. Beside each yellow circle is a red number. You guessed it; the numbers map out the order in which we are going to travel from yard sale to yard sale.

And so, with cup of coffee in hand, we head out. Not only do we stop and go from highlighted location to highlighted location, Tammi also has her eagle eye trained for cardboard signs stapled to telephone poles. We take detours. We search for that hidden treasure. 

There are treasures lurking in the yards of people too cheap to even run an ad. But we will find them. They cannot hide. And there is no yard sale too small.

A blanket on the grass with two piles of clothes on it, a used tire and a broken treadmill, all in the front yard, constitutes a stop. Why? Because there could be a treasure buried under all of that junk.

And you know what? Quite often, people (mostly women) come into our house and ask, “Oh, where did you get this?” And more times than not, the proud answer is, “I found it at a yard sale; it was a hidden treasure.”

Paul says in 1 Corinthians 6:19-20, “You are not your own; you were bought at a price” (NIV). Matthew elaborates when he recorded the words of Jesus relating that the kingdom of heaven is like a merchant seeking fine pearls, a hidden treasure. And when the merchant found even one pearl of great value, he sold everything he owned to go and purchase the land with the one hidden treasure. 

This is just what Jesus does. He searches for that one pearl—you and me! He looks for the hidden treasure. And here is the amazing thing that should blow our minds: To everyone else, we just look like junk—but not to Him.

Romans 5:8 states that, “While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.” He literally purchased us with His very life. Why? He saw the hidden treasure. He saw way beyond what could be seen on the outside. We looked like junk at a yard sale. We had no value. We were worthless. We were actually filthy dirty, with no way to clean ourselves up. The more we tried, the more obvious it became that it was hopeless. It was hopeless except to Him. He saw the hidden pearls, and He spent all He had to purchase us.

This week in your life’s journey, you may still feel like yard-sale junk. Life may have covered you with dirt, rust and mold. You may be wondering: Will things ever change? Does my life matter? Do I have any value to anyone?

Remember, to Him you are a pearl, a hidden treasure worth the purchase price—His life.

Change your mindset. See yourself as He sees you. You are valuable and necessary in His kingdom. You are not junk. You are His treasure. You are bought and paid for. And He purchased you for a reason. You matter. You are valuable. You are His hidden treasure, a pearl of great price.

Prayer Power for the Week of October 13, 2014

This week respond to the Lord’s amazing Love with your own devotion and expressed gratitude. Enter this season with the overwhelming realization of the price He paid for you as His priceless treasure. Ask Him to help you see others through His eyes of love and compassion, and be ready to express it verbally and with acts of kindness. Continue to pray for those who have suffered losses through economic hardship, broken relationships, and the passing of loved ones. Remember our fellow persecuted Christians around the world and pray for those tormented because of their faith. Continue to pray for the nation and ask God to show you ways in which you can reach out to your community, share the gospel, and make a difference. Remember Israel and the Middle East along with our military and their families (Rom. 5:8; 1 Cor. 6:19-20).

Watch out for the world. It’s after you. It wants you in its cult following, wooing you with pleasures and power, fame and fortune, the nexus of excess. The cult of our culture provides the perfect distraction from what’s really important and lures us with empty lusts, beliefs and religions.

It may not seem like an organized cult, but behind the apparent chaos and disorder is an enemy pulling the strings to entangle our mind, body and soul. It’s easy to overlook that we are targeted and marketed with endless desires to capture our time, energy and money. The world wants our worship, so we don’t worship the One who deserves it.

This cult of culture uses tangible ploys to steal our hearts. To get out of this world, God’s men have to acknowledge that we are in a battle of unseen forces. It’s a war made of daily, even minute-by-minute, spiritual battles.

For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realm (Eph. 6:12).

Which side are you on? Are you buying the ticket to the cult of culture, or do you want to get out of this world? We need to be aware of the tug-of-war being played right now. On one end is the world, and on the other is God. Guess who’s in between being tugged?

God is pulling you with grace, truth and love. He wants you to know you are loved by God Himself and that there is hope, purpose and an eternal plan for you. He wants to be your heavenly Father. He wants to be your friend and refuge. He wants you to be in the world but not of the world.

In John 15:19, Jesus draws a distinct line in the sand, demonstrating the sides that are at odds: If you were of the world, the world would love you as its own; but because you are not of the world, but I chose you out of the world, therefore the world hates you.

You may have come across the phrase “not of this world,” perhaps the Christian apparel company (notw.com). But what exactly does it mean that Christians are “not of this world?”

In John 18:36, Jesus says that His kingdom is “not of this world.” As His disciples, we are members, or citizens, of His kingdom as it says in Philippians 3:20.

Still, as disciples of Jesus, the world bombs us with millions of messages a minute that can creep into our minds to twist our sense of reality. So, how do God’s men get out of this world? Check out these Scriptures:

Transform Spiritually, Don’t Conform Culturally

And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, so that you may prove what the will of God is, that which is good and acceptable and perfect (Rom. 12:2).

Manage Your Soul Diligently

Above all else, guard your heart, for everything you do flows from it (Prov. 4:23).

Focus Intentionally

Forgetting what is behind (the world) and straining toward what is ahead (citizenship in heaven), I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus (Phi. 4:12-14).

Battle Spiritually

Be careful, or you will be enticed to turn away and worship other gods and bow down to them (Deut. 11:16).

Worship Passionately

Therefore, I urge you, brothers and sisters, in view of God’s mercy, to offer your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God—this is your true and proper worship (Rom. 12:1).

Live Purposefully

And whatever you do, whether in word or deed, do it all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him (Col. 3:17).

Lock on to the Heavenly

Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles, and let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us. Let us fix our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy set before him endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God (Heb. 12:1-2).

Kenny Luck, founder of Every Man Ministries, men’s pastor at Saddleback Church, and ChristianMingle advisory board member, provides biblically oriented teaching and leadership for men and pastors seeking relevant, timely material that battle cultural, worldly concepts threatening men and God’s men. Follow Kenny and Every Man Ministries on Facebook, Twitter (@everyMM) and YouTube.

For the original article, visit everymanministries.com.

Cancer usually has no symptoms in its early stages. When it grows large enough to produce telltale signs, those can be confused with the aches, pains and stresses of everyday life.

Check out the following six symptoms for information on when you can breathe a sigh of relief, and when you should head straight to your doctor. If a symptom does turn out to be cancer, the earlier you are diagnosed and treated, the better chance you have of being cured.

Weight loss. Most people, especially those past early adulthood, don’t lose weight easily. If you’re losing a significant amount of weight without trying and aren’t missing meals because of a heavy work schedule or some other easily explainable reason, see your doctor. According to cancer.net, unexplained weight loss is often the first noticeable sign of cancer. About 40 percent of cancer victims experience unexplained weight loss at the time of diagnosis, and up to 80 percent of those with advanced cancer suffer weight loss.

A rapid, unexplained weight loss of 10 pounds or more, or losing more than 10 percent of your total body weight in a three- to six-month period is cause for concern. Weight loss is often one of the first signs of pancreatic, stomach, esophageal or lung cancer.

Persistent cough. We’re into the fall allergy season, and the winter cold/flu season isn’t far off, along with their attending sniffles that can cause an aggravating cough. If the cough lasts longer than a month after your other symptoms abate, however, get yourself checked out. Coughs can be a symptom of lung, esophageal or thyroid cancer. Even if your cough isn’t caused by cancer, it may be another problem, such as bronchitis or acid reflux, that needs to be addressed.

Headache. While headaches are a common complaint, constant headaches that get worse or refuse to go away with treatment may be a sign of a brain tumor or cancer of the spinal cord, pituitary gland tumors, or some forms of lymphoma. The pain can be strong enough to awaken a person from sleep, and it can be worse when lying down and when coughing or sneezing. 

Back pain. Pancreatic cancer is usually fatal, since it usually is advanced by the time it’s diagnosed. When the tumor gets large enough to block the pancreatic duct, it causes pain that radiates down the back. According to WebMD, while back pain is common, if it continues and isn’t alleviated by anti-inflammatory medications—but is alleviated by bending over—see your doctor. Ordinary back pain won’t go away simply by bending over. Back pain occurring in the mid to upper back can also be one of the first symptoms of lung cancer

Itchy spots. If you have an itchy or painful lesion on your skin—especially if it doesn’t heal—get it checked. According to a recent study by the Temple University School of Medicine, itchy spots can be non-melanoma skin cancer. Of lesions diagnosed as squamous-cell skin cancer, 46.6 percent were itchy, and 42.5 percent were painful; 31.9 percent of basal-cell cancers were itchy, and 19.9 percent were painful. Potentially deadly melanoma was much less likely to be either itchy or painful.

Unexplained fever. Although fever is a common symptom of advanced cancer, a persistent low-grade fever with no obvious cause is often an early sign of blood cancers, such as leukemia or lymphoma. Fevers can either be low grade or high grade, and one that lasts longer than three days without an obvious cause should be investigated. Unexplained night sweats can also be a sign of cancer.

For the original article, visit newsmaxhealth.com.

Ben Affleck seems so amiable in his movies. However, on the set of Bill Maher’s liberal TV show (I don’t even know the name), he was seething. Yes, seething mad that someone might think, just because Muslims are chopping off heads, raping young girls and committing honor killings, there might be a problem within the doctrines of Islam.

Even Bill Maher, an avowed atheist and super liberal, seems to get it right when it comes to Islam. However, Hollywood A-lister Mr. Affleck (who is so famous his name gets spellchecked in Word!) disagrees. He thinks any criticism of Islam is Islamophobic (a word that Word does not recognize). In fact, he thinks, “It’s gross. It’s racist.”

Affleck ascribes to a belief system based on fairy tales that radical Islamists are a small minority and in no way reflect the belief of the overwhelming majority of peace-loving Muslims. He and his ilk like to say silly things like, “Only 7 percent of Muslims are radicalized.”

That sounds so reassuring until you do the math and realize that 7 percent of the world’s Muslim population is roughly 100,000,000 people! One hundred million Islamic fanatics willing to rape, murder and pillage for the sake of their religious beliefs. Yes, at least one in every 70 persons on Earth believes it is OK to kidnap, rape and maim unbelievers. And that doesn’t even include moderate Islamic leaders and their regimes like Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, the PLO or the king of Saudi Arabia, who have no problem killing for political gain.

However, I don’t need to combat Affleck on these issues. Maher and Sam Harris, his debating partner, do a fine job (if Affleck would just let them talk) using facts to dispel Affleck’s emotion-driven myths. My issue is Affleck’s utter hypocrisy.

While claiming that, as a good liberal, he must be kind and tolerant of Muslims, he uses the Name of Jesus as a curse word. About 2:21 into the clip (see below), after Mr. Harris refers to Islam as the mother lode of bad ideas, Ben utters the Name above every name, and in a way he would never use the name of Muhammad—as a curse.

He took the name of Jesus, and inserted it in place of a four-letter curse word—all the while, defending Islam. I am sure he didn’t even notice it.

What is clear is liberals like Affleck defend Islam in a way they would never defend Christianity. Does he think that moderate Islam is pro-choice? Pro-gay? Pro-equal rights for women? Pro-nudity in films like Affleck’s most recent movie (I am told)?

Harris calmly points out to the agitated actor that nearly 80 percent of the UK’s Muslim community felt the Danish cartoonist who drew Muhammad should have been prosecuted. Maher points out that 90 percent of Egyptians believe death is the appropriate response for leaving Islam. A careful study of moderate Islam would reveal that they are only moderate compared to people who rape and behead. There are numerous cases of non-militant Muslims supporting terror, committing honor killings, being racists and frankly, hating people like you—Western liberals.

But again, I digress. These Hollywood elites will defend Islam, while holding Christianity in disdain. That is my point. Curse Jesus while defending Muhammad and pretend you are genuinely tolerant. It is open season on believers in the New Testament, but don’t you dare draw a picture of Muhammad.

Ron Cantor is the director of Messiah’s Mandate International in Israel, a Messianic ministry dedicated to taking the message of Jesus from Israel to the ends of the earth (Acts 1:8). Cantor also travels internationally teaching on the Jewish roots of the New Testament. He serves on the pastoral team of Tiferet Yeshua, a Hebrew-speaking congregation in Tel Aviv. His newest book is Identity Theft. Follow him at @RonSCantor on Twitter.

For the original article, visit messiahsmandate.org.

In any healthy marriage, there’s a lot of truth to the notion that we want and need to be accepted by our spouse, warts and all, just as we are. After all, every lasting marriage seems to find a way to survive some annoying personality traits that never seem to change.

But sometimes we can use “you should just accept and love me as I am” as a cop-out. We confuse our personality with our behavior, assuming that our habits are just a part of who we are rather than something that could be changed or ended.

So what do you do when your spouse clearly wishes—or expects—that you change something?

Here are some things to think about and ask yourself:

Is this desired change about a part of my personality or a behavior that may be influenced by my personality? I’m not a psychologist, but I think of personality as who we are and behavior as what we do. And, of course, behavior is influenced by personality.

I have a somewhat dominant and sometimes aggressive personality. Susan has pointed out to me, on many occasions, that I need to be a more patient and passive driver. Is that asking me to change my personality or to alter my behavior? I could tell her that I can’t change and that is just how I drive, but that would be a cop-out. Although my impatience may be influenced by how I’m wired, I can certainly do something about my driving habits. I am working on it.

We should be careful not to assume that a desired change in behavior is an attack on our personality. Sure, our personality may determine whether a change in our behavior is easy or difficult, but we should avoid confusing the two.

How important is this desired change to my spouse? If your spouse has a laundry list of things they wish you did differently, ask them to rank each one on an urgency scale from 1 to 10. Notice which ones are an 8 or 9 or 10 to them and then focus just on those things.

By the way, a list filled with nothing but 10’s from your spouse is simply not grounded in reality. Try to get to the bottom of which desired changes are most important to your spouse and why.

What am I communicating if I am, or am not, willing to change for my spouse? When we are unwilling to even try to change a behavior or habit for our spouse, we may be communicating to them that we really don’t care or value what they want or think. But a willingness to change can communicate lots of good things such as we are trying to understand what’s important to our spouse, we are trying to better our relationship, and that we love our spouse.

How might my willingness to change affect my spouse? Leo Tolstoy once said, “Everyone thinks of changing the world, but no one thinks of changing himself.” When we show a willingness to change something about our behavior, we model something important to our family and the people around us.

Change is possible. Change can be good. Change can start with me. And perhaps our willingness to change can inspire our spouses to be willing to change some things that are important to us.

How do you react when your spouse wants you to change something? What has helped you make changes in your life for the better? Please share your comments.

Mark Merrill is the president of Family First. For the original article, visit markmerrill.com.

Did you know that inflammation is among the root causes of major diseases? Cancer, arthritis, diabetes and obesity are only among the serious medical conditions that stem from inflammation. This explains why experts and health enthusiasts are pushing for anti-inflammatory diets to minimize risks.

If you love your health and you want to live longer, now is the right time to start paying attention to what goes inside your body. And if you want to save yourself from all those expensive medical bills and prescription drugs, here are five of the many foods you have to limit or avoid to prevent inflammation.

1. White flour baked goods. Did you know that white flour is converted into white sugar once it reaches your mouth? Every time you eat anything made of white flour, the starches will break into the sugars immediately, causing your blood sugar to spike. Aside from this, white flour has high gluten content, making it difficult for some people to digest it, which can lead to inflammation.

2. Red meat and processed meat. According to a study conducted at the University of California-San Diego School of Medicine, red meat contains Neu5Gc, a molecule that humans don’t naturally produce. This means that every time you eat red meat, your body develops anti-Neu5Gc antibodies. It’s your body’s immune response that can trigger chronic inflammatory response.

And if you’re still not convinced, a 2007 report by the World Cancer Research Fund and the American Institute for Cancer Research disclosed that processed meat is among the primary causes of colon and rectal cancer.

3. Cola. Bad news, Coke and Pepsi lovers. The caramel coloring in brown cola has a chemical called 4-methylimidazole, which is derived from ammonia—and it is banned in a lot of countries but not in the U.S. Aside from this, a 12-ounce can of regular cola has nine teaspoons of sugar, which can spike your insulin and cause chronic inflammation.

4. Common cooking oils. Most every time you cook something, you will need cooking oil to complete your meal. More bad news, people: Most common vegetable cooking oils that are stocked in your kitchen cabinet and are used in most homes and restaurants have high Omega-6 fatty acids and low Omega-3 fatty acids. Yes, you need fatty acids but an imbalance between these two promotes inflammation and creates a breeding ground for serious inflammatory diseases such as cancer and heart disease.

5. Feedlot-raised meat. There will always be a massive difference between grass-fed and grain-fed beef. And sadly, most commercially produced meats are fed with grains such as soybeans and corn—a diet that strikes an imbalance between Omega-3 and Omega-6 fatty acids. This means excess fat and translates to high saturated fats too. Aside from grains, cows are injected with hormones and antibiotics to help them grow faster and prevent them from getting sick.

The foods on this list are only some of the many foods that can cause inflammation. Therefore, watch what you eat and be careful with what goes inside your body. If you can say no or look for alternatives, then you should do so. The last thing you need is a long-term stay in the hospital, right?

Don Colbert, M.D. has been board certified in Family Practice for over 25 years and practices Anti aging and Integrative medicine. He is a New York Times Bestselling author of books such as The Bible Cure Series, What Would Jesus Eat, Deadly Emotions, What You Don’t Know May be Killing You, and many more with over 10 million copies sold. He is the Medical Director of the Divine Health Wellness Center in Orlando, Florida where he has treated more than 50,000 patients. He is also a internationally known expert and prolific speaker on Integrative Medicine.

For the original article, visit drcolbert.com.

Most church leaders are godly and healthy. A toxic church leader, one that is figuratively poisonous to the organization, is rare.

But it is that church leader who brings great harm to churches and other Christian organizations. And it is that leader that hurts the entire cause of Christ when word travels about such toxicity.

In a post from last week, I noted the traits of long-term, healthy pastors. I now travel to the opposite extreme and provide symptoms of the worst kind of ministerial professionals, toxic church leaders.

1. They rarely demonstrate the fruit of the Spirit. Paul notes those specific attributes in Galatians 5:22-23: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faith, gentleness, and self-control. You won’t see them much in toxic leaders.

2. They seek a minimalist structure of accountability. Indeed, if they could get away with it, they would operate in a totally autocratic fashion, with heavy, top-down leadership.

3. They expect behavior of others they don’t expect of themselves. “Do as I say, not as I do.”

4. They see almost everyone else as inferior to themselves. You will hear them criticizing other leaders while building themselves up.

5. They show favoritism. It is clear that they have a favored few, while they marginalize the rest.

6. They have frequent anger outbursts. This behavior takes place when they don’t get their way.

7. They say one thing to some people but different things to others. This is a soft way of saying they lie.

8. They seek to dismiss or marginalize people before they attempt to develop them. People are means to their ends; they see them as projects, not God’s people who need mentoring and developing.

9. They are manipulative. Their most common tactic is using partial truths to get their way.

10. They lack transparency. Autocratic leaders are rarely transparent. If they get caught abusing their power, they may have to forfeit it.

11. They do not allow for pushback or disagreement. When someone does disagree, he or she becomes the victim of the leader’s anger and marginalization.

12. They surround themselves with sycophants. Their inner circle thus often includes close friends and family members, as well as a host of “yes people.”

13. They communicate poorly. In essence, any clarity of communication would reveal their autocratic behavior, so they keep their communications unintelligible and obtuse.

14. They are self-absorbed. In fact, they would unlikely see themselves in any of these symptoms.

Yes, toxic leaders are the distinct minority of Christian leaders. But they can do harm to the cause of Christ disproportionate to their numbers. And they can get away with their behavior for years because they often have a charismatic and charming personality. Charming like a snake.

Do you know of any toxic church leaders? Do these symptoms seem familiar?

Thom S. Rainer is the president of LifeWay Christian Resources. For the original article, visit thomrainer.com.