A recent study asked a group of kids how often their peers look at porn online. They responded that it was often.

The study also asked what parental controls were in place on their devices, and almost all said none—because their parents trusted them. These parents have no idea what their children are seeing.
 
Why are controls so critical? First, the average age of a child’s first exposure to pornography is 11. So if that’s the average, some children are seeing it much earlier. And research is just beginning to give us the full, frightening picture of what porn does to a brain and to a life.

Much like substance abuse, it alters the brain, creating a need for a level of stimulation that a healthy, marital sex life doesn’t always provide. It sets our children up to have a distorted view of sex and to suffer from a desire that can’t be satisfied.
 
Why are so many dads turning a blind eye to this problem? Is it because they don’t think it’s a problem? Is it because of their own porn use? Maybe they feel hypocritical setting up boundaries for their kids they can’t respect themselves. If this is you, we want you to know that it’s not too late to protect your children, and there is hope for you too!
 
Watch this tutorial to find out how to quickly and easily set up some guardrails for your kids so that their electronics aren’t a source of constant temptation. Also check out “10 Ways to Fight a Porn Addiction.”
 
Huddle up with your kids tonight and ask, “Do you know what pornography is? Have you ever seen any?” Every parent needs to have this conversation with their child. Use discernment on when and how is best for your child.

All Pro Dad is Family First’s innovative and unique program for every father. Their aim is to interlock the hearts of the fathers with their children and, as a byproduct, the hearts of the children with their dads. At , dads in any stage of fatherhood can find helpful resources to aid in their parenting. Resources include daily emails, blogs, Top 10 lists, articles, printable tools, videos and eBooks. From , fathers can join the highly engaged All Pro Dad social media communities on Facebook, Twitter, YouTube and Instagram.

The image is seared in my memory. On Oct. 12, 2000, the “Butcher of Ramallah” ran to a window of the police station in order to reveal his blood-stained hands to the bloodthirsty crowd below of about 1,000 people. They erupted in cheers at the sight of his victorious pose. The blood on Abdel Aziz Salha belonged to two Israeli soldiers who made a wrong turn and ended up at a Palestinian Authority roadblock.

Instead of turning the two away, the Palestinian police took them into custody and brought them to the Ramallah police station.

As news spread that two Israelis were at the police station, a murderous mob formed outside. Finally, some of them stormed the building. A news report said, “The Israeli reservists were beaten, stabbed, had their eyes gouged out, and were disemboweled.”

It was at this point that Abdel Aziz Salha became famous—maybe not his name, but definitely his hands. He ran to the window to feed the ravenous multitude.

Unfortunately for Salha, an Italian film caught his celebration on tape. This was no small miracle, as the mob had already destroyed the equipment of other photographers.

Rumors spread that it was Italy’s state television RAI that got the footage, prompting a sickening apology from Riccardo Cristiano, their local correspondent. He made it clear they would never publish footage so damaging to the Palestinian cause and went as far as to congratulate the Palestinians—for what? I can only assume the murdering of two Israelis. Israel temporarily revoked his press pass.

It is not uncommon for reporters to make the most disturbing apologies to the Palestinian Authority. They understand that in Palestine, unlike in Israel, there is no freedom of the press. They could be sent packing in a heartbeat. Naturally, this means there is very little honest reporting coming out of the Palestinian Authority.

Aided by the picture, Israeli authorities captured Salha—who had been in hiding for several months—in 2001, and he confessed to his crimes.

“We were in a craze to see blood,” he was quoted as saying in a  story from Dec. 25, 2013. “I entered the room … I saw an Israeli soldier sprawled on the floor in front of the door. I came closer to him and saw a knife lodged in his back, near his right shoulder. I removed the knife and stabbed him in the back two or three times … while others in the room continued to kick him.

“I put my hand over his mouth and the other on his shoulder, in order to strangle him.

“I saw that my hands were drenched with blood, and so was my shirt. So I went over to the window and I waved my hands at the people who were in the courtyard.” 

Mark Sieger, a photographer who clearly is pro-Palestinian, shared his harrowing account in the Sunday Telegraph on Oct. 15, 2000.

“My God, I thought, they’ve killed this guy,” he said. “He was dead, he must have been dead, but they were still beating him, madly kicking his head. They were like animals.

“They were just a few feet in front of me and I could see everything. Instinctively, I reached for my camera. I was composing the picture when I was punched in the face by a Palestinian. Another Palestinian pointed right at me, shouting, ‘No picture, no picture!’—while another guy hit me in the face and said, ‘Give me your film!’

“I tried to get the film out, but they were all grabbing me and one guy just pulled the camera off me and smashed it to the floor. … I was scared for my life.”

Salha was sentenced in Israel to life in prison. We don’t have a death penalty here, except for specific acts, such as genocide—but few could argue that Salha deserved to live.

Salha Alive and Free

That’s right. You really did just read what you thought you read. He is free! In 2011, the controversial release of more than 1,000 Palestinian prisoners took place. A fourth of the prisoners were serving life sentences (i.e., murderers and terrorists). This was done in exchange for the Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit, who had been imprisoned in Gaza for five years after being kidnapped.

As a part of the deal, Salha was transferred to Gaza. That is where Mohammed Suliman of the Electronic Intifada news site caught up with him. Salha did not express remorse for his actions that day—but neither did he gloat. He sought to justify himself, saying that Israeli actions against Palestinians provoked him. He claimed, “Earlier on that day, one Palestinian from Ramallah was murdered by Israeli settlers. After they had killed him, they cut his ears and threw his body.”

The only problem with this story is that it never happened. There is no record of any Palestinian being killed that day by anyone, much less his body being mutilated. I have sent a message to the interviewer asking for corroboration. I am not holding my breath.

This is not to say, Salha did not believe this. It is very common in the Middle East for rumors like this to spread like wildfire in order to provoke a violent response. It is also possible that he is simply lying to make his gruesome actions understandable to the modern world.

“The night we were released and driven to Gaza City on a road along the sea, it was the first time I saw the sea in my entire life,” he reminisced. “I was awed to see water in such tremendous quantity, and it was the first time I felt truly free.”

While Abdel Aziz Salha enjoys life by the sea in Gaza with his wife, Vadim Nurzhitz and Yossi Avrahami, the two Israeli soldiers Sahla and his band of thugs murdered and mutilated, are still dead.

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, Identity Theft, was released April 16. Follow him at @RonSCantor on Twitter.

For the original article, visit .

Maj. Oshrat Bachar will soon become the Israel Defense Forces’ first female combat battalion commander. Bachar’s appointment was made by IDF Ground Forces Commander Maj. Gen. Guy Tzur.

Bachar will be promoted to lieutenant general and will take command of Field Intelligence Battalion 727, stationed on the Israel-Egypt border. She has held positions in the Field Intelligence Corps for almost her entire service, starting as a field intelligence spotter and later becoming a deputy company and company commander.

Bachar primarily served in the Nesher battalion, which until recently was deployed on the Israel-Egypt border. As a result of developments in the Sinai Peninsula, the IDF created Battalion 727, known as Eitam.

The relatively young Eitam battalion has become instrumental in IDF Southern Command’s Division 80’s efforts to keep up with the ever-changing security situation in Sinai after the fall of the Mubarak regime—and the entry of terrorist elements to the region.

Bachar also served as the head of the field intelligence spotter training course, as well as the chief of general staff’s adviser on women’s issues. Bachar is married to a fellow career officer who serves in the Engineer Corps, and the two have a 7-year-old daughter.

Bachar’s promotion will set a precedent in the IDF. While the field intelligence branch has many female company and deputy company commanders, there has never been a female battalion commander. The position she will soon enter is a demanding one, and she will be in charge of a theater that requires constant vigilance.

Bachar’s promotion is seen as a sign of the respect and appreciation she commands from her superiors and subordinates. Bachar received many congratulatory phone calls after the announcement of the promotion and said she was elated.

With New Year’s resolutions all the rage this time of year, David Herzog’s new health book, Jumpstart, which is being published by Charisma House this month, is poised to do for healthy living what The Harbinger did for prophetic understanding: bridging the natural to the supernatural.

Jumpstart is like a prophetic manual that uses ancient wisdom to deliver the “secrets” for a person’s own revelation of health and well-being. It paints a future of healthier, happier, spiritually transformed people able to fulfill their destinies while shaking off the sluggishness of an aging body.  

This Herzog book provides practical advice and a wealth of information about healthier living, including weight loss, anti-aging, emotional renewal, cleansing the body of harmful toxins and tapping into the deeper spiritual source of the Holy Spirit.

“It is possible to eat in such a way or to abstain from food for a season and go from natural to a supernatural state very quickly,” says Herzog, who is a Spirit-filled author, health consultant, conference speaker and evangelist. “And this enables you to access the supernatural world much easier.”

Herzog points to Daniel in the Bible as a prime example of someone who demonstrated a higher power source than others by knowing the power and benefits of eating high-energy super-foods combined with prayer.  

“My new book Jumpstart is meant to get people on a journey to rediscover the beauty and healing life of eating and living more in a way that’s connected with how we are meant to live, as Daniel and others did in ancient times.”

Jumpstart lays out a map for how people can regain youthfulness and get a leaner body which in itself can add years to one’s lifespan and bypass many modern sicknesses as well as a gain new mental outlook on life and create a stress-free, carefree standard of living through spiritual breakthrough.

“Many spiritual giants had certain lifestyle differences in their food choices,” says Herzog. “They had connection to the outdoors and nature, quiet times to connect with the Creator and other patterns that we see again and again as they were driven to a non-toxic life in the natural, leading to a supernatural life or, vice versa, a spiritual life that leads them to a healthier natural life.”

Written in an easy-to-read style, Herzog’s book is a combination of the latest scientific information about food, cleansing, exercise, anti-aging and natural, raw, organic health, mixed with prophetic revelations about how spiritual dimensions affect a person’s health. “I have given it all to you in one book that can get the reader started right away,” adds Herzog.

“Once you have removed years of undesired toxins and waste in your body, you feel cleaner and more focused as well as less groggy and you become a channel to receive immense levels of God’s strength, energy, joy and peace,” according to Herzog, who sees a connection and synergy when the body, mind and spirit are all functioning together at their highest peak level in God which was His original intent.

The book also up-ends myths about health fads and sets the record straight on what does and doesn’t boost faster metabolism, sharper minds and more peaceful, durable spirits. It distills biblical wisdom about health into bite-size nuggets for Christians in the 21^st century.

This health book presents the power and wisdom of the Holy Spirit in a way that connects with daily living and leaves everyone who reads it more knowledgeable about what the author calls “total health,” including knowing the Creator through His Son that brings total cleansing and eternal health.

In support of the unveiling of his new book from Charisma House, Herzog is conducting a health conference with the well-known “Juice Lady” Cheri Calbom in Sedona, Ariz., in January. ()  

Is emotional or binge eating ruining your weight loss goals? Is it threatening your health?

You can end the anguish of binge eating with God’s help. I’m not speaking from theory—I am speaking from experience. The change that has happened to me, it can happen to you.

The first thing you need to do is determine if you are ready to change. Whenever you are seeking to make any change in your life, your mindset is the most important factor in determining your success potential. Proverbs 23:7 says, “For as he thinks in his heart, so is he.”

There are five mindset stages each person goes through on the way to permanent change:

1. “I don’t believe I can change.”

2. “I’m thinking about changing.”

3. “I’m making plans for change.”

4. “I’m taking steps to change.”

5. “I’ve changed and it’s part of my life.”

One of the reasons you need to identify your mindset first is that there might be limiting beliefs that will sabotage your efforts. This applies primarily at Stages 1 and 2.

Even if you want to change on the surface, there may be emotional reasons beneath the surface that oppose your desire. It’s like an iceberg; the largest, most deadly part of it is beneath the surface. Remember the Titanic!

At Stage 1, you’ve stopped believing you can change because you’ve labeled past attempts as failures. Or you may be receiving extra attention from others from your habit that you don’t want to give up. Finally, “binge eater” may now have become your identity and you can’t imagine living another way.

Stage 2 is different because you want to change and believe you can change, but you haven’t made a decision that the effort is worth it. In this case, you need a strong motivator to change. A strong motivator can be positive (you want to be a good role model for your children) or negative (you want to prevent the heart disease that runs in your family. Whatever your motivator is, it needs to be strong enough to move you to take action.

Stages 3-5 are the Action stages; you want and believe you can change, plus you have a strong motivator that convinces you the effort to change is worth it. Now all you need is a solid plan to follow and to walk those steps out day by day.

The baseline of your Action plan is to identify the difference between physical and emotional hunger. If not physically hungry, then you need to be willing to pull back the curtain and ask yourself, “What emotion am I feeling that is driving me to eat?”

The emotion is what you need to take care of because food can only help you with physical hunger. There are many effective emotional management strategies that are Biblical and based on science. The core issue is learning to trust God with your emotions. For most of us, that is a step-by-step process.

However long it takes though, be willing to start the process. As 1 Peter 5:7 says, cast all your care upon Him, for He cares for you!

Once 240 pounds and a size 22, Kimberly Taylor can testify of God’s healing power to end binge eating. She is the creator of the new online course ‘How to Stop Binge Eating’. Charisma readers can get a discount of 70% off with the coupon code: Charisma.

Uncertainty. It’s part of daily living.

We aren’t certain our alarms will wake us up on time, aren’t certain we’ll have enough gas to get to work, aren’t certain the kids finished all their homework, and aren’t certain we locked the door.

And we aren’t certain we will keep our job another month, aren’t certain we’ll have enough money to pay the rent, aren’t certain our kids will make the right choices when we aren’t around. The list goes on.

But when it comes to your wife feeling secure in your marriage there shouldn’t be uncertainty. She needs to be able to count on you, her husband. Here are some ways you can help make your wife feel secure.

1. Financial. It is up to you to make her feel secure by working hard, staying out of excessive debt, providing financial stability, and wisely planning a budget and sticking to it.

2. Children. Some days, your wife will want to catch a movie with friends or go run errands around town. Give her the freedom to do these things by knowing how to take care of the kids when she’s not there. Be active in learning how to feed them, bathe them, and put them to bed so that you can do it on your own when your wife is gone. She needs to have confidence in you so she can have that sense of security while she’s gone.

3. Relational. Too often, relational uncertainty is the root of a wife’s insecurity. Be sure that your wife is completely confident that you would never pursue an affair with another woman. Train your eyes to not look at other women, online or offline, so your wife can know you only have eyes for her.

Your wife also needs the security of knowing that you are on her team, that you are man of integrity and a man she can trust. She needs to know that you are committed to her for life.

What are some other ways you have made your wife feel secure?  Feel free to leave your experiences in a comment below.

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

One third of U.S. adults have high blood pressure, but in the southeastern part of the country the rate is well over half, according to a new study that finds too little is being done to reverse the problem. 

The Southeast has been called the Stroke Belt because of well-known high rates of cardiovascular disease, including high blood pressure. But that knowledge has not led to changes, nor to a full understanding of the reasons for the population’s high risk, the study team reports. 

“The rates have not changed,” though the U.S. has had treatment guidelines for high blood pressure since 1977, said one of the authors, Dr. Uchechukwu K. A. Sampson, an assistant professor of medicine at Vanderbilt University Medical Center in Nashville, Tenn. 

“The number of people who do not know that they have high blood pressure is the same,” he added. 

High blood pressure is an established cause of death from cardiovascular disease and accounts for up to 7.5 million deaths worldwide each year, the researchers point out.

To investigate the persistently high rates of high blood pressure in the South, Sampson’s group used a large database with recent information on men and women in southern states covering the years 2002 to 2009. 

They focused on 69,000 white and black adults with similarly low income and education levels—to eliminate poverty as a factor—and analyzed what other causes might be contributing to blood pressure problems. 

Overall, they found that 57 percent of the study participants had high blood pressure. Blacks were nearly twice as likely as whites to be suffering from the disease, which has no symptoms of its own, but can lead to stroke or kidney damage if untreated.

But the racial difference was seen mainly among women. Fifty one percent of black and white men had high blood pressure, but the rates were 64 percent among black women and 52 percent among white women. 

Obesity seemed to be a main driver of the problem, especially among whites, with the most severely obese having more than four times the risk of high blood pressure compared to normal weight men and woman. 

Other factors linked to the likelihood of severe high blood pressure included high cholesterol, diabetes, a history of depression and a family history of heart disease.

The numbers Sampson’s group found have not changed from previous studies and that consistency is alarming, he said. 

“Are they still the same factors people have found before?” Sampson said. “If they are, that is bad news, then that means we have not done what we should have done in the past few years.” 

Of the study participants who knew they had high blood pressure, 94 percent were taking at least one blood pressure medication, which is a good thing, Sampson said. But only 30 percent were taking a diuretic medication that promotes water loss from the body.

Diuretics should be one of the first-line medication options, the authors write. 

Black people were twice as likely as whites to have high blood pressure without knowing it, Sampson said. 

That racial difference did not change even when researchers accounted for differences in income and education, the authors write in the journal Circulation: Cardiovascular Quality and Outcomes. 

All of this lines up with what doctors and researchers already knew, Sampson said.

Without specific studies, it’s hard to say why population rates have not gone down, and why so many people still do not know they have high blood pressure, and why so few are on diuretics, he said. 

Women may not actually be more predisposed to high blood pressure, Sampson said, but they may be less aware of the risk than men. 

Awareness efforts have historically focused on men when it comes to heart and blood pressure problems, but women are equally likely to have problems, he said. 

“African American women are known to have a very high prevalence of hypertension and that its onset is significantly earlier than what is seen in white women,” Dr. John M. Flack said. 

Flack is chair of the department of medicine at Wayne State University at the Detroit Medical Center in Michigan. 

Another explanation could be that obesity, clearly linked to blood pressure, is more common for black women than for white women in the general population, Flack said. 

“We need to create more awareness that women also have this problem,” Sampson said.

“Everyone should be treated equally aggressively, with the same level of interest.”

“Patients, be more proactive in monitoring your blood pressure,” he said. “Physicians should be much more proactive as well.” 

Better communication between patients and doctors might help bring known treatments into practice and start to get population level blood pressure down, he said.

In the meantime, other studies will need to probe why high blood pressure has remained so common even as treatments have improved.

Adrian Rogers, a famous 20th-century Baptist pastor, once went on a missions trip to Romania. Over the course of two weeks, he bonded with his interpreter but hadn’t learned much about his thoughts. So toward the end of the trip he asked, “Tell me, what do you think of American Christians?”

“I don’t want to talk about it,” came the strange reply. This, of course, only made Dr. Rogers more curious, so he began to press him for an answer.

Finally the interpreter capitulated. “Well, okay then, but you’re not going to like my answer. I don’t think you Americans understand what Christianity is all about. Back in the 1960s, you started to use the word ‘commitment’ to describe your relationship with Christ. However, any time a word comes into usage, another word goes into disuse.”

He continued, “Until the 1960s, you Americans talked about ‘surrender’ to Christ. Surrender means giving up control, turning over all to the Master, Jesus. By changing to the word ‘commitment,’ your relationship with Christ has become something you do; therefore you are able to keep control. Surrender means giving up all rights to oneself. You Americans don’t like to do that, so instead you make a commitment.”

Have you truly surrendered, not just committed, your life to Jesus Christ? Maybe you have “prayed a sinner’s prayer,” maybe not. Maybe you surrendered in the past, but you have taken back control of your life. In any case, be sure to settle this issue very soon.

The great irony of surrender is that it leads not to defeat but victory. You can surrender, or re-surrender, your life by humbly telling God in your own words that you desire to yield control of your life to Him in repentance and faith. Or, if you wish, you can pray this prayer:

Lord Jesus, I need You in my life right now more than I ever have. I have very little joy, peace, and passion in my life. I confess that I have been trying to have the best of both worlds, that I have been double minded, and that I have been seeking the God I have wanted and not the God who is. I am so sorry, and I repent. Please forgive me. Thank You for loving me so much that You would die for all my sins so that I can have eternal life. By faith I receive (or renew) my salvation and I surrender my life to You. Take control of my life. Make me into the kind of man I’ve been reading about in this book. I pray this in Your name, Jesus, and for Your glory. Amen.

If you’ve just surrendered or re-surrendered your life, congratulations. The surrendered life is the foundation under everything we’ve been discussing in this book. Be sure to tell someone what you’ve done. If someone gave you this book, let him or her know. Tell your spouse, your pastor, your small group—anyone who will listen. The feedback you receive will strengthen your faith.

Let me add one suggestion. Because I am a rebel, as most men are, I realize that I must each day come humbly to the foot of the cross in a spirit of repentance and faith, once again making a full, total, and complete surrender of my life to the lordship of Jesus. Let me encourage you also to practice daily surrender.

Note: I thought it would be a great way to end/start the year with this profound insight about the nature of our walk with Jesus. This is an excerpt from my new book, How God Makes Men.

Patrick Morley is founder and CEO of Man in the Mirror. After building one of Florida’s 100 largest privately held companies, in 1991, he founded Man in the Mirror, a nonprofit organization to help men find meaning and purpose in life. Dr. Morley is the best-selling author of The Man in the Mirror, No Man Left Behind, Dad in the Mirror, and A Man’s Guide to the Spiritual Disciplines.

The Bible has a lot to say about anger. It tells us that fools give “full vent” to their anger, but wise people keep themselves under control.

It encourages us not to be quickly provoked because anger “resides in the lap of fools.” Proverbs 14:29 teaches us that patient people have great understanding, “but people with tempers show their foolishness” (NCV). With the tools and knowledge of modern science, we are beginning to see the adverse health effects of anger within the bodies of the “foolish” and “hot-tempered.”

Thankfully, however, we have God’s word to serve as a living, active antidote for the ailments of body and soul. It contains the wisdom and power to completely cleanse our bodies of toxic emotions and nourish them with fruits of patience, gentleness, and self-control.

When we think of “anger,” we often envision red-faced cartoon characters with steam jetting out of their ears to the sound of a teakettle or locomotive whistle. If you’re like me, you grew up watching TV shows like “Dennis the Menace” and “Family Matters,” and you might picture Mr. Wilson or Carl Winslow blowing a fuse in the wake of Dennis or Steve Urkel’s mischievous or clumsy behavior.

What you might not envision is what anger looks like on the inside, which is what this article is all about.

Here are four of the dangers anger presents to our bodies:

1. Increases risk of heart disease. Forty-four studies published last year in the Journal of the American College of Cardiology found evidence of a link between emotions and heart disease. The same study also showed that chronically angry or hostile adults with no history of heart trouble might be 19 percent more likely than their more easygoing peers to develop heart disease. Some doctors now consider anger a heart disease risk factor that can be modified, just as people can lower their cholesterol or blood pressure.

Scientists speculate that stress hormones that are activated by anger, such as adrenaline and cortisol, speed up your heart rate and breathing and cause your blood pressure to rise and blood vessels to constrict. While this stress response mobilizes you for emergencies, it might cause harm if activated repeatedly.

Frequent anger “causes wear and tearon the heart and cardiovascular system,” says Jerry Kiffer, MA, a heart-brain researcher at the Cleveland Psychological Testing Center. An overworked heart, constricting blood vessels, and surging blood pressure can cause damage to artery walls.

2. Damages the liver and kidneys. The frontal lobe of our brains serves an important role in controlling rage. It helps suppress socially unacceptable responses and choose between good and bad behavior. If you’re continuously provoked by anger-inducing triggers, then this state of response can begin to cause a decrease in the production of acetylcholine, a hormone that tempers the severe side of adrenaline. The nervous system becomes overexerted, which leads to a weakened heart, stiffer arteries, as well as liver and kidney damage.

CRP, or C-reactive protein, is a substance known to promote heart disease and stroke and is produced in higher levels within people prone to anger. In a 2005 edition of the journal Arteriosclerosis, Thrombosis, and Vascular Biology, Israeli researchers found that elevations of liver enzymes correlate with higher CRP concentrations. Since liver enzymes typically rise in the presence of liver inflammation and liver damage, elevated CRP levels could be indicative of a worsening of liver disease.

3. Fuels depression. Research published in the journal JAMA Psychiatry found that overt irritability and anger were present in about 54 percent of the 500 patients who participated in a U.S. National Institute of Mental Health study on depression. The researchers found that irritability and anger in these patients were associated with significantly more severe depression and longer-lasting depression. The two emotions also were associated with poorer impulse control, higher rates of lifetime substance abuse, more antisocial personality disorders, reduced life satisfaction, and a higher rate of bipolar disorder in relatives.

4. Slows the body’s healing process. “A cheerful heart is good medicine.” Science has proved Solomon’s words to be absolutely true by showing how angry outbursts impact the healing process. Researchers at the University of Ohio in Columbus inflicted minor burns on the forearms of 98 volunteers who were then monitored over eight days to see how quickly the skin repaired itself. The subjects had each taken a battery of psychological tests beforehand to assess how easily and often they felt and expressed wrath, and were then ranked on an “anger scale.”

The results indicated that individuals who had trouble controlling expressions of anger were four times more likely to need more than four days for their wounds to heal, compared with counterparts who could master their anger.

All of this information begs the question: How do we deal with anger? James 1:19 offers succinct and yet tremendously powerful insight:

“You must all be quick to listen, slow to speak, and slow to get angry” (NLT).

Reasons to feel rage abound in this world of sin-born darkness and Christ-born light, reasons that range from blatant bullying at your child’s school to passive-aggressive statuses flooding your Facebook newsfeed. Anger is a natural, normal emotion to feel. Ephesians 4:26 says that when—not “if”—we become angry, we shouldn’t sin. Clearly, anger in and of itself is not a sin.

Jesus, who was absolutely sinless, became angry when He saw merchants buying and selling inside the holy Temple. And He didn’t merely shake His finger in chastisement and then politely ask them to take their crooked business elsewhere. On the contrary, He forcefully overturned the tables and benches and drove the money-hungry out. He did this to clear the way for worship and provide a sacred space for the healing of the blind and lame. His anger wasn’t rooted in selfishness, as much of our anger is, but rather, in godliness. He witnessed injustice and sacrilege and took action against it. From this example, we learn that anger can be a helpful emotion when it alerts us to threatening or unjust situations.

Notice James didn’t write “don’t get angry.” He said be “slow” to get angry. When you feel anger rising within you, ask yourself if you’ve listened to the full story. One of the most foolish things we can do in sensitive situations and volatile conversations is speak prematurely before we’ve heard as much of the complaint, accusation, story, even lie as the other party is willing to offer. Then, after you’ve heard everything, ask the Holy Spirit to give you the right words to speak and the proper tone with which to speak them. How many of you know that an acerbic tone or display of dismissive, disrespectful body language can transform seemingly innocent words into inflammatory barbs. With the Spirit’s peace and presence prompting you, you can defuse a verbal bomb before it detonates. You can save relationships and even your physical health. Most of all, you can reflect the love, patience, and gentleness of Jesus.

Diana Anderson-Tyler is the author of Creation House’s Fit for Faith: A Christian Woman’s Guide to Total Fitness and her latest book, Perfect Fit: Weekly Wisdom and Workouts for Women of Faith and Fitness. Her popular website can be found at , and she is the owner and a coach at CrossFit 925. Diana can be reached on Twitter. 

For the original article, visit .

No matter where in the world a Jew finds himself, his heart and prayers are directed toward Jerusalem. The reason for this spans over two thousand years of Jewish history, throughout which the children of Israel have longed to return to their ancestral Land.

The Psalms caution, “If I forget Jerusalem, then let my right hand forget its own strength.” (Psalms 137:5) For a Jew, forgetting Jerusalem is tantamount to forgetting his identity completely. In contrast, by remembering Jerusalem, a Jew identifies with his very essence and inner-self.

Unlike other exiled nations, the Jews’ desire to return never ceased or waned in intensity. Rather, this desire steadily increases! As the ingathering of the exiles takes place before our very eyes, Jews face east not only to dream of Jerusalem’s past glory, but to hasten its rebuilding in modern Israel.

Why Jerusalem?
When Jews pray facing east, they are doing much more than turning to the Promised Land’s capital. Like a spiritual homing device that zeroes in on its target, the soul of the Jew is programmed to seek its source—the root of its holiness. To do so, Jews first face Israel. As they reach Israel spiritually, they narrow their focus on Jerusalem. Finally, they hone in on the Western Wall, site of the Holy Temple and the Holy of Holies within. This focus is one of progressive holiness that narrows in and targets the highest level of closeness to the Divine Presence. As the place where the soul unites with its Creator, the life force of all humanity, Jerusalem naturally remains the focal point for all Jewish prayer.