Have you been coughing or sneezing lately? Allergies take a toll on us, but a worse 
problem involves difficulty in breathing. Several causes are asthma, pneumonia, bronchitis, emphysema, and a big title called Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disorder, or COPD. You have probably seen the advertisements for numerous medications.
I’ve found four common causes of COPD. 1) Cigarette smoke is by far the most common reason people get COPD. But cigar and pipe smoke are also guilty. Secondhand smoke is considered a fifth cause, but it is still tobacco smoke. Therefore, I lump it in with the first cause. 2) Breathing chemical fumes, dust, contaminated city air, or toxic substances can cause COPD. 3) We read that about 3% of people with COPD are genetically inclined in their DNA: the code that tells your body how to work properly. This is called alpha-1 antitrypsin deficiency, or ATT deficiency. The affected lungs lack a certain protein needed to protect them from damage which can lead to severe COPD. 4) Least common, asthma can also lead to COPD. If you don’t get medical treatment for asthma soon enough, it can eventually cause lifetime lung damage.
People with damaged or diseased lungs tend to take rapid and shallow breaths, but doctors tell us that this aggravates the problem. Instead: longer, slower, deeper breathing is more soothing, helps clear the lungs, and promotes relaxation; all of which retards lung tissue deterioration.
There are many treatments for breathing disorders and I don’t disparage any of them. However, there is a little-known treatment that costs nothing. It is called: SINGING. Okay, I like to sing. But read on.
I read the following in a health report: “In a third-floor room of a London hospital…a dozen people gathered to perform vocal exercises and sing songs.
While the participants were drawn to the session by a fondness for music, they also had an ulterior motive for singing: to cope better with lung disease. The weekly group is led by a professional musician and is offered to people with respiratory problems including asthma, emphysema, and Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disorder. Doctors at London’s Royal Brompton Hospital started the program after reasoning that the kind of breathing used by singers might also help lung patients.”
Those of us who sing a lot, especially in choirs, know that singing requires better posture and teaches us to manage our breathing. Dr. Hopkinson said, “In a study comparing patients who went to the singing class versus those who attended a film discussion group, only the patients who sang reported feeling physically better afterwards, even if it couldn’t be measured objectively. Other experts agreed the singing therapy was an unusual but worthy approach.”
Dr. Norman Edelman, former chief medical officer of the American Lung Association, said, “Controlled breathing, like the kind you might learn in singing, is very important because people with COPD should try to take deep breaths and slowly synchronize each breath when they’re doing something like walking up stairs.”
Would singing help everyone with lung deficiencies? I don’t know, and many people don’t like to sing. Also, although they know that slow, deep breathing does help, many folks don’t remember to do their breathing exercises. But if they got into the habit of singing, the exercises would become routine. However, those with severe lung problems will find it difficult to sing.
I am not encouraging you to stop taking medication; I am merely encouraging you to add something that doesn’t cost anything. Additionally,
singing is beneficial spiritually and emotionally. Psalm 9:1-2 says, “I will praise you, Lord, with all my heart. I will tell all the miracles You have done. I will be happy because of You; God Most High, I will sing praises to Your name.” and Proverbs 17:22 says, “A happy heart is like good medicine, but a broken spirit drains your strength.”
Many people in their 70s and 80s have agreed that singing helped them breathe easier. Diagnosed with severe emphysema in 2002, a man named John Cameron Turner said he tried various medicines with not much relief. He said, “I have damaged lungs, but singing helps me use as much of them as possible.”
So I encourage you to sing joyful songs with a wholesome message. You can even hum happy tunes. You have nothing to lose and much to gain.
with a snake in the Garden of Eden. Do you really believe that non-sense?”
serpent, whale, sea monster, river monster, dinosaur, fiery serpent, majestic beings, seraphim, afraid, worms, and crawling. The word for serpent in Genesis 3:1 is nachash and has been rendered serpent; not because it was a snake, but because it hissed. In medieval literature we read that witches hissed. This word hiss means to prognosticate (know the future), whisper a magic spell or an enchantment. Snakes cannot do that, and that is the first clue that the serpent was not an animal.
(feathered serpent depicted here), was the principal god of the Aztecs.
responses. Panic is a response to danger or threat. Short term panic or anxiety is called the fight/flight response because all of its effects are aimed toward either fighting or fleeing the danger. The number one purpose for panic and anxiety is for protection. Example: if you were crossing a street with a car speeding toward you blasting its horn, and you experienced absolutely no anxiety, you would be killed. However, your fight/flight response would take over and you would scramble off the street. The purpose of anxiety is to protect us, not to harm us.
effect of the fight/flight response is to alert us to the possible existence of danger. Thus, one of the major effects is an immediate and automatic shift in attention to search the surroundings for potential threat. Although sometimes an obvious threat cannot be found, most humans cannot accept having no explanation for something. Therefore, in many cases, when people cannot find an explanation for their sensations, they turn their search upon themselves and often come up with the wrong answer.
Accept that you are having a panic attack.
“Church” is not a building of any sort; it isn’t an ecclesiastical institution; and it is not a business. Having said that, the church meets in buildings, it is known through many identifiable denominations, and good business sense is mandatory. Simply put: the church consists of people – some mature, some not – most of whom abide by a common code of ethics and standard: the Bible.
body of Christ. And since we proclaim a high code of ethics as found in the Bible, we are expected to adhere to a higher standard, higher code of ethics, and higher morality than the world. The world is not expected to live up to our standard; but when we don’t, the world notices it. Therefore, when any of us violate our code of ethics, we not only let Jesus and the church down, we also let the world down. That’s why they view the Church as no better than they are and we become – you got it – hypocrites! 
Based on the nature of his questions, the person asking them had already concluded that there had been several ice ages and that the earth is becoming a greenhouse. I tried to discuss the topic with him, but having a prejudicial viewpoint, he refused any attempt at open bilateral discussion. Maybe he was hesitant to talk with someone with a scientific background – I don’t know.
colder; and it takes a few years to freeze large sections of fauna, flora, and the earth. Many smaller animals would freeze rapidly and in the oscillation of the daily temperatures they would thaw and be eaten by predators, or rot. And without thinking it through, many folk infer that the larger animals could also freeze solid at glacial temperatures without decomposition setting in. However, the larger animals would die at a slower rate, and because of the body mass and internal heat they would begin decomposing before they completely froze.
research about how cold the home freezer should be. (By the way, it should be set between 0o F to +5o F.) In that research we found that in order to freeze a 2 ton elephant and prevent the food in its mouth and stomach from digesting, the beast needs to freeze solid within 30-45 minutes; and to achieve that goal we need a temperature of 150o below zero Fahrenheit. And to freeze a 6-8 ton beast within 30-45 minutes requires a temperature of -250o F (minus 157o C). However, the coldest temperature ever recorded on earth is -128.6o F. That’s -89.2 C. Obviously, the evolutionary or uniformitarian ice age theories are not scientifically adequate to explain what we find in real life. But the Bible gives us hints as to what happened.
schools – both public and private. I believe we need to study reality more closely and teach our students more objectively.
others believe that it had a beginning? Why do some folk believe that the entire cosmos was created about 6,000 years ago while others believe it is over 4.54 billion years old? Why do some folk believe it started with “And God said” and others believe it started with a “big bang”?
nothingness containing no space, no time, no matter, no light, no sound. A story logically begins at the beginning, but this story is about the universe and unfortunately there are no data for the very beginnings – none, zero. When you read or hear anything about the birth of the universe, someone is making it up–we are in the realm of philosophy. Only God knows what happened at the very beginning.”
6,000 years ago, and if God has been here for AN EXTREMELY LONG FOREVER, did He do absolutely nothing until 6,000 years ago, or was He continuously a creator? The Bible doesn’t say, so we speculate. To clarify: postulating whether He continuously created for millions of years or didn’t create anything until 6,000 years ago is speculation and belief..
San Diego, favored the steady-state (the universe always existed) hypothesis and admitted that his view supported Hinduism, not Christianity. A steady-state universe, were it true, would support the endless-life-cycle belief taught by Hinduism; which means the steady-state hypothesis is a religious belief. Therefore, also a matter of faith.
proven historical track-record. Of course, some folk claim the Bible is very detailed and specific about creation while others say it is not. But rather than fighting about our interpretations or understandings, we should be encouraging each other to actively study the Bible.
answers to their questions, and a foundation on to which base the answers. Although each Q & A could have easily taken up 5-6 pages, and others need a book to adequately address, I’ve endeavored to keep my narrative for each question short. If anyone wants more information for any question, please contact me.
Gene Linzey 