Men's Health Part 2

This is the Truth Network Welcome to Man Talk, brought to you by TAWCMN, talking and walking Christian men's ministry, where they're devoted to breaking down the walls of race and denomination, and challenging men to take their God-assigned role.

Here's our hosts Will Hardy and Roy Jones Jr., a black guy and a white guy. Welcome to this week's Man Talk broadcast, and last week we were talking with Dr. Bob Evans, and we're going to continue our conversation this week. And you know, Roy, we were saying how it is like God just blessed and he was hitting on all cylinders with respect to some of the things that we had been talking about in prior weeks, and even at some of the summit that we just had. Oh, you're exactly right, Will. It was really neat how Dr. Evans, just the things he was chiming in, the family health, the individual health, how all that tied in together, and if we're not doing justice to God, if we're not taking care of ourselves, and then the role of the Father.

So it was perfect timing. And Dr. Evans, we're glad you're able to join us again, and we would like to kind of come back into that conversation as we finished up last week. We didn't really have a lot of time, but back to what we're dealing with with the young men today, and men in general. So if a man's out there listening, Dr. Evans, it's a very private thing if they're struggling in that intimacy area. And of course, these days he's getting more and more prevalent on TV, more commercials about it, but what would you say to that man that maybe has not stepped forward to come talk to someone like yourself about that to kind of put him at ease if he's listening today? Well, you know, I think the thing that's important is to understand that there are healthcare professionals that understand the problem, and that they can help them and guide them to getting proper treatment for their issues. But I know that certainly in my own practice, I would also emphasize the need to talk things over from a spiritual perspective, because until you get right in your soul, you're going to have a hard time getting right in your body. We just know that you've got to have mind, body, and soul all working in sync for these things to work. And the good Lord may have shut you down for a reason, because you're not right. Therefore, I think you best work on that too. Wow.

That's incredible. I'm sitting here going, you know, it's like, no, we did not audience prep Dr. Bob for what he's saying here, but again, he is hitting on all cylinders. You know, it was interesting what you spoke about in reference to, you know, last week when you're talking about men and the issues men have, and how some of these things men begin to act out on and attempt to, you know, enhance themselves as a result of things that they see.

And so they want to be that individual, not knowing that, you know, these are all deceptatory means of perhaps pulling them into a area or taking them down an avenue that they were never meant to go. So for the, yeah, for the, for the men listening out here, and I thank God, Dr. Bob, for modern medicine. I thank God for modern medicine. And now I want to speak to that individual out there who perhaps is saying, well, you don't need to go. Just believe God is able to do this. Well, what do you say to a man like that?

No, you know what? The more I learned over the years about the magnificence of the human species and what we've been given and how intricate and how amazingly designed it all is, you know, to me, it's just almost blasphemy to feel that way. Or, you know, the good Lord put this knowledge into my head or my colleagues head and gives us the skills that we have in order to help us. I mean, you know, I mean, I believe that if done properly, medicine for me is the real, it's the real mission. I mean, I believe it's a calling and I feel that, you know, I'm here in order to try to help this person. So my total focus when I've got somebody in that room with me, whether it's the OR or in a consultation situation in the office is, you know, what am I being asked to do for this person? How can I help them?

How can I use this knowledge that I've been given to make them a better person? And, you know, the Lord put this out there for you. Yes, he did. You know, I mean, there's this whole thing.

It would take a second, but it's a joke, but it's true. It was this fellow that, you know, he goes to his primary care doctor and he tells him he's got a cancer and he's about to send it to this surgeon and, you know, he'll take care of you. And so the guy says, well, I just thought I was going to pray over it and hope it would go away. And, you know, a year later he goes back and the cancer spread a little bit. So the doctor said, okay, well, surgery's out now, so I'm going to send you for radiation. And the radiation oncologist talks to him and says, if you do these treatments, you'll be okay. And he goes, I'm going to pray over this. And, you know, a year later it's now spread everywhere and he goes to the medical oncologist. So finally the guy says, I'm praying to God. I'm saying, God, I pray to you. Why didn't you help me? And all of a sudden he hears this voice that says, Hey, I sent you to a surgeon, a radiation oncologist, an oncologist. Could you meet me halfway? I mean, the bottom line is, I mean, this knowledge did not just develop in a vacuum.

It's not given. And, you know, to me to sort of fall into the kind of faith healing thing, yes, you absolutely have to have faith. It's the only thing that gets you through your tough times, but you've got to have faith in the people that the Lord sends your way. And we're here for a reason. We're all here for a reason.

We all have our place. Amen. Exactly. You know, when people ask me that, you know, about doctors and all this, and I tell them, I say, you know, if you look in Scripture, Jesus never healed anybody the same way twice. And I mean, in one instance, he, he spit on the ground and made some mud and put it on the individual's eyes and the individual came seeing.

So there's all kinds of ways. And I think that's perhaps what Jesus was trying to show us that there, there is not just one way, you know, that God has many means and he has all knowledge. And as you stated so eloquently, he's given us this knowledge for a reason for the betterment of mankind, not a detriment to mankind. Oh, well said, my friend. I think that's absolutely the truth.

Very good. Well, you know, back to what Dr. Evans was saying just a few moments ago, when he's, whether he's in the operating room or he's with a patient, you know, of witnesses personally, and he takes time to, to well, make you well informed about what's going on and then what your options are. And he, he's one of the few doctors that, you know, he's a personal friend, but also a physician, but he's one of the few doctors who takes time to make sure you're comfortable with everything that's going on.

And he explains it and he's generally interested in you as the person and the overall health, not just that one component you might be there to visit him about. And, you know, I think that too, it rolls back into the healing of the whole man. And a lot of these things that we perhaps are encountering, you know, they're derived from our spirit being spiritual unhealthy, and it, it rolls over into the physical aspects, you know, so we as, we as God's men and you know, understanding what we need to do.

I think it, it says, myriads and myriads of things, but in particular, it says that if God owns all knowledge and he does, and he uses that knowledge for his glory, which he does, then we should be obedient to God and let God bless us in the time that we live in with the things that he has given man that knowledge in order to make man a better man. Physically, spiritually, you know, holistically. Dr. Evans, you were about to say something just a moment ago. Well, I, you know, I, I just, uh, I'm struck by it by how true that last statement was. And I'm also constantly reminded about how people's health really deteriorates when they're, when they're really feeling under stress. I mean, we had several presentations here describing certain conditions as being exacerbated by stress, being brought on by stress, being induced by stress. And, you know, to me, so much of what's stressful in the world is when you don't, you don't have your spiritual life put together, you know, because all, listen, all of us are going to have our times in trouble. But when you don't have spiritual practices that allow you to tap into that brain, that taproot that will hold you, then you're sitting there and you feel isolated, you feel alone, you feel depressed.

You don't have the ability to take on some of these issues that come along. I mean, you know, I looked at and think, my gosh, if I had not had faith, if my wife had been a woman of great faith when she had this cancer diagnosis, you know, how do you handle that? Well, you know, I, I've always been astonished at the idea that you could walk, go into an operating room as a patient if you didn't have faith. I wouldn't go in there without it, you know, so I don't know how people, you know, people that don't have that bedrock faith to sustain them during tough times, they're going to have a lot more tough times. And I just more and more just wish we could get people back into better spiritual practices. I think their overall health would improve.

We totally agree with that, Bob, without question. One of the things that we've talked about in the past is that, back to spiritual health as well as the physical health, is the ability for Satan to get you distracted. So if you're not spiritually healthy, then you easily get distracted, which could be worrying over problems, which creates more stress, which creates more health issues. But if you're spiritually grounded, back to your point about having that tap root, then those storms don't move the tree quite so much.

You don't sway quite so much. Well, he's certainly got a lot of modern technology to tempt you with, doesn't he? Yeah, modern technology. And one of the things that General Boykin talked with us several weeks back about was not only is pornography a large distraction these days with inappropriate content, now gaming, Dr. Evans, apparently, is apparently a big thing for men. And men are already kind of detached, if you will, from their families for other reasons, and now we're detaching them with gaming, sitting in front of a TV while the kids are back in their rooms on computers or whatever.

It just continues to get worse and worse. We're hopeful and prayerful that God's working revival among men through the show and through the events. And we understand nationally there's more men's movements that are starting up again.

I think the people are starting to finally realize that men have got to be engaged in order for us to get back to a healthy state. And we're coming up on another break here, and we want to come back. Dr. Bob, if you could hang around with us, if you've got to go, then we understand that too. But we're going to be coming back here on ManTalk Radio. Stick around with us.

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Call 336-885-1987. Welcome back to ManTalk Radio. This is Roy Jones, the white guy.

And I'm Will Hardy, the black guy. Dr. Evans, thanks for joining us. We wanted a few more questions for you and thanks so much for taking two weeks with us on the show in order to get these questions answered and get your insight into several things with us. If men are listening, as well as ladies right now, we'd like to ask Dr. Evans, what are some of the signals for men out there of things that they should start thinking about as they move through life? You know, early life, we've talked about potential intimacy problems. Bob, if you don't mind, just share with us, for the healthy man, what are some of the things he can do to be watching out for things that might be symptoms of a larger problem? And then at what age should he or he be thinking about these things or potentially looking for signals? Okay, so what I think would be helpful is we kind of went through some of the things that one should be doing at certain ages. So there are recommendations from various medical groups as to what you should do at certain ages. And so, you know, for men in their teenage years and in their 20s into their 30s, one of the important things before is testicular cancer strikes young men, so they should be examining themselves monthly just in the same way that women are supposed to do breast health exams to make sure they don't have breast cancer. Sort of next along is in the 20s and 30s, you want to start to establish, you know, proper nutrition, a proper exercise schedule, appropriate weight and maintenance of good blood pressure and diabetes control because those are things that are all going to be dependent on your overall health. And then as we progress along, additional cancer screening, things come along.

At age 50, we start screening for prostate cancer. We start one of the, in that 30 to 40 range, we want to start looking at cholesterol levels because, you know, the things that you can really do to maintain yourself in the best possible shape for the longest period of time are things like maintenance of good blood pressure, maintenance of a normal diabetic, normal sugar level, maintenance of proper cholesterol. And so much of that is the thing that we should know, you know, proper diet, exercise. I mean, these are all things that if we can start those patterns at a young age, we're going to prevent a lot of problems downstream. And to me, that's just sort of taking care of the body that you've been given, you know, like any other gift, you know, you want to take care of it and enjoy it. That's great, Bob. If you were to talk to some of the fathers out there, I guess right now, because part of what we're talking about is leading properly, leading the family properly.

And I don't know, as you were talking through that piece, I don't know that my dad had those conversations with me. Just being an athlete in high school and college, some of those things were kind of normal and I guess learned behaviors and still to this day, try to stay cognizant of most of those things. But I'm just wondering how many men out there even think about that if they've never been engaged into athletics?

Well, you know, you, well, but the thing is, you don't have to be a great athlete to try to keep yourself at some decent level of physical fitness. So, you know, it may be that, you know, you do a lot of outdoor things or you go for hikes or bike rides. I mean, so much of what we, the best teaching we do is by example, you know, kids watch what you do. And so, you know, if you find things in your life that are important, that you can share with them, that you model that behavior.

And so, you know, if you're an outdoorsman and you get out there and you like to hike and do things like that, you take your little ones along. And, you know, that's how you, that's how you can model the proper behavior for a young man growing up because it's so difficult because I think men are confused right now. I think we go, so many men go through life not knowing what they should be doing, not knowing what's expected of them, not really knowing how to be a godly human.

And how to be a good husband, how to be a good father, how to be an upright, you know, there's so many competing forces that are pulling them in so many different directions and leading them astray that, you know, you've got to be that role model for your children. And, you know, Dr. Bob, I think it's already difficult enough for men and I think this is where Satan perhaps uses these things to his advantage to give men to adopt these particular thoughts. And that is, is that, well, you know, when I go to a doctor, you know, I just don't want him feeling down there, you know, in, you know, you know what I mean? And so it's like they have this embarrassment because they feel that, you know, it's, I'm in a compromising position. And again, these are the thoughts that I think from the spiritual realm is given to men and they adopt these thoughts and that might be some of the reasons why they don't go to their physician the way that they should. Because, you know, they've sat around, they've talked to other men, it's like, you know, I don't want no man going down there and doing those things.

And again, you know, it's all about God-given knowledge. So if that father who is listening, you can take your son fishing, you can take him hunting, so why can't you talk about taking him to go and get himself checked out? Yeah, well, you know what, well, it's an interesting thing that we've had a nationwide push for a number of years for prostate cancer screening. And one of the most effective, absolutely most effective things that we did was we targeted the barbershops in black communities. And we could get two generations or three generations of men thinking about this. Because it's a different disease for blacks than whites.

It's more aggressive. So we wanted to get them early. And so, you know, we found that if we could get some people to then say to their adult children, hey, you got to get checked, man. This is important. This is important for you. And we got the word out that way, and so, you know, I think that we can overcome those things, those concerns and those worries and those sort of false narratives that people put together in their minds by proper education. But, you know, it's one thing if it comes from me.

It's a whole lot more important when somebody you respect, whether it's a father or a father figure of some sort, tells you the same thing. So, you know, we do love that community involvement. We think that's so crucial to getting, you know, good long-term outcomes.

That's great, Bob. Can I ask you one thing, Dr. Evans, was the, statistically speaking, what is the ratio of prostate cancer among white males versus black males? Well, you know, it was interesting. It makes the age difference, yeah. So the recommendations for the longest time were that we should start screening African-American men at age 40 and Caucasians or whites at age 50.

And to some degree, that's still true, that there have been some minor changes in the recommendations. But we want to look for prostate cancer earlier because not only were we detecting it at a somewhat later date in our black patients, but it seemed like the disease was more aggressive. And it really honestly was not because they weren't getting checked because when we did it through like a VA system where everybody got the exact same health care, the disease was still worse in black. It's a more aggressive cancer. So you've got to get to that early. And if someone is really reluctant to get a simple blood test and a rectal examination, then they're going to place themselves at risk because these are easily treatable, curable cancers if you catch them on time.

If you don't catch them on time, it's just that once that cat's out of the bag, it's too late. You're going to die of that disease. We don't want that. This is a totally curable condition. So man, if you're listening right now, then do what the doctor says. This is something that is very, very serious.

And that's why Roy and I, we're talking about this subject today and we're grateful that Dr. Bob is on talking about it because this is serious. This is something that you should not be neglecting. This is something that you as a man needs to understand that you could potentially have something going on with you right now and not know it because you've been stubborn and you've adopted these thoughts that the enemy has given you. And you need to make that full 180-degree turn and say, I'm going to be obedient to God and I want to be around for as long as possible.

And I don't want these things to hit me by surprise. No, that's great, Will. And Dr. Evans, for the man that's out there says, look, I don't have any pain, don't have any trouble urinating. Right. Well, that's okay.

You know what? We're interested in finding cancer before you have symptoms. But I'm your symptomatic, it's too late. We need to find out what is curable. And the thing is, look, we all want to be there for our children. I like to be there for my grandchildren and beyond if I could.

My own mother just had her sixth-grade grandchild. You want to live long enough to see into those next generations. So how are you going to do that?

You're going to do it by taking care of yourself, by getting checked regularly, following proper guidelines, and listening to the advice that comes from your primary care doctor and doing those things. I mean, it's not that hard. Just follow through.

Follow through because you want to do this for yourself, but more importantly for your wife and your children and generations to come. Amen. They want you there and they need you there. Amen. That is so good, Dr. Evans.

It is. Dr. Evans, let's give you a moment. Have you got anything you'd like to share maybe that we haven't asked you about?

We've got another minute or so. Feel free to let us know if there's something that's really on your heart. Well, you know, the one thing I always like to tell everybody is that, you know, when these difficult times come, never forget that prayer works. You know, you may find that if you're praying for a cure, that may not be what happens, but I promise you, it will lift you up and it will get you through. And so, you know, prayer matters. So just make it a practice. Amen. You know, when you hear about something, just say, hey, I'm going to put you on the prayer list here. And do that.

And do it and follow through. You know, when you're having a tough time, boy, you feel so uplifted by those people that are praying for you. It's like a tsunami at your back. You will feel it.

I promise you will. Well, we thank you, Dr. Bob, for joining us because this is a very important subject and we just want to thank you again. You know, our time is drawn to a close. Thank you, Dr. Evans. Great talk to you. Safe travels. All right. Thank you both and God bless you all. You too, Bob. Thank you.

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