Combatting a Deadly Killer

Friends, it is the world's deadliest killer, but there are answers and there are antidotes. It's time for The Line of Fire with your host, biblical scholar and cultural commentator, Dr. Michael Brown. Your voice for moral sanity and spiritual clarity.

Call 866-34-TRUTH to get on The Line of Fire. And now, here's your host, Dr. Michael Brown. ... teaching and preaching and all those ways that I didn't talk as much about the transformation in my own life and how God intervened and helped me to take on a healthy lifestyle, but it's as I'm getting older, I talk about it more because I realize healthy church starts with the healthy you, not just spiritually, not just emotionally, but physically as well. And we're going to have a great informative broadcast, one of these life-saving, eye-opening, super helpful broadcasts today. If you miss any of it, make sure to catch the rest of it either by podcast or on our AskDrBrown.org website or on the app. Make sure you catch all of it because you're going to be informed, equipped and helped. Welcome to the broadcast.

I won't be taking calls today, but before I introduce my guest, Dr. Paul Burnett, I just want to say a couple of things first. If you're listening live, it is right in the midst of Yom Kippur, the holiest day on the biblical calendar and certainly in Jewish life. Pray right now, just pray a silent prayer that God would open the hearts and minds of Jewish people, that they would recognize with all human beings the depth of our sin, our need for Savior and how atonement comes through Messiah's blood.

Pray for our people. It's one thing. Second thing, this past Saturday, I had the joy of seeing folks I hadn't seen some in 50 years, some in 25 years. It was the 50th anniversary reunion of our high school graduating class from 1973, but it was sobering in that there were at least 50 of our classmates who have passed away.

Some very recently, some were planning on coming to the event and passed away. And, you know, there are a lot of things we're just ignorant about. Like when I had high blood pressure, well, Nancy told me, you can't play with this. And I read, okay, this is the silent killer.

She was, okay, I got to do something. And that's part of what helped me make this radical lifestyle change. When I heard that chronic inflammation was the number one cause of death worldwide, I thought, what? And I've never even heard of chronic inflammation. And yet it's true. I've got in front of me, this special offering from the Harvard Medical School on understanding inflammation.

It's really quite extraordinary. So I think what you hear today could be life-saving, life-changing. Without further ado, we go to Dr. Paul Burnett, who is one of the chief medical officers working with TriVita, our co-sponsor, part of the Wellness Revolution together. Dr. Burnett, welcome back to the line of fire. Are you there, sir?

Are you there, sir? All right. Not sure what is going on, but we will get that resolved momentarily. And our team, you know what has actually happened? Folks have come in with another broadcast in the studio that sends everything out over the weekend.

And it is possible that one of the settings got changed. We discovered that that's what had happened. So our team will be on with their team getting this fixed. Last time we had Dr. Burnett on, there was an issue with where he was. Let's try this once again.

All right, Dr. Burnett, are you there? Okay. Well, our team is in touch right now with the truth team, and we will figure out what is going on and get this resolved momentarily.

Momentarily, we will get this resolved for you. So let me just talk to you for a moment about your own life. I know we're spiritual people. I know we love the Lord. We want to make our lives count for Him. So look, for decades, decades, decades, decades, decades, and to this day in my teaching and preaching and ministry, to this moment, we are seeking to equip people spiritually. We are seeking to deepen people in prayer. We are seeking to equip people in the Word. We are seeking to give answers to the challenges to the Gospel today. We're seeking to raise up and send out missionaries and workers all around the world. We are seeking to do outreach to our Jewish people.

So this is day and night. This is a second-by-second-by-second thing that we are doing, all right, and that will never stop. My own life focus day and night is being with God, understanding the Word, drawing closer to Him spiritually day and night without exception.

That is what I seek to do. So my first and foremost emphasis is spiritual. But friends, if we're not physically healthy, we can't do what God's called us to do. If we're not physically healthy, we can't run the race we're called to run. If we're not physically healthy, and again, it's not a condemnation.

There are certain things outside of our control, but a lot is in our control. You say, well, God can be glorified through my sickness. Well, God is primarily glorified through healing our sickness or working in our character while we're sick. But if you look in Scripture, unless it's judgment coming on a sinner, judgment coming on a sinful nation, and God's putting out judgment, God's not glorified by making people sick, but by making people well.

Just read the Bible on that from beginning to end. And yes, He's glorified through our faith, through our perseverance, through our commitment, through our love for Him in the midst of sickness and pain. Some of you are amazing. You are living testimonies to God's grace. You're in constant pain, you're run down, and yet you care for others, and you pray for others, and you encourage others, and you're a blessing to others, and you are bearing fruit to the glory of God day and night. Praise God for that.

You are a living testimony. I want to say generally speaking, when we are run down, when we are in pain, when we are suffering, fighting one thing off after the other, you can't really think about much else. You know, when you're just so tired, you can barely get out of bed. The last thing you're thinking about is, okay, I'm going to press in in prayer. I got to reach out and share the gospel or do this or do that. So our physical health is of paramount importance, and the older I get, the more I'm pouring into my physical health so I can glorify God and run the race. He's called me to run.

Let's try to connect again. Well, I want to say that anyway. I'm glad I had the opportunity. Dr. Burnett, are you there? I am here, sir. Can you hear me? Loud and clear.

Yeah, it was a setting at the studio. We have located the problem. All right. Well, I got to give an important exhortation, but in the couple of minutes we have before this first break, sir, a lot of people think, well, I feel fine.

What do I need to know about this chronic inflammation thing? So can you can you address that? Absolutely. You know, first and foremost, all of us are fearfully and wonderfully made, and there's more in us and potential than you could ever imagine. But what I want everybody to know is you may be going into the doctor. The doctor says, how are you doing? And you say, hey, I'm just fine. Or you may say something like, hey, I got a few aches and pains.

And the doctor may respond with, oh, you're just getting older, right? But what we also understand is, is those are specific functions of our body, right? We should be without pain and aches and pains.

And we should have good energy throughout the day. So you had mentioned the Harvard Medical School guide, Understanding Inflammation. I want to read directly from them.

And I think they say it so, so well here. And it says low level inflammation becomes activated even when there's no apparent injury or disease. Unchecked the immune system, which prompts inflammation, which prompts the white blood cells to attack nearby healthy tissues and organs, setting up a chronic inflammatory process that plays a central role in some of the most challenging diseases of our time, including rheumatoid arthritis, cancer, heart disease, diabetes, obesity, asthma, and even Alzheimer's.

I'm not saying that I'm reading this from this Harvard Medical School guide. And what I want everybody to know, we'll go a little bit deeper as we get into this, that you are fearfully wonderfully made, and that when inflammation gets out of control, there are things that you can do well within your reach to help support a healthier immune response. Yeah, and friends, I've got a special printout that I'm holding in my hands about Understanding Inflammation, Harvard Medical School guide. And, you know, as you're looking at inflammation and chronic diseases and conditions, inflammation and allergies, inflammation and your joints, inflammation and your brain, and you mentioned heart disease, Harvard mentioned that as well.

Okay, this is serious stuff. Okay, we have just a bit more time before the break, but talk to me about the immune system and how this ties in with the inflammation issue. Right, so inflammation in and of itself, when it's healthy, is a natural thing that your immune system does, right? And it's going to be stimulated to limit infection by responding to cellular distress. Now, these could be caused by foreign substances such as toxins that get into our bodies, pathogens, especially those harmful ones, environmental allergens, you know, injuries, all those kinds of things. Well, there's a tipping point, right, where the immune system goes, okay, we have plenty of soldiers to go out here and fight all of these invaders. But as you can imagine, if those invaders kept coming faster than the immune systems capable of responding to, then it's going to find itself losing the battle. And that battle is when that tipping point happens, when normal healthy inflammation then begins to shift into something more damaging, something that becomes longer term. And, you know, I just want everybody to know it's an essential survival mechanism that helps fight off hostile microbes, pathogens, prevents the infection, all of that. But again, I want everybody to say, well, if I feel fine, or I'm just getting older, or is there something going on under the surface that's possibly triggering this uncontrolled fire on the inside, which could be damaging to all of the tissues in my organs? All right, so once we grasp this, and friends, many of you know that my wife, Nancy, is massively more educated on health issues, nutrition issues than I am. And she's taught me so much by studying and learning. But when I mentioned chronic inflammation, she goes, oh yeah, of course, deadly. And like I said, hadn't even heard about it. So stay with us.

I think you're going to find what you hear from Dr. Manette super, super helpful, whether you're 18, or whether you're 80. First, though, we've got a special word from my dear friend, James Robison. Oh, you want to hear this? Trust me, you want to hear this.

We'll be right back. This is Michael Ellison, founder of Tributive Wellness. I want you to hear an amazing testimony from my friend, James Robison. And most all of you will know of him. He and his wife, Betty, host the Life Today television program. Now here is James. Let me tell you about a miracle I experienced. My friend, Michael Ellison, he and his wife are our 40 year plus best friends.

Well, let me just say this to you. I had so much pain with what was called tennis elbow that I could hardly reach over and pick up the phone without pain, without it hurting me. I couldn't pick up something to drink, a glass of tea or anything.

It was very difficult to do anything without wearing a tight strap. And then Michael shared the nopal cactus juice with me, nopalaya. I began drinking about that much in the morning in a glass and that much later in the day. And in three months, I was a different person. I have now gone more than 10 years with no pain, not better. Well, I have no joint pain. I am telling you, it did something to the inflammation in my body that was undeniable. That's just my testimony. But that's been more than 10 years with no pain.

Matter of fact, if I miss, for some foolish reason, a few days, I can feel it creeping back that fast. So give it a try. See if it helps relieve your pain.

I hope it does like it has mine because it worked for me. Nopalaya is supported by clinical studies for lowering inflammation and improving mobility, flexibility and range of emotion in the neck, back and joints for less reliance on pain medication and improved quality of life. Call 800-771-5584 and use promo code BROWN25 to receive 25% off your order. As a new customer, 100% of your order goes to support the line of fire.

Call 800-771-5584 or go online to triveda.org. This is how we rise up. It's the line of fire with your host, Dr. Michael Brown. Get on the line of fire by calling 866-34-TRUTH. Here again is Dr. Michael Brown.

So I kid you not. I'm on the phone a few months ago with James Robinson. And James brings this up to me. He says, Michael, he said, I got arthritis head to toe. He said, look at the x-ray. He said, the whole body's like lit up with arthritis. He said, I got a tennis elbow.

And I think the right knee, bone on bone. And he said, for years, he takes nopalea, a certain amount in the morning and in the evening. And he said, he goes, Michael, I didn't get better. He said, I'm pain free.

I'm pain free. This is James just talking to me on the phone, one on one, not doing an ad here. So he's quite sincere about this. And this is like a daily investment against chronic inflammation. So that's the number to call 800-771-5584.

Remember 100% of your first order supports the line of fire, more than the tithe of all subsequent orders. Or you can go to triveda.com and use the code BROWN25. All right. So back to Dr. Burnett. So Dr. Burnett, what's the difference between acute inflammation and chronic inflammation that we're talking about?

Right. So let's just talk about acute first, just real briefly. So imagine cutting your finger, right? And so you've got to cut on your finger. Well, you would want to make sure that that wound could heal, that the cells could be repaired, that any foreign invaders that got in there didn't get, you know, into your bloodstream, that could be harmful to you. So that's really what acute inflammation is for. It's for, you know, a sore throat, scratches or cuts on your skin, physical injury or trauma, things like that.

So it goes in, it does its job, and then it moves on. Harvard Medical School Guide, that understanding inflammation guide there, you know, defines acute inflammation as something would be pain, redness, immobility or loss of function, swelling and heat. So these are things that are quickly remedied within a few days. Chronic inflammation is not a specific disease, but rather it lingers on.

And as it lingers, it weakens the body, cells and tissues. I want all the listeners to imagine a fire in a fireplace. That's a beautiful place to have a fire.

You and your favorite people in your world could sit around that and have a great time together. But if that fire became uncontrolled, it would literally destroy everything in its path. And I want people to understand that as chronic inflammation, which is not a disease, but it triggers those diseases, just as I read from the Harvard guide earlier in this program, they can begin to build the case for serious chronic diseases in our lifetimes.

All right. So what then are some of the causes of chronic inflammation? It's one thing to think of the fire burning outside the fireplace and burning the house down or burning in our bodies, but where does it come from? What are some of the causes of it? So anything that goes unresolved, right? So unresolved infection or injury, long-term exposure to irritants like polluted air, heavy metals, things like that, other toxins, long-term exposure to harmful pathogens, microbes, dental hygiene is a huge one. I mean, you talk about a pathway for these harmful pathogens to get directly into your bloodstream.

Dental hygiene is a critical thing. There's also hypersensitivities to foods and things like that, autoimmune disorders such as lupus, rheumatoid arthritis, multiple sclerosis, things like that. But many experts also believe that certain lifestyle choices can contribute to chronic inflammation, including smoking, I think we're all aware of. But what about chronic stress, alcohol use, poor sleep?

What about obesity? What about foods that we put into our bodies, right? I want to read this from a Harvard Medical School guide, Understanding Inflammation here, and it says, our diets play an important role in chronic inflammation because our digestive bacteria release chemicals that may spur or suppress inflammation. The types of bacteria that populate our gut and their chemical byproducts vary according to the foods we eat. We're either feeding the healthy bacteria in our guts with whole foods, or we're possibly feeding this unhealthy bacteria and there can become this tipping point in which that digestive lining can become damaged.

You get much larger openings in there. Large particles can get directly from your digestive system directly into your blood, and this can cause significant problems with chronic inflammation. Just a reminder of how amazingly God made us, of how precisely he made us. Things massively beyond even what we understand now, the more we learn, the more we understand it, and then things that he gave us in the earth that are helpful and life-giving, and we violate that, and there are always results. We may not see it immediately, but we're either putting good stuff into our bodies and living in ways that, be it, you know, low stress or taking care of ourselves properly, or we're doing things that are damaging. So then when this chronic inflammation then starts to manifest, what kind of specific illnesses can it manifest in? Because it may be going on silently in our bodies, but it manifests at a certain point. So what are some examples? Right, so we covered many of those examples that are actually in the Harvard guide, you know, things like rheumatoid arthritis, cancer, heart disease, diabetes, Alzheimer's.

These are all things we want to avoid. Now we know we have the promises of God, which are yes and amen. We know that by his stripes we are healed, but we also know that he's given us this incredible gift called the power of free will to choose, and the more we can choose things that he has organized and structured, rather than some laboratory somewhere that says, well this is what we think people can live on.

No, God's put everything we need into the seeds that we can consume, into the animals that he has produced, and we have all that, but too often we just don't know what we don't know. And so chronic inflammation is linked to increased risk of, I mean, all the major chronic illnesses I've mentioned. Today health experts and organizations like Harvard Medical School, Cleveland Clinic, National Institutes of Health, and many other leading physicians declare that chronic inflammation is dangerous and breeds a host of unwanted health conditions when it lingers and attacks healthy cells. But I want everybody out here to know there is hope for those suffering from those signs and symptoms of chronic inflammation.

It's an anti-inflammatory foods and other anti-inflammatory self-care efforts such as regular movement, adequate sleep, proper hydration, stop smoking for heaven's sakes if you're smoking, and managing day-to-day stress stress reduces our immune response, which our immune response is what's going to trigger healthy inflammation. So there's so many things that we could be doing in self-care, and I never want to be one to say, well, hey, always depend on this or that. Do your part, and God, I promise you, will always do his part.

Yeah, so friends, on the one hand, there are no shortcuts, right? And change lifestyle, healthy eating, healthy lifestyle. By the way, you get a free mini book, free ebook when you order from TriVita that Nancy and I wrote, A Healthy Church Starts with a Healthy You. We can really encourage you to take steps.

I was out speaking, and a woman came up to me, she said, that book changed my husband's life. He's lost 50 pounds, and all excited. There are other things God's put in the earth that are helpful that we can put into our bodies to fight against this. When we come back, we're going to pick some of this up with Dr. Burnett.

In fact, oh, let's just do this really, really quickly. So we've got 30 seconds before the break, but just very simply, can we reverse some of the damage that's been done by making lifestyle changes? This is what self-care is all about, and this is what the grace of God is all about, right? Again, we do our part with taking care of our bodies. We've got to remember we are the temple of the Holy Spirit. We're not like a temple.

We are the temple, and so the better we can take care of our temple, doing our parts, the things within our reach that we can do. What I've learned about God more than anything else is that the things I can't do for myself, He is able to do exceedingly, abundantly, above the things I can't think to do, but we're here today to really empower people to incorporate these self-care things, and absolutely, you can restore a healthy immune response. Yeah, and friends, I'm living proof, Nancy's living proof, so many are living proofs that it really does happen. Change can really come.

You can be, maybe you're 50 today, you can be healthier at 70 than you are at 50. We come back, we're going to talk about this further, and just get practical stuff in your hands that you can do. Some of you can start today, and it'll change your life tomorrow and the years ahead. We'll be right back. And you remember when people thought that you were crazy because you felt the same way, because you believed what I was saying and already felt it in your heart? Well, friends, that pushback is here. The gospel-based moral and cultural revolution we've been talking about for 25 years is unfolding, and we are right in the thick of it, and the line of fire broadcast is divinely positioned for such a time as this. Friends, you would be so gratified and blessed as I hear, if you could hear what I hear, testimony after testimony as leaders, young people, old people, moms, dads, students, people from all backgrounds come up to me and say, Dr. Brown, you're providing a template for us.

You're providing a blueprint for us. You're showing us how to do this, how to have hearts of compassion, backbones of steel, but friends, it's a joint effort. We do this together, and with your support, we can amplify this broadcast around the nation and amplify this voice to shake the nation. Join our support team today, become a torchbearer with a dollar or more per day. Here's the number to call to sign up, 800-538-5275. That's 800-538-5275, or go to askdrbrown.org, A-S-K-D-R brown.org, and become a monthly supporter. Click on donate monthly support.

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Get on the Line of Fire by calling 866-34 TRUTH. Here again is Dr. Michael Brown. We take normally one broadcast a month and focus on physical health. It's the least we can do if we want to see healthy church starting with a healthy youth, spirit, mind, the body counts too. And some of us just into lifting weights or fitness or looking a certain way, it goes deeper than that. It goes deeper than that.

The issues are more pressing than that. If you're just tuning in, Harvard Medical School Guide to Understanding Inflammation says that chronic inflammation contributes to diseases like rheumatoid arthritis, cancer, heart disease, diabetes, obesity, asthma, and even Alzheimer's. We heard our friend James Robison talk about the benefits of nopalea when it came to rheumatoid arthritis. So let's bring this in now to the larger discussion with Dr. Paul Burnett. So, Dr. Burnett, nopalea is not medicine, right? This is something that comes from what God put in the ground.

So tell us about it. This is just something that helps with arthritis, or does this address the larger issue of chronic inflammation? Well, let's just talk about how God gave us every earth-bearing seed as food for us, right? He knew what was best for us.

His plan always comes with his provision. So we were able here at Triveda to go out into the world and say, what is out here that could help so many people deal with chronic inflammation, which again is not a disease. So nopalea, it's a natural botanical. It comes from the nopal cactus. That's where the name comes from. Nopalea is delicious.

It's a nutrient-dense drink made with the fruit of that prickly pear cactus. And it's got antioxidants that support healthy detoxification, healthy inflammation, and just overall wellness. You know, I mean, who hasn't felt chronic pain and who hasn't had to go through that?

Well, you can get a little cranky even. So we did a double-blind, here at Triveda, we did a double-blind, placebo-based clinical study. This is all gold standard, just like they would do at any major medical institution. And what we found was is that it supported the normal and essential anti-inflammatory function as performed by the immune system. So many people are dealing with many symptoms.

Pain is one of those that is just so debilitating. And what this is actually shown to do is it helps support that immune system to function better. It also showed less reliance on pain medication. Those who are in this clinical trial have less reliance on pain medication. We know how addictive pain medication can be.

It only masks the problem. This is a natural supplement. There are no side effects for taking this supplement. It's a wonderful botanical that you can use to help your body respond better. It also is shown to improve joint mobility, range of motion, and flexibility in that study. And it lowered elevated risk levels of C-reactive protein, which I'm going to go into in a moment. But really what it was doing and what they found was that it reduced unhealthy inflammation. And so it's so important that when we're taking products that we select the best quality products.

We select products that have gone through the double-blind placebo-based study like Nopalea has so that we can get the results like many others who have taken this product as well. So instead of taking medicine, which doesn't actually deal with the root of the issue, and then the medicine itself has some kind of side effects, here's something natural that can be taken. And it's part of my daily regimen.

You know, I had some minor arthritic issues, minor arthritic pain, and seeing that dissipate or disappear is great. But that wasn't, for me, it's just kind of a daily investment. It's a daily investment in fighting against something that is so nefarious.

As I'm looking to do everything I can to thrive physically so I can run my race more effectively for the Lord, so I can be here by His grace for many years to come serving the body and helping reach the nations and my Jewish people. So it's a stewardship thing for me. And friends, if you call 800-771-5584, again this is our health-based monthly show. We just focus on this. If you call 800-771-5584 and tell the folks at TriVita, hey I'm dealing with this, what would you recommend with Nopalaya, they'll tell you about how to start.

Sometimes you start with drinking more every day and then get into a regular routine. So let them give you some guidelines, or you can just go to TriVita.com, use the code BROWN25, and whether you're suffering as James Robison did, and it's a clear arthritic issue, or whether it's just more broadly make this good deposit of a life-giving plant-based substance from God's earth, go ahead and do it. But you mentioned C-reactive protein. I know this is a major, major issue.

Let's talk about that. Please educate our listeners to what this is and what they can do to test find out about it. Yeah, so I'm a board-certified doctor of holistic health. My whole goal is to help people understand what they can do to enhance the quality of their lives, but there are also clinical tests that can be done. One is called the C-reactive protein test, and it's an effective way to test for elevated inflammation. So it's a simple test your doctor can order. So what I want people to know also is that the liver is what produces CRP, and levels are measured through that simple blood test. CRP levels will rise in response to inflammation, and if C-reactive protein is high in the blood, then it's high throughout your body.

I want you begin to think about your phlebotomist is drawing blood out of your vein, right, which in your arteries and veins are actually going through all your whole body. So this is a real systemic thing, and this is a simple test you can talk to your doctor about. And some interesting things I want people to know is half of heart attacks occur with people with normal cholesterol levels. We've all heard about cholesterol, but several studies have shown that people among people with normal cholesterol numbers, those with increased CRP levels have a higher fold risk for heart problems.

And I think we're so concerned about cholesterol, and it's like we've never heard of CRP, and yet it's magnified when CRP levels are high. So it's just good to know the numbers that matter, but this is a test that you can get done. It'll tell you where you're at. It'll be a clear indicator do I have normal healthy inflammation, or do I have chronic uncontrolled and possibly debilitating inflammation. If someone goes just for their annual physical, a lot of folks once they turn forward, you're encouraged to have an annual physical. Is this something that will always be tested, or do you have to ask for it? Yeah, I would tell every person living on this planet, be your own advocate. Yes, let your doctor order the tests that they feel are best for you, but be your own advocate. And something like CRP, knowing that it's a significant risk factor, not a disease in and of itself, but it's a significant risk factor that increases your risk of getting chronic illnesses, why not advocate for yourself in that moment?

It's just it's just three letters. CRP, so everybody knows, and it's just an easy test for them to add on, and most doctors be more than happy to do that for you. And then how, again, and forgive the ignorance of the question, but you know where it's coming from is, again, this is not my field of specialization. So if someone starts with the Nopalea supplements and is drinking this on a daily basis, so how does this combat, if something's wrong with CRP, how does this now work?

What's actually happening behind the scenes? Right, so this has got wonderful antioxidants in it. This is a wonderful gentle detoxer. So again, when you start to think about all these other things in your body, and you've got a limited army, which is your immune system, to go and combat these things, and you don't have something to help gently detox or remove a lot of these things or restore cellular health through these antioxidants. A lot of people have heard of antioxidants, but what does that mean? Well, these plants live in highly oxidative, stressful environments.

They live outside, and they don't get to go inside like we do. So by eating these or taking these antioxidants in, we're actually taking on the properties of those antioxidants to help deoxidize our own cells. So you can imagine getting good things into yourselves and harmful things out of yourselves, and by doing that over and over and over again, you're supporting a wonderful mechanistic process that God has put into every single one of us to work better. And so what we're really trying to do is just rid the body of all these issues, and by doing that, we can also increase the blood flow. You think of an inflamed knee or shoulder, whatever those things are, you start thinking of those being inflamed. That's thick, viscous blood.

How do you get new blood in, right, that comes with all the essential things that are needed to repair that tissue when it's all tight now and it's all full of this thick, viscous blood? So the more we can do to get rid of all these harmful things in our bodies, the better our bodies are equipped to take the resources they have and put them to work in areas that are needed the most. And just a broad question.

We've got, oh, two minutes before the next break. You're a minister of the gospel in terms of someone passionate for the gospel and serving in different ways in the church. You're a doctor of holistic medicine. What is it that attracted you to work with Triveda?

Because there are plenty of other companies, and there's a lot of medicine and stuff out there. So with your whole desire of holistic health and not just treating symptoms but trying to get to root causes, what brought about this happy union? Well, I can tell you it was a health crisis of my own, and I was so thankful at the time that I got involved with some other doctors. I've been in health care my entire career. They started to talk to me about underlying issues, and I had plaque in my arteries and veins in my 30s. And so I thought, well, you know, so what?

I'll never forget my greatest mentor came to me, and this was right before I met Michael Ellison and Triveda, and he asked me one question, and I want to ask every listener this question. Whatever problem you have, right, is that normal? And I'll tell you, I was taken back when he asked me that question. Well, no, I don't know if it's normal. Is it normal?

I don't know. And he said, well, no, it's not normal. And if it's not normal, there is a solution to every problem. And so that really opened my eyes to see a different way for managing my own health at the time.

And I decided to go back to school and went through, who had got my doctorate, I went through that whole process. And yeah, I'll tell you what, we'll finish on the other side of the break, and we got a few more things to talk about, but that's, I would, it just, the question has occurred to me. I thought we got a minute. I had no idea the answer was that big. Wow. Whoa. Whoa. Amazing.

Black and Zari's at 30. Okay. We'll be right back. This is Michael Ellison, founder of Tributa Wellness. I want you to hear an amazing testimony from my friend, James Robison, and most all of you will know of him. He and his wife, Betty, host the Life Today television program. Now here is James. Let me tell you about a miracle I experienced. My friend, Michael Ellison, he and his wife are our 40 year plus best friends.

Well, let me just say this to you. I had so much pain with what was called tennis elbow that I could hardly reach over and pick up the phone without pain, without it hurting me. I couldn't pick up something to drink, a glass of tea or anything.

It was very difficult to do anything without wearing a tight strap. And then Michael shared the nopal cactus juice with me, nopalaya. I began drinking about that much in the morning in a glass and that much later in the day. And in three months, I was a different person. I have now gone more than 10 years with no pain, not better. Well, I have no joint pain. I am telling you, it did something to the inflammation in my body that was undeniable. And that's just my testimony. But that's been more than 10 years with no pain.

Matter of fact, if I miss for some foolish reason, a few days, I can feel it creeping back that fast. So give it a try. See if it helps relieve your pain. I hope it does like it has mine because it worked for me.

Nopalaya is supported by clinical studies for lowering inflammation and improving mobility, flexibility and range of emotion in the neck, back and joints for less reliance on pain medication and improved quality of life. Call 800-771-5584 and use promo code BROWN25 to receive 25% off your order. As a new customer, 100% of your order goes to support the line of fire. Call 800-771-5584 or go online to TriVita.com. It's the line of fire with your host, Dr. Michael Brown. Get on the line of fire by calling 866-34-TRUTH. Here again is Dr. Michael Brown.

I'm looking at, again, a Harvard medical school guide understanding inflammation, page 11 of the printout I have here says that a CRP that we've mentioned can be a better predictor of cardiovascular events, heart attacks, strokes, bypass surgery, angioplasty, than other inflammatory markers. So, Dr. Burnett, you kind of thought, well, this is normal, found out that your condition was not normal, actually did all the study to get your doctorate and partnered with TriVita. So, yeah, just finish that story. Again, I just kind of asked you an innocent question, didn't realize the answer was that deep. Well, purpose is so important. And I just want all the listeners to know that when I came in contact with TriVita, there was such a move of God in my life and in TriVita's, and we connected at levels that I never even knew were possible. I had already predefined physical, emotional, spiritual.

TriVita had already done that as well. I was looking for this incredible opportunity. And listen, this is hope for anybody listening.

You may not know what to do right now, but I promise you, if you knock on that door, if you seek, you're going to find. And God has all the answers you're looking for. And what He's done for me, I want to let all the listeners know, nothing to do with this topic today, although a little bit, that I no longer have plaque in my arteries and veins, that I was able to go out and find the information and the partners like TriVita to go, can you help me? And we have been able to help each other. I've been with this company for over 10 years.

We love the Lord. We have so much in common with our vision and what we want to do to help as many people as we can experience greater wellness. In fact, I'll go as far as to say those who will work with TriVita will experience greater wellness. And that is really our brand promise. We're not here just to help you with your supplements, but we have a whole menu of other services that are complimentary to your membership here.

And boy, I'd love as many people as possible to connect with this company because we're doing so much good. Well, you know what I find really interesting, and God knows this, I'll be talking to Michael Ellison privately. And he's passionate. He's preaching to me about the church, you need to get physically healthy. He's preaching to me, look, we've just come out with this product, can't wait for you to share it with you. It's going to help in this way, that way. And it's not about making money.

That's not the goal of it. And for us in sponsorship, yeah, I'm thrilled that your orders, now the money gets to be put right back into the line of fire. But it's because it's part of the wellness revolution that I'm excited about it as well. And look, obviously, if someone's just going to abuse their body with unhealthy eating and unhealthy living day and night, that's the biggest thing we got to adjust.

We can't abuse ourselves and look for a magical outcome. But boy, supplements really do help and really make a difference. We've got folks now with the big justice run taking place at the end of October in Fort Worth that will be participating and Trivita's a sponsor there. So Trivita sent some of the key products to 10 of the top runners there. And I was talking to one of them and he was really excited about two of the products he's been taking regularly. So it is about wellness and seeing people get healthy. And you mentioned there are other aspects of complementary services. And when people are members, it's just an automatic thing.

You just sign up. But could you just mention briefly, I know we didn't plan on this today. There's so much inflammation, right? We're not just talking about a physical problem here. We know how stress can become physical distress on our body. So we support all of our members in what we call We Care appointments.

That's a care and prayer helpline that they can call, schedule an appointment, talk with a licensed minister, and help them through life. And so we have that. We have Just Pray It, which is a prayer that we do.

There's so many other resources that are available that if you just take the time to talk with one of our certified health consultants, they'll be able to walk you right through that. And it's, again, this isn't just about a hammer to a nail, right? And that's sometimes what we think. Well, if I do this, then I get that. No, you're a whole person, and God created you that way. And we want to nurture your development and your growth. And really what it all comes down to is you living out God's purpose in a way that is so meaningful and so impactful, not only to you as an individual, but to every person you ever come in contact with.

We want the body of Christ to be well. Yeah. And, you know, when I got COVID, what was it? So it was 2021, right?

2021, right around the day after Christmas, when Nancy and I got it. Well, it exacerbated an issue I was having. I had been in and out of AFib for years and didn't know it, was not even aware of it. So it really messed with my heart. And, you know, I was hospitalized for a day, and then, you know, it was on all these meds. Thankfully, 100% off all meds now had an ablation that was successful. But when I was laying in bed with COVID and this heart thing, I was not doing anything to help anybody.

It's just the truth. I was too tired to pray for anybody. You say, well, you were glorifying God. By what?

By laying there? I couldn't write. I fell behind on other projects I was working on. I couldn't get on the air.

I couldn't encourage anybody. I just needed to get better. And again, you can glorify God by praising Him even when you're sick and having a testimony of loving Jesus.

No matter what happens, that glorifies the Lord. But boy, if you could have energy, if you could have strength, if you could have vitality, as I go and minister, people are shocked by my energy level and focus. And it's a healthy lifestyle. These supplements I've added in.

And it's all about running our race more effectively. So I really do encourage you to call one of these health consultants, 800-771-5584, as we have the special health emphasis today. 800-771-5584. Or go to the website, TriVita.com. Explore everything there.

And then use the code BROWN25 when you order. Hey, one other behind the scenes thing. And then you could just give us some closing words about, you know, did we just live with pain or are there things we can do with it? But let's talk to Michael Ellison.

This was another mind blower. As you know, it's a big company, so you have to hire more people to answer phones, do different things. They're specifically hiring people who are looking for a sense of purpose and wanting to do something for the Lord. That's the mentality of the people they are hiring. So when you call in, it's not someone just doing a job thing. Hey, I could really help people.

So the people really believe in what they're doing. I'm just behind the scenes. I'm just telling the truth here. Anyway, anyway, there's so much more to say. But let's just wrap it up with some for some closing words. Maybe if people think I just have to accept this is my life, I have to live with it. Is that the case? There are no victims in the kingdom.

There's only victors. And so if you're dealing with pain, you've got damage to your tissues, your joints, your muscles, you've got oxidative stress, meaning that you've got insulin resistance, you're putting on weight, you know, metabolic conditions that are building allergies, all of these are can become your friend, believe it or not, because they're telling a story. And why not empower yourself to do something well within your reach to act on those things? I want everybody to hear this one thing and that is, I take inflammation seriously. I want everybody to know that when you have bronchitis, osteoarthritis, gastritis, arthritis, so on and so forth, they all end in itis. Itis.

I take inflammation seriously. So pay attention to the signs and the symptoms. Don't be afraid of them. Don't let them suppress you. Don't let them push you back into your house where you're not out doing the things you love and or purpose to do. No, make them pay.

Make them pay. And they'll pay dividends to you if you'll just do your part. In the Harvard Medical School Guide to Understanding Inflammation, you will learn in detail what inflammation is, how it works, how it works for you or against you, and the relationship to chronic illnesses. And also you're going to see a lot of lifestyle tips, believe it or not, in there. So don't accept less because of pain. Get out there. Do the things you love to do.

Empower yourself to learn, to learn. There's so much good information out there to help put you in a position of greater wellness for your purpose. Well said.

And what blesses me above all is your passion for the Lord and your desire to see God's purposes in His people. That's why we talk about it on the air. That's why we're spending one day a month just with a physical health focus. It ties in with everything else. And we're going to let you know, we're getting a lot of these copies, let you know how you can get this, Understanding Inflammation.

God will tell you about that in the future. Hey, once again, thanks for enlightening us, helping us and sharing some of your own life story here. Much appreciated, Dr. Bennett. Thanks so much. You bet. Have a great one. All right. You too.

All right. Well, I hope you found that helpful. And I hope you have some hope that change can come. And whatever we can do to encourage you, if you're just stuck in a rut, just shoot us notes. I need prayer. I know I need to change. I just I'm in a rut. And I know 59 years unhealthy eating.

People say, Mike Brown, you're so disciplined. If I was so disciplined, why did it take 59? 59 years! A lot of people don't live to 59 to make the change. And if God could intervene in my life and help me, and God could intervene in Nancy's life, when she talks about how much she used to eat, she's five foot two, a little over that, you know, a foot shorter than me.

What she used to eat. If God could change us, He could change anybody. And then these supplements, boy, they're they can be lifesavers, life enhancers. So one last time, 800-771-5584. Give them a call. Tell them, hey, I want to take that stuff that James Robinson does. And tomorrow we are going to have a groundbreaking interview with a Christian who came to America to warn of common persecution, to find religious asylum here in America, and was put in prison here in America and just recently released after one year behind bars. That's coming your way tomorrow.