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Pope Leo diagnosed with lung cancer following surgery · The Daily Article

• 0:01
  [SPEAKER_00]: Good morning and welcome to the daily article podcast from Denison Forum.
• 0:05
  [SPEAKER_00]: It's Wednesday, October 14th, 1226.
• 0:09
  [SPEAKER_00]: This is an automated reading of today's daily article authored by Dr. Jim Denison.
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  [SPEAKER_00]: Today's article is titled, Hope Leo diagnosed with lung cancer following surgery.
• 0:23
  [SPEAKER_00]: Pope Leo the 14th spent a peaceful night at the Jamelli Hospital in Rome after undergoing surgery for lung cancer, the Vatican said this morning.
• 0:32
  [SPEAKER_00]: The 71-year-old Pontiff was diagnosed Tuesday with adenocarcinoma after doctors removed the lower lobe of his right lung.
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  [SPEAKER_00]: The Vatican has not disclosed the size of the tumor or whether the disease had spread.
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  [SPEAKER_00]: The Pope is expected to remain in the hospital for about a week.
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  [SPEAKER_00]: Leo is known for an active and healthy lifestyle that includes swimming and tennis.
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  [SPEAKER_00]: He has never smoked.
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  [SPEAKER_00]: The New York Times quotes one of his biographers, Leo has the profile of someone who takes care of himself, so that has added to the shock.
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  [SPEAKER_00]: His diagnosis shows that innocent suffering finds us all, whatever our relationship with God.
• 1:16
  [SPEAKER_00]: The natural disasters we began discussing yesterday are obvious examples.
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  [SPEAKER_00]: When hurricanes and earthquakes strike, it is only natural to question whether the God we trust is truly all-knowing, all-powerful, and all-loving.
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  [SPEAKER_00]: As we noted, some theologians say that God's sovereignty requires him to directly control every event in nature.
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  [SPEAKER_00]: I disagreed, pointing to the universal laws of nature, I believe he also created and uses to operate his universe.
• 1:45
  [SPEAKER_00]: However, I also disagreed with those who say he is bound by these laws, and thus does not intervene in his creation.
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  [SPEAKER_00]: The Bible reports numerous times when he acts in the world in ways we consider miraculous.
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  [SPEAKER_00]: So, if God only intervenes in nature on occasion, how do we know when an event constitutes such a sovereign act?
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  [SPEAKER_00]: When Jonah fled his call to go to Nineveh, the Lord hurled a great wind upon the sea,
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  [SPEAKER_00]: When Jonah's fellow sailors then threw him into the ocean at his request, the sea ceased from its raging.
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  [SPEAKER_00]: Did God therefore cause hurricanes, Isaiah, and Simon?
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  [SPEAKER_00]: What about the Great Galveston Hurricane, which killed 8,000 people, or the devastation of Hurricane Katrina?
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  [SPEAKER_00]: We similarly read in Acts 16 that Paul and Silas were singing hymns at midnight in a Philippian jail when suddenly there was a great earthquake.
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  [SPEAKER_00]: so that the foundations of the prison were shaken.
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  [SPEAKER_00]: Did God therefore cause last Friday's earthquakes in Panama?
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  [SPEAKER_00]: What about the 1906 San Francisco earthquake that killed more than 3,000 people?
• 2:50
  [SPEAKER_00]: Let's sketch what the Bible clearly teaches regarding God's sovereignty.
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  [SPEAKER_00]: He is sovereign over every event, not even a sparrow will fall to the ground apart from your father.
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  [SPEAKER_00]: He is sovereign over all nations.
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  [SPEAKER_00]: You rule over all the kingdoms of the nations.
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  [SPEAKER_00]: so that none is able to withstand you.
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  [SPEAKER_00]: His sovereign will is supreme.
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  [SPEAKER_00]: Whatever the Lord pleases, he does in heaven and on earth, in the seas and all deeps.
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  [SPEAKER_00]: Job was therefore right to say to him, I know that you can do all things and that no purpose of yours can be thwarted.
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  [SPEAKER_00]: However, we must balance our father's omnipotent sovereignty with his omnibenevalent mercy.
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  [SPEAKER_00]: Remembering that God is love, and that he therefore loves each of us
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  [SPEAKER_00]: His character requires him to act only for our good.
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  [SPEAKER_00]: As a result, when God causes natural disasters in the Bible, he also reveals the larger purpose motivating his intervention from Noah's flood to his judgments in Revelation.
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  [SPEAKER_00]: It is also the case that God employs natural disasters in response to specific sins and sinners.
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  [SPEAKER_00]: from the corruption that led to the flood to Pharaoh's persecution of the Israelites.
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  [SPEAKER_00]: To those in Revelation 16 who cursed the name of God who had power over these plagues and did not repent of their deeds.
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  [SPEAKER_00]: Now let's apply this discussion to the question at hand.
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  [SPEAKER_00]: I know of no sins committed by residents of Panama or the US Gulf Coast that would prompt God to cause last week's earthquakes or hurricanes.
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  [SPEAKER_00]: Millions of people are affected by natural disasters each year.
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  [SPEAKER_00]: I view these calamities as consequences of the fall.
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  [SPEAKER_00]: The result of which is that the whole creation has been grown together in the pains of childbirth until now.
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  [SPEAKER_00]: I see deaths that result from our fallen world in the same way.
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  [SPEAKER_00]: You are dust and to dust you shall return.
• 4:46
  [SPEAKER_00]: But I would add that God still intervenes in our broken world to reverse the fall, healing bodies and altering circumstances affected by the introduction of sin into his perfect
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  [SPEAKER_00]: One day, we will need no more miraculous help.
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  [SPEAKER_00]: Since one day, death shall be no more.
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  [SPEAKER_00]: Neither shall there be mourning nor crying nor pain anymore.
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  [SPEAKER_00]: For the former things have passed away.
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  [SPEAKER_00]: In the meantime, we can respond to natural disasters in five biblical ways.
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  [SPEAKER_00]: Because God sometimes uses natural disasters and scripture to judge sin, ask the Lord if this is the case for us.
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  [SPEAKER_00]: He wants all people to reach repentance when necessary and will reveal our need for confession and then forgive all we confess.
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  [SPEAKER_00]: Be especially wary of assigning blame to others who suffer, trusting the spirit to convict people of their sins and speaking only when and as he directs.
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  [SPEAKER_00]: Intercede for all those affected,
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  [SPEAKER_00]: asking the Spirit to pray through us with groanings to deep for words.
• 5:48
  [SPEAKER_00]: Look for ways to answer our prayers through personal compassion that reveals the heart of God for hurting people.
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  [SPEAKER_00]: Trust God to redeem all He allows for His greatest glory and our highest good.
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  [SPEAKER_00]: Whatever our circumstances and challenges today, if we submit our lives to our Father's sovereignty, we will agree with Chuck Swindle.
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  [SPEAKER_00]: Are you under God's control today?
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  [SPEAKER_00]: Thank you for listening to the daily article podcast.
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  [SPEAKER_00]: For links, scripture references, or to find out more about Denison Forum, visit us at DenisonForm.org or click the link in today's show names.