“Beating Cancer Daily” - Chris Wark AlongTheWay 80

Chris Wark was 26 when he was told that he had Cancer. That diagnosis changed his life forever. After his surgery, his choice to respond with a comprehensive and holistic strategy saved his life and he has now inspired thousands of others to beat cancer too!

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Transcript

Chris Wark: 0:00

Don't tell people not to do treatment, I help them understand the benefits and risks of treatment so they can make a good decision. But then also, more importantly, help them understand that they have so much power to change their life, and all the things that they can do that will help increase their odds of survival. These are the things that you do at home. Whatever they do in the doctor's office is fine. But the things you do at home can make all the difference between survival and death.

John Matarazzo: 0:28

Welcome to along the way. I'm John Matarazzo, your host and fellow traveler, thank you for joining me along my way as I try to become more like Jesus every day. At the beginning of every year, people like to set goals and make resolutions, losing weight, and being healthier is always at the top of that list. For this episode, I'm joined by Chris Ford. in his mid 20s, he discovered that he had cancer, and that completely changed his lifestyle. In this conversation, he shares how the choices we make can either make us healthy or sick, and how forgiveness plays a bigger part in our health than we can even imagine. If you want to know how you can position yourself to prevent or beat cancer in a healthy way, then you will enjoy this conversation. I'll get to that in just a moment. But as always, I want to thank you for listening to along the way. I hope that you like what you hear and you subscribe. You can connect with me online as well. All of my socials and contact links are in the show notes. You can check out all of my episodes at along the way dot media. join my email list and find out more about me too. I hope that you check it out and you connect with me, I would love to hear from you. I also have a Patreon page if you want to help me to continue to put out these along the way episodes. If you'd like to become a Patreon, simply go to patreon.com slash along the way and select the level. The link to become a Patreon supporter is in my show notes. And now here's my along the way conversation with Chris work. Well, Chris work it's good to have you on along the way. Thanks so much for being here. Good to be with you. It's been a little while since we talked, we connected the for the for the very first time whenever you were on the real life program, which was a couple years ago. And then you are again on my program, which is now called hope today just recently. And I was like I need to have you share your story with my audience. Because you the first time we talked you were talking about your book, Chris beat cancer. And so I want to hear about that journey with the Lord and how God taught you a lot of different things during that journey, because you didn't beat cancer in the way that people normally think God gave you a different strategy. And so I want to I want to hear about that. So Chris, tell me how how God has met you along your way.

Chris Wark: 2:41

Well, thanks, john. Yeah. Yeah, so I was I was diagnosed with cancer at 26 years old. Stage three colon cancer, and a bit of a shock at that age. But young adult cancer is on the rise. In fact, I just read an article today they just published a study, young adult cancers basically increased by 30% in the last 40 years. Wow. So adolescent and young adult young adult cancers, specifically colon, thyroid, testicular, and lymphomas. All of which many of which have to do with diet and lifestyle. And so, but anyway, I didn't know any of that stuff. I just knew I was having stomach pain. And I went to the doctor and got referred around eventually had a colonoscopy, and they found a golf ball sized tumor in my large intestine, wow. And they said, we'll, you know, took a biopsy, we'll we'll call you and let you know, hopefully, it's not cancer. About a day or so later, they called it was cancer. So that was pretty terrible news for just being of just a few days before Christmas, in December 2003. And I, you know, the first verse that came to mind was Romans 828, which says, and we know that God works all things for the good of those who love Him and are called according to His purpose. So this was an opportunity for me to really exercise my faith. Up until that point, I really had not had that many challenges in life. My life had been pretty good. Pretty, pretty smooth sailing, you know what I mean? Yeah, and this was the first major crisis, you know, really, in my life and, and it forced me to to decide, you know, do I really believe this? Am I really going to stand on the word and believe that what God says is true, what the Bible says is true. And so I chose to believe that's what faith is, it's a choice. We choose to believe. And we choose to act. And so I just said, You know what, I'm just gonna believe that God's gonna work this for my good. I don't know how I don't know why I don't like it. I can I trade my life with somebody else. Please, but I couldn't. So the next step for me was surgery. And unfortunately for a lot of cancer patients, you know, they're rushed into treatment before they understand their disease before they know what's happening to them. And a lot of times those treatments are pretty brutal, and, and have long term consequences, especially when they're removing body parts. But fear was the main driver, and most cancer patients are driven into action by fear. And we know that fear based decisions are always the wrong decision. Right? And we've God has not given us a spirit of fear. He's given us power and love and a sound mind. What does that what does it sound mind me? Well, that's a rational mind. Right? Because a fearful mind is irrational. A fearful mind is impulsive, and irrational, and panics. And we've seen a lot of that this year and 2020 habit wait just a bit, you know, a lot of fear and confusion and panic and irrational thinking and behavior on a global scale. And so there I was, you know, dealing with the fear of cancer and rushed into into surgery. They told me if we don't, if we don't get you into surgery right away, this thing is going to spread and kill you. We got to get it out of you before it kills you. So I was like, okay, whenever you say Doc, and so I had the surgery, I was able to postpone it about a week and a half because I just didn't want to be in the hospital on Christmas, because that was just the most depressing. Sure thing I could think of. So went in on December 30. It took out a third of my large intestine, it took out the tumor, they took out some lymph nodes. When I woke up, they said it's worse than we thought we were hoping you were stage two, or stage three, which means you're going to need nine to 12 months of chemotherapy. And that was more bad news. When I was in the hospital, a couple things happened. The first thing was they served me a sloppy joe. My first meal after cutting a third of my large intestine out of my body was a sloppy joe. And I remember looking at it thinking this is gross. Why are they serving this to sick people? This is horrible. This as far as I knew the only place you could get a sloppy job was like summer camp or the military. Right? Yeah. Yeah, I'm saying if you're incarcerated, sloppy joes, are definitely on the menu. But I was shocked that they were serving this kind of just garbage, just horrible, you know, industrial cafeteria food to sick people. So that kind of got the wheels turning a little bit. And then a few days later, when they finally told me I could go home. And you know, finish recuperating from surgery at home by surgeon came in to check on me and we had a conversation and I said, Hey, is there any food I need to avoid? And his answer surprised me. He said no, just don't lift anything heavier than a beer. Okay. Yeah. Okay. That's all you got for me. So again, I'm starting to connect these dots that there's a huge disconnect. Right? between health care and actual health. Right, right. Healthy food, healthy choices, healthy living. Apparently, they don't care. And so and we know, most of your, you know, most folks, I think, have probably figured this out if they've ever been through the healthcare system, or had friends or family go through. It's really the sick care business. It's not a health care business. Right. And so I get home, and I'm recovering. And I as I'm sobering up, getting off the pain medication and trying to sort out my life. You know, I'm thinking about my future and I'm thinking about what is to become of me, and I had never had any friends or family member members go through cancer, but I had seen cancer patients in the world, right? advanced terminal cancer patients just you know, at a restaurant or at the mall or somewhere, and it's disturbing. Yeah, you see a person in that physical condition where they're bald, emaciated, wearing a mask. This was back when only sick people were or masks right. And I just thought Is that me? Like that's, that's what I'm going to be. And so I didn't have peace about it. Right. I had a very strong resistance to this idea that I needed to poison my way back to health. That that was even possible. I knew how fragile I was. I knew I was unwell. And I felt anxious. extremely vulnerable. And I just felt like it wasn't for me. But I didn't know what to do. So I prayed about it. My wife and I prayed and I said, God, if there's another way besides chemotherapy, please show me

Unknown: 10:14

help.

Chris Wark: 10:16

And, you know, there was a verse that I should have mentioned this earlier in the story. But there was another really just wonderful Bible verse that I stumbled across before surgery. And it was Psalm 3419, which is the righteous may have many troubles or afflictions, but the Lord delivers them from them all. Yeah. And I was like this, this is my verse, you know, this is, this is the verse I'm claiming God's gonna work this for my good, he's gonna deliver me from my affliction. So I prayed and asked for, for some guidance. And two days later, I got a book that was sent to me from a man who knew my dad, who lives in Alaska. And this book was written by another guy named George Malkmus, who had had discovered he had colon cancer and then 70s. And he changed his diet, when back to the Garden of Eden, started eating raw fruits and vegetables only, okay, and body healed in about a year. No cancer, no tumor. So I thought, wow, this is incredible. And in his book, he made the case that the reason many of us are sick is because our diet and lifestyle, and I realized it was the first time I'd ever heard this is the first time I'd ever heard that diet and lifestyle causes chronic disease. because no one's talking about this, it just thought, oh, some people get cancer, some people get heart disease, some people get diabetes, you know, it's just like the roulette wheel. You know, you know, hope you don't get it. Mm hmm. But the reality is, is our choices lead us either down the path or down path of health or the path of disease. But we're not told we're not informed. We're not empowered with this information in the education system or anywhere. So I got really excited about this notion that Wait a second, if, if the way I was living was contributing to my disease, maybe I can change what I'm doing and contribute to health and healing. So I immediately changed my diet overnight. Okay, overnight, raw foods, baby, all the way I bought a juicer, I went to the produce section, Whole Foods loaded up the cart. I was like, I'm doing this, I don't know how to do it. Like, I'm just like, I'm diving in, right? I'm kind of a ready fire aim type of guy.

Unknown: 12:45

Yeah.

Chris Wark: 12:47

And so it's like, okay, I just caught this passionate vision of what I needed to do. And so I was like, I've just got to start it right, I've got to start, I'll figure it out as I go. But I gotta start, I got to take some action now. And and just get this momentum going. Right. And this is so important. I talked about this in both my books, and crispy cancer, and in my new book beat cancer daily, which is taking massive action, right? And building healing momentum. And the momentum builds with consistency. So your daily choices are pushing that ball forward. Right? Every day, you can't heal overnight, you didn't get sick overnight, at least not with chronic disease. Yeah, it takes a long time to develop in the body. So it takes some time to heal it too. So you got to be patient, you have to be diligent. And you have to keep taking care of yourself day in, day out just day by day and all those little changes. You make all those choices, shifts, positive shifts in your life all add up to big change over time. Yeah, that's the way this works, right? It's small changes over time that add up to a big result. And so and of course, it's important to take make big massive change, you know, right away, but then you have to walk it out, right? You've got to maintain it, you got to continue. So I had very little information, but I had one encouraging inspirational healing story. And I thought, if this guy can heal his cancer, maybe I can too. And I'm going to do what he did. And I was excited about changing my life. So it wasn't like, Oh, no, I can't eat cheeseburgers anymore. Oh, I can't eat pizza. I can't do this. I didn't have those thoughts. At all. I mean, to me, it was just like, oh, here's a here's a plan. Right? Here's an option and it made sense to me to I thought, Well, okay, God created the earth for us. Everything we need comes from the earth, right? There's nothing that humans don't need that isn't available to us. Sure. Yeah. From the earth. And I look at the Garden of Eden and says that, God said I've given you every seed bearing plant. It'll be for food for you. Okay, well, Adam and Eve Garden of Eden, they weren't killing animals, they didn't need to eat meat to survive in the garden. Maybe we don't need me to be healthy. Maybe we don't need it. And as I studied the Bible more I saw these clues, you know, when God took the Israelites out of Egypt puts the first food he gave them, manna. What's manna wasn't an animal. And I think God almost always gives us his best first. That's good. And the interesting thing about the Israelites is they complained, didn't they about the manner and guess what he sent them quail and a bunch of them got sick and died right from the quail. Very great. So anyway, and then you look at Daniel, and the Daniel fast, which people are familiar with, because it became, you know, the big book and sort of a movement and all that, but Daniel refusing to eat the king's food, which what's the king's food? It's meat and dairy and sweets and alcohol. That's the king's diet. Daniel refused the king's diet, and said, No, just give us pulse. That's plant food, right? Just give us the barley, oats, beans, grains, fruits, vegetables, whatever is available, just give us just the basic stuff, water to drink. And they had exceptional health, right? exceptional health. And it was obvious to the king and to the you know, that the people that were overseeing Daniel, right. So there's these clues, right. And so I had a basis to to understand that. I wouldn't lack anything, by eating this way. So I got it, I got busy doing that. And there was a lot of pressure from friends and family to do conventional treatment. And we went to go see an oncologist and he was, he treated us badly, was rude and condescending, and said, if you don't do chemotherapy, you're insane. Just bullied me, you know. But I was fortunate enough that I had time between that appointment and when I was supposed to start chemo. And I had time to get my wits about me to continue to read and research to pray, and to fire up the juicer. And the day when the day came that I was supposed to start chemo because I had agreed to do it. I didn't go. Because I just realized, you know what, this is not what I want to do. Right now, what I want to do right now is build my body up. Okay. Right. That's what I want to do. And I didn't want to tear it down further. And it was kind of like this, you know, it's kind of like there's two paths, right? one path is the wide paved road that everyone's going down, right? smooth. It's well lit. Everybody's cheering you on. Right? It's almost like the, like a breast cancer. pink ribbons race, right? Yeah. Oh, go Chris. We're wearing we made special t shirts. And we baked you some cupcakes. And yeah, you're doing great. Just get on the chemo train. Just get on there. And then you get on the chemo train. And it's state of the art and everything's shiny and slick. And, and the chairs are comfortable. And you're just wow, this is everyone's treating me so nice and taking care of me. And then off goes the train and the suffering starts. And there's no guarantee what happens at the end of the line? Are they going to drop you off healthy? And well, they're going to drop you off and say, we'll pick you up in a few months when the cancer comes back. Are they going to drop you off and say we've done all we can do? We're sorry. So that was scary. Right? attractive, because everybody's supporting you and loving you. And cheering for you. You're a survivor, you can do this. It's a battle, you can fight it. Then there's the other path, which is like, into the jungle alone. Hacking your way through no support. Everybody tells you you're crazy. Okay, that was those are the two options. Also scary. Right? Two scary options. That's what I had. Right. And I but I knew that that jungle path was the path that God had had shown me he had he had given me and he, he gave me a choice. Right, I had a choice. And I basically decided, you know what, I'm going to step out in faith into the unknown. I'm going to trust that if this is God's path for me that he if he really did open this path up that he's going to see me through, he is going to make a way for me. Right? And that's the path I chose. And I had a sense that, you know, maybe if I can get through this, maybe I can help other people, right? I mean, just a small sense. I didn't have a grand vision, believe me. I just thought I just want to survive, but you know, hey, maybe maybe I can help other folks. You know, I can be a light in the dark. And that's what's happened, you know, over many years. But if at that time I had no plan to write a book or two books or have a website or be a speaker, even nothing in mind the plan was survive.

John Matarazzo: 20:08

Right? Right, that was

Chris Wark: 20:10

it, survive and not die. And so, off I went, and I slowly found support, I found a naturopathic doctor that supported me, I found an integrative oncologist who supported me. I went from book to book to book learning, reading, researching, learning from other holistic survivors and integrative doctors and experts. And and I just began this process of life change and re education, trusting God the whole way, dove deep into the, into the Bible and really was digging out all the verses on healing I could find because, you know, the question you have is like, is it God's will for me to be sick? Right?

John Matarazzo: 20:53

Is it? Yes, yeah.

Unknown: 20:55

Yeah.

Chris Wark: 20:56

Is it God's will for me to be sick? And this is a very controversial question. And But hey, when you're sick, you kind of need an answer. Sure. Yeah. And so when I looked in the Bible, as I started to study the Old Testament and New Testament all throughout it, you know, what I found was the God's a God of restoration. Jehovah Rafa is the Lord My healer. When I looked at the life and ministry of Jesus, all he did was heal people. Jesus was a healer. Right? And when people were healed, they glorify God.

John Matarazzo: 21:32

Right, right.

Chris Wark: 21:32

And I thought, you know, God isn't glorified in sickness, glorified in health and healing and restoration. And, of course, he can be glorified in any situation, and I don't want to, like you know, diminish that. But, you know, if sickness brought God glory, Jesus would have, you know, passed around a bunch of blankets with tuberculosis on them, you know what I mean? Like, that's, that's not what he did. He healed the sick over and over and over and, um, and it just, you know, these are verses I'd read lots of times and in my life, but they didn't mean anything to me until I was sick. And then I realized Jesus is my healer. And so, it forced me to go much deeper in my faith and trust and in him right to heal me to deliver me and i and i also kind of felt in a way like naman Okay, you know, naman had leprosy. He went to Elijah, and he wants to be healed, right. And he's expecting a big ceremony and all this pomp and circumstance and like, you know, Voodoo witchcraft or something. And Elijah tells tells him to go bathe in the Jordan River seven times, which was not a particularly attractive proposition, just a muddy river. But he did. And he got healed, he obeyed. Right. And I felt a little bit like that. I mean, in the sense that I knew that I had a part to play in my healing, right? Do I believe in miraculous healing? Yes. Did I want it? Yes. But I also knew, part of me had this sense that you know, what, there's lessons I need to learn in this process. And if God had healed me overnight, I don't think I would have really changed. Okay, right. It takes time for you to change as a person, and to learn valuable lessons. And there was a lot of lessons I needed to learn to change who I was, and those would not have happened if I would have been miraculously healed overnight. So I did everything in my power to support health and healing in my body, and I trusted God to lead me and, and fill in the rest, fill in the gaps. And in my prayer life out, you know, I was just praying constantly, you know, show me what I need to do, is what we pray often, but also show me what I need to change. Like, what do I need to change about me? don't pray that way. If you don't want to know the answer. Yeah. Cuz you're, you'll get it, you'll get some answers for sure. Yeah. But then I realized I had a lot I needed to change. And a lot of it had to do with the way I was thinking, right, because the Bible says, Take every thought captive. And you know, I was, even though I was a Christian, I was a believer, I was still very insecure, I was struggling with being critical and judgmental, and cynical and selfish. And I had resentments and jealousy and envy towards people and bitterness towards people in my past, and, you know, just a lot of swirling, negative emotion. And some of that would be like, sinful kind of thoughts and actions, right? And so I had to take a good hard look at myself and decide, okay, I've got to change. I've got to identify my flaws and my weaknesses and my faults, my failures, got to own them. I've got to take responsibility for them. And I need to start changing the way I think and act. And so that was a big, big step for me was to take every thought captive to catch myself thinking negatively and say no, I'm not going to Be critical, right? I'm not going to judge that person. I'm choosing not to write my my inclination is to write it's, it's a bad habit that I have formed of being critical or judgmental. Let me just interrupt that and make a choice not to. We all have this power, right, we all have the power to choose our thoughts. And your thoughts influence your emotions, and your thoughts and emotions influence your physical health, your your chemical body is influenced by your thoughts and emotions, right? Yeah. And so when we are in a state, so the negative emotions, basically are rooted in the past, the present and the future, or the future, right, the negative emotions from our past are going to be bitterness and resentment toward others, guilt and shame about the things that we've done, right? Those that's living in the past, when you're entertaining those, those thoughts and feelings. When you're in the future, it's worry and fear, and anxiety, right? That's living in the future that's focusing on all the what ifs that could happen, and letting them steal your joy. And then, in the present, we have to deal with these negative emotions like envy and jealousy. Right? Just looking at other people and what they have and why, you know, oh, look how great their life is on Instagram. Right? And how I'll look at them on their ski trip. You know what I'm saying? And like, I can barely pay rent, you know, those kind of thoughts? And those resentments, right. And so we have to be aware at all times, and I think a lot of us are bouncing back and forth, right between the past, you know, resentments and bitterness from the past to fears of the future, to jealousy in the present back to resentment from the past, right? We're just bouncing around from one set of negative thinking and emotions to to another. And the problem is, when you're doing that you're in a state of stress. Right? Right. All of those negative emotions do the same thing to you, they, they create stress in your mind. And that stress produces a response in your body, and your body starts pumping stress hormones, adrenaline and cortisol. And when those hormones are pumping, what they're doing is they're suppressing your immune function. Okay? And promoting inflammation. Cortisol is really the worst. So when you go through life in a state of chronic stress, you are also in a state of chronic immunosuppression and chronic inflammation. And guess what, those are the two key factors in cancer development. Okay? And not just cancer, autoimmune disease, heart disease, diabetes, many chronic diseases, thrive in an environment of immunosuppression and inflammation, but it doesn't happen overnight. Right. So just being stressed for a week, that's not going to give you cancer, right? It's a long term pattern that happens over years of life where we just are just living in this high stress state. And we're not meant to live that way. Jesus is the Prince of Peace. You know, peace is the absence of worry and fear, the absence of stress, you know, these were things that I had to learn, I talked about them. And I've talked about these things in more detail in both my books is how to identify the sources of stress in your life, and how to systematically remove them. Okay, create peace in your life,

John Matarazzo: 28:34

right? So what were some of the stressors in your life, because you were 26 when this happened? And when you got this diagnosis, as you look back, and you're helping other people diagnose, what are some of those key things that are leading towards this? Can you share what some of those things that you look back and see in your life? Absolutely. Well, I

Chris Wark: 28:53

was very, I'm a, you know, type A personality, very competitive, very driven. Like I said, insecure prone to envy and jealousy, and bitterness and resentments, and, you know, stuff like that. And those were major stressors for me, I wasn't the type to worry about the future. Hmm, that wasn't my personality type. But I was the type to be focused on the past, bitter and resentful towards people that, you know, for whatever reason, that it hurt me, and envious of people that I thought were better than me or had more than me or whatever. So those were big ones. And one of the most powerful things you can do in the healing process and just in life is to forgive. Forgive the people who've hurt you, every single person by name. It's funny, because when I first heard this idea, in the connection that stress has to cancer. I thought, well, that's not my problem. Alright, it's not that I'm forgiveness. Now. I don't I'm good. Like I don't need I'm cool with everybody. I don't have any enemies. And, you know, that's not that's probably for somebody else. But everywhere I turned, it was bitterness, resentment, unforgiveness stress, like this connection to cancers, like, all of the people I was learning from are all saying the same thing. I'm like, Okay, okay, I better let me just give this some attention in my life, because I don't want to leave any stone unturned, right? It's not worth dying over. So let me just do this. Let me let me just explore this forgiveness thing. And as I did, you know, when I sat down and really allowed myself to dig through my memory banks, because you know, we all get these filing cabinets in our brain, right? One you got, everybody's got a filing cabinet with like, the painful memories. And that's the one that you don't open, because who wants to write, it's not very fun to revisit the people and the instances where you were hurt or abused, abandoned, neglected, right? insulted, or, you know, worse. But we've all got those memories. Some of them are little ones, like some mean kid on the playground, and some of them are much bigger. But I decided, Okay, I'm just going to I'm going to go back as far as I can, in my memory, I'm going to think through my life and try to dig out every memory of any person who ever hurt me in any way. And as I did that, I chose to forgive them one by one by name. And you can't do this in one sitting like it. You know, it's it's a process of every time you're really in a prayerful state, you know, you can spend time to say, okay, God, who do I need to forgive? Who do I need to forgive, you know, from my past. And so, I worked through that. And I really discovered the secret to forgiveness. And it's, it really is, it's so powerful. And it's so easy. You know, when people hurt you, they cause you pain. But if you hold on to that bitterness and resentment and anger, you keep yourself in a prison of pain. Right? You're keeping yourself in it. By not forgiving. Forgiveness heals your heart, it releases you from a prison of pain. And forgiveness is not a feeling it's a choice. Right? It's you just choose to do it. You choose to let them go, you choose to release them, and give them to God and say, You know what, God, you know what they did? You know how I feel about it? It wasn't okay. Right? But I'm giving them to you, you can deal with them. Right? You can deal with them. I'm not holding out for justice. Understand, it's that release of justice. And we're wired for justice our way.

John Matarazzo: 32:41

Very much. So I

Chris Wark: 32:42

mean, as humans, we are wired for justice. But when you release the pain and the people who've hurt you to God, he comes in and heals your heart. That's just what he does. Jesus talked about forgiveness throughout his whole ministry. It was a it was like a cornerstone foundational principle of Jesus's teaching forgiveness. I mean, when you really go back and you're looking for Okay, when how often does Jesus talk about forgiveness a lot. You know, as his disciples said, How often should we forget? He said, 70 times seven 490 times. I mean, it's like, you know, more than you could count, right? Keep forgiving people keep hurting you keep forgiving. Right? He said, If you don't forgive on Earth, your heavenly Father won't forgive you. That's pretty scary. Yeah. Right. Like, oh, that's important. I should do that. Right. Right. Like, okay, Jesus, I hear you. And by the way, Jesus gives really good life advice. And he does this. Yeah. Yeah. It's the best life advice. So. So yeah, you know, he said that. And then what else did he say? Well, he when he was on the cross, dying, and being mocked, and and spectated. Right, people were like, watching for enjoyment. As he's hung there on a cross and died. He said, Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do. So he chose to forgive in the moment when he least felt like forgiving. Right? to show us that it was a choice. Yeah, that's why I did that, to show us that we can forgive any person who's hurt us. No one's hung you on a cross. That's for sure. If you're listening to this podcast, that's one thing I can be sure of. Yeah, nobody crucified you. And so that was not a supernatural, miraculous act for Jesus to forgive. Right? It was a human act. He said, Father, forgive them. Right. And so all those are good reasons. But I can say at the end of the day, I've said it twice. I'll say it a third time. Forgiveness heals your heart. It heals your beat up damaged, broken hearts. That's the only way.

John Matarazzo: 35:01

So you're saying that you were walking in a lot of unforgiveness before your cancer diagnosis?

Chris Wark: 35:06

Sure. Yeah. Yeah. And you know, the thing is I never had people in my life that did terrible things to me. Right. I was never like sexually abused, for example. But I still was carrying bitterness and resentments, right toward people in my past, you know, and what I've learned from counseling and coaching countless cancer patients over the years, is this is always an issue. stress and unforgiveness are always major issues. In the cancer patient's life, if I asked them, Why do you think you got cancer? The first word that comes out of their mouth is stress. They know it. They know it's stress. And the doctors often say no, it's not stress. Right? It's not stress. It's just bad luck or genetics. And that is the worst thing you can say to a patient because all of a sudden, now they're just a victim. Sure, right. It's not it's nothing you did. That makes a lot of sense. Right? Nothing you do is not your diet, not your lifestyle, not the fact that you're overweight? Right has nothing to do with how angry and bitter you are, or how stressed you are none of that. None of that affects your health. It's just bad luck. It's just genetic. You were just programmed to get cancer. Right? And that's a lie. That's false. Because we know that up to 90% of cancers are caused by diet, lifestyle and environment. 90 up to 90%. That's a lie. 5% maybe genetic 5% like, oh, it is genetic. 100% nothing you could have done. childhood cancers are often in that genetic category. So where does stress come into it? Well, let's let's break it down. an unhealthy diet that's causing cancer is the Western diet. That's a diet full of too much meat and dairy, processed food, junk food, fast food. This is an unhealthy diet. It promotes cancer growth in a number of ways. I go way into detail in my book, crispy cancer, all the science behind it. Number two, lifestyle well, drinking too much smoking, pharmaceuticals, not exercising, all contribute to disease and cancer. Obesity is the second leading cause of cancer. Most people don't know this. It's a fact. Not something I made up not a theory. This is from the World Health Organization. I mean, every major governing health body agrees that NIH obesity is the second leading cause of cancer smoking is number one, obesity is number two. So there you go. Those are lifestyle choices, environment. those factors like pollution, air pollution, water pollution, working in a chemical factory, working in a job where you're around, so it writes smoke, toxic fumes, those kind of things. Or if you're in an environment, or a city where they're polluting the water like the Erin Brockovich story. So these are all things, I think, pretty easy to understand. So where's the stress part? The stress component is the underlying sort of insidious root cause, because when we are stressed, we self medicate. Hmm. Okay. Right. And how do we do that? We self medicate with food. We self medicate with drugs and alcohol and tobacco. We self medicate with behaviors that produce more stress. For example, being a shopaholic, running up your credit cards living beyond your means, right? gambling, media addiction or pornography, sex addiction, right. So most of the ways that we self medicate our stress, our diet and lifestyle habits that produce disease. Yeah. All right. So that's the connection. Like that's how it all works. But again, this is not something that happens in a bad weekend. Right? This is a pattern of life. Right? That takes many years. It's choices that people consistently make, yes. In their in their journey in their life. It's these choices, right? It's like you get into a negative feedback loop, right? pattern of repeating the same mistakes over and over. And those mistakes compound and produce more mistakes, right? So it's like we understand the law of the harvest, you reap what you sow. And so if you're sowing a lot of bad seed, you're going to reap a harvest. And the harvest is always way more than what you sow. That's right. One seed produces a huge bush or a tree. Like that's way more than use, you just put one little seed in the ground. So it's the same way you can sow seeds of health or seeds of disease, and there's going to be a harvest coming, right? Either way. You know, it took me a long time to connect all these dots and figure all this out. And then you started communicating it to people and telling other people about it. Right. I mean, I my book was published 15 years after my diagnosis. Wow, okay, so I didn't rush to like write a cancer book like, Oh, I beat cancer, I'm gonna write a book. No, I kept reading and researching and learning and, and trying to understand the disease why and health in general why I got sick, why I got better nutritional science, the spiritual connection and mental emotional connection to health and disease, all of those things. And so it took me a long time I started blogging in 2010, which was six, six and a half years after my diagnosis. So that's when I first went public, sharing my story, and then I didn't start working on an actual book for another several years, and it came out in 2018. So yeah, it was not a quick road for me to get, you know, from cancer to this interview. Yeah. It's been 17 years. Yeah, this month. In fact, my cancer versary is like next week, my 17 year cancer versary.

John Matarazzo: 40:55

So going back to that 17 years ago, you did have surgery, they removed a third of your large intestines. Yes, colon cancer,

Chris Wark: 41:04

a third of them my colon, which is the large intestine? Yeah.

John Matarazzo: 41:06

So you didn't do chemo? But did you have a follow up visit with the doctor after you went with your with your plan of you know, diet, exercise and living? Right? And what are the doctors say after that? Because you mentioned Daniel earlier. And so Daniel went through this season where he said, Okay, let's let me do this plan. This is what God gave me. And then he was he had a better result. Let me let me hear about some of the doctor's responses after that.

Chris Wark: 41:34

Yeah. So like I said, I found an integrative oncologist who supported me, and we did blood work every month. We did CT scans every six months for the first few years. And then he retired, and then I was referred to another oncologist. And we did a follow up around the five year mark, no cancer, and then he was like, Man, you're, I think you're out of the woods. And I was doing colonoscopies every couple years. And then they spacely come back in three years and come back and four years last time I saw him, they said, Come back in five years. So yes, I've continued to have this as follow up things and bloodwork about once a year, every two years, you know, just depending on how busy I am. You know, it was very important to me and to my doctors that we keep a really close eye on right, what was going on in my body, especially in the first few years when it was the likelihood of recurrence after surgery was extremely high. You know, the reason that they recommend chemotherapy after surgery is because cancer cells are microscopic, you can't cut them all out, and they've already left the tumor site. In fact, cancer cells leave the primary tumor site before tumors even big enough to detect. Oh, wow. Right. So when it's a microscopic lesion, cancer cells are leaving and looking for other places to set up shop in the body. Fortunately, your immune system is designed to identify and eliminate cancer cells. That's, that's the job of natural killer cells. And so most circulating tumor cells are identified and killed by your immune system. Right, if it's working properly. And so this is a key component of restoring your health is rebuilding your body and strengthen your immune system and food does that. But also forgiveness, does it Yeah. Right. Because when you remove stress, the stress that is suppressing your immune system, your immune system comes back online, if it's suppressed,

John Matarazzo: 43:33

right. That's really good. That's really good. So you've been you've been in this fight for 17 years. And you've been helping people a lot by your books and your blog. And what are some of the testimonies of people that have been affected positively by your help?

Chris Wark: 43:51

Well, they come in almost every day. Yeah, that's got a kind of coaching program called square one that people go through that want you to sort of more intensive support. I created a course for that. And we have a private support group on Facebook that for folks that have gone through my course. And yeah, I mean, they're just reading testimonies constantly, every day and people that I'm no evidence of disease. My scans came back, Claire, Praise the Lord. Like I've seen people heal all types and stages of cancer using doing the same kind of things that I did, whether it was because they found me or because they found other information, like the kind I found, you know, I'm saying, right, and I've interviewed dozens and dozens and people on crispy cancer calm who've healed cancers of all kinds, breast cancer, colon cancer, leukemia, lymphoma, sarcomas, multiple myeloma, so I love sharing those healing stories. Some of them healed after conventional treatment, failed them, others healed without doing any conventional treatment. So I mean, it sort of covers the spectrum of scenarios and I'm still interviewing people. I just love to share those stories, because it's like one story is good and inspirational and all that. But gathering as many remarkable healing stories together, as I've tried to do you see the common threads? Sure. Yeah. Right. When you kind of evaluate, oh, what are these people doing? Oh, they're all basically radically changing their diet consuming tons of fruits and vegetables. They're all removing stress from their life. They're all practicing gratitude, and forgiveness, right? They're all taking lots of supplements soon as they're doing it, you know, they're all exercising, did I say that already. So those common those common factors you see over and over and over again, in the stories of remarkable survivors against the odds survivors. So to me, it's more important to share those stories and to share my story, you know, Yeah, mine is one of 1000s. Right? And the thing is, like I don't, even though I didn't do chemotherapy, and I'm very critical of the cancer industry, and in my blog, on my blog, and in my book, for good reason, because, you know, patients need to understand the way this industry works. And there are perils and pitfalls. In conventional cancer treatment in in medical treatment, right? Doesn't mean don't work, the doctor doesn't mean to don't do treatment, but you really need to know what you don't know, right? before you make a decision. And I have a free downloadable guide on my site called 20 questions for your oncologist. This is super valuable for anybody that has cancer or loved one, or if you just want to sort of, you know, prep yourself in advance for something that could come in the future. But just arms patients with the right questions to ask because they never asked the right questions. They just ask questions like, Am I gonna lose my hair? You know, stuff like that? That's not really the best question asked, the best question is, will this treatment cure me?

John Matarazzo: 46:55

Yeah,

Chris Wark: 46:56

that's the number one question. There's a lot more beyond that. But that's the number one. And you know what, most patients don't ask that question. Because they're afraid of the answer. Right? They're afraid to hear the answer. But it's very important that you ask that. So yeah, now it's like, you're right. I've been able to, I mean, since 2010, I don't keep very close attention to the stats. Like when you first start blogging, it's really exciting. You're like, Oh, my gosh, 13 people read my blog. Like, whoa, where did they come from? How did they find me, you know, but now, it's like, my site has gotten millions of visitors a year for, you know, year after year, and YouTube channel, millions of views. You know, it's just, it's some point that it just, there's no, there's no point in counting, you know, what I'm saying, it's like, I've been able to reach so many people, and it's so wonderful. To me, and it's just a blessing, man, it's a blessing to be alive. It's a blessing to be able to share what I've learned and, and be hopefully encouraging and inspirational and to folks that are on the healing path, or, you know, trying to get on the healing path. And so I'm, I really just see myself as a obviously survivor, but also just a patient advocate. And, and a cheerleader and a coach. Yeah, I'm just here to encourage people and help them make the best decisions for them. So going along the back a long way around to what I was saying earlier, was I don't tell people not to do treatment, I help them understand the benefits and risks of treatment, so they can make a good decision. But then also, more importantly, help them understand that they have so much power to change their life, and all the things that they can do that will help increase their odds of survival. Right? These are the things that you do at home, right? Whatever they do in the doctor's office is fine. But the things you do at home, can make all the difference between survival and death. That's really good. And that's, that really is my sort of my core mission is to bring that information to the public to anyone that wants to, to learn and grow and take control of their life and health. Because that's what it's about, you know, this is a personal responsibility, kind of message, right? Where you have to go, Okay, I got a problem, right? Is it my fault? Maybe, right, but the reality is, whether it's my fault, or the environment, or some Corporation, or whatever, it's now my problem.

John Matarazzo: 49:27

Yeah. Yeah.

Chris Wark: 49:28

So it's my responsibility to work to solve it. Yeah. That's, that's the attitude that I took. It's part of what I call the beat cancer mindset.

John Matarazzo: 49:37

That's good. I'm so grateful that you have this. This new lease in life, you know, this new direction, because I'm sure when you were 26. Before you had this diagnosis, this wasn't part of your long term plan.

Unknown: 49:50

No, no. What No,

Chris Wark: 49:52

when I was 26, I was a real estate investor. Okay. I had acquired 30 about 35 For 35 properties in two years, wow, I was, you know, hitting it hard. I was really trying to build a business and make a name for myself and prove to the world that I was somebody special. Mm hmm. And again, that was rooted in insecurity. I was a musician. I was writing songs and playing shows and planning, touring and things. And that's what I was doing. That's what I wanted. I was doing exactly what I wanted to do. Yeah, but yeah, cancer sort of derailed my plans, man, the train went off the tracks. Yeah. And obstacles come into our life for one of two reasons. Either to be overcome, or to divert you onto a new path. Mm hmm. Right. I mean, that's it, some obstacles you overcome, you got to work to get over him, and you get stronger and wiser and you learn things. But other obstacles is like, nope, new path, you can't get over this. Right? Gotta go this way. And that's what cancer was, for me. It's it completely changed my trajectory in life. You know, I'm like, right. And I can look back and see that God was working, right, that he worked all things for my good, just like, like I said, in the beginning, that verse that I chose to believe Romans 828, I've got two beautiful daughters, 15 and 12, who were not alive when I was diagnosed.

John Matarazzo: 51:22

Yeah.

Chris Wark: 51:24

I've still got a beautiful wife who loves me, and she stuck by my side, we've been together for our 20 year, anniversary is next year, I just have so much to be thankful for, you know, and it's, you know, there's one thing I'd like to just help remind folks is that, in any circumstance in life, we have a choice, we always have a choice on how to respond, no matter what is happening. You have the power, the mental capacity to step back and say, You know what, I'm going to count my blessings. In the middle of this adversity, this challenge this bad news, I'm going to count my blessings instead of focusing on the problem. So I could step back. And when I had cancer, right, I had every reason to be pissed off and bitter and angry. Right? every reason and who's gonna argue with me, right? I and, and I did struggle with that in the beginning, right? It was a struggle, but I realized, Okay, you know what? Let me come on blessings real quick. All right, let me What have I got, that's good in my life. I've got I know what the bad stuff is. Let's just remind me, what's the good I can get out of bed. I can feed myself, I can bathe myself, I can put on my own clothes. I can go out for a jog. I can get up and work today. My wife loves me. I've got a baby on the way. I've got enough money to buy groceries and pay my bills. When I start counting my blessings, like, Oh, yeah, I'm so blessed. And I mean, just in an instant, just just, this is just a simple practice, right that any person can do. And I do it all the time, right? Anytime I start to feel like I'm in a funk. I'm like, wait a minute, hold up. Let's count the blessings. What do we got? The blessings always outweigh the bad thing? Yeah. Right. They always outweigh it. And so that was a super valuable lesson that cancer taught me was to be able to count my blessings in the middle of a stinky situation. Yeah. And what happens when you do that is then you become overwhelmed with joy, and gratitude, right? And contentment, right thankfulness to God for all the good things in your life. So we enter His gates with thanksgiving, man. I mean, that's what you got to do. Right? We're good thanks to the Lord, for He is good, his love and doors forever. I just wake up every morning. And almost every morning, this is the day the Lord is made. I'm going to rejoice and be glad to another day of life. I you know, this is especially meaningful to me right now, because my dad is in hospice. And he's at the end of his life. He has late stage Parkinson's, he's 83. He's had a wonderful life has been healthy his whole life. It just took a turn here in the last few years. He's been married to my mom for 49 years. faithful husband and father loves Jesus. But you know what? He's dying, in the hospital, in hospice. And I promise you, no matter what's happening in your life right now, my dad would love to trade places with you. And there are 1000s of people in the hospital right now that would give anything to trade places with you and to have your problem. Right, because your problem is not nearly as bad as their problem, right? suffering and dying. That is something that I've reminded myself many times over the years Is that one phrase? Right now there's someone in the hospital that would give anything to trade places with you. Yeah, that's what I tell myself when I start to feel frustrated down on myself, you know, angry, whatever's happening, even things just happen in life. Right? Yeah, that it tried to steal your joy. And so I just have to slap myself around a little bit.

John Matarazzo: 55:22

Yeah, you know, Chris, as we're talking here, I'm picking up on a theme. And one of the biggest things to help people start, the process of heading in the right direction is time. And taking that time to step back, like you, like you said at the beginning, you had this cancer diagnosis. But rather than just jumping right into the normal treatment, you took some time to actually process and actually think and pray. And I'm hearing this this thing about time and looking at things through God's perspective, even though you didn't say it quite like that. But looking at things through a different perspective, getting that information that you need. And once you can do that, you're actually able to take your next step with a plan as opposed to just being reactive. Yes. Can you just respond about that

Chris Wark: 56:09

briefly? For sure, well, being rushed and urgent is a worldly approach, right? And it's a it's a, let's say, low faith, approach to problems. And we do need to wait on the Lord. Right, we need to be still and know that he is God and wait on Him. You know, God told the Israelites don't move until the cloud moves. You know what I mean? And so that you can take that same approach in prayer and just say, God, I'm not moving until the cloud moves. You know what I mean? Like, yeah, show me what to do. Show me what to change. But I'm not going to be hasty. I'm not going to make a decision out of fear. We said this early, very early in our conversation, fear based decisions are almost always the wrong ones. We need to make decisions based on fact, and faith. Right, those two things. That's how you make good decisions. Not they're not based on fear, fear, fear decisions are almost always decisions that are not to be harsh, but they're cowardly. decisions. Right? Yeah. and courage is the decision to move forward. In spite of your fear. Mm hmm. That's courage. Courage is not a feeling. It's just got like forgiveness. Forgiveness is not a feeling it's a choice. Courage, not a feeling, because the feeling that you have is fear.

John Matarazzo: 57:33

Right, right.

Chris Wark: 57:34

Right. Courage is the choice to move forward in spite of your fear. And time, is it taking time to understand your situation, to seek the Lord to get answers to get guidance, to get clear direction, to get peace, to have peace about your decisions? These are so important. And you're right. That is a that was a big theme. And again, I was rushed into surgery, and I don't regret surgery. Yeah, but I'm just saying I was rushed in out of fear. And so that's how I understand how the cancer industry operates. Right? It's rush, rush, fear, hurry, you know, you're gonna die if you don't do this right now. Those kind of conversations are happening every day and cancer clinics, you know, all over the world. Yeah.

John Matarazzo: 58:21

So Chris, the theme of this podcast is all about where was God walking? Where was Jesus walking with you along your way that you didn't realize it. And as you and I are talking, I'm realizing that you definitely realized it throughout your journey with the Lord, that Jesus was walking with you and leading you through all that. So I'm going to kind of jump to my next normal question that I like to ask. And if you could go back in time, Chris, and talk to Chris, as a teenager as a as a young adult. What advice would you give yourself?

Chris Wark: 58:55

Yeah, put every every dollar you can in Apple stock? No, that would be among the things that would be one of the pieces of advice. But I wouldn't have listened. Right, I wouldn't have listened to myself, probably if I tried to give myself advice. It's like so many of the lessons, the most valuable lessons we learn, we learn through mistakes. And one thing that I'm trying to do is I'm trying to help people avoid the mistakes I made. And we really can learn from others, right, we can learn from the mistakes of others are from our own mistakes. It's best to learn from the mistakes of others.

John Matarazzo: 59:35

It's cheaper that way.

Chris Wark: 59:37

It's so much cheaper and easier. Oh, it's so much easier. But you know, some people just have to learn the hard way. They just have to write, man, you know, I really, I really have not ever spent much time thinking about I've never been asked that question actually. So like, I don't know what I would say to myself. And I'm not sure that it would make any difference but Jesus was definitely with me the whole way. And I was very I mean, I was desperate for jazz, right? It wasn't like, oh, looking back. Oh, yeah, God was with me. I was like, No, I was clinging on to his role. Yes. You know what I'm saying? Like, um, I was like the woman who, with the issue of blood who just wanted to touch from Jesus just want to touch his rope. Yeah. I mean, I was just getting as close to Jesus as I could get. And I didn't want to be Yeah, I just I just didn't want to be away, separated from them at all.

John Matarazzo: 1:00:31

So would you say that that's where your relationship with Jesus became real? Or was that happened earlier in the life?

Chris Wark: 1:00:37

It was real earlier? For sure. Yeah, it was real. But that was where it became really real. You know, I mean, it was real enough for me to believe and to change my life, you know, to repent, to be baptized as a like, you know, in my in college, I grew up in a Christian home, but I, you know, I just, I was rebellious as a teenager and went my own way and, and really rededicated my life to the Lord and college and gave up a lot of the things that I was doing. And so and then got in, you know, discipleship groups and Bible studies and was serving on the worship team. So I really was going for God, you know, yeah. But even in the midst of that, I was still struggling with a lot of stuff that I, you know, just mental emotional stuff. sure that I had not really been ever taught how to deal with. Mm hmm. And I do think that the church is missing. The bit about forgiveness. Yeah. I just think it's missing. I just don't think maybe many pastors and teachers don't understand it. And so they don't really teach it or talk about it. And I feel like it really is my big my ministry is forgiveness, is it? Or let's say, just say my message, right? is a big forgiveness message just because I've learned so much about it and how powerful it is. Well, we're

John Matarazzo: 1:01:57

right here, in this mode, talking about forgiveness. It could you talk to somebody that's listening right now, that's having a hard time knowing how to start actually having forgiveness. Could you pray for them? Or like, leave them in a prayer?

Chris Wark: 1:02:15

Yes. Here's the prayer is that this is that we're gonna do it together right now. And this is, again, I just want to remind whoever's listening or watching forgiveness is not a feeling it's a choice. Okay. It's something that you choose to do. If you're waiting for your feelings to change, you will be waiting a long time, they may never change. And you may just have a lifetime of bitterness, right? If you're waiting for your feelings to change, if you're waiting for that person to be sorry, you may wait an entire lifetime, because they may never be sorry. So forgiveness is not something you do for them. It's something you do for you. Right, to heal your heart and to release them to God. And it's something you do because Jesus said, do it. That's the other thing. Right? Don't do it. Because Chris said to do it. Right? Do it because Jesus said to do it. So this is the way you forgive. If you have someone in mind, that's hurt you. Obviously, you're thinking of the person and what they did. It's just, it's top of mind. And you just pray like this. You say, God, you know what they did? You know how I feel about it. And I'm still angry, I'm still upset, it still hurts. And I don't want to forgive them. But I'm choosing to forgive them. And I'm letting it go. And I'm giving it to you. They're all yours. just laying in at the feet of Jesus. And I'm asking you to bless them. I'm asking you to have mercy on them. And I'm asking you to forgive me for harboring bitterness and anger and resentment for so long. Thank you for forgiving me. Thank you that your Word says that. If we confess our sins, you're faithful and just to forgive us and cleanse us. Thank you for forgiving me and for cleansing me. That's the prayer. That's it. It's simple. Anyone can do this. And you notice I said, bless them. Yeah. Right. Have mercy on them. Jesus said, Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you. Right? When you not only choose to forgive, but ask God to bless the people who've hurt you. Oh, man, you unlock some serious, deep emotional healing in your life. I mean, you just you just crack your heart wide open. You know, and and the Lord comes in man and he just cleans it up. Right? He cleans you up, patches you up, heals you. That's how it happens. And you know the funny thing about this is like he knows you don't want him to bless him. Right. Yeah, it's like, I'm not telling you like you gotta fake it. You know what I'm saying? Lord knows your heart. He knows you don't want the blessing. He knows you want them to get hit by a car. Right?

John Matarazzo: 1:05:14

Yeah. But

Chris Wark: 1:05:16

he will honor the fact that you say bless them, right? Because you're asking him to bless them when when he knows you don't want him to. Yeah, that's, and that is something that is an act of courage. Forgiveness is an act of courage. And it's an act of humility. It's humbling yourself and letting go of your need for justice. Yeah. You know, the Bible says Vengeance is mine, says the Lord, right? I will repay, he will repay that person will reap what they have sown. You can count on that. If that gives you any solace, right? That they're not going to get away with it. Right? Even if you haven't seen them be punished. They won't get away with it. It won't. That just they want. Right, they will be punished in different ways, but it'll happen. But so anyway, I mean, that that helps me to psychologically just understanding those things. But that is the way you pray and you just take one person at a time. Pray that way. If it helps make a list of the people who've hurt you and just make do the prayer, cross them off the list. Work your way down, right? Just do something that's concrete, so you can see it, put a date on it. Right? And you're like today, December 10 2020. I chose to forgive this person. And now, here's the next step going forward. If those feelings try to creep back in, you just have to catch yourself in the moment say, Nope, you know what, I forgave them. Yeah, God, you know, I forgave him. Bless him. I'm not gonna let the bitterness and resentment creep back in. Yeah. Right. So for I like to say, I like to describe it like this. Forgiveness is like a healthy diet. It only works if you stick with it.

John Matarazzo: 1:07:06

Okay. Yeah, that makes sense. Right?

Chris Wark: 1:07:08

Right. Right. You eat healthy for a week, and go back to junk food. It didn't do anything. You got no benefit. Mm hmm. Right. So if you want to be healthy, you have to eat healthy for life. Right. It's a it's a lifestyle. It's a lifelong habit in practice. And so forgiveness is a decision for life. Yeah. And if that person is, causes you pain again, they do something else. That's rude or inconsiderate. You forgive them again, right? And I've learned to be very quick to forgive. Right? people hurt me. They're rude to me on the internet or whatever, they hurt my feelings. They let me down, disappoint me, whatever it is. I'm just quick, right? I'm just like, you know, like, push whip out. You know, like, whip out the guns come out. Forgive. Forget that. That's what I do. You know, like, I just don't want to carry that. I don't want to carry bitterness and resentments. And that's good. I don't want to live that way. And it's a it's a much lighter way to be right, because bitterness and anger and resentment is heavy. Right? It's these are burdens. Right? Jesus said, Come to me. My yoke is easy. my burden is light. Cast your cares on me. What are your cares? Well, the bitterness and resentment and anger. Those are some of your cares, aren't they? Mm hmm. You just said don't worry about tomorrow. That's a care. He said. Don't worry. Yeah. Be anxious for nothing. Right? That means give him your worries and your fears. Give him your anger and your bitterness. cast it all on him? He can carry it, man. You don't have to. Yeah,

John Matarazzo: 1:08:40

I appreciate you going deep into that. Because that's, you know, sometimes it's really difficult for people to say, what is the first step? And how do I go through this? Like, I've got this long journey in front of me, but do I put my right foot first or my left foot first? And sometimes that's the biggest decision of which which step to take. That's

Chris Wark: 1:08:57

it. It's a decision. And it's a prayer. And then it's sticking with your decision.

Unknown: 1:09:03

Yeah. Like,

Chris Wark: 1:09:03

it could not be more simple. It really is. It's not. It's not super spiritual. It's not complicated. It's just you got to do it.

John Matarazzo: 1:09:11

Yeah. Yeah. And so we talked about that first step and how important that is. Chris, how does somebody get ahold of you that your blog, your book, all that stuff? How do people find you so that they can take their next steps after that?

Unknown: 1:09:25

Yep. Well,

Chris Wark: 1:09:26

my blog is Chris beat cancer calm. That's my handle on social media pretty easy to find. My first book is called Chris beat cancer, a comprehensive plan for healing naturally. That's my story. And it takes a deep dive into anti cancer, nutritional science and lifestyle practices. And there's a section in there that's sort of an exposition on the cancer industry. I think anyone reading that will find it fascinating. And then my brand new book is called beat cancer daily, which is a 365 days of inspiration, encouragement and action steps to survive and thrive. And it's it's a daily devotional Type book. Yeah, with just everyday encouragement, because, look, the healing path is a daily journey, right? It's a, we got to make decisions that, that move us forward and not backward, that move us closer to healthy Island. destination, right healthy Island and you got to point your ship toward healthy Island. And every day, you got to make sure you stay on track stay on course. And so the new book is about that. It's there's a lot of scripture in there. There's a lot of practical advice and encouragement, and challenges. It's a really fun book. And then the feedbacks been fantastic. It's an Amazon bestseller. It's been out for about a month and awesome.

John Matarazzo: 1:10:43

So it really you really get body, soul and spirit all covered in there.

Chris Wark: 1:10:47

Absolutely. Because Yeah, you got to focus, you know, you can't just focus on the healthy eating. Right, you got to forgive. Gotta get right with God, you have to take every thought captive. And then you have to take care of your physical body to right. honor God with your temple.

John Matarazzo: 1:11:03

Yeah. Well, Chris, I thank you so much for sharing your journey with me and going deep. And, you know, really diving into a lot of the meat of the matter, you know, the interviews that we've been able to have before, it's been 10, or maybe 15 minutes, but we were able to go over an hour here, and really get more of your story. I appreciate you sharing that with me. So I want to thank you so much for allowing me to join you along your way.

Chris Wark: 1:11:27

Thank you, john. It's been really fun. And I do love the long form interviews because we can really flush things out. And the short TV interviews are hard. It's it's hard, I want to say like I want to say everything I've said and like we've talked about today. So thanks for giving me the opportunity.

John Matarazzo: 1:11:46

I hope you enjoyed my conversation with Chris work,

Chris Wark: 1:11:49

I knew that we were going to be talking about healthy eating and living, which always convinced me. But the thing that really surprised me is how much Chris focused on forgiveness. I want to take a moment to highlight some of the comments on forgiveness for you again, forgive the people who've hurt you, every single person by name. It's funny, because when I first heard this idea, and the connection that stress has to cancer, I thought well, that's not my problem. Alright, it's not that I'm forgiveness. Now I don't I'm good. Like I don't need I'm, I'm cool with everybody. I don't have any enemies. And then how even Jesus had

John Matarazzo: 1:12:25

to choose to forgive. He said,

Chris Wark: 1:12:27

Father forgive them, for they know not what they do. So he chose to forgive in the moment when he least felt like forgiving, to show us that it was a choice. That's why he did that, to show us that we can forgive any person who's heard us, no one's hung you on a cross. That's for sure. If you're listening to this podcast, that's one thing I can be sure of. Nobody crucified you

John Matarazzo: 1:12:51

choose to forgive. Don't let the bitterness and resentment take over again,

Chris Wark: 1:12:57

right? Just do something that's concrete so you can see it, put a date on it. Right? And you're like today, December 10 2020. I chose to forgive this person. And now, here's the next step going forward. If those feelings try to creep back in, you just have to catch yourself in the moment say No, you know what, I forgave them. God, you know, I forgave him, bless him. I'm not going to let the bitterness and resentment creep back in.

John Matarazzo: 1:13:28

I want to encourage you right now to take a moment and ask God if there is anyone that you need to forgive, go ahead and do it. Once God shows you who that person is, walk through that forgiveness and be proactive about it. Don't let unforgiveness turn into bitterness and resentment, which leads to stress, which could lead to cancer. If you want to know more about Chris's journey, I'll be providing his information in the show notes. Thank you for listening to along the way. If you've enjoyed joining me along my way, please share with a friend who you think will be encouraged by this podcast. Also, please rate and review along the way on iTunes. That helps more people discover along the way. And subscribe to this podcast wherever you're listening. You can follow me on Facebook, Instagram and on my website along the way dot media. I hope that you've enjoyed this part of my journey and may you realize when Jesus is walking with you along your way. Along the way is honored to be part of the charisma Podcast Network. You can find tons of spirit filled content from their vast catalogue of podcasts, including my Monday through Friday news stories for the charisma news podcast. Go to CPN shows.com to see the full list and latest episodes