Good News

Want some good news? “The five-year cancer survival rate in the US has reached 70% for the first time, according to an American Cancer Society report released yesterday. The figure, based on diagnoses from 2015 to 2021, is up from 49% in the mid-1970s and 63% in the mid-1990s. The ACS attributes the rise to wider and earlier screening, lower smoking rates, and advances in targeted and immunotherapy treatments. Survival has improved across most major cancer types, including thyroid (98%), prostate (98%), testis (95%), melanoma (95%), and breast (92%), though racial, economic, and regional disparities persist. Myeloma (blood cancer) survival nearly doubled to 62% since the 1990s, and liver cancer survival more than tripled to 22%. Rates were lowest for cancers of the lung (28%), liver (22%), esophagus (22%), and pancreas (13%). Between 1991 and 2023, advances in cancer care prevented an estimated 4.8 million deaths.”*

Want some even better news? The survival rate for those affected by spiritual death can potentially be 100%! Of course, without treatment, all who sin will die spiritually (John 8:24). Our sins separate us from God (Isaiah 59:2). And every sinner experiences this spiritual death -- no exceptions. But every sinner can be rescued from this death.This is the power of what Jesus Christ accomplished on the cross (1 Peter 2:24; John 3:16). We can’t cure ourselves but He can! By putting our faith in Him and what He accomplished for us, our spiritual disease is cured (Ephesians 2:8-9). Jesus said it this way: “I am the resurrection and the life; he who believes in Me will live even if he dies, and everyone who lives and believes in Me will never die. Do you believe this?” (John 11:25-26). And as long as we remain faithful to Christ, we are eternally cured. Sin and death no longer have any hold on us. For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord (Romans 6:23; cf. Romans 8:1-2).

God loves you!

Mike

*1440.com, 1-14-26