Monthly Archives: September 2017

Seen My Anchor?

Dormant DNA. I had never heard or paid attention to that phrase. Having heard it, all kinds of dots connected. At least tentatively. It began with an interview with Mitch Prinstein about his research and discoveries as he wrote the book Popular.

He says that we carry dormant DNA which wasn’t always dormant. There was a time in human history when being part of the herd helped secure our safety. If we were excluded or feared being ostracized or exiled, the brain opened up a section of the DNA to release pro-inflammatory response (PIR) which would go to battle to save us if we were attacked by beast or burglar. DNA is the blueprint of life and abides in every cell of our bodies. The PIR prepared the body to heal.

With the growth of civilization, the threat of being voted off the island diminished so the DNA-driven inflammatory response shut down and went underground. It became dormant.

In the 1980s society and culture changed, perhaps in response the late 60s. People moved away from their tribe and herd. Later with social media, the possibility of being excluded, bullied or shamed changed the social, psychological and cultural landscape. Being excluded became driven by a new force. The inflammatory response was no longer just pro. That response became hyper but now it was not beneficial to the individual, it worked against us.

Doug Kaufman was the specialist who first spoke to us of inflammation being the root of not only auto-immune disease, but heart disease and other major illnesses.

Do you remember Yuppie Flu? That was a mysterious psychosocial dysfunction with unexplained fatigue, inability to concentrate, weakness, malaise, nerve dysfunction and depression that affected mainly young adults. In the eighties, the problem was renamed and codified as Epstein-Barr Syndrome.

From the derogatory terms to a variety of immune system diseases, there seems to be several commonalities. Several of our friends were afflicted with symptoms listed above and each of them first experienced the debilitating symptoms following a physical trauma such as a fall, or accident. Something happened to awaken and release the inflammatory response which was the body’s natural response to the injury. It sounds like the fight or flight reaction to stress with the release of adrenalin and cortisol.

Lately I’ve been monitoring my reaction to the daily or hourly news alerts about politics, destruction of values, institutions, and the turning of all things right into wrong and up becoming down. Add NoKo, Iran, wars, rumors of wars, kingdoms and nations rising against one another, famines, earthquakes, hurricanes and signs in the sky to name a few. “High vigilance” is the term used for children’s response to parental split. “Hyper-inflammatory response.”

This funnels to a couple of questions: Why was Sarai barren? Could early temporary infertility have led to social exclusion, diminishment of self-perception which released the inflammatory component that produced chronic infertility?

The next question is about the 21st Century.
I am not a scientist nor have I stayed at a Holiday Express recently. I may have gotten off into the weeds trying to explain to you what Mitch Prinstein said that affects us. If he is on track, then what response and practices should come from Kingdom people?

I’ve been told that the FEMA website is flooded with people saying the disasters and forecast of more disasters has disabled their ability to cope.

Yesterday, I swept all of this info into a journal, went to porch and prayed. “Lord, if all this stuff is true, how are we to pray? What are we Kingdom Come People to do? What is the format and approach to be?” The first word that came to my soul was “anchor.” First we affix our anchor to the rock.

I replied to the Lord, “I don’t want to trivialize people’s loss and pain. Some friends face the afflictions of chronic fatigue syndrome every day and they love you as much as I do. You are their anchor.”

The second word I heard was “healing of the cells—all of which contain DNA—therefore, house debilitating memories.” Some researchers say the horrors we are witnessing can change our DNA and the terror, hopelessness and uncertainty will reach generations to come.

I don’t have a firm grip on this, but at this moment it seems to me we are to ask, “What is my anchor, what do I attach it to, and how do I make it permeate the cells after healing?”

Part of the anchor’s strength is belonging. If the Hyper-inflammatory response is released into the cells when we feel excluded, exiled or dumped outside the camp, then being assured that we belong is a healing agent.

We are going to set the healing chair. We will pray for healing. Facebook Message me and we’ll include you in the healing-strengthening praying.

©2017 D. Dean Benton dean@deanbenton.org Dean Benton

Your Story Is…?

It was a Wednesday evening at a North Miami Beach Charismatic Lutheran church. The place was packed. Before we were introduced to minister, the pastor invited victory and celebration statements. A stylish, fashionably made-up lady in the back row told us she had spent the day with Hollywood producers, director Martin Scorsese and actor Robert DeNiro. They were interviewing her for an upcoming movie which was in part about her.

I expected men in white coats to usher her out. Then I wondered what in the world we would sing or say that would connect or grab the crowd’s attention. Her story sounded like a precise definition of a person out of touch with reality. Well, the White Coats didn’t arrive because she was telling the truth. The lady was the ex-wife of boxer Jake LaMotta and the movie was “The Raging Bull.”

As I remember, no one else gave a testimony or celebration that evening. The regulars knew Vickie and they knew she was not making anything up. There was a buzz in that room—rafter-high emotions.
That was quite an event. I still feel the aura of that preacher. He was low-key and direct. He prayed with us and admonished me to “step into your calling.” As effective as we were that evening, he saw something else. Not instead of, but in addition to.

Trekking with Abraham’s Tribe seems far-fetched. I think the predominate mindset for me was, I just don’t fit with this group. We stunt our witness when we compare ourselves or measure our value. My fear that night in North Miami Beach was anything I said or sang would be anti-climactic. After all, I had never met anyone like Robert DeNiro and my story was not going to be made into a movie—ever! Even an eight millimeter one.

I’m pushing the boundaries a bit, because Galatians 6 has impacted me the last few days.

“Make a careful exploration of who you are and the work you have been given, and then sink yourself into that.” (Message)

After taping a television program that was somehow connected to TBN, a lady said, “Jan is going to love your work.” While I was envisioning our national TV debut, the lady’s father stepped into our circle. He was an elderly Italian gentleman and began to tell me his conversion experience. I understood about a third of his heavy Italian-accented words, so his daughter kept a running interpretation in the background. God had turned his life around by just speaking his name, the man told me. I asked how he knew it was God and not just his own imagination.

“Because no one has ever pronounced my name correctly. God did! He said, ‘Alphonso’ like no one ever has.”

His daughter had heard the story and seen the evidence dozens of times. Tears filled her eyes. The story never lost its punch or implications for the whole family.

“…his sheep recognize His voice. He calls his own sheep by name and leads them…He leads them and they follow because they are familiar with His voice.” (John 10:3-4 Message

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©2017 D. Dean Benton dean@deanbenton.org

Meanderings—Trekking with Abraham’s Tribe

Published this fall. An informal study of Abraham and Sarah as they learned to hear God’s voice. I use many stories of the people we met and places we visited when we were on the road.
This chapter is timely. Jake LaMotta died in recent days.