Four Ways Cancer Can Be a Mercy (From a Cancer Patient) - Arvin Martin

So, um, I asked the question, why do people get cancer? Mm-hmm. And I have four reasons that people get cancer. And, and, and these are reasons for God-fearing people, basically. Mm-hmm. The first one is a means to take us home.

We're all going to go home. We're going to die from something. The only people that didn't die was, uh... Enoch and Elijah. Yeah, Enoch and Elijah. That's the only two that didn't that didn't die. Everybody else died, and we're going to die.

And so when it's time, God's going to take you home. And actually, I believe in some cases, um, it can even be an advantage. You don't think cancer is an advantage, but I'll get to that. But, um, yeah, we're going to go home somehow. And some people die from COVID, some people die from cancer, and some people die from car accidents and whatever. The second reason, I think, is a refining fire. Mm-hmm. And I found that to be true in my own life. Uh, it'll change you. And I've told you that. When you stare death and the fragility of life in the face, I mean, it does something to you. It makes you regroup. It makes you get your priorities in order.

Um, my doctor, my oncologist, I said, so when, if I don't take any treatment at all, like, how long will I live? 18 months? Hmm. So that's kind of a juncture chain a bit. Yeah, I imagine. So it has a way of concentrating the mind, I guess you could say.

And I've told you, you know, things that seemed important weren't, and things that didn't seem important were. Uh, a third reason that I think people get cancer is to give them time to make peace with God. I'm 100% convinced there's people in heaven, going to be in heaven, who wouldn't have been there if they wouldn't have got cancer.

Now, you can chew on that one for a while, but I really believe that. I mean, so, you know, even fast-moving cancer would normally give a person a chance to make some wrongs right. Um, I different times, I've talked to people who knew they were dying. I knew they were dying. Everybody knew they were dying. And I went to visit them, and I said, like, so is everything right between you and the Lord?

And they said, yeah, yeah, I kind of think so. But the one case I found out that he did make a phone call to somebody to make sure that everything was all right. Okay. See, fatal accidents don't allow that. And so I think in one case of the one sense of the word, it's the mercy of God that allows a time for reflection, a time to get right, a time for repentance if needed be, and a time to think about heaven that you probably wouldn't have thought about before. The fourth one, and I feel very strongly about this too, is that if you can handle this thing that you're going through with grace, with Christian grace, it's an encouragement to other people.

Both my brother and I have similar types of cancer. His was diagnosed long after mine, but we have similar. I have small B-cell lymphoma. He has CLL, which is very similar. It's the same. They're sisters, the cancers. And so, you know, we regularly talk to each other and how's it going and all that. I've heard different people say, like, when they're diagnosed with cancer, they say, hey, if they can do it, we can do it.

And I just, now, this friend of mine who didn't have cancer, but he just spent 12 weeks in the hospital with all sorts of things. And I actually thought he was going to die a couple of times, but he didn't, okay? And I told him, and he is just so thankful. I mean, he's like, you know, God is good. And every time I talk to him, he's upbeat, and he's talking about how good God is and all that.

I said, you, God saved you to be an example to people of how to live in the presence of adversity. I said, don't forget that. I have been able to minister to people. At one time, I was calling my brother, my brother-in-law, another friend, and an in-law, or a friend's in-law.

Cancer. I was calling them, you know, every week, like, hey, how's it going? How's it going, you know?