Ten Years Now
Bodie Hodge, M.Sc., B.Sc., PEI
Biblical Authority Ministries, November 13, 2025 (Donate)
August of 2015, I started Biblical Authority Ministries
as a personal side blog. Three months later, I struggled to live. This week
marks the 10-year and 8-year anniversary of two events that happened on the
same day, to the same hour intriguingly, 8 years apart.
Heart Attack
I’ve almost died a host of ways, but 10 years ago, I suffered a massive days-long heart attack with severe back pain that radiated. By the time I got help from this 100% blockage in the widow maker, the damage was done. Sections of my heart were dead tissue with a low ejection fraction and defibrillator was later installed.
I was now a “bionic man”, but it was to
help keep me alive instead of giving me super strength. I found in my situation that being physically fit doesn't stop you from having a heart attack, but helps you survive longer to get help (due to collateral flow).
My doctor at the time (he has since passed) told me I had “a
20% chance of dying each year due to the damage”. I knew what that meant and said,
“that means 5 years”. He looked me straight in the eye and said he didn’t
expect me to live for five more years. It was “disheartening” (pun
intended!).
I remember the 5th year anniversary of surviving.
I was surprised I made it that far. Now with a 10-year anniversary, I’m just as
surprised. I’ve had many ups and downs—a second 100% widow maker blockage again
(a blood clot this time, but no new damage) with back pain radiating again and a
90% blockage with back pain radiating. How I’ve survived is only by the will of
God.
I went from doing 130 pushups as a set, running, and being very
active, to a much slower and weaker pace. On the outside people often misjudge
me thinking I’m in great shape but internally it’s like tornado damage. It’s
hard to believe the incredible physical decline due to heart damage. Hosts of physical
problems follow and you simply can’t do things like you used to—it is much more
difficult and things don’t even work like they should—its rather frustrating.
Cancer
Eight years later to the day, my wife Renee found a lump of cancer
at precisely the same hour my heart pains in the back started. And so began a
two-year battle (that still has ongoing repercussions). Our family has been destroyed
with horrible diseases like cancer and heart disease.
Words can’t describe the pain, particularly the mental and
physical anguish, we suffer. Seeing my wife undergo what she went through was
terrible, and yet, she had to go through it. She’s tried to be as natural
as possible while not neglecting proper medical procedures and treatment. Her
wisdom navigating this area and keeping a balance between these types of
treatments are amazing.
Cancer treatments literally take you to the brink of death—twice.
It is horrible to see and for her it was atrocious to go through. Even thinking
about it sets off horrible emotional scars. Even with insurance, our conditions
and ongoing treatments still leave us with medical bills that we struggle to
handle.
In Light Of Scripture
We love Jesus Christ. He is perfect in every way and my wife
and I are fallible sinners who cast our every issue on God’s grace and mercy—even
our broken bodies.
God, in His infinite wisdom and power, made a perfect world without
sin, death, disease, or suffering (e.g., Genesis 1:31, Deuteronomy 32:4). Due
to man’s in the Garden of Eden, Adam and Eve fell. God cursed the ground and
the animals and sentenced man to die (Genesis 3).
In just the 3rd chapter in the Bible, it explains
the broken world in which we live. Heart attacks, cancer, and hosts of other
diseases are now a reality. We are going to die because we are all sinners and yet
God loved us enough to rescue us.
But Christ, who is God, stepped into history and took on
flesh and became a man. He lived a perfect life committing no sin. He
did something that all of use fall short of on a daily basis. In His
perfection, He was put to death—the death on a Cross—due to false accusations
to less. His death dwarfs heart attacks and cancer in the excruciating and
shameful way He was publicly put to death.
Even the word excruciating comes from the same root
of the word crucify. In His death, Christ was the final sacrifice which
was occurring since the Garden of Eden and the first sacrifice in Genesis 3:21.
His infinite nature and infinite power as the Son of God satisfied the infinite
wrath of God the Father. Thus, Christ became a substitute on our behalf.
When we receive Christ as Lord and Savior and believe on His
name, His perfect righteousness is transferred (or technically “imputed”)
to us. We are now seen as spotless as Christ because His righteousness is now
our righteousness. Only in Christ can we have eternal life in Heaven with God
through His shed blood and resurrection.
So, although we suffer heart attacks, cancer and other
horrible types of things, our hope is in Christ and no other. If you’ve
suffered, which you surely have, please consider reading this article that
explains the good
news of Jesus Christ in more detail. And please keep us in your prayers from
time to time.
To God be the glory and praise!
□
Bodie Hodge, Ken Ham's son in law, has been an apologist
since 1998 helping out in various churches and running an apologetics website.
He spent 21 years working at Answers in Genesis as a speaker, writer, and
researcher as well as a founding news anchor for Answers News. He was also head
of the Oversight Council.
Bodie launched Biblical Authority Ministries in 2015 as a
personal website and it was organized officially in 2025 as a 501(c)(3). He has
spoken on multiple continents and hosts of US states in churches, colleges, and
universities. He is married with four children.
