In June, we held a Total Health Seminar at the Nashville Training Center with thrilling results. People who had exhausted medical and nutritional remedies found total health when they identified spiritual components that were missing from their lives.

The following are testimonies from those who attended the Total Health Seminar, June 21–25, 2004.

The most dreaded time of the day for Deborah, 53, was trying to get out of bed in the morning. She had excruciating pain in both hips. She had tried every medical, nutritional, and spiritual remedy she knew, but the pain persisted and worsened. It emanated from within her bones and ran down her legs.

By Wednesday morning of the seminar, the pain was gone! The next day she woke up with Scripture on her mind and joy in her heart, which she enthusiastically shared with the entire group during the breakfast time. Breakfast lasted for over two hours with all the reports!

Karl is a counselor who had been suffering with painful acid reflux. His medication was only partially effective. He testified that after three days of delicious meals which were balanced with electrolytes, his problem had greatly subsided.

Attendees at a Total Health Seminar

Kay, a state senator’s wife, came with two medical problems, one of which was diabetes. She began applying the training and also asked the group to cry out for God’s healing. The next morning, she reported that her blood sugar had come down thirty points and she looked forward to further progress in the weeks to come.

Lee, 47, came with deep concern over his anger and bitterness. On the third day, he discovered the spiritual cause of his problem. The next morning, his whole countenance radiated with joy and hope!

Each one of these participants had an exciting story of how they searched for health solutions from many sources, but failed to identify the root causes of their medical problems. The training they received was multifaceted. Dr. Roger Billica explained the need for each person to “take charge” of their own health problems and learn the scientific and Biblical basis of total health.

Dr. T. C. McDaniel explained how electrolyte balance and proper blood dispersion is essential for good health and to avoid heart diseases, Alzheimer’s, Parkinson’s disease, and many other physical problems.

Kim Cahill and her cooking staff served nutritious, balanced meals from her new cookbook, No-Guesswork Cooking. The entire group explained that they never realized how delicious such meals could be!

Most important of all, spiritual training was given to explain how mental, emotional, and spiritual tension were at the root of many diseases. When these stresses were removed, healing began to take place.

The value of the week was expressed by one woman who literally cried when she saw all the provisions that she received and another man who exclaimed, “How can you put on such an exceptional [seminar] for such a low price!”

One of the most dramatic results was experienced by Teresa Apple from Raleigh, North Carolina. She and her husband, Phil, tell their story:

Teresa Apple

My wife Teresa and I made a decision to attend the Total Health [Seminar] held June 21–25, 2004, in order to seek healing and wholeness for my wife’s long-term, chronic pain and suffering in her chest, back, and esophagus.

Teresa had been suffering night and day for over two and a half years. She had been unable to sleep more than one to two hours a day. She would cry in pain every day. It was an unrelenting ache that hampered her homeschooling duties, her ministry efforts, her homemaking ability, and stole her joy.

Many people had prayed for and over Teresa. In the time of severest suffering, we would cry out for the pain to stop. We undertook seeking medical advice.

The doctors ran a multitude of diagnostic tests, endoscopies, CT scans, and MRI scans. Hospital specialists ran batteries of blood tests, inserted overnight tubes into her esophagus, and conjectured over all manner of possible causes.

Some said, “classic acid reflux,” others, “classic gall bladder problems,” others, “hiatal hernia issues.” Our primary care physician believed the best route was to remove Teresa’s gall bladder. That would surely fix it, she was assured.

She went to a surgeon who did what surgeons do best… remove organs or tissues. He comforted her by saying she would feel great in a day or two. After the surgery, Teresa complained that the same pains existed. They never went away. When we went to the surgeon and told him, he just said, “It will just take time” and sent us off to our primary care doctor after announcing success.

One of the gastro-enterologists felt certain Teresa had a hiatal hernia and prescribed acid blockers. When one failed, another one was given, until we had exhausted over a dozen new drugs costing thousands of dollars. None was remotely successful and all had severe side effects that required additional drugs to counteract.

How about a second opinion gastro-enterologist? Sure, no problem. So after months of excruciating pain and needless surgery, we were off to a new set of doctors.

Same procedures as before, but this time we were told no hiatal hernia and no signs of acid reflux existed. During the office visit, the female doctor asked me to step out so she could talk alone to my wife. She was kindly and gently trying to get a confession that this was all an abusive husband putting undue strain on our marriage. When that discussion closed unsuccessfully, I was ushered back in and we were told that this was all just psychosomatic, “just in her head,” and she prescribed antidepressants and biofeedback training since this was only in her head. ENOUGH!!

The pain was just as bad if not worse. Medical science solutions were exhausted. Doctors had been kind but were now just guessing. Teresa was beginning to believe she had an undiscovered cancer that would soon take her home. She began to cry that she hated not being there for me and watching her children grow up.

Teresa began searching the Internet and joining e-mail loops for this kind of infirmity. Then began the steady number of herbal concoctions coming to our home.

Our house began to look like a pharmacy. Bottles of high-powered prescriptions and powders lined the walls and took up all available counter space. Some had to be refrigerated so we consumed most of our door shelving as well.

At bedtime, my wife could only find relief sitting nearly upright. We bought, on doctor’s advice, bed wedges and extra pillows. My wife would be two feet above me in our bed with a heating pad behind her back.

We never stopped praying. We had a new library and my wife was fast becoming an expert on nutrients, herbs, medicines, and their use. But NOTHING worked!!

How did this all begin? We had a family tragedy when my dad, Teresa’s real father figure, was brutally attacked in a robbery attempt in North Carolina. A random act by a gang of drug addicts seeking money left my dad in a coma with severe brain damage.

This 76-year-old, 150-pound man was attacked by a 6-foot 4-inch, 250-pound man wielding a hammer. It was 1995, and we lived in Florida. Teresa was four months pregnant. I am an only child so the responsibility fell on me to care for my dad.

Although doctors said it was hopeless, my family and I stayed by his side. When I had to get back to work, my wife stayed with him. To everyone’s surprise (except ours), he did not die and started making slow progress. Teresa left him only to come home and have our son in November, then left to be back by his side in North Carolina.

During this time, the police arrested the men responsible for the crime and after two lengthy trials and one hung jury, convictions were reached. No remorse was ever heard or expressed by the attackers.

In 1998, Dad had made so much progress that we were going to bring him home. He would never be the same, but he knew us and could do some simple tasks. My wife and daughter took training to be his caregiver. Then, on the day before he was to be released, the rehab facility decided to perform a minor procedure in the local hospital. A nurse gave him too much food in his nightly feeding and he aspirated into his lungs. Now he had more severe brain damage than after the assault and became vegetative. We were devastated!

I had been able to secure a job transfer to North Carolina to better care for Dad. We moved to North Carolina in December of 2000, but my dad died in January of 2001. The reason we came to North Carolina was gone. My wife’s church support group for fourteen years in Florida was gone and soon thereafter the pains began.

As Paul Harvey says, “Now for the rest of the story.”

We contacted a doctor we had heard about through ATI that had remarkable success in treating various illnesses. Dr. T. C. McDaniel believed he could help. He sent us packets of mineral crystals, made several other recommendations, and, for the first time, Teresa was able to get minor relief.

We began to hear about a new Total Health program in Nashville. We signed up as soon as finances and schedules enabled us both to attend. We prayed and fasted for the [seminar] seeking God to make Teresa whole. I needed my wife back!!

We went to the [seminar] with much anticipation and had high hopes for a miracle.

On the first full day, Bill Gothard joined our table for breakfast. Almost immediately and without hesitation, he looked across the table at Teresa and asked how she was doing. The floodgates of heaven began to open.

We shared our story. Bill Gothard noticed the tears flowing from my wife’s eyes as she described the attack upon her father-in-law. He said, “You have a deep hurt that is like a poison eating away at your system.” He then explained that the only way to neutralize this venom was to verbally bless the assailant and everyone else involved in the incident. He assured her that the positive power of the verbal blessing would neutralize the toxic damage of the bitterness she was experiencing. Next, he said that she must fully forgive those who had deeply hurt her. And, finally, she must thank God for allowing it to happen and begin to list benefits that God intended to come from it.

Teresa was eager to follow these Biblical steps. She took my hand and with many tears prayed. Following her prayer, Bill prayed for God to bring healing to her physical body. In this prayer he used his spiritual authority over Satan. Then he asked God to deliver her quickly from her infirmity.

Almost immediately, Teresa’s countenance changed. Within the hour her pains were totally gone. By that evening she did not need any of the 15 medications that she had been taking at each meal. That night she slept on a regular pillow rather than in her propped-up position.

The next day, she joyfully reported to the whole group how God had healed her and how for the first time in two and a half years she was without pain. Her miraculous relief has continued, and we are thrilled that through this training we have not only experienced physical healing, but also spiritual healing in other areas.

Our lives have been permanently changed. We are filled with joy and gratefulness for the truths we have learned and experienced at this [seminar].

For information about upcoming Total Health Seminars, visit iblp.org or call 630-323-9800, ext. 521.

August 2004

Please note: This seminar is intended primarily for educational purposes; its goal is to help participants understand how to achieve health and wholeness in body, soul, and spirit. IBLP does not claim to diagnose, treat, cure, or prevent any disease. Medical diagnoses and treatment should always be conducted by qualified doctors.