Episode Transcript
[00:00:00] Speaker A: Hello, everybody. Welcome to another episode of youf're the cure. I'm Dr. Ben Edwards. Got a great show today. We have Angie and Ashley, two of our wellness navigators joining us.
They have some things on their heart that they want to share and it's these testimonies that help people to see more clearly and really, I think to what scripture says is to overcome the dragon. It's the blood of the lamb and the word of the testimony. There's something about personal, personal testimonies. We just had one released today, so this should be on the website by now. But it's Royce and Regina and it's a two minute little video testimony. They are two employees at Beaten Boat companies that we partner with on our corporate wellness side. And just beautiful to hear. And I mean they're 60 and 61 years old and have been on some pharmaceuticals for high blood pressure and cholesterol. But just hearing out of their own mouth how they feel, feel so much better. They, I think Regina said they feel like they're in their 20s again. And of course blood pressure and cholesterol normalized and those medications went away.
There's just something powerful about hearing from just regular folks, you know, from your neighbors, from your friends, from your family members and from our wellness navigators and some of our patients. So our goal is to help people be set free so they can just be who God made them to be. It's really a simple, simple thing. We just have to wake up and be who God says we are and uniquely and individually. And when we're doing that corporately together, oh, it's amazing that the peace and the joy that come because it's Christ in us that sets us free. It's the truth in us. But we've been programmed for so long by so many different things. I was just listening to somebody this morning talking about abiding.
Abide in divine, abide in the truth, abide in God, abide in Jesus. This abiding. And I was thinking, man, just it, this is the word abiding is this constant connection.
And how many times just in one day we get tempted or distracted to go abide into something else. I mean, It's a constant 247 temptation in the world. We're in the world, not of it. But man, it's constantly trying to pull us to go abide in whatever the news is saying, whatever my doctor said, whatever social media is saying, whatever religion saying, whatever whatever cultural thing is saying.
And so this abiding in the truth and this aha moment I'll say. And so we're all on our journey of these personal aha moments. So if there's things I've said in the past or you've heard on the show in the past you're not quite sure about, I'm confident Holy Spirit leads us to all truth. I'm confident God will just show you and continue to show us. So this is a journey corporately. We're all on together and we're sharing these stories on this show to encourage you.
And because we've been so encouraged in our own personal lives, many people at Veritas true peace and joy attending us when we abide in the truth.
And Ms. Ashley has been a, was a patient. She's been on the show before, actually.
Her and Eric, her husband, were on the show some years ago.
And so part of her story she has shared. She may review some of that too. And y' all can go back and find her on the podcast page on the website. They're searchable testimonies. You can go find Ashley's testimony.
We'll hear more today. But these testimonies are big, guys. So Ashley, thank you. I know it's.
You don't really have anything, just prepared remarks, which is good. You're going to let the Holy Spirit lead. So I'll just maybe start with asking you just to share from your heart as much of your journey into Veritas, even though you covered that some before.
But just speak to those people out there, especially new listeners, especially those that are sick, those that are seeking some disease, fix, cure, treatment, whatever, or they're scared of a sickness, scared of dying.
You know, fear is, is in the mix.
Just speak to that person who's looking for hope because that's where you came in. I know your story and that's where you came in searching. But I'm just welcome to the show. Thank you for being with us and just share your testimony as much as you want to.
[00:04:35] Speaker B: Thank you, Dr. Ben. Yes, it is a little nerve wracking, especially the podcast before was recorded just audio and this is video and audio. So it's a little bit more nerve wracking. But it was just on my heart to share because I do understand the patients that come to us.
I understand being sick because I was sick. And so I just, my heart is always to just walk with anyone who's going through that and really just I want to help them.
Maybe not spend as much time, I kind of say walking in the wilderness is what I felt like I was doing for a little while.
And so I really just want to help people, not spend so much time there. And, yeah, my story just a little bit. For anyone who hasn't heard the podcast or doesn't know my story, I heard Dr. Ben speaking in front of the Texas State Legislature during COVID And when I heard him speak, I knew it was truth. It just resonated within my spirit.
And I started listening to the podcast and I would reach out and I would say thank you for this podcast or ask him a question or so, you know, I had emailed him back and forth.
And In March of 2022, I was listening to the podcast and heard Alyssa Perez, and she was sharing her testimony of, I believe it was stage four ovarian cancer that she had.
And she was sharing her journey of doing kind of an integrative approach.
Then In June of 2022, I was diagnosed with breast cancer. So I knew automatically I was going to reach out to you, Dr. Ben, and get your opinion on resources and where to go.
And so that was kind of my start with Veritas.
And then, you know, I. I came to meet you. You gave me Angie's email address and told me to reach out to her because of the fear that I was in. And I didn't do that for about eight months. I just felt like I, you know, where I was at, there was so much fear. And I just felt like, okay, I have to do what these doctors are telling me to do. So that's what I did.
Um, and then at the end of that, I was doing some integrative treatments. I was doing conventional treatments. Um, but at the end of that journey, I still had absolutely no peace.
And I had a lot of protocols. I had a lot of things that I was doing to stay healthy. So I was doing IV vitamin C, I was doing mistletoe injections, I was doing the sauna. I was doing keto diet, you know, 20 plus supplements. Just a whole lot of things. And it was exhausting. And I just had the thought, how am I ever going to keep up with my healing? And I just heard it in my spirit. Stop seeking all the things and seek the one who can truly heal. And so that's when I reached out to Angie and she just.
Just poured truth into me about healing and that Jesus is still the healer today, just like he was when he was walking on the earth.
And so I. I found so much freedom in that just knowing. And I went back and I read the Gospels and I started listening to different healing pastors that we all talk about on the show, you know, Andrew Wommack and Curry Blake and just really started digging in there. But then looking at the Gospels again through a different lens and seeing that Jesus healed them all. He had compassion and he healed them all.
But I still felt stuck for a long time. And I think, and this is what's on my heart is that I.
It was.
I wasn't renewing my mind. I wasn't changing the way I was thinking. And so I knew the truth. I knew that healing was for me. I knew God's will was. Was healing for all of us.
But I was still thinking the same way that I always thought.
So my journey was really learning how to tear down those strongholds. I had to change the way I was thinking. I knew the truth, but I kept going back to that same way of thinking.
And Dr. Jim Richards, he's talked about those neuropathways and he said that they're visual. And so your thoughts just automatically go that certain way. And I think that is why we're told, why the Bible tells us to take every thought captive to the obedience of Christ, because it will just automatically go the same way that it has always gone. And that's where I was. And I was stuck.
So I knew the truth, I saw it, but I was stuck in the way that I was thinking my brain, just because so long.
I mean, I had fear Since I was 11 and it was around my health. And so my thoughts just automatically went that way. And so I had to really learn to evaluate my thoughts. And then when I knew, okay, well, this thought is leading to fear. It's chaos, it's confusion, it's not coming from God. And so I would. I started learning to take it captive and I would just replace it. And I think that's that tearing down of the strongholds, really removing those lies, those old ways of thinking, tearing them down and replacing them with the truth of God's word.
And so that was huge in my journey.
But also the Revelation and Jim Richards, Chris Blackaby, they're both great teachers on this. Like Christ in you, that if you can understand that, really understand and meditate and renew your mind to the fact that we have the same spirit living in us that raised Christ from the dead. And scripture says that that spirit, his spirit is quickening our mortal body. It is constantly making our body al.
And it's just like when you talk about everything that regenerates. You know, you've gone through that list so many times with, you know, our rods and cones and our eyes and Our liver cells and all of these cells that are constantly regenerating.
That's what I. That's what the Holy Spirit is doing. His spirit is constantly regenerating and quickening our mortal body.
But I think if our thoughts are always going to the same place, it's almost like we just are stopping that power from just naturally flowing. It's that abiding that you were talking about, you know, when we get into not thinking on the right things, in my opinion, from my own journey, we're pretty much stopping that power because we're, you know, either thinking about fearful things or thinking just on the wrong things.
And so it was really, for me, just the journey of renewing my mind. And that's what I felt like I needed to share today. Just really renewing your mind to the fact that God's never going to leave us. He's never going to forsake us.
He is there with us every single day. And so no matter if we're doing things right or we're doing things wrong, he's never going to leave us. He's not looking down at us, saying, when are you going to get it right? When are you going to get this revelation? He. He's not doing that. And so really just changing our mind from that mentality to just really accepting the fact that he's always there trying to.
Trying to heal us, trying to guide us, you know, and we can get stuck when we think that we're not doing things the right way, you know, not doing things the Christian way. And so I think it's just really a matter of really changing the way that we think.
And so that was really what was heavy on my heart to share. Um, I, like I said, I don't, I don't love being, you know, kind of feeling like I'm. I'm on the spotlight, so.
But it just, I just felt like God wanted me to share that, so.
[00:13:02] Speaker A: Well, that's awesome. Thank you for sharing that. I know there's so many people that'll be impacted by just the words you just shared. Um, one thing that kind of stuck out to me, this. Re taking captive thoughts, renewing your mind in the word repentance, of changing the way we think. We've got to, I mean, used to think just turn and go the opposite way, which sort of. That's kind of it. But even more, when you look at that Greek word, it's this willingness to go beyond, go past how our old thinking.
Just this really. I think Jim says it. The willingness to agree with God, when something comes up in our thinking that's not in agreement. And we tend to use life circumstances, life experiences, to filter what the truth is.
Like, if the word seems to say this thing right here real clearly, but then we go automatically to our life or others will. That can't be true, because Ms. Smith, Ms. Jones, Mr. Whoever, myself in my life, it doesn't look like that.
So that word, that's pretty plain and simple right here can't be true. I must be misreading that. Or somehow. And then we tend to build doctrines and opinions to make God's word fit what our life looks like, sorta. I mean, that can sound kind of harsh, but, I mean, I see it all the time in my life and in others.
So the willingness to change our mind and agree with God is what you've kind of just described.
But then you also mentioned imagine, you know, our thoughts and imagination and how that impacts.
And maybe. Angie, I know you. You love that subject of imagination. We've had Carrie Kirkwood. Y' all can go find him on the podcast page. Guys, Carrie Kirkwood's a pastor in Tyler, Texas, at Trinity.
Um, he wrote a book. I think it's called the Power of Imagination. Andrew Wommack has a book on imagination, and I interviewed him too, on that topic.
But just. Angie, do you have any comments on anything that Ashley just shared, but with thoughts and imagination and your experience with other clients too, kind of the common themes that you see in their thinking and just comments on that?
[00:15:17] Speaker C: Yeah, really? I would start with, you know, what Ashley said about fear and fear, guilt, shame, any type of negative emotion like that, it doesn't just come out of nowhere usually. It's been going on for a long time. And, you know, that's where identity comes in and is so important because Ashley's false identity, a lie that she believed at a very early age, was that she was dying.
So, of course her belief about herself was causing that fear. So we can have wrong beliefs about God or ourselves that will cause fear, you know, if we think God's left us, or he's not for us, or he's not going to help us.
I thought that God was hard to please, so I kind of rebelled and ran away from God. And so, you know, looking at the emotions first and realizing there is a root to that. So actions, attitudes, and behaviors are just fruit, and they're all coming from some type of root. And so Matthew 15:13, I think, is the one that says, any tree that's been planted in you, that's not of him. He will uproot it.
So I think that's really step one, making sure we're believing rightly about God and about ourselves.
And then, you know, we don't have to fear. He's not given us a spirit of fear. He's given us a spirit of power and love and a sound mind.
And I do love the subject of imagination. And I feel like in my own life, you know, the fact that I was believing and speaking negatively and fearing something greatly in my life at one time happened to me.
And God really showed me how fear works, just like faith.
And so it's a very powerful thing. And it's not working for your benefit, but it's definitely working because it's a law, faith is a law.
And, and fear works the same way. That's how the enemy tries to come and steal, kill and destroy. He's going to introduce a thought first of all, to get you to believe a wrong thing.
And so kind of working backwards, knowing that I was fearing I was speaking negatively, what I was saying came upon me. I learned to switch that around and start to agree with God and say the same thing as God. And I just made a determination, kind of a vow that I'm only going to speak what God says about himself and about myself. I'm going to speak the truth that God is for me. He's with me. I'm more than a conqueror. I'm an overcomer. I just started to speak the word and more importantly, believe it in my heart. So it's not just what I speak, it's what I believe and then speak. So I started to. I chose to believe the word, to believe what I was hearing, that God is good. God will speak to us. It's the thief who comes to steal, kill and destroy. Those were new thoughts for me. I did not grow up being taught about the Holy Spirit or that there was an enemy or, or any of those things. So I chose to believe it and to speak in agreement with that.
And over the next couple of months, I started to have miracles. I had a really big miracle and then I had. I had about three miracles in a row that just really changed my life forever. And I. I could never go back from that. I. I knew that God was a supernatural miracle working God. I knew that he would speak. You know, I experienced it all for myself.
[00:18:36] Speaker A: So.
[00:18:37] Speaker C: Because it's not just what we know in our head, it's what we know in our heart, which means it's what we experience. Because you can know something in your Head.
But if you're not experiencing it, you don't really know it. It's just a theory. And so when you know it intimately, the way Adam knew Eve, you know it in your heart, you experience it. You hear the Holy Spirit, you see him walk you into something miraculous that you've prayed and believed for.
Well, now I know it. Now I can never go back and not know that he is supernatural or that he is with me. And for me, and, you know, our faith is really just to help us come into agreement and align with God so we can appropriate what he's already done. I used to think my faith was. I had to use my faith and, you know, to try and get what I wanted or get God to do something.
And I learned that that was really back backwards. He's. He's already done everything he needed to do. He's given us all things that pertain to life and godliness.
But my faith helps me to just believe a word. That's really our only job in the kingdom is just to believe a word.
That's how we got saved. And that's really how we receive everything else from God. And how we walk in the fullness of the stature of Christ, in mature is just by believing a word and following the Holy Spirit.
So it's not principles. It's not. You know, there were certain things I did, and I used to think, oh, I have to do these certain things to get a miracle. And that's also not right. It's the relationship with the Holy Spirit and how he speaks to us and he guides us into the truth that makes us free.
He will walk you into your own promised land, but we can limit him. Just like the Israelites limited the Holy One of Israel.
And they said, no, we can't go in because we're grasshoppers. So we can think something wrong about ourselves that is greatly limiting what we're receiving in our own lives. So all those things that really changed my life and just continue to get more free, that's how it should be if you follow the Holy Spirit to just gain more freedom, to really get to that place where you're just resting, you just be. You know. When the disciples asked Jesus, how do we do the works of God? And he said, your work is to believe.
So it's so much more simple than what a lot of people make it. It is simple. Believe a word, trust your father. You know, when we get saved, just like the Israelites coming out of Egypt, coming out of the world, they had to go through the Wilderness. They had to learn to trust God. They had to learn to believe a word that he would provide, he would protect, he would be their Father and never leave them. And so we have that same choice today, to believe and to trust and to follow.
And, you know, stress and all those things like fear, stress, anxiety, they make you sick.
They just do. And those are consequences of, you know, things that we're allowing in our life. You know, he doesn't lead us into stress.
I made the comment a few years ago when my parents were sick and I was running to all the hospitals that I was tired and stressed. And the Holy Spirit gently gave me the thought, then you weren't following me.
And that was kind of my first realization that we're not supposed to have stress. He doesn't lead us into stress.
You know, his yoke is easy. His burden is light.
So if my life is not easy and light, where am I coming unyoked?
And so I really just had to learn to slow down, say no to some things or not right now, or let me pray about it, to get to that place where I only do what I see my Father do, and I only say what I hear my Father say.
And he will lead me, just like Psalm 23, beside still waters. And I have had peace in the midst of really hard things.
So a lot of times it's just leaning into him, receiving that peace, asking him how to respond. What do I need to know in this situation?
But I know it's possible he was sleeping in the back of the boat in the middle of a storm. And I've experienced that. We all can.
But it depends on how I view things, how I view the Father, how I view myself.
If I think I'm on my own, if I think I have to fix it, work hard. All of those thoughts bring stress.
So.
[00:23:21] Speaker A: Yeah, that's so amen. And amen, so good.
And when you said easy, I don't want people mistranslate that word easy, as in Angie's saying, life will just be. Everything's hunky dory, perfect, My bank account's overflowing. I have a brand new car. I have, like, easy life.
No, there's persecution that we're actually guaranteed.
And it's more of there's this supernatural, hard to put into words even. But you just said it, Jesus in the back of the boat. There's going to be some storms, some trials, persecutions.
But the ability to abide and not let fear come in about, oh, no, what about tomorrow?
And the more and more you're secure in who you are and who God is. You can walk through these things that don't seem easy necessarily, but it can be easy, which can sound sort of contradictory, but it's really this dying to sit. What I have found. If I've had a stressful moment or day or circumstance, you know, number one, I'd try to recognize heavy yoke. Not easy. What's going on? Just the word stress. If I'm even thinking it or saying it, like my day or I'm in, it's automatic.
Wait a minute, what am I believing? What am I thinking? Was there sowing and reaping coming into play? Did I make a decision based off a false identity of a man pleaser or provision? I got to work for this money. So, so we can pay these bills or what was my heart off that led to these circuit or whatever. I'm going to examine that differently. Knowing Jesus bought and paid for life and life more abundant with that translation being the quality of life that the giver of it possesses. If Jesus paid for me to have the quality of life of God, then there's something I'm not believing or clearly or truthfully. Right. Rightly aligned in my thinking.
So there's just so much here that. And guys, it's. You just heard from Angie. I mean, could you imagine sitting and talking with Angie every single week and talking through your burdens and your heavy yoke and Angie's not your savior, but it's. It's Christ in her. It's the truth in her. And I'm not putting Angie on a pedestal. And she. I've watched Angie grow as I've watched Ashley grow and they've watched me grow. It's been this community, the body of Christ in Veritas over these, this last decade of just seeing this growth. And I can honestly 100 say as we continue to die, more and more and more to our own self and our false beliefs and our old ways. And there's a lot of old ways influenced by culture, religion, circum, all kinds of stuff. But ultimately the enemy, the father of all lies, the accuser, the adversary, a liar. But as we overcome these things in our heart, beliefs, it's Christ.
I mean I just saw Christ and Angie for that last 10 minutes of her talking. That's what it is. So this isn't about Angie or Ashley or Dr. Ben. It's Christ in us. And that's probably been the biggest, most recent.
It's just so hard to explain. I hope the audience is hearing this I mean, this is why Ashley said I want to come on the show.
It's like, whoa, no, he's really in us.
Like, we've heard that verse. But then I look at my life, I look at these stresses, I look at. And so that can't be exactly what that's saying. And that's what Chris Blackabee. If y' all didn't hear Chris Blackaby, guys, you can go back and listen to that interview. But. Okay, so let's.
I'm gonna bring y' all back in. Quit talking. But body, soul, spirit, for me, huge. I'm so intellectual. Black and white, left brain. And Andrew Wommack's book, Spirit, Soul, Body, and there's other books. Watchman Knee has one. There's lots of great teachings on this. Randy Winfrey does a great teaching. I'm hoping to get him on the show.
Local pastor here, retired pastor. But understanding what the soul is and what the spirit is, of course, the body. The body, the cells, the. The brain, the heart, all the flesh, physical.
But so much of what Angie's talking about, Ashley's talking about, I talk about, that's that we have access to in Christ, in us. That's in spirit, man. But then there's this soul Ashley mentioned, renewing of the mind. We had the mind of Christ in our spirit, but in the soul, we have this mind. Our own intellect, our own way of thinking, influenced by the world, the enemy, and all traditions of man and religion, everything.
That's the renewal process over there. So really getting to read scripture through that filter of. Whoa, is that scripture talking about what I have in my spirit, man? Jesus bought and paid for all this different stuff or. No, that's talking about the soul.
So that's a huge, to me, foundational piece. Contextually, when you're reading scripture to understand what born again spirit versus soul. I don't know if it was that impactful for y', all, too, but either one of y', all, if you want to comment on that piece or anything else I've just said. But Angie, maybe you go. Or actually, I don't. Whoever wants to go first. But what do y' all think on that piece and talking with other clients, Angie, on, you know, just how important is that piece to understand.
[00:28:43] Speaker B: Well, I was just going to say what, you know, kind of.
I. The soul is kind of what I feel in my own journey is the gatekeeper. What is allowing, what's going to come through the spirit.
So what we have in the Spirit is there, but our soul can, in essence, in my own journey keep you from experiencing the gifts that were given in the spirit because of the way that you're thinking, the way that you're believing.
What are you believing? Are you believing that Jesus is still the healer today?
Because if you aren't, then you're. You're pretty much closing yourself off because you're just saying, well, that's not possible.
He healed when the disciples were around, but then that was done with when the disciples died. And so I feel like the soul is the gatekeeper. What is it allowing through? And so when we are renewing our mind and agreeing with what God says, then we are opening ourselves up to what is already done in the Spirit. And that's just been with my own journey and it. In, you know, the. The just our faith. You know, so much pressure is put on faith. And scripture says we were all given the measure of faith. So the faith that I have is the faith that you have is the faith that Angie has. But it's. To what degree are we renewing our mind?
Are we renewing our mind to a different way of thinking and believing?
That's really what is kind of allows us to walk in those gifts.
And Jesus said, you know, the woman with the issue of blood, that is one of my favorite stories. It is a story that I clung to through my journey because she was sick. She went to all the doctors, and she was not any better.
And she just believed that Jesus was who he said he was.
She believed enough that she was pretty much crawling on the ground just to touch the hem of his garment. If I touch the hem of his garment, I will be healed.
And when she did that, Jesus felt the power go out of him. He turned around and he didn't say, oh, good job. You made it to me. I have healed you. He said, your faith has made you well.
She believed he was who he said she. He was, and that's all that we have to do.
We. We put so much pressure on ourselves to do all these things. When it just comes down to, like Angie said, it's so simple.
It's just believing a word.
And so I think that is, again, heavy on my heart. Just because it can. It can get so heavy and burdensome, and it's not supposed to be that way.
Believe, believe.
And that's it.
[00:31:41] Speaker C: Yeah, I want to talk about two different things. One is mixing faith with what you hear.
The other one, I want to talk about the prodigal son and the other brother.
So mixing faith with what you hear, the common theme in all These testimonies and in my own life is when I heard something new. When Ashley heard something new. Heather said recently she came into the phone call with Nicole expecting to hear something that was going to make the difference. She came into it with that faith and expectation. So when you hear something, you can mix faith with what you hear and think that sounds true, you know, and make a choice to believe it, or you can reject it, like you said, and say that's not possible.
And so how we hear is very important. If you. If you don't think something is true that you're hearing, you can just ask the Holy Spirit. Show me the truth about this.
Show me the truth about anything that I'm having to struggle with. Help my unbelief, all those things. He wants to show you the truth. He's the spir spirit of truth.
And so that is really key, just not to shut it down just because you hear something new. Because everything I was taught growing up wasn't really the full truth. I learned all the Bible stories, but the rest was just rules and regulations. And I felt like I could never measure up to, you know, this high expectation, which wasn't true. So that's one thing. The other thing is the story of the prodigal son and the older brother.
So the prodigal son, well, that was me. I ran away from God. But then I came to my senses, and I came back to God.
Not in my own merit, just saying, I just want to live for you. Even if I don't get what I want, I just want your will for my life. That was the first time I'd ever said that because I was afraid he would send me to Africa or make me do something I hated.
God doesn't do that. His will is better for you than anything you could think of, which I discovered.
So I just came to him and I had that encounter with his love.
Just like the prodigal, that love, that welcome, you know, he put the ring on, which signified his authority. He put the robe on him, which was his righteousness. Just, you're part of the family. Welcome back.
The other son was just there trying to work hard, trying to qualify himself, to get something from the father that he didn't think he deserved or he was afraid to ask. I'm not sure which.
So neither of them were partaking of what belonged to them.
But the father said, all that I have is yours.
You know, it wasn't the father's fault. A lot of times we blame the father for something we're not Getting or partaking of or seeing in our own lives. But it isn't his fault.
It was their wrong view of the Father, maybe themselves, that was keeping them from receiving all that belonged to them.
Enjoying the Father's house, all the food that was in the Father's house, the provision, the plan for the day, you know, all those things.
And so it's just an example of how, you know Jesus has already died and left the inheritance. You know, the last will and testament goes into effect when the person dies. He's already left the inheritance and we can receive it. Can we fall short and not receive? Sure, salvation was made available for all. But are there some people who won't receive it?
Yes, because it doesn't just fall on people.
It's not just automatic, it's been made available.
Same thing with peace. He's left us his peace that passes all understanding. It's his will for me to walk in peace. But are many people not walking in peace?
Yes, because there again it's not just going to fall on you.
They're not automatic. There's certain things we have to agree with God and say the same thing, which is how we got saved. We heard a word, we believed. And the Bible says confession is made unto salvation. That word confession just means, it's homologio. It means to say the same thing as God, to agree with him about who he said Jesus is and we received the salvation.
So we have to decide and choose to agree with him and say the same thing as him about every subject, about him, who he is, who we are, and then our lives will start to change. My life went a complete 180 from the direction it was going. I felt like it was black and white before and then it just became color.
And just to live as a child that is loved, that is so crucial, you know, his love casts out fear.
But if you don't know you're loved and protected and you feel like an orphan and you're going into self preservation mode, you know, I lived a lot of my life that way too.
My false identity was afraid because I was just so sheltered. I was afraid of everything outside my home.
So I had to learn to what I thought, take care of myself.
That self preservation that made me become my own God and it doesn't work very well. You can't do it. You're constantly in the spider flight.
So to make that switch, like I'm a loved daughter of God, all that the Father has is mine. He's protecting me, he's for me. He's providing for me. He's my healer, not a bottle of supplements. I mean, it just makes sense and I just choose to believe it.
And I see him as a good father.
I didn't get there overnight. You know, like I said, I thought he was easy to disappoint. He's not ever disappointed. He's not a moving target.
So I learned, okay. He's always happy with me. He's always smiling at me. Like Chris teaches about the still faced God. If you think he's just still faced or stern, you're not going to be as peaceful.
And I just, you know, I learned the truth about myself, my own true identity.
Quit living as a person afraid or inferior or any of those other lies. A person could think they're poor and end up a workaholic. You know, those behaviors we develop out of a wrong belief about ourself lead to sickness. They're always working to steal, kill and destroy because you're going to be on a hamster wheel trying to either cover up afraid or, or whatever it is to survive.
We were made to thrive, not survive. And yes, there is persecution. I've had plenty of people come against me because I believe God's good.
And plus you have to die to yourself. If you want the exchange, you want his life, you've got to lay down your life.
It's not my life. I follow him now. He's my Lord.
And so sometimes you, you do things that weren't on your schedule. You're following the Holy Spirit.
And I have to trust in an invisible God. I have to believe in an invisible God that he is true, his word is true and he loves me.
It's not easy.
It's simple.
But it would be a lot easier if we would just choose to believe.
So many of us were just taught wrong.
We were not taught these things growing up. I wasn't.
You know, I'm thankful for that. I choose to look back and remember the good. We can always look back and remember the good and. And not be defined for what we missed out on. But I know now and that's the main thing. Wherever you are, God will meet you right there. And the rest of your life can be completely different.
And so.
[00:39:30] Speaker A: Amen.
Hey everybody. Quick break from the show. I've got something really special to share with you. I'm so excited to introduce you're the cure, a self paced nine module online video program we've been prayerfully and passionately building here at Veritas. And this isn't just another wellness program. It's a movement of truth, transformation and hope. And I truly believe it has the power to change your life. It's designed to help you uncover the root causes of what you're facing and walk in true healing. I'll be guiding you along with other members of the Veritas team as we return to God's original design for your health. Through simple, powerful tools focused on nutrition, hydration, movement and peace, you'll gain clarity, confidence, confidence and lasting transformation. The journey is yours to take, because the truth is, you are the cure. Head over to veritas wellnessmember.com to get access today. Become a Veritas Wellness member now and get a hundred dollars off the program.
Guys, I'm just so excited about this. After 20 years of practicing medicine, it's boiled down into this. This is the core of what you need to truly be well. So we'll see you in the program.
That kind of reminded me of a couple verses in proverbs, like 4:20-23ish paraphrasing basically, but my son, don't let my word depart from you, depart from your ears, your eyes, your heart.
They are healing to all your flesh.
And then in one of John's books on may you prosper and be in good health as your soul prospers. There's such a connection with the Word, the truth, and in the soul in particular. Like Ashley was saying, I mean, we immediately get information through our five carnal senses and the mindset on that leads to death. But if we let our eyes and ears and nose in which we can touch, taste, feel and see and all that information and data come through our intellect and evoke our emotion.
And like, you know, Ashley's saying, that's a gatekeeper kind of. But if we stop right there and just let our own thinking, our own intellect and our soul and our own emotion and all the life experience define what the truth of this situation in my life right now is, then still kill, destroy that word. We've got to abide. We've got to have that word in our heart, the. The truth in our heart. And not just, you know, you can't read the Bible just with the goggles of let me learn theology and information. Information doesn't lead to transformation. There's some verse talks about Jesus talking to the Pharisees. You search the whole scripture looking for eternal life. You think you'll find eternal life in that scripture. And then he says, I'm eternal life and you got to know me that knowing Angie was talking about earlier, there's this knowing. I mean that woman caught in the very act of adultery. Moses laws are very clear stoned to death. And they thought they had Jesus basically trapped. Because this is exactly what the scriptures say we have have to do follow this law. What do you say?
And Jesus comes with a different point of view and it gets us out of this either or right and wrong tree of knowledge of good and evil.
The way I just had someone ask me the other day how would you define the kingdom if someone asked you And I mean it's hard to and it seemed like they were asking it from a point of they want a Western culture answer. Give me the one or two sentence kind of academic, whatever.
And all my first thought that came to me was the way.
The way there is the way that you see, interpret and there and then believe and therefore act out of and it's Jesus is the way. How would Jesus see this woman? How would Jesus see this situation?
How would he interpret and how would he therefore speak and act in that situation?
[00:43:45] Speaker C: There is because his life is our perfect theology.
[00:43:49] Speaker A: Amen. That is it. And it's what he did. He was the model.
He wasn't so focused on all the individual circumstance. It was. He was focused on his father. And he'd go off and commune and and listen and I think Angie said earlier only do what he sees his father doing and say what he sees his or say what he hears his father saying. It's that relational thing.
It's not a formula. It's not a oh, Angie said this in this circumstance. So if I'll memorize that answer and apply it when that circumstance no it's a uniqueness and that's the relational piece of this whole thing. But the kingdom is his way. It's what Jamie Winship talks about the kingdom versus Empire.
And guys, this false identity you've heard on both Ashley and Angie talk about it. Go back and you listen. Jamie Winship's false few interviews or Ray Sturdivant. I interviewed him.
His book Beating the Devil with his own Stick. But these core like a single major false belief, false lie or a lie that you believed usually when you're little that kind of really is at the core of so much of our believing.
Let's see here. We've got a little. We got about 15, 17 minutes.
Angie.
I mean either one of y' all feel free to jump in if any of that evoked anything in y'. All. But I don't know if you feel like sharing more your or if we have time to share more of your specifics of some of your story from, like, the girls in Lebanon, all that. If you want to get into that or not, it's fine.
[00:45:23] Speaker C: I mean, I can tell the two minute version of that just real quick. Because I was afraid to go to college. I was afraid to take the SATs. I wanted to just get. Get married. And I wanted to get married and have babies. So I got married. I really wanted someone to take care of me. So I married a Lebanese guy because I knew nothing about Lebanon at that time. It was 1984.
So he. He just seemed like me. He was an exchange student, very polite.
So I married him nine years later. I had three daughters by the time I was 24.
And we ended up divorcing. And he kidnapped my children and took them to Beirut, Lebanon.
So I spent a lot of years angry at God, thinking he was punishing me, just all kinds of wrong things. Until I was invited to a church teaching a series called all things are Possible.
And that's when I learned the devil comes to steal, kill and destroy, that God is good and he's for me. And the light bulb came on and he was teaching about faith and how when you're believing for something, you know, you have it kind of like Abraham, you know, you can tell you're in faith because your emotions match. You know, you're at rest. You just know, and you're at rest, you're not irritated or frustrated or thinking, why is this taking so long?
So I prayed to believe and believed I received my girls back and just. I knew that it was God's will to bring my kids back. For kids to be with their mother.
Faith begins where the will of God is known. So I could stand on that.
And I got my kids back. And it was just a huge miracle out of a Hezbollah village. And I actually went over and fought him in his own court and won. I had four judges that ruled in my favor and won my case and came home with my girls. So that was kind of the beginning of thinking things are not quite what I thought they were when it comes to religion or, you know, just my thoughts about God. So that kind of started and really what happened when I gave my life to the Lord, I prayed, I want to live for you, even if it means I don't get my kids back.
And I just knew things were going to change.
And God started to invade my story. I learned he did not do that to me, but he invaded my story, started to work everything out for good, that the enemy really meant to try and Kill me. And there was a time I didn't really want to be alive.
Um, but press through that and continue to have some other miracles happen.
Um. So, yeah, that's kind of the long story short.
Nothing happens, though, without the Holy Spirit, without a seed. You know, a lot of people think miracles are random. I used to think God could do anything, but he wouldn't do anything for me. Um, but miracles are not so much random as their, you know, conceived. You know, you hear the Word, it becomes a seed.
Your heart is a garden. Your heart will produce what's sown into your heart. As a man thinks in his heart, so he is. And so when you hear the Word, it becomes like a seed in your garden.
And the earth brings forth of herself your heart produces. Our beliefs come from our hearts. We all live out of what our hearts believe.
So that was really key, you know, I started to understand, of course, the enemy's trying to sow thorns into your heart and wrong beliefs to choke out the word.
When you hear the word on, you know, anything regarding God being a provider or healer or anything, the. The persecution comes for the Word's sake. The enemy will try to bring persecution to choke out that word.
But I just continued to stand on that, even when I was in the middle of that battle and it looked like it wasn't working out. You know, my first court date, there was a judge shot and killed. And, you know, I just knew that delay is not denial. I'm just going to stand.
Before I ever went over there, God told me to get a bigger house.
I was in my quiet time one morning, and I had the thought that I needed a bigger house if I believed my kids were coming back. And I thought, do I really want a bigger house? And I knew I didn't. I didn't want a bigger payment.
Jack and I had just talked about that and decided against it.
And so it was really odd for me to go to him again and say, I feel like we need to get a bigger house.
And he said, okay, well, let's do what we need to do. So I knew it was God and I could stand on that word the whole time. When it looked like it wasn't working, it was difficult.
There were a lot of things that happened in that. In that journey that lasted about two and a half months before they said, okay, you can go.
So just learning to stand on the truth. The. The Word will not fail. It's incorruptible seed.
It has the power within itself to produce itself.
It's supernatural. So Just choose to believe. If you read something and you have to take the whole word together, you know, the word interprets itself self.
So anyway, that was trying to make it short.
[00:50:43] Speaker A: No, that was great. Thank you.
I. I want to give a little plug. Andrew Womack's got a. It's called the Living Commentary. It's the whole word. It's the Bible and it's his 50 years of common of his study of that word. But the reason I really love it is what you just said, Angie. Word, interpreting the word. I mean, he'll have some commentary on. It's just about every verse in the Bible, but he'll cross reference, you know, two, three, four different verses and he'll. He'll give examples of different translations. Even like amplified says this. King James says this. This is in italics in the King James, which means it's not in the original Greek text.
So it has a lot of that in there.
But that cross referencing to other scriptures. And so just for those that are learning and needing another resource, that's a great one. Andrew Wommack's Living Commentary, really for both y'.
[00:51:39] Speaker C: All.
[00:51:39] Speaker A: May, Ashley, we can start with you, but we just have like seven, eight minutes left.
But I mean, you're one of our navigators, so maybe, you know, a word of encouragement to those who are listening. Maybe they're in the wellness program or maybe they're not. But thinking about that or thinking of a friend who might. Could benefit, just kind of. What. What would be the encouragement or the advice you would give? I mean, like I just mentioned Regina and testimony on hypertension and Roy and you know, I think they just basically changed their diet is what they said in the testimony. And there is that piece. You know, we're talking deep spiritual things here and how our thoughts and beliefs impact ourselves and all that, which is totally true, but that's pretty deep. And this may be totally new to some people, but then we just said, you know, you can change your diet and your blood pressure gets normal.
It's. It's all the above. I mean, it's. And. But it's a heart thing. And I think that's where you really start off the show explaining.
And I don't want to put words in your mouth, but, you know, people can start with the diet, they can change their physical to a degree. Um, and we see that all the time. Amazing things happen. Blood work gets better, symptoms get better. Pharma, the need for pharmaceuticals can go away.
But just kind of speak to that person that might be coming into the program. Or thinking about it. What have you experienced with clients? Have you as you have navigated them and being led by the Holy Spirit yourself and that navigation of each client, but just kind of speak to that a little bit on expectations if they were to come contact you and visit with you?
[00:53:20] Speaker B: Well, I always, I know, I know what it is like to have symptoms in your body. So I know that feeling. Even when you're believing a word and you're. You see it in God's word and you're believing that when you have symptoms in your body, sometimes that can be very loud in your mind. And so I always try to guide people that it's okay to do some symptom management. If you need to do that, that's fine. Like you always say, there's no condemnation in that.
But I always encourage people start with what we call the peace pillar. And it, it really is just seeking the kingdom. Seek the kingdom first and all these things will be given unto you. And so I always just encourage people start there. And then if you need to do some stewardship things, some symptom management, that's fine. But. But don't allow that. Don't allow it to be flipped because we can seek all of those things and then that becomes our God, it becomes our idol. Not intentionally, but just because of the time it takes. I was there, I was doing all of the protocols and it was so time consuming.
And it can be where that just becomes above God. Like I said, not intentionally.
So just making sure. Okay, I'm seeing seeking the kingdom first. I'm seeking the Holy Spirit. I'm asking him, what do I need to do about this issue in my body? And then if something, you know, I always tell people, just be aware of how he's speaking to you.
I was trying to get off my thyroid medication after going through treatment and I talked to you about how to wean off. But I didn't have peace about it at that point. But I just kept asking the Holy Spirit and when I had peace about it, that's when I started to wean off.
So I always just encourage people, if, if you need to do symptom management, that's fine. Stewarding your health is important. You know, stewarding through the other three pillars is very important.
But put, put, seek the kingdom first because it makes all of that a lot easier. Everything will just fall into line when you can really get the understanding. And I would encourage people to really just look up every verse you can on Christ in you and being one spirit with God. Really look at those scriptures and believe them.
Because when we can really believe the fact that Christ is in us, he's never leaving, then our body is going to heal. It doesn't have a choice because Jesus wasn't sick, he's not sick now. You know, there's no sickness in him, so there should be no sickness in me.
So that's really my, that's really what I tell anyone that comes to me, whether it's a wellness consult or a lab or, you know, that's really in my opinion how to go about it. Because I was doing all the things and I had absolutely no peace. And that's when I came to Angie.
So really just seek the kingdom and everything else will just fall into line under that. It makes it so much easier.
It's a lot less exhausting that way.
Like I said, I do understand some symptom management in needing that, so, and.
[00:56:32] Speaker C: Not even management, but just taking care of what belongs to you. Just like you change the oil in your car, you're maintaining what already belongs to you.
And so, you know, I got rid of a lot of symptoms when I came to Veritas in 2014 by changing my diet. I got rid of hip pain, shoulder pain, plantar fasciitis, sinus stuff, migraines.
All of that went away. I was already pretty peaceful.
But there were things dietarily that I needed to change. You know, if someone's drinking sodas all day and they're a type 2 diabetic, well that's some self induced type stuff. Behaviors that can, you can change and you can see results as your sugar comes down.
So it's just maintaining stewarding our bodies, eating God foods, kind of living how he designed for us to live. He designed us to rest.
We need to sleep well, you know, watching the sunrise, going down with the sunset, not having blue light. All those things, you know, that we call stewardship or common sense or whatever have great benefit.
But it's not a work and a striving and a struggle.
You know, what if I lived in Africa and I didn't have access to a health food store on every corner?
I mean, so I think we, we just have to be led in each of those areas. I've had God talk to me about working out. You know, he spoke to me through that scripture, exercise profits a little.
When I was overdoing it, he said it kind of sternly, exercise profits a little.
So I knew like I'm overdoing it, you know.
And so there's just like when I used to do long distance cycling, that's overdoing it. Marathons, you know, all those types of things. So they all have value doing the natural things.
But the most important thing is going to be what you believe.
What you're believing is really going to be the driving thing that drives your behaviors that start to take away your peace.
Whether it be saying yes to everything or over performing, trying to gain approval from all these outside things.
Little by little, that's chipping away from my peace.
So I think we need to do all of it. But just knowing that I'm going to receive healing. So, you know, the Holy Spirit told me to share with people. It's not about what you're doing wrong, it's about what you can receive. As believers, everything in the kingdom is about receiving. We receive his wisdom to know what to do or how to steward, that he'll give us the grace in each of those areas and lead us so we can make these changes. None of it should be in our own strength.
[00:59:12] Speaker A: So, yeah, and Angie got the vision of a milk crate, I think it was a milk crate one at Angie, of people coming into our clinic, so burdened, so sick, tons of pharmaceuticals, all kinds of stuff.
And we basically help them set that thing down. Then we load them back up with the natural version of it, nutraceutical supplements, diets, all the things.
[00:59:34] Speaker C: We have, all these protocols and supplements, and we put our milk crate of stuff on top of the one they already brought in, which is their, you know, depression and symptoms, and they're walking out. We can hardly carry it versus taking that off of them.
So, yeah, it should, it should help them to get free, not feel burdened or, or super expensive.
That's not peaceful. If you tell me I have to spend 500 on supplements or, you know, I have to do XYZ or certain things perfectly for me to be well. I mean, I think it's just each of us have to be led in that area and, you know, do what we know we're not going to be condemned about. And, you know, sometimes the more, you know, if I know I'm eating sugar all day, I'm not going to be peaceful because I'm going to know that's probably not good.
[01:00:22] Speaker A: So it is a very unique moment by moment. Holy Spirit led. One time I actually wrote a prescription, a physical on a prescription pad and handed it to this lady, a patient. And the prescription was to go to Blue sky, which is a local hamburger joint, and order the cheeseburger and get some French fries and a Dr. Pepper.
I wrote that on a prescription pad and gave it to her.
But the circumstance around that was she had made this diet perfect, perfect, perfect diet, such a thing.
And it was actually causing a lot of turmoil and division with her marriage and with her children with her. Anyways, that was introducing the law makes.
[01:01:09] Speaker C: You aware of sin. If I introduce a diet and you're going to be thinking, how long do I have to stay on this?
[01:01:14] Speaker A: Yeah. Yeah.
Yep. Okay. So awesome. Thank you, ladies. I know this has been a powerful hour of encouragement and truth that's going to reach a lot of people, touch a lot of lives, give a lot of hope.
And that's what we're here for, guys, at Veritas, which means truth. And we're still on our journey of learning truth. And you may have heard some things here today that might have sounded like, wait a minute.
So I think, as Ashley, it says, seek the kingdom first. Holy Spirit's eager to reveal truth to you. God told David he wanted or not he wanted he was going to have one of David's descendants build a spiritual house of living stones and write his truth on their heart. And so Holy Spirit will do that. He will write the truth you need today in this moment in your journey. No matter if you're on your first step of the journey or way down that road, whatever you need today that will help bring peace where you can enter that Sabbath rest. As long as today is called today, be at rest. So that's a great barometer. Are you at rest? Is that yoke easy and light?
And if it's not, start talking to him, start asking, start seeking what you not see about God's character in nature clearly and believe about him or what do you believe that's not true about God and then yourself, what Angie was talking about, Jamie Winship talks about so much. So hope you all enjoyed the show today. Thank you ladies for being here. This will be on all the podcast platforms archived on our website. Guys, Veritas, WellnessMember Dot. You can learn more about all this. You can join, you can do one on one consults with Ashley, Angie, or any of our navigators.
They love, they love to walk with you and, and help the Holy Spirit set you free through Christ in them, pouring out truth and love out of compassion. So that's what we're here to do.
[01:03:03] Speaker C: Amen. Thanks for having us.
[01:03:05] Speaker A: You're welcome. Thank you all for being here. Thanks.
[01:03:07] Speaker B: Thank you, Dr. Ben. Thank you.
[01:03:09] Speaker A: Okay, everybody, we'll see you next week. I'm Dr. Ben Edwards. You're the cure.
