Pastor's Testimony

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   My name is Charlie Hale. I have always been a very active person. As a teenager and on into my 20's I was always in very good shape. I could play baseball, football or whatever for hours and barely even get tired. I have fought in several roughman tournaments. I have a high tolerence for pain. I would ride my bicycle everywhere, including a 100 mile ride for a festival we had here in Bristol. I was hardly ever sick other than sore throats. I was working in a furniture factory as a molder set up man,and first aid person. I had been there 9 yrs making $6.85/hr (a very dead end job). I had been a Christian for 12 yrs but most of it was in churches that didn't teach much about everyday living. I had less than 2 yrs of real growth at that time.
   In Dec 93, things were getting extremely stressful at work and I had been having sharp pains in the back of my neck. One day (somewhere around the 14th) I was at work and I started to feel dizzy. When I couldn't shake it off, I went to the restroom to wash my face in cold water thinking it would help. On my way back my vision blurred and my legs got weak. I stumbled toward a toolbox and set down on it. I could feel the right side of my body going numb (like when your leg goes to sleep). I felt like I was going to pass out. One of my coworkers went and got some people out of the office and they called my wife to come get me. She was there in less than 5 min. I thought I was having a stroke, that was the closest thing I could figure from my first aid training.
   A couple of the guys helped me in the car because my legs would not support me. We dropped off 2 of our kids at my parents house and proceeded to the hospital. I was sweating so bad it kept the windows on my side of the car fogged up. I was in a lot of pain but no one place in particular. When we got to the hospital and they checked my vitals, my body temp. was 94 and my heart rate was 40 (it was normally 60). They put me on oxygen and put a neck brace on me because of the pain in my neck. They did x-rays and a cat scan and found nothing. They said it would be the next evening before they could do any more tests. After several hours I had gotten a little strength back so I told them I was going home and would come back for the tests (much to their objection). This continued for 3 or 4 days going in for tests at 4:00pm each day. They found nothing and I kept having the attacks, each time getting worse. During one of these attacks the numbness switched to my left side (very strange). They did a blood-gas test on me and I didn't even feel it. The doctor I had been given, wanted to do an MRI, but it would be 5 days before they could. After a couple more days I got to hurting so bad I had to go back, I was going crazy in pain.
The doctor said from the test results I could have one of 5 things. One was Multiple Sclerosis, I dont remember what the others were. He said the MRI should tell us which one. That evening while I was lying in the bed worrying about which it might be, God spoke to me and said "It's MS". I panicked because all I knew about MS was that people with it were handicapped to the point of being bedridden or confined to wheelchairs. Then God added "but I'm not going to let you get bad enough to be in a wheelchair and I will heal you when the right person is affected." I had a great calming come over me after that.
   In a few days after all test results were in, the MRI showed about 2 dozen lesions on my brain and a large one at the base of my brainstem (right where I had been having the pain in my neck for weeks before). The doctor said the tentative diagnosis was MS, but he still did not know for sure. I knew what it was even if he wasn't sure. When I got out of the hospital , Icouldn't walk without help, couldn't sit up for more than a few min., couldn't dress myself, and it took a major effort to feed myself. Every time I moved I got dizzy and I felt like I had a bad case of the flu with that all over sick feeling. He set me up with a neurologist. Neither one knew much about MS the neurologist said he could put me on steroids which I refused because of the possible side affects. So he put me on the waiting list for beta furon and said that was all he could do for me. I continued to have several attacks a week so me and Becky (my wife) decided to find a doctor that knew something about MS. I saw several but none could do anything to help .One was a professor at the ETSU College of Medicine. I asked him if I could get into some physical therapy to strengthen my legs. He said it wouldn't help, I had a serious medical problem and would have to get used to it. This from a man that teaches others to be doctors (that is scary).
The only relief I got was playing nintendo. When I was having a super rough day I could start playing nintendo and within 1/2 hour I would start feeling better, my pain would ease and the flu like feeling would fade also. My theory is that it's the flashing patterns. On some of the games is a warning that says flashing patterns can cause seizures in people who are prone to them. It works the opposite for MS. I have got other people to try it and it works for them also. Anyway the doctors had told me to do as much as I could but when I started hurting to sit down and rest (same thing all these bedridden and wheelchair bound people I have heard about do). Being an athletic person , this went against all I had learned. I am a firm believer in no pain, no gain. I would go out to mow the yard and go until I hurt so bad I was on the verge of passing out, usually 10-15 min. Then I would lay down for about 1 1/2 hours and go do it again. Working like this I was gradually getting a little stamina built up. One day In Oct. while I was having an attack, I had a vision. I saw Satan, sitting in a chair, with his feet propped up. He was watching me and laughing and laughing. This made me boil with anger, and it was then I realised what I had to do. From that moment on it was no longer me vs the MS, it was me vs Satan. Now it was personal! Whenever I started having an attack I would rebuke Satan and start singing and praising God. Before long it would stop and I would be no worse than I was before the attack.
   In Sept. 94 I heard an actual MS doctor had moved in the area so I went to see him. He done another MRI and said it was definitely MS. He said he only used steroids as a last resort because of the long term effect. I was still having attacks on a regular basis but I still had not been approved for the betafuron, so he decided to treat the chronic fatigue. He put me on Prozac and after about 2 weeks I began to have more energy. After 4 weeks I was getting back in shape a little bit, and had started working for a temporary agency when I could.
   Many times I was asked why I didn't get prayed for to be healed. I would tell them that when it was time God would let me know. I told them that several years ago I had told God that I would go through anything if a soul would be saved by it. 9 out of 10 people I told thought I was crazy. I just feel certain that this is one of them times that somehow, someone is going to be saved by it. On Nov. 12 1994 we were having an alter service and the presence of the Lord was very strong. I had prayed for several people when the Lord spoke to me and said"I'ts time you have been sick long enough". I told the others what he said so they prayed for me.Immediately all the flu like feelings went away and I felt like I could knock down a brick wall. I never took another Prozac after that point.
   For the next year I had no more attacks and went to work full time. Then one day I had an attack and got real confused. I thought back on that night and realised what was said "you have been sick long enough". HE took away my flu like (sick) feeling but the cause was still there. I still have the attacks but they keep me on my toes. If I am feeling very tired and rundown , Satan will try to sneak one in on me so I have to be prepared.
   I lost my job when I got MS but now I hold down a 40 hr./week job making almost $11.00/hr., coach T-ball, and am always on the go. I still get tired a lot easier than I did before the MS hit. The entire left side of my body has that tingling numb feeling all the time, but after about 2 years it has gotten where I don't pay that much attention to it. I still have "attempted" attacks on a regular basis. I am doing so good that unless they are told , they have no idea there is anything wrong with me .I talked to the woman that heads the local MS support group and she said if I was doing this good then i could not have MS. Apparently it's not a support group but a pity party. Lots of people say that my MS is just in remission. I can tell you , my MS is not in remission. The only thing that is in remission is Satan's power over me

I hope this is an encouragement to some of you, I get excited just thinking about what has happened.


Just remember this;

When you feel sorry for yourself = Satan gets encouraged
When you are sad = Satan is happy
When you cry = Satan laughs
When you give up = Satan wins
but
When you praise God for your infirmities = Satan quivers
When you wallow in the joy of the Lord = Satan wallows in misery
When you resist the devil = Satan has to flee
When you follow Jesus with all your heart, mind, and soul = Satan loses
Christians will live with eternal happiness = Satan will have eternal damnation in the lake of fire.

See a pattern here?
Charlie Hale
pastor
Higher Faith Outreach

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