Participants: Yvonne Lewis (Host), Atonte Myers
Series Code: UBR
Program Code: UBR000043S
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00:01 What do you do when you have a world-wide ministry
00:03 and your physician tells you that you have multiple sclerosis 00:06 stay tuned to find out... My name is Yvonne Lewis 00:10 and you're watching Urban Report... 00:35 Hello, and welcome to Urban Report... 00:37 My guest today is Atonte Myers, Vice President of 00:41 Power of the Lamb Ministries, and co-host of Battles of Faith 00:45 with her husband, Pastor Ivor Myers... 00:47 Welcome to Urban Report Atonte... 00:51 Thank you Yvonne, thanks for having me. 00:53 Yeah, I am so glad you're here.. It's so good to have you. 00:58 Great... I am very happy to be here... 00:59 Now you are 01:03 part of this really powerful ministry 01:07 with your husband, Power of the Lamb ministries, 01:08 and co-host of Battles of Faith, and you're a mom, 01:14 tell us about what led up to the diagnosis that you're 01:19 going to share with us today... Well, it was in December, 01:24 right before Christmas, and we had just returned from 01:28 one of the youth conferences that we had just attended, 01:33 and I got really sick with the flu... actually a few 01:38 of the kids got sick with the flu as well... 01:39 and so we were a pretty sick household... at that time... 01:43 and so I was really just lying in bed for most of the week 01:47 because I just felt so horrible, and during that time, 01:50 I just noticed that my right leg was tingling... 01:53 all the way down to my toes, and you know, the first day, 01:58 I just thought, "That's weird," on the second day, it's not good 02:02 third day, this is really weird. By the fourth day, I told my 02:05 husband about it and he said, "Well, it's probably because 02:08 you've been lying in the bed all week," and I thought, 02:12 that's probably not it, so I decided to go to the doctor 02:16 actually, I went to the ER doctor, I think it was 02:19 the weekend and it just really made me very scared 02:22 that the tingling just kept getting worse and then 02:25 there was numbness with it as well so I went to an ER doctor 02:28 because I couldn't wait until Monday, I was really scared, 02:32 I didn't know what it was, and that doctor did a lot of 02:35 blood tests and he said, "You know what, your blood work 02:39 looks great, you are a very healthy person, but I am going 02:43 to refer you to a Neurologist, that you need to call on Monday 02:46 because the only thing that I can think it could be 02:48 is multiple sclerosis... So, I just had heard that name 02:54 before but I had no idea what it was, so when I went... 02:58 I made the appointment on Monday with the Neurologist, 03:02 and he did his test where they poke you, you know, 03:06 they try to see... they poke your legs and your 03:08 face just to see what kind of sensation or feeling 03:12 that you have, and I definitely did not have the same 03:16 sensations on both sides when he would poke me on my left 03:20 side or my right side... he had me walk in a line, 03:22 and I was able to walk straight and different the things like 03:25 that but he was still concerned, so they did two MRI's on my 03:29 brain and on my spine and they found what they call lesions 03:35 which are marks from the MS, from what it does to the cells, 03:41 and so he went ahead and did a spinal tap and after 03:46 the spinal tap was the final conclusion where he said, 03:49 you definitely have multiple sclerosis... 03:51 My! so what was going through your mind when he told you this? 03:57 Well, I was praying that it would not be multiple sclerosis, 04:01 because it took a few weeks for them to finally come to that 04:06 conclusion but once it was a sure thing, I don't know, 04:13 I just thought, "You know God you don't allow things to happen 04:16 that you don't prepare us for," and even though I never saw 04:20 this coming, I just felt like I can do all things 04:24 through Christ... so I never really got too terribly 04:28 discouraged at the beginning, I wanted to be strong, 04:31 for my husband and for our children because we have 04:34 four children and I just didn't want them to get scared 04:38 that something was going to happen to mommy... 04:39 so I really just kind of... God really just kept me very 04:43 strong when I first heard of the diagnosis. 04:47 That's wonderful, that's where our faith in God and knowing 04:53 that as you said... He basically He doesn't give us 04:56 more than we can handle, and He will support us 05:00 throughout every trial, so knowing that and having 05:04 tested that and having found that God is faithful, 05:07 you knew that He would bring you through this... 05:10 and that's amazing... I did... to be honest 05:14 I was scared because it was the unknown... 05:17 but I just was having blind faith that He could do it... 05:21 that He could bring me through this... 05:22 Yes, yes, tell us a little bit about MS... do they know where 05:26 it comes from, what are the symptoms... tell us a little bit 05:31 about the condition itself. Well, that's a good question, 05:35 and well there are two different schools of thought when it 05:40 comes to auto-immune diseases but specifically MS... 05:43 they believe that... one school of thought is 05:47 they believe that your immune system is just very, very hyper, 05:54 overly active... and so it's attacking the 05:56 myelin sheath around your cells, which is the fatty tissue around 06:00 your cells, and when that happens, it's very... 06:05 the communication from the brain to the cells gets messed up 06:10 and so you can find that people have a difficult time 06:16 walking... or they can go blind because the myelin sheath 06:22 around the nerve cells in your eyes are getting 06:27 so eaten away and so the communication is just not there 06:30 and so you can go blind... so many different things 06:34 can happen... as you know, if your cells get messed up, 06:36 or if there's not good communication... 06:38 Another school of thought, you know, agrees that's 06:41 what's happening, but they just don't believe 06:44 that it's because the immune system is too hyper 06:47 they believe that it's a virus within the system and so 06:51 the immune system is trying to actually kill that virus, 06:57 that is in the body, and so again there's two different 07:01 schools of thought and so it just depends on who you believe. 07:06 Yeah, yeah, one thing that I noticed when I used to practice 07:10 Natural Medicine in Dallas, and one thing that I noticed 07:15 is that a couple of patients with MS and there was an 07:20 emotional component... something had happened, 07:22 maybe in the past or there was some unresolved issue 07:29 that kind of precipitated the condition and I find that 07:34 in many cases, there are certain we are just... 07:41 we're not isolated beings, all of our systems are kind of 07:46 interdependent... so the emotional, spiritual, physical 07:51 we're holistic basically and so sometimes there are also 07:55 things that, you know, from the past or issues that we haven't 08:00 resolved that can also lead to that... in any disease, 08:04 not just MS... but Cancer, I found it in Cancer patients, 08:09 because again we're holistic beings and again, 08:12 this is where our faith in God comes in... this is where 08:16 our dependence upon Him to resolve whatever the issue, 08:20 whether it's physical, emotional or spiritual... 08:22 whatever the issue is, it becomes like a cooperative thing 08:27 where we cooperate with God to resolve it... 08:30 So how did you balance as mom and vice president of 08:36 Power of the Lamb ministries, and wife and all that... 08:40 how did you balance all of this, once you found this out? 08:45 Well by God's grace, He gave me strength everyday 08:51 to be able to still do all of the many things that I was doing 08:55 I was diagnosed in 2009 and I think we probably 09:01 traveled more that year than any other year before that time, 09:05 doing ministry and my husband is also a pastor of a church so 09:09 we can't leave that out either. So you are a first lady as well. 09:13 That's right, so God just gave me a lot of strength, 09:17 but I have to say, when I was diagnosed, 09:19 you know, they immediately wanted to put me on a 09:23 large dose of steroids and you know, I just really, 09:27 really prayed about it and I mean... 09:29 I really prayed about it and I just felt like the Holy Spirit 09:32 God was telling me... that's not the course I want 09:36 YOU to take, and so, I didn't do that... and so 09:39 I immediately took the natural course and I started researching 09:45 and other people who had MS and were getting the victory, 09:50 and living above the symptoms, and I started implementing 09:53 into my diet, into my life some of the things that they 09:56 were doing... and I was actually feeling really good... 10:00 I started to feel a little bit better than I did before, 10:03 I had it as far as energy and things like that, 10:05 That's the other big thing with MS is that your energy level... 10:08 you have chronic fatigue... so that's like the biggest thing 10:12 that I am always trying to fight or keep at bay... 10:15 What are some of the other symptoms Atonte of MS? 10:19 Besides fatigue and numbness and tingling, you can have some 10:28 memory loss... just confusion, you know, I haven't had 10:37 things like where I can't walk, or I can't get out of bed but, 10:41 people do have those things, a lot of people are in wheelchairs 10:45 or they walk with a cane, because they are just so wobbly 10:49 or they just don't strength in their legs, or in their arms, 10:54 to be able to carry things or to carry themselves, 10:56 to get from one place to the next-so those are some symptoms. 11:00 And so, prior to your beginning these natural remedies, 11:04 what symptoms did you specifically have... besides the 11:08 numbness and tingling in the right leg, did you have 11:13 other symptoms as well? I did start to have the fatigue, 11:17 pretty badly before I really got into my routine of what 11:22 started to heal me... and so I did have chronic fatigue 11:28 where I could sleep all night and then go to bed early 11:31 and wake up extremely tired or I was... 11:35 prior to my diagnosis, I was running at the gym 11:38 like three miles on the treadmill and then I remember 11:41 going back to the gym, and I couldn't do that, 11:43 the tingling and the numbness were just too much... 11:46 I just didn't have the energy to do it... 11:50 Yeah, I'm thinking as I'm listening to some of these 11:53 symptoms, I'm thinking... I might need to go and have a 11:56 little test myself, I am tired all the time too... 11:59 so it's very important, I think, for our viewers to know 12:04 that if you are having certain symptoms, you need to have 12:10 them checked out... go and get a diagnosis and find out 12:14 just what's going on with you, because how do you know 12:18 if you don't go and check... so many times we neglect ourselves 12:22 we say, "Awww, I'll deal with it later," or "I'm not going to 12:26 worry about it now," but the longer you let it go, 12:29 the worse it can get... so you took charge of your health 12:34 and that's another important point Atonte, 12:36 because so many times, people just kind of let things go, 12:43 they listen to maybe one doctor or not get more than one opinion 12:47 and then they don't take charge of their own health, 12:51 it is your body, it is your temple, it is what God has given 12:56 and trusted you with and so we have to take charge of 13:00 our own health... in fact, statistics bear out that 13:05 the patients that get the best results are those that take 13:10 charge of their own health. So you took charge, you say that 13:14 you did natural remedies, you started looking into 13:18 natural remedies... tell us about that... 13:20 That's right, it's very interesting because my 13:23 neurologist, off the record, you know, he said, 13:27 after he officially gave me the diagnosis, I started talking 13:32 to him about some of the research I had done, 13:34 and he told me, off the record, he said, "You know, if I... " 13:38 actually he said, "The patients that I diagnosed with MS, 13:41 that do go the natural route, actually tend to do a lot better 13:46 because they are taking charge of their health, and so that was 13:49 just like a validation. I felt... from someone who 13:52 studies medicine... he was, you know, encouraging me 13:55 to do all that I could do, to help my body, and so 13:58 I took the school of thought that's out there about MS, 14:05 that it's a virus and I had another doctor test me for 14:10 a certain virus that some natural practitioners believe 14:17 that MS is, and that test came back positive and so what I do 14:23 basically is... I treat my body like I have a virus because I do 14:28 so I don't eat refined sugars, I'm actually gluten free 14:32 I found that whatever, and that gluten itself is not bad 14:35 I don't know if it's all those chemicals that they use 14:38 to process food, I'm not sure exactly what it is, 14:41 but when I take or eat gluten and put it in my body, 14:44 it definitely stirs up the virus or the MS and it becomes 14:48 very active and very much so, prevalent in my body 14:52 and all those symptoms start to come back. I think one of the 14:57 most important things is... I have found that as soon as 15:00 I stress out, as soon as I stress out, or get angry, 15:04 the tingling and the numbness come back instantly! 15:08 Isn't that interesting! Yeah... 15:10 That's the emotional component of the disorder... Atonte: Yes 15:14 you know there's an emotional component, 15:16 so you're saying that that's one of the triggers, 15:19 stress or anger... That's definitely one of the 15:21 triggers... definitely, stress, anger, it's like 15:23 "Hey, I just need to allow God to live in me and be holy," 15:28 because, when I get upset, it's just like... that's it... 15:32 MS is there, so there are a lot of spiritual lessons 15:35 I have learned through this but... again I just try to eat 15:41 things in their most natural state, and believe it or not, 15:46 I'm trying to increase my immune system to fight the 15:49 virus even more effectively so I can keep the symptoms 15:54 at bay... so that's how God has led me... I'm not a doctor 15:58 so I'm not telling anybody what they should do, 16:00 but I just felt very impressed that that's what I should do 16:04 and God has blessed me, I mean, I feel really, really good... 16:08 I am able to do... like I said... I was running 16:12 three miles prior to my diagnosis... right now, 16:15 my workout is: I do Insanity... and I don't know if people know 16:18 YOU DO INSANITY? I do do insanity and I thought 16:22 it was insanity, at first, but I really actually like it, 16:27 I mean, it's hard, I was afraid of it but it's not as 16:32 scary as it looks in the commercials... and I even 16:37 just yesterday actually, tried a new gym called Crossfit, 16:41 which is a new thing... which is supposed to be this 16:43 very intensive thing so I just keep challenging myself, 16:47 because I want my muscles to stay strong... 16:48 and exercise actually helps me, when I don't exercise, 16:53 the fatigue sets in, much, much more... 16:56 so I have to exercise, I have to keep the eight laws of health, 17:01 that God has given us in His Word to stay healthy. 17:05 Tell our viewers what those eight laws are... 17:09 Well, one is nutrition, exercise, water, 17:15 trust in God, rest... getting proper rest... 17:20 that's huge-going to bed between the 9 and 10 o'clock hour 17:25 is best... 10 and 11 is OK but after 11:00, 17:29 I don't get the best rest, exercise, sunshine, temperance, 17:37 did I hit all of them... because I'm just going 17:40 one by one... Trust in God is the last one... 17:42 ...and Trust in God... which is the whole stress part, 17:46 which covers the stress issue because I only stress 17:49 because I am not trusting in God when a situation hits... 17:53 I need to just trust in God, instead of allowing that 17:57 situation to stress me out... And Water... 18:00 ...and Water yes, definitely water to drink, definitely water 18:05 I have to stay very hydrated, but the nutrition is 18:09 really, really huge in just keeping things very basic and 18:14 simple... so I am a vegan, vegetarian, 18:17 I find that I do much better on that diet as well. 18:22 And so, what you found is that, your symptoms initially 18:26 were pretty pronounced and now, where are they now? 18:31 Where are your symptoms now? If I keep those 8 laws of health 18:35 and do everything that I am supposed to do, 18:37 my symptoms are at bay. 18:40 Again, as soon as I don't get the proper rest, which is, 18:46 you know, it's difficult sometimes for me... 18:47 my biggest issues are to manage my life so that I can keep my 18:52 body in that state, that it needs to be so, 18:55 if I don't get proper rest, then and I am going to have to 18:58 really stick with the schedule, make sure the kids are doing 19:01 what they are supposed to be doing so I can get 19:03 that proper rest and all of those things... so, you know, 19:07 like today... I mean, I feel great... I feel great... 19:11 Praise the Lord, we praise the Lord for that, 19:14 isn't it amazing how God has given us everything 19:17 we need to be healthy, in these 8 remedies, you know, 19:22 the nutrition piece is of course critical because it's a... 19:28 the body is a chemical kind of organism so the chemicals 19:33 that we put into the body, they impact the functioning 19:39 of the body... just like the gas that you put into a car... 19:41 impacts the car. So, we have to give the body 19:44 the right fuel, so if we give it what it needs, 19:48 it can do what it needs to do to heal because we've been 19:50 created that way. So you... praise the Lord that 19:55 He has given you... has led you to these 8 laws of health... 20:00 Did something happen that led you to try this? 20:05 Was there something specific that led you to try this? 20:08 Well, real quick before I answer that... 20:10 I think I left out sunshine, I'm not sure but that's 20:12 one of the 8 laws of health... No, you said sunshine... 20:15 I did say sunshine... just wanted to make sure... OK 20:19 but, you know, I come from a family that's very health 20:23 conscious... I had a great grandmother who I loved dearly, 20:27 who just died seven years ago, she lived to be a 101... 20:32 extremely health conscious... and that kind of just 20:36 went from generation to generation, so my mom actually 20:41 had been diagnosed with an auto-immune disease, 20:44 when I was a very little girl and she dealt with it 20:47 naturally as well and it's in remission for over 30 years, 20:50 and so when I was diagnosed, it wasn't that foreign to me 20:54 to think... Okay, let's see what I can also do... 20:58 to help beat this disease or be able to live above the symptoms 21:04 and so when I started praying and God just led me 21:08 to these answers and there were so many stories on 21:11 the internet when I typed in "Natural Cures" or 21:15 "Those who got victory over MS naturally" there were just 21:18 tons of stories from all different kinds of people, 21:21 from all around the world and I thought 21:25 you know, I am a very strong-willed personality 21:27 just ask my husband... and so I was thinking 21:30 if other people can do something I can do it too... 21:34 this is just another fight on my hands that I can, 21:37 with God's grace, I can fight this... 21:39 and I want to say, I have two neurologists and one neurologist 21:46 he told me that, you know, with African-Americans 21:50 when they get MS, it usually... hits pretty hard and 21:54 it progresses really quickly... and just recently, I thought 21:59 about what he said and I truly just believe that because 22:04 within our culture and within our communities many times 22:08 eating healthy is not priority, and I think because of that, 22:13 that is why when African- Americans get diagnosed with MS 22:18 the disease seems to just take a life of its own... 22:22 and even seems to be worse than in people of other races 22:27 with the same disease... That is such a good point, 22:31 because I think that too often we don't really, 22:34 as African-Americans... we don't make the connection 22:37 between nutrition and disease... you know, which is why we are 22:42 the forerunners for the major chronic diseases.. hypertension, 22:46 cancer, diabetes, I mean... we are at the front... 22:50 forerunners for those diseases, so that is such a good point 22:55 and I think that's why it hits us harder because the nutrition 22:59 is often so not good because we tend to do a lot of 23:04 fast foods and fried foods and lots of meats and all of that 23:08 so actually that's why we have Dare to Dream... 23:12 a shameless plug... Praise the Lord, 23:14 because we have programs that, you know, help to teach people 23:18 how to eat and how to prepare their foods and how to live more 23:23 healthfully so that is a great point... 23:27 What advice would you give to someone, Atonte, that has just 23:32 received a diagnosis that's frightening... like MS or 23:37 cancer or something like that... what advice would you give 23:41 as having received that kind of diagnosis yourself, what would 23:45 you say to that person? You know, that's a very good 23:50 question.. but the first thing I would say to that person is 23:54 that they need to pray, 23:56 hopefully, they are a Christian, but if not, pray to God but also 24:01 to do a lot of research on the disease and also just listen 24:08 to other people's testimonies on how they were able to 24:12 live above the disease, and live a normal, happy life... 24:17 do not become afraid of all of the stories that you hear 24:21 about how horrible some people are doing stay away from that 24:25 and focus on those who are doing better with the disease 24:29 and just don't be discouraged because there's many of us 24:33 who are living very well with this disease. 24:37 Thank you, so you're saying "Pray first" 24:40 you're saying, "Be positive" because you said, 24:43 "Don't listen to all the negative stuff" 24:46 you're saying, "Do a lot of research" 24:48 in other words, "Take charge of your own health" 24:51 and then just "Keep moving forward" 24:57 That's right, that's right. Great, great, so tell us now 25:02 about your ministry and what you're doing and how 25:06 Power of the Lamb ministries is doing... tell us about that. 25:09 Well, our ministry is, you know, my husband used to be 25:17 had a rap career... he used to to be a hip-hop artist and he 25:22 became a Christian and since then we got married 25:27 and had children but people always want to hear his story on 25:32 how God was able to lead him from that industry 25:34 to becoming a pastor and so we travel all around the world 25:39 sharing that story but also our passion in our ministry 25:43 is to get people to study and to go deeper into 25:46 the Word of God so we now have events... one event is called 25:51 Arme Bible Camp and we teach people how to arm themselves 25:56 with the Word of God by studying the deep things of 26:00 God's word and also a very heavy emphasis on prayer, 26:04 so we do Arme Bible Camps, we do revivals at churches, 26:09 just really getting the young people on fire for the Lord, 26:13 showing them that God's Word is not a boring book 26:15 but an exciting book that should definitely be a part 26:19 of their lives and really just introducing them to Jesus. 26:22 That's great. Thank you so much Atonte for being with us today 26:28 we appreciate your testimony, your ministry and we look at 26:34 people like you and... I say people like you meaning 26:37 that you are on the front lines of the battlefield and we 26:41 look at you and we're grateful for your service. 26:44 So thank you so much for all that you do 26:46 for the cause of Christ. Praise God and thank you 26:49 for having me. Sure... today you've heard a 26:52 testimony that proves that the Lord works in various ways 26:56 to accomplish His goals... He has set laws into place and 27:00 if we follow them we can be healed. 27:02 Please note that we're not telling anyone to stop seeing 27:06 their physician or just drop your medication... 27:09 that would be irresponsible. But we do suggest that you 27:13 incorporate natural remedies into your regiment and talk to 27:16 your physician before making any changes. 27:19 Remember the 8 laws of health nutrition, exercise, water, 27:24 sunshine, temperance, fresh air, rest and trust in God 27:29 and also, I have the "Great Days" theory 27:32 Good nutritious food, rest, relaxation and stress reduction 27:36 exercise, adequate hydration, thoughts that are positive, 27:40 detoxification, the acid-alkaline balance, 27:44 yielding to God and His plan for your life, 27:48 and supplementation. These things are critical and 27:52 crucial for good health. Well, once again, our time has 27:56 slipped away from us. Thanks so much for tuning in. 28:00 Join us next time. It just wouldn't be the same 28:02 without you. |
Revised 2024-12-24