10 BOCNEWS.com FEBRUARY 2019 "Fear thou not; for I am with thee: be not dismayed for I am thy God: I will strengthen thee; yea I will help thee; yea, I will uphold thee with the right hand of my righteousness." ­ — Isaiah 41:10 Post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) is a men- tal health condition that may be triggered by a terrifying event, and that may be something expe- rienced or witnessed. It may be something we even heard about. If someone has PTSD one may have flashbacks, nightmares, severe anxiety and also uncontrollable thoughts about the events or event. Just think if there are multiple events that assail one's memories and thoughts. At times it seems that unpleasant thoughts or memories just keep return- ing and never seem to go away. I am a Vietnam veteran, and believe me I have many memories to contend with. I saw people-fellow soldiers- and even citizens of Vietnam who lost their lives or suffered severe injuries. I was highly impacted by what I saw. I was even impacted by just hearing about a high-school classmate who went to Viet Nam at the same time I did, but this fellow high-school classmate died in Vietnam, and like me he was in his twenties. After he died, I could not get out of my mind all the times we used to talk together in high school. Sometimes painful memo- ries just do not go away. What also happens is that you keep reliving the same events over and over again. That is what happens with PTSD. It does not seem like the experiences ever go away, and they are painful memories. I am thankful beyond words that I made it back from Viet Nam, as many did not. It is however not easy to put up with the flash- backs, nightmares and anxiety that one must deal with after being in a war zone. No wonder some just do poorly and never seem to recover as they should. So be sympathet- ic if you hear about, or meet someone with PTSD. These people at times require medical care, counseling and medica- tion such as medications for depression and anxiety. They will have their disorder prob- ably the rest of their lives! I never thought that I would have another reason to have PTSD besides going through a war zone. However, never in my wildest dreams did I think I would go through an experi- ence that would be painful even though no one was shooting at me. Just imagine, now I was married with a young wife and two young children 5 and 10 years of age. I then heard about a terrible humanitarian crisis in a far away country called Ethiopia. Over a million people were impacted by famine and disease. There was a terrible famine going on in Ethiopia and it was not long before I had a powerful and persistent compul- sion to go to Ethiopia to help the people out. You see by that time, I had gone to medical school and become a physician! I shared with my wife the strong feeling that we must go to help out the people of Ethiopia as we could. My wife did not object, although we both had reservations. I called the church headquarters of the Seventh-day Adventist Church. The church accepted my volunteer approach to help. Before that year was over, we were on our way to Ethiopia! Arriving on the scene in Ethiopia, we had a reality check. Yes, I could go to one of the hard hit famine areas, but I was going to have to be separated from my wife and children! It was just too risky, and dangerous for my fam- ily to go with me. My wife was going to have to take care of the children and our house in the capital city Addis Ababa. I did indeed go to the famine region in a town called Makale 311 miles away by air, the only way I could travel to that city. I worked in a clinic in Makale and we had a feeding center on the clinic compound to feed the hungry. Now the majority of my patients were young chil- dren. I saw too many of those young children pass away due to starvation and diarrhea, and other diseases despite our best efforts. I was separated from my wife and children while in Makale for 6 months! We spent a total of 3 years in Ethiopia. I was shocked to return home to America and dis- cover I had PTSD from my work in Ethiopia! I will not mention further details. I will just mention that I did not take pills to overcome my new PTSD. I sought divine healing. The Lord directed me to pursue a course of action to find healing. Would you believe that the best treatment was to just help people! I pursued a lot of community outreach and volunteer work even when I worked full time in the clinic and hospital! It was a remarkable treatment. I am con- tinuing to do this until this day. I would advise now anyone, that to help yourself, help someone else! Find a church or some humani- tarian organization right here at home and volunteer to help. May God bless you in your efforts and I am sure you will be blessed! Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder Dr. Conner By Byron E. Conner, M.D. HEALTH Over a million people were impacted by famine and disease. There was a terrible famine going on in Ethiopia and it was not long before I had a powerful and persistent compulsion to go to Ethiopia to help the people out. Psychic Bird Story What happens when a Psychic comes to a Bible study? Society strives to teach that God does not exist. But I personally know this worldview is absolutely false based on a home Bible study where five people observed a spiritual being attempt to distract from what was being taught. Everyone in the room became an eye- witness of this spiritually driven event. If you are familiar with the Twilight Zone, their stories pale in contrast with this true story from the spiritual realm. We were studying Acts 16. When we got to verse sixteen, the story of a slave girl who was a fortune teller (literally a psychic in our era), a spiritual being made its presence known. In the room, a small yellow/green parakeet sat on its perch as we met every Monday evening from January to August. This parakeet never squawked or beat its wings over eight months except during a five minute time span when the demon spirit made its pres- ence known. I could not see the caged bird that was located behind me on the evening of April 16, 1990. I taught, “True Psychics are demoni- cally possessed and that is how they practice their craft.” The spiritual being did not want people to hear this teaching. It crossed the room to the parakeet and either took control of that bird or scared it to death. The parakeet began to squawk two or three times every second and beat its wings rapidly. The purpose of this exhibi- tion was to distract from what I was teaching. Two new people came that night. They were captivated by the teach- ing. I remember looking at one of the new people across the room as I was teaching. She would look intently at me, then she would look directly at the parakeet squawking and beatings its wings. Since I did not hear the para- keet squawking loudly, I thought to myself, “What is she looking at?” I am a Spirit-filled believer in Christ. I experienced the protection of the Holy Spirit during this event. Also, I am a deep thinker and tune out my surroundings when I am teaching. I did not hear the parakeet squawking until I came to the end of my teaching. I heard the parakeet squawk only one time. I turned around to look at the parakeet. It was sitting on its perch in the bird cage. I turned to look to my co-leader. She (Darryl) was on the right side of the room with her chair leaning back against the wall and her mouth open wide. Something was wrong! Darryl starred at me as if she was freaking out and deeply concerned. I then looked at the music leader (Tim). He was bent forward in his chair as he was spellbound by the event. Tim was looking at me and seemed to be stunned. If you have ever watched the fictional movie, The Sixth Sense wherein a nine year old boy could see ghosts, you could feel the tension in the room as I looked at everyone. It was icy cold and mysterious! The difference being that instead of the ghost, the room had been invaded by a demonic spirit. As I looked at everyone in the room, there was dead silence. I then said after many seconds, “Let’s go on!” At that instant, the fiery presence of the Holy Spirit lifted from me. We had moved past the fortune teller story. After the Bible study, Darryl, Tim and I went to a coffee shop to discuss the events. Darryl and Tim told me about their observations of the bird squawking and beating its wings. I am writing four books this year. The first book will be entitled, “Secrets (you have never heard until now) of the Book of Revelation.” The Psychic Bird Story is one of the chapters. To validate this story, I have been attempting to find eyewitnesses of spiritually driven events. To this end, I am looking for a lady named Darryl and the guitar play- er named Tim. If you know of either of these two people, please contact Body of Christ news or send me an email at john@harvardhouse.com By John Zachary TESTIMONY