Today’s Testimony: Tom Coghill's Fasting Testimony

by Tom Coghill

‘At the twentieth day of the fast, I started working fourteen hours a day at hard physical labor in the hottest summer weather. I climbed the ladders with ease. My energy level drastically increased.’

Some of us are born different. And the difference can be both a burden and blessing. I was born a risk-taker. I wanted to try it all.

I peddled across Canada on an old bike, camping at the side of the road. I tried bungee jumping, and lived in a nudist colony on a tropical island. As a teen I was free spirited, but not free. At sixteen years of age, disillusioned and hurt, I began the dangerous journey of exploring psychedelic drugs.
 

A bad L.S.D. trip resulted in constant, excruciating headaches. To deal with the pain, I started to use painkillers, tranquilizers, cannabis and alcohol. Five hazy years of my life were devoted to escaping pain through drugs. I become more reckless in my drug use. With callous disregard for my life, I injected a syringe full of P.C.P. It was a dangerous dose. This injection severely damaged my kidneys, increasing my pain level. Anger and self-hatred turned to hardened resentment. I hated the world, but I had no one to blame but me.In my dismal existence my short-term memory was non-existence, my skin was a sickly yellow. I was constantly tired. My kidneys burned with pain, my leg muscles would spasm and ache while standing. As my job required working on ladders for long hours, I lost my job!

One day I discovered a book describing how a dying man had returned to health. Not only had he overcome a fatal illness through a strict vegetarian diet and fasting, his new found health surpassed the vitality of his youth.
 

 For me, the message shouted out “hope!” I fasted on juices made from carrot, cucumber, watermelon, and cantaloupe. After several short fasts, I felt better physically and mentally.  These juice fasts, three to seven days each, gave me the ability to work, but I was still tired standing on ladders caused intense pain in my legs. A thirty-day juice fast was the turning point in my life. The first few days were difficult, but as I continued I felt much better.

 At the twentieth day of the fast, I started working fourteen hours a day at hard physical labor in the hottest summer weather. I climbed the ladders with ease. My energy level drastically increased. There were other improvements as the fast went on. I needed less sleep, my mind cleared, and my memory was now functioning.  Leg muscles returned to health, and back pain lessened due to the healing of my kidneys, leaving me a virile young man.