Steve,
I am printing out your article about “Babylon–The Great Fall” to read away from the computer.
We met at the F O T in Monterey CA in 1998, and my family and I greatly appreciated your presentations there and subsequently have appreciated reading your books about Israelite history.
Over the years I have tried to find out about how you are doing with your back and tailbone issues. You were in quite a lot of pain at the Feast. We have kept you in our prayers. Please let us know how you are doing…and if there is something specific you would like us to be praying about.
Sincerely,
John Ireland
MYREPLY
Dear John,
Thanks for your inquiry and your positive comments about my books and presentations. I have many pleasant memories of the Feast of Tabernacles in Monterey. It was a beautiful region and the people were most friendly!
You asked for a health update, and your inquiry offers an opportunity to give the same update to other readers at this website. I almost never talk about myself or my personal circumstances, but I will do so in this rare exception. Many readers realize that I am on a disability retirement due to complications and chronic pain from a near-fatal accident in 1981. I have actually had three serious injuries in my life which resulted in unconsciousness and which caused lasting, negative impacts on my health. As one doctor told me after the 1981 injury, I was “lucky” to be alive and not paralyzed due to the extent of my injuries. I have endured chronic pain for decades and these chronic pains and health problems are becoming steadily more difficult to bear. With the help of a prescription painkiller, I was able to travel and speak to groups for years, but my body eventually became so used to the painkiller that it lost effectiveness. I’m now trying pain patches and I’ve been through several sessions of physical therapy. An even stonger prescription painkiller is being tried, but it so far isn’t providing much pain relief.
My injury pains have been complicated by an additional chronic pain which I’ve had since a “routine” prostate biopsy in 1996 had a very bad outcome. As those who have met me know, I’ve had to travel with special cushions to help me cope with the increase in pain I experience every time I sit. I have to bring it with me to restaurants, movies, on airplane trips and anywhere where I’ve had to sit for the last 12 years. Currently, the pain is so severe that I’m not able to travel anywhere. It is increasingly painful for me to simply sit at my computer workstation and write articles and blogs. However, I will do my best to continue them as best I can as many people have written to inform me that they find them to be stimulating, informative and faith-building.
Even speaking to groups via phone hook-ups has been made difficult as I’ve also been afflicted for over a year with what seemed to be esophageal GERD. A recent out-patient surgery found that I had an infection (h. pylori) which traveled up my esophagus and had affected my vocal chords as well.
I would very much appreciate your prayers [and everyone else’s prayers as well!] that God/Yahweh would remove my pain problems and restore my health to enable me to again travel, speak to audiences and be more active in writing. I should also mention that in addition to medical treatments, I have been treated by several chiroprators, a Naturopath/Homeopath and have tried numerous holistic remedies and approaches. While these approaches have helped other health problems not mentioned in this posting, none have resolved the problems mentioned above. Some readers may desire to suggest various holistic remedies, so I wanted to mention that I have tried many of them already. At this point, it would appear that Divine healing is the only remedy for the pain and health problems that I have.
I would very much like to write a book on the subject of the pre-flood world of Noah and also produce a professional-quality video re: the history and migrations of the ten tribes of Israel which would be suitable for showing on cable-TV channels. However, I have neither the health to undertake these projects nor the money to fund them. As long as I’m making a rare exception to talk about my own circumstances, I’ll address one other issue. I have periodically heard from readers of my books who think that I must be independently wealthy because I do not ask for financial donations. Those comments are ironic as I am definitely not wealthy. I have not had a vacation in eight years and I drive an 11 year-old car. I self-finance this website (and my other efforts) via my disability retirement income and the limited income that results from book sales.
If any reader is motivated to contribute financially to my website efforts, future book-writing and/or video-production efforts so more can be done to spread an awareness about the migrations and modern locations of the ten tribes of Israel, I will gratefully accept any donations that are made. However, I need to state that any donations to me are not tax-deductible as I am not a 501(3)C entity. This status does, however, permit me to have the freedom to say whatever I wish on the website as I am not limited by the speech restrictions placed on tax-deductible entities. Those who wish to make a donation can do so by sending them to: Steven Collins, PO Box 88735, Sioux Falls, SD 57109-8735.
This rare personal commentary will answer your question, and I wish I had better news to give you! It is most frustrating to desire to do a lot more, but to be hindered by a wide array of health afflictions. I very much appreciate both your concern for my health and for any and all prayers that are offered in my behalf!
Steve Collins
