Delight today in GEMs of Biblical therapy and its healing tree, fed by inspired Prayer Watch “channels of thought!”
[Science and Health, p. 593:14 definition of RIVER]
“My prayer some daily good to do to Thine, for Thee; An offering pure of Love, whereto God leadeth me.” Hymn 257
[Warren continued: Here’s where this “GEM of the Day” (God Expressed Meekly/Mightily in us today) fits within this week’s growing string of GEMs. ]
Monday insights from Cobbey Crisler on citation B1, Psalm 1:1-3:
[CC:] “The very opening Psalm sets the tone for the entire psalter [or book of psalms]… We’re told right away that happiness, certainly an objective of all of us*, is the result if a man DOESN'T do certain things [W: such as, “by the consent of the governed” does not leave home, does not gather in groups larger than ten… ] and DOES do other things… [W: such as do wash hands, do practice social distancing…]
[W:] What NOT to do— [CC on Ps. 1:1:] “Don’t follow the advice of the ungodly… the morally wrong… Don’t sit in the seat of those who deride or mock. [W: as if putting down others would benefit oneself politically.] Getting rid of that is the purgative [W: or purging part of the cure or medicine] …
[W:] What TO do— [CC on Ps. 1:2:] “What do we take, then as the restorative “medicine?” [W: or the invigorating part of a stimulus package for a return to health.] [CC:] “His delight in [W: or his pursuit of happiness] is in what?… “Meditation day and night in God’s law.” [Psalm 1:2] His teaching.”
[CC on Ps. 1:3] “Then, the tree appears in Verse 3, “that tree that brings forth fruit in his season with the leaf that will not wither or fade.” That tree is mentioned later in Ezekiel [47:12]…
[CC:] "Of course, we find the whole idea expanding when we reach that tree in the last chapter of the Bible. That tree has grown in our thought too. Its grand root has been fed by the rivers of spiritual inspiration.” [W: and by our inspired Global Prayer Watchers who are “all in this together!”]
[CC:] “That fruit is fair. It’s never consumed. Its leaf is for medicine. The leaves of the tree may include prescriptions from the Psalms that we will be focusing on.”
“Leaves of the Tree: Prescriptions from Psalms,” by B. Cobbey Crisler*[Warren:] Happiness is a key theme of this week’s Christian Science Quarterly Bible Lesson on “Unreality” for April 5, 2020 as well as one of three, Creator-“endowed… inalienable rights” to pursue according to the Declaration of Independence* of the United States of America.
Mary Baker Eddy has inspiring things to say about the Declaration of Independence in Science and Health, p. 106:6 and 161:12.
We at CedarS are thrilled to be able to share an inspiring gift with you to help undergird and uplift this time of global and national prayer with affirmations of mankind's divine rights to "life, liberty and the pursuit of happinees." Click on the links to the left to hear two excellent talks given at CedarS Camps over a past Memorial Weekend. https://www.cedarscamps.org/metaphysical/founding/
The 28-minute keynote talk, given by esteemed historian Clark Beim-Esche as sponsored by the Donald L. Koch Foundation. Clark brings to life the nation's founding documents: the Declaration of Independence, Constitution, and Bill of Rights. This talk serves as a timely reminder of the vision and sacrifices that undergird the freedoms guaranteed for all Americans today.
We also include the introduction to this talk given by practitioner Gary Duke, C.S. While pointing out that the religious freedoms outlined by the nation's founders made possible the founding of Christian Science in this country, Gary also illustrates how the Ten Commandments, Sermon on the Mount, and Scientific Statement of Being serve as spiritual declarations of independence, constitutions, and bills of rights for all of humanity.
Hopefully, you can find time to listen at this stay at home period when all U.S. citizens need to rally around our common cause of freedom to support a united country with a healthy workforce and rapidly rebounding economy.
Listen for & use the GEM of waiting for harvesttime to uproot totally every viral seed & weed!
Jesus’ parable originally told to ~5,000 without a P.A. system in an audio-tested amphitheater:
[Cobbey Crisler on Matt. 13:1-3, 24-30 (B7):] “Chapter 13 begins eight parables.
Verse 1 starts out where Jesus is preaching on the side of the Sea of Galilee…
[Verse 2] “He went into a ship and sat; and the whole multitude stood on the shore.”]
First of all, when you’re standing in a ship without a public address system, can you be heard? This is one of the things that I questioned, and received grants from two foundations to explore… We took an acoustical expert to Israel from… an acoustical firm in Cambridge, Massachusetts… We had a hundred pounds of equipment. We tested every area where it said in both Old and New Testaments a single individual addressed hundreds, if not thousands of people without the aid of public address systems. We came back with very definite evidence that there seemed to be acoustical phenomena at these places which permitted such sound to carry. Of course, none of the gospels tell you where it is exactly.
But outside of Capernaum there is this little cove, and in the middle I stood holding seven red balloons. I had to pop one balloon at a time while my acoustical-colleague was on the slope of this natural amphitheater measuring it with his electronic instrument…
Interestingly enough, we measured how many people could have been in that area. Five to seven thousand people could have stood or sat there and seen and heard anyone in the vicinity of the rock where I was standing. My suggestion is that these four parables, where Matthew records as having been said here, have an unusual emphasis on the acoustical element.
Listening and being receptive…
Parable number one…Verse 3. Here is the great parable of the sower. What is it all about, but listening?…
…count up the number of times ears or hearing, or anything acoustical, is mentioned there, as well as the visual. Because it was an audio-visual environment. Right there in that very spot today you can see the sower parable come to life. You will see the tares and wheat right there. The thorns. The stones. The rock. The fowls that come and eat the seed. We’ve seen them all right there at that spot.
What a classroom it must have been, for a Master to teach his prime students in, and those who would listen! They could look around to see the lessons. […like at CedarS Bible Lands Park] They could hear every word he said. But then he tried to uplift that vision up and uplift that sense of listening to a higher spiritual category.
Parable number two is the tares and the wheat beginning in Verse 24. When I had our high school students over there, we actually experimented with details of the parable where the tares are very difficult to pull up. They bring the wheat right up with them because the wheat has a softer root, and this fits in exactly with the details of the parable as Jesus gave it.”
“Book of Matthew, Auditing the Master” by B. Cobbey Crisler**
Make your own the GEM of seeing all past enemies as if on their “road to Damascus!” Like Paul—& Ananias, totally drop past views of enemies to see all from a “God’s-eye-view.”
Cobbey Crisler insights on Acts 9:1-20 (B11) & Paul’s conversion & healing through Ananias:
“Acts, Chapter 9, introduces us to a prominent character in the history of Christianity. Although we have referred to him earlier, through his persecutions of the early Christians. But here we find that “Saul, breathing out threatenings and slaughter,” and you can appreciate that the Elizabethan terminology here hides some of the impact of some of the real meaning. (Acts 9:1 paraphrased) … Saul had received authority from the temple to persecute Christians – to find wherever they were, all the way to Damarcus and bring them back bound to Jerusalem.
Notice in Acts 9, verse 2, the earliest form of reference to Christianity is “of this way.” If he found any “of this way,” literally in Greek, “of the way.” And this is the first descriptive title for Christianity.
“Saul is quite equal in his treatment of men and women. He brings both bound into Jerusalem.” (Acts 9:2, paraphrased) …
But, “on his way, near Damascus, something happens to Saul. He has a vision, and a great light shines about him.” (Acts 9:3, paraphrased) … Chapter 9, is the first version, by Luke, the author of the book of Acts of Saul’s’ experience on the road. It’s told in the third person; however, later in the Book of Acts, we have in the 22nd Chapter and in the 26th Chapter, Paul, himself, in defending his record and his career, refers to this extraordinary experience on the road to Damascus…
