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Scientifically Certain GEMs of Christ’s Mindset Loved & Lived!
God Expressed Meekly/Mightily in you sparkle brightly in this PARTIAL SHARING of insights from Cobbey Crisler & others
as inspired by The Christian Science Quarterly Bible Lesson on
“Christian Science”
for Sunday, June 25, 2023
(Cobbey Crisler’s insights are shared with the blessing of Janet Crisler janetcrisler7@gmail.com)
by Warren Huff, CedarS Executive Director Emeritus, warren@cedarscamps
OPEN YOUR SPIRITUAL SENSE EYES AND KNOW WITH SCIENTIFIC CERTAINTY TO DROP ALL HEAVY BURDENS! Cobbey on God’s command for light to shine in your heart for the divinely natural glory of God in Christ Jesus & in you! II Cor. 4:6, 17-18 (Resp. Reading)
[Transcribed from a talk by Cobbey Crisler:] “Here is a commandment from God. This commandment was for “light to shine out of darkness,” and to shine where? [Voice: “in our hearts.”]. Where is the finger of God at work? Where has Christ written his letter, his epistle? If that’s shining, if we’re facing God, face-to-face, Mind-to-Mind, if our mentality is taking on the likeness of God Himself, then that light is showing. But it’s a light that knows. It’s a mental light, “the light of the knowledge.” In the Latin Bible, do you know what that word is? It’s our word for science, scientiae. It is the light of the knowing in a sense of disciplined science “of the glory of God.”
“We have the ability, therefore we are without excuse, to know God because he has revealed Himself, His nature, to us. We can call upon our divine nature. We can begin to answer the question, “What is natural?” with the response, “The divine is natural for me.” That “light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Christ Jesus” leaves not one slight dark spot of Adam’s amnesia left on the disc of our consciousness.”
“Verse 17 of Chapter 4 (of 2 Corinthians) stresses the meaning of the Hebrew word “kabod”— even though we’re in the Greek New Testament. Because it says “our light affliction.” Lightness here is the opposite of heaviness. [W: see the blessing below* of being “spiritually lighthearted.”] “Our light affliction” we don’t consider our afflictions light, do we? I mean, our shoulders are bent over, and if only our relatives knew what we were assuming as burdens for them. Our relationships would be happier, if the United States tackling so much of the economic burden of the world, and the military burden. Are our shoulders bending nationally as well as under such weight? According to the Bible, this is “light affliction” and it’s “for a moment,” and it’s going to work out for us “a far more exceeding [and] eternal weight of glory.”
“Remember “kabod” means heaviness and weight. This weight suddenly turns out to be something that’s substantial. We’re talking about substance, the real weight. We’re not talking about an abstraction.
“We’re talking about concrete being here in this “exceeding and eternal weight of glory” [2 Corinthians, Chapter 4, Verse 17]. Yet in Verse 18 we are told it’s not something you’re going to open your eyes and see. We have to cultivate the spiritual sense of appreciating what the physical sense do not tell us about.
“Of what value, of what validity, of what reliability are our bodily senses if not one of can tell us there is a God? Because if God exists, as the Bible reveals He does, and we can see His effects appreciably in our lives, and none of the senses tell us that God exists, who needs the senses? They are not bearing witness to facts that exist, even though unseen.
“We can’t bow down to our bodily senses as giving us correct information, can we? We know how deceived we are all the time. We also how limited the senses are; we know that some of our pet animals can detect things occurring through their senses that are completely unappreciable to ours. So, why have we been so satisfied with the data coming to us from these five channels?”
“Glory: Divine Nature in The Bible,” by B. Cobbey Crisler**
[Warren:] Being spiritual light-hearted in an ongoing Prayer Watch for Worldwide Well-Being enables us to “turn the tables” on the isolation fables of “loneliness, doubt, darkness.” These are among the burdens that a Prayer Watch with “no opposing element” calls you and me to drop. “I drop my burden at His feet, and bear a song away.” Christian Science Hymnal 124:3]
Principia’s Founder Mary Kimball Morgan, CS, has great advice for us as Prayer Watchers: “If you ever feel that your work is becoming burdensome, just stop and place the responsibility where it belongs – in your Father’s hands. Get rid of the sense of burden before continuing your work, for heaviness of thought cannot glorify God.” This is part of an awesome, one-page treatment on how to be “equal to every demand placed on you” and “be deeply in earnest and at the same time spiritually light-hearted.” (Education at the Principia, p. 222)
We are to be light-hearted (early and often) because from “the beginning” (the “only”) we know the happy ending that “He is risen!” The blessing of beginning with the end in mind can help reverse the curse, enabling us and others “to kiss the cross and wake to know a world more bright” (Hymn 253:3, 550:3) This brighter world view did a world of good as it was cherished in our Prayer Watch at the start of pandemic lockdowns, in the midst of world thought focused on the dark months forecasted of ever-mounting covid-19 cases and deaths, lockdowns, restrictions, economic woes, and concerns about re-opening of schools, travel, businesses….)
BIBLE-BASED REALITY IN CHRISTIAN SCIENCE INCLUDES: HEALING WITHOUT DELAY, RELAPSE, SIDE EFFECT OR AFTER EFFECTS;
GOD’S THOUGHTS PROVED AS LASTING REMEDIES FOR ALL ILLS.
Cobbey Crisler on Psalm 33: 11 (citation B2, + with prelude of verse 9)
[Cobbey Crisler gives this prelude:] “Psalm Chapter 33, Verse 9 … alludes to the swiftness of God’s treatment. It’s not a process, according to the Bible. It’s not recuperation. It’s not convalescence, or gradual recovery. “He spake, and it was [done].” In case we have had room in our thinking for a possibility of relapse, it is stated, “He commanded, and it stood fast.” No side effects, no after effects.
[Cobbey on Ps. 33: 11 (citation B2): “The advice or counsel of the LORD stands” for how long? “For ever.” What good is that, if we aren’t there forever to receive such advice? “The thoughts of his heart to all generations.” What good are God’s thoughts unless those are the potions we are supposed to be taking, imbibing, ingesting. God’s thoughts, His potions. Take them, eat them up, drink them in. That makes the Bible a pharmacopoeia which is a word the dictionary describes “preparations issued by official authority and recognized as a standard.”
[Voice from audience] Pharmacopoeia, which is a word that in its ordinary meaning without
uplifting it to what the Bible would require of the term anew would just simply be an
authority to which one would turn to know where the remedies all are.”]
“Leaves of the Tree: Prescriptions from Psalms” by B. Cobbey Crisler
THE WORD COMES “AS IN HEAVEN, SO ON EARTH!” – Cobbey Crisler on John 1:12, 13/cit. B4 – “the Word made flesh” … uniquely as a model
[John 1:12, 13] “But as many as received him, to them gave he power to become the sons of God… which were born, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God.”
“Again, does it tie in with Genesis 1? Are we suddenly seeing that when in Genesis 1, which we know the author has in mind here in this chapter (Genesis 1:26), man is declared categorically to be in the image and likeness of God?
“The author here saying that image and likeness is not “composed of blood, nor) can it be identified as having emerged because of a fleshly or carnal desire, or from human will, but directly from God.” Don’t go bumping along on a detour to get to God. There’s a theology that certainly clears out a good number of obstructions, if it’s valid, if it’s something we can use, and not pie-in-the-sky metaphysically speaking.
“To show that it isn’t pie-in-the-sky, John 1:14 (bonus after citation B8) introduces the word “made flesh,” lived, illustrated, exemplified; it’s been done, it’s not just theory. The thought has been uttered in human experience, in life. Human life itself has seen this Word fulfilled. Was he the vanguard, the way shower?
“He is called in Verse 14, almost in contradiction to what I’m saying, that he was “the only begotten of the Father.” That seems fairly exclusive, doesn’t it? Since it would also contradict Verse 12 where it refers to “sons of God,” it just must be something in the translation we’re missing, the intent: You can’t have sons of God and have one son being the only begotten. That would be mixed-up theology right in the beginning in a book that we are saying is extremely clear and close to Jesus own thought.
“So, what have we got? The Greek word “mono genes” doesn’t mean “only begotten.” If it has any meaning that we can express in English, it could be “unique,” in the sense that he was representing the original man as a model. In other words, the only real man that God could ever beget.”
“John, the Beloved Disciple,” by B. Cobbey Crisler**
FOLLOW the RECIPE for FREEDOM as you GIVE a Know-the-Truth TREATMENT!
Cobbey Crisler on John 8.32/citation B5 with notes & quotes from others
John 8:31, 32. “Then Jesus said to those Jews which believed on him, ‘If ye continue in my word, then are you my disciples indeed, And ye shall KNOW THE TRUTH AND THE TRUTH SHALL MAKE YOU FREE.’” (caps added)
[Cobbey:] “Here is the recipe for freedom, “It’s the truth itself that makes you free.” It is the fact that makes you free. In John 8:44, the devil is defined as a liar [W. a “fake news” distributor] and also a murderer from the beginning. If you analyze that again, the devil has one of two purposes when it enters into the thoughts and lives of man. It is either to deceive us or to kill us or others. That’s the motive prompting the thought, critical or otherwise. Remember, judging righteous judgment eliminates most criticisms, and not judging according to appearance. It [lying “fake news”] either murders or kills our neighbor or ourselves, or its purpose is to deceive, one or the other.”
Book of John, A Walk with the Beloved Disciple, by B. Cobbey Crisler**
[Warren: Here’s a TREATMENT BONUS— “Know the Truth” Notes taken and typed-up by Ruth Huff from a Jack Hubbell lecture:]
“KNOW THE TRUTH” means knowing or being conscious of what is already true!
“Mary Baker Eddy was once asked by a reporter, what is a Christian Science treatment?
After a few moments of deep thought, she answered, (in words that Mom posted over her desk)
‘It (Christian Science treatment) is the absolute acknowledgment of present perfection!’ (Elizabeth Earl Jones Reminiscences).
“If you begin a treatment to improve an imperfect condition, STOP!
You have been mesmerized!
“You are well, before you give the treatment!
Treatment is being conscious of present reality.”
(Notes from a Jack Hubbell, CS, lecture and from word studies more fully summarized below)
“What does it mean to “know the truth?” – To acknowledge it!
acknowledgment: to acknowledge means to admit to be true
– to declare the Truth of something
– an admission of truth as a fact or principle
Unity of Good 7:20-22 . . . “an acknowledgment of the perfection of the infinite Unseen confers a power nothing else can.”
We can’t know a lie!
You cannot know that 2 + 2 = 5, because it does not! You can only believe it!
We can never know sin, disease or anything that seems inharmonious, because it is just a lying suggestion! We can only be tricked if we believe it!…
SEE GOD BY APPLYING JESUS’ PRINCIPLES of HEAVENLY HAPPINESS with MATHEMATICAL CERTAINTY! Cobbey Crisler on the Beatitudes (cit. B8/Matt. 5:1-3, 8)
Scene from “The Chosen” of Jesus’ early morning sharing the Beatitudes with Matthew as “a Map, where people should look (others of this happy set) to find me” https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o5OnF3sg0cY
with application examples for each one.
[Cobbey:] “The Beatitudes, the blessings. The word “blessed” in our sermon on the mount is not really the accurate translation of the Greek. The word is “makarios” which means “happy.”
Just think of the search for happiness among humanity. Here are rules laid down by Jesus simply stating that happiness can be obtained in the following ways…
… we should remember that Jesus never uttered anything that he hadn’t practiced.
The Sermon on the Mount is in essence a description of the life of Jesus…
The Sermon begins with the Beatitudes. (Verse 3). “Happy are the poor in spirit.” Doesn’t sound like they should be happy does it? But we find out the reason. Because such humility gets what results? And where is the kingdom of heaven? What was Jesus’ first announcement? “Right at hand” (Matt. 4:17). Later he says, “Within” (Luke 17:21 & SH 476: 28-32 & 248:29).
“We’ve talked about mathematics. How would you like to view Jesus as a mathematician par excellence? You can take his beatitudes and make equations out of them. Which shows how much of a mathematical thinker he was. For instance,
“Blessed are the poor in spirit.” Thus, B x PS = KH. When you invest on the left side of the equation, what is the yield on the right side? The “Kingdom of Heaven.” “B” multiplied times “PS” equals “KH,” i.e., B x PS = KH.
“You have measurable results. Do you see a difference here in Jesus’ approach to religion? … here is the essence of Jesus’ thinking. And we have results…”
“… As you go down the Beatitude, read them all, scan them as they are in front of you. See if you can find results in every one of them. See if you can analyze them for those results. That becomes a very practical clue for how to lead one’s life.
The Commandments and Beatitudes have often been placed side by side. Many parallels have been used. Is that justified?
For instance, we are told in the Book of Revelation that those who have overcome the beast will stand on the sea of glass with harps. They’re singing two things representative of what has been given them. The victory over the beast, the animal origin of man.
How can we overcome that animal connection?
Those who have overcome are said to be singing two things: the song of Moses and the song of the Lamb. That sounds like they’re inseparable. They operate together. Do you know why? Because it’s part of the heavenly mathematics.
“Why did the Commandments say, “Thu shalt not,” taking care of the minus aspects in human nature? And the Beatitudes, “happy are they” that do certain things, take care of the plus? What do you do with the minus in thought, the chaff? It is dealt with by fire. You deal with the plus in thought through the Holy Ghost. They operate together for a single purpose and a unique commitment to the totality of One infinite, God, good. The Beatitudes must be considered in conjunction with the Commandments in your study.
“These Beatitudes took the same forty days preparation of Jesus in the wilderness as the Commandments took forty days of preparation in the wilderness for Moses. It may take the same wilderness experience for you and me to really appreciate what really is there behind the Commandments and the Beatitudes. They are really the staff on which we lean. If we try to go very far without that staff it must discipline us. [Discipline is] The same root word as disciple. We must come back and learn how to deal with the plus factors and the minus factors in our own thinking. That’s the baptism of the Holy Ghost and fire…
“Let me make recommendations for your own research. I have previously assigned my high school students to see on their own, through their own Scriptural research, whether there was any Old Testament precedent for each Beatitude. In other words, is this something that Jesus is saying, “Hey, here is a new idea of humanity, why don’t you consider it?” Or was he pointing out stones already in the foundation that had been neglected?
“These are interesting things. I’ll give you one as a lead. Verse 5 of chapter 5 , “Blessed are the meek for they shall inherit the earth.” You’ll see in Psalm 37, Verse 11, that almost word for word, we find that Beatitude there.
“So, you see, it’s not always being original, but recalling human attention to something that has been already revealed, already discovered, but essential to our progress and growth.”
“Book of Matthew, Auditing the Master” by B. Cobbey Crisler**
CHECK OUT ACOUSTICAL TESTS of the NATURAL AMPHITHEATER WHERE JESUS LIKELY SHARED MANY PARABLES, including heaven being like leaven hidden by a woman… Cobbey on Matthew 13: 2, 31-35, 44-46 (cit. B9)
[Cobbey Crisler:] “Matthew 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…
THE TINY SEED OF CHRIST’S TEACHINGS BRINGS THE BIGGEST BLESSINGS WORLDWIDE
[Cobbey:] “… Parable number three about the mustard seed begins in Verse 31. It likens heaven to “a grain of mustard seed.” You can find the mustard growing wild all over the Holy Land.
(Verse 32). “A very small seed, but later, it becomes the greatest of herbs and birds of the air lodge in the branches.”
We have here parables that apparently have a prophecy attached to them. So as to not miss that, study the parallels given by Jesus in these parables. You have first the kingdom of heaven (KH) is likened to a grain of mustard seed (1 GMS) which a man took and sowed and it grew (Gr).
Therefore, l GMS x Gr = KH. But that’s not all…
A WOMAN ELEVATES KEY MODES OF THOUGHT WITH PRESERVED LEAVEN! [*IT’S AT WORK*]
Cobbey Crisler on Matthew 13: 33-35 (cit. B9):
“Look at (the) parable (…of the woman hiding) the leaven in three loaves (Verse 33). [It follows the parable of the man sowing the mustard seed, verses 31-32] …”Kingdom of heaven” [in the mustard seed parable] is now defined as “leaven which a woman took, and hid in three measures of meal,” …
(Verse 35). We know it’s prophecy because Matthew says, “It might be fulfilled which was spoken by the prophet, saying, I will open my mouth in parables; I will utter things which have been kept secret from the foundation of the world.”
“When you say “foundation of the world” to a Jewish listener or reader, you are really referring to Genesis 1, where they get their information about foundation of the world. What do we find? What has been kept secret from the foundation of the world that we find in Genesis 1?… “Male and female created he them.” (Genesis 1:27) Each possessing dominion… Leaven and mustard seed… both must do their work unobserved… It’s a hidden thing. Both male and female are responsible for sowing and hiding until it grows and becomes leavened.
The concept of woman’s contribution coming in as the last, also agrees with the order in Genesis 1. It also fits with the symbolism here, because leaven is something left over from a previous batch. It links into something which previously existed. Matthew states that “these things have been kept secret from the beginning of the world…”
“Book of Matthew, Auditing the Master” by B. Cobbey Crisler**
BONUS: This week, Kerry Jenkins, CS, demonstrated in a Breakfast “Prac Talk” how to make bread with leaven or yeast at https://cedarscamps.org/inspiration/article/june-21-leaven-explained/
IN FULL FAITH BLIND BARTIMAEUS threw off his beggar’s cloak for WHOLENESS!
Cobbey Crisler on Luke 10:35-43 (cit. B10) from Mark 10.46-52 blindness healed
[Cobbey:] “In Mark, Chapter 10, Verse 46 (& Luke10:35-43) “They come to Jericho; and the healing of blind Bartimaeus” who [in Verse 47] calls and calls and all of his friends and neighbors tell him to keep quiet, “Quiet, you’re bothering Jesus.” Here’s the man with the need that Jeremiah [31:8] had said would be attracted by the New Covenant. The blind would come and be attracted Jeremiah had said. So, they told him to keep quiet in Verse 48; didn’t have much effect on him; he kept calling. [In Verse 49] Jesus heard through the crowd and healed him. Notice that he uses in Verse 52, “thy faith hath made thee whole”—the wholeness of man. The concept of the wholeness of man under the wholeness of God doesn’t allow for a gap called blindness.”
“Heal the Sick”: A Scriptural Record,” by B. Cobbey Crisler**
BONUS: Hear Kerry Jenkins’ 10-minute Breakfast “Prac Talk” this week where she shared with the whole camp three steps she identified that led to Bartimaeus being healed of blindness. (Plus two Beatitudes from the prior Section 2.)
ACCEPT THE GEM OF CHRIST’S MANDATE TO “HEAL ALL MANNER OF SICKNESS” Cobbey Crisler on Matthew 10:1, 2, 7, 8, 16 (cit. B.11)
{Cobbey:] “We now come to Chapter 10. We’ve had so much evidence that Jesus was an effective healer, but we haven’t yet had evidence that there could be healing via the instruction-route: that one could be taught to heal sent out like apprentices in some human trade or profession, and come back practicing the rules learned with results, namely, healed cases.
We find right after the prayer (Matthew 9:38) that God “would send forth more laborers into his harvest,” and what do we find? A mandate to heal.
(Verse 1). “He called his twelve disciples, he gave them power against unclean spirits, to cast them out, to heal” What? Only certain diseases? “All manner of disease and all manner of sickness.”
(Verse 2). We have the first use of the word “apostles.” Verse 1 says “disciples,” Verse 2 says, “apostles.” There’s an interesting difference in the two terms. First, we already discussed what the Greek word for “disciple” was, mathetes. This is the same root as our word “mathematician.” That still leaves us somewhat in the realm of the theoretician until we find that apostolos in Greek means “someone who is sent out to accomplish what he has learned.” Out go these apostoloi. We are given the names which are very familiar to most of us.”
(Verse 7). “Say,” Look at the first words there to say. Is that a coincidence, or is that essential? Where have we run into that statement before? “The kingdom of heaven is at hand.” Who said it? Jesus’ first statement (Matthew 4:17) after “Repent.”
The assignments given to the disciples would not be assignments they were incapable of doing, or Jesus would have been unwise.
(Verse 8). He said, “Heal the sick.” What do you expect them to do? He said, “Cleanse the lepers, raise the dead, and cast out devils.” Notice the sequence. The things he did. Even putting casting-out-devils at a higher level of what was required of prayer than raising the dead. Then stating, “Freely ye have received, freely give.”
Did the disciples do that? Even after Jesus was no longer with them personally? They certainly did.
( https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=qktVwKMaSJ8 )
(Verse 16). Remember, we are privy here to his personal instructions to his disciples in the first assignment to go out and heal the sick. These warnings would be just as timely and relevant to those who wish to follow his instructions in our century.
“Behold, I send you forth as sheep in the midst of wolves: be wise as serpents.” The wisdom of the serpent is to hide itself. “Harmless as doves.”
“Book of Matthew, Auditing the Master, A Tax-Collector’s Report”, by B. Cobbey Crisler**
An EXAMPLE you can “TAKE to the BANK” of
“an absolute faith that all things are possible to God,” (Science & Health, p. 1:1-4, cit. S16)
An Answered Prayer (A.P.) History example of divine abundance quickly demonstrated!
shared by Warren Huff, CedarS Executive Director Emeritus
HERE WAS THE PROBLEM OR UNIQUE SET OF CIRCUMSTANCES PRESENTED:
(Warren: Here’s a memorable example of fasting, saying no to lies— and prayer, saying yes to what’s true!
While the particulars of every fable vary, it’s the same lie of lack that’s always negated by the law of divine abundance which remains unchangeable & provable by all!)
“The situation at CedarS Camps in early May of 1993, just weeks before camp, we made a critical and costly discovery just as a major project was looking to be on time and on budget. This wonderful “home improvement” to our Dawn Lodge was adding-on a new Basketball Pavilion beyond a first-floor dining room addition along with several new bedrooms in a shed-roof dormer loft above it. Just as it was being created by literally “raising the roof” – or a 20-ft by 200-ft section of roof over the east beamline of CedarS main Dawn Lodge Dining Room, the workmen made the costly discovery that the 24-year-old, original, cedar-shake roof over the rest of building was starting to deteriorate. In order to make the roof leak-proof in the immediate short term before camp as well as problem-free in the long term, it all would need to be replaced with a new, insulated metal roof. We were told that would cost an additional $100,000—and that these unbudgeted funds were needed right away in order to be able to finish the job before the Opening Day of camp that was just weeks away.
THE PRAYER OF CHRISTIAN SCIENCE TREATMENT FOR THIS LIE OF LACK:
Instead of panicking, I again felt the radiant joy, inspired by many demonstrations of God’s abundant love as well as by my mom, Ruth E. Huff’s wonderful, automatically instantaneous response at such times. I can always hear and see (in my thought) Mom’s classic, smiling reply to almost any issue—”It will be fun to see how God works this one out!”
With this joyous confidence and love, I was led to turn to the opening chapter of Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures called “Prayer.” I needed go no farther than its first sentence to re-open in the depths of my being its awesome, healing power: “The prayer that reforms the sinner (like me as the project manager who had majorly “missed the mark”) and heals the sick (like a leaky roof and the sick feeling of every lie of limitation) is an absolute faith that all things are possible to God, — a spiritual understanding of Him, an unselfed love.” (SH 1:1-4 with bolding and parenthesizes added) I’ll NEVER forget that simple, radiantly confident feeling of effective prayer and divine care as I simply cherished each of those three elements – along with some of Jesus’ awesome examples of it.
As I recall, in that week’s Christian Science Quarterly Bible Lesson, there were two of Jesus’ demonstrations of divine, ever-present abundance—the feeding the multitudes with five loaves and two fish AND the sending of Peter to get the money to pay taxes for the two of them from the mouth of the first fish that Peter caught (Matt. 17:27). It’s not a mere coincidence—but a “human and divine coincidence” that God brought those examples to thought then – and brings these examples to our attention now to face down the aggressive fear and evidences of lack during what claims to be the economic turmoil or armed conflicts and a global pandemic.
Right now, we too can “love into view” a growing, glowing faith in divine Love
and its abundance that never fail.
TAKE NOW, AND TO YOUR FUTURE, THIS ANSWERED PRAYER (A.P.) HISTORY:
A West Coast phone call came just minutes after I’d received the $100,000 bad news with the calm confidence that God had it covered. A voice I’d never heard before—from an “as-in-heaven, so-on-earth” angel of a friend who I’d never met before— said: “As I was praying this morning, I sensed that CedarS Camps had an urgent need. Would $100,000 help?”
Before I could take any human footsteps, other than prayer, God sent that speedy answer—and in the exact amount needed! This is a literal example of what we should spiritually understand 365/24/7 from Isaiah (3)65:24 (/7): “Before they call I will answer, and while they are yet speaking I will hear.”
P.S. A FUN, MORE RECENT, BONUS:
I had the inspiring joy of going on a January 2020 Principia Lifelong Learning “Journey through the Holy Land” led by professor, Dr. Barry Ray Huff—the dear son God sent to bless us all. On the trip, I purposely invested in items to share and help inspire the outreach and work of CedarS Bible Lands Park. At a gift shop I bought a spoon holder to serve at home as a daily Biblical reminder of how God meets every human need. You can see in the picture in the bottom “Download” part of the webpage, where I placed the spoon holder on top of a T-shirt with this classic message:
LOVE IS LIKE 5 LOAVES AND 2 FISH.
ALWAYS TOO LITTLE UNTIL YOU
START GIVING IT AWAY.
As we give, give, give with a sense of divine Love and Her abundant supply, we find that we can never “out-give” God who constantly gives, Gives, GIVES back to us from an infinitely renewable resource! Jesus illustrated this law of divine abundance—even super-abundance –by quickly feeding the hungry multitudes with only five loaves and two fish and then by symbolically taking up twelve baskets of left-overs (one basketful for each disciple in the three Gospel accounts of Mark 6:38, Luke 9:13, John 6:8)
(A rough draft of what I hope to send soon as a testimony to the CSPS periodicals.)
LOVE INTO VIEW OUR “DEFENSE ATTORNEY” COMFORTER – and its EVEN GREATER WORKS! Cobbey Crisler on John 14:12-26/cit. B13)
[Cobbey:] “In John 14:12 Jesus makes a prophesy. He makes a prophesy in impersonal terms…
“There are greater works, the ultimatum of the application of what Jesus had introduced to earth. So, when he’s talking about greater works being done, through what agency will these greater works come? We find the Comforter is introduced.
John 14:16, “And I will pray the Father, and he shall give you another Comforter.”
“We should know enough about prophesy and have enough respect to realize that most of the prophets in the Bible, including Jesus, had a tremendous regard for prophesy. They knew that it had come from God, not from man. Similarly, we should know how to recognize the Comforter when the Comforter arrives…
“The word “comforter” is parakletos, sometimes called paraclete… translated “comforter” given by our King James Version. You will find, however, that The New English Bible does not use “comforter.” It uses “advocate.” You’ll also find that I John uses parakletos and the King James translator of that uses “advocate.”
“We should know that the word “advocate” is a technical word legally. It specifically means “defense attorney.” That has a lot of implications to it. By contrast the name “Satan” in Hebrew is a technical term for “prosecuting attorney.” There you have the battle joined in thought.
The Comforter is to come and defend man. We can see all the ways that Jesus had introduced various defenses for man…
John 14:16, “that he may abide with you for ever.” Is there a provision for a third revelation? The Comforter is apparently the final one.
John 14:17, “the Spirit of Truth.” Notice how that counters Jesus’ definition of the “devil.” What did he say about the truth? It was the recipe for freedom (John 3:8). So, it’s got something to do with that. But there is also a communications problem. The world “cannot receive.” It’s not going to be a popular arrival. “It doesn’t see him or know him.”
But, we will know, “because it’s within.”
BONUS: CHERISH the FEMININE NATURE of the COMFORTER which comes with CHRIST as a RECOGNIZABLE PART of its NAME. Cobbey on John 14:26
[Cobbey Crisler:] “John 14:26 picks up the description. “The Comforter, which is the Holy Ghost.” There’s another part of the list, identified with the Holy Ghost in Luke 3:22, the dove descending is the symbol of it. The words “dove” and “ghost” are feminine in the Greek, and the comfort aspect also introduces the feminine concept.
“The role of the Comforter “will be sent by God in my name.” If one were to regard that literally, the Comforter’s name should at least have some recognizable aspect either relating to Jesus or to Christ. Another aspect of the Comforter is “he will teach you all things.”
The role of teaching what? Is anything left out? “All things.” And at the same time, “it will bring everything back to human memory that Jesus said.”
“Book of John: A Walk with the Beloved Disciple”, by B. Cobbey Crisler**
Welcome the Comforter where there’s “Plenty of room for ‘greater works’… collective demonstrations…in governments… nations… that all could benefit from …the touch of the Comforter… ministries of divine Love”?
[Warren, from a 12-29-13 CedarS Met:] Christine Irby Williams nicely tackled the tough question of what works could possibly be greater than what Jesus did in a wonderful precamp inspirational talk to CedarS staff this May (2013) as well as in part of an inspirational address for the Christian Science Nurses conference at CedarS this September (2013). [CedarS was delighted to again be hosting over 120 CS Nurses from all over the world during the first week of September 2019, and they are scheduled to return in September 2024.]
In 2013 Christine essentially said, in part:
[Christine:] “Jesus said… Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that believeth on me, the works that I do shall he do also; and greater works than these shall he do; because I go unto my Father…” (RR, John 14:12)
“Have you ever wondered what in the world Jesus meant by greater works? It does sound a little daunting. We read almost every week in the Bible Lesson something such as Jesus “went about…healing ALL manner of sickness and ALL manner of disease among the people.” (Matt. 4:23) He fed 5,000 men plus women and children with what had appeared to everyone else as a few loaves and fishes. He walked on water and suspended time and space. He raised to life a child who appeared to have just passed away (cit. B9/Luke 8:41-55), a young man who was on his way to be buried, and Lazarus, who had been in the grave four days already. And then, of course, he raised himself after the crucifixion, and he ascended. So, what could possibly be greater than any, much less all, of that? I’ve often wondered, and I’m still pondering his promise…
“There has been one particular area in which it’s likely that we’ve all been aware that there is plenty of room for “greater works,” and that is working together, or what might be called collective demonstration: in families, church work, any kind of organizational work—in a church context or otherwise, in neighborhoods, in governments of all sizes, in nations, among the people, and in the world at large. Would you agree with me that these are areas that could benefit from the light of Truth, the touch of the Comforter—the healing and saving ministries of divine Love? Might we be so bold as to think about tackling the environment? World peace? World hunger? If not, why not? If so, let’s get on with it! Let us “then be up and be doing,” as our hymn [#18] says!”
First posted in Warren’s Met on “Christian Science” for 12-29-13 [Christine shared more inspiration on this and more at the 2012 Fern Lodge Annual Meeting.]
EXPECT to demonstrate that “ALL THINGS WORK TOGETHER FOR GOOD” (cit. B19) Prove for yourself what Mary Baker Eddy calls “the dictum of Scripture… (that) “All things work together for good to them that love God” (Science & Health 444:4). Here she’s quoting Paul in Romans 8:28/cit. B19. Paul gives us a model for the true “prayer… fervently offered (that) includes no opposing element” (Miscellany 293:21).
The news media is full of arguments for the existence of all kinds of evil and opposing elements these days. Most of them are based on the VIRUS of unwise atheism and its family members (according to Wikipedia) of “the supremacy of human reason… secular humanism… religious criticism…free-thought skepticism…” They all doubt Paul’s assertion that that “God is always at work for the good of everyone who loves him. They are the ones God has chosen for his purpose.” (Romans 8:28, CEB) It’s been said, “There are no atheists in foxholes.” or in Intensive Care or on Ventilators…]
Leading up to a Cobbey Crisler comment on Romans 8:28 below are helpful Bible insights on VIRUSES from Psalm 14:1-3, Mark 7:20 & II Corinthians 10:5:
“In Psalm 14, Verse 1, “The fool”— that’s the kind of point of view it is, completely unwise—“The fool that said in his heart, [There is] no God,” has a foolish point of view that exposes you to the infection of that idea. It communicates a contaminating influence if it cuts one off from the very source of life and health. Because treatment is available.
“In Verse 2 “The Lord looked down from heaven upon the children of men, to see if there were any that did understand, [and] seek God.” Notice what arena we’re dealing with here. God was not checking our pulses [or our temperatures], but our thoughts. How do we know what effect thoughts actually have ultimately on the pulse, for example? “To see if there were any that could understand and [seek] God” because that’s the bottom line.
“Instead, in Verse 3 “They are all gone aside, and become filthy.” Something that is unsanitary doesn’t belong; it’s not part of the health code of the Bible any more than it’s in the health code of material medica. Because what is unsanitary [W: is part of the unreality family and] is liable to cause or promote a disease.
“It’s also interesting to note that the word “virus” which is being used so generally today as the cause of much of man’s physical complaints and effects [W:—as well as the cause of issues from implanted computer viruses or hacks].
“The virus, according to Webster, is able to break down the defensive mechanism of the host. And, by the way, it comes from a Latin word that means poison or slimy liquid, virus. The word “filthy,” in part of its Hebrew meaning, is morally corrupt. So, we know we’re dealing really at both levels here, moral and physical. If out of that filthy condition, that polluted state of human consciousness, we’re coming to the conclusion “[there is] none that doeth good, no, not one,” has the defensive mechanism broken down? Have we become the host of ideas that are contaminating to our pure relationship to God? Or, are we ingesting only those pure Words? It’s a question of thought. It’s the faculty of knowing that which God is addressing here.
“Consider what Jesus lists in Mark 7, Verse 20, where he lists the toxic causes of man’s problems. He says, “That which comes out of the man, that defies the man.” Now we’re going the opposite route from those pure Words from God.
[Mark 7, Verse 21] “From within,” and, by the way, that is almost the literal translation of the Latin word intestin from which our word “intestine” comes. “Out of the heart of men, proceed,” and look at the list; it’s certainly not intestinal fortitude, “evil thoughts, adulteries, fornication, porneia, root of our word pornography, murders.” [Verse 22]. “Thefts,” do we need to go into the headlines as current as this morning? “covetousness, wickedness, deceit, lasciviousness, an evil eye, blasphemy, pride, foolishness.” [W: fool, as in Psalm 14.1] And Jesus says in Mark 7, Verse 23, “All these evil things come from within, and defile the man.” That’s where disease is also felt; the “within.”
[W: Instead of affirming that in God (and in reality) we have everything that we need,] We [often tend to] yearn for so much within, don’t we? How imperfectly that’s often expressed. Our longing often, perhaps most of the time, is expressed in terms that we would conquer the world outwardly in some way. Be appreciated. Be applauded. Be loved. [W: Have lots of social media “likes” or followers…] Be served. Be patted on the head. Be comforted. Have obeisance shown to us. That we have the homage of the world outwardly. We want to conquer the world in some way. That’s trying to impose domination. That kind of longing is imperfectly expressed.
“A more perfect sense of longing, the desire that Jesus calls prayer, would be to conquer all the influences of that same world inwardly. [W: “to bring EVERY thought”—NOT EVERY OTHER THOUGHT— “to the obedience of Christ.” (2 Corinthians 10:5)] Then, you’re a king. In that sense Jesus was always a king. There’s nothing wrong with that messianic attribution to him of “king.” He ruled and nothing overruled him. But, look at all these things that [would attempt to] take over our “within” where the kingdom of God is supposed to be. And instead, we find anarchy most of the time.
“What is disease? If the kingdom-of-God-within is the healed, whole state, then anarchy-within must also tell us what disease is. It’s an outright rebellion. It’s a “Declaration of Independence” by one organ over the rest of the bodily systems. The Bible endorses only one system [Romans 8.28] “All things work together for good to them that love God.” There is the prerequisite. We always have to have this prescription filled. We’ve got to love God. Then, “all things work together for good.” That’s the ideal situation for any system, bodily or solar, all things working together for good. That’s the definition of perfect health as well.”
“Leaves of the Tree: Prescriptions from Psalms,” by B. Cobbey Crisler**
TO REACH YOUR “EXPECTED END”—WHERE YOUR “SOUL IS AS A WATERED GARDEN” – 100% precious, 0% vile! SEPARATE & ELIMINATE FROM THOUGHT MIXED-UP, NEGATIVE FABLES OF INCURABILITY FROM FACTS OF THE SAVING ALLNESS OF GOD’S LOVE. Cobbey on Jeremiah 15-31:12 (including cit. B20, Jer. 30:17)
[Cobbey Crisler:] “Verse 18 in Chapter 15, “Why is my pain perpetual, and my wound incurable?” Look at the prescription in Verse 19 “If you return, then will I bring thee again, [and] you will stand before me.” Look at this for a mental sifting of plus and minus. “If thou take forth the precious from the vile, thou shalt be as my mouth.” How much do you and I reflect or image forth God’s mouth or words? Remember what James [3.10] says, “Out of the same mouth proceedeth both blessing and cursing. My brethren, these things ought not so to be.” That’s what James wrote in his epistle. Notice the control of thought and therefore, our communication here. If we take forth the precious from the vile, we will be more like God now. If we want the word to become flesh, we must conform to what that word is. It’s indivisible. It does not have part precious and part vile in it, nor should man.
17th Chapter of Jeremiah, Verse 14, “Heal me, O LORD, and I shall be healed.” There’s Jeremiah’s prayer. “Save me and I shall be saved.” The Anchor Bible points out that the word “salvation” as used in the Old Testament is often used in terms of a not-guilty verdict in court. Salvation is often used in the Old Testament in terms that we would understand today as a not-guilty verdict in court.
The salvation of man would eventually include a verdict of not-guilty, or innocent. This is, of course, the entire theme of Job, his guilt or innocence.
Here is God being quoted, in Verse 12 Chapter 30 [of Jeremiah]. “Thus saith the LORD, thy bruise is incurable, and thy wound is grievous. [Verse 13] “There is none to plead thy cause [of innocence], that thou mayest be bound up: thou hast no healing medicines.”
In Verse 15, “Why do you cry for your affliction? Your sorrow is incurable.” Why? [Voice: “The multitude of your iniquity.”] That’s all. Just because of “the multitude of your iniquity.” There is the Bible definition of an incurable disease. It’s just up to us whether it’s incurable or not. Our outlook, our comprehension, and what we are going to do about the iniquity aspect of it. Moses was shown that man has just as much dominion over the serpent, symbolizing iniquity, as over the leprosy on his hand [symbolizing disease].
Jer. 30, Verse 17 (cit. B20) is God’s view of whether there is any incurability or not. “I will restore health unto thee, and I will heal thee of thy wounds.”
Religion has got to be practical, especially in our century. There’s no room for anything that’s not practical anymore. There are too many problems requiring solutions. Humanity in its history has run [from problems] long enough. Like Jacob ran for twenty years until he began to wrestle [Genesis 32. 24, 25]. Collectively mankind is wrestling now. As John Bunyan said about religion. “The soul of religion is the practical part.”
In Chapter 31, which is Jeremiah’s greatest chapter, he predicts the new covenant will come. He defines it. In Verse 3 he shows that the new covenant is definitely based on the comprehension of God as love. It’s that very “lovingkindness” that will draw all mankind to God for the solution of the world problems.”—[to make “their soul (spiritual sense) as a watered garden.”(Jer. 31:12)
“Heal the Sick”: A Scriptural Record, by B. Cobbey Crisler**
THIS “LET-US DIET” IS PERFECT FOR EACH OF US TO “CHEW ON” AND FOR THE WHOLE WORLD TO THINK AND LIVE WITHOUT STRIFE!
[Warren Huff:] Let us give thought & action to the following divine directives to memorize from citation S28. [As a memory aid, I think of this call to healthy action as our “Model Lettuce diet” or our “Excellent Let-us plan”]:
“Let us accept Science, relinquish all theories based on sense-testimony, give up imperfect models and illusive ideals; and so let us have one God, one Mind, and that one perfect, producing His own models of excellence.” (SH 249:1/cit. S28)
In the very next paragraph on page 249 of Science and Health: is another favorite, “mixed-green” combo of mine: “Let-us feel the divine energy of Spirit, bringing us into newness of life and recognizing no mortal nor material power as able to destroy. Let-us rejoice that we are subject to the divine “powers that be.” (Bold italics added for Let us)
Mary Baker Eddy uses the words “Let us” 28 times in Science and Health, and 67 times in her other writings—plus there are 40 more “Let us” combos in the Hymnal! So, you could chew on different blends of “let us” every day as it’s in season for you, and apply or dress them to best suit your taste and meet the needs of the day.
