Non-material GEMs to help KEEP YOUR ATTENTION FOCUSED WHERE IT BELONGS
& so to FOREVER INTERNALIZE PRICELESS, SPIRITUAL-MINDSET TREASURES!
[combined cache with new game of
FRISBEE COMMANDMENTS with a spiritual spin to help you soar!]
GEMs = God Expressed Meekly/Mightily in you to sparkle brightly with insights from Cobbey Crisler & others as inspired by God & The Christian Science Quarterly Bible Lesson on
“MATTER”
for Sunday, September 17, 2023
(Cobbey’s insights are shared with the blessing of Janet Crisler janetcrisler7@gmail.com)
by Warren Huff, CedarS Executive Director Emeritus, warren@cedarscamps• 314-378-2574
LIKE JESUS, VIEW MATTER IN A RADICAL DIFFERENT WAY
AND SEVER ALL FLESHLY-ORIGIN CONNECTIONS.
Cobbey on John 6:62 -68 (esp. John 6:63/Responsive Reading, and last week’s cit. S21/356:15)
[Cobbey Crisler:] John 6:62, “What and if ye shall see the Son of Man ascend up where he was before?” Nativity in the Spirit. There can’t be the magnetic pull back to earth if that connection has been severed or proved never to have been a real connection.
“In John 6:63 (citation B1) Jesus impinges upon what has been considered laws of physics because he views matter in a radical way. He makes the statement, “It is the spirit that quickeneth.” That is where you find life. So, if you want to talk about nativity anywhere, you better deal with origin and Spirit. “The flesh profiteth nothing.” (John 6:63/Responsive Reading)
“You see how close one needs to be to Jesus in thought to understand what has been referred to as the Communion Supper. If he is accurate in saying, “the flesh profiteth nothing, “neither would symbolically eating it profit anything. So, it must not be the flesh he is talking about, but that great transformation that he is proving in his life to be possible to the Son of Man. John 1:14 refers to it as “the Word that was made flesh.” The Word connects us to Spirit, not flesh. Here is part of that Word underscoring the message that, “It is the Spirit that quickeneth, the flesh profiteth nothing.”
“What happened in John 6:66? “Many walked right out,” as soon as he had this radical statement to say about matter.
John 6:67. Jesus had to turn to the twelve, and said, “Will you go away?”
“John 6:68. Peter had one of those classic remarks that he makes. It’s really a lovely one. He looks around to the alternatives and says, “Lord, where will we go? You have the words of eternal life.” [W. “the pearl of great price”] He got the message. The words of eternal life, not the flesh of eternal life. “You have the words of eternal life. ”
“Jesus’ brethren in John 7:3 try to persuade him to come out into the open, and hire a public relations firm. If you are what you think you are, then back it up in the world’s way.
John 7:5,“Neither did his brethren believe in him.”
John 7:6. He announces, “My time is not yet come.” There’s an indication in Jesus own thought that he knew there would be a prophetic hour which must be fulfilled. The ingredients were not there yet. So, he indicates, “My prophetic hour is not yet come. Your time is always ready. “They did not have a solid understanding of prophecy.”
“Book of John, A Walk with the Beloved Disciple,” by B. Cobbey Crisler**
TIRED OF WAITING? Here’s a PSALM to HELP YOU get THROUGH any waiting period of SEEMING STAGNATION. “Unto You, O Lord, do I lift up my soul… Lead me in Your truth and teach me, For You are the God of my salvation; On You I wait all the day.” (Ps. 25:1, 5/cit. B1, NKJV; SH 593:20) “My soul, wait thou only on God, for my expectation is from him.
In God is my salvation (from false beliefs) and my glory.” (Ps. 62:5; SH 593:20)
“Divine Love leads me and you “THROUGH the valley of death,
(where) I will fear no evil; for [Love] is with me…” (Ps. 23; SH 578:10)
[Warren:] In the header of this GEM about waiting, I capitalized THROUGH, because Love means for us to keep moving and serving—never to wallow (swallow, or “stall-oh!”) in the “darkness” (and “vestibule”) parts of the definition of “Wilderness. Loneliness; doubt; darkness.” Spontaneity of thought and idea; the vestibule in which a material sense of things disappears, and spiritual sense unfolds the great facts of existence.” (SH 597:16-19) These great correlative passages are perfect for our rite (& divine right) of passage to come out of a restrictive-protocols pandemic when right activity seems to be somewhat on “pause — (for us to) wait on God…” (SH 323:10).
The idea of being a patient waiter, as if on God’s wait staff, means being ready to graciously wait on and do whatever is needed to be a host attentive only to good—to “entertain angels…” by actively hosting ONLY good. (SH 299:15) This also relates to when Jesus finished a 40-day period of sheltering in place in the wilderness, that he “returned in the power of the Spirit into Galilee… and… their synagogues (churches) and laid his hands on everyone (at least symbolically) and healed them.” (Luke 4:14) Let us, like Jesus, as we come out of any wilderness, waiting experience, return to a higher sense of church and to stick with the only real power, the power of the Spirit!
[Warren:] Click on “10 COMMANDMENTS Frisbee to Free ME” for a FUN NEW, SPIRITUAL GROWTH GAME, HOPEFULLY TO PLAY OFTEN! The Ten Commandments are referenced in a Section 1 Bible citation (cit. B2/Deut. 29:29) as well as in the final passage of Science and Health (cit. S25/340:4-12 (to 1st .).
“… Let us hear the conclusion of the whole matter: love God and keep His
commandments: for this is the whole of man in His image and likeness.
(Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures, Mary Baker Eddy, p. 340:4–12)
It came to me that “loving into view” and playing this new game, “10 COMMANDMENTS Frisbee to Free ME” would be a good way to give a fun, spiritual spin and commitment to the freedom of a soaring, lifelong mindset.
This weekend we’ll play “10 COMMANDMENTS Frisbee to Free ME” with my 4th grade Sunday School boys and at a church picnic Sunday as well Saturday with the Methodist women visiting CedarS Bible Lands Park (BLP) with me leading a tour as Moses.
Moses has also committed to share “10 COMMANDMENTS Frisbee to Free ME” at the end of the month with CedarS Bible Workshoppers here to study the Ten Commandments with Madelon Maupin as well as with with groups of visiting students and a quilting group if with as many of them as choose to play and pray it with me.
[Warren:] It came to me that SINCE “JESUS OF NAZARETH WAS THE MOST SCIENTIFIC MAN THAT EVER TROD THE GLOBE” (SH 313:23), HE WOULD LIKELY BE THINKING IN TERMS OF THE “SCIENTIFIC STATEMENT OF BEING” (cit. S1/468:8-15) . WE TOO CAN PRAY WITH THE AFFIRM-AND-DENY PATTERN OF “THE SCIENTIFIC STATEMENT OF BEING” TO ACHIEVE RIGHT GOALS TODAY! —Perceive & PROVE these scientific facts!
AFFIRM YOUR God-like NATURE; DENY all CLAIMS of LIFE & INTELLIGENCE in MATTER!
** MARY BAKER EDDY chose to CLOSE EVERY SUNDAY SERVICE with what Einstein called “THE MOST PROFOUND STATEMENT EVER UTTERED BY MANKIND.”
Dr. Albert Einstein, when he was a professor at Princeton University, is said to have said privately of Mary Baker Eddy’s “Scientific Statement of Being” (SH 468:8-15, citation S1): “That is the most profound statement ever uttered by mankind.” He is also said to have quipped to a research colleague, Christian Scientist, Dr. Underwood, “Had I known of the “Scientific Statement of Being” sooner, I could have developed my Theory of Relativity ten years sooner.”
Mary Baker Eddy said of her “Scientific Statement of Being”:
*“St. Paul said to the Athenians, ‘For in Him we live and move and have our being.’ This statement is in substance identical with my own: ‘There is no life, truth, substance, nor intelligence in matter.’ It is quite clear that this great verity has not yet been fully demonstrated, but it is nevertheless true. If Christian Science reiterates Paul’s teaching, we, as Christian Scientists, should give to the world convincing proof of the validity of this scientific statement of being. Having perceived, in advance of others, this scientific fact, we owe to ourselves and to the world a struggle for its demonstration.”
Retrospection & Introspection, p. 93: 17, Mary Baker Eddy’s quote & comment on Acts 17:28.
The cadence of this whole, 60-word statement alternates between
(Affirmation) “Spirit is the real and eternal;
(and Denial) “matter is the unreal and temporal.” and its conclusion as follows
(Affirmation) “Spirit is God, and man is His image and likeness.
(and Denial) “Therefore, man is not material;
(& affirmation) he is spiritual.”
This affirmation/denial pattern mimics the method used by rowers in a row boat to reach their desired destination. That happens only when they pull equally on both oars. (When they pull only on one oar, instead of on both, they go in circles!)
LET’S BE ALERT TO FOLLOW the scientific SYSTEM of BOTH AFFIRMING THE FACTS AND DENYING THE FABLES. Such balanced prayer will enable us to “first bind the strong man” (Mark 3:27) so as to reach the desired goal of demonstrating “a higher and more permanent peace”—in ALL conditions.
_________________________________________
Kathy Fitzer Met on Matter for March 21, 2021: “I found a couple of articles that were helpful to me in gaining a clearer sense of the correlative relationship of 1st John with the Scientific Statement of Being. One was an article written by a student of Mary Baker Eddy’s, Hermann S. Hering. He asked her for approval before it was published, which, of course, was granted. https://sentinel.christianscience.com/issues/1906/1/8-19/i-john-3-1-2-3
A more recent article, https://journal.christianscience.com/shared/view/2plvbb3rm70?s=copylink, included this statement: “By indicating the correlative nature of the I John verses in respect to “the scientific statement of being,” Mrs. Eddy shows us that the Bible verses themselves indicate both the unreality of matter and the present spiritual sonship of all, however much the deceptive corporeal senses would try to obscure this sonship. It is instructive to read the whole of I John with these points in thought.”
There is also a helpful Sentinel Watch podcast that addresses the question, How Can I Better Understand the Scientific Statement of Being? with Janet Clements. Here’s a link: https://sentinel.christianscience.com/sentinel-audio/sentinel-watch/q-a-how-can-i-better-understand-the-scientific-statement-of-being?s=copylink
LIKE JESUS & PETER, BE EAGER TO TEST YOUR RELATIONSHIP TO GOD’S INFINITUDE THAT KNOWS NO LIMITS. Cobbey on Jesus & Peter walking on water: (Matt 14:24-33, cit. B8)
[Cobbey Crisler:] “… right after the famous loaves-and-fishes incident in which everyone is fed,” we have the walking-on-the-sea incident.
(Verse 27). The disciples, not knowing how to cope with that, get told what the palsied man had been told (in Matthew 9:2) “Be of good cheer.” You’ll notice that Jesus says this at times when apparently he senses the great need of encouragement and the defeat of fear in thought. “It is I,” he said, “be not afraid.”
[W: For a slide show illustration of Jesus and Peter walking on water check-out https://www.freebibleimages.org/illustrations/ed-peter-water/ Or, Download their Story Planner PDF and/or PowerPoint from the upper right of CedarS GEMs webpage.]
(Verse 28). Peter who (as usual) wants part of the action says, “That looks like fun, how about my coming out there and joining you?” Peter, not quite appreciating the consequences of his acts—fortunately for awhile—actually does it! He becomes the second one to walk on water.
(Verse 30). But then he begins to look where he is. “How did I get here?”
(Verse 31). At that point Jesus supports not only his own weight but also the weight of Peter in overcoming gravity, proving it is not a law of limitation for man. Man has dominion over gravity as well.
(Verse 32). Not only over gravity, but you will find that “the minute he gets into the boat, the wind ceases.” In other gospel accounts (e.g., John 6:21), “immediately the boat is at the land.” (They must have gone through the sound barrier and nobody was wearing helmets.)
So, even the so-called barriers to man’s being where he needs to be, from a standpoint of transportation, communication, etc., were proven to be no barriers at all in the hands of one who comprehended with his eye single. His relationship to God had, within his infinitude, no such limitations.
(Verse 35). When he lands on the other side, “many come to be healed.”
(Verse 36), “Many touch the hem of his garment.” Apparently the word had gotten around about that woman (in Matthew 9:20 and Mark 5:25) from recent Bible Lessons) who had done that, “and many were made perfectly whole.” Think of how many unrecorded healings occurred, or at least healings that we have yet to discover a written record about.”
“Book of Matthew, Auditing the Master, A Tax-Collector’s Report,” by B. Cobbey Crisler**
BONUS LINK to “RADICAL STEPS” — a Poem by Richard Howard from the May 8, 1976 issue of the Christian Science Sentinel about Peter’s Walking On Water (W.O.W!)
as recorded in Matthew 14:23-32, citation B8.
(See Verses 1 & 3 quoted below and the whole inspiring message at: https://sentinel.christianscience.com/issues/1976/5/78-19/radical-steps
Matthew 14:23-32
By Richard Howard
From the May 8, 1976 issue of the Christian Science Sentinel
“You can call him what you like—
impetuous, brash, outspoken—
but once he recognized the Christ
and heard that command,
he did what the others didn’t—
he stepped out onto the water and walked!
He didn’t wonder, he didn’t worry, he didn’t wait—
he didn’t even look to see if the others were behind him—
he just climbed out and walked.
… (See verse 2 at https://sentinel.christianscience.com/issues/1976/5/78-19/radical-steps )
“And now, sailor, what about us?
When the going gets rough,
and the waves pile up,
and the wind is contrary,
and the command is “Come!” which shall we do—
remain troubled and huddled and crying out,
or take those radical steps?”
Richard Howard
“LET NEITHER FEAR NOR DOUBT MAKE TO AFRAID” of what’s just an illusion!**
(Part of a 4-sentence treatment.) When an ILLUSION makes it appears that YOUR “BACK’S AGAINST the WALL,” PRAY a W.A.L.L. TREATMENT! —or C.A.L.L. treatment to know “who you gonna call?” (SH, 495:14-20, part of citation S14)
On page 495, lines 14-24 Mary Baker Eddy gives you (and the whole world) four powerful (and memoizable) sentences to guide your thoughts to healing when you are tempted to believe in the reality of some illusion or ghost of fear or doubt when it seems to be in your face.
W.A.L.L. Treatment (SH 495:14) These four sentences begin with the letters W, A, L, L—hence the W.A.L.L. treatment. This was a memory aid that came to me and has made it easier for me to remember the whole paragraph and use it often as a cornerstone for healings.
- “When the illusion…
- Allow nothing but his likeness to abide in your thought.
- Let neither fear nor doubt overshadow your clear sense and…
- Let Christian Science, instead of corporeal sense, support your understanding…” (cit. S16)
It also came to me that this paragraph could be called the C.A.L.L. Treatment (SH 495:14) A different acronym/memory aid can be made by using the first letters of the directive verbs in each of these same four sentences. They are Cling, Allow, Let and Let again—hence the C.A.L.L. treatment. This alternate memory devise came to me when tempted to be afraid of some illusion or lingering “ghostly” belief from the past, present or future (like Scrooge was in “A Christmas Carol” by Charles Dickens). Mary Baker Eddy unknowingly answered in-advance and brilliantly the question “Who you Gonna Call?” (from the 1984 movie “Ghostbusters” soundtrack song by Ray Parker Jr.). She treated all such “ghosts” as illusions in her ultimate, metaphysical “Ghostbuster” treatment that has served as a cornerstone for thousands of healings. –“When the illusion… tempts you,
- Cling Steadfastly to God and His idea.
- Allow nothing but his likeness to abide in your thought.
- Let neither fear** nor doubt overshadow your Clear Sense and calm trust…
- Let Christian Science instead of Corporeal Sense, support your understanding of being and…” (cit. S16)
(Reread carefully and consider memorizing the FULL, 10-line Christian Science treatment in Science and Health, page 495:14-24. Also of note are the four pairs of consecutive words (which I capitalized, highlighted and bolded above) all begin with C and S!
We’re faced with the barrage of news about resurging health and economic woes aggressive militarism and other forms of lawlessness – as well as with the hopefulness of peaceful protests which attempt to transform and uplift mankind out of hateful habits. To stay with the allness of God in the midst of this seeming somethingness of this evil we can always spiritualize thought as we C.A.L.L. on God and:
- C. Cling steadfastly to God and His idea [Christ]
- A. Allow nothing but His likeness to abide in your thought.
- L. Let neither fear nor doubt overshadow your clear sense and calm trust, that the recognition of life harmonious — as Life eternally is — can destroy any painful sense of, or belief in, that which Life is not.
- L. Let Christian Science, instead of corporeal sense, support your understanding of being, and this understanding will supplant error with Truth, replace mortality with immortality, and silence discord with harmony.” (SH 495:14-16, 20)
Such CALL-ing on God gives us something certain to “cling steadfastly to,” and overturns what appears to be a worldwide fixation on fear. The C.A.L.L. treatment is a sure defense. It protects us as we follow the Wayshower, to find comfort and healing for our whole global family.
“Jesus marked out the way. Citizens of the world, accept the ‘glorious liberty of the children of God,’ and be free! This is your divine right.” (SH 227:23-26)
FEEL FEARLESSLY ANCHORED IN ETERNITY and
NEVER LOSE SIGHT OF THE GRACE OF GOD’S PRESENCE! [Cobbey on Ps. 56:4, 13/cit.B9]
[Cobbey Crisler:] “…Paul ultimately had to get to the point where he was “forgetting those things that are behind” and, instead, “reaching forth unto those things which are before.” (Phil 3:13) That’s how he knew he would make progress…. That’s how he took Christianity around the globe. That’s how he found God’s grace – discovered the presence of God here – the link to God that he could now make his priority. And then he could never lose sight to his link to God, because if we never lose sight of that, we’re anchored in eternity. And there is nothing, then, as…one of the Psalms said that Jesus would sing before he went out to get dinner: “I will not fear what flesh (or man) can do unto me.” (Ps. 56:4)
“Remnant,” by B. Cobbey Crisler**
Treat fear, not the flesh, for dominion! Cobbey on Ps. 56:4 (pre-Golden Text) –
“Speaking of fear, look at Psalm 56, Verse 4, “I will not fear what?” “What flesh can do unto me.” So, flesh isn’t the problem. But guess what is? Fear. It’s fearing what flesh can do unto me. Flesh is not the patient, then. One of the most radical discoveries in Biblical therapy: we’ve been treating the wrong patient. That’s not the problem in Biblical thought. [It] wants to be absent from the flesh, not even weigh it in, factor it in to Biblical healing. The flesh has naught to say, but completely submits to what the mental state dictates. That’s dominion.”
“Leaves of the Tree: Prescriptions from Psalms,” by B. Cobbey Crisler**
WHEN SIMULTANEOUS PROBLEMS ARISE,
PRIORITIZE RECEPTIVITY & HEALING OVER RANK, LIKE JESUS DID.
Cobbey on Jesus dealing with time management of 2 urgent appeals (Mark 5:21-42/cit. B10)
[Cobbey Crisler on the Luke version of this healing “double-header”:] “In this case we have something that might present a problem. Two people that need attention simultaneously. What do you do?… Here’s how Jesus deals with it. He is first summoned by a ruler of the synagogue with a great deal of human priority. Jairus has the rank and he asks first. He’s got a more urgent need. His daughter is on the verge of dying (Luke 8:41). But Jesus can’t even get to the location where this girl is because of the crush of people in the narrow lanes of the Palestinian villages. The Greek word for “thronged” is often used to describe how close these groups got to one another. Jesus was nearly suffocated by the crowd.
“Later the disciples rebuked Jesus, in Verse 45, for asking “Who touched me?” To them it was ridiculous. Everybody was touching him. The Greek verb that’s used is a verb that means what happens to grain kernels between two grinding stones. They were ground really together. The people were that crowded.
“What happens? The woman does not wish to delay Jesus’ mission, but she is at the absolutely desperate end of a rope. Here we find the receptivity. Blessed are those who are in this state. Happy are those because the state of mind can be changed.
“This radical change of thought was in the presence of the Christ-correction that Jesus was exercising in the mental realm. It’s going to be sufficient and the woman feels that it will help her. She’s lost all her money on physicians. [No health insurance…] Mark even tells us that she’s worse because of that choice. [Mark 5:26] All she does is touch the border of his garment. The issue of blood, the continuous hemorrhaging that had occurred for twelve years had kept her out of the temple, kept her out of worship and made her as unclean as the lepers. With all sorts of legislative rules around her, she herself could not be touched because it would make the individual who did it unclean. But we find that Jesus welcomed that dear woman from the standpoint of God’s welcome, because he said, “the Son can do nothing of himself, but what he seeth the father do.” (John 5:19).
“In Luke 8, Verse 48 he calls that lady, “Daughter.” Whose daughter? Certainly, not his. In fact, he lifts that word “daughter” entirely out of any sense of blood relationship. That was the woman’s problem. He lifts even her identity out of blood.
“Daughter, be of good comfort” (Verse 48). Look at how he’s addressing the thought of that woman. Not only the precious relationship to God, but the comfort. She hasn’t experienced that in twelve years. She’d lost all her money. She was about to be thrown on the society. There was nowhere to go when you were thrown on society. That may have happened to the woman who had been a sinner. Prostitution was the only open career for many women when they were simply thrown out and discarded from normal humanity. She could not get a living unless her family supported her, and there is no indication of that happening.
“Jesus refuses to allow that woman to walk away from the scene thinking that physical contact with his robe had anything to do with the healing. He says, again, “Your faith hath made you whole.” The word “whole” and the word “heal” in Anglo-Saxon have the identical root. It implies that disease is something less than wholeness, that it is a fragmentation of our being. Healing is the condition of being made whole.
“We understand that equation when Jesus said, “If your eye be single” Matthew 6:22), indivisible, not shared, no divisions in it and no double vision. It is single-mindedness and persistency, as we see Jesus requiring later in our book, which results in man being whole as God views him.
“The other half of the time crunch demand and Christ’s use of humor to clear out funerial thought:
When Jesus goes to the raising of Jairus’ daughter, we don’t find any reason to bemoan the delay in getting there. Even though the news comes back that the daughter has died in the meantime (Verse 49). That is the human news. Jesus goes right in and clears the environment out (Verse 51). Notice, again, this must be telling us something about what is required in order to heal.
“The thought of death is so weighted down with its inevitability and grief that Jesus has to clear it out. Notice how he does so, incisively and brilliantly. He couldn’t clear them out while they were weeping. That was acceptable at a funeral. Jesus would have occupied the villain’s role.
“So, he simply tells them something that was an absolute fact to him, “That maid, right there that you see horizontal, no movement, no breath, no pulse, no anything, that little girl, she’s really not dead. That appearance that you see there is like sleep (Verse 52). And I am going to awaken her life.” All the paid mourners who were earning their salary for conducting a funeral service, and everybody else who had witnessed the tragedy associated with this little girl passing away laughed (Verse 53).
“Can you clear laughers out of funerals? There is certainly more justification from a social standpoint than with weepers. It also showed how deeply their grief had run. Forgetting every reason why they were there, they turned to laughing him to scorn. He put them all out.
“He went to the little girl, “Maid arise” (Verse 54). “Her spirit came again, she arose straightway” (Verse 55). And that beautiful practicality of Jesus, “Give her meat,” give her something to eat (Verse 55). What else would a twelve-year-old girl want anyway? It was also an announcement that everything was quite normal.”
“Luke, the Researcher,” by B. Cobbey Crisler**
LOVE INTO VIEW OUR SHEPHERD’S DIVINE SUPPLY AS INEXHAUSTIBLE!
[Warren:] To frequently remind me of this, I brought home from my January 2020 trip to the Holy Land both a spoon cradle and T-shirts with the graphic of an ancient mosaic of the loaves and fish. (See online Downloads at the bottom online.) The T-shirt has this reminder that’s perfect for all Christians as well as CedarS workers & donors to live by:
“LOVE IS LIKE FIVE LOAVES AND TWO FISH.
ALWAYS TOO LITTLE UNTIL YOU START TO GIVE IT AWAY”
Below are Cobbey Crisler’s insights on Mark’s version of the feeding of the multitude. [Cobbey Crisler on the start of citation B11 that comes right before his feeding the 5,000:] “Mark 6, Verse 34 (in this week’s Bible Lesson we have the Matthew 15:29-38 version as citation B17). And he sees that “they were as sheep not having a shepherd.”
Look up that comment and you will find it in the Old Testament. Then read around it in the Old Testament to get the context of it. You will hardly find a statement by Jesus that does not have an Old Testament root or precedent, which is why he is always saying, “It is written.” But, many of the times when he doesn’t say it-is-written, it is implied.
The only so-called miracle in all four gospels is the feeding of the “five thousand,” Verses 35-44. I put it in quotes because they were only counting the men. Out of the little boy’s lunch box comes five loaves and two fishes. We hear that from the gospel of John Chapter 6, Verse 13. They feed a multitude. Now we have a lesson on economics given to us by the Master. He didn’t regard that as a problem either. No Malthusian limitation on man that we’re going to outgrow our supply, and, therefore, we should kill off sectors of the human race in order to meet the supply. That’s Malthus and his philosophy of necessity. But we find Jesus saying instead in Matthew 14:16, “They need not depart.” Malthus says they need to be killed, but Jesus is saying, “They need not depart.”
Mark 6.37. The disciples say it would be impossible to feed the multitude, that it would take about “two hundred pennyworth.” The group was considerably more than five thousand if you count the women and the children.
What Jesus said to all the disciples made them become part of the remedy. Twelve baskets were taken around. There were twelve disciples. Each one was made to participate in the abundant result and learn from it. They started out with only five loaves and two fishes. They ended up with more fragments left over than they had when they started out. More available. That’s divine economics. It doesn’t exhaust.”
“What Mark Recorded,” by B. Cobbey Crisler**
[W: Watch for a BONUS (to be emailed separately) that shares a modern-day, loaves-and-fishes, example of divine supply as an amazing and quick answer to a humble prayer made with “an absolute faith that all things are possible to God, a spiritual understanding of Him, an unselfed love.” (SH 1:1)]
ACCEPT THE GEM OF CHRIST’S MANDATE TO “HEAL ALL MANNER OF SICKNESS”(at https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=qktVwKMaSJ8 as shown by “The Chosen”)
Jesus sends disciples two-by-two as in cit. B13/Luke 9:1+ as Cobbey relates in Matt. 10:1+
{Cobbey Crisler:] “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**
DO THE “IMPERATIVE COMMANDS*” JESUS KNEW WE DISCIPLES ARE CAPABLE OF WHEN HE COMMANDED US TO DO THEM! [*summarized by Mary Baker Eddy in SH 37:25 (cit. S22) with Cobbey insights on: 1) Matt. 5:48; 2) Acts 2:16, 17 on Mark 16:15; 3) Matt 10:8.]
- Mine the GEM of obeying Jesus’ 1st “imperative command”—See & Be Your Perfect Self!
(SH 37:27, cit. S32—and Cobbey Crisler on Matthew 5, Verse 48]
[Cobbey Crisler:] Jesus’ final summary … “We should be perfect,” he said. According to what measurement? How does he regard when he got the revelation from God that Jesus was the Son of God? Did that mean for Jesus that he was the only Son of God? Notice the same relationship goes beyond, to us. Because he said it’s a mandate, “Be ye therefore perfect.” Why? “Even as your Father which is in heaven is perfect.” If the original is perfect, the image must be.
Again, we can compare how Moses viewed this. He had somewhat the same to say. But he didn’t say it in the strength of the present tense that Jesus did. In fact, in Deuteronomy 18, (Verse 13), Moses is recorded as saying, “Thou shalt be perfect before the Lord thy God.” Same point but different tense. Jesus said, “Be ye therefore perfect.”
“Book of Matthew, Auditing the Master: A Tax-Collectors Report,” B. Cobbey Crisler**
- Mine the GEM of obeying Jesus’ 2nd “imperative command*”— “Go ye into all the world, and preach…” [Mark 16:15 in *SH 37:27, cit. S32—+ Cobbey Crisler insights on Peter’s keeping this universal preaching command from Jesus in his first public lecture (Acts 2:16, 17) by citing further scriptural justification for his universal outreach of preaching to all.]
[Cobbey:] “…what is Peter’s method? He goes where? To the scripture. You see, it goes back to “the prophet Joel.” (See below, Acts 2:16)
Acts 2:16 But this is that which was spoken by the prophet Joel;
Here is again a use of scripture as fulfillment! Here is prophesy, and here is fulfillment, dovetailing – all, subordinate to the Holy Spirit.
And, the prophecy we read about is about “pouring out the Spirit of God on all flesh.” (See below, Paraphrased) Please note that Acts 2, verse 17, included “not only sons, but daughters, shall prophesy.” (See below)
Acts 2:17 And it shall come to pass in the last days, saith God, I will pour out of my Spirit upon all flesh: and your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, and your young men shall see visions, and your old men shall dream dreams:
And this free, uninhibited, and still disciplined, access to the one Spirit by all nations, peoples, sexes, social levels, economic status, characterizes Christianity from the very beginning – not necessarily in the member’s thought, but that’s what the Holy Ghost is communicating, whether the members believe it or hear it, even today.
The separation into denominationalism was not the Holy Spirit’s idea. The embracing of universal humanity was. And here, we find even the ability to prophecy, both sexes, and not necessarily limited to nationality.”
“After the Master What? — The Book of Acts” by B. Cobbey Crisler**
- Mine the GEM of obeying Jesus’ 3rd “imperative command*”— “Heal the sick!”
(*SH 37:27, cit. S32—and Cobbey Crisler insights on Matthew 10, Verse 7, 8]
[Cobbey:] “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? It was 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.”
“Book of Matthew, Auditing the Master: A Tax-Collectors Report,” by B. Cobbey Crisler**
