LEADING OFF WITH NEW GEMS** of JESUS’ HEALINGS** TO HELP US SOLVE ALL PROBLEMS of a FALLEN ADAM-man!
Sunday, October 31st, 2021
By Warren Huff (with insights from Cobbey Crisler)
LEADING OFF WITH NEW GEMS** of JESUS’ HEALINGS** TO HELP US SOLVE ALL PROBLEMS of a FALLEN ADAM-man! USE BIBLE EXAMPLES AS SPRINGBOARDS FOR MODERN-DAY PROOFS!
Insights by Cobbey Crisler and others** for the Christian Science Quarterly Bible Lesson on
“Adam and Fallen Man”
for Sunday, November 7, 2021
(Cobbey’s text is shared with Janet Crisler’s blessing) by Warren Huff,
CedarS Executive Director Emeritus, warren@cedarscamps.org
**NEW:** LIKE JESUS, PUT ALL ASIDE FOR THE PRIORITY OF HEALING, AN ESSENTIAL PART OF CHURCH!
Cobbey on Mark’s version of Peter’s mother-in-law’s healing (Mark 1:29-31/cit. B12)
[Cobbey :] Jesus “comes out of the synagogue.” He’s just established healing as part of his definition of the church. Healing as a regular activity of the church. If we are not witnessing healings, we are not fully within Jesus’ definition of his church. Coming out of the synagogue, he goes to Simon Peter and Andrew’s house, one which has apparently been discovered by archeologists in Capernaum.
Verse 30. “Simon’s mother-in-law.” You have to be married to have a mother-in-law, “sick of a fever.
Verse 31. Notice the church’s healing activity is not confined to the four walls we call synagogue or church. That same healing aspect of the ever-presence of God comes into the humble home of Peter and Andrew, “healing Peter’s mother-in-law.”
“What Mark Recorded,” by B. Cobbey Crisler**
BONUS OF MATTHEW’S VERSION OF JESUS HEALING PETER’S MOTHER-IN-LAW OF THE FLU.
He put aside all for the priority of healing. Cobbey Crisler on Matt 8:14-16.
[Cobbey:] “(Verse 14. We come to the third healing [in Matthew’s series of 10 of Jesus’ proofs after the Sermon on the Mount of his Messiahship by his works, the healing of Peter’s mother-in-law. To have a mother-in-law, Peter had to be married. Peter had a wife. It’s on the Sabbath day, too. But does Jesus consider women that important? Would he break the Sabbath for a woman? One may think that he might for a man. But would he do it for a woman? He does.
Whatever business he had in Peter’s house, he puts all aside and gives priority to the mother-in-law’s needs. Despite the fact that it was the Sabbath. (Verse 15). He heals her of fever. [W: So much, for the supposed length and severity of the flu virus —as well as for its being communicable… “and she arose and ministered unto them.”]
(Verse 16). “Many come, when the even was come to be healed.” Why the evening? Because then the Sabbath is over and they could all come without any fear of recriminations from the Jews.”
“Book of Matthew, Auditing the Master: A Tax Collector’s Report”, by B. Cobbey Crisler**
BONUS OF LUKE’s version: Like Jesus, stick with the only real power, the power of the Spirit!
Cobbey Crisler on Luke 4:14
“Luke indicates that he understands that this Jesus’ period of temptations in the wilderness has been a power test for Jesus. In Verse 14 he uses that word, “Jesus returned” not in any form of power that Satan had tried to impose upon him [“to take personal power, political power, and priestly power”]. But rather, “in the power of the Spirit into Galilee”— [“in the law that relates man directly to God, the source of the only power there is.]
We find that Jesus’ radical challenge to the human mind is such that this devil is absolutely removed from his mentality, shown never to have been a part of it. Normalcy, dignity of manhood, are restored.
No one had witnessed such authority before, where the word is followed by the deed. Just like creation where God said (in Genesis 1:3), “Let there be, and there was.” There is no lapse between promise and fulfillment from God’s point of view. Breathing in the Holy Ghost is our way of imaging forth God’s authority on-earthas-in-heaven, imaging forth that “Let there be Light.”
“Let there be health is our breathing in the divine fact that the Holy Ghost is inspiring us to feel. Our utilization of that fact is like our breathing out, giving out what we’ve taken in. It becomes “and there was light” or health. Just as natural as that. Breathing in, “Let there be,” and breathing out, “and there was.”
(in Verse 38) The next healing is Simon’s mother-in-law. We see Luke’s very tender approach to womanhood. In fact, of all the gospels, Luke makes an even greater emphasis on the subject of womanhood’s role and place. You see Jesus’ great care for Simon’s mother-in-law, and her need for healing. … After all, women in his day were not all that important. And, Jesus probably had much more significant things to do and to tell the male disciples, and we could get around to the mother-in-law later, even if she was suffering from fever.
BUT, the minute Jesus heard that, he went directly to that woman’s bedside and he eliminated that sense of fever. He did it without medication, without manipulation, without surgery. Does it relate back to what Jesus himself indicated was his remedy in his opening words, “Repent,” changing one’s concept? Does it transform our body? Immediately she arose” (Verse 39), no recuperation necessary.
ACCEPT CHRIST’S ABILITY TO BRING THE SAME HEALING AIR TO EVERYONE AT THE SAME TIME.
[Cobbey:] “In Luke 4, Verse 40 as healing increases, we find that many healings occur, especially around the Sea of Galilee. Is it any more difficult for Jesus to heal collectively than it is individually? It doesn’t seem to take much more time, does it?
Who does Jesus say is responsible for the healing? If God is responsible for the healing, does He love all His creation as instantly as he loves each individual part of His creation? Can that love reach collectively? Is it present collectively? If that’s the basis for Jesus healing, then we see that healing a multitude was just as normal and natural as breathing, and as healing an individual.
What is the atmosphere there? If the Holy Ghost is there, then we all can breathe that same air simultaneously.
The healings were apparently permanent. There was no standing in line. Jesus didn’t say, “All right, all the ears, eye, nose, and throat people over here.” He didn’t deal with them as a specialist would deal with them. He dealt with them as a general practitioner, as if he could be consulted and he could join with others in prayer and to be at-one with God, whether it was one individual or hundreds or thousands. Remember, he fed thousands from that same point of view.”
“Book of Luke: Luke the Researcher,” by B. Cobbey Crisler**
Like Jesus, stick with the only real power, the power of the Spirit! When Jesus had finished 40 days of “sheltering in place” in the wilderness, 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…, B18) Let us, like Jesus, as we come out of our wilderness, waiting experiences, stick with the only real power, the power of the Spirit!
[Cobbey Crisler on Luke 4:14… (B18)] “Luke indicates that he understands that this [Jesus’ period of temptations in the wilderness has been a power test for Jesus. In Verse 14 he uses that word, “Jesus returned” not in any form of power that Satan had tried to impose upon him [“to take personal power, political power, and priestly power”]. But rather, “in the power of the Spirit into Galilee”— [“in the law that relates man directly to God, the source of the only power there is.]
“Luke the Researcher,” by B. Cobbey Crisler**
**NEW:** BE RECEPTIVE TO GOD’S UNFORGETTABLE, LIFE-SAVING POWER! ACCEPT THAT “IN CHRIST SHALL ALL BE MADE ALIVE!” (I Cor. 15:22/cit. B13) Cobbey on Luke 7:11-16/cit. B16
[Cobbey Crisler on dead son of Nain widow raised!] “Were it not for Luke, we would not have had preserved for us one of three recorded times that Jesus raised someone from the dead (Luke 7:11-17). There is a significant fact about the accounts of raising the dead in the Bible. They are not all in the New Testament. The significance is that not all healings made a sufficient impact at the time to have impressed upon human memory the location where it occurred. This is why you will find statements mentioning when Jesus went to a particular village.
However, in every case of raising the dead, from the Old Testament all the way through the New Testament, the human mind was startled by seeing what it accepted as the impossible, occur. This is what is in common about Zarephath. Shunem, Nain, Capernaum. Bethany, Jerusalem, Joppa, and Troas. They didn’t forget where it happened. The details of the healing are particularly sharp.
In this case we have a city called Nain, probably a village as it is today. There is still an ancient cemetery outside the gate. There was a lonely widow at the head of this procession. Jesus, detecting thought again, saw her entire situation at one glance. He came to her and said, “Weep not” (Verse 13). He dealt with the heavy weight of grief on thought, touched the coffin (Verse 14), strictly forbidden under Jewish law, and then said, “Young man.”
Notice the radical nature of what Jesus said. The only one supposedly there who could not hear was the one Jesus addressed. He must have expected that man’s faculty of hearing to be normal. “Young man, I say unto thee, Arise.” He doesn’t help him either.
Dominion over death is part of that unqualified dominion God gave to man. As a matter of fact, dominion, as a word, as a concept, simply can’t be qualified. If it is, you no longer have dominion. (Verse 15,) “He that was dead sat up, and began to speak. He delivered him to his mother. “
Also, it might be interesting for you to recall that of the three times Jesus raised the dead, womanhood played a prominent role every time. It was Jesus’ compassion and awareness of the thought of this woman that lead him to raise her son. In the case of Lazarus (John 11:1-46), Mary and Martha urgently had requested Jesus to come. In the case of Jairus it was his twelve-year-old daughter (Luke 8:41, 42, 49-56).
These things don’t just happen. If Jesus is dealing with mentality, if he is requiring much out of the patient’s thought, then there must be a receptivity in order to get a result.
I think that we can derive a certain conclusion about the receptivity of womanhood, especially on the subject of resurrection. For if you move ahead a few chapters in your thought right now, you will recall there was no man anywhere near the tomb, including those who are reputed to have been Jesus’ closest disciples. But the women were there and receptive to resurrection.”
“Luke, the Researcher,” by B. Cobbey Crisler**
READ ABOUT & FIND HEALING IN A SIMPLE, CLASSIC POEM
THAT DEBUNKS THE FABLE OF YOUR DUST-MAN ORIGIN WITH THE FACT OF YOUR SPIRITUAL ROOTS (in Genesis 1/cit. B1 vs. Genesis 2 & 3/cits. B2 & B3)
GENESIS 1 OR GENESIS 2
by Woodruff Smith
Where did it begin this idea called you?
In Genesis 1, or Genesis 2?
Which one of these concepts
Will prove to be true?
If you know what is what,
Do you know who is who?
In Genesis 1 in the 26th verse
There’s a man with never a taint’ of a curse.
But in Genesis 2 in verse number seven
There’s a dust man conceived…
He’ll never see heaven.
So, it really comes down
To which one you will claim,
What thou see’st thou be’st…
So, what is your name?
There they both stand.
Which one is you?
Is it immortal man one,
Or mortal man two?
If you’re immortal man
You know what you’re worth.
For according to law
You’ll inherit the earth.
But if you’re just a mortal
And made out of dust…
Is there anything to you
That’s worthy of trust?
No, the thing they call man
In Genesis 2
Is the dream of the dreamer.
It never was you.
So, know what you are.
Take your place in the sun,
You’re the immortal man
Of Genesis 1.
TESTIMONY OF HEALING [“The proof is in the pudding.”]
I gave a testimony one night in our Golden, Colorado church based on the ideas from a poem I really liked, which said, “Which of these men do you think of as you, Genesis One or Genesis Two?”
A couple of weeks later a businessman, not knowing I was behind him, probably, testified that he had heard a rather banal, trite testimony a couple of weeks ago from someone who recited that line, “Which of these men do you think of as you, Genesis One or Genesis Two?” and he thought it was so trivial, so lightweight.
He went to a business meeting in Atlanta, Georgia after that and was in a hotel room in the middle of the night, sound asleep with his wife beside him, when he had a massive heart attack.
He said he wasn’t naive, he knew what was happening, and he knew he was in a life-threatening situation. He was totally helpless, so helpless he could not even cry out to his wife for help, obviously could not call a practitioner, and he said for the first time in
his life he felt completely helpless. He tried to repeat the Lord’s Prayer, the 23rd Psalm, the Scientific Statement of Being, but he couldn’t remember them, couldn’t put them together.
He felt totally mentally jumbled and then he recalled a very simplistic statement…”Which of these men do you think of as you, Genesis One or Genesis Two?” and he realized that it wasn’t so banal after all, that if he were a Genesis Two man he would probably not live through the night, but if he were a Genesis One man he could claim his dominion over the “things of the flesh.”
He did it. He said the pain lifted immediately and he felt whole and well. He decided the poem was OK after all.
–Lona lngwerson, CS
AWAKE from the ADAM DREAM to SALVATION from SIN, DISEASE & DEATH! Cobbey Crisler on Genesis 1 (B1) & Genesis 2 (B2)
[Cobbey in “The Gethsemane Decision”] “Can we change choices if we have made the wrong ones? Do you find the Bible filled with this choice-making? How does it open, for instance?
“Genesis 1 (B1) and Genesis 2 (B11) are clearly a choice, aren’t they? They contradict each other. We really cannot live with both although most of us are undoubtedly trying. The necessity to make a decision, important decision, relates back to how the pioneer Christian made his decision…
“… This Adam-problem is something that is not limited to the discussion in Genesis. We find it referred to and alluded to throughout the Bible, as if it represents in symbols the human problem. One Bible commentator in discussing the choice between the Adam-man and the Christ-man, represented by Jesus, indicates that the way these terms are used in the New Testament especially, it looks like the intent is that each one, Adam and Jesus, are representatives of an entirely different human race. They are completely opposite. Humanhood following Jesus is ending up at a destination completely opposed to the destination of the Adam followers. There may be something in humanhood we have barely glimpsed, if at all.
“Jesus found what humanhood could be when the Divine was behind it every step of the way. There is nothing in Jesus’ humanhood that could stop the Divine from manifesting itself on earth as in heaven. This may be our decision we’re talking about.
“Jesus refused to allow anything to obstruct the divine will from operating on earth. Look what he was able to do with his own humanhood as well as with the humanhood of others as a result. He could take his fragile, one would think, human frame, anatomically speaking, through what was apparently at least the sound barrier, if not the light barrier. In no way did his body hamper him when he walked above the water.
“He therefore had dominion, obviously, over what we call a law of gravity. Yet when he subdued gravity through this sense of dominion, gravity had no control over the dominion-man. Notice he was not like our astronauts, weightless as the result of negating gravity. He was still in absolute control of every aspect of his being and progressing toward his destination. He didn’t have to do it step-by-step because we hear that when he set foot in the boat instantly, not only Jesus, but the comprehension of Jesus could embrace his disciples plus boat, and get all of them through what we feel today, technologically would require heat-resistant metal, crash helmets, oxygen masks, or whatever else in order to preserve the human frame, and to get it through such stresses and pressures and tensions. Jesus was used to the pressure of Gethsemane, the olive press. He did not fear what flesh could do to him, obviously…”
“The Gethsemane Decision,” by B. Cobbey Crisler**
BE MADE ALIVE by CHRIST’s EXAMPLE that SOLVES ALL PROBLEMS of a FALLEN ADAM-man!
Cobbey Crisler on I Corinthians 15:22/cit. B13, + S&H 564:14 & 25:16
[Cobbey:] “…If our thesis as presented is accurate, that the implication of Paul’s statement in I Corinthians 15:22: “As in Adam all die, even so in Christ shall all be made alive” presents problem and solution, or remedy. Then one of the greatest research jobs awaiting all of us is to get back into that problem called Adam which we’re all wrestling with.
“Just make a list of everything you detect that Adam did wrong mentally and physically. Because, if it is true that Jesus’ mission was to remedy the Adam man and wipe that alternative off the face of man’s consciousness, then everything that Adam did wrong which was upside down Jesus is going to put right side up and prove that man is upright. Many things may occur to you, for instance in the initial phases of such a list which we could just touch upon. Adam’s problem occurred in what environment? The garden of Eden. Where did Jesus face down and confront that Adam- problem? The Garden of Gethsemane. Is this a coincidence? Is Gethsemane intended to be the remedy for the problems of Eden in our own thinking? I love in that context to remember Isaiah’s words [Isaiah 1:29] when he says, “Ye shall be confounded for the gardens ye have chosen.” Eden, Gethsemane.
“Adam’s problem, though, is probably symbolized most graphically by what? He had been told not to do something, what was it? “Not to eat of that tree” [Genesis 3:3]. Instead he went and did it. The disobedience, doing one’s own will, would have to be totally remedied right up with the same even greater peak pressure on a humanhood that had just announced to the world that the way to get out of this Adam-mess is to yield to God’s will regardless of the pressure upon you, so [it’s] doing God’s will versus doing one’s own will. (“Jesus presented the ideal man… By his obedience to God he demonstrated more spiritually than all others the Principle of being.” (cit. S7/25:16)
“The tree of knowledge of good and evil. You know that the New Testament refers several times to the cross as the tree, that they nailed Jesus to the tree [Acts 13:29; 1Peter 2:24]. Interesting symbolism. The attempt to nail Jesus as if he were one more in the dying race of Adam, to be nailed to death, and that’s the termination and the end of anything that he would offer man radically as salvation. Jesus could not be nailed on the cross any more than God’s man could be nailed on the cross, and thus his theology was exemplified.
“Do you remember, – just things like this to show you how much fun this work can be as well – part of the curse on Adam [Genesis 3:17,18] was that thorns will be brought forth unto him. Did Jesus have to face Adam’s thorns on that weekend?
“In the sweat of thy face shalt thou eat bread…dust thou [art], and unto dust shalt thou return” [Genesis 3:19]. The grave was the pressure of the dust he was to return to. There are many other details showing the complete reversal of the Adam. It’s as if the highest sense of mind on earth, which had relinquished its right to mind except by reflection, is turning everything right side up just as we do visually. That topic is far from being exhausted. In fact, what can exhaust an infinite reservoir? It’s one thing about supply in the Bible. It’s never consumed. Therefore, there are no consumers.
“We’re going to review the actual events of the Gethsemane experience and see some of the differences. What Jesus faced, what he was remedying, why he was there and see that we must, just for gratitude’s sake alone, have a stake in that Gethsemane, pioneer work. But then we must take it beyond this. We must go and do likewise.
“Matthew 26:30 “When they had sung an hymn, they went out into the mount of Olives.” A hymn before Gethsemane. That shows the value Jesus places on such an uplifting of thought through the conjoining of music and words. The meaning that is often conveyed even more deeply to us when we have that unity of soul expressed by thought in that manner…
“…Jesus could say in part of that hymn that he sang before Gethsemane which is locatable in the later psalms, is still sung today at Passover, that he needed not to fear what man or flesh could do. Out of that experience flowed the oil that is still blessing us, is still being utilized. We’re not in an oil crisis today if we’re in the way with Jesus. We maybe at a “parting of the ways,” the meaning of the word crisis. We may be challenged regularly and often to make our right decisions, our right choice, our Gethsemane decision.
“Then, the result of no longer bowing down to a human will, no longer seeing within us any domination by others through their human will, but filled with the Holy Ghost’s own message, the angel that strengthens Jesus at that moment, according to Luke. That angel awaits to strengthen us today.
“The world with its creaky joints awaits, needs, yearns, for more Christ-oil to be poured from the thoughts and lives of those who have made the decision, are continuing to make the decision, and are moving from Gethsemane at the base of the Mount of Olives to the summit of the Mount of Olives where Jesus himself ascended. We never have to budge from that mount. It represents both cross and crown, both problem and solution. And therefore, that oil which negates the experience of the cross and delivers the crown shows us that those two symbols, as precious as they are in Scripture, are inseparable. If the cross represents the problem, and the crown the solution, then intertwined they deliver that simple message to me, problem solved. That is the result of the Gethsemane decision.”
“The Gethsemane Decision,” by B. Cobbey Crisler**
KEEP GROUNDED in YOUR “LIKENESS” to GOD INSPIRED by GENESIS 1:26 and “The “I, Yi, Yi Song””
with many references to “image” & “likeness” such as in Science & Health p. 200/cit. S16; 94:1-6/cit. S18; 476:28-5/SS21; 90:24-25/S30
from Next Generation Fellowship 2018 by Mike Griswold (vocal) Mike Tice (guitar). Released: 2018.
LISTEN (by clicking black bar in the online version) for an ORIGINAL ‘LITTLE DITTY” on REFLECTION
(written, sung and offered VIA EMAIL by longtime CedarS staff member, Mike Griswold, now the Director of the Music Ministry at Brentwood Christian Science Church/Next Generation Fellowship
email for more: musicamonteverde@gmail.com
“CHERISH NOTHING WHICH HINDERS (Y)our HIGHEST SELFHOOD”
and the “Ten Specs” for YOU from “Spirit, the great architect,” (citation S11/SH 68:4-6)
[Warren:] When I was studying for my architectural licensing exam many years ago, the following citation from Mary Baker Eddy was in the Christian Science Bible Lesson and stood out to me.
“Sometime we shall learn how “Spirit, the great architect,” has created men and women in Science. We ought to weary of the fleeting and false and cherish nothing which hinders our highest selfhood.” (cit. S11/68:4-6)
I reasoned that architects communicate their design intentions not only with drawings (and sometimes models), but also with written documents, called specifications. The ten categories of architectural “specs” spell out quality standards for each stage of every project and for every building component in order to guarantee the highest quality and longevity of their creations. I asked God, “what are Your “specs” for ‘our highest selfhood’ as your creation?” Right away the answer came—the Ten Commandments, of course. I had fun then, and ever since, discovering the valuable connections between the ten categories of specifications (specs) that architects write to guarantee the quality and longevity of their work and the Ten Commandments provided by God to guarantee that we live up to “our highest selfhood.” This gave me a whole new take on the Commandments. No longer were they seen as ten, dictatorial restrictions to LIMIT us, but as ten ways established by God to protect, heal and BLESS us. I hope you enjoy finding and applying the fun links between these Ten Specs, the Ten Commandments and healings in your own life and in others.
The ten God’s-eye views of the spiritual you — in the Download pdf —were written by “*the finger of God” to bring health to your body by looking AWAY from it to God, instead of looking AT the body or TO it, as if it were in control. (*Deut. 9:10, Luke 11:20) In these powerful, Ten-Commandments views of the real you, you can see how they work as your Divine Identity Protection Plan—set-up and upheld by “Spirit, the great architect.” (S&H 68)
… (Get your Ten “Specs” as a Download PDF on this GEM webpage.)
“ARISE, SHINE, for thy light has come” AS ONE WHO SERVES — TO GOD’S DELIGHT!
See the message from Isaiah 60:1 (citation B18) as embroidered in Hebrew as well as in English on a prayer shawl from Israel. It’s a message from God – meant for YOU today!
[See an online picture of my prayer shawl below, plus other insights by Cobbey Crisler from the book of Isaiah about the prophesied servant. [Isaiah 42:1, 7 and Isa. 61:1.]
[Cobbey:] “Chapter 42:1, in a prophesy of a servant who should come, the “elect of God” who would have “the Spirit of God upon him.” You will notice in Verse 7 (and Isaiah 61:1 what the assignment of this servant would be, “To open the blind eyes, to bring out the prisoners from the prison, [and] them that sit in darkness out of the prison house.”
“Isn’t it interesting that the prophet Isaiah foresees this prophesied individual in the terms of “a servant” when the Greek word most often in the New Testament for healing has the classical Greek meaning of “to serve.” You remember how Jesus defined his ministry in those terms, “I came not to be ministered unto but to minister” [Matthew 20:28; Mark 10:45]. Healing is serving by definition in Greek. Serving whom? God and man.”
“Heal the Sick”: A Scriptural Record,” by B. Cobbey Crisler**
REALIZE (or “real-eyes”) the POWER of Paul’s advice to the Philippians TO BE FORWARD-LOOKING INSTEAD OF BACKWARD-LOOKING TO HELP RESOLVE ALL MISTAKES EVER MADE.
How heavenly it would be to rise above partisan politics for unity around our common good! Getting caught-up in a polarized “blame game,” is “mental quackery” and only postpones real solutions. Paul tells us plainly to “do…this one thing” to come out “perfect” on the other side of any seeming disaster – “…forgetting those things which are behind, and reaching forth unto those things that are before…” Philippians 3:13, 14/citation B19)
[A Cobbey Crisler insight relating the story of Stephen’s stoning in Acts 6 & 7 to Phil. 3:13, 14/cit. B19:]
[Cobbey:] “Was Stephen’s martyrdom in vain? (“No.” From member of audience) It was probably always in the memory of Paul.
(It) may have something to do with the “thorn in the flesh,” which he says reminds him continually, of his past.
II Cor 12:7 And lest I should be exalted above measure through the abundance of the revelations, there was given to me a thorn in the flesh, the messenger of Satan to buffet me, lest I should be exalted above measure.
“Paul had to forget his past. Can you imagine that anyone here in this room, and I think all of us have a past that we would like to forget. If we dwell on the past, we’d like to forget, we’re not going to forget it. And Paul’s approach to that might be good advice for us.
“Because, remember he said, “Therefore forgetting those things which are behind, and reaching forth unto those things which are before, I press toward the mark….” (See Philippians 3:13, 14 below, also citation B19)
Phil 3:13 Brethren, I count not myself to have apprehended: but this one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind, and reaching forth unto those things which are before,
Phil 3:14 (citation B19] “I press toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus.”
“So, he went forward despite what he had done.”]
“After the Master What? – The Book of Acts,” by B. Cobbey Crisler**
[Warren:] Mary Baker Eddy echoes this life-lesson in Science & Health: “When we learn that error is not real, we shall be ready for progress, “forgetting those things that are behind.” (SH 353:22)
[Warren:] Here’s a past CedarS application activity to bring new life to Paul’s advice in Philippians 3:13 that we’d love to do again as part of our hands-on, Bible Outdoors curriculum in CedarS Bible Lands Park. Hundreds of campers and staff have happy, hands-on memories of doing a fun, spiritual growth, “Tire Traversal” activity at CedarS in the 1980s and ‘90s. Using two, side-by-side sets of 19 tires suspended on aircraft cables between a double set of big trees on opposite shores of a Crown Lake cove, we challenged campers to race a friend (or themselves) using the one piece of advice that Paul gives to perfection-seekers in his day and in ours. To get from to their destination on the far side of the cove, perfection-seekers needed to freely swing from the tire they were on and eagerly release it as they reached out for the next one— symbolically dropping the past and seizing the now in line with Paul’s Philippians 3:13 tip on how to be perfect.
We were forced to discontinue this fun, hands-on application of this Bible message because one winter a visiting beaver community chewed through the supporting trees and used them to make a home on Crown Lake! We have “forgotten” that loss in favor of “reaching out” to demonstrate an even better dream. We hope to re-build twin, side-by-side Tire Traversals. (This time we’ll use power poles, treated so as to NOT be tasty to beavers.) These Tire Traversals will be spiritual-growth teaching-tools, this time in our Bible Lands Park near Philippi—and will serve as a fun element in a future, hands-on-learning tour of Paul’s journeys. Estimates to accomplish it start at ~$7,000 (or less with some donated services & materials). We’d love to keep our eyes on this prize to provide activities that teach Biblical life-lessons in fun, hands-on ways!
[W.:] If you’re an angel wanting to help us love this dream into view, consider this project as an unselfish way for you to make a tax-deductible investment. Just call us for more info or to donate at 636-394-6162!)
FIND FRESH, HOLY WAYS DAILY TO EXPRESS “GOD’S BEING …(OF) INFINITY, FREEDOM, HARMONY AND BOUNDLESS BLISS.” (cit. S29/481:2)
As we more fully embrace Life’s forever newness and substantial, eternally sustained supply as outlined in the Bible Lesson this week, you and I will fully expect fun, fresh ways for God to supply answers to all our needs.
As our lives sing with new manifestations of “infinity, freedom, harmony, and boundless bliss,” all their supposed opposites will naturally be ruled out of us thereby enabling us to overcome: every lie of LIMITATION; every seemingly ENSLAVING habit; every thought of inharmony, division and strife; and every UNHAPPINESS arising from disappointed human will.
And, what a relief to know that it’s by God’s “amazing grace”— not by any of our own efforts, other than that of leaning on God — that we are given lives “big with blessings.” As Mary Baker Eddy has proven and promised: “To those leaning on the sustaining infinite, to-day is big with blessings” (SH vii:1) What could be bigger blessings for us than daily demonstrations that the newness of Life in God is ALL-inclusive: “Behold, I make all things new!” (Revelation 21:5).
CHERISH EXAMPLES OF WHAT GOD CAN DO FOR YOU WHEN YOU TRULY ACCEPT YOURSELF AS BEING GOD’S VERY OWN IMAGE AND LIKENESS.
“The admission to one’s self that man is God’s own likeness sets man free to master the infinite idea.” (citation S30/Science & Health 90:24–25,). [Warren:] Since this was the closing citation in this week’s Bible Lesson it reminded me of two, wonderful, interconnected healings I experienced as a college freshman during the final exam week.
Acute Abdominal Pain and Demanding Final Exams Overcome Through Prayer
One of many landmark healings in Christian Science occurred when I was a freshman at Princeton University. Somehow all fifteen hours of my five three-hour finals were scheduled for the first two days of exam week. On top of that, due to daily football practice and working multiple jobs, I had fallen behind on heavy reading assignments in a couple of the courses. So, on the Saturday morning before these finals, I felt pressured and inadequate. I asked myself, “How am I ever going to be ready to read, study and prepare for these exams with no real study time between them?”
Just as I started to ponder my seemingly impossible situation, a dull pain in my right side that I’d been aware of overnight suddenly became very sharp and would not go away. A roommate, whose dad was a doctor, suggested that it looked like my appendix had burst and that I was having an appendicitis attack. I chose to handle this suggestion with prayer, just as I’d had done successfully to meet many other challenges — from making hard decisions to experiencing very quick healings of broken bones, severe wounds, sprained ankles, torn cartilage, and so forth. When this very aggressive problem refused to yield quickly to my own prayers, I struggled to get to the privacy of a pay phone booth on campus to call a Christian Science Practitioner for help (this was BC, Before Cell phones). I was seeking the uniquely powerful and prayerful support known as a Christian Science treatment, given with professional warmth and principled love. On this occasion, though, none of the practitioners I knew from Christian Science summer camp or from church answered their phones, and no human help seemed to be readily available. So, I hobbled—still doubled over in pain— to a nearby Christian Science Reading Room on Nassau Street in Princeton, New Jersey. The Reading Room’s “quiet precincts” were a perfect place to reach out directly to God for angel messages and my healing.
For several hours that Saturday, I was the only visitor to the private study area in the back of the Reading Room. That sacred privacy enabled me to feel free enough to stretch out on the floor whenever sitting wasn’t comfortable. Whenever I physically struggled, I spiritually snuggled up to apply passages that I felt the Comforter was indelibly teaching me from that week’s Christian Science Bible lesson. I kept coming back to an uplifting assurance in a sentence in Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures by Mary Baker Eddy, which reads, “… Love supports the struggling heart until it ceases to sigh over the world and begins to unfold its wings for heaven.” (SH 57) I saw clearly that as long as my heart was sighing (moaning, groaning, complaining…) over the world—over exam-based concerns, time-based pressures and body-based pains— it could not begin “to unfold its wings for heaven” and healing.
Through prayer, I began to “unfold the wings of my heart for heaven” by turning away from my worldly worries and toward the infinite possibilities of being at one with all-knowing, divine Mind. Another insight I found in the Bible Lesson was the account of Joseph’s divine intuition that enabled him to interpret the humanly unknowable dream of Pharaoh (Genesis 41:1-57). I reasoned that his example showed me that I too could have direct insight from divine Mind. I felt that God was telling me that Joseph’s talent was my talent too, and that God would give me the healing insights I needed for both physical healing and to know what I needed to study and what to write on my upcoming exams. I loved that Joseph’s explanation of how he knew the meaning of the dream, telling Pharaoh, “it is not in me: God shall give … an answer of peace.” (Genesis 41:16). Joseph’s words helped me feel more confidence and peaceful about my upcoming exams.
I also distinctly remember finding relief in affirming for myself, “When man is governed by God, the ever-present Mind who understands all things, man knows that with God all things are possible.” (SH 180:25)
That private Reading Room study area also gave me a perfect place sing some favorite hymns. I knew by heart all of Mary Baker Eddy’s hymns from years of singing them in Sunday School, plus scores of others. This may seem like an unconventional way to study for exams, but, in hindsight, I was being forced to prioritize feeling my one-ness with God by cherishing each word of every hymn that came to me. This turned out to be the best possible exam preparation that I’ve ever had.
I’ll always remember concluding my hymn singing by cherishing each word of “Christ My Refuge,” a poem and hymn by Mary Baker Eddy. My tears of pain changed to tears of joy! The pain lifted as I let my heart sing the following words, “O’er waiting harps strings of the mind, there sweeps a strain, Low, sad, and sweet, whose measures bind the power of pain… And wake a white-winged angel throng of thoughts illumed By faith, and breathed in raptured song, With love perfumed. Then His unveiled, sweet mercies show Life’s burden’s light. I kiss the cross, and wake to know A world more bright… I see Christ walk and come to me and tenderly divinely talk. Thus Truth engrounds me on the rock… whereto God leadeth me. (Christian Science Hymnal #254)
With renewed freedom, I was inspired to not just walk, but to run back to my Dodd Hall dorm room, to eat normally and to prepare with peaceful inspiration Saturday night and Sunday for my first four final exams (12-hours worth) on Monday and Tuesday morning. I felt divinely directed toward just what I needed to review and felt great and full of gratitude to God about my first four exams.
However, when I opened the fifth exam on Tuesday afternoon, my heart fell as I read all the exam questions which asked me to compare and contrast several books that I had intended to read over the weekend but did not because of the healing time I needed to spend in the Reading Room. I was seriously tempted to just go up to the exam proctor and turn in the exam with a note that I’d had a health challenge, was unable to adequately prepare for the exam, and to ask to take the course on a Pass-Fail basis so that my good work going into the final could at least get me a “Pass” on my transcript for this Sociology course.
Then, I remembered the citations from the Christian Science Bible Lesson that I’d mined in the Reading Room as cherished gems to apply to myself. I recalled the account of Joseph humbly knowing it was not in him, but in God to give the right answer. (Genesis 41:1-57)
As I stood up from my desk with the intention to humanly give up, rather than try to write about books that I hadn’t even read, an angel message stopped me, saying “I am the same Mind that made this test and that wrote every book and I am with you to take this test and tell you everything you need to know.” I heard these words as a direct message from God. I gained confidence from this angel message and from remembering other ideas from the Bible lesson I’d cherished and made my own during my healing time of study in the Reading Room.
They included these passages from Science and Health:
“It is the prerogative of the ever-present, divine Mind, and of thought in rapport with this Mind, to know the past, the present, and the future. Acquaintance with the Science of being enables us to commune more largely with the divine Mind… to be divinely inspired, yea, to reach the range of fetterless Mind.” (84:11-18)
“A knowledge of the Science of being develops the latent abilities and possibilities of man. It extends the atmosphere of thought, giving mortals access to broader and higher realms. It raises the thinker into his native air of insight and perspicacity.” (SH 128:14)
“Spirit imparts the understanding uplifts consciousness and leads… This understanding is not intellectual, is not the result of scholarly attainments, it is the reality of all things brought to light.” (SH, 505:16, 26-28)
I sat back down at my desk with a joyous and confident motive to glorify God by being a clear transparency to let God’s goodness shine through me. I strove to see myself as a “scribe under orders.” I was determined not to try to make up myself what I humanly didn’t know, but rather to “welcome” divine Mind’s ideas. Ideas flowed and I wrote them down effortlessly. At the end of the three hours, I handed in the exam with a sense of inspired joy. And the next day I found out that my grade in the course actually improved! I was grateful and gave all glory to God alone. I had demonstrated that what cannot God do for me when I, like Joseph, know that “it is not in me. God shall give (me every) … answer” that I need, and I know it! This demonstration helped realized that every time we have no clue humanly how to answer any question or problem, we can turn to divine Mind for answers. All we ever need do is be “Looking unto (Christ) Jesus the author and finisher”! (Heb. 12:2)
I have turned to these landmark healings for years as a reminder that we can always lean on God for refuge and strength, as a “very present help in trouble.” (Psalms 46:1)
