Articles from our Healing Thoughts magazine    Click on one of the following: The Importance of Forgetting - John B. Willis Business - Mary Baker Eddy “Gratitude Is Riches” - Bruce Singleterry The Power of Our Textbook - Bill Callahan Steadfastness - George Shaw Cook The Loving Shepherd - John Randall Dunn Trust - Art Anker "Men Ought Always to Pray" - W. E. Richter Finding Heaven - Blanche Hersey Hogue Christian Science and Business - George White I Can - Art Anker The People That Walked in Darkness - Doris White Evans The Importance of Forgetting                             - John B. Willis Most people think of forgetting as a bad habit. However, in his letter to the Philippians, Paul speaks of a type of forgetting which is good, and very necessary to spiritual growth. He says, “Forgetting those things which are behind, I press toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus.” Many people come into Christian Science carrying heavy burdens. They’ve had painful, or heart-rending experiences which they would like to forget forever; and yet, quite often they think and talk about just these things. They blame their problems on them, and in this way create for themselves a system of false and harmful “laws” which become a bad influence on their present lives. Past weaknesses, sickness, and sins are clung to by many sincere people, and continually rehearsed in thought. This acts like a poison to the system. It not only restricts thought and robs us of our joy, but it interferes with spiritual growth. For this reason we should give special attention to Paul’s statement, and also to the teaching of Mrs. Eddy in Science and Health. She tells us that the remedy for human ills is found in forgetting them. The only profitable thing about any mistake is the lesson learned from it; and happily, the use of this wisdom does not call for the constant rehearsal of the experience by which it was gained. We need a progressive spirit, which remembers only the good, and discards the error. In all branches of education, learning becomes possible only as the stupidities of ignorance are discarded. This is particularly true in the study of Christian Science. This doesn’t mean that we ignore the claims of error; it simply means that we learn to reduce them to their native nothingness, by denying the error and replacing it with the truth of being. We all know that untruth passes away, in the degree that truth absorbs our thought, is accepted and acted upon. How do we do this? In the First Church of Christ, Scientist, and Miscellany, Mrs. Eddy says: “Keep your minds so filled with Truth and Love, that sin, disease, and death cannot enter them.” Those who follow this rule are joyfully witnessing its health-giving effects, as they gain victory over sickness and sin. All cause is mental. Right ideas, thoughts of Truth and Love, are the only upbuilding and happifying things of life. Bad memories do one no good at all. Let them go. Give up all the thoughts of, and belief in, error, along with every bad habit springing from them, including sickness and sin. This is your duty and privilege. Thank God that we are outgrowing the troublesome memories of the past. With joy we realize that we no longer live in the past of error, but in the present of Truth. back to top Business                             - Mary Baker Eddy God is a business God. He attends to the business of the universe, and you reflect this business ability. The divine and perfect law of attraction is operating in and through the law of adjustment, bringing to me all that belongs to me. Today divine Mind adjusts me to my work, and adjusts my work to me. Under this law of adjustment, God’s law, my work must be successful. Through steadfast declaration, work and worker are brought together. Thus supply meets supply and God’s perfect law is brought into manifestation. Whenever there seems to be a lack or need in your experience, that simply indicates the scientific fact that the seeming need is already supplied by God’s gracious abundance. Then give thanks with your whole heart because you have learned in Christian Science that God’s supply is ever at hand. God is always with a good desire, giving it power, activity, energy, intelligent action and rich fruition. He brings every right endeavor to its fulfillment, and gives more blessings than one has sought. Trust your God, our God, in divine Science. There is no other way than for us to trust always. Remember this, and live continually in the thought and attitude of trust, confident expectation of good. Nothing else can do for you what this can. Mary Baker Eddy back to top “Gratitude is Riches”                             - Bruce Singleterry Before finding Plainfield Church, I was probably the number one complainer in the history of the planet. Thank God I found this place, and thank God for help from a Plainfield practitioner. I had a serious problem with complaining, and I was always in a depressed state of thought. One of the ways the practitioner helped me was with an illustration. I was told that, if your thought becomes depressed, it is like a sink. Garbage flows down into the sink. The same is true of your life or experience. You bring trouble upon yourself by complaining and being depressed. That opened my eyes. This lesson didn’t come easily or quickly for me. I had to work at it for quite a long time. Thank God for the help of a practitioner. I remember she gave me a line from a hymn, “Gratitude is riches, complaint is poverty.” She said, the choice is up to you. Are you going to sing with gratitude, or are you going to complain, and have trouble? I opted for gratitude, and the results were wonderful. Christian Science has taught me so many helpful things, and enabled me to break a lot of bad habits, and get on the right track with God. After all, God’s plan for man is good, and it’s something to rejoice in. However, we don’t always walk through this lifetime through a path of flowers. We may have problems to meet, but the important thing is to rejoice in the experiences, and demand the blessing from them, instead of complaining. This is one of the major lessons I’ve had to learn, and as I’ve done it, my life has improved immensely. I’m very grateful for the help of the practitioner, who’s helped to point me in the right direction and turn my thought to God, good. As that has happened, things have worked out wonderfully. I’m very grateful for it. back to top The Power of Our Textbook                             - Bill Callahan When I first started studying Christian Science a little over a year ago, I knew nothing about it, except what I was reading in my copy of Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures, by Mary Baker Eddy. I had been through a divorce, which also forced me into bankruptcy. I was drinking very heavily, more than fifty dollars a night wasn’t uncommon. I knew where every club and firehouse (private club) was, that served liquor. If one wanted to, he could drink around the clock. I know. I did sometimes. But as I read Science and Health, I became totally engrossed in the book. I would look forward to studying it, even if I didn’t understand it all. Something kept my interest. I totally believed in what I was reading, and found a love for God I had never had. On Mother’s Day, I woke up still hung over from the night before and tried to read more of Science and Health. I couldn’t see the lines. They were very fuzzy and unclear. I became angry, and called my friend who had given me Science and Health and said, “I can’t believe this. I’m trying to read and can’t see a thing.” She said, “Well, what’s more important to you, drinking or Christian Science?” I answered, “Christian Science.” It seemed to me that at the lowest point in my life, it was the only thing that made sense. From that day forth, I never had an urge to touch alcohol again. I had no ill effects from stopping, and never wanted to taste liquor again. I thank God and our Leader, Mary Baker Eddy, for her book, Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures, because it saved my life. I know I would have drunk myself to an early grave. And I thank my friend for giving me my first copy of Science and Health. My life has been restored. back to top Steadfastness                             - George Shaw Cook No quality is more needed in Christian Science warfare than steadfastness. "Patient continuance in well doing" is required of those who would "fight the good fight of faith" and "lay hold on eternal life." The patient, faithful effort to understand and prove the healing power of Truth for themselves and others, is needed by those who would progress Spiritward. If they would ascend above the material plane of thinking and living, as Jesus did, they must partake of his faithfulness, consecration, and persistence in right doing. Writing of Jesus, Mary Baker Eddy has said in Retrospection, "Our great Way-shower, steadfast to the end in his obedience to God's laws, demonstrated for all time and peoples the supremacy of good over evil, and the superiority of Spirit over matter." Paul demonstrated wonderfully the quality of steadfastness. Persecuted, maligned, and resisted, he continued on his missionary journeys, until he had carried Christianity into all the countries bordering the eastern shores of the Mediterranean. Preaching to the elders of the church at Ephesus, and referring to some of the opposition he had encountered, he said, "None of these things move me." Christian Scientists often find, that opposition to Truth makes it necessary to resist with faith and understanding the aggressive suggestions of error which could cause them to falter and fail. Sometimes these evil suggestions appear to succeed in their effort to induce workers to accept the deceptive arguments of doubt and discouragement. There is never a time when a faithful student of Christian Science needs to continue in a sense of discouragement, doubt, or fear. The power of divine Love is always present to deliver us from indecision, uncertainty, and perplexity, if we will but reach out in thought and confidently grasp the "hand" outstretched to save. The prophet Isaiah has said, "Behold, the Lord's hand is not shortened , that it cannot save; neither his ear heavy, that it cannot hear." Mrs. Eddy might easily have listened to the arguments of animal magnetism and have become discouraged by them. But she was too faithful a warrior, and too alert a Christian, to be deceived or disheartened by suggestions of evil. She pressed on courageously until victory was hers in every instance in which error sought to prevent the progress of the movement she had founded. We have abundant reason to be grateful for her achievements, and for her example of patience and perseverance. In Science and Health Mrs. Eddy says, "Study thoroughly the letter and imbibe the spirit. Adhere to the divine Principle of Christian Science and follow the behests of God, abiding steadfastly in wisdom, Truth, and Love." If Christian Scientists will adhere to divine Principle, and abide "steadfastly in wisdom, Truth, and Love," they will not be likely to yield to any subtle suggestion of discouragement, nor remain in a mental "Slough of Despond." Rather will they recall with gratitude and assurance the words of Paul to the Corinthians, "Therefore, my beloved brethren, be ye steadfast, unmoveable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, forasmuch as ye know that your labour is not in vain in the Lord." back to top The Loving Shepherd                             - John Randall Dunn Above my desk hangs a loved picture. It shows a shepherd leaning over a jagged cliff and stretching out a saving arm to a helpless sheep. It must have been a bad little sheep to have wandered away from the quiet pastures and the careful shepherd. It must have been a disobedient, headstrong little creature, or it could not have found itself in this painful situation. A deep chasm yawns beneath; there's a hungry vulture circling above. Yet to this disobedient, headstrong animal is stretched out the hand of compassion. Through heedlessness or deliberate wilfulness, it became separated from its brothers of the flock and their kindly shepherd. Shouldn't this serious disobedience be strongly rebuked? Would it be a Christian act to allow all this wrong doing to go uncondemned? At this point the picture furnishes interesting food for thought. Apparently the shepherd in the picture feels that the greatest need of the erring sheep is not condemnation, but saving compassion. As far as can be seen, no stern rebuke has been given, no reminder of the depth of the wickedness that got the sheep into all this trouble. There's no need for this. The erring one already knows all about hell, because he's been there. There is just one need, and divine Love is meeting it. Down comes the tender hand, gently sounds the cheering voice. The little sheep has learned the joy of trusting in the faithful Shepherd, and how painful it is to wander away from His care. Those who are faced with the problem of a straying sheep, an unloving and unlovely sheep, a malicious or even a stubborn, uncorrectable sheep, should think about the lesson of this picture. Possibly the sheep is still lingering on the hazardous cliffs of malice, or misunderstanding, or sickness, or sin. Is righteous condemnation going to heal him? Or should the Christ-mind, that knows neither sin nor frailty, be allowed to reach out in compassion to release a dear one from the nightmare of materiality and to bring it, unstained and beloved, to the sheepfold of the Father? As a loved hymn says, Not by the harsh or scornful word,   Should we our brother seek to gain; But from our hearts must ever flow    A love that will his wrong outweigh; Our lips must only blessings know,    And wrath, and sin shall die away. back to top  Trust When the winds of error begin to blow, Don't tarry in the storm, rise up and go, With wings of trust to the Father's side, And there, in childlike faith abide. Hold steadfastly, then, to one simple truth, That's all our God requires us to do. Soon you will feel a healing peace, Filling that very space surrounding you!                   Art Anker back to top "Men Ought Always to Pray"                             - W. E. Richter At the present time, people everywhere are pausing to pray for guidance, help and wisdom. Jesus said, “Men ought always to pray, and not to faint.” Desiring good is true prayer, but our thinking must be prepared to receive good. It’s been said, “We get just what we prepare for, and nothing else!” We may ask, “Why is it, my prayers are not answered? I’ve prayed fervently for a solution to this problem.” That’s when we need to examine our prayers. Are we praying to God in an advisory capacity and telling Him our needs? He already knows and supplies all. In quiet meditation we need to listen for His voice, and expect to receive a complete answer. Then can we receive the angel message which will heal the problem. At a time when I was in need of healing, I remembered the words of James, “The prayers of the righteous have a powerful effect.” “A powerful effect!” These three words were like a trumpet call to my confused, fearful thought, and helped to awaken me from the dream of life in matter. However, the error still struggled persistently for supremacy. With conviction I declared, “I will not surrender to evil.” As I continued to pray, and to gain a better understanding of man as Love’s immortal idea, the victory came, and I was healed. Prayer is righteous thinking, and righteous thinking has the power of omnipotent God behind it. As I realized the power of righteous prayer, my thought was lifted above the problem, and the false evidence of disease and fear was dispelled. Does a difficult problem confront you? Stop struggling, thinking you are battling with something real, and with childlike faith and simplicity, let His will to be done, knowing it is always good. Let’s be firm, persistent, and loyal Christian warriors, knowing that evil is no part of God’s perfect expression, man. Man has God-given power and authority over all evil. This thinking has “a powerful effect” in destroying error. Praying this way, we find peace, safety, and joy within, despite danger and turmoil without. The sincere desire to be, and do good, is true prayer. The man whose thought is raised to God in prayer, and whose heart is filled with love for God and man, finds security from the fiery darts of the enemy. Man, Truth’s reflection, knows no fear. This spiritual fact can be demonstrated in human experience. The three Hebrews walked through the fiery furnace unharmed. Even their clothing remained intact, because their thought was free from hatred or fear. Daniel stood fearless before the lions in the lions’ den. In the presence of his pure and loving thought, they couldn’t devour him. Love nullifies evil. Shipwrecked on the island of Melita, Paul shook off the viper into the fire and was unharmed. We need to remember that evil can’t come into our thought, and produce havoc in our experience, unless we let it in. The door of consciousness opens from within. Christian Science teaches us to pray without doubting, never blaming persons or things for the trouble. True prayer demands right activity, and is not a passive process. It asks for divine guidance, and then acts according to God’s plan. Each loving smile, every kind deed, each expression of compassionate understanding of another’s need, every tender word of encouragement, each God-directed motive or activity fulfilled, is prayer, tenderly blessing both the giver and the recipient. back to top Finding Heaven                             - Blanche Hersey Hogue An old-time religious song reads: "I have heard of a place called heaven; I am trying to make it my home." This simple verse describes the mental state in which a Christian Scientist finds himself. "Heaven," as defined in Science and Health, "is not a locality, but a divine state of Mind in which all the manifestations of Mind are harmonious and immortal, because sin is not there and man is found having no righteousness of his own, but in possession of 'the mind of the Lord,' as the Scripture says." We are learning that heaven is here, now, as we put the opposite of heaven out of our thinking. The belief that matter makes up the world is generally accepted by mankind. When Mrs. Eddy disposed of these material theories about the universe, by proving them to be counterfeits of spiritual facts, she challenged the very foundations of material learning. She named all that is unspiritual, or of the flesh, "animal magnetism." She made a complete separation between spiritual good and the claims of evil. The entire scheme of evil, which claims that man is involved in the birth, decay, and death of matter, she calls the liar, the devil, the serpent, as was pointed out by Jesus. All that is spiritually good, true, and eternal is of God. All fleshly appetites, pleasures, and pains, are the direct opposite of God and His true creation. We can put these off and find the true. As we change our thinking from false beliefs to spiritual ideas, our experiences will change as well. In this way, salvation from both sin and disease will appear. We find heaven as we give up all that is the opposite of heaven. If a person is too ignorant, too indifferent, or too entangled with the things of the senses to intelligently handle the claims of animal magnetism, then he is too occupied with the trivial and the unworthy to realize heaven today. If, however, he is determined to find salvation from evil, he will detect and destroy the material fears, temptations, habits, and practices which would call themselves his own thinking and character. As he sees them for the lies that they are, he will cast them out of his thought. Then he will find that heaven is here, and that the man whose thought is stayed on God, is sheltered by infinite power and peace. In Miscellaneous Writings, Mrs. Eddy writes of the one who makes spiritual progress, "He shall sit down at the Father's right hand: sit down; not stand waiting and weary; but rest on the bosom of God; rest, in the understanding of divine Love that passeth all understanding; rest, in that which 'to know aright is Life eternal,' and whom, not having seen, we love." back to top Christian Science and Business                             - George White One who comes to Christian Science finds that he is standing on holy ground. As he understands and applies the truths he is learning, spiritual laws begin to operate in his behalf. If his business has been stalled or failing, he realizes that a sick business has just as much right to be healed as a sick body. As he gains a better understanding of God, he sees that wrong thinking has brought about the distressing situation, and that right thinking can correct it. He learns that his business is not in matter at all, but in Mind, and that man can never be out of business or lose his business, since he is involved in the greatest possible business, proving his sonship with God. He has no time to complain about hard times, because he is having such a good time proving God's presence and power. He knows, too, that “complaint is poverty” as a loved hymn says, and that complaint produces more trouble. As he looks away from the false testimony of the carnal mind to the pure reality of Spirit, God, with whom all things are possible, wonderful changes take place. His business picks up and prospers. He learns that through God he is the master of his affairs, and not the slave of circumstance. He proves the words of Jesus in his own life, “Seek ye first the kingdom of God and His righteousness and all these things shall be added unto you.” back to top  I Can God's plan for man: Not, "I can't," But, "I can!"                   Art Anker back to top The People That Walked in Darkness                             - Doris White Evans “The people that walked in darkness have seen a great light: they that dwell in the land of the shadow of death, upon them hath the light shined.” (Isaiah) That was the state of humanity when Jesus Christ came upon the scene. Poverty, incurable disease and despair were rampant. Jesus presented something wonderful. Instead of the Jehovistic concept of God as a stern punisher, Jesus presented a God who loves, blesses and heals. Many accepted his words, and experienced what were considered miraculous healings. The sick were healed, and the dead raised, through his ministry. About three hundred years after Jesus ascended, this healing power disappeared. It wasn’t until the year 1866 that a woman, who was at the point of death, read her Bible, and was healed, through understanding just a little of God’s power. This spiritually minded woman, Mary Baker Eddy, was not one to accept God’s great blessing, and keep it to herself. She knew that she must share it with all mankind. She was so inspired by God’s revelation, that for three years she withdrew from society, studied her Bible, prayed, and listened for God’s guidance. From that prayer and consecration, came the Christian Science textbook, Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures. As a result of Mrs. Eddy’s faithfulness, many people who had walked in darkness, read Science and Health, and began to see a great light. The sick were healed, and the dead raised, as in Jesus’ time. People flocked to Christian Science. Churches were established all over the world. People who had given up hope of ever being healed, came to Christian Science, and found their answers. And with these answers, came a new way of life; a life filled with joy, hope, and a desire to share this marvelous revelation. When Mrs. Eddy passed on in 1910, organization stealthily began to take the place of inspiration and love. Inevitably, a decline began, and churches everywhere closed. This sad situation accelerated until 1977, when a loyal branch church was forced by Boston to become independent. The result of this unmerited action, based on totally untrue allegations, was that, free of the rigid restrictions placed upon Mrs. Eddy’s revelation by the materially minded Boston hierarchy, the independent Christian Science movement began to grow, and many people throughout the world again began to see the great light of Truth. Science and Health, which had been restricted, was circulated to mankind everywhere. As people read it, healing again took place. Inspired writings by the finest workers in Christian Science appeared in ‘Healing Thoughts’ magazine, published by the Plainfield Church. Many of these workers were taught by Mrs. Eddy. These treasures had been long buried by Boston, and were unavailable to the sincere seeker for Truth. Impersonal evil in this way sought to destroy Mrs. Eddy’s holy mission. Testimonies of healing through Christian Science began to abound in ‘Healing Thoughts’ magazine as thought was enlightened. Science and Health was sent all over the world. Mankind needs this book. It must be made available to them. Mrs. Eddy’s intent was that Truth be shared. And so, dear one, if you have seemed to walk in darkness, and have given up hope of being healed, take heart. God’s love for man has not ceased. The Bible promise is being fulfilled. The light of the Christ, in Christian Science, is again flooding the world, bringing hope and peace to struggling hearts. Trust God’s tender love. Have Christian Science treatment from an independent practitioner and expect to see “the salvation of the Lord with you.” Your healing cannot be delayed or prevented. back to top   online talks | quote | lessons | articles | books | tapes | contact us | about us | web links | home | practitioners | Live Services | Recorded Services | © Copyright 2004 Plainfield Christian Science Church, Independent All rights reserved. This church is in no way affiliated with The First Church of Christ, Scientist in Boston, Massachusetts.