October 23, 2024

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Subject: Mind

Golden text: Isaiah 46:8, The Message, copyright by Eugene Peterson

Think about this. Wrap your minds around it. This is serious business, rebels. Take it to heart. Remember your history, your long and rich history. I am God, the only God you’ve had or ever will have— incomparable, irreplaceable.

Ezra 6:14-22

So the leaders of the Jews continued to build; the work went well under the preaching of the prophets Haggai and Zechariah son of Iddo. They completed the rebuilding under orders of the God of Israel and authorization by Cyrus, Darius, and Artaxerxes, kings of Persia. The Temple was completed on the third day of the month Adar in the sixth year of the reign of King Darius.

^16-18 And then the Israelites celebrated—priests, Levites, every last exile, exuberantly celebrated the dedication of The Temple of God. At the dedication of this Temple of God they sacrificed a hundred bulls, two hundred rams, and four hundred lambs—and, as an Absolution-Offering for all Israel, twelve he-goats, one for each of the twelve tribes of Israel. They placed the priests in their divisions and the Levites in their places for the service of God at Jerusalem—all as written out in the Book of Moses.

¹⁹ On the fourteenth day of the first month, the exiles celebrated the Passover.

²⁰ All the priests and Levites had purified themselves—all, no exceptions. They were all ritually clean. The Levites slaughtered the Passover lamb for the exiles, their brother priests, and themselves.

^21-22 Then the Israelites who had returned from exile, along with everyone who had removed themselves from the defilements of the nations to join them and seek God, the God of Israel, ate the Passover. With great joy they celebrated the Feast of Unraised Bread for seven days. God had plunged them into a sea of joy; he had changed the mind of the king of Assyria to back them in rebuilding The Temple of God, the God of Israel.

21^st Century Science and Health, copyright by Cheryl Petersen

From beginning to end, the Scriptures are full of accounts of the triumph of Spirit, Mind, over mortality. Moses proved the power of Mind by what people called miracles; as did Joshua, Elijah, and Elisha. What was eventually tagged the Christian era was ushered in with signs and wonders, yet the reformations were accompanied by bloodshed and persecution, even when the end has been brightness and peace. The present new, yet old, reform in religious faith will patiently and wisely teach us not to give in to sectarian bitterness when it flows inward.

A faith in mortality attracts the mind to the subject of sickness by exciting fear of disease and by dosing the body with chemicals to avoid a problem. Faith can, however, find a stronger support and a higher home in Spirit. If we understood the control of Mind over body, we should put no faith in material means.

Science not only reveals the source of all disease as mental, but it also declares that all disease is cured by divine Mind. There can be no healing except by this Mind however much we trust a drug or any other means toward which human faith or endeavor is directed. It is human mind, not matter, which brings to the sick whatever good they may seem to receive from conventional medicine or biotechnology. The sick are never really healed except by means of the divine power. Only the action of Truth, Life, and Love can give harmony.

Romans 12:1-10

 So here’s what I want you to do, God helping you: Take your everyday, ordinary life—your sleeping, eating, going-to-work, and walking-around life—and place it before God as an offering. Embracing what God does for you is the best thing you can do for him. Don’t become so well-adjusted to your culture that you fit into it without even thinking. Instead, fix your attention on God. You’ll be changed from the inside out. Readily recognize what he wants from you, and quickly respond to it. Unlike the culture around you, always dragging you down to its level of immaturity, God brings the best out of you, develops well-formed maturity in you.

³ I’m speaking to you out of deep gratitude for all that God has given me, and especially as I have responsibilities in relation to you. Living then, as every one of you does, in pure grace, it’s important that you not misinterpret yourselves as people who are bringing this goodness to God. No, God brings it all to you. The only accurate way to understand ourselves is by what God is and by what he does for us, not by what we are and what we do for him.

^4-6 In this way we are like the various parts of a human body. Each part gets its meaning from the body as a whole, not the other way around. The body we’re talking about is Christ’s body of chosen people. Each of us finds our meaning and function as a part of his body. But as a chopped-off finger or cut-off toe we wouldn’t amount to much, would we? So since we find ourselves fashioned into all these excellently formed and marvelously functioning parts in Christ’s body, let’s just go ahead and be what we were made to be, without enviously or pridefully comparing ourselves with each other, or trying to be something we aren’t.

^6-8 If you preach, just preach God’s Message, nothing else; if you help, just help, don’t take over; if you teach, stick to your teaching; if you give encouraging guidance, be careful that you don’t get bossy; if you’re put in charge, don’t manipulate; if you’re called to give aid to people in distress, keep your eyes open and be quick to respond; if you work with the disadvantaged, don’t let yourself get irritated with them or depressed by them. Keep a smile on your face.

^9-10 Love from the center of who you are; don’t fake it. Run for dear life from evil; hold on for dear life to good. Be good friends who love deeply; practice playing second fiddle.

21^st Century Science and Health

In a world where sin and sensuality scramble to rise in the ranks of power, it is wise earnestly to consider whether we are being influenced by the human mind or the divine Mind. Beware of ingenious human-made devices that merely claim to equal the work of wisdom. What the prophets of the Lord did, the worshippers of Baal failed to do (e.g. I Kings 18:16–40).

Only Science can explain the incredible good and evil elements that keep surfacing. Human beings must find protection in Truth in order to escape the errors of today. Nothing is more antagonistic to divine Science than a blind belief without understanding, for such belief hides Truth and builds on error.

Miracles are natural in Science, taking issue with popular religions. The scientific manifestation of power is from the divine nature and is not supernatural, since Science is an explanation of nature. The belief that the universe and people are governed in general by physical laws, but occasionally Spirit sets aside these laws, belittles omnipotent wisdom and gives to matter the precedence over Spirit.

It is contrary to divine Science to suppose that life is either physically or organically spiritual. Between divine Science and all forms of bio-spirituality or superstition, a great chasm is fixed, as impassable as the abyss between The Rich Man and Lazarus.[1] Immortal Mind-reading is a revelation of divine purpose through spiritual understanding by which we gain the divine Principle and explanation of all things.

Luke 13:18-23

 Then [Christ Jesus] said, “How can I picture God’s kingdom for you? What kind of story can I use? It’s like an acorn that a man plants in his front yard. It grows into a huge oak tree with thick branches, and eagles build nests in it.”

^20-21 He tried again. “How can I picture God’s kingdom? It’s like yeast that a woman works into enough dough for three loaves of bread—and waits while the dough rises.”

²² He went on teaching from town to village, village to town, but keeping on a steady course toward Jerusalem.

^23-25 A bystander said, “Master, will only a few be saved?”

He said, “Whether few or many is none of your business. Put your mind on your life with God. The way to life—to God!—is vigorous and requires your total attention.

21^st Century Science and Health

Save yourself as Jesus saved. Strive. Advance spiritually. Constantly turn away from the objects of the human mind and look toward the imperishable things of Spirit. If honest, you will be in earnest from the start and joyfully gain a little each day in the right direction. If persistent, you will make the transition from limited substance to the substantial unlimited.

Who are we traveling with? If, from Boston, my friends are going to New Zealand while I am headed to California, we obviously are not traveling together. We have separate time-zones to consider, different routes to pursue, and opposite climates to contemplate. Our journeys have diverged from the start and we don’t have much opportunity to help each other. On the other hand, if my friends pursue my direction, we have the same itinerary and interests. If I take up their line of travel, they help me on, and our companionship may continue.

On our spiritual journey, if we sympathize with mortality, we will be at the beck and call of error and follow a zig-zag course getting nowhere. If we travel with the worldly minded, we get sucked into a nasty cycle. A good example of this is randomly walking around the shopping mall, making feel-good purchases and eating junk food with friends. We return home, thinking we had a good time and feeling satisfied. However, when re-thinking the situation, we realize that too much time and money was wasted. So, we repeat the trip to the mall but buy books on time and financial management, or on dieting.

Our moral and spiritual progress is monotonously slow if we constantly bounce back and forth between futile habits and the hope of forgiveness. Selfishness and stupidity cause constant retrogression. We must wake up to Christ’s demand; however, the waking generally causes suffering. We may even feel like we are drowning and struggle to stay above water. Through Christ’s precious love our efforts are rewarded with success.

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[1] Luke 16:26

October 16, 2024

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Subject: Heart

Golden text: Matthew 11:28-29, New International Version, copyright by Biblica Inc.

[Christ said,] Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. ²⁹ Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls.

Proverbs 19:20-23

Listen to advice and accept discipline,
    and at the end you will be counted among the wise.

²¹ Many are the plans in a person’s heart,
    but it is the Lord’s purpose that prevails.

²² What a person desires is unfailing love;
    better to be poor than a liar.

²³ The fear of the Lord leads to life;
    then one rests content, untouched by trouble.

21^st Century Science and Health, copyright by Cheryl Petersen

Unspoken heartfelt desires bring us closer to the source of all existence and blessedness.

People go into ecstasies over the sense of a humanistic Lord, though with scarcely a spark of love in their hearts; yet God is Love, and without Love, spirituality can’t appear. Mortals try to believe without understanding Truth; yet God is Truth. Human beings claim that death is inevitable, whereas our eternal Principle is ever-present Life. Mortals believe in an outlined personal God; while God, infinite Love, can’t be outlined.

Divine Science demonstrates that none but the pure in heart can see God. Spirituality is directly proportionate to purity, and fulfillment is the order of celestial being which demonstrates Life in Christ, Life’s spiritual ideal.

Genesis 6:1-8

When human beings began to increase in number on the earth and daughters were born to them, ² the sons of God saw that the daughters of humans were beautiful, and they married any of them they chose. ³ Then the Lord said, “My Spirit will not contend with humans forever, for they are mortal; their days will be a hundred and twenty years.”

⁴ The Nephilim were on the earth in those days—and also afterward—when the sons of God went to the daughters of humans and had children by them. They were the heroes of old, men of renown.

⁵ The Lord saw how great the wickedness of the human race had become on the earth, and that every inclination of the thoughts of the human heart was only evil all the time. ⁶ The Lord regretted that he had made human beings on the earth, and his heart was deeply troubled. ⁷ So the Lord said, “I will wipe from the face of the earth the human race I have created—and with them the animals, the birds and the creatures that move along the ground—for I regret that I have made them.” ⁸ But Noah found favor in the eyes of the Lord.

Luke 17:26-27

“Just as it was in the days of Noah, so also will it be in the days of the Son of Man. ²⁷ People were eating, drinking, marrying and being given in marriage up to the day Noah entered the ark. Then the flood came and destroyed them all.

Isaiah 54:7-10

“For a brief moment I abandoned you,
    but with deep compassion I will bring you back.
⁸ In a surge of anger
    I hid my face from you for a moment,
but with everlasting kindness
    I will have compassion on you,”
    says the Lord your Redeemer.

⁹ “To me this is like the days of Noah,
    when I swore that the waters of Noah would never again cover the earth.
So now I have sworn not to be angry with you,
    never to rebuke you again.
¹⁰ Though the mountains be shaken
    and the hills be removed,
yet my unfailing love for you will not be shaken
    nor my covenant of peace be removed,”
    says the Lord, who has compassion on you.

21^st Century Science and Health

Noah. A fleshly human being; knowledge of the nothingness of unstable things and of the immortality of all that is spiritual.

Heart. Human feelings, motives, inclinations, joys, and depressions.

Human existence is like a soap-opera. The human mind’s performance consists of mortal thoughts chasing after each other only to always find disaster and heartache. In the theater of divine Science, Life is not at the mercy of mortality. Science can’t admit that happiness is ever the sport of circumstance.

Sorrow for wrongdoing is only one step toward reform, and the easiest step. The next and great step required by wisdom is the test of our sincerity—namely reformation. During the reformation process, we are placed under the stress of circumstances. Temptation will pressure us to repeat the offense. Heartache for backsliding may be felt until we are no longer tempted. This is the way it goes until we learn that there is no discount in the law of justice.

You confess to having a materialist heart and ask that all negativity be revealed, but don’t you already know more of this heart than you are willing to have your neighbor see?

It is important to examine our inclinations and intentions. Mental examination is the way we learn who we honestly are.  If a friend informs us of a fault, do we listen patiently to the criticism and reconsider our attitude? Or, do we react by giving thanks that we are “not like other people: thieves, rogues, adulterers, or even like this tax collector?”[1] For many years, I have been most grateful for constructive criticism. The misdeed is destructive careless criticism which does no one any good.

If spite, revenge, and arrogance do uproot and scatter our affections, this separation of fleshly ties serves to unite thought more closely to God, for Love supports the struggling heart until it ceases to sigh over the world and unfolds its wings to soar for heaven.

Acts 15:1-11

Certain people came down from Judea to Antioch and were teaching the believers: “Unless you are circumcised, according to the custom taught by Moses, you cannot be saved.” ² This brought Paul and Barnabas into sharp dispute and debate with them. So Paul and Barnabas were appointed, along with some other believers, to go up to Jerusalem to see the apostles and elders about this question. ³ The church sent them on their way, and as they traveled through Phoenicia and Samaria, they told how the Gentiles had been converted. This news made all the believers very glad. ⁴ When they came to Jerusalem, they were welcomed by the church and the apostles and elders, to whom they reported everything God had done through them.

⁵ Then some of the believers who belonged to the party of the Pharisees stood up and said, “The Gentiles must be circumcised and required to keep the law of Moses.”

⁶ The apostles and elders met to consider this question. ⁷ After much discussion, Peter got up and addressed them: “Brothers, you know that some time ago God made a choice among you that the Gentiles might hear from my lips the message of the gospel and believe. ⁸ God, who knows the heart, showed that he accepted them by giving the Holy Spirit to them, just as he did to us. ⁹ He did not discriminate between us and them, for he purified their hearts by faith. ¹⁰ Now then, why do you try to test God by putting on the necks of Gentiles a yoke that neither we nor our ancestors have been able to bear? ¹¹ No! We believe it is through the grace of our Lord Jesus that we are saved, just as they are.”

21^st Century Science and Health

Spiritual interpretation removes spiritual unawareness and ill-health by overcoming the thoughts which produce them and by understanding the spiritual idea which corrects and replaces them. Jesus’ mission was to reveal the truth of spiritual reality to all humankind, even to the hearts which rejected him.

We become more respectful and caring as we get to know the divine nature better and love Soul understandingly. The struggle over physicality will be replaced by a rejoicing in the affluence of our God. Religion will then be of the heart and not of the head.

Our true self is the image and likeness of Spirit.

How can the temporal brain, heart, blood, DNA, etc. be our identity? If our real nature is the bodily structure, a portion of our being would be gone if a limb was amputated; or a surgeon could remove our manhood or womanhood; or bacteria would annihilate our existence. What happens to the identity of an organ recipient? How can DNA be the foundation of our identity when it mutates and replicates? After a person is gone their DNA is still here on earth, so where is the individual? On another note, people have repeatedly proven that the loss of a limb cannot take away their intelligence and stature. Many people, classified as disabled, have presented more nobility, more manliness and womanliness, than the polished athlete or glamour model—teaching society that true identity and nature comes from spirituality, divine consciousness.

Sincere effort is required to reach the Horeb height where God is revealed. The cornerstone of all spiritual building is purity. Spirit’s baptism washes the body of all fleshly impurities and shows that the pure in heart see God. We approach spiritual Life and its demonstration through purity.

We all must learn that Life is God. Ask yourself: Am I living the life that advances with supreme good? Am I manifesting the healing power of Truth and Love? If so, then the path will be “shining ever brighter till the full light of day.”[2] Your accomplishments will prove what the understanding of God brings to man and woman. Hold perpetually this thought—that it is the spiritual idea, the Holy Spirit and Christ, which enables you to demonstrate with scientific certainty, the rule of healing, based on its divine Principle, Love, underlying, overlying, and encompassing all true being.

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[1] Luke 18:11 (NRSV)

[2] Prov. 4:18

October 9, 2024

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Subject: Parent

Golden text: Proverbs 17:6-7 New Century Version, copyright by Thomas Nelson, Inc.

Old people are proud of their grandchildren, and children are proud of their parents. ⁷ Fools should not be proud, and rulers should not be liars.

Malachi 3:1-2, 6, 16-18

 The Lord All-Powerful says, “I will send my messenger, who will prepare the way for me. Suddenly, the Lord you are looking for will come to his Temple; the messenger of the agreement, whom you want, will come.” ² No one can live through that time; no one can survive when he comes. He will be like a purifying fire and like laundry soap.

⁶ “I the Lord do not change. So you descendants of Jacob have not been destroyed. ⁷ Since the time of your ancestors, you have disobeyed my rules and have not kept them. Return to me, and I will return to you,” says the Lord All-Powerful.

¹⁶ Then those who honored the Lord spoke with each other, and the Lord listened and heard them. The names of those who honored the Lord and respected him were written in his presence in a book to be remembered.

¹⁷ The Lord All-Powerful says, “They belong to me; on that day they will be my very own. As a parent shows mercy to his child who serves him, I will show mercy to my people. ¹⁸ You will again see the difference between good and evil people, between those who serve God and those who don’t.

21^st Century Science and Health, copyright by Cheryl Petersen

Life demonstrates Life. Individuals reflect Life, Soul. The immortality of Soul makes us immortal. If God, who is Life, were parted for a moment from person, during that moment there would be no divinity reflected. The Ego would be unexpressed and the Parent would be childless—not a Parent.

Guard against religious teachings that lead to beliefs in a breakable relationship with God.

Would a parent say to a child who is frightened by ghosts or sickened by fear of ghosts, “I know that ghosts are real. Ghosts exist and are to be feared, but you must not be afraid of them”?

Thing is, children and adults ought to fear a reality which can harm them and which they do not understand because at any moment they may become its helpless victims. But instead of increasing fears by declaring ghosts, a bogeyman, animal magnetism, or disease, to be real, merciless, and powerful, thus watering the very roots of helpless timidity, we should gain the spiritual understanding that assures us fear is groundless because ghosts and diseases are not realities, but are only a downward spiraling imagination that is erroneous and human-made.

We can understand and explain the substantial good that is worthy of respect and honor.

John 1:10-18

The Word was in the world, and the world was made by him, but the world did not know him. ¹¹ He came to the world that was his own, but his own people did not accept him. ¹² But to all who did accept him and believe in him he gave the right to become children of God. ¹³ They did not become his children in any human way—by any human parents or human desire. They were born of God.

¹⁴ The Word became a human and lived among us. We saw his glory—the glory that belongs to the only Son of the Father—and he was full of grace and truth. ¹⁵ John tells the truth about him and cries out, saying, “This is the One I told you about: ‘The One who comes after me is greater than I am, because he was living before me.’”

¹⁶ Because he was full of grace and truth, from him we all received one gift after another. ¹⁷ The law was given through Moses, but grace and truth came through Jesus Christ. ¹⁸ No one has ever seen God. But God the only Son is very close to the Father, and he has shown us what God is like.

21^st Century Science and Health

Voices of solemn import are heard in the sacred sanctuary of Truth.

Truth, God, is not the parent of error. Sin, sickness, and death are to be classified as effects of error. Christ comes to destroy the belief of sin. The God-principle is omnipresent and omnipotent. God is everywhere, and nothing apart from Principle is present or has power. Christ is the ideal Truth, which comes to heal sickness and sin through divine Science and attributes all power to God. Jesus is the name of the human being who, more than all other human beings recorded, has presented Christ, the true idea of God, healing the sick and the sinning and destroying the power of death. Jesus is the human person, and Christ is the divine idea; hence the duality of Jesus the Christ.

And we solemnly promise to be mindful, to pray for that Mind to be in us which was also in Christ Jesus; to do to others as we would have them do to us;[1] and to be merciful, just, and pure.

II Corinthians 12: 12-17

When I was with you, I patiently did the things that prove I am an apostle—signs, wonders, and miracles. ¹³ So you received everything that the other churches have received. Only one thing was different: I was not a burden to you. Forgive me for this!

¹⁴ I am now ready to visit you the third time, and I will not be a burden to you. I want nothing from you, except you. Children should not have to save up to give to their parents. Parents should save to give to their children. ¹⁵ So I am happy to give everything I have for you, even myself. If I love you more, will you love me less?

¹⁶ It is clear I was not a burden to you, but you think I was tricky and lied to catch you. ¹⁷ Did I cheat you by using any of the messengers I sent to you? No, you know I did not.

21^st Century Science and Health

The human mind has an absolute need of something beyond itself for redemption and healing, but we are spiritual.

It may seem vain to share our love with someone who doesn’t give it back, but it isn’t a waste as long as we allow spiritual Love to enlarge, purify, and elevate the circumstance. If spite, revenge, and arrogance do uproot and scatter our affections, this separation of fleshly ties serves to unite thought more closely to God, for Love supports the struggling heart until it ceases to sigh over the world and unfolds its wings to soar for heaven.

Relationships are blessed, or not, according to the expectations involved and fulfilled.

Great respect is due to the motives and philanthropy of the higher class of physicians. As they understand the Science of Mind-healing and its power to benefit all people, physically and spiritually, they will rejoice with us. Even this one reform in medicine would ultimately deliver humankind from the awful and oppressive burdens now enforced by false theories, and from which multitudes would gladly escape.

God, the divine Principle of our spirituality, and person in Mind’s likeness are inseparable, harmonious, and undying. God is the parent Mind, and God’s children are spiritual offspring.

John 9:1-7

As Jesus was walking along, he saw a man who had been born blind. ² His followers asked him, “Teacher, whose sin caused this man to be born blind—his own sin or his parents’ sin?”

³ Jesus answered, “It is not this man’s sin or his parents’ sin that made him blind. This man was born blind so that God’s power could be shown in him. ⁴ While it is daytime, we must continue doing the work of the One who sent me. Night is coming, when no one can work. ⁵ While I am in the world, I am the light of the world.”

⁶ After Jesus said this, he spit on the ground and made some mud with it and put the mud on the man’s eyes. ⁷ Then he told the man, “Go and wash in the Pool of Siloam.” (Siloam means Sent.) So the man went, washed, and came back seeing.

21^st Century Science and Health

We disarm sin of its imaginary power as we scientifically understand the status of spiritual being.

Unaware of the methods and the basis of metaphysical healing, you may attempt to unite it with hypnotism, brain manipulation, or psychics. However, none of these methods benefit metaphysical healing.

Whoever reaches the understanding of divine Science in its proper significance will perform the sudden cures of which it is capable. Nevertheless, this can be done only by facing and overcoming fears and mistaken thoughts, and following divine Spirit in our everyday experiences.

I Timothy 5:1-4

Do not speak angrily to an older man, but plead with him as if he were your father. Treat younger men like brothers, ² older women like mothers, and younger women like sisters. Always treat them in a pure way.

³ Take care of widows who are truly widows. ⁴ But if a widow has children or grandchildren, let them first learn to do their duty to their own family and to repay their parents or grandparents. That pleases God.

21^st Century Science and Health

  Don’t be impressed by materialist views that support physical forces. Instead, experience spiritual thought expanding into expression. “Let there be light,”[2] is the perpetual demand of Truth and Love, changing chaos into order and discord into the music of the spheres.[3] The material theories of creation provide nothing to build on, and are unable to support views of creation as revealed by infinite Mind.

Human belief attaches theories to the enormous subject of genetics; but if we learn that nothing is real but the good and right, we shall have no dangerous inheritances and fleshly ills will disappear. It would be impossible to transmit disease or negative human traits if this great fact of being was learned—namely, that nothing inharmonious can enter being, for Life is God.

Can we lose our rich inheritance and God’s gifts? No!

Jesus said, “Do not be afraid, little flock, for your Father has been pleased to give you the kingdom.”[4] This truth is divine Science.

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[1] Matt. 7:12

[2] Gen. 1:3

[3] Music of the spheres is a concept frequently credited to Greek philosopher Pythagoras (569 B.C.– approximately 500 B.C.

[4] Luke 12:32

October 2, 204

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Subject: Children

Golden text: Proverbs 22:6, New Century Version, copyright by Thomas Nelson, Inc.

Train children to live the right way, and when they are old, they will not stray from it.

Judges 1:1-2, 4, 11-15

 After Joshua died, the Israelites asked the Lord, “Who will be first to go and fight for us against the Canaanites?”

² The Lord said to them, “The tribe of Judah will go. I have handed the land over to them.”

⁴ When Judah attacked, the Lord handed over the Canaanites and the Perizzites to them, and they defeated ten thousand men at the city of Bezek.

¹¹ Then they left there and went to fight against the people living in Debir. (In the past Debir had been called Kiriath Sepher.) ¹² Before attacking the city, Caleb said, “I will give Acsah, my daughter, as a wife to the man who attacks and captures the city of Kiriath Sepher.” ¹³ Othniel son of Kenaz, Caleb’s younger brother, captured the city, so Caleb gave his daughter Acsah to Othniel to be his wife. ¹⁴ When Acsah came to Othniel, she told him to ask her father for a field. When she got down from her donkey, Caleb asked her, “What do you want?”

¹⁵ Acsah answered him, “Do me a special favor. Since you have given me land in southern Canaan, also give me springs of water.” So Caleb gave her the upper and lower springs.

I Chronicles 28:18-23

 Caleb son of Hezron had children by his wife Azubah and by Jerioth. Caleb and Azubah’s sons were Jesher, Shobab, and Ardon. ¹⁹ When Azubah died, Caleb married Ephrath. They had a son named Hur, ²⁰ who was the father of Uri, who was the father of Bezalel.

²¹ Later, when Hezron was sixty years old, he married the daughter of Makir, Gilead’s father. Hezron had sexual relations with Makir’s daughter, and she had a son named Segub. ²² Segub was the father of Jair. Jair controlled twenty-three cities in the country of Gilead. ²³ (But Geshur and Aram captured the Towns of Jair, as well as Kenath and the small towns around it—sixty towns in all.) All these were descendants of Makir, the father of Gilead.

21^st Century Science and Health, copyright by Cheryl Petersen

God’s child is not on a roller coaster, reeling between good and evil, joy and sorrow, health and sickness, endurance and weakness.

Charts of births, stages, and deaths are so many conspiracies against manhood and womanhood.

Through spiritual understanding, we enter the universe of Truth on earth and learn that Spirit is infinite and supreme.

When we put off the false for the true and see that sin and mortality have neither Principle nor permanency, we shall learn that sin and mortality have no beginning and no rightful existence.

God’s reflection is child (man and woman) and the universe. The diverse manifestations of divine Science indicate Mind, never mindless matter, and have one Principle.

The one Ego, the one Mind or Spirit called God, is infinite individuality. The one Ego supplies all form and attractiveness. Spirit reflects reality and divinity in our individual spirituality and in all manifestations.

The Ego-child is the reflection of the Ego-God. The Ego-child is the image and likeness of perfect Mind, Spirit, divine Principle.

As a physical, theoretical life-basis is found to be a misinterpretation of existence, the scientific and divine Principle of our spirituality dawns upon human thought. Consciousness is guided to “where the child was”[1]—even to the birth of a new-old idea, to the spiritual sense of being and of what Life includes. Thus, the whole earth will be transformed by Truth as enlightened thought displaces the darkness of error.

Mortal existence is a dream. Mortal existence has no real entity, but mimics “I Am.” Spirit is the Ego which never dreams, but understands all things. Spiritual Ego never mistakes and is always conscious. Spirit never believes or decides, but knows. Soul is never born and never dies. Our true identity is the likeness of Spirit, Ego. We are not God, but we are the outcome of Spirit. We reflect God

Psalm 17: 8-10, 14-15

Protect me as you would protect your own eye.
    Hide me under the shadow of your wings.
⁹ Keep me from the wicked who attack me,
    from my enemies who surround me.
¹⁰ They are selfish
    and brag about themselves.

¹⁴ Lord, save me by your power
    from those whose reward is in this life.
They have plenty of food.
    They have many sons
    and leave much money to their children.

¹⁵ Because I have lived right, I will see your face.
    When I wake up, I will see your likeness and be satisfied.

21^st Century Science and Health

It is to our advantage never to let sympathy and society tempt us to cherish error in any form, and certainly we should not be error’s advocate.

Diseases appear like other mental states, through association. Erroneous thoughts connect to one another and the condition is classified as a disease. Some diseases are regarded as contagious. Contagion is a human activity where sick thoughts are copied-and-pasted from one mind and body to another.

Illustrations can be found to show how contagion is fickle. Dr. Albert Schweitzer[2] has been quoted to say, “Serious illness doesn’t bother me for long because I am too inhospitable a host,” whereas some people will catch a contagious disease without coming into contact with the disease germs.

If a child is exposed to a contagious disease, the parent is frightened and says, “My child will get sick.” The law of human mind, and the parent’s fears, control the child more than the child’s mind. The sickness might have been prevented with different thinking.

Our responses need improvement if we typically say things like, “You look sick,” “You must be tired.” or “You need a pill.”

Matthew 7:6-11

[Christ said,] “Don’t give holy things to dogs, and don’t throw your pearls before pigs. Pigs will only trample on them, and dogs will turn to attack you.

⁷ “Ask, and God will give to you. Search, and you will find. Knock, and the door will open for you. ⁸ Yes, everyone who asks will receive. Everyone who searches will find. And everyone who knocks will have the door opened.

⁹ “If your children ask for bread, which of you would give them a stone? ¹⁰ Or if your children ask for a fish, would you give them a snake? ¹¹ Even though you are bad, you know how to give good gifts to your children. How much more your heavenly Father will give good things to those who ask him!

21^st Century Science and Health

Christ-like experience teaches faith in the right and doubt in the wrong. We learn the value of working more diligently in times of persecution because that is when the work is really needed. The reward of self-sacrifice is great, although we may never receive it in this world.

When will Jesus’ professed followers learn to emulate him in all his ways and to imitate his mighty works? The people who procured the martyrdom of that righteous man would gladly have turned his sacred career into a heretical agenda. May the Christians of today take up the more practical import of that career! It is possible—it is the duty and privilege of every child and adult—to follow in some degree the demonstration of Truth and Life, health and holiness.

As the offspring of God, as the idea of Spirit, individuals can be viewed as the immortal evidence that Spirit is harmonious and we are eternal.

Mark 9:42-50

[Christ said,] “If one of these little children believes in me, and someone causes that child to sin, it would be better for that person to have a large stone tied around his neck and be drowned in the sea. ⁴³ If your hand causes you to sin, cut it off. It is better for you to lose part of your body and live forever than to have two hands and go to hell, where the fire never goes out. [ ⁴⁴ In hell the worm does not die; the fire is never put out.] ⁴⁵ If your foot causes you to sin, cut it off. It is better for you to lose part of your body and to live forever than to have two feet and be thrown into hell. [ ⁴⁶ In hell the worm does not die; the fire is never put out.] ⁴⁷ If your eye causes you to sin, take it out. It is better for you to enter the kingdom of God with only one eye than to have two eyes and be thrown into hell. ⁴⁸ In hell the worm does not die; the fire is never put out. ⁴⁹ Every person will be salted with fire.

⁵⁰ “Salt is good, but if the salt loses its salty taste, you cannot make it salty again. So, be full of salt, and have peace with each other.”

21^st Century Science and Health

If unfortunate circumstances places promising children in the arms of gross parents, often these beautiful children wither like tropical flowers born in the snowy Alps. If by chance those children live to become parents themselves, they may pass along to their children the grosser traits of what they were taught when growing up. Society can ask: What noble ambition can inspire the child to overcome the bad traits? What hope of happiness can be gained to head-off reducing the child to a hopeless wreck?

Raising children is a great responsibility, a more solemn trust than climbing the corporate ladder or accumulating material possessions. Take immense care not to transmit to children what is unworthy of perpetuity.

Anatomy can’t describe God’s child created by Spirit. Anatomy explains the child of human beings, not the counterpart, but the counterfeit of God’s child. Anatomy has no Spirit, no true tone, and accepts disorder. Theologies that start from the false premise that God created human beings, try to convert a disordered person into a Christian. These teachings that define people as both physical and mental, with a mind at the mercy of matter for every function, formation, and manifestation, start from the lowest instead of the highest concept of being, and reject the divine Principle which created us spiritually. We can’t produce the harmony and unity of Spirit from anatomical or bio-theological positions.

Physiology and biotechnology promote matter, debar Mind, and claim to rule by temporal laws instead of spiritual laws. This process fails to give health or life, and ignores the divine Spirit as unable or unwilling to render help in time of physical need. When mortals sin, limited theology admits God to be the healer of sin but not of sickness, whereas our great Master proved that Truth could save from sickness and sin.

The offspring of heavenly-minded parents inherit more intellect, better balanced minds, and more reliable health.

The revelation of Truth in the understanding comes gradually and apparently through divine power. When a new spiritual idea is born to earth, the prophetic Scripture of Isaiah is again fulfilled: “For to us a child is born…and he will be called Wonderful Counselor.”[3]

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[1] Matt. 2:9

[2] Dr. Albert Schweitzer (1875–1965) Alsatian theologian, philosopher, organist, physical, and medical missionary.

[3] Isa. 9:6

September 25, 2024

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Subject: Restoration

Golden text: Zechariah 9:12 New International Version, copyright by Biblica

Return to your fortress, you prisoners of hope; even now I announce that I will restore twice as much to you.

II Samuel 8:1-6

 In the course of time, David defeated the Philistines and subdued them, and he took Metheg Ammah from the control of the Philistines.

² David also defeated the Moabites. He made them lie down on the ground and measured them off with a length of cord. Every two lengths of them were put to death, and the third length was allowed to live. So the Moabites became subject to David and brought him tribute.

³ Moreover, David defeated Hadadezer son of Rehob, king of Zobah, when he went to restore his monument at the Euphrates River. ⁴ David captured a thousand of his chariots, seven thousand charioteers and twenty thousand foot soldiers. He hamstrung all but a hundred of the chariot horses.

⁵ When the Arameans of Damascus came to help Hadadezer king of Zobah, David struck down twenty-two thousand of them. ⁶ He put garrisons in the Aramean kingdom of Damascus, and the Arameans became subject to him and brought tribute. The Lord gave David victory wherever he went.

21^st Century Science and Health, copyright by Cheryl Petersen

We cannot deny that Life is self-sustained and we should never deny the everlasting order of Soul, simply because to physical sense there is seeming disorder. It is a disregard of God, the divine Principle, which produces apparent imbalance, while a correct regard of God restores balance.

Human reason and religion come slowly to the recognition of spiritual facts. Human belief systems continue to call upon matter to remove the error which the human mind alone created.

The idols of domestication are far more fatal to health and longevity than are the idols of the undomesticated. The idols of domestication call into action less faith than the doctrines of a human deity. Village Guardians and Shaman restore health by incantations as consciously as do modern practitioners by their more sophisticated and esteemed methods.

Truth will ultimately compel us all to exchange the pleasures and pains of fleshly sensations for the joys of Soul.

Matthew 19:27-30

Peter answered him, “We have left everything to follow you! What then will there be for us?”

²⁸ Jesus said to them, “Truly I tell you, at the renewal of all things, when the Son of Man sits on his glorious throne, you who have followed me will also sit on twelve thrones, judging the twelve tribes of Israel. ²⁹ And everyone who has left houses or brothers or sisters or father or mother or wifeor children or fields for my sake will receive a hundred times as much and will inherit eternal life. ³⁰ But many who are first will be last, and many who are last will be first.

Mark 9:38-41

“Teacher,” said John, “we saw someone driving out demons in your name and we told him to stop, because he was not one of us.”

³⁹ “Do not stop him,” Jesus said. “For no one who does a miracle in my name can in the next moment say anything bad about me, ⁴⁰ for whoever is not against us is for us. ⁴¹ Truly I tell you, anyone who gives you a cup of water in my name because you belong to the Messiah will certainly not lose their reward.

21^st Century Science and Health

Divine Science, rising above physical theories, excludes matter, resolves things into thoughts, and replaces the objects of physical sense with spiritual ideas.

For this revelation, I introduced the term CHRISTIAN SCIENCE to designate the scientific system of divine healing. The revelation consists of two parts:

1. The discovery of this divine Science of Mind-healing, through a spiritual sense of Scriptures and through the teachings of the Counselor,[1] as promised by Jesus.

 2. The proof, by present-day demonstration, that the miracles of Jesus did not specially belong to a privileged few or at a time now ended. Miracles illustrate an ever-operative divine Principle which indicates the eternality of the scientific order and continuity of being.

Divine Science differs from the hard and soft sciences, but is preeminently scientific because it’s based on Truth, the Principle of all science.

The hard and soft sciences are human knowledge; beliefs; human inventions; a shaved Samson[2] without strength. When human beliefs lack organizations to support them, their foundations are gone. Not having moral might, spiritual basis, or a holy Principle of its own, a belief mistakes effect for cause and seeks to find life and intelligence in matter, thus limiting Life and adhering to disorder and death. Basically, human beliefs are blind conclusions made from unreliable reasoning. A mortal sense of things is forever silenced by immortal Spirit.

We can interpret and understand the universe and its inhabitants by Science from its divine Principle, God.

Acts 15:12-19

The whole assembly became silent as they listened to Barnabas and Paul telling about the signs and wonders God had done among the Gentiles through them. ¹³ When they finished, James spoke up. “Brothers,” he said, “listen to me. ¹⁴ Simon has described to us how God first intervened to choose a people for his name from the Gentiles. ¹⁵ The words of the prophets are in agreement with this, as it is written:

¹⁶ “‘After this I will return
    and rebuild David’s fallen tent.
Its ruins I will rebuild,
    and I will restore it,
¹⁷ that the rest of mankind may seek the Lord,
    even all the Gentiles who bear my name,
says the Lord, who does these things’—
¹⁸     things known from long ago.

¹⁹ “It is my judgment, therefore, that we should not make it difficult for the Gentiles who are turning to God.

21^st Century Science and Health

We need to encourage in ourselves and others the right and responsibility to think for our self as God created us capable of doing.

The ordinary doctor examines the body, tells the patient they are sick, and treats the case according to the physical diagnosis. This naturally induces the very disease imposed by human mind. Such unconscious mistakes would not occur if this old class of philanthropists looked as deeply for cause and effect in mind as they do in matter. The physician agrees with the “adversary quickly,”[3] but on different terms than the metaphysician. The matter-physician agrees with the disease, while the metaphysician agrees with health and challenges disease.

Divine Science brings to the body the sunlight of Truth which invigorates and purifies. Christian Science acts as a medicinal, neutralizing error with Truth. It balances the hormonal reactions, expels harmful fluids, dissolves tumors, rehabilitates degenerated or injured muscles, and restores bones to wellness. The effect of this Science is to adapt the human mind to an improved attitude from which it may yield to the peace and order of divine Mind.

Experiments support the fact that mind governs the body, not in one instance but in every instance. The indestructible faculties of Spirit exist without the conditions of matter and without the false beliefs of a mortal existence. Working out the rules of Science in practice, I have restored health in cases of both acute and chronic disease in their severest forms. Secretions have been changed, the structure has been renewed, shortened limbs have been elongated, stiff joints have been made supple, and carious bones have been restored to healthy conditions. I have restored diseased lungs and organs. Christian Science heals every kind of disease or malfunction, for it requires only a fuller understanding of the divine Principle of divine Science to demonstrate the higher rule.

Mind, not matter, is causation.

Spiritual cause is the one question to be considered, for more than all others spiritual causation relates to human progress. The collective mass consciousness is approaching this subject and pondering somewhat the supremacy of Spirit.

A moral issue may hinder the recovery of the sick. Lurking error, lust, envy, revenge, selfishness, malice, or hate will perpetuate or even create the belief in disease. Errors of all sorts gravitate downward. Your true course is to destroy the foe and leave the field to God, Life, Truth, and Love, remembering that God and God’s ideas alone are real and harmonious.

I Peter 5:10-11

And the God of all grace, who called you to his eternal glory in Christ, after you have suffered a little while, will himself restore you and make you strong, firm and steadfast. ¹¹ To him be the power for ever and ever. Amen.

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[1] John 16:7

[2] Judges 16:19

[3] Matt. 5:25 (NKJV)

September 18, 2024

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Subject: Abundance

Golden text: Psalm 5:7, King James Version, public domain

But as for me, in the abundance of thy lovingkindness will I come into thy house

I Samuel 1:1-18

Now there was a certain man of Ramathaim-zophim, of the hill-country of Ephraim, and his name was Elkanah, the son of Jeroham, the son of Elihu, the son of Tohu, the son of Zuph, an Ephraimite: ² and he had two wives; the name of the one was Hannah, and the name of the other Peninnah: and Peninnah had children, but Hannah had no children. ³ And this man went up out of his city from year to year to worship and to sacrifice unto Jehovah of hosts in Shiloh. And the two sons of Eli, Hophni and Phinehas, priests unto Jehovah, were there. ⁴ And when the day came that Elkanah sacrificed, he gave to Peninnah his wife, and to all her sons and her daughters, portions: ⁵ but unto Hannah he gave a double portion; for he loved Hannah, but Jehovah had shut up her womb. ⁶ And her rival provoked her sore, to make her fret, because Jehovah had shut up her womb. ⁷ And as he did so year by year, when she went up to the house of Jehovah, so she provoked her; therefore she wept, and did not eat. ⁸ And Elkanah her husband said unto her, Hannah, why weepest thou? and why eatest thou not? and why is thy heart grieved? am not I better to thee than ten sons?

⁹ So Hannah rose up after they had eaten in Shiloh, and after they had drunk. Now Eli the priest was sitting upon his seat by the door-post of the temple of Jehovah. ¹⁰ And she was in bitterness of soul, and prayed unto Jehovah, and wept sore. ¹¹ And she vowed a vow, and said, O Jehovah of hosts, if thou wilt indeed look on the affliction of thy handmaid, and remember me, and not forget thy handmaid, but wilt give unto thy handmaid a man-child, then I will give him unto Jehovah all the days of his life, and there shall no razor come upon his head.

¹² And it came to pass, as she continued praying before Jehovah, that Eli marked her mouth. ¹³ Now Hannah, she spake in her heart; only her lips moved, but her voice was not heard: therefore Eli thought she had been drunken. ¹⁴ And Eli said unto her, How long wilt thou be drunken? put away thy wine from thee. ¹⁵ And Hannah answered and said, No, my lord, I am a woman of a sorrowful spirit: I have drunk neither wine nor strong drink, but I poured out my soul before Jehovah. ¹⁶ Count not thy handmaid for a wicked woman; for out of the abundance of my complaint and my provocation have I spoken hitherto. ¹⁷ Then Eli answered and said, Go in peace; and the God of Israel grant thy petition that thou hast asked of him. ¹⁸ And she said, Let thy handmaid find favor in thy sight. So the woman went her way, and did eat; and her countenance was no more sad.

21^st Century Science and Health, copyright by Cheryl Petersen

Divine Science silences human will, disables fear with Truth and Love, and illustrates the unlabored motion of the divine energy in healing the sick. Self-indulgence, envy, emotionalism, arrogance, hatred, and revenge are dissolved by divine Mind which heals disease. The human will which makes and works a lie, hiding the divine Principle of harmony, is destructive to health and is the cause of disease rather than its cure.

There is great danger in teaching Mind-healing indiscriminately, thus disregarding the morals of the student and caring only for the payments. Recall words that have been credited to Thomas Jefferson concerning slavery, “I tremble, when I remember that God is just.”[1] I tremble whenever I see a person, for the petty reward of money, teaching his or her slight knowledge of Mind-power—increasing the probability of communicating the teacher’s own bad morals. This sad state deals pitilessly with a community unprepared for self-defense.

Prayer is not the mere habit of trying to persuade the divine Mind, as we would try to persuade a human being. Methods of prayer that perpetually try to humanize God are sad mistakes—errors that impede spiritual growth. As a first step, we can ask God to deliver us, but by taking more steps, and by demonstrating spiritual goodness, we can reach the living Truth.

God is Love. Can we ask the Infinite to be more? Love is intelligence, Mind. So, what could we possibly tell the all-knowing infinite Mind? Do we expect to change perfection? Will we plead for more at the open fountain, which is pouring forth more than we accept? Unspoken heartfelt desires bring us closer to the source of all existence and blessedness.

Jeremiah 33:1-6

Moreover the word of Jehovah came unto Jeremiah the second time, while he was yet shut up in the court of the guard, saying, ² Thus saith Jehovah that doeth it, Jehovah that formeth it to establish it; Jehovah is his name: ³ Call unto me, and I will answer thee, and will show thee great things, and difficult, which thou knowest not. ⁴ For thus saith Jehovah, the God of Israel, concerning the houses of this city, and concerning the houses of the kings of Judah, which are broken down to make a defence against the mounds and against the sword; ⁵ while men come to fight with the Chaldeans, and to fill them with the dead bodies of men, whom I have slain in mine anger and in my wrath, and for all whose wickedness I have hid my face from this city: ⁶ Behold, I will bring it health and cure, and I will cure them; and I will reveal unto them abundance of peace and truth.

21^st Century Science and Health

Whoever practices the Science I teach, through which Mind pours light and healing on this generation, cannot practice from sinister or malicious motives. Dishonesty destroys not only the practitioner’s power to heal, but also his or her own health. Good must dominate in the thoughts of healers or their demonstrations are prolonged, perilous, and impossible in Science. A wrong motive involves defeat. In the Science of Mind-healing, it is imperative to be honest, for victory rests on the side of immutable right. To understand God strengthens hope, advances faith in Truth, and verifies Jesus’ word: “Surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.”[2]

Resisting evil, you overcome it and prove its nothingness. Not human clichés, but divine beatitudes reflect the spiritual light and might which heal the sick. To insist on exercising the human will is to bring on a mesmerized attitude, detrimental to the health and integrity of thought. So, be observant and guard against strong mortal mindedness. Do not protect or cover up iniquity because it only prevents prosperity and the ultimate triumph of any cause. If you are unaware of the error to be eradicated, you will sometimes be abused by it.

Matthew 12:33-40

Either make the tree good, and its fruit good; or make the tree corrupt, and its fruit corrupt: for the tree is known by its fruit. ³⁴ Ye offspring of vipers, how can ye, being evil, speak good things? for out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaketh. ³⁵ The good man out of his good treasure bringeth forth good things: and the evil man out of his evil treasure bringeth forth evil things. ³⁶ And I say unto you, that every idle word that men shall speak, they shall give account thereof in the day of judgment. ³⁷ For by thy words thou shalt be justified, and by thy words thou shalt be condemned.

³⁸ Then certain of the scribes and Pharisees answered him, saying, Teacher, we would see a sign from thee. ³⁹ But he answered and said unto them, An evil and adulterous generation seeketh after a sign; and there shall no sign be given to it but the sign of Jonah the prophet: ⁴⁰ for as Jonah was three days and three nights in the belly of the whale; so shall the Son of man be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth.

21^st Century Science and Health

Jesus taught and showed us Life’s power to dissolve anything that opposes unlimited Truth. He said, “Every tree that does not produce good fruit will be cut down.”[3]

It is believed by many that Jesus used strong language while rebuking sin and disease. The only polite comment Jesus had for error was, “Get behind me, Satan!”[4] From this we learn the necessity of a sharp, penetrating, mental stand when driving out devils and healing the sick. Error must be compelled to quit itself and thereby deprive physical sense of its claim against God.

Audible prayers can be impressive and give instant gratification and awe. But do they produce any lasting advantage? As we think about this more, we see that zeal “not based on knowledge,”[5] can tempt reactions unfavorable to spiritual growth or clearheaded resolve. Lip service distorts healthy perceptions of our Godlike responsibilities. Pay attention! Make sure that the motive for prayer doesn’t embrace the desire for human admiration and instead encourages pure sentiments.

II Corinthians 10:13-18

 But we will not glory beyond our measure, but according to the measure of the province which God apportioned to us as a measure, to reach even unto you. ¹⁴ For we stretch not ourselves overmuch, as though we reached not unto you: for we came even as far as unto you in the gospel of Christ: ¹⁵ not glorying beyond our measure, that is, in other men’s labors; but having hope that, as your faith groweth, we shall be magnified in you according to our province unto further abundance, ¹⁶ so as to preach the gospel even unto the parts beyond you, and not to glory in another’s province in regard of things ready to our hand. ¹⁷ But he that glorieth, let him glory in the Lord. ¹⁸ For not he that commendeth himself is approved, but whom the Lord commendeth.

21^st Century Science and Health

It is not safe to build on false foundations. Truth makes a new creature, where “old things passed away; behold, new things have come.”[6] Obsessions, selfishness, misleading appetites, hatred, fear, and lust give way to spirituality, and the superabundance of being is on the side of God, good.

We cannot fill vessels already full. Vessels full of the impracticable must first be emptied. Let us strip off error and stand in the showers of God and come clean.

The way to extract error from human mind is to pour in truth through flood-waters of Love. Spiritual perfection, including Christian perfection, is won on no other basis.

Grafting spirituality onto something not spiritual is as foolish as trying to “strain out a gnat” and “swallow a camel!”[7] Sin needs to be abandoned before forgiven.

Justice requires reformation. Mercy cancels the debt only when justice approves. Revenge is unacceptable. Revenge only placates anger, whereas anger needs to be destroyed. Wisdom and Love may require many sacrifices of self to save us from sin. One sacrifice, however great, is insufficient to pay the debt of sin.

We are outgrowing the pedantic theology that regards Jesus’ crucifixion as an immediate pardon for all sinners who ask for it. Divine Science shows we are responsible for ourselves and can follow Jesus’ example of goodness. Divine Science also shows that Jesus’ death wasn’t meant to prove spirits can go in and out of bodies to return to earth. We are images of Spirit, unseen by flesh.

Although the great Teacher proved his control over sin and disease, he didn’t relieve others from proving their own spiritual power. Jesus worked as a guide, that people might also demonstrate the power of divine Principle.

Does God create anew what Life already created? Nothing is new to God. The Scriptures are definite on this point, declaring that God’s work was finished,[1] and that it was good.[2]

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[1] Jefferson, Thomas (1743–1826) Political philosopher. Founding Father. Principal author of Declaration of Independence. The third President of the United States.

[2] Matt. 28:20

[3] Matt. 3:10, 7:19; Luke 3:9

[4] Matt. 16:23; Mark 8:33; Luke 4:8

[5] Rom 10:2

[6] II Cor. 5:17 (NASB)

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[1] Gen. 2:2

[2] Gen. 1:31

[7] Matt. 23:24

August 11, 2024

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Subject:  Rest

Golden text: Genesis 2:2 New International Version, copyright Biblica

By the seventh day God had finished the work he had been doing; so on the seventh day he rested from all his work.

Hebrews 4:7-13

 God again set a certain day, calling it “Today.” This he did when a long time later he spoke through David, as in the passage already quoted:

“Today, if you hear his voice,
    do not harden your hearts.”

⁸ For if Joshua had given them rest, God would not have spoken later about another day. ⁹ There remains, then, a Sabbath-rest for the people of God; ¹⁰ for anyone who enters God’s rest also rests from their works, just as God did from his. ¹¹ Let us, therefore, make every effort to enter that rest, so that no one will perish by following their example of disobedience.

¹² For the word of God is alive and active. Sharper than any double-edged sword, it penetrates even to dividing soul and spirit, joints and marrow; it judges the thoughts and attitudes of the heart. ¹³ Nothing in all creation is hidden from God’s sight. Everything is uncovered and laid bare before the eyes of him to whom we must give account.

21^st Century Science and Health, copyright by Cheryl Petersen

Human thoughts have their degrees of comparison. Some thoughts are better than others. A belief in Truth is better than a belief in error, but no mortal belief is founded on the divine rock. Mortal testimony can be shaken. Until belief becomes faith, and faith becomes spiritual understanding, human thought has only a marginal connection to the actual or divine.

A human mindset carries out its own conditions.

The only fact concerning any human belief is that it is neither scientific nor eternal but is exposed to unrest and mutation.

Matthew 12:43-45

[Jesus said,] “When an impure spirit comes out of a person, it goes through arid places seeking rest and does not find it. ⁴⁴ Then it says, ‘I will return to the house I left.’ When it arrives, it finds the house unoccupied, swept clean and put in order. ⁴⁵ Then it goes and takes with it seven other spirits more wicked than itself, and they go in and live there. And the final condition of that person is worse than the first. That is how it will be with this wicked generation.”

21^st Century Science and Health

The belief in measurable life and intelligence is growing worse at every step. Error will inflate and morph until it deteriorates and self-destructs.

That scientific methods are superior to other methods is seen by their effects. When you have conquered a diseased condition of the body through Mind, that condition never recurs and you advance in divine Science. For example, when an improved attitude gives rest to the body, the next toil will fatigue you less, for you are working out the problem of being in divine metaphysics. The scientific and permanent remedy for fatigue is to learn the power of Mind over the body and over any illusion of physical weariness. Material particles can’t be weary and stressed. Remember, in proportion as you understand the control which Mind has over materialized human mind, you will be able to demonstrate this control.

You say, “This job tires me.” But what is this me? Is it muscle or mind? What is fatigued and so speaks? Without mind, could the muscles be tired? Do the muscles talk, or do you talk for them? Matter is non-intelligent. Human mind does the false talking and that which affirms weariness, made that weariness.

When we reach our limits of mental endurance, we conclude that intellectual labor has been carried sufficiently far. But we can realize that immortal Mind is ever active and we are able to rest in Truth.

Isaiah 11:1-9

A shoot will come up from the stump of Jesse;
    from his roots a Branch will bear fruit.
² The Spirit of the Lord will rest on him—
    the Spirit of wisdom and of understanding,
    the Spirit of counsel and of might,
    the Spirit of the knowledge and fear of the Lord—
³ and he will delight in the fear of the Lord.

He will not judge by what he sees with his eyes,
    or decide by what he hears with his ears;
⁴ but with righteousness he will judge the needy,
    with justice he will give decisions for the poor of the earth.
He will strike the earth with the rod of his mouth;
    with the breath of his lips he will slay the wicked.
⁵ Righteousness will be his belt
    and faithfulness the sash around his waist.

⁶ The wolf will live with the lamb,
    the leopard will lie down with the goat,
the calf and the lion and the yearling together;
    and a little child will lead them.
⁷ The cow will feed with the bear,
    their young will lie down together,
    and the lion will eat straw like the ox.
⁸ The infant will play near the cobra’s den,
    and the young child will put its hand into the viper’s nest.
⁹ They will neither harm nor destroy
    on all my holy mountain,
for the earth will be filled with the knowledge of the Lord
    as the waters cover the sea.

21^st Century Science and Health

Many imagine that the phenomena of physical healing in Christian Science present only a phase of the action of the human mind, which action in some unexplained way results in the cure of disease. On the contrary, Christian Science rationally explains that all other pathological methods are the fruits of human faith in matter—faith in the workings, not of Spirit, but of the fleshly mind which must yield to Science.

The relativity of matter, the complex human body, and the turbulent earth are fleeting concepts of humans, trained to believe life is mortal. Fleeting concepts have their day before the permanent facts and their completeness in Spirit appears.

Why do drugs cause recovery? Because, according to the faith will be the effect. A mass general belief, culminating in individual faith, heals. Even if you take away the individual’s confidence in the drug, you have not yet divorced the drug from the collective faith. Mass consciousness—including the pharmacist, the chemist, the doctor, and the person on the street—equips the medicine with their faith in the drug and gives it the upper hand. To overcome the collective thinking, individual dissent or faith must rest on Science, otherwise the belief is governed by the majority, not the minority.

The complicated mis-creations must finally give place to the glorious forms which we sometimes glimpse through the eye of divine Mind when the mental picture is spiritual and eternal. Take the time to look past the fading, sensational pictures. Gain the true sense of life. Rest your gaze on the unsearchable realm of Mind. Look ahead and act as possessing all power from Truth and Love in whom you have your being.

When the final physical and moral effects of divine Science are fully understood, the conflict between truth and error, understanding and belief, spiritual sense and physical sense, will cease and lasting harmony will prevail, as was predicted by the prophets and introduced by Jesus. During the conflict, the lightning and thunderbolts of error burst and flash but the clouds will clear and the tumult will die away in the distance, for the raindrops of divinity to refresh the earth. As St. Paul says: “There remains, then, a Sabbath-rest for the people of God [of Spirit].”[1]

Zechariah 1: 7-11

On the twenty-fourth day of the eleventh month, the month of Shebat, in the second year of Darius, the word of the Lord came to the prophet Zechariah son of Berekiah, the son of Iddo.

⁸ During the night I had a vision, and there before me was a man mounted on a red horse. He was standing among the myrtle trees in a ravine. Behind him were red, brown and white horses.

⁹ I asked, “What are these, my lord?”

The angel who was talking with me answered, “I will show you what they are.”

¹⁰ Then the man standing among the myrtle trees explained, “They are the ones the Lord has sent to go throughout the earth.”

¹¹ And they reported to the angel of the Lord who was standing among the myrtle trees, “We have gone throughout the earth and found the whole world at rest and in peace.”

21^st Century Science and Health

The universal belief in physics weighs against the high and mighty truths of spiritual metaphysics. The widespread belief in physics, which sustains medicine and produces all medical results, works against divine Science. The percentage of power on the side of this Science must mightily outweigh the power of popular belief in order to heal metaphysically a single case of disease. The human mind can offset the discords of matter and the ills of flesh by giving less power to physics and more to spirituality.

Let us feel the divine energy of Spirit bringing us into newness of life and recognize no human or material power as able to destroy. Let us rejoice that we are open to the divine “governing authorities.”[2] Such is the true Science of being. Any other theory of Life, or God, is delusive and mythological.

When the final physical and moral effects of divine Science are fully understood, the conflict between truth and error, understanding and belief, spiritual sense and physical sense, will cease and lasting harmony will prevail, as was predicted by the prophets and introduced by Jesus. During the conflict, the lightning and thunderbolts of error burst and flash but the clouds will clear and the tumult will die away in the distance, for the raindrops of divinity to refresh the earth. As St. Paul says: “There remains, then, a Sabbath-rest for the people of God [of Spirit].”[3]

Genesis 2:3

Then God blessed the seventh day and made it holy, because on it he rested from all the work of creating that he had done.

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[1]Heb. 4:9 (Brackets added by Mary Baker Eddy)

[2] Rom. 13:1

[3]Heb. 4:9 (Brackets added by Mary Baker Eddy)

September 4, 2024

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Subject: Labor with Wisdom

Golden text: Philippians 2:12, New International Version, copyright by Biblica

Therefore, my dear friends, as you have always obeyed—not only in my presence, but now much more in my absence—continue to work out your salvation with fear and trembling,

II Kings 24: 8-17

 Jehoiachin was eighteen years old when he became king, and he reigned in Jerusalem three months. His mother’s name was Nehushta daughter of Elnathan; she was from Jerusalem. ⁹ He did evil in the eyes of the Lord, just as his father had done.

¹⁰ At that time the officers of Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon advanced on Jerusalem and laid siege to it, ¹¹ and Nebuchadnezzar himself came up to the city while his officers were besieging it. ¹² Jehoiachin king of Judah, his mother, his attendants, his nobles and his officials all surrendered to him.

In the eighth year of the reign of the king of Babylon, he took Jehoiachin prisoner. ¹³ As the Lord had declared, Nebuchadnezzar removed the treasures from the temple of the Lord and from the royal palace, and cut up the gold articles that Solomon king of Israel had made for the temple of the Lord. ¹⁴ He carried all Jerusalem into exile: all the officers and fighting men, and all the skilled workers and artisans—a total of ten thousand. Only the poorest people of the land were left.

¹⁵ Nebuchadnezzar took Jehoiachin captive to Babylon. He also took from Jerusalem to Babylon the king’s mother, his wives, his officials and the prominent people of the land. ¹⁶ The king of Babylon also deported to Babylon the entire force of seven thousand fighting men, strong and fit for war, and a thousand skilled workers and artisans. ¹⁷ He made Mattaniah, Jehoiachin’s uncle, king in his place and changed his name to Zedekiah.

21^st Century Science and Health, copyright by Cheryl Petersen

Truth and error seem to be in conflict. The contention of truth and error is only the mental conflict between the evidence of the spiritual perceptions and the testimony of the human imprints. Through faith in, and the understanding of divine Love, the battle between Spirit and flesh will settle all questions.

It is fatal to believe that error is as real as Truth or that evil is equal in power to good if not superior. Misperceptions work against the hope of freedom, and depress the inspiration that encourages improvement. When we come to have more faith in the truth of being than we have in error, more faith in Spirit than in matter, more faith in living than in dying, more faith in spiritual being than in human beings, then no material suppositions can prevent us from healing the sick and destroying error.

Truth cannot be contaminated by error. The statement that Truth is real necessarily includes its correlation, that error, Truth’s unlikeness, is unreal.

Divine Science replaces human mortal thinking through the understanding of Spirit, and the thoroughness of this work determines health. Erring mind-forces are trickery and do their work under the name of good.

Methods that act on and through the human mind and its brain counterpart, are only manipulations of the accumulated human imprints and activities.

If a patient is under the influence of human mind, that influence is removed by emptying the mind of its false stimulus and reaction of will-power, and filling it with the divine energies of Truth.

Human thinking is neither a thing nor a person, but merely the objective assumption of Spirit’s opposite. The five physical senses testify that truth and error, good and evil, are united in human mind. Their false evidence finally yields to Truth—to the recognition of Spirit and of spiritual reality.

Superstition and understanding can never unite. When the final physical and moral effects of divine Science are fully understood, the conflict between truth and error, understanding and belief, spiritual sense and physical sense, will cease and lasting harmony will prevail, as was predicted by the prophets and introduced by Jesus.

Ps. 78:65-72

Then the Lord awoke as from sleep,
    as a warrior wakes from the stupor of wine.
⁶⁶ He beat back his enemies;
    he put them to everlasting shame.
⁶⁷ Then he rejected the tents of Joseph,
    he did not choose the tribe of Ephraim;
⁶⁸ but he chose the tribe of Judah,
    Mount Zion, which he loved.
⁶⁹ He built his sanctuary like the heights,
    like the earth that he established forever.
⁷⁰ He chose David his servant
    and took him from the sheep pens;
⁷¹ from tending the sheep he brought him
    to be the shepherd of his people Jacob,
    of Israel his inheritance.
⁷² And David shepherded them with integrity of heart;
    with skillful hands he led them.

21^st Century Science and Health

Beware of ingenious human-made devices that merely claim to equal the work of wisdom. When understanding modifies the standpoints of life and intelligence from a material to a spiritual basis, we gain the reality of Life. Spirituality allows us to experience the control of Soul over temporal sense and to perceive Truth in its divine Principle. This must be the climax before our harmony and immortality is felt and our capabilities revealed. It is highly important—in view of the immense work to be accomplished before this recognition of divine Science can come—to turn our thoughts toward divine Principle, so that limited belief may be prepared to relinquish its error.

As the rules of scientific healing are discovered, practiced, and demonstrated you will become secure on the groundwork of divine Science. Your healing experiences will lift you high above fossilized human theories already antiquated, and enable you to grasp the spiritual facts of being, even if at first the facts don’t seem accessible or crystal clear.

Doctors can take note that it is better not to implant disease in the thoughts of your patients by declaring disease to be a fixed fact, even before you go to work to eradicate the disease through the material faith inspired. Instead of furnishing thought with fear, try to correct the turbulent emotion by the influence of divine Love, which removes fear.

Ecclesiastes 2: 20-21

 So my heart began to despair over all my toilsome labor under the sun. ²¹ For a person may labor with wisdom, knowledge and skill, and then they must leave all they own to another who has not toiled for it. This too is meaningless and a great misfortune.

21^st Century Science and Health

Universal facts naturally trigger anything that is false to work against its self, bringing error out from under cover.

Human thought is startled at the strong claims of Science and doubts the supremacy of good, Truth. Why aren’t we startled at the vigorous claims of evil? Why don’t we doubt negativism or depression? Why do we think it natural, almost necessary, to love that which works against life, truth, and love? Why do we imagine lack to be pervasive and good absent? Truth should not seem as surprising and unnatural as error, and error should not seem as real as truth. Sickness should not seem as real as health. There is no error in Science, and our lives must be influenced by reality to agree with God, the divine Principle of all being.

The more closely error simulates truth—and the more closely matter resembles its essence, human mind—the more impotent error becomes as a belief. Humanity believes that nuclear fission is fierce and the electric current swift, yet in spiritual Science the discharge of one and the flash of the other will become harmless. The more destructive matter becomes, the more its nonbeing will appear, until matter reaches its mortal extreme in illusion and disappears. The closer a false belief gets to becoming a first-rate copy of truth while yet still seeming real, divine Love can destroy the belief and prepare it for self-destruction. The more material the belief, the more obvious its error until divine Spirit, Love, supreme in its domain, dominates all matter, and our native individualities are found in the likeness of Spirit.

John 15:24-27

[Christ said] If I had not done among them the works no one else did, they would not be guilty of sin. As it is, they have seen, and yet they have hated both me and my Father. ²⁵ But this is to fulfill what is written in their Law: ‘They hated me without reason.’ ²⁶ “When the Advocate comes, whom I will send to you from the Father—the Spirit of truth who goes out from the Father—he will testify about me. ²⁷ And you also must testify, for you have been with me from the beginning.

21^st Century Science and Health

Jesus’ accomplishments are worthy of respect. His lifework was done in justice to himself and in mercy to humanity; however, Jesus did not do our work for us. He showed us how to be responsible for our own thoughts and actions.

We can’t bring out the practical proof of spirituality which Jesus required while error seems as potent and real to us as Truth. We can’t make a personal devil and an anthropomorphic God our starting points—especially if we consider Satan as a being coequal in power with, or superior to, the Almighty. Such starting points are neither spiritual nor scientific and they can’t work out the metaphysical principles of divine healing.

We can’t choose for ourselves but must work out our salvation in the way Jesus taught. With humility and spiritual courage, Jesus was found preaching the good news to the spiritually responsive. Arrogance and fear are unprepared to hold up the standard of Truth and God will never place it in such hands.

Today, there is hardly a city, village, or hamlet in which are not found living witnesses and monuments to the virtue and power of Truth, as applied through this Christian system of healing disease.

The healing power of Truth is no longer random, but widely practiced as an inherent, ongoing Science. Spiritual healing is the good news constantly appearing, and its main purpose isn’t physical healing but “on earth peace among those whom he favors!”[1]

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[1] Luke 2:14 (NRSV)

August 28, 2024

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Subject: Principle

Golden text: John 1:17, Revised Standard Version, copyright by the Division of Christian Education of the National Council of Churches of Christ in the United States of America

For the law was given through Moses; grace and truth came through Jesus Christ.

4 Maccabees 1:7-12

 I could prove to you from many and various examples that reason is dominant over the emotions, ⁸ but I can demonstrate it best from the noble bravery of those who died for the sake of virtue, Elea′zar and the seven brothers and their mother. ⁹ All of these, by despising sufferings that bring death, demonstrated that reason controls the emotions. ¹⁰ On this anniversary it is fitting for me to praise for their virtues those who, with their mother, died for the sake of nobility and goodness, but I would also call them blessed for the honor in which they are held. ¹¹ For all people, even their torturers, marveled at their courage and endurance, and they became the cause of the downfall of tyranny over their nation. By their endurance they conquered the tyrant, and thus their native land was purified through them. ¹² I shall shortly have an opportunity to speak of this; but, as my custom is, I shall begin by stating my main principle, and then I shall turn to their story, giving glory to the all-wise God.

21^st Century Science and Health, copyright by Cheryl Petersen

Genuine faith relies on an understood Principle. An understood Principle releases people from problems, and reveals the self-perpetuating and harmonious phases of everything. These teachings are confirmed by healing. When, on the strength of these instructions, you are able to banish a severe illness, the cure shows that you understand this teaching and therefore you receive the blessing of Truth.

The word belief, translated fromthe Hebrew and Greekdiffers somewhat in meaning from the English verb believe. The biblical word believe is defined: to be faithful, trustworthy, reliable, firm, entrusted. It’s significant to keep this discrepancy in mind when reading Scripture. Otherwise, it may appear as though Scripture is approving and endorsing a belief system, when it actually is enforcing the necessity of understanding.

With due respect, here are some statements to consider:

“The materials we need to reach a new level of discourse are in our grasp; we have only to abandon outmoded approaches/disciplines to achieve an enlightening beginning for a new science.” From The Anthropology of Medicine: From Culture to Method, Third Edition.[1]

“The Starting Point of Biblical Theology: We have already observed that every scholarly endeavor inevitably is based upon presuppositions.”[2] HarperCollins Bible Dictionary.

Nehemiah 8:1-3

 And all the people gathered as one man into the square before the Water Gate; and they told Ezra the scribe to bring the book of the law of Moses which the Lord had given to Israel. ² And Ezra the priest brought the law before the assembly, both men and women and all who could hear with understanding, on the first day of the seventh month. ³ And he read from it facing the square before the Water Gate from early morning until midday, in the presence of the men and the women and those who could understand; and the ears of all the people were attentive to the book of the law.

21^st Century Science and Health

Truth’s instructions are not theoretical and fragmentary, but are practical and open to new discoveries that reveal ongoing completion and law. And being practical and comprehensive, God’s laws are not deprived of their essential vitality.

The way through which immortality and life are learned is not ecclesiastical but divine, not human but holy, not physical but metaphysical, not material but scientifically spiritual. Human philosophy, ethics, and superstition afford no demonstrable divine Principle by which human beings can escape from sin and mortality; yet to find safety in Love is what faith demands.

God is the Principle of divine metaphysics; the utilization of the power of Truth over error is the practice of divine metaphysics, and its rules demonstrate its Science. The explanations of divine metaphysics reverses perverted and physical hypotheses concerning God, just as optical illusions are explained by physical science.

There are many proofs of the illusion of physical sense. For example, when driving on the highway, the paved road ahead sometimes appears to have water on it. The barometer points to fair weather during drenching rain and under murky clouds. What about the body? Physical senses tell us the body is solid, but the body isn’t solid. Cosmic rays, neutrinos, radio and TV waves are zinging through the body as if it is transparent. The examples of illusive, unreliable appearances could go on. Life teaches us to correct what physical senses and human imprints claim as fact.

To physical sense, a cut jugular vein takes away life; but to spiritual sense and in Science, Life goes on unchanged. Existence is eternal. Temporal life is a false sense of being.

Hebrews 5:12-14

 For though by this time you ought to be teachers, you need some one to teach you again the first principles of God’s word. You need milk, not solid food; ¹³ for every one who lives on milk is unskilled in the word of righteousness, for he is a child. ¹⁴ But solid food is for the mature, for those who have their faculties trained by practice to distinguish good from evil.

21^st Century Science and Health

It is backwards to believe that anything can overpower omnipotent and eternal Life. This Life must be brought to light by the understanding that there is no death, as well as by other graces of Spirit. We must begin however, with more simple demonstrations of control, and the sooner we begin the better. The final demonstration takes time for its accomplishment. When walking, we are guided by the eye. We look before our feet and if we are wise, we look beyond a single step in the line of spiritual advancement.

Human mind conceives of something as gas, liquid, or solid, and then classifies it quantitatively. Infinite and spiritual facts exist apart from human classifications. God, good, is self-existent and self-expressed, though indefinable as a whole. Every step toward spirituality is a step away from materiality and is a tendency toward God, Spirit. Material theories partially paralyze this attraction toward infinite and eternal good by a distraction to the measurable, flamboyant, and chaotic.

The physical ear does not really hear. Sound is a mental impression made on human belief. Divine Science reveals sound as communicated through the senses of Soul—through spiritual understanding.

Romans 3:21-31

 But now the righteousness of God has been manifested apart from law, although the law and the prophets bear witness to it, ²² the righteousness of God through faith in Jesus Christ for all who believe. For there is no distinction; ²³ since all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, ²⁴ they are justified by his grace as a gift, through the redemption which is in Christ Jesus, ²⁵ whom God put forward as an expiation by his blood, to be received by faith. This was to show God’s righteousness, because in his divine forbearance he had passed over former sins; ²⁶ it was to prove at the present time that he himself is righteous and that he justifies him who has faith in Jesus.

²⁷ Then what becomes of our boasting? It is excluded. On what principle? On the principle of works? No, but on the principle of faith. ²⁸ For we hold that a man is justified by faith apart from works of law. ²⁹ Or is God the God of Jews only? Is he not the God of Gentiles also? Yes, of Gentiles also, ³⁰ since God is one; and he will justify the circumcised on the ground of their faith and the uncircumcised through their faith. ³¹ Do we then overthrow the law by this faith? By no means! On the contrary, we uphold the law.

21^st Century Science and Health

Matter is not superior to the law of Mind.

The law of Truth makes all things possible to Spirit. The laws of human mind attempt to render Spirit of no avail and demand obedience to materialist codes, thus departing from the basis of one God, one lawmaker. To suppose that God constitutes laws of chaos is a mistake. Balance and peace are supported by nature and divine law, even when everything else says otherwise.

We ask, can we eat and live without natural laws and agriculture? The answer is no, and yet the Scriptures inform us that sin, or error, first caused the condemnation of humankind to till the ground.[3] Can obedience to God remove the necessity to rely on material food, air, or technology? Truth never made error necessary nor devised a law to perpetuate error.

The supposed laws which result in weariness and disease are not God’s laws. The legitimate and only possible action of Truth is the production of harmony. Laws of nature are laws of Spirit; but human beings commonly recognize as law that which hides the power of Spirit. Divine Mind rightly demands our entire obedience, affection, and strength. No reservation is made for any lesser commitment. Obedience to truth gives us power and strength.

Matthew 11:7-15

 As they went away, Jesus began to speak to the crowds concerning John: “What did you go out into the wilderness to behold? A reed shaken by the wind? ⁸ Why then did you go out? To see a man clothed in soft raiment? Behold, those who wear soft raiment are in kings’ houses. ⁹ Why then did you go out? To see a prophet? Yes, I tell you, and more than a prophet. ¹⁰ This is he of whom it is written,

‘Behold, I send my messenger before thy face,
who shall prepare thy way before thee.’

¹¹ Truly, I say to you, among those born of women there has risen no one greater than John the Baptist; yet he who is least in the kingdom of heaven is greater than he. ¹² From the days of John the Baptist until now the kingdom of heaven has suffered violence, and men of violence take it by force. ¹³ For all the prophets and the law prophesied until John; ¹⁴ and if you are willing to accept it, he is Eli′jah who is to come. ¹⁵ He who has ears to hear, let him hear.

21^st Century Science and Health

Some invalids are unwilling to know spiritual facts. They don’t want to hear about the deceptions of temporal things and false laws. They even devote themselves a little longer to their material gods and cling to mortal life and knowledge.

“Now,” urged the apostle, “is the time of God’s favor, now is the day of salvation.”[4] This doesn’t mean that now we must prepare for a future-world salvation or safety, but that right now we can experience salvation in spirit and in life.

From the infinite One in divine Science comes one Principle and its infinite idea. From this infinite one Source come spiritual rules, laws, and their demonstration, and is “the same yesterday and today and forever.”[5] The divine Principle of healing and the Christ-idea characterized in the epistle to the Hebrews is infinite, unchanging.

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[1] The Anthropology of Medicine: From Culture to Method, Third Edition. Edited by Lola Romanucci-Ross, Daniel E. Moerman, Laurence R. Tancredi. Copyright © 1997 by Lola Romanucci-Ross, Daniel E. Moerman, and Laurence R. Tancredi. Reproduced with permission of Greenwood Publishing Group, Inc., Westport, CT.

[2] HarperCollins Bible Dictionary. Paul J. Achtemeier, General Editor, With the Society of Biblical Literature (HaperCollins Publishes, New York: 1996)

[3] Gen. 3:17

[4] II Cor. 6:2

[5] Heb. 13:8

August 21, 2024

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Subject: Soul

Golden text: Psalms 62:5-6, The Message, copyright by Eugene Peterson

God, the one and only— I’ll wait as long as he says. Everything I hope for comes from him, so why not? He’s solid rock under my feet, breathing room for my soul, An impregnable castle: I’m set for life.

Jeremiah 1:1-10

The Message of Jeremiah son of Hilkiah of the family of priests who lived in Anathoth in the country of Benjamin. God’s Message began to come to him during the thirteenth year that Josiah son of Amon reigned over Judah. It continued to come to him during the time Jehoiakim son of Josiah reigned over Judah. And it continued to come to him clear down to the fifth month of the eleventh year of the reign of Zedekiah son of Josiah over Judah, the year that Jerusalem was taken into exile. This is what God said:

⁵ “Before I shaped you in the womb,
    I knew all about you.
Before you saw the light of day,
    I had holy plans for you:
A prophet to the nations—
    that’s what I had in mind for you.”

⁶ But I said, “Hold it, Master God! Look at me.
    I don’t know anything. I’m only a boy!”

^7-8 God told me, “Don’t say, ‘I’m only a boy.’
    I’ll tell you where to go and you’ll go there.
I’ll tell you what to say and you’ll say it.
    Don’t be afraid of a soul.
I’ll be right there, looking after you.”
    God’s Decree.

^9-10 God reached out, touched my mouth, and said,
    “Look! I’ve just put my words in your mouth—hand-delivered!
See what I’ve done? I’ve given you a job to do
    among nations and governments—a red-letter day!
Your job is to pull up and tear down,
    take apart and demolish,
And then start over,
    building and planting.”

21^st Century Science and Health, copyright by Cheryl Petersen

Truth has no starting point. Divine Mind is our Soul and gives us unending dominion to image forth good. We were not crafted from an indefensible basis. We were not commanded to obey human laws which Spirit never made. Our sphere is in the higher law of Mind.

Above the awful mortal distractions, gloomy predictions, and chaos, the voice of Truth calls: “Where are you?”[1]  Consciousness, where are you? Are you living in the thinking that mind is fragmented and flawed, and that evil is mind? Or, are you in the living faith that there is and can be but one God? Are you keeping Spirit’s commandment? Until the lesson is learned that God is the only Mind governing us, human minds will be timid. Until we stop hiding from the call, the head, heart, stomach, cells, neurons, etc. will answer: “Here I am, looking for happiness and life in the body, but finding only an illusion, a blending of false claims, false pleasures, pain, sin, sickness, and death.”

The Soul-inspired patriarchs probably heard the voice of Truth and talked with God as consciously as people talk to one another.

Inconsistency is shown by words without deeds, which is like a car without an engine. If our words fail to express our deeds, God will redeem that weakness and out of the mouth of babes Soul will perfect praise. Consistency is seen in example more than in precept. The night of materiality is burning out and Truth’s glow wakens human beings spiritually to hear and to speak the new tongue.

Wrongdoing should become unreal to everyone. Sin is inconsistent, a divided kingdom with a realism that has no divine authority, and I rejoice in the understanding of this grand truth.

The opponents of divine Science must be charitable if they would be Christian.

Proofs are better than verbal arguments―better than prayers which don’t manifest the spiritual power to heal.

As for sickness and unprogressive mindsets, divine Science says in the language of the Teacher, “Follow me, and let the dead bury their own dead.”[2] In other words, let disorder of every name and nature be heard no more, and let the harmonious and true sense of Life and being occupy human consciousness.

Luke 12:1-8

 By this time the crowd, unwieldy and stepping on each other’s toes, numbered into the thousands. But Jesus’ primary concern was his disciples. He said to them, “Watch yourselves carefully so you don’t get contaminated with Pharisee yeast, Pharisee phoniness. You can’t keep your true self hidden forever; before long you’ll be exposed. You can’t hide behind a religious mask forever; sooner or later the mask will slip and your true face will be known. You can’t whisper one thing in private and preach the opposite in public; the day’s coming when those whispers will be repeated all over town.

^4-5 “I’m speaking to you as dear friends. Don’t be bluffed into silence or insincerity by the threats of religious bullies. True, they can kill you, but then what can they do? There’s nothing they can do to your soul, your core being. Save your fear for God, who holds your entire life—body and soul—in his hands.

^6-7 “What’s the price of two or three pet canaries? Some loose change, right? But God never overlooks a single one. And he pays even greater attention to you, down to the last detail—even numbering the hairs on your head! So don’t be intimidated by all this bully talk. You’re worth more than a million canaries.

^8-9 “Stand up for me among the people you meet and the Son of Man will stand up for you before all God’s angels.

21^st Century Science and Health

Human policies, scholastic theology, and inconsistent health care systems divide and scatter faith and spiritual understanding. Divine Science comes to the rescue and our birthright of sole allegiance to our Maker asserts itself.

 Progress removes restraints. The finite must yield to the infinite. Advancing to a higher plane of action, consciousness moves from the limited sense to the unlimited, from the scholastic to the inspirational, and from the mortal to the immortal. All things are created spiritually. Mind, not matter, is the creator. Love, the divine Principle, is the Father-Mother of the universe and us.

Rise above theories such as the hypothesis of the Trinity suggesting three persons in one God. Don’t buy into polytheism or multiple personalities. God is the one ever-present I AM. “Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one”[3]

Proverbs 3:30-32

Don’t walk around with a chip on your shoulder,
    always spoiling for a fight.
Don’t try to be like those who shoulder their way through life.
    Why be a bully?
“Why not?” you say. Because God can’t stand twisted souls.
    It’s the straightforward who get his respect.

21^st Century Science and Health

Men and women of all environments and cultures are still under the control of terrorists and bullies, ignorant how to obtain their freedom. The rights of humanity are being vindicated as people fight for equal rights and remove dictators from office. This pro-action prophesies further banishment of world-wide oppression found on higher planes of existence and under subtler and more depraving forms.

This is the great, indisputable truth in the Science of being: our spirituality was, is, and ever in harmony with complete reality. Our true self is the image or reflection of God. God’s children are not inverted or subverted, but upright and Godlike.

The voice of God in behalf of all people is reverberating around the world as the spokesperson of the new revolution sounds the keynote of universal mental freedom.

Philippians 1:9-11

 So this is my prayer: that your love will flourish and that you will not only love much but well. Learn to love appropriately. You need to use your head and test your feelings so that your love is sincere and intelligent, not sentimental gush. Live a lover’s life, circumspect and exemplary, a life Jesus will be proud of: bountiful in fruits from the soul, making Jesus Christ attractive to all, getting everyone involved in the glory and praise of God.

21^st Century Science and Health

The divine Mind maintains all identities as distinct and eternal, from a blade of grass to a star. The questions are: What are the identities of God? What is Soul? Does life or soul exist trapped inside a thing or person?

Nothing is real and eternal—nothing is Spirit—except God and God’s idea. Evil has no reality. Evil is not a person, place, or thing, but is in the end a misinterpretation of reality, an illusion of human mortal perceptions.

The identity or idea of reality continues forever. Soul is synonymous with Spirit and is never inside Spirit’s formations. God, the creative, governing, infinite Principle, is reflected by creation. Forms reflect Spirit.

You can rejoice in secret beauty and abundance, hidden from worldliness but known to God. Constant prayer spiritualizes thoughts and causes the mortal selfhood to be less demanding and distracting. A mindful practice has the ear and right hand of omnipotence and assuredly calls upon infinite blessings. Trustworthiness is the foundation of enlightened faith. Without a fitness for holiness, we can’t receive holiness.

A genuine sacrifice of temporal must precede advanced spiritual understanding. The highest prayer is not just faith, but faith and demonstration. Such prayer heals sickness and overcomes sin and death. Proof of spirituality distinguishes between the Truth that is sinless and the falsity of sinful sense.

Instead of possessing our own sentient form, we reflect Soul-sense. God, the Soul of all existence, being perpetual in individuality, harmony, and spirituality, imparts and preserves harmony and spirituality in us through Mind, not material atoms or energy. The only excuse for entertaining human opinions and rejecting the Science of being is our unawareness of Spirit—ignorance that vanishes as divine metaphysical Science is understood. Through spiritual understanding, we enter the universe of Truth on earth and learn that Spirit is infinite and supreme.

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[1] Gen. 3:9

[2] Matt. 8:22; Luke 9:60

[3] Deut. 6:4