Wednesday, November 29th, 2017 Testimony Meeting
At 8: 15pm EDT every Wednesday, we have a Testimony Meeting featuring readings from The Bible, Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures, and Prose Works, as well as testimonies of Christian Science healing and wonderful music. All are welcome!
The Reader Prays — to work with when praying for our services!
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Hymns
29 | 197 | 175 |
YouTube: Readings and Testimonies
Listen to the entire meeting here or on SoundCloud
Theme: The Leaves of Healing Are For All Nations
Readings: Florence from GA
The Bible
Psalm 107: 20
20 He sent his word, and healed them, and delivered them from their destructions.
Genesis 2: 8-9 (to the garden)
8 And the Lord God planted a garden eastward in Eden; and there he put the man whom he had formed.
9 And out of the ground made the Lord God to grow every tree that is pleasant to the sight, and good for food; the tree of life also in the midst of the garden…
Jeremiah 7: 1
1 The word that came to Jeremiah from the Lord, saying,
Jeremiah 8: 5, 9, 11, 22
5 Why then is this people of Jerusalem slidden back by a perpetual backsliding? they hold fast deceit, they refuse to return.
9 The wise men are ashamed, they are dismayed and taken: lo, they have rejected the word of the Lord; and what wisdom is in them?
11 For they have healed the hurt of the daughter of my people slightly, saying, Peace, peace; when there is no peace.
22 Is there no balm in Gilead; is there no physician there? why then is not the health of the daughter of my people recovered?
Jeremiah 30: 13, 17(to ; ) 22
13 There is none to plead thy cause, that thou mayest be bound up: thou hast no healing medicines.
17 For I will restore health unto thee, and I will heal thee of thy wounds, saith the Lord; …
22 And ye shall be my people, and I will be your God.
Mark 9: 14-27
14 And when he came to his disciples, he saw a great multitude about them, and the scribes questioning with them.
15 And straightway all the people, when they beheld him, were greatly amazed, and running to him saluted him.
16 And he asked the scribes, What question ye with them?
17 And one of the multitude answered and said, Master, I have brought unto thee my son, which hath a dumb spirit;
18 And wheresoever he taketh him, he teareth him: and he foameth, and gnasheth with his teeth, and pineth away: and I spake to thy disciples that they should cast him out; and they could not.
19 He answereth him, and saith, O faithless generation, how long shall I be with you? how long shall I suffer you? bring him unto me.
20 And they brought him unto him: and when he saw him, straightway the spirit tare him; and he fell on the ground, and wallowed foaming.
21 And he asked his father, How long is it ago since this came unto him? And he said, Of a child.
22 And ofttimes it hath cast him into the fire, and into the waters, to destroy him: but if thou canst do any thing, have compassion on us, and help us.
23 Jesus said unto him, If thou canst believe, all things are possible to him that believeth.
24 And straightway the father of the child cried out, and said with tears, Lord, I believe; help thou mine unbelief.
25 When Jesus saw that the people came running together, he rebuked the foul spirit, saying unto him, Thou dumb and deaf spirit, I charge thee, come out of him, and enter no more into him.
26 And the spirit cried, and rent him sore, and came out of him: and he was as one dead; insomuch that many said, He is dead.
27 But Jesus took him by the hand, and lifted him up; and he arose.
Revelation 22: 1-2, 14
1 And he shewed me a pure river of water of life, clear as crystal, proceeding out of the throne of God and of the Lamb.
2 In the midst of the street of it, and on either side of the river, was there the tree of life, which bare twelve manner of fruits, and yielded her fruit every month: and the leaves of the tree were for the healing of the nations.
14 Blessed are they that do his commandments, that they may have right to the tree of life, and may enter in through the gates into the city.
Ezekiel 47: 12
12 And by the river upon the bank thereof, on this side and on that side, shall grow all trees for meat, whose leaf shall not fade, neither shall the fruit thereof be consumed: it shall bring forth new fruit according to his months, because their waters they issued out of the sanctuary: and the fruit thereof shall be for meat, and the leaf thereof for medicine.
Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures
526: 15-19
God pronounced good all that He created, and the Scriptures declare that He created all. The “tree of life” stands for the idea of Truth, and the sword which guards it is the type of divine Science.
Miscellaneous Writings
38: 17-21
It is a Science that has the animus of Truth. Its practical application to benefit the race, heal the sick, enlighten and reform the sinner, makes divine metaphysics needful, indispensable.
Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures
406: 1-407: 16
The Bible contains the recipe for all healing. “The leaves of the tree were for the healing of the nations.” Sin and sickness are both healed by the same Principle. The tree is typical of man’s divine Principle, which is equal to every emergency, offering full salvation from sin, sickness, and death. Sin will submit to Christian Science when, in place of modes and forms, the power of God is understood and demonstrated in the healing of mortals, both mind and body. “Perfect Love casteth out fear.”
The Science of being unveils the errors of sense, and spiritual perception, aided by Science, reaches Truth. Then error disappears. Sin and sickness will abate and seem less real as we approach the scientific period, in which mortal sense is subdued and all that is unlike the true likeness disappears. The moral man has no fear that he will commit a murder, and he should be as fearless on the question of disease.
Resist evil — error of every sort — and it will flee from you. Error is opposed to Life. We can, and ultimately shall, so rise as to avail ourselves in every direction of the supremacy of Truth over error, Life over death, and good over evil, and this growth will go on until we arrive at the fulness of God’s idea, and no more fear that we shall be sick and die. Inharmony of any kind involves weakness and suffering, — a loss of control over the body.
The depraved appetite for alcoholic drinks, tobacco, tea, coffee, opium, is destroyed only by Mind’s mastery of the body. This normal control is gained through divine strength and understanding. There is no enjoyment in getting drunk, in becoming a fool or an object of loathing; but there is a very sharp remembrance of it, a suffering inconceivably terrible to man’s self-respect. Puffing the obnoxious fumes of tobacco, or chewing a leaf naturally attractive to no creature except a loathsome worm, is at least disgusting.
Man’s enslavement to the most relentless masters — passion, selfishness, envy, hatred, and revenge — is conquered only by a mighty struggle. Every hour of delay makes the struggle more severe. If man is not victorious over the passions, they crush out happiness, health, and manhood. Here Christian Science is the sovereign panacea, giving strength to the weakness of mortal mind, — strength from the immortal and omnipotent Mind, — and lifting humanity above itself into purer desires, even into spiritual power and good-will to man.
142: 26 – 143: 12
Which was first, Mind or medicine? If Mind was first and self-existent, then Mind, not matter, must have been the first medicine. God being All-in-all, He made medicine; but that medicine was Mind. It could not have been matter, which departs from the nature and character of Mind, God. Truth is God’s remedy for error of every kind, and Truth destroys only what is untrue. Hence the fact that, to-day, as yesterday, Christ casts out evils and heals the sick.
It is plain that God does not employ drugs or hygiene, nor provide them for human use; else Jesus would have recommended and employed them in his healing. The sick are more deplorably lost than the sinning, if the sick cannot rely on God for help and the sinning can. The divine Mind never called matter medicine, and matter required a material and human belief before it could be considered as medicine.
143: 17-31
You admit that mind influences the body somewhat, but you conclude that the stomach, blood, nerves, bones, etc., hold the preponderance of power. Controlled by this belief, you continue in the old routine. You lean on the inert and unintelligent, never discerning how this deprives you of the available superiority of divine Mind. The body is not controlled scientifically by a negative mind.
Mind is the grand creator, and there can be no power except that which is derived from Mind. If Mind was first chronologically, is first potentially, and must be first eternally, then give to Mind the glory, honor, dominion, and power everlastingly due its holy name.
Retrospection and Introspection
94: 21-95: 3
There is no “lo here! or lo there!” in divine Science; its manifestation must be “the same yesterday, and to-day, and forever,” since Science is eternally one, and unchanging, in Principle, rule, and demonstration.
I am persuaded that only by the modesty and distinguishing affection illustrated in Jesus’ career, can Christian Scientists aid the establishment of Christ’s kingdom on the earth. In the first century of the Christian era Jesus’ teachings bore much fruit, and the Father was glorified therein. In this period and the forthcoming centuries, watered by dews of divine Science, this “tree of life” will blossom into greater freedom, and its leaves will be “for the healing of the nations.”
Christian Science versus Pantheism
13: 18-24
Sooner or later all shall know Him, recognize the great truth that Spirit is infinite, and find life in Him in whom we do “live, and move, and have our being” — life in Life, all in All. Then shall all nations, peoples, and tongues, in the words of St Paul, have “one God and Father of all, who is above all, and through all, and in you all.” (Ephesians iv. 6.)