12/09/2024
Enjoy this FULL STRING of spiritual sense GEMs (earlier this week) to hourly Prove God to be ”the Preserver of Man”
G.E.M.s = God Expressed Meekly/Mightily in you to sparkle brightly with insights from Cobbey Crisler & others as inspired by God and The Christian Science Quarterly Bible Lesson on
”God the Preserver of Man”
for Sunday, December 15, 2024
(Cobbey’s insights are shared with the blessing of Janet Crisler)
by Warren Huff, CedarS Executive Director Emeritus
BELIEVE IN BEING ABLE TO SEE EVER PRESENT SOLUTIONS NOW!
Cobbey Crisler on Ps. 27:13, a prelude to Responsive Reading/Ps. 27:14:
[Cobbey said:] “We all by application faint, fail, end up in that helplessness that world attitudes would weigh down such faith with. [“I had fainted], unless I had believed to see the goodness of the Lord,” not in some far-off destination, not in some promised heaven, but “in the land of the living,” right here and right now. There is a practical pharmacy with immediate sense of help, a realized solution, not simply a hoped-for solution.”
“Leaves of the Tree: Prescriptions from the Psalms”, by B. Cobbey Crisler
STOP RESISTING THE HEALING POWER THAT COMES WHEN YOU “BE STILL AND KNOW…”
Cobbey Crisler on Psalm 46:10 in the Responsive Reading
[Cobbey said:] “Psalm 46, Verse 10. One of the simplest prescriptions for the human mind to take and one of the most difficult. The human mind resists to the hilt taking this one. “Be still and know that I [am] God.” The racket of thought quieted. It’s a very strong word, “Be still.” Jesus used those words to calm violence in nature [Mark 4:39], and also to cast out an unclean spirit [Mark 1:25]. It doesn’t belong in nature or human nature. Certainly it’s not part of the divine nature. So, “Be still” is [a] very emphatic verbal rebuke.”
“Leaves of the Tree: Prescriptions from Psalms”, by B. Cobbey Crisler
QUIT FOCUSING ON NEGATIVITY — TALK INSTEAD OF GOD’s “mighty acts… great goodness…& righteousness” of “his tender mercies…over all his works.” Ps. 145:9+/Responsive Reading
[Warren: Here’s a Ps. 145:9 BONUS that I love! A serenade of “Tender Mercies” by two Christian Science Practitioners! Click on YouTube link below to see and hear Craig Ghislin, CS, and David Price, CS, two of CedarS Met contributors alumni, singing a guitar duet of “Tender Mercies” on the back porch of CedarS Care House where they were serving when this 15-bedroom & bathroom log home was brand new. [Click on: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PToeaQ_CWLE&t=14s
[W.] ”By accentuating the harmony, positivity and blessings that flow from receiving God’s “tender mercies,” we can and should eliminate the curses of strife and negativity played up daily by ads and news — especially in this election year.
(Ps. 145:9) “The Lord is good to all: and his tender mercies are over all his works. All thy works shall praise thee, O Lord; and thy saints shall bless thee”—as two of them do in a fun “Tender Mercies” duet from the deck of CedarS log Care House.
Cobbey Crisler points out in the next verses that we should encourage one another to share examples of God’s power, TO STOP FOCUSING THOUGHT ON STRIFE AND TO QUIT TALKING ABOUT ILLNESSES (flu, viruses…)!
[Cobbey Crisler on Ps. 145:11, a postlude BONUS]
“Psalm 145, Verse 11. A receptive, spiritually-educated, human race going to God with total commitment for the answer to all ills will no longer talk about illnesses. ”They shall speak of the glory of God’s kingdom, and talk of thy power.”’
“Leaves of the Tree: Prescriptions from Psalms,” by B. Cobbey Crisler
TO PRESERVE THE REAL YOU, (as well as your travels, companionship & income) CALL ON YOUR GREAT PHYSICIAN. “The Lord shall preserve thee from all evil: he shall preserve thy soul” Psalm 121:7/citation B1 [plus Cobbey on prelude & postlude verses]
[Cobbey Crisler:] “Psalm 121, Verses 3 and 4. Let’s remember that the Bible tells us that the Great Physician has no off-hours; “He that keepeth thee will not slumber.” There are no busy circuits, no vacations, no fully booked calendars. You can get right to God, and there is a security system built in Verse 8*, “The Lord shall preserve thy going out** and thy coming in** from this time forth, and for ever.”
“Leaves of the Tree: Prescriptions from Psalms,” by B. Cobbey Crisler
**[Warren: Psalm 121:8 is annually a key metaphysical citation to support the dear ones coming-in and going out from CedarS. We all apply it to help affirm divinely-safe arrivals and departures when hundreds are travelling to and from CedarS from all over the world.]
**[W. continued: Here’s a semi-humorous, one of my wordplay offering: “Psalm 121.8 establishes a helpful divine basis for those seeking right relationships and supply. “You can rest easy that it’s God who cares for your “going out” (your dating and companionship) and who provides for your “coming in” (or your in-come) forever!”]
SEE LOVINGKINDNESS DRAWING ALL MANKIND TO GOD FOR SOLUTIONS TO WORLD PROBLEMS!
Cobbey Crisler on Jeremiah 31:3/citation B1
[Cobbey said:] “In Chapter 31, which is Jeremiah’s greatest chapter, he predicts the new covenant will come. He defines it. In Verse 3 he shows that the new covenant is definitely based on the comprehension of God as love. It’s that very “lovingkindness” that will draw all mankind to God for the solution of the world problems.”— [to make “their soul (spiritual sense) as a watered garden.” (Jer. 31:12)
“Heal the Sick”: A Scriptural Record”, by B. Cobbey Crisler
BE CLAD WITH “FEAR NOT…” ANGEL MESSAGES! Citation B3/ Isaiah 41:10, 13; also in Isa. 43:5; Daniel 10:19…) An example of one of Cobbey Crisler’s Sunday School student who proved God is “… the one who saves me from violence.” (II Samuel 22:3; plus Isa. 41:10-13/cit. B3; also 1 John 4:18; Job 3:25)
[Cobbey Crisler on handling thoughts of fear:] “Fear… resting in the thought of everyone, especially today, with so many things that seem to be happening unexpectedly. Is that all accumulating in the form of suppressed fear? Look at what Job says happens.
“…the thing that I have greatly feared is come upon me…” (Job 3:25)
What is the relationship between the fear and the thing? … It’s magnetic.
“If we understand that to be true about the quality of fear in thought, would anyone be afraid again? Would anyone in his right mind want to be afraid again? If we knew all that fear was doing— was attracting the thing that we were afraid of— right to us? Just think of the disservice so many Hollywood movies do, if this is correct. Also, ask yourself, if it is a coincidence, that right after we see certain movies, that we suddenly find the same disasters are occurring? The focus is human thought!
“This is one of the most beautiful exposures of the nature of this to-and-fro evil to attack humanity. Our effort must be to break that magnetism so that the thing feared cannot come to man individually or collectively, because there’s nothing in thought to attract it.
“The textbook gives us the solution to fear, the textbook of the Bible. Because 1st John (4:18) gives us the solution to fear. What is it? “Perfect Love castest out fear:” What kind of love? It’s got to be perfect, not a c***k in it, in the armor. Is that stating to us that only in thought is a complete defense, or panoply (a complete suit of armor), with the threat of something that otherwise would be fearsome indeed?
[Powerful application example shared by Cobbey:] “One of my Sunday School students once had the rest of the class on the edges of their chairs as a result of an experience she had just that week. It illustrates this. She was walking home very late at night after an extension course at a local college in a very poor area of town, not lit very well. As she was walking through suddenly she heard a car behind her. It squealed its brakes, stopped at the curb, and out jumped four leather-jacketed “gentlemen.” They ran right towards her, grabbed her, and started dragging her into the nearby woods.
“Here comes the big question, like it came from Noah, like it came for Daniel, like it came for Job. Here it is still a question mark in her thought. That girl had been used to studying the Bible. She was pretty good with it theoretically. Here came an opportunity to see if it had any practical value. Of course, you don’t think too intellectually at times like that. She said to the class that all that came to her was something she hadn’t even recognized was from the Bible. She never even remembered reading it. It was (from Isaiah 41:10, cit. B3 & Isa. 43:5) “Fear not for I am with you.” She kept shouting that at the top of her lungs, “Fear not for I am with you.”
“Here was a mob scene. Something in the human nature of one of those boys was touched by that higher sense because it broke up the mob slightly. He said, “Hey, wait a minute, let’s let her alone. She’s not that kind of a girl.” That brief stopping of what looked like the inevitable was sufficient for a car, just coming around to catch the scene in its headlights. It was a police car. The boys dropped her fast, got into their car and took off. The policemen, sizing it up quickly, stopped, went over to this gal and picked her up and said, “Would you like a ride home? Are you alright?” She said, “Yes, thank you very much.” She rode in the car with the policemen back to her house and the driver said, “You know, little lady, how lucky you are. This isn’t our regular beat. Our beat’s one block up from here. But my buddy said, ‘Hey, tonight, why don’t we just go down and check that area?’ So, I agreed and we went.”
“That gal, in really reaching out for the only possible help—there was no human help — had apparently touched the solution for her experience that could be the solution for all of us. What needed to be counteracted in thought was fear, because look what came to her, “Fear not!” Why? The textbook answer, “For I am with thee.” Just that mustard seed was able to counteract what would have been the magnetic attraction to the thing she greatly feared. It was also apparently enough to, not only reach the thought of one boy, but perhaps even to alert the policemen to an idea that they had not contemplated on the previous night.
“And everything arrived at once. You can imagine what that meant to the kids when they heard that in Sunday School and to me as well. I’ve always kind of taken it as a beautiful example of what Job is saying here in revealing the nature of fear. (Job 3:25)
“There’s a movie ad I read not too recently showing that we’re almost gluttons for punishment as far as human nature is concerned. That movie ad—maybe you’ve seen it—it promises audiences in big, bold headlines, “AT LAST—TOTAL TERROR!” (Laughter) Who wants total terror? But people are paying money for it! When they leave that theater, what’s dancing on their eyelids and their mental memory as far as these things are concerned? What does a knock on the door, or a scream in the night, or anything else now mean in terms of the helplessness of man and man shoved back into no-dominion-at-all, but fatalistically waiting for what comes?”
“The Case of Job,” by B. Cobbey Crisler
[Warren: What a memorable proof and comfort it was to that girl and to the whole class to hear first-hand that “whoso putteth his (her) trust in the Lord shall be safe.” [Proverbs 29:25/cit. B4]
PROVE NOTHING’S IMPOSSIBLE WHEN EVERY LIE is TOTALLY DENIED & EVERY TRUTH OF THE CASE IS TOTALLY AFFIRMED. Cobbey on how Jesus healed a case of lifelong epilepsy in Luke 9:38-43/cit. B17 & Mark 9:17-29 where Jesus 1st handles a parent’s thought & shares his method of not only prayer, but also fasting Mark 9:29/Bonus!
[Cobbey Crisler:] “We have healings throughout Mark which require your study. We have an epileptic child healed in the next few verses, 17 through 29.
Verse 21. Jesus recognizes that the first patient is the father and his thinking. [“and he asked his father, How long is it ago since this came unto him? And he said, Of a child.”… ]
Verse 23. He turns and deals with the father, his parental thought. [“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.”]
Verse 25-27. Jesus then deals with the young man.
Verse 29 says, “This kind of healing.” Because the disciples had failed, this healing required two things, “prayer and fasting.” You can say this in another way using two other words: “No” and “Yes” [as Mary Baker Eddy titled one of her works on scientific, mental healing.] Fasting is what we say “no” to and prayer is what we’re affirming. Once again, we see that we are given the rules of healing.”
In Science & Health citation S17/144:20, Mary Baker Eddy quotes JESUS STILLING A BIG STORM BY SAYING “PEACE BE STILL.” (Mark 4:39)
“Truth, and not corporeal will, is the divine power that says to disease, “Peace be still.” (SH 144: 22, cit. S17)
[Cobbey Crisler comments on Mark 4:35-41:] “Verse 37. Then we have the “storm of wind, the waves.”
”Verse 38. And another thing that Peter remembers is that Jesus was “asleep on a pillow.” No other gospel tells us that Jesus was asleep on a pillow. Things linger with Peter. Do you remember his roof in Mark 2:4? It took him longer to fix that roof than it took Jesus to heal the paralytic man inside the house.
Now we have another thing that stuck with Peter. In the middle of crisis, there’s Jesus “in the lap of luxury” asleep on a pillow. He was not concerned about that boat or its occupants. There was a great sense of peace, obviously, in the mind of Jesus. But the frantic disciples go and shake him, wake him up. ”Don’t you care that we’re perishing out here?’’ They hadn’t thought that he was in the same boat. Actually, when one bases it on a different mental concept, he wasn’t m the same boat with the disciples.
”You know how you and I feel when we’re awakened out of a sleep? We usually need a little time to get over the grogginess. Not with Jesus. He immediately arose, and rebuked the wind, just as he did to the man with the unclean spirit in the synagogue. He saw church right out there. So church includes nature. Nature was trying to get outside the definition of church.
”Verse 39. Jesus said, ”No” and ”Yes” to God’s definition of church,
”Peace be still. And the wind ceased, and there was a great calm.”
Verse 40. Then he pointed to the problem. The problem was mental. ’’You are fearful.” That obviously is what needs then to be said ”No” to. ”You have no faith.” Faith is what apparently needs to be said ”Yes” to. That calms storms without as well as storms within, showing that the real conquest is that of inner space, not of outer space.”
“What Mark Recorded”, by B. Cobbey Crisler
WELCOME THE HEALING LIGHT & RESTFUL SLEEP of KNOWING AS YOU ARE KNOWN— of SEEING God face to face! Cobbey on Ps. 4:6/prelude to Ps. 4:8/cit. B21:
[Cobbey Crisler:] “The treatment in Psalm 4, verse 6 is the “light of God’s countenance.”
[W. A God’s-eye view of one’s self – seeking God, face to face and so knowing as we are known—always leads one to “lay… down in peace, and sleep… in safety” as in Psalm 4:8/cit. B21)
[Cobbey again:] “Despite the fact that in verse 6 the question is raised, the prognosis, we might say, which is very ill-boding, says, “Who will show us [any] good?” What’s the use? (Intimated.) Why is God’s countenance a medicine? “The light of God’s countenance.” We find this all the time that we are to seek God’s face, face-to-face. You know what Paul says face-to-face is? To know as you are known. It’s a mental face-to face then, isn’t it? Face to face with God is to know as God knows. To be God-like.”
“Leaves of the Tree: Prescriptions from Psalms”, by B. Cobbey Crisler
FIND CURE-ALLS of DIVINE, LOVINGKINDNESS AT ANY TIME OF DAY & NIGHT! HOPE IN GOD (who alone can quench thirsty souls) TO FIND A SURE CURE TO DEPRESSION (& put an END to CONTINUAL FEARS & TEARS)!
[W: Psalm 42, verses 2, 3 and 5 start with the psalmist acknowledging a thirst, lack, or seeming ‘hole in his soul.’ “… my soul panteth for thee O God. My soul thirsteth for God, for the living God…” This is manifested in “tears… day and night…” and in questioning the existence of God— “Where is thy God?” (Verses 3 and 10)
That seeming void is filled with divine cure-alls for every time of the day and night—God’s commanded “lovingkindness in the daytime, and in the night his song… and my prayer unto the God of my life.” (Ps. 42:8/citation B22) These cure-alls are a panacea that end every pandemic – even one of depression and hopelessness.]
[Bonus verses Ps. 42:11] “Why art thou cast down, O my soul? and why art thou disquieted in me? hope thou in God: for I shall yet praise him for the help of his countenance. O my God, my soul is cast down within me: (Psalm 42:5, 6)
[Cobbey:] “Psalm 42, Verse 11 is a refrain in this psalm and the next. [Ps. 43.5] It’s a question we all need to ask ourselves, ”Why art thou cast down?” Depression, if not an economic fact, seems to be a mental one at present. ”Why art thou cast down? Examine the reasons. ”Why art thou disquieted within me?” That’s getting mad in a sense. That’s challenging what we are accepting without question. Why am I depressed? Why is this disquiet? What’s the reason for it? Then notice the remedy. ”Hope thou in God: praise God, hope in God. The health of our countenance is in God. ”
“Leaves of the Tree: Prescriptions from Psalms,” by B. Cobbey Crisler
[Cobbey:] “Verse 11 [of Psalm 42] is the effect of that [enemy] thought [of questioning the existence of God in verse 10]. Our “soul is cast down,” our whole identity depressed, “disquieted.” Only restored “hope in God” will restore “the health of our countenance,” showing the physical effect of the mental cause.”
“War in Heaven: Conquest of Inner Space,” by B. Cobbey Crisler
FIND SATISFACTION AND HEALTH ONLY IN THE ORIGINAL!
Cobbey Crisler on Psalm 17:15/cit. B23
[Cobbey wrote of Psalm 17:15/cit. B23:] “Verse 15 of Psalms 17 [tells us] that God’s prescriptions, precisely filled, bring satisfaction. Satisfaction because “we awake in God’s likeness.” But that results first from the prerequisite of “beholding God’s face in righteousness.” That requires us to go back to the theology of Genesis 1 to comprehend what that means. If we indeed are image, or likeness, and God is the original, the only way we can find out about our nature is to spend our time studying the original. Then we know the image. We also know what’s not the image by studying the original.
“Just as Treasury Department experts know counterfeit bills, not because they have studied all the many thousands of counterfeit attempts, from poor work to expert work, but rather because when you simply study the original you will know the counterfeit immediately. That’s in a sense akin to surgically removing in a mental way, or taking the purgative cathartic Word of God to remove what does not belong to our nature. Imagine the joy of letting go what has burdened us for so long. It’s part of that darkness that is ignorance, that the light, the laser beam of revealed truth, simply removes, and not painfully at all. It just does what light is supposed to do. It removes any rationale for the existence of darkness”
“Leaves of the Tree: Prescriptions from Psalms,” by B. Cobbey Crisler
REMEMBER (GIVE LOVING ATTENTION) TO THE FACT THAT THE C.O.T. ALWAYS BEATS THE BED! [Warren: I coined this helpful C.O.T. acrostic from Science & Health: “The Consciousness Of Truth rests us more than hours of repose in unconsciousness.” (218:7, cit. 25)
Applying this idea from citation S25 in this week’s Christian Science Quarterly Bible Lesson has helped me feel well-rested, even when I haven’t had as many hours of sleep as normal. The open secret is to give a priority to feeling never sorry for yourself, but instead joyously alive in the Consciousness Of Truth in all your waking hours. “COT-rest (Consciousness-Of-Truth-rest) always beats mere BED-rest)! I’ve been happy to prove this on every short night when I’ve had to “sleep fast” for one good reason or another.”
“The Consciousness Of Truth rests us more than hours of repose in unconsciousness.” (Science & Health 218:7, cit. S25)
FEEL ALL UNIFIED TOWARDS GOD, DESPITE OUR DIFFERENCES
with the singing of “The Lord Bless You and Keep You” (Numbers 6:24-26/citation B26)
[Warren:] ”While my favorite rendition of this hymn was at a Principia Upper School graduation, I couldn’t find it on YouTube. But you can click on https://youtu.be/lZN1mryHEnQ to hear the choir of Westminster Abbey sing John Rutter’s wonderful “The Lord Bless You and Keep You” during a service to celebrate the 60th wedding anniversary of Queen Elizabeth II and Prince Philip.
“The Lord bless you and keep you The Lord make His face to shine upon you To shine upon you and be gracious And be gracious unto you The Lord bless you and keep you The Lord make His face to shine upon you To shine upon you and be gracious And be gracious unto you The Lord lift up the light of his countenance upon you The Lord lift up the light of his countenance upon you And give you peace, and give you peace And give you peace, and give you peace Amen, Amen, Amen, Amen, Amen, Amen”
Comments:
“It’s incredibly spectacular how a single hymn Can unite us all towards God, despite our differences.”
“The words ”and give you peace”, repeated four times, was deeply touching… I am reminded of an old German saint and quoting her as I remember what she said. ”The world mocks our joy and scoffs at our love but it envies our peace.”
CHERISH a *Bible-based,* ONE-ness Mind-Set
to Unfold HEALING POWER & to fulfill Bible PROMISES!
Exodus 15:26 & Job 33:24 are quoted by Mary Baker Eddy in this sentence right before citation S20/276:4
“Having one God, one Mind, unfolds the power that heals the sick, and fulfills these sayings of Scripture, “I am the Lord that healeth thee,” and “I have found a ransom.” [cit. S20/276:1-4, bold added]
In just this one sentence Mary Baker Eddy quotes two Bible promises from the Old Testament (Hebrew Bible) and outlines their fulfillment.
Bible quote #1: “I am the Lord that healeth thee,” (Exodus 15:26)
Bible quote #2 “I have found a ransom” There are additional precious promises to count on from getting a fuller context of Mary Baker Eddy’s quote of “I have found a ransom” from Job 33:23-26: “If there be a messenger with him, an interpreter, one among a thousand, to shew unto man his uprightness: Then he is gracious unto him, and saith, Deliver him from going down to the pit: I have found a ransom. His flesh shall be fresher than a child’s: he shall return to the days of his youth: He shall pray unto God, and he will be favourable unto him: and he shall see his face with joy: for he will render unto man his righteousness.” (Job 33:23–26, italics and underlining added)
In the sentence that follows this one/citation S26, Mary Baker Eddy also quotes the New Testament:
“When the divine precepts are understood, they unfold the foundation of fellowship, in which one mind is not at war with another, but all have one Spirit, God, one intelligent source, in accordance with the Scriptural command: “Let this Mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus.” (itation S26/276:4 referring to Philippians 2:5 which is also directly connected to the 6th Tenet of Christian Science as discussed in the BONUS below.
Bonus: KEEP YOUR CHRIST-LIKE MINDSET AND OUR SOLEMN SIXTH TENET PROMISE which comes straight from Philippians 2:5. Here St. Paul states our aspirational goal: ”Let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus.”
Click the URL link below to a wonderful sharing from “The Mary Baker Eddy Library for The Betterment of Humanity” that traces the evolution of revisions not only to the Sixth Tenet and its Scriptural roots, but to all the tenets. Note that the ending of this Tenet is also Biblically-based as it has evolved from Micah 6:8. “… what doth the Lord require of thee, but to do justly, and to love mercy, and to walk humbly with thy God.” Elsewhere, Mary Baker Eddy states: “To do justly, and to love mercy, and to walk humbly” is the standard of Christian Science.” (Miscellany, 283:23)
CLICK HERE to SEE the EVOLUTION of the SIXTH TENET and others
AS RESEARCHED BY THE MARY BAKER EDDY LIBRARY (S&H 497:24)
You can cut and paste the URL link address below to a wonderful article from The Mary Baker Eddy Library on “The Evolution of the Tenets of Christian Science”: https://www.marybakereddylibrary.org/research/the-evolution-of-christian-science-tenets/
**[Warren Huff’s P.S. note of interest for interfaith dialogues;]
”I’m very grateful that Mary Baker Eddy made Christian Science such a Bible-based religion! In her textbook, Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures, she quotes the Bible 60 times in the opening 20-page chapter on Prayer.
In the chapter titled “Recapitulation” in Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures, Mary Baker Eddy asks and answers a series of questions as she offers a summary of her theology. Page 497 of this chapter includes the following: Question. — Have Christian Scientists any religious creed? A...
