Article October 10, 1908 Issue

Because God is the creator of all that is, He is also the...

John H. Rendall

The Midwestern

Because God is the creator of all that is, He is also the intelligent Principle by which all reality is governed and controlled. His laws therefore are the laws which govern man's being, and the intelligent application of His laws has always resulted in those conditions of harmony and perfection which constitute man's real being. In a corresponding inverse ratio, do we find that ignorance or repudiation of God's laws, or the refusal to be governed thereby, has resulted in conditions of sin, sickness, disease, and death.

Prophet and apostle have united in the recognition of certain fundamental and indisputable facts relative to health and harmony of mind and body. The thunderings of Mount Sinai found their gentler response in the teachings of the Galilean Prophet, to the effect that all sin, all sickness, all discord, even unto death, may be overcome by the recognition of God's infinite love and power. The teaching that "sin brought death" is met with the truth that "righteousness [rightness with God] tendeth to life." The idea of healing the sick and sinful through prayer and faith in God is taught and was practised throughout all Bible history; it is not therefore a "new idea," neither is it an "experiment:" rather is it a fundamental part of Christianity and of religious experience as explained and taught by Jesus Christ and his disciples and apostles.

A close study of the teachings of the Bible reveals a clear line of scientific reasoning throughout its pages which differentiates between true methods in healing the sick and those which are faulty and inimical to man's welfare. This is illustrated by an experience recorded in Chronicles: "And Asa in the thirty and ninth year of his reign was diseased in his feet, until his disease was exceeding great: yet in his disease he sought not to the Lord, but to the physicians. And Asa slept with his fathers, and died." It is also illustrated in the case of "Naaman the Syrian," who failed to find healing for his leprosy until he complied with God's requirements. It is further illustrated in every case which Jesus healed. An illustration of the difference between true and false mental methods is in the experience of Moses with the magicians of Egypt, of Saul with the "witch of Endor," of Daniel with the astrologers and soothsayers of the Babylonish court, and in many other instances given in Scripture. These illustrations make a clear distinction between the claims of hypnotism. mesmerism, spiritualism, necromancy, etc., as expressed in the belief in "minds many" and the positive power of the one infinite Mind, or God. Jesus Christ in his healing ministry recognized and emphasized true methods of Christian healing, and only those are entitled to be thus designated which conform in every particular to the teachings which he established.

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