Not long ago I read in the November,...

Otto Beetz

Not long ago I read in the November, 1941, issue of The Herald of Christian Science (German Edition) the following sentences: "What a forward impetus our movement would experience were each and every member frequently to ask himself the following questions: If every other Christian Scientist were giving only what I am giving, would our church be fulfilling the purpose for which it was established? ... Would there be written testimonies in the place reserved for them in The Christian Science Journal, the Christian Science Sentinel, and the Herald? ... An honest answer to these questions, a discerning of the right thing to do and the doing of it, should be helpful factors in our progress." I decided immediately, as "an honest answer," to send a testimony for publication.

In the winter of 1943 I was sent with other soldiers to Paris. There I attended with great joy the Christian Science services, which I had so long had to do without. At that time I was suffering from an intestinal trouble which I could not master despite all my study. I asked a practitioner in Paris to help me. The immediate relief of physical pain whenever I telephoned, even in the middle of the night, was unmistakable. However, the pain finally grew so much worse that I could not go on, and I was compelled, with the consent of the practitioner, to report to the Army doctor. He ordered me at once to go to a well-known German specialist. At the hospital I was given a thorough examination. The doctor informed me that I would be operated on the following day and would have to be put on a hospital train for Germany. He added, "You will never again be wholly well, for the sickness has progressed too far."

I remained steadfast, and almost all that night I read in the Christian Science textbook, "Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures" by Mary Baker Eddy, and declared the truth. The next morning, when I was made ready for the operation, I stated to the head doctor that I did not wish to be operated on. He urged me to permit the operation and tried to prove to me by accounts of other operations that in my case there was no other way out. I had difficulty in collecting my thoughts, but remained firm and kept repeating to myself the statement (ibid., p. 471), "And Science knows no lapse from nor return to harmony, but holds the divine order or spiritual law, in which God and all that He creates are perfect and eternal, to have remained unchanged in its eternal history."

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