Testimony of Healing October 13, 1973 Issue

About three years ago I was undergoing training while attached. . .

Roger N.Whiteway

About three years ago I was undergoing training while attached to a Navy attack squadron. This squadron prepares Navy pilots to fly carrier-based jet attack aircraft. As part of my training I had to attend a survival school. Any aircrewman who might be assigned to flying duty in combat areas had to attend this school. The school strove to simulate a wilderness survival, and a subsequent prisoner-of-war, environment. It was common knowledge among pilots that one of the techniques used at the school was the hotbox confinement. Such a box was used to soften up prisoners before they were to be interrogated.

I was raised in Christian Science, and I have been practicing it sincerely for the past six years. However, since childhood, I had harbored a terrible fear of enclosed small spaces, a condition called claustrophobia. Two weeks before I was to attend the school, I decided I should get some help in seeing through this false sense of fear. I called a Christian Science Minister for Armed Services Personnel and made an appointment to see him in his office. I cannot now remember what specifically was said, but I vividly recall the understanding and warm assurance he expressed. He gave me some ideas to work with and said he would give me one prayerful treatment.

The following week when I stepped into that hotbox, curled my legs under me, and crouched down, the trapdoor was slammed shut and locked. Instead of that constricting choking fear I had been plagued with throughout my childhood whenever confined, I felt divine Love enfolding me. I experienced a sense of peace that left no room for thoughts of fear or of self. I knew my unity with God. Humanly, the box turned out to be the one shelter of warmth where I found freedom from physical harassment which characterizes this rugged school. It was a closet where the door was shut and I could pray.

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