Article March 3, 1980 Issue

Promises fulfilled

BARBARA JUERGENS FOX

Much more than just topics for an hour-on-Sunday interlude are the teachings and works of Christ Jesus. He expected those who believed his message to take his works as an example for their own action. His healings were not publicity gimmicks or one-time miracles. Jesus taught his disciples that Christ-healing is based on God's law—law that is eternal and demonstrable.

That was why Jesus could promise his followers: "These signs shall follow them that believe; In my name shall they cast out devils; they shall speak with new tongues; they shall take up serpents; and if they drink any deadly thing, it shall not hurt them; they shall lay hands on the sick, and they shall recover."^{Mark 16:17, 18;}

Commenting on the above verses, Mary Baker Eddy, who discovered and founded Christian Science, says: "Jesus' promise is perpetual. Had it been given only to his immediate disciples, the Scriptural passage would read you, not they. The purpose of his great life-work extends through time and includes universal humanity."^{Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures, p. 328;}