Smoke signals

Recently, a birthday came, went, and garnered surprisingly little notice in the process. It was, according to a top tobacco company, birthday number 100 for the modern-day cigarette. Some studies suggest that cigarettes reached their peak popularity in the 1950s. Those who grew up during this time period, or even enjoy classic cinema now, have seen the influence this habit had over society as a whole. Despite cigarettes’ decline in sales in the years since (at least in the United States) they still grip the thoughts and shape the cravings of many.

It’s important to know that humanity has a right to freedom from this habit, and indeed addiction to material substances of any kind. What about negative mental currents arguing that some people need to smoke in order to relax? Or, that there is, for some, an element of glamour to smoking? (For instance, E-cigarettes are currently being marketed as a fashionable and popular alternative, and yet, while they don’t contain tobacco, experts say the nicotine within them still poses dangers.)

The Christ-message comes directly from God to human consciousness. It does not idly wait by, but is active, vibrantly so.

A search on JSH-Online for “smoking” yields many, many healings. Perhaps these healings illustrate these words from Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures by Mary Baker Eddy: “Truth brings the elements of liberty” (p. 224 ).

How good to know that, in the realm of prayer-based healing, all that one ever deals with is thought. Thought that springs from the Mind that is in Christ, shines with freedom and independence. The Master, Christ Jesus, said, “Ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free” (John 8:32 ). We are equipped to “know.” And it is Truth’s job to “make free.”

No matter how alluring the marketing tactics of what the Bible calls “the carnal mind” (see Romans 8:7 ), the good-news message of the Christ prevails. The Christ-message comes directly from God to human consciousness. It does not idly wait by, but is active, vibrantly so. It nurtures and heals.

When Jesus touched a man afflicted with leprosy, the man was instantly made clean. Today, when the Christ-message touches an individual’s thought, thought naturally begins to shift. The Christ ignites this shift as it delivers a message of independence from matter and its chains. These elements of liberty originate with the Father, and are bestowed on His offspring. In truth, these elements of freedom abide in each one of us. As we wake to our Christly nature, healthier thought tends to promote healthier desires and aspirations and a healthier body. Spiritual convictions don’t back down. As the power of the divine Mind that is in Christ grows more apparent, any supposed power of the carnal mind weakens.

If cigarettes were once almost universally embraced on the social scene, now they are receiving a chilly reception. But the work to combat addiction is not over. So, the need, and our prayerful response to it, goes on. Freedom, always a state of divine Mind, never of matter, continues its dawn.