Activities for the Armed Services
[The following accounts of service personnel have been received by the Armed Services Department and are now shared with the Field.]
Colorado
A Christian Science Minister who serves a Veterans' Administration Hospital was asked to call on a woman who was a patient there. This woman had served in the Army as a medical nurse during World War II. About two years prior to going to the Veterans' Hospital, the trained nurse became interested in Christian Science.
When the Minister visited her, she was suffering from extreme pain and was scheduled to undergo an operation for the removal of a kidney stone. The Minister encouraged her with the truths of Christian Science and talked with her about the impending operation. In this connection he pointed out that because she had entered the hospital voluntarily, she could not logically refuse to accept whatever treatment the doctors recommended. However, he explained that she did not have to wait for a surgical operation, because Truth is ever operative.
The Minister then quoted this passage from "Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures" by Mary Baker Eddy (p. 242): "In patient obedience to a patient God, let us labor to dissolve with the universal solvent of Love the adamant of error,—self-will, self-justification, and self-love,—which wars against spirituality and is the law of sin and death." He showed the woman that Love is the universal solvent which dissolves any belief of matter. Therefore, by relying radically on Love there would be no need of a surgical operation.
The patient and the Minister clung to these truths for the ensuing thirty-six hours. The woman worked to recognize that the healing would result from the operation of divine Love alone; and it did. She did not resort to medicine or surgery. The stone was eliminated without pain. She was released from the hospital in a few days and has suffered no aftereffects.
North Atlantic
In Science and Health Mrs. Eddy describes a brave mariner who is piloting a ship through a raging storm and acting according to his highest understanding of Truth. "Thus should we deport ourselves on the seething ocean of sorrow," she writes (p. 67), and then adds, "Hoping and working, one should stick to the wreck, until an irresistible propulsion precipitates his doom or sunshine gladdens the troubled sea."
Illustrative of this passage is the experience of a sergeant who became interested in Christian Science after going to a base in the North Atlantic. His wife, who is a Christian Scientist, asked him for a divorce. From the material standpoint all seemed lost. Although the future looked very unhappy for him, the sergeant worked and prayed constantly in Science, never giving up hope. Through his faithful work, he and his wife have been reconciled. This serviceman is truly grateful for Christian Science and its many blessings.
Texas
The following testimony came from a serviceman stationed in Texas: "While assigned to a Coast Guard cutter, I made patrols of varying length into the Gulf of Mexico. Because the ship on which I was serving was comparatively rough riding, I was troubled by seasickness. At times I suffered so acutely that I could hardly stand my watch. Besides the discomfort to myself, I was not being a good example of a Christian Scientist to my shipmates. When the condition was present, it seemed almost overwhelming. Error argued aggressively that I could not do proper metaphysical work.
"I decided to ask a Minister for help. He discerned part of the error, namely, that my affirmations of Truth were based on a defeatist attitude and a lack of confidence in God. Detecting these wrong attitudes, he encouraged me to declare the truth vehemently and with spiritual conviction. He also pointed out Mrs. Eddy's statement in Science and Health (p. 391), 'When the body is supposed to say, "I am sick," never plead guilty.' With the Minister's help, I obeyed this admonition, realizing that I could do so with perfect confidence because my being was ordained and maintained by divine law.
"Much strengthened by these thoughts, I went to sea the next day. On the patrol we experienced violently rough weather and high seas of several days' duration—circumstances which, to mortal belief, would increase a person's tendency to be ill. I tried, however, to keep my thought filled with Truth to the exclusion of fear, physical laws, and the belief of material sensation. As a result of this right thinking and of the Christian Science treatment given by the Minister, I was entirely free from seasickness except for a brief moment. Furthermore, during this patrol I felt a wonderful sense of spiritual dominion. The whole experience was a complete change from what had occurred previously.
"This healing, which took place a year ago, is one more proof of the power of Truth. I am profoundly grateful for the efficacy of Christian Science and for the kindness and help of the Christian Science Minister."
