Speaker: As the title of our program today indicates, our guest was once in captivity, not in the kind of prison we usually think of, but in bondage to a very distressing, enslaving habit. He found his freedom in a wonderful way, and the story of how he found it is one that can help all of us.

Now let's ask Elbert R. Slaughter of Dallas, Texas, to tell us the experience that brought him his freedom.

Mr. Slaughter: Well, at one point in my life you might say I reached a day of reckoning. You see, as a young man Id been disillusioned and mixed up In my failure to find answers to questions about God and man and existence. It was popular to drink; so I drank. The same way with the other things that go with the attempt to have a big time. After a number of years of this I suddenly awakened one day to the fact that I couldn't control my drinking. I had to have a think, and I had to have it every day and not just one drink, either. I was general manager of a lumber company, and my business was going to pieces. So were my home and my health. It was like being in prison. Nothing I did for myself seemed to be of any use.

At one time I had been an active churchgoer and even thought of entering the ministry. Now I prayed to God with the reservation, "If there is a God—" and asked Him to show me the way out of the despair and misery in which I found myself. Shortly after this a friend called my wife and invited us to attend a Christian Science lecture. We knew very little about Christian Science except that there was such a thing.

I said. "Well, we haven't got any thing to lose; let's go." I remember I gave a lot of thought to the lecture beforehand, thinking, "Maybe this might be the answer." I didn't want to hope too much, because I'd been disappointed too many times. As we sat in the auditorium before the lecture began, we were very much impressed by the atmosphere of peace and quietness around us.

You know, the lecturer hadn't been talking ten minutes before I knew I'd found my answer? He was speaking about God and man and the fact that the physical senses do not give a correct picture of what man really is. With clear logic and reason he explained the nature of God and man's relationship to God. He also said a lot about man's God-given freedom and dominion. I saw that God is divine Love, completely good, and the source of all good.

The lecturer also used the term "divine Principle" to describe God as the source of unchanging good. Then I saw that the man of God's creating is the image and likeness of infinite Love and divine Principle. I began to realize that mortal man and material existence are not the true picture of creation. As the lecture went on, the questions I'd been asking for so long were answered. Gradually each burden I carried was lifted. I listened carefully all the way through. Then afterward—well, I know what it means to walk out of prison, because I walked out that night.

My next step was to visit a Christian Science Reading Room and obtain a copy of the book which the lecturer said would explain more of Christian Science. This was "Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures" by Mary Baker Eddy, and I began to study it carefully.

Within two months the drinking habit fell completely away. I no longer felt the need of alcohol, because I had found something that gave me genuine satisfaction. My business began to improve immeasurably. Personnel differences were settled, and it became a most enjoyable place to work. My physical appearance was greatly improved, and my friends even commented about it. And our home was just made over; it became what a home truly should be.

I also had physical healings as I progressed, including a very quick healing of influenza. In short, a whole new life unfolded for me: confidence replaced doubt; problems which before had been so demoralizing and discouraging became wonderful opportunities to turn to the Bible in a more understanding way than ever before and to see that Science and Health is really the key to the Scriptures.

The transformation which I had experienced was so noticeable that my wife and our two sons became interested and soon were sincere students of Christian Science. We've all been helped so much that our gratitude, of course, is boundless.

Speaker: Many thanks, Mr. Slaughter. It's plain that the walls which imprisoned you consisted of confusion in business, demoralization at home, loss of self-control— all the results of an enslaving habit. But what a splendid victory that was, and the fruits were the natural result of spiritual progress—fruits in terms of a happy home, sound business, physical healing, and a lasting peace and stability within your own thinking.

Friends, many people long for release from some kind of imprisonment, such as weakness of character, restricted opportunity, sickness, limiting thoughts like resentment and fear, or possibly some enslaving habit that darkens one's life. Our guest gained his release by learning the truth of man's God-given freedom and dominion—the truth concerning God as infinite Life, Truth, and Love, the source of unchanging, unlimited good— and the true nature of man as God's image and likeness.

Learning all this gives one a vastly different picture of his own real nature and being than is gained from ordinary, limited, mortal views of man. It gives one a new understanding of his own true character, purpose, and possibilities, of the God-given heritage that is his.

And what is the effect of this enlightened understanding of God and man? Christ Jesus gave us the answer when he said, "If ye continue in my word, then are ye my disciples indeed: and ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free."

Throughout the Bible we find this ringing message of human freedom gained through an awakened understanding of God and of man's relationship to Him. It was reliance on God that enabled Moses to lead the children of Israel out of slavery in Egypt; that brought Daniel safely out of the lions den; that enabled Peter, when persecuted as a Christian, to walk out of the prison at midnight.

And so today the understanding of man's true being as God's own child, that is, the scientific understanding of what this means, brings freedom from bondage of every description. This freedom is available to everyone.

As Mary Baker Eddy writes in "Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures" (p. 227): "Christian Science raises the standard of liberty and cries: 'Follow me! Escape from the bondage of sickness, sin, and death!' Jesus marked out the way. Citizens of the world, accept the 'glorious liberty of the children of God,' and be free! This is your divine right."

The musical selection on the program was Hymn No. 201 from the Christian Science Hymnal (O do not bar your mind).