South Africa has been a huge political chessboard for a long time. Conflicting political forces are constantly devising new tactics to gain advantage. Tragically, these tactics often use men, women, and children as pawns. Such a human scenario leaves little room for hope until people find that they are not helpless pawns at all.

In the mid-seventies, during a period of great injustice and subsequent civil unrest, a mass march on downtown Johannesburg was planned by a militant political group in Soweto. All able-bodied residents were instructed to take part. Many did not want to participate but found that refusing would mean being dragged from their homes by the marchers. A very small number of those threatened were Christian Scientists.

The threat of violence was so serious that these Scientists asked fellow church members in all the provinces to pray about the situation. A verse from the Bible was very helpful at this time in thinking deeply about the nature of God. It reads, "He disappointeth the devices of the crafty, so that their hands cannot perform their enterprise."

A week later the march took place, but no one was forced to take part, and damage and injury in the downtown area were minimal—quite the opposite to what had been planned.

Since then I have thought about that verse from Job often, especially at times when violence and unrest ebbed and flowed all over the country. This passage, along with many others, has provided a solid foundation for praying about the tension in South Africa. I've been able to feel more of what Christian Science teaches of the allness of God, divine Mind, and His intelligent spiritual idea, man. I feel certain that prayers which persist in affirming divine Mind to be supreme and present contribute much to the healing of political tensions. As Mrs. Eddy states in Science and Health: "Mind is not helpless. intelligence is not mute before non-intelligence."

Whether we are at home, in shopping malls, or in our cars, vigilant prayer that includes everyone is the order of every day. Such prayer takes away a feeling of helplessness and replaces it with a sense of dominion and assurance. We will increasingly see the harmony of spiritual existence manifested in our day-to-day lives as we work and pray to realize the majesty and power of infinite Mind, God. Science and Health says, "Immortal Mind, governing all, must be acknowledged as supreme in the physical realm, so-called, as well as in the spiritual."

The Gospels recount many of Christ Jesus' works in "crowd situations." We have the same animating Christ-spirit present today—which the Bible calls "Emmanuel" or "God with us." The Christ is the power of God and is ever present in human consciousness to defuse hatred and cruel retribution.

About three years ago there was a period of heightened concern and increased warnings about potential terrorist bombings. One day, as I parked my car opposite an office building, I was struck by how much this building seemed like an easy target for such an attack. I immediately thought of that verse from Job and began to pray. Two hours later a bomb exploded in the foyer of the building, but the criminal intent was decidedly minimized. Had it exploded earlier, hundreds of office workers passing the building on their way home could have been hurt, as this was an area of high traffic. As it was, no people or cars were in the street at the time and, apart from plate-glass windows and doors, no damage was done.

To me, incidents such as these point to the fact that God's ever-present, all-intelligent love needs to be seen as the only determining factor in motivating mankind's actions on earth—be it in Belfast, Cape Town, or Jerusalem—as it is in heaven.

Man's true, God-created nature is not animalistic or brutal. As we come to recognize this selfhood, we will have increasing dominion over animal propensity. Jesus commands us all to love one another and thereby promote one another's well-being. The force of God's love knows no conflict, just as the rising of the sun has no conflict with the disappearing darkness.