.  .  .  Spiritual  Healing  Seminar  .  .  .   Jamae  van  Eck,  CSB  –  March  18,  2000  

 

I   Spiritual  healing  is  not  an  occasional,  unreliable,  or  unexplainable  phenomenon.     Such  healing  was  an  integral  practice  of  the  primitive  Christian  Church.    We  know   that  Jesus  cited  his  healing  works  as  evidence  of  his  Messiahship  when  questioned  by   the  disciples  of  John  the  Baptist.    He  said  to  the  Pharisees:    “If  ye  believe  not  me,   believe  the  works.”    Yet,  he  never  claimed  to  do  anything  of  himself.    It  was  the  power   of  God  to  redeem,  to  heal,  to  restore,  to  save,  that  was  evidenced  in  everything  Christ   Jesus  was,  said,  or  did.   Such  healing  has  appeared  randomly,  though  misinterpreted  and  often  suspect,   through  the  ages.    But  in  the  late  nineteenth  century  in  the  United  States  it  again   flowered  in  the  Pentecostal  movement  and  in  the  discovery  of  Christian  Science  or   scientific  (provable,  demonstrable)  Christianity.   The  explosion  of  medical  technology  and  pharmacology  in  the  twentieth  century,   especially  following  World  War  II,  would  have  crushed  this  flowering  except  for  the   coincident  surge  of  interest  in  and  hunger  for  genuine  spirituality,  as  evidenced  in  the   tremendous  outpouring  of  books  on  the  subject,  the  rise  of  movements  both  within  and   outside  the  traditional  churches,  and  a  growing  dissatisfaction  with  the  horrendous   costs  and  often  damaging  side-­‐effects  of  mechanistic  medicine.    The  latest  reports  from   the  Journal  of  the  American  Medical  Association  indicate  that  more  than  50%  of  those   seeking  healing  in  the  United  States  now  use  some  form  of  alternative  medicine.    Sheer   materialism  hasn’t  answered  –  and  never  can  –  the  yearning  of  the  human  heart  for   meaning,  succor,  purpose,  significance,  assurance,  comfort,  peace.   Psychologists  have  demonstrated  widely  in  this  century  the  effect  of   thought/emotion/belief  on  the  human  body  (“Sick  thoughts  make  a  sick  body,”  Mrs.   Eddy  wrote  in  the  1860’s).    One  result  has  been  a  more  holistic  approach  –  an  attempt   to  integrate  mind/spirit/body  in  healing.    But  that  still  doesn’t  explain  healings  like  the   following.   In  1972,  Marolyn  Ford,  the  wife  of  a  Baptist  minister,  was  totally  blind.    She  had   struggled  with  failing  vision  since  her  teens  a  decade  earlier.    Many  times  during  their   12  years  of  marriage,  she  and  her  husband  had  prayed  for  her  healing,  but  it  hadn’t   come.    Then  on  the  evening  of  August,  1972  –  her  husband’s  birthday  –  they  both  cried   as  he  prayed:    “Oh  God,  You  can  restore  Marolyn’s  eyesight.    I  know  You  can  do  it,  and  if   it  be  Your  will,  I  pray  You  do  it  tonight.”    Suddenly,  Marolyn  could  see.    They  were   overwhelmed  with  joy!    A  few  days  later,  at  her  family’s  insistence,  Marolyn  had  her   eyes  examined.    The  Doctor’s  report  was  that  her  eyes,  medically  speaking,  were  the   same.    From  his  standpoint,  sight  was  not  possible.    But  her  sight  has  remained.    She   has  written  a  book  about  her  experience  and  has  spoken  to  many  audiences  about   God’s  power  to  heal.   ©  Jamae  van  Eck    

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In  1965,  Barbara  Cumminsky  was  an  active  teenager.    But  by  1978,  she  was  in  a   wheelchair,  feet  and  hands  curled  and  useless,  dependent  on  a  supply  of  oxygen.    She   had  been  diagnosed  in  1970  with  multiple  sclerosis.    Medically,  nothing  could  be  done   to  stop  the  deterioration,  and  by  1980,  a  lung  had  collapsed,  and  she  could  barely  see.     Her  pastor  encouraged  her  to  be  actively  engaged  in  prayer  –  prayer  for  others.    Then,   on  June  7,  1981,  on  the  occasion  of  her  sister’s  birthday,  Barbara  heard  a  voice.    It  was   firm,  audible,  compelling.    It  said,  “My  child,  get  up  and  walk.”    Barbara  complied.    As   she  tells  it:    “This  wasn’t  possible,  of  course  –  there  were  1,001  medical  reasons  why   this  couldn’t  be  happening.    Yet,  there  I  stood,  firmly,  solidly,  feeling  tingly  all  over  .  .  .  I   could  breathe  freely.    And  I  could  see  .  .  .  My  hands  were  normal,  nor  curled  to  my   wrists.    The  muscles  in  my  arms  and  legs  were  filled  out  whole.”    Family  and  friends   crowded  around  her  jubilantly  praising  God.    Her  testimony  concludes:    “I  don’t  know   why  God  healed  me  .  .  .  I  only  know  on  that  morning  I  felt  good  about  myself  –  mentally,   emotionally,  and  spiritually  well.    Through  my  prayer  life,  I  was  a  busy,  active  member   of  the  human  family  –  not  running  or  jumping  or  even  walking  like  most  people,  but  not   separated  from  them  by  bitterness,  self-­‐pity,  or  despair.    My  mind  and  spirit  were   healthy  and  whole.    Then  God  made  my  body  whole,  too.”   Perhaps  such  healings  and  others  both  within  and  without  the  churches,  as  well   as  the  continuing  body  of  evidence  recorded  by  Christian  Scientists  regularly  in  their   periodicals,  in  published  compilations  of  individual  healings  –  often  with  medical   diagnosis  or  confirmation,  and  voiced  weekly  in  their  Wednesday  testimonial  meetings,   have  spurred  interest  over  the  past  10-­‐15  years  in  spiritual  means.   One  expression  of  this  interest  is  through  course-­‐offerings  by  schools  of  theology   and  of  medicine.    For  example:   1. In  the  spring  of  1988,  I  took  a  course  at  the  Andover-­‐Newton  Theological   Seminary  in  Newton,  MA  entitled:    “The  History,  Theology,  and  Practice  of   Healing  in  the  (Christian)  Church.”    It  was  taught  by  a  husband/wife  team   who  had  long  served  as  hospital  chaplains  and  been  engaged  in  a  healing   ministry.    The  Course  syllabus  offered  this  theological  position:    “One  of   the  basic  missions  of  the  Christian  faith  is  to  minister  healing  and   wholeness,  justice  and  peace  to  the  world’s  sin,  sin,  sickness  and   brokenness  .  .  .  We  live  in  a  constant  process  of  healing  through  which  we   are  transformed  from  pain  to  redemptive  suffering,  from  sickness  to   wellness,  from  brokenness  to  wholeness,  from  sin  to  salvation.    Christ   gave  to  his  Church  the  commission  and  authority  to  carry  on  this  healing   ministry.    Those  who  comprise  Christ’s  faithful  in  every  generation  are   called  to  be  healers  in  a  vast  variety  of  ways  .  .  .”   There  were  12  in  the  class  from  a  variety  of  traditions.    All  had   experienced  spiritual  healing  and  all  felt  deeply  that  this  healing  –  this   transformation  of  thought  and  regeneration  of  life  –  was  Christ’s  work  in   the  world.    The  course  encompassed  a  historical  understanding  of  the   healing  ministry  of  the  church  as  practiced  over  the  centuries,  including   the  abuses  and  corruptions  to  which  it  has  been  subjected,  and  the  thread   ©  Jamae  van  Eck    

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of  noble  heritage,  which  has  survived.    It  also  explored  ways  in  which  this   healing  ministry  can  be  practiced  today  and  incorporated  into  pastoral   care.   An  extensive  bibliography  was  shared  which,  sadly  for  me  and  another   Christian  Scientist  in  the  class,  didn’t  include  any  of  the  writings  of  Mary   Baker  Eddy.    In  fact,  without  exception,  the  theological  libraries  I  have   visited  have  had  virtually  nothing  to  offer  on  Christian  Science  or  its   founder  other  than  a  few  copied  of  early,  hostile  biographies  which  today   have  been  thoroughly  debunked,  most  recently  by  Robert  Peel’s  3-­‐volume   trilogy,  Dick  Nenneman’s  single  volume  biography  and  Gillian  Gill’s   scholarly  work,  published  respectively  in  1997  and  1998.   2. Then,  in  the  summer  of  1991,  I  was  one  of  25  enrolled  in  the  first  course   offered  on  healing  at  the  Boston  University  School  of  Theology,  entitled:     “The  Psychology  of  Healing,”  and  taught  by  a  young  Lutheran  minister   who  was  also  a  clinical  psychologist.    This  class  was  the  outcome  of  a   conversation  I  had  with  the  Dean  of  the  School  (when  I  was  there  in  a   Master’s  program)  and  a  follow-­‐on  letter  I  had  written  him  about  the   need  for  such  an  addition  the  curriculum.    Dr.  Chris  Schlaugh,  who  taught   the  class,  consulted  with  me  about  the  syllabus.    During  the  course,  I,   Mark  Pearson,  and  Episcopal  minister  who  had  been  involved  for  20   years  in  healing  activity,  and  Carrie  Doehring,  a  new  faculty  member  who   was  completing  her  dissertation  in  the  area  of  recovery  from   victimization,  each  taught  a  day  of  the  class,  sharing  our  perspectives.   The  group  was  international  and  wonderfully  diverse  in  its  make-­‐up  –  it   included  a  Jewish  Rabbi,  a  Muslim,  several  from  the  Harvard  medical   school,  pastors  from  the  Baptist,  Presbyterian,  U.C.C.,  and  Methodist   traditions,  several  social  workers,  psychologists,  and  hospital  chaplains,   and  a  Christian  Science  practitioner.    Everyone  in  the  class  believed  in   spiritual  healing  and  had  experienced  it.    They  were  searching  for  how  it   occurred  –  a  rationale,  an  explanation,  a  method.   Some  simple  but  powerful  conclusions  were  drawn  by  the  class:   • • • • •

©  Jamae  van  Eck    

That  healing  is  not  so  much  an  event  as  a  process   That  it  is  as  different  as  we,  as  individuals  are  different;  yet  there   are  commonalities  we  can  all  share.   That  two-­‐thirds  of  what  we  see  is  behind  our  own  eyes  –  we  each   live  within  a  perspective  and  generalize  from  our  own  experiences.   That  to  participate  in  another’s  healing  is  to  be  healed  –  together   we  experience  grace.   That  our  behavior  or  example  has  more  influence  than  our  words,   and  that  in  the  effort  to  help  others,  we  must  be  authentic  to   ourselves  as  well  as  empathically  attuned  to  others;  but  we  must   never  forget  the  healing  power  is  God’s.   Spiritual  Healing  Seminar                                          

 

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That  healing  involves  more  than  being  knowledgeable  humanly.    It   requires  being  aware  divinely.    It  is  both  an  art  and  a  science.   That  caring  requires  emptying  ourselves  sufficiently  so  that  we  can   come  close  to  another.   That  the  essential  core  of  each  individual  is  spiritual,  and  we  need   to  be  able  to  recognize  that  core  and  relate  to  it.    As  one  of  the  class   members  put  it:    “We  long  for  others  to  see  us  in  our  goodness.”   That  suffering  is  alleviated  when  we  can  attach  meaning  to  it;   despair  comes  from  lack  of  meaning.   That  all  healing  involves  transformational  change;  that  health  is   basically  an  attitude,  an  approach  to  life  –  it  involves  vision.     Healing  comes  with  a  change  of  view  –  sometimes  a  radical   paradigm  shift,  sometimes  just  a  moment  of  spiritual  insight.  

The  point  was  made  that  the  modern  medical  approach  is  reductionist.    It   breaks  everything  down  –  compartmentalizes  everything.    The  need  is  to   put  the  pieces  back  together  again  in  order  to  restore  wholeness.    Healing   viewed  spiritually  is  a  reorientation  in  our  relationship  with  God  –  it  is   repair  of  our  self-­‐definition  in  terms  of  what  is  sacred  or  holy.    Faith  may   help  us,  but  more  than  faith  is  needed  if  healing  is  to  be  consistent,   reliable.   It  was  also  agreed  that  theology  cannot  be  abstract  –  it  must  be  practical.     Yet,  our  theology  (our  God-­‐view)  determines  our  anthropology  (our  self-­‐ view  and  view  of  others)  as  well  as  our  world-­‐view,  and  it  determines  our   approach  to  and  our  practice  of  healing.   3. Starting  in  December,  1995,  a  continuing  education  course  of  the  Harvard   Medical  School  entitled  “Spirituality  and  Healing  in  Medicine”  has  been   offered  twice  yearly  in  Boston  and  in  other  locations  around  the  country.     It  was  offered  in  Los  Angeles  several  years  ago,  and  my  husband  and  I   were  among  the  more  than  1,000  attendees.    Dr.  Herbert  Benson  of  the   Harvard  Medical  School,  and  author  of  several  books  dealing  with  the   “placebo  effect”  and  the  “relaxation  response”  has  been  the  guiding  figure   in  this  week-­‐end  conference,  and  has  brought  together  a  number  of   contributing  faculty,  among  them  the  much  published  Larry  Dossey,  and   Virginia  Harris,  then  Chairman  of  the  Christian  Science  Board  of   Directors.   The  purpose,  as  stated  by  Dr.  Benson,  is  to  enable  medical  professionals   to  better  incorporate  the  spiritual  element  into  their  patients  care.    The   conference  has  been  funded  by  the  Templeton  Foundation,  and   incorporates  talks  by  representatives  of  various  religions,  both  Christian   and  non-­‐Christian,  about  their  healing  practices.    These  practices  vary   widely.   It  was  heartening  to  me  to  witness  the  breadth  and  depth  of  interest  in   spiritual  healing  evidenced  at  the  conference.    There  was  skepticism,  of   course.    The  woman  surgeon  from  Canada  sitting  next  to  us  openly  voiced   such  skepticism.    It  was  also  plain  that  this  was  an  attempt  to  integrate   ©  Jamae  van  Eck    

Spiritual  Healing  Seminar                                          

 

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spiritual  healing  practices  with  medical  practices  –  in  fact,  to  draw  under   the  broad  umbrella  of  medical  practice  all  “alternative”  practices.   Dr.  Benson  acknowledges  that  one’s  “belief-­‐systems”  govern  his  health   and  experience.    He  equates  prayer  with  a  “belief-­‐system.”    He  even   acknowledges  the  negative  effect  of  “belief-­‐systems”  –  that  illness  itself   can  result  from  belief  in  and  fear  of  disease.    The  media/medical  alliance   was  explored  –  how  constant  television  advertisements  for  health   products  tend  to  induce  the  very  ills  these  products  are  designed  to   alleviate.    The  powerful  effects  of  visual  imagery  were  noted.    It  would   follow  that  even  repetitive  news  reports  or  programming  focused  on   various  social  ills  or  depicting  violence,  brutality,  crime  in  an  effort  to   expose  and  inform  the  public  could  induce  similar  consequences.   One  recent  example  of  this  was  recorded  in  the  Wall  Street  Journal   recently  during  what  was  widely  reported  in  the  media  as  an  extreme  flu   outbreak.    Although  the  U.S.  Center  for  Disease  Control  and  Prevention   confirmed  that  the  illness  wasn’t  any  more  serious  than  in  other  years,   intense  media  attention  was  being  driven  by  an  aggressive  advertising   campaign  for  new  flu  medications  mounted  by  two  giant  drug  companies.     The  marketing  campaigns  of  these  companies  were  estimated  to  cost  in   excess  of  $50  million.   The  most  important  common  conclusion  among  the  various  religions   represented  at  the  conference  was  that  illness  and  suffering  are  not   punishment  from  God;  that  God  is  not  only  with  us  in  the  midst  of  such   evils,  but  present  to  free  us  from  them  or  turn  them  into  blessings  –  that   the  challenges  we  face  are  often  opportunities  to  grow  spiritually.    It  was   agreed  that  God’s  purpose  for  humanity  is  healing,  redeeming,  saving  –   that  we  don’t  use  God  to  obtain  health,  but  honor  God  by  overcoming  the   evils  that  breed  dis-­‐ease,  discord,  and  pain.    Nothing  is  impossible  to  God   nor  is  there  any  limit  to  what  prayer  can  do.   Among  the  many  books  available  at  the  conference  is  one  called   Remarkable  Recovery  –  a  collection  of  medical  anomalies,  healings  that   are  medically  unexplainable.    The  common  component  in  all  these   healings  is  faith-­‐based  prayer  plus  an  unwillingness  to  accept  or  succumb   to  medical  verdicts  of  hopelessness  and  incurability.  

©  Jamae  van  Eck    

Spiritual  Healing  Seminar                                          

 

   5  of  14  

II   Christian  Science  or  a  Christianly  scientific  practice  of  healing                                                                 based  on  Scriptural  teaching   At  the  Harvard  conference  we  attended,  the  most  moving  talk  was  given  by  Dr.   Samuel  Solivan,  a  professor  at  Andover  –  Newton  Theological  School  near  Boston.     With  great  humility  he  told  of  his  own  remarkable  healing.    He  was  born  prematurely   and  early  experienced  traumatic  physical  problems  –  he  underwent  numerous   surgeries  in  connection  with  a  mastoid  condition,  which  left  him  with  an  obvious  facial   disfigurement  due  to  a  severed  nerve.    He  also  showed  early  signs  of  mental   retardation  –  was  even  labeled  an  idiot.    But  the  Pentecostal  Hispanic  community  in   which  he  was  raised  rallied  to  his  support  and  nurtured  him  “in  an  environment  of   prayer,  expectation  and  hope”  –  in  which,  in  his  words,  “people  believed  they  were   called  to  be  a  community  of  healing  .  .  .  as  modeled  by  Jesus  Christ.”    Such  people  he   indicates,  view  the  Scriptures  as  the  authority  that  defines  and  directs  our  life.   By  the  time  he  was  in  the  eighth  grade  at  school,  Samuel  was  still  functioning  as  a   second-­‐grader.    But  at  that  same  time,  he  sensed  an  early  call  to  the  ministry  and  made   a  commitment  to  trust  God’s  healing  power.    He  worked  with  a  scriptural  passage  from   James  which  reads:    “If  any  of  you  lack  wisdom,  let  him  ask  of  God,  that  giveth  to  all   men  liberally,  and  upbraideth  not;  and  it  shall  be  given  him.    But  let  him  ask  in  faith,   nothing  wavering.”   Toward  the  end  of  that  school  year,  additional  tests  showed  he  had  leapt  eleven   grades  forward.    His  facial  disfigurement  also  gradually  disappeared.    In  the  mid  1960’s   Union  Theological  Seminary  granted  him  a  PhD  in  “systematics”.    He  says  of  this   healing:    “That  healing  came,  not  because  I  am  especially  worth  .  .  .  but  because  God’s   graciousness  had  touched  my  life  .  .  .  I  know  that  healing  is  greater  than  the  relieving  of   any  single  element  of  disease.    Healing,  as  we  understand  it  in  my  faith,  is  about   wholeness  in  all  aspects  of  our  life.”   “Prayer  is  never  manipulation,”  he  declares.    (I  take  that  to  mean  that  prayer  cannot   be  an  effort  to  use  God  for  our  purposes,  but  a  yielding  of  ourselves  to  God’s  will  or  law   and  to  the  divine  purpose.)    He  continues:    “But  a  life  in  prayer,  a  life  in  the  spirit,  is  a  life   of  liberation  and  wholeness,  of  hope  in  the  midst  of  despair  .  .  .  Spirituality  of  mind  and   body  is  an  invitation  to  journey,  to  discover,  to  care,  to  heal.    I  have  come  to  know  the   presence  and  the  power  of  a  living  and  loving  God  who  seeks  to  heal  us.”    (This  is  quoted   from  an  article  about  Dr.  Solivan  in  the  Christian  Science  Journal.)   Mary  Baker  Eddy  could  have  said  much  the  same  thing.    She,  too  was  a  discoverer,  a   pilgrim  making  a  journey,  always  following  the  path  the  Wayshower,  Christ  Jesus,  point   out.    Her  only  authority  was  the  Bible.    She  not  only  experienced  healing,  but  healed   others,  laboring  to  understand  and  practice  the  laws,  the  science  or  knowledge,  the   truth,  that  undergirded  Jesus’  healing  work.    That  she  succeeded  is  attested  in  a  body  of   consistent  evidence  spanning  the  last  125  years.    Here  are  a  few  healings  I’d  like  to   share  with  you.  

©  Jamae  van  Eck    

Spiritual  Healing  Seminar                                          

 

   6  of  14  

1. One  is  the  experience  of  a  young  naval  officer,  a  Christian  Scientist,   toward  the  end  of  World  War  II.    He  had  developed  persistent  pains  in  his   back,  and  a  strange  swelling  in  his  thigh  until  he  was  no  longer  able  to   serve.    The  naval  hospital  diagnosed  him  with  fatal  spinal  tuberculosis;  he   was  discharged  and  sent  home.    Ultimately  he  was  completely  healed,  had   a  very  successful  business  career  and  in  1994  was  married.    

2. Another  is  told  at  length  in  the  book:    Spiritual  Healing  in  a  Scientific  Age.       A  California  couple,  Christian  Scientists,  were  asked  to  adopt  an   unwanted  child.    Prenatal  tests  indicated  that  the  child  would  be  born   handicapped.    And  Affidavit  by  Doris  Wiederkehr  of  Mar  Vista,  CA  given   in  1983  tells  the  story.  (p.  54-­‐63)      The  child  was  born  in  1947  with   multiple  handicaps,  including  unformed  vocal  chords,  a  damaged  heart,   serious  bone  and  blood  conditions,  and  cerebral  palsy.    The  physicians   predicted  the  child  would  live  no  more  than  6  –  8  months.     Doris  had  been  healed  in  Christian  Science  of  a  curvature  of  the  spine  and   had  learned  to  trust  God.    So  she  prayed  and  cared  for  the  baby’s  physical   needs  as  best  she  could.    After  6  months,  their  adoption  was  finalized,   although  the  presiding  Judge  urged  institutionalization  for  the  infant  boy.     Medical  visits  were  mandated  over  the  next  several  years,  although  the   Doctor’s  position  was  always  that  the  baby  was  too  frail  for  either  surgery   or  medication.   Gradually,  each  one  of  these  conditions  was  healed,  and  at  the  time  of  the   affidavit,  Les,  the  son,  was  happily  married,  physically  sound,  and  fully   employed  in  a  plumbing  firm.    He  was  never  permitted  to  enroll  in  public   school  classes,  but  earned  his  diploma  by  attending  adult  night  classes.   This  is  what  Doris  said  of  the  experience:    “In  the  beginning,  we  did  think   human  love  was  going  to  be  enough  .  .  .  we  thought  we  could  just  love  him   out  of  anything.    And  we  had  to  learn  that  divine  Love  –  you  need  the   human  love  –  but  divine  Love  does  the  healing.    And  that  takes  a  lot  of   praying,  forgiving,  it  takes  patience  .  .  .  listening,  it  takes  being  directed   and  allowing  God’s  will,  and  not  yours,  unfold.”    When  Les  would  get   frustrated  or  angry  with  himself,  Doris  would  tell  him:    “When  Jesus  tells   us  ‘Love  they  neighbor  as  thyself’  you  have  to  love  yourself  (first),  and   that  means  every  part  of  you.    Loving  the  best  .  .  .  you’re  demonstrating  at   this  moment  .  .  .  To  love  yourself  is  to  see  yourself  as  God  sees  you.”   3. Immediately  following  in  the  same  book  is  the  story  of  John  Ondrak,  a   former  member  of  the  New  York  City  police  department,  who  was  healed   of  a  line  of  duty  injury  that  left  him  a  cripple  for  over  12  years    (p.  87-­‐89).     The  injury  occurred  in  1955,  and  his  testimony  appeared  in  the  Christian   Science  Journal  in  1982.  

©  Jamae  van  Eck    

Spiritual  Healing  Seminar                                          

 

   7  of  14  

John’s  wife  is  the  Christian  Scientist  –  his  god  was  his  gun,  nightstick  and   shield.    Despite  the  finest  hospital,  surgical,  and  rehabilitative  treatment   over  a  three  year  period,  John  was  told  he  would  be  permanently   crippled.    He  was  retired  from  the  police  department.    The  doctors  said   that  the  bones  in  John’s  feet  had  calcified  into  nearly  solid  pieces,  severely   limiting  their  flexibility  and  motion.    Though  he  eventually  learned  to   walk  laboriously  assisted  by  two  canes,  he  struggled  with  constant  pain.     Even  with  daily  sedatives,  sleep  was  difficult  and  getting  out  of  bed  was   an  ordeal.   In  his  personal  account,  he  tells  of  reaching  a  point  where  he  seriously   considered  suicide.    He  had  prided  himself  on  being  an  athlete  all  his  life,   and  now  he  was  filled  with  anger  and  resentment.    His  wife  quietly  insisted   that  there  was  a  better  way.    His  initial  efforts  to  study  and  pray  met  with   little  success,  until  she  suggested  that  he  stop  seeking  a  physical  healing   and  forget  himself  in  finding  out  about  God  and  his  relationship  to  God.   With  this  new  perspective,  the  words  now  came  alive  with  meaning,  and   he  began  seriously  to  lean  on  something  much  greater  than  material   means  and  human  will.    Gradually,  he  was  filled  with  an  overwhelming   sense  of  peace.    The  understanding  of  God  as  Father/Mother,  as  perfect   Love,  began  to  dawn  in  consciousness.    He  became  so  preoccupied  with   his  study  that  he  never  knew  exactly  when  the  healing  came.    But  one   morning,  he  was  overjoyed  to  realize  that  there  was  no  more  pain.   This  former  police  officer,  who  had  been  told  he  might  never  walk  again,   now  runs  three  or  four  miles  each  day  thanking  God  for  His  love,  power   and  presence,  and  praying  that  he  might  be  guided  to  do  whatever  will   glorify  God’s  name.   4. In  my  own  book  is  an  account  of  a  healing  of  Thomas,  one  of  my  students,   of  medically  diagnosed  cancer  (pages  17-­‐19).    

5. And  finally,  the  healing  of  Bernard  Medford,  a  Church  of  Christ  minister   for  many  years,  of  diabetes.    Bernard  is  now  is  the  practice  of  Christian   Science.    His  healing  appears  in  the  Christian  Science  Journal  of   September,  1998.     These  healings  are  representative  of  thousands  of  similar  healings.    The  single   thread  that  can  be  found  in  them  all  is  a  change  of  thought,  a  needed  spiritual  insight,  a   growing  understanding  of  and  a  willingness  to  trust  divine  Love,  a  yielding  to  the   power  and  will  of  God,  an  awakening  to  and  acceptance  of  what  is  spiritually  true.  

©  Jamae  van  Eck    

Spiritual  Healing  Seminar                                          

 

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Understanding  such  healing  is  a  basic  theology,  an  understanding  of  the  nature  of   God  as  revealed  in  the  Bible.    It  should  be  obvious  that  our  concept  of  God  –  what  we   reverence  or  adore,  what  we  endow  with  power  and  authority,  what  we  worship  –   determines  what  we  are,  our  concept  of  ourselves  and  our  universe.    Our  whole   approach  to  life,  our  view  of  it,  our  values,  attitudes,  motives  and  purpose,  our  health   and  happiness  relate  fundamentally  to  what  we  call  God.    Everyone’s  highest  sense  of   good  is  his  god  –  whether  he  acknowledges  it  or  not.   An  interesting  report  in  the  Christian  Science  Monitor  about  “God  at  2,000”  –  a   symposium  held  recently  at  Oregon  State  University  for  theologians  from  all  around   the  globe  –  concluded  with  these  words  from  a  Professor  at  George  Washington   University  in  D.C.:    “We  must  be  able  to  see  God  everywhere  .  .  .  and  the  highest  goal  is   to  see  that  God  is  all  there  is.”    He  added:    “It  is  essential  that  individuals  and  religions   also  see  that  there  is  a  ‘science  of  God’  .  .  .  a  science  of  the  real  or  the  divine  which  is   beyond  theology  and  philosophy.”   Here’s  a  definition  of  God  that  appears  in  the  Christian  Science  textbook  (p.  465):     “God  is  incorporeal,  divine,  supreme,  infinite  Mind,  Soul,  Spirit,  Principle,  Life,  Truth,   Love.    These  seven  synonymous  terms  come  directly  from  the  Bible  and  reveal   fundamental  aspects  of  the  divine  Being.    God  is  understood  to  be  the  only  Creator,  the   one  Father/Mother  of  us  all,  the  creative  Intelligence  forming  and  governing  the   universe  and  man.    God  is  also  acknowledged  as  Spirit,  the  only  substance,  all  that  is   good.    Life,  Truth,  and  Love  are  the  manifestation  or  outcome  of  this  infinite  Good,   which  could  never  produce  anything  unlike  itself.    Death,  error,  and  hate,  then,  have  to   result  from  misconceptions  of  Deity.    Man,  made  in  God’s  image,  expresses  goodness,   innocence,  purity,  holiness,  wisdom,  loving  kindness,  etc.    Such  qualities  of  God   characterize  each  individual’s  true  or  authentic  spiritual  selfhood.   Christian  Science  makes  a  distinction  between  man  (a  generic  term)  made  in  God’s   image,  wholly  spiritual  and  perfect,  and  mankind  or  the  human  self  we  appear  to  be.    It   views  the  human  experience  as  a  preparatory  school  –  not  as  ultimate  reality,  but  as  a   path  toward  an  understanding  of  or  awakening  to  that  ultimate  reality.    The  Psalmist   put  it  this  way:    “I  shall  be  satisfied  when  I  awake  in  Thy  likeness”  (Ps.  17:15).    And  Paul   wrote  to  the  Ephesians  of  coming  “in  the  unity  of  the  faith,  and  of  the  knowledge  of  the   Son  of  God  unto  a  perfect  man,  unto  the  measure  of  the  stature  of  the  fullness  of  Christ”   (Eph.  4:13).    If  spiritual  perfection  weren’t  the  fact  of  being,  how  could  we  hope  to  attain   it,  even  by  degrees?    But  because  it  is  our  authentic  or  true  selfhood,  we  must  attain  it,   and  not  by  our  own  righteousness  or  works  but  by  the  grace,  the  gift  of  God,  the  logic   goes.   Jesus  modeled  or  illustrated  this  indestructible  selfhood,  this  spiritual  perfection,   for  mankind,  and  showed  the  way  to  attain  it.    Hence  he  is  our  Wayshower,  our   Example.    It  is  the  way  of  self-­‐renunciation,  of  surrendering  all  belief  in  a  material   intelligence,  action  or  life,  separate  from  God.    The  Christ  he  lived,  the  spirituality  Jesus   expressed,  is  the  Savior  to  mankind  from  all  evil,  worldliness,  and  untruth.    Our  own   spirituality  or  Christliness  relates  to  who  we  really  are  as  children  of  God.    To  quote   ©  Jamae  van  Eck    

Spiritual  Healing  Seminar                                          

 

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Paul  again:    “The  law  of  the  spirit  of  life  in  Christ  Jesus  hath  made  me  free  from  the  law   of  sin  and  death  .  .  .  to  be  spiritually-­‐minded  is  life  and  peace  .  .  .  ye  are  not  in  the  flesh,   but  in  the  Spirit,  if  it  so  be  that  the  Spirit  of  God  dwell  in  you”  (Rom.  8:2,  6,  9).   In  Christian  Science,  health  is  defined  as  having  the  mind  of  Christ  –  as  a  state  or   condition  of  pure  consciousness,  free  of  ignorance,  fear,  or  sin  (a  mistaken  sense  of   things).    By  contrast,  disease  is  seen  as  “fear  made  manifest  on  the  body,”  –  the  result  of   what  Caroline  Myss  calls  “negative  energy.”    Healing  is  viewed  as  mental  awakening,  a   change  of  thought  from  fear  to  trust,  from  ignorance  to  understanding,  and  from  sin  or   error  to  obedience  and  righteousness.    Sometimes  suffering  or  sharp  challenges  are  the   catalysts  which  force  that  change  or  ready  us  for  it.   Mrs.  Eddy  early  recognized  that  what  appears  as  a  matter  body  is  simply  a  human   concept  –  the  embodiment  of  human  thinking.    Decades  later,  Einstein  defined  matter   as  “a  construction  of  the  consciousness,  an  edifice  of  conventional  symbols  shaped  by   the  senses  of  man.”    Even  when  the  physical  sciences  reduce  matter  to  largely  empty   space  or  to  a  stream  of  consciousness  (as  Deepak  Chopra  puts  it),  this  thought  of  the   ultimate  insubstantiality,  the  nothingness  of  what  we  call  matter,  is  what  “enrages  the   carnal  mind  and  is  the  main  cause  of  (that)  mind’s  antagonism”  (S&H  345:28-­‐30).     Carnal  or  mortal  mind  is  the  term  Mrs.  Eddy  uses  for  matter-­‐based  thinking,  for   entrenched  human  beliefs  –  not  real  any  more  than  a  mistake  in  arithmetic  is  real,  but   in  need  of  rectification.   Most  of  us  can  agree  that  our  thinking  governs  our  experience.    The  mind/body   relationship  from  a  human  or  relative  point  of  view  is  the  objectification  of  human   beliefs  on  or  as  the  human  body.    The  Mind  (capital  M)/body  relationship  from  a   spiritual  standpoint  is  the  relationship  between  the  divine  Mind  that  made  us  and  our   spiritual  identity  or  body  -­‐    the  “house  not  made  with  hands  eternal  in  the  heavens.”     This  true  identity  is  the  embodiment  of  good.    It  can  never  be  lost,  in  jeopardy,  nor  at   the  mercy  of  matter,  material  conditions,  or  so-­‐called  material  laws.   Christian  Science  avers  that  “the  spiritual  determines  the  outward”  –  that  the   eternal  spiritual  facts  of  being  govern  or  have  authority  over  the  often  troubled,   discordant  human  sense  of  things.    The  phrase  “the  human  and  divine  coincidence”   indicates  this  ongoing  dynamic,  and  healing  is  its  outcome.    Any  individual  healing   experience  illustrates  divinity’s  embrace  of  humanity  –  God’s  will  being  done  on  earth   as  in  heaven.    

©  Jamae  van  Eck    

Spiritual  Healing  Seminar                                          

 

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III   The  prophetic  method  –  judging  “not  according  to                                                                                                                                 the  appearance,  but  righteously”     From  what  I’ve  said,  you  may  already  have  grasped  that  the  method  of  healing  used   in  Christian  Science  is  prophetic  –  that  is,  it  involves  discerning  the  spiritual  facts  of   whatever  the  material  senses  behold.    Jesus  taught  us  to  “Judge  not  according  to  the   appearance”  but  righteously.    Our  effort  always  is  to  behold  the  “perfect  man  right   where  sinning  mortal  man  appears  to  mortals”  –  to  see  God’s  own  likeness.    To  do  this,   we  start  with  God  –  with  what  we  understand  to  be  the  truth  of  Being,  and  not  with   some  problem  whatever  it  may  be.    We  don’t  ignore  the  problem  nor  the  common   sense  or  humanity  the  case  may  require.    (Christian  Science  nursing  facilities  train  and   equip  nurses  in  the  practical  care  of  the  sick,  but  that  care  never  involves  medication.)    Our   prayers  acknowledge  the  specific  truths  (the  spiritual  counterfacts)  the  case  may   require,  and  this  may  involve  spiritual  intuition  as  well  as  the  uncovering  and   correcting  of  some  latent  error.   Here’s  an  illustration:    Many  years  ago,  I  was  called  by  a  grandmother  –  one  of  my   students  –  whose  6  year  old  grandson  had  fallen  while  he  was  outdoors  playing.    A   stick  he  was  holding  had  penetrated  an  eyeball,  and  his  frantic  mother  rushed  him  to   the  emergency  room  of  the  nearest  hospital.    The  examining  Doctor  said  he  had  never   seen  an  eye  as  badly  torn.    There  was  nothing  he  could  do  other  than  place  a  pad  over   the  child’s  eye  and  send  him  home,  but  predicted  loss  of  sight  and  loss  of  the  eye.    The   grandmother  comforted  the  little  boy  and  assured  him  that  God  was  with  him,  and  that,   as  God’s  own  image  or  child,  he  couldn’t  be  hurt.   I  was  acquainted  with  the  situation.    When  the  child  was  still  an  infant,  the  mother   had  divorced  the  father,  a  Venezuelan,  because  of  the  clash  of  cultures  and  the  discord   between  them.    The  father,  on  the  occasion  of  a  visitation,  simply  took  the  child,  then   barely  two,  from  Michigan  to  Venezuela.    There  was  nothing  that  could  be  done  legally   –  no  way  to  compel  the  child’s  return.    But  after  two  weeks  of  earnest  prayer,  the   Venezuelan  grandmother  told  her  son  that  he  must  return  the  boy  –  that  a  child  so   young  should  not  be  separated  from  hi  mother.    He  complied,  and  thereafter  harmony   was  evidenced  in  his  visits  and  contact  with  the  child.   Knowing  this,  I  prayed  to  establish  in  my  own  thought  the  fact  that  nothing  could   tear  apart  or  do  irreparable  harm  to  this  family  –  that  father,  mother,  and  child  were   held  in  divine  Love  together,  that  at  no  time  was  the  child  a  victim  of  trauma,  that  he   could  never  lose  sight  of  good,  be  separated  from  his  heavenly  Parent,  or  be  subject  to   some  sudden  or  accidental  disruption  of  his  harmony.    I  prayed  to  see  him  as  intact,   whole,  undamaged,  safe,  always  under  the  control  of  the  one  divine  Mind.    This   statement  in  Scinece  &  Health  was  helpful  to  me:    “If  it  were  possible  for  the  real  senses   of  man  to  be  injured,  Soul  could  reproduce  them  in  all  their  perfection;  but  they  cannot   be  disturbed  nor  destroyed,  since  they  exist  in  immortal  Mind,  not  in  matter”     (S&H  488:27-­‐31).   ©  Jamae  van  Eck    

Spiritual  Healing  Seminar                                          

 

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In  a  week’s  time,  the  Doctor  again  examined  the  boy  and  noted  with  delight  that  the   torn  areas  were  all  mending  perfectly,  and  within  another  week  the  boy  was  back  in   school.    The  eye  was  perfect,  and  the  vision  unimpaired.     In  her  latest  book:    “The  Creation  of  Health”  Caroline  Myss  elaborates  on  how  “our   acts  and  attitudes  generate  disease.”    She  emphasizes  that  “we  create  our  own   realities.”    Mrs.  Eddy  put  it  this  way:    “Everything  is  as  real  as  you  make  it,  and  no  more   so.    What  you  see,  hear,  feel,  is  a  mode  of  consciousness,  and  can  have  no  other  reality   than  the  sense  you  entertain  of  it”  (Unity  of  Good,  8:5-­‐8).   In  her  “energy  analysis”  of  heart  attack  (meaning  by  that  term  the  emotional,  non-­‐ material  bases  of  the  illness  –  which  have  to  change  for  there  to  be  any  permanent   healing)  Caroline  sates:    “A  heart  attack  is  brought  about  through  the  inability  of  the   individual  to  acknowledge  and  therefore  process  the  emotional  stresses  of  his  or  her  life  .   .  .  People  who  prefer  not  to  think  about  the  meaning  and  significance  of  the  events  and   relationships  of  their  lives  (usually  because  it  upsets  them  or  they  feel  unable  to  control   matters)  are  more  prone  to  create  heart  attacks  than  are  people  who  know  how  to  cope   with  internal  stress  .  .  .  The  fear  of  losing  control,  or  of  having  control  and  responsibilities   taken  away,  is  extremely  common  in  people  prone  to  heart  attacks”  (p.  159).   This  insightful  but  generalized  kind  of  profile  would  not  be  unfamiliar  to  a   Christian  Science  practitioner.    But,  while  Caroline  recommends  certain  types  of   nutritional  diets  and  a  regular,  balanced  life-­‐style  as  the  remedy,  as  well  as  learning   how  to  cope  with  fear,  which  she  calls  “the  one  negative  emotion”  (others  all  being   based  in  fear),  a  practitioner  would  go  further.    Not  that  proper  balance  and  nutrition   are  bad  –  just  that  they  don’t  of  themselves  suffice.   The  Christian  Science  practitioner  would  start  with  these  Biblical  assurances:     “Your  heart  shall  live  that  seek  God;  God  is  the  strength  of  my  heart,  and  my  portion   forever;  I  will  walk  within  my  house  with  a  perfect  heart.”    He  would  insist  that  the   divine  Mind,  not  a  fear-­‐prone  mortal  mind,  controls  all  things,  regulates  all  the   functions  of  being.    Because  God  is  not  “stressed  out,”  God’s  image  can’t  be.    Not  genetic   weaknesses  or  personality  patterns  but  anyone’s  spiritual  nature  and  outlook  as  the   loved  of  God  is  what  maintains  governs  his  health  and  well-­‐being.   It  seems  to  me  that  while  Caroline  Myss  is  very  strong  on  why  people  don’t  heal,   she’s  not  so  strong  or  clear  on  how  and  why  they  do.    Certainly  there  are  attitudes  and   behaviors  that  are  toxic.    From  a  strictly  human  perspective,  some  individuals  are  or   have  become  their  own  worst  enemies.    Does  that  imply  incurability?    Probably  from  a   medical  standpoint,  but  never  from  a  spiritual  standpoint.    Nothing  can  be  impossible   to  God,  or  beyond  divine  Love’s  redeeming  power.   Each  case  is,  of  course,  individual,  and  must  be  dealt  on  an  individual  basis.    But  the   fact  remains  that  not  even  fear  can  alter  the  spiritual  realities  of  being,  which  God   creates  and  maintains,  and  which  can’t  be  altered,  no  matter  how  it  seems.    Just   recently,  in  my  practice,  there  has  been  a  wonderful  and  complete  healing  of  heart   ©  Jamae  van  Eck    

Spiritual  Healing  Seminar                                          

 

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failure,  stroke,  and  diabetes  for  a  woman  who  suffered  what  seemed  to  her  a  great   professional  and  personal  disappointment.    The  appearance  was  that  the  heart  had  just   gone  out  of  her,  that  she  had  suffered  a  blow  from  which  she  couldn’t  recover,  and  that   her  entire  system  was  starved  for  what  is  sweet  and  good.     What,  then,  is  the  practitioner’s  aim?    It  is  to  see  as  God  sees,  and  to  rely  thoroughly   on  the  power  of  that  Truth  to  heal,  to  awaken  thought  and  change  body.    Jesus  put  it   this  way:    “Ye  shall  know  the  truth,  and  the  truth  shall  make  you  free”  (John  8:32).    The   practitioner’s  role  is  to  be  such  a  clear  transparency  for  the  divine  that  it  can  shine   through  him  or  her  in  all  its  radiance  and  power.    Much  of  the  practitioner’s  work,  then,   is  with  her  own  thought  –  keeping  it  clear  of  any  film  or  cloud  of  fear,  resentment,   error,  anything  that  would  darken  the  light  of  the  Christ,  of  revealed  Truth.   In  a  letter  Mrs.  Eddy  wrote  to  a  young  student  aspiring  to  the  practice,  she  said:     “Your  aid  to  reach  this  goal  is  spiritualization.    To  achieve  this,  you  must  have  one  God,   one  affection,  one  way,  one  Mind.    Society,  flattery,  popularity  are  temptations  in  your   pursuit  of  growth  spiritual.    Avoid  them  as  much  as  in  you  lies.    Pray  daily,  never  miss   praying,  no  matter  how  often:    “Lead  me  not  into  temptation”  –  scientifically  rendered,   Lead  me  not  to  lose  sight  of  strict  purity,  clear  pure  thoughts;  let  all  my  thoughts  and   aims  be  high,  unselfish,  charitable,  meek  –  spiritually-­‐minded  .  .  .  this  is  the  state  of   mind  that  heals  the  sick  .  .  .”  (Christian  Healer,  pp.  170-­‐171).   The  practice  is  a  calling,  a  ministry,  and  I  know  of  no  one  who  has  been  called  to   this  ministry  that  has  not  overcome  in  some  way  in  his  own  experience  the  belief  of   death  –  of  some  supposedly  life-­‐threatening  ill  or  crisis.   Are  there  failures  in  the  practice  of  Christian  Science?    It  depends  on  what  is  meant   by  failure.    The  individual  never  fails  to  draw  closer  to  God,  to  deepen  his   understanding  of  what  is  spiritually  real,  to  mature  in  grace.    The  outcome  is  not   always  what  one  would  hope  for  or  perhaps  outline  humanly.    Yet,  the  over-­‐all  record   of  healings  in  Christian  Science  compares  very  favorably  with  the  medical  record.    To   me,  healing  is  not  necessarily  the  same  thing  as  physical  cure  –  in  fact  temporary  cure   or  relief  can  occur  without  healing.    Nor  is  perpetuating  a  material  sense  of  existence   necessarily  God’s  plan.    Our  times  are  in  God’s  hands,  are  they  not?    And  the   practitioner  endeavors  to  yield  to  and  help  others  trust  God’s  plan.   Can  this  method  mix  with  the  medical  approach?    Not  usually!    It  is  based  on  totally   different  premises,  on  totally  opposite  views  of  man,  matter,  causality,  disease,  of  life   itself  and  its  meaning.    It  would  be  like  truing  to  ride  two  horses  going  in  opposite   directions.    (See  S&H  167:7-­‐31)      I’ve  known  of  and  participated  in  healings  of  the   severest  kind  of  trauma  –  where  no  medical  aid  was  even  possible.    In  fact,  many   people  have  turned  to  Christian  Science  and  been  healed  when  given  up  by  the  medical.     [In  your  packet  are  two  recent  statements  published  in  the  December  Christian  Science   Journal,  together  with  an  article  about  the  healing  of  a  child.    There  is  a  “standard  of   healing”  in  Christian  Science,  but  we  approach  that  standard  by  degrees,  and  the  emphasis   ©  Jamae  van  Eck    

Spiritual  Healing  Seminar                                          

 

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must  be  on  compassion  and  on  the  wisdom  that  guides  us  to  what  is  the  “nearest  right   thing  under  the  circumstances”  in  Mrs.  Eddy’s  words.    In  the  textbook,  she  talks  of  stages   or  degrees  of  progress,  of  spiritual  advancement,  and  names  them  broadly:    Physical,   Moral,  and  Spiritual.]   If  we  view  ourselves  as  wholly  physical,  then  it  would  make  sense  to  address  our   needs  in  wholly  material  ways  –  that  is,  until  they  fail.    If  we  think  of  ourselves  as  moral   and  humane,  but  as  part  material  and  part  spiritual,  then  we  might  try  to  combine   medical/natural  and  psychological/mental  means  with  spiritual  in  remedying  our  ills.     But  if  we  grasp,  even  in  a  measure,  that  we  are  fundamentally  spiritual  in  nature,  and   are  governed  wholly  by  God,  Spirit,  then  our  appeal  would  be  solely  to  divine  aid,  to  the   Great  Physician,  whose  Word  is  “quick  and  powerful,  and  sharper  than  any  two-­‐edged   sword”  and  to  whom  “all  things  are  naked  and  open”  (Heb.  4:12-­‐13).   Healing  as  practiced  in  Christian  Science  does  so  much  more  than  make  matter   better.    Ultimately,  it  restores  one  to  his  original  God-­‐created  wholeness,  lifts  one  above   the  conflicts,  stresses,  griefs,  and  fears  of  a  matter-­‐based  sense  of  things,  and  reveals   God’s  kingdom  within.  

Jamae van Eck  

©  Jamae  van  Eck    

Spiritual  Healing  Seminar                                          

 

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