A Talk on Christian Healing
CHRISTIAN healing is not a new therapeutic system, and its object is not mere physical restoration, but a complete cleansing of the mind and the body through the higher law of Spirit. As taught and demonstrated by Jesus Christ, it has for its basis the forgiveness of sins. "Thy sins are forgiven," said the Great Physician, and he that had been palsied was made whole.
An appeal to the understanding and a quickening of the spiritual nature should be the object of every treatment. The patient should be taught that his ills are the direct result of his sins. Sin is not confined to moral delinquencies, but includes the mistake of failure to recognize divine law.
Jesus taught Truth; His teaching is a real science, and when understood it sets men free from sin and all the effects of sin, even to the overcoming of death. "Ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free." Jesus did not teach a tentative doctrine of life, but did a permanent work in harmonizing and reconstructing the body. He not only healed men's bodies, but quickened their souls also. "It is the spirit that giveth life; the flesh profiteth nothing." If one could heal physically all the people on earth, the healing would not benefit the race as a whole. So long as the individual's present understanding of the law of life prevailed, the former conditions would be reproduced in his body. The one and only permanent remedy is a change of mind.
It is the peculiar and special office of the Christian minister to bring about this change of mind. Every minister is a representative of John the Baptist, whose message is "Repent ye"; that is, "Change your mind." The baptism of John is symbolical of mental cleansing and purifying, while that of the Holy Spirit is the descent of divine Truth and the Christ life into one's consciousness.
Every minister should understand man in his threefold nature—spirit, soul, and body. He should be a metaphysician, which implies a broader interest than that generally denoted by the term "psychologist." The metaphysician deals with the absolute, and his science is spiritual. The right relation between soul and body is revealed by spiritual science only. In spiritual healing, words and ideas are the healing agents.
As a practitioner of many years' experience, I can testify to the marvelous results obtained in mind and body by the use of simple words representing absolute Truth. False thoughts build up falsestructures in the body, and true words destroy them. It is a sin to think evil. The thought produces exactly the same results in the organism that it would have produced had it been carried out in act. Jesus taught that lustful thought is adultery. Error thoughts that the thinkers would not allow themselves to carry out in act are retained and, becoming subconscious, finally destroy the body. "Then the lust, when it hath conceived, beareth sin: and the sin, when it is fullgrown, bringeth forth death."
In his consciousness of the absolute— that is, of the omnipresent Spirit that Jesus defines as God—the minister realizes that he of himself does not do the work. "The Father abiding in me doeth his works." This spiritual consciousness is attained through prayer, meditation, and study of the character of the mind of Being, the great Three-in-One— Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Spiritual consciousness brings man to inspiration, in which there is a pouring of the thoughts of God into the mind of man. Then man realizes, as Jesus realized: "The words that I say unto you I speak not from myself: but the Father abiding in me." When this realization takes place, illumination quickens the minds of both patient and minister, and through this quickening the healing comes.
By this method, I have treated on an average probably twenty cases a day during the years of my ministry, and the results have been uniformly good. Not all have been healed, but benefits have resulted in either mind or body in every case. I have witnessed the healing of diseases of nearly every character, including fibroid tumors, tuberculosis, blood poisoning, Bright's disease, gallstones, rheumatism, paralysis, fevers of all kinds, blindness, and deafness. I have never refused to treat a case because it seemed incurable, for I know that "with God all things are possible."
I have never used hypnotism or mesmerism, or in any way attempted to suggest health to the subjective minds of my patients, or encouraged them to go to sleep during treatment. On the contrary, I try in all ways to awaken them to the light and life of their spiritual nature. "Awake, thou that sleepest ... and Christ shall shine upon thee."
It is imperative in spiritual healing that the sinner be shown the relation between his physical disability and his sin. As for children, they should be instructed in the application of Truth. Parents should gladly accept their responsibility and constantly and consistently surround themselves and their children with Truth thoughts of harmony and wholeness (holiness).
The one and only formative power given to man is thought. By his thinking, he not only makes character, but body and affairs, for "as he thinketh within himself, so is he." An understanding of the power of destructive thought in its action upon the cellular life of the body will solve the problem of the origin of rebellious microbes. Fear, anger, jealousy, lust, and kindred thoughts manufacture disease germs, and no serum will ever stop their devastation.
When man consciously knows that there is an all-infolding divine love, and that in it "we live, and move, and have our being," he will trust it, and seek to harmonize his thought with its laws. Then, instead of permitting the body microbes to go on fighting like little demons and causing pains and diseases without number, man will become the wise, directing head of all the life in his organism. By right thought, he will build a body temple that will be not only diseaseless, but deathless. This is the ultimate of the teachings of Jesus, and every minister should preach and practice it. "Whosoever liveth and believeth on me shall never die" is a promise based on science and a fulfillment of Bible prophecy.
Mind is the master power that molds and makes,
And man is mind, and evermore he takes
The tool of thought and, shaping what he wills,
Brings forth a thousand joys, a thousand ills:
He thinks in secret and it comes to pass;
Environment is but his looking glass.
—James Allen
It Is Not Mysterious
Some complain of the "mystery" of spiritual healing. There is nothing occult or mysterious about it.
When, through application of Truth, the verdict of the doctors that a case will terminate fatally is suddenly reversed, man says, "Miraculous!" But there is no miracle—if by this word is meant the reversal of natural law. Is it not natural for man to be healthy? The marvelous thing is that disease should have had its way so long. Spiritual healing is simply the recognition of this fact—that it is natural for man to be healthy because God intended him to be. Contentment, peace, and sufficiency in finances are also provided by the same natural law, when man trusts Spirit and strives to observe its righteousness in all his affairs.
So in all things the easy, natural way is to conform to the originating forces of existence, which everyone recognizes as rational Truth. We all want to be healthy, because health is natural. We all want success, because we were created to be successful. We all love to be comfortable and happy, because in no other way can we fulfill the law of our being.
What is it to sell one's birthright?
Whenever anyone denies his true inheritance as a son of God, in thought, word, or deed; whenever he uses his God-given faculties or powers for the building up of the outer or sense man, he is selling his birthright. Whenever he thinks of himself as a worm of the dust, subject to sin, sickness, and death, or when he uses the pure God life for sensation, for satisfying the lusts of the flesh, or for glorifying the personal man; whenever he attributes power to evil or to error of any kind, he is selling his birthright.
We, as His offspring, inherit the attributes of God. We should appreciate and use our birthright to glorify God and so bring about only good for ourselves and our fellow man.
Questions
Explain why and how the sayings of Jesus Christ bring benefit and blessing, and not hardship.
When Jesus Christ taught His disciples that He was the bread of life, many of them said: "This is a hard saying; who can hear it?" "Upon this many of his disciples went back, and walked no more with him."
To the unregenerate mind many of the sayings of Jesus seem hard and His commandments grievous because they require the yielding up of selfishness, that Spirit may be all in all. But the spiritually quickened know first by faith, then by experience, that the sayings of Jesus are a lamp to their feet and a light to their path. Jesus' teachings are of untold value to the overcomer because they show plainly what to do in all the everyday affairs of life, when there might otherwise be a doubt in his mind that would lead him into error.
Besides being a guide, they are a help in the actual overcoming. By obedience to them, the righteousness of Spirit is established and selfishness is overcome.
Another benefit derived from keeping the sayings of Jesus is the soul and body sustenance that they give to all who meditate upon them in faith. "The words that I have spoken unto you are spirit, and are life."
What is the meaning of "I am the way, and the truth, and the life"?
I AM is Being. There is in reality but one Being, and we "live, and move, and have our being" in that one. When we say, "I am," we are using God's name. The point to be observed is that we say it in reverent recognition of our birthright, refraining from using it to exalt ourselves in the idea that we are something apart from Him. Jesus demonstrated His divine Sonship, and by His demonstration made it possible for all who accept His help to enter into the realization of Being. He is, therefore, the way back to spiritual consciousness, the Father's house; He is the absolute Truth of Being demonstrated; He is life immortal, incorruptible, eternal.
Does not the Bible teach that the sins of the father shall be visited upon the children? Is it not a law of nature? I am not complaining; the Lord's will be done.
"There is no thing we cannot overcome.
Say not thy evil instinct is inherited,
Or that some trait inborn makes thy whole life forlorn,
And calls down punishment that is not merited."
You are the offspring of God. Claim your inheritance from Him, and know that you have His abundant life, His strength, and His wisdom. While you hold yourself in bondage to the belief of inheritance from human father or mother, according to the flesh, you will remain bound. It is bondage to error thought that is manifest outwardly in physical inharmony. Jesus Christ came, and is here to set you free. Claim your freedom after this manner:
I am the offspring of God, and I inherit my Father's perfect mind and perfect life. I am free from all error-thought bondage about ancestral inheritance, and I thank God for my freedom.
We do not believe that it is God's will for His children to suffer. You can take advantage of the law of thought and think the Truth that makes you free. "What mean ye, that ye use this proverb concerning the land of Israel, saying, The fathers have eaten sour grapes, and the children's teeth are set on edge? As I live, saith the Lord Jehovah, ye shall not have occasion any more to use this proverb in Israel."
Healing Words
"My son, attend to my words;
Incline thine ear unto my sayings . . .
For they are life unto those that find them,
And health to all their flesh."
"I am Jehovah that healeth thee."
"They that wait for Jehovah shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings as eagles; they shall run, and not be weary; they shall walk, and not faint."
"Bless Jehovah, O my soul,
And forget not all his benefits:
Who forgiveth all thine iniquities;
Who healeth all thy diseases."
"Jehovah thy God is in the midst of thee, a mighty one who will save; he will rejoice over thee with joy; he will rest in his love; he will joy over thee with singing."
"God shall supply every need of yours according to his riches in glory in Christ Jesus."
"Be of good cheer; thy faith hath made thee whole."
"Therefore choose life, that thou may-est live ... to love Jehovah thy God, to obey his voice, and to cleave unto him; for he is thy life, and the length of thy days."
"The joy of Jehovah is your strength."
Healing Affirmations
Obedience to God's law is the first step in healing.
My true thoughts and words are of God, and through them His perfect law is established in me.
The overcoming of selfish affection and ambition follows spiritual illumination.
Let thy will be done in me.
Man becomes the slave of material thoughts and things by ascribing to them powers that they do not possess.
There is one God in you all and through you all and above you all.
The cleansing power of exalted ideas lifts up the whole man.
Holy, holy, holy, is the Lord of Hosts in the midst of me.
Every word of condemnation, expressed silently or audibly, adds to the burdens of humanity.
"Ye therefore shall be perfect, as your heavenly Father is perfect."
Man should remember that his strength is not physical, but spiritual.
The strength of the Almighty is established in me.
The eye represents the discerning capacity of the mind.
The cleansing light and life of Spirit make my eyes clear and pure. Through the all-seeing Mind I behold Truth only, and my vision is perfected.
The ear represents the receptive capacity of the mind.
My ears are no longer stopped by the sensitiveness and willfulness of the little self. I am no longer bound by personality. I now bathe in the great ocean of life, and I am free in boundless Spirit. I heed the voice of Truth only, and I rejoice in my perfect hearing.
The nose represents the initiative capacity of the mind.
The cleansing life of Spirit frees me from fear, timidity, and incapacity. I am bold, free, courageous Spirit, and I can do all things through Christ.
The tongue represents the judging capacity of the mind.
Sense appetite no longer clogs the clear discernment of my spiritual judgment. The cleansing life of Spirit quickens and cleanses my taste. I eat and drink only what my body requires under divine law.
Feeling represents the loving capacity.
I am not controlled by emotion or passion. I am Spirit. Pure currents of divine love and life permeate every part of my mind and body, that they may be kept clean and whole.
Read and Download (1916 and 1963 Editions)
Download a PDF copy of the 1916 version of Charles Fillmore A Talk on Christian Healing
Download a PDF copy of the 1963 version of Charles Fillmore A Talk on Christian Healing
