The Most Challenging Case

“Allen, as a Practitioner, what has been your most challenging case?” Occasionally I am asked that question, and the answer is not what you think.

Before we take a deep dive into the answer, I have to make one thing clear: Practitioners never consider degrees of difficulty. We never think of heart disease as more difficult to heal than heartburn. When taking a call, we never think, “Oh, this is going to be a tough one.” The reason is simple. There is no disease. Should a call come in, immediately our attention is turned to God’s Absolute Allness being the only manifestation.

In my early days as a Practitioner, a man called for prayer. “I need ten million dollars. Can you help?” Another caller said she desperately needed $500.00. In such cases, the Practitioner does not think of need. There is no need in God, and no spot where God is not.

In short, the appearance of the difficulty does not matter. There are no degrees of difficulty. There is just God.

However, there is one call that is a challenge, and most Practitioners never take it. The phone rings. I answer, and the caller asks, “Will you pray for my _________?” (Fill in the blank with mother, spouse, father, child, etc.) I call this type of calls third-party-calls.

I have taken these requests, but the results have been wildly inconsistent. Sometimes there is an immediate healing. Other times, no healing or improvement at all.

The inconsistency confused me, but one day while reading the Holy Bible, I made a discovery. In the four gospels of the New Testament, there is no record of Christ accepting third-party requests, unless the person needing help was not able to make a personal request. Either they were mentally unfit, unconscious, mute, or very young.

Mary Baker Eddy, founder of Christian Science, was the first to license Practitioners for public practice. Joel Goldsmith, founder of the Infinite Way, had Practitioners, but his start was as a Christian Science Practitioner. My mentor, Marie Watts, founder of The Ultimate, had Consultants (essentially, Practitioners). She, too, had her start as a Christian Scientist.

Charles and Myrtle Fillmore, co-founders of Unity, were briefly Christian Science Practitioners. This brief history shows the influence of Mary Baker Eddy on today’s public Practitioners. Following the example of Christ Jesus, Mary Baker Eddy gave this advice to her Practitioners: Never treat (pray for) a patient without their direct consent. In other words, no third-party-calls unless of course, the person is not able to give consent.

Often, I’ve taken third-party-calls, or given help without a direct request. I remember the first time I broke the consent rule. I was new in the practice, when a relative asked me to visit a high-school classmate who was in the hospital and expected to die in a few days.

When I stepped into the room, all I could see were tubes. Her face said, “I’m dying, but I really don’t want to.” Driving home, her face flashed on and off my mental screen like Christmas lights. “Should I, or shouldn’t I?” That’s the question I wrestled with. “Just this once,” I said. Right away, I began “treatment.” (In those early days I gave treatments.)

The next day, my relative told me my former classmate was released from the hospital completely healed. From that day on, I took third-party-calls, but recently resolved to stop.

There’s a simple reason for this decision: Things go better when the caller, or writer, makes a personal request for help. This could be why.

Once a man asked me to pray for his wife who was paralyzed from the waist up. Without her consent, I agreed to “take up the work.” A few weeks later, the phone rang. “Is this Allen White?” she said. She went on to say, “Did my husband ask you to pray for me? If he did, please stop. I have never received so much attention from my family in my life, and I’m enjoying it.” (She did regain some use of her upper body – enough to call me.)

As in many cases, a person wants their loved one to be well, but many times the one loved doesn’t want it. This is the trouble with third-party-calls. Joel Goldsmith once stated that he never takes this type of call – under any circumstance. Later, he softened a bit.

So, what do you do when someone you care about needs healing and you want to call a Practitioner? DON’T PICK UP THE PHONE! If the person is conscious, ask them if they want a Practitioner’s prayer help. If the answer is “Yes,” then ask this crucial question: “Are you willing to speak with the Practitioner?” If they say, “Yes,” make the call. If your loved one says, “No,” do not make the call.

This does not prevent you from knowing that God is All, and is All of the I AM that they ARE.