Absolutely Yours

The Question

“I’ve heard Marie Watts and Joel Goldsmith say that they don’t like healing testimonies. Being that they were once Christian Scientists, I find that strange. Healing testimonies are what keep me in Christian Science. Why do you think they disliked them?”

The Root Of Healing Testimonies In The Metaphysical Church

Both Marie Watts and Joel Goldsmith were class-taught Christian Scientists and therefore well-acquainted with the Wednesday testimony meeting. Yet they both professed to dislike testimonies. On occasion, however, they did share a testimony or two. The public testimony of spiritual healing has its roots in the Christian Science Wednesday testimony meeting. If you have ever been to one of these services, you can understand why Marie and Joel frowned on them.

I Was Blown Away When He Shared His Story

If it appears that you are troubled and beset by a problem, these Wednesday night services can comfort, inspire and give you hope to stay the course. I have enjoyed them. I remember a particularly lively service (sometimes they can be dead as a doornail) where healing testimonies followed in rapid succession. But one stood out. A tall, well-groomed and suited man stood up and grabbed the microphone. He shared that one night he had a heart attack, and without medical intervention, was quickly healed. The next day he won the gold medal in a Senior Olympic race.

At that moment I was impressed with this so-called quick healing. Later, I mentally flogged myself for being so impressed. Something was missing, and that’s why Watts and Goldsmith slowly backed away from testimonies. Just take a moment to think of God as the only Presence, and you’ll discover what the missing element is.

Only God Exists — An Eternal Truth

Only God exists. Only God has ever, or will ever exist. There is no other presence to usurp the Presence of God. Never has been. Where, then, has dis-ease ever been present? Nowhere! When has dis-ease ever been present? Never! When has a healing ever happened? Never!

When I heard the story of the Senior Olympian’s healing of a heart attack, I marveled. Later, I asked myself why. Temporarily, I took in the “lie” that this man actually had a heart attack – an impossibility considering God’s Allness. For a moment I, to my surprise, believed this man was healed of something that never could have occurred. [I am aware that something did appear to happen.]

The Missing Element

Let’s get to that missing element in most healing testimonies. If you’ve been to one of these services, you know that in every testimony the attestant tells the story of the difficulty and how, through some spiritual practice, they experienced a healing.

They all tell their testimony as if something really happened – as if they overcame an actual condition. Only once did someone conclude the story with the realization that IT NEVER HAPPENED. THE DISEASED CONDITION NEVER HAPPENED. IT WAS NEVER PRESENT. This realization is the missing element in most testimonies.

Marie Watts and Joel Goldsmith, like every other Practitioner, base their practice on this one fact: ONLY GOD IS HAPPENING. I believe they would be more inclined to hear testimonies if the attestant would conclude with words similar to this: “And then I realized that I was not sick. I never was sick, and I could never be sick, for God is always ALL.”

I am not suggesting that people should never attend a Christian Science Testimony service. What I am suggesting is that you attend with a discerning heart and ear. When the attestant shares the difficulty, know that it never happened. Maintain God’s Allness in your awareness. Don’t get caught up in the difficulty. However, I think it’s right to delight in their freedom from an illusion.

What This Means For You

This post is no help unless it offers something of practical value for you. It would be great if a problem never popped up in your life from this day forward. However, if it should, what are you going to do about it?

Rather than try to heal it, or get rid of it, focus your prayerful attention on the truth that the “it” is neither a presence nor power – it is not present. Focus your prayerful attention on knowing (not reciting) only God, and what God Is, is Present. If that seems too difficult, then ask “your” Consciousness this one question: What is really present here? This will lead to a true testimony, the realization of God’s Allness.