A new book - 80+ accounts of verified healing

Coinciding with 150 years of continuous publication of Mary Baker Eddy's Science & Health with Key to the Scriptures is the release of a precious new book from The Christian Science Publishing Society - Christian Science: continuing evidence of Christ-healing.

This is not a showy volume. Rather, it is a modest but distinctive volume which provides the reader with substantial and convincing evidence that Christ-healing is happening in our time, across continents and in all sorts of circumstances.

The book is beautifully presented, yet is without fanfare in design. Its cover invites further deep investigation, while pointing to the ongoing nature of Christ-healing. The typeface is crisp, clear and open. It's easy to read. 

The Foreword, by the Christian Science Board of Directors, is especially engaging. It begins: 

    The relationship between science and Christianity has always been a delicate dance. In fact, a large portion of society would likely argue that these two have no business dancing with each other at all.

I am reading slowly and looking for the relationship between science and Christianity in each of the verified accounts of healing. 

This book has arrived just in time for Christmas. What a beautiful gift to our world.

Julie Swannell

PS Our Reading Room in Redcliffe is offering the book at a special early-bird price just this month. Half of our initial order has already been sold.  

Neighbours and Brothers

My NLT Study Bible has given me some insight into the animosity between Israel and Edom as described in the little book of Obadiah. And Eugene Petersen (The Message Bible) adds a wry touch when he writes "It takes the entire Bible to read any part of the Bible" as the opening of his introduction to this little book.

Three stories are helpful. Isaac and Rebekah's twin boys, Jacob and Esau, were the ancestors of the people of Israel and Edom respectively. Even though the brothers did eventually reconcile, it seems there was lingering animosity between their neighbouring countries. 

Later, when Moses was leading the children of Israel from Egypt to the Promised Land, he requested permission from the king of Edom to pass through that territory. Unfortunately that permission was refused and the book of Numbers records that "the soul of the people was much discouraged..." (21:4). Moses got the blame for their having to now take a much more circuitous route.

Obadiah, verse 11(The Living Bible) indicates a further lack of neighbourliness when Israel was invaded by Babylon:

11 For you deserted Israel in his time of need. You stood aloof, refusing to lift a finger to help him when invaders carried off his wealth and divided Jerusalem among them by lot; you were as one of his enemies.

But the story doesn't end there. The final verse (21) says:

"Those who have been rescued will go up to Mount Zion in Jerusalem to rule over the mountains of Edom. And the Lord himself will be king!" (NLT 2nd edition)

It seems that hostilities ceased. Petersen writes: 

"...the last line of the prophecy takes a giant step out of the centuries of hate and rivalry and invective. Israel, so often a victim of Edomite aggression through the centuries, is suddenly revealed to be saved from the injustices of the past... ...instead of doing to others what had been done to them and continuing the cycle of violence ... they are presented as taking over the reins of government and administering God's justice justly. They find themselves in a new context--God's kingdom--and realize that they have a new vocation--to represent God's rule." 

Is this a clue that when we let God take the lead, hostilities cease?

Alleluia! For the Lord God omnipotent reigneth! (Rev. 19: 6)

Julie Swannell

A man of humour

 I like a man with a sense of humour.  This is from Pastor Chuck Swindoll's blog Insight for Living:

"Who wrote the book?

"In this, the shortest book of the Old Testament, it seems the prophet Obadiah considered each word a high-priced commodity. Apparently, he was unable to afford any words describing himself or his family in any way. Therefore, while twelve other men named Obadiah appear in Scripture, Old Testament scholars cannot identify with certainty any of them as the author of this book. Though the ultimate identity of this prophet is shrouded in mystery, Obadiah’s emphasis on Jerusalem throughout this prophecy of judgment on the foreign nation of Edom, allows us at least to presume that Obadiah came from somewhere near the holy city in the southern kingdom of Judah."

Joyce Voysey ☺