The Book of Acts records that after the stoning of Stephen, who was one of the early Christians, a great persecution arose against the young Christian church in Jerusalem, and most believers scattered throughout the region, fleeing for their lives (see Acts 8:1).

Regardless of this crisis, Acts continues with accounts of these followers of Christ Jesus sharing their new faith, making new disciples, and sowing the seeds of new churches wherever they went. What in many ways must have felt like a daunting situation—fleeing the familiar and heading into the unknown—was, in fact, a step in an extraordinary expansion of the church that gave Christianity a foothold across the entire Roman Empire.

What can we learn today from these early Christians? Can modern-day challenges to Christian Science branch churches become catalysts for expansion?

To read the full article on https://journal.christianscience.com,
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To read or listen to this article in full on https://sentinal.christianscience.com,
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To see yourself or your neighbor—that is, anyone your thoughts rest on—as God does can bring quick healing. Recently I had an experience that illustrated the healing power of seeing a stranger in this way.

In a city I was visiting, I purchased a breakfast sandwich and was standing at the entrance to a crosswalk, waiting for the traffic light to change, when suddenly I experienced a paralyzing pain in my lower back. I could not walk. I could not move. I could stand up only by firmly pressing my hands downward on my knees, stooping over. My arms were quickly tiring and it seemed I would soon fall down and be unable to get back up. 

When the light changed, several people on my side of the street walked around me and crossed the street. Several other people from the other side of the street crossed the street, and they walked around me, too…

To read the full article on https://journal.christianscience.com,
please click here!

To read or listen to this article in full on https://sentinal.christianscience.com,
please click here. 

One morning in late June 2020, I woke up with a painful shoulder. I remembered that a doctor who had conducted a required company physical exam when I was in my mid-twenties had said, “You must be living in constant pain due to the bone structure of this shoulder.” I had assured the doctor that I was in no pain. I hadn’t experienced any pain in the shoulder over the years until that morning and had been able to participate freely in normal activities and to wear clothes as sold with no need for altering the shoulders. 

After I remembered the doctor’s comment, a stronger message came to me: “No man knoweth the Son, but the Father” (Matthew 11:27). I looked up these words of Christ Jesus in the Bible and reasoned that just as God perfectly and completely knew His Son, Christ Jesus, God knows me (and each of us) as His spiritual, good, perfect, painless image and likeness (see Genesis 1:27, 31)…

To read the full article on https://journal.christianscience.com,
please click here!

To read or listen to this article in full on https://sentinal.christianscience.com,
please click here. 

For several years I had struggled with a persistent internal disorder that made walking painful. Although I had prayed with the expectation of healing and had treatment from a Christian Science practitioner on several occasions, there was no change. While the symptoms didn’t hinder my daily activities, one day I knew it was time to give the condition more focused prayer. So, I decided to spend a quiet week alone gaining a better understanding of spiritual reality and my identity as God’s reflection. 

I began by reading Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures by the Discoverer of Christian Science, Mary Baker Eddy. Though it was a book I was quite familiar with, having studied it all my life, I decided to start at the beginning and not move on from a sentence or paragraph until I felt sure I understood its meaning… 

To read the full article on https://journal.christianscience.com,
please click here!