Christian Science Committee on Publicationfor Nigeria

The Tide Friday June 20, 2002
Copyright 2002 Newspaper Corporation, Rivers State, Nigeria

HEADLINE: Turning to God for health
AUTHOR: Geoffrey Ogbonna (geoffreyogbonna@yahoo.com)

BODY:

Within the last few decades, there have been improved scientific, medical, researches and discoveries. These discoveries have been of great help to mankind in terms of health. They have provided greater opportunities for saving human life and also reduced the mortality rate generally.
It is necessary to note, however, that some of the discoveries are frightening. Different kinds of diseases are said to have been discovered also. Some have been described as deadly or incurable. Scientists tell us that they originate in and belong to certain parts of the world. They also estimate the number of people who are likely to suffer from such diseases in the year to come. Creation of awareness of the ailments so discovered through the media has been recommended, acknowledged, and adopted as one of the major means of stopping the spread of sickness. Societies and clubs have been formed, and ceremonies organized, all for the purpose of creating awareness.
We cannot measure the resources that have gone into these human activities. So much effort has been made in this direction by the people of the world that it has become necessary to stop and think again. When carefully observed, it can be seen that our human effort to create awareness in order to stop the spread of diseases totally, seem not to be yielding the desired result, at least not enough. The more awareness is created about the existence of disease, the more the media reports of its increased spreading. Is it not true then, to say that the creation of the awareness of ailments also has something to do with its supposed increases?
Yes, the constant fear and talking about disease impresses it on the body. It is also written in the Bible, “As a man thinketh so is he.” Prov. 23:7. But we are not helpless under this mortal dream, which seems to be endless.
Perhaps now is the time for us to turn to our divine origin for perfect health because God is always willing that we should live and live happily. Each one of us is the image and likeness of God according to the Scriptures Gen. 1:26. If man is God’s image and likeness, and God, Spirit, is harmonious and immortal, then it follows that we cannot be separated from good health. This can be discovered and proved when we turn to God for health.
In a book titled “Science and Health with key to the Scriptures” by Mary Baker eddy, our spiritual origin and nature as the offsprings of God is explained in a way that everyone, everywhere can understand easily and be able to demonstrate health as his God-given heritage.
The writer of this article has studied this book for more than two decades now. During this period, malaria and waist pain, among other ailments, have been permanently healed through prayer according to the teachings of the book. The healing ideas contained in “Science and Health” are applicable to our daily human problems of today just as it was in the 18th century when it was written. This book is available for everyone to study and prove God’s healing power, no matter to which religion one belongs.
There is a sure protection and healing in turning to God through spiritual understanding of Him and our relationship to Him. Every effort that we make to discover and live this truth is a spiritual step greater than the awareness of sickness. It will yield the biggest result. Health, joy, peace and all the fruits of Spirit are the spiritual birthright of each of us because we are God’s image and likeness.
“Science and Health” enables us to identify ourselves and everyone spiritually in true love. There is always a healing in this correct identification of ourselves. “Science and Health” opens our eyes to the eternal truth that we cannot be separated from our God for a moment. This book also helps us to know how to acknowledge and prove that man in God’s image and likeness is of a higher spiritual status than sin, sickness and death.
While talking about man’s spiritual status and freedom, Mary Baker Eddy, the author of this book, has made an important call to all mankind, when she wrote, “Citizens of the world, accept the glorious liberty of the children of God and be free. This is your divine right.” In proportion as anyone understands God and man spiritually, he accepts “…the glorious liberty of the children of God…” This spiritual understanding is more protective and healing than the knowledge of sickness. It gives freedom and immunity from sickness, sin and all that is unlike God.

The Tide Friday August 15, 2003
Copyright 2003 Newspaper Corporation, Rivers State, Nigeria

HEADLINE: PREVENTING CONTAGION, SPIRITUALLY (1)
AUTHOR: Etim Uko (e_uko@yahoo.com)

BODY:

Preventing means stopping something from taking place or to cause something not to happen or be done. While Contagion connotes spread of disease by physical contact between persons or contact with infected objects such as bedding or clothing. Contagion could also be applied to a harmful or corrupting influence with a tendency to spread. Whichever form contagion takes, we can pray to God for healing.
Some of the contagions are physical and mental contagions. The ones that manifest by physical contact are acquired immune deficiency syndrome (AIDS), Tuberculosis (TB), sexually transmitted diseases (STDs), among others. We tend to live in an age of abbreviations. Even a new contagious disease has been diagnosed, SARS (severe acute respiratory syndrome). The mental contagions include rumours, gossiping; violence, and hate-filled thought. At certain seasons of the year, some people think they must contact cold or cough, depending on the conditions of the air. They feel there is nothing they can do! How can we prevent communicable diseases and all diseases, spiritually?
 Jesus Christ was not afraid of catching disease from the multitudes of sick people who surrounded him day after day. He even touched a leper. He was not infected with the leprosy. Instead the leper was instantly healed. “And, behold, there came a leper and worshipped him, saying, Lord, if thou wilt, thou canst make me clean. And Jesus put forth his hand, and touched him, saying, I will; be thou clean. And immediately his leprosy was cleansed” (Matt. 8:2, 3). 
When Nicodemus asked Jesus what to do to be saved, the answer was, “Except ye be born again ye shall in no wise enter into the kingdom of heaven.” This indicates the necessity of an entirely altered sense of life. Jesus and all who understood him admonished mankind to be transformed by the renewing of mind; to put off the old man with his deeds; to put off mortality and put on immortality; to have this Mind which was also in Christ Jesus (Philippians 2:5) – the Mind, God, which heals the sick, annuls temptation and discloses that “the kingdom of heaven is within you” and “If a man keep my saying, he shall never taste of death.”
 God, the all-knowing, is ever present for all to express. God, which is all-powerful, omnipresent Spirit, is the great and only Cause. He is infinite Love, the only Mind and Intelligence. As we know and establish in our thought that God is our Mind and Intelligence, we cannot be affected by influences such as contagion. Our relation to God as His beloved children is permanent, perfect, and unbreakable. Thus, God’s children can not be victims of contagion. 
The quality of thought determines our state of health. Sickness or contagion presents itself as a mental suggestion. The Bible says, “For as he thinketh in his heart, so is he:” (Proverbs 23:7). The point here is that the thought of mortals externalizes itself on the life, health, happiness, and destiny of each individual. 
Mary Baker Eddy, the author of Science and Health with key to the Scriptures, nails the cause of disease to be mental, when she says,  “Disease arises, like other mental conditions, from association. Since it is a law of mortal mind that certain diseases should be regarded as contagious, this law obtains credit through association, — calling up the fear that creates the image of disease and its consequent manifestation in the body.” So contagion is mental, not physical, in nature. What seem like physical symptoms are actually beliefs, which would tell us that we are material and that evil is real and present. 
Our thoughts influence others as well, and the aggregate of the universal thought acts upon humanity, on its present plane of existence, as law and government. All good or evil thought externalizes itself according to its nature. In other words, the truth of being manifests itself as life, health, harmony, and happiness, whereas error or an erroneous sense of being manifests itself in sin, discord, death, and the myriads of disaster which disfigure humanity and continue its strife, calamity, and despair. Anyone governed by God will manifest life and happiness; he will be indeed the very likeness of God and have dominion over all the earth instead of being subject to it. 
What are we do to prevent contagion? We can of our own selves do nothing. Healing power belongs to God.

The Tide Friday August 22, 2003
Copyright 2003 Newspaper Corporation, Rivers State, Nigeria

HEADLINE: PREVENTING CONTAGION, SPIRITUALLY (Conclusion)
AUTHOR: Etim Uko (e_uko@yahoo.com)

BODY:

Mary Baker Eddy in her best selling Science and Health: “Stand porter at the door of thought. Admitting only such conclusions as you wish realized in bodily results, you will control yourself harmoniously. When the condition is present which you say induces disease, whether it be air, exercise, heredity, contagion, or accident, then perform your office as porter and shut out these unhealthy thoughts and fears. Exclude from mortal mind the offending errors; then the body cannot suffer from them.” 
God is all power and is omnipresent; therefore there is no space for error, or contagion of any kind whether physical or mental to exist. Each one of us is the perfect child of God, created in His image and likeness; therefore we are spiritual. We live always in safety in the “secret place of the Most High” and we are inseparable from our Maker. God does not create disease or contagion, and hence the Jesus, Apostles and Christians heal sin, disease and death. We have to be porter, in prayers, at the door of thought, admitting only spiritual facts of health and rejecting the fear of media advertisements of symptoms, spread and contagion diseases. We have to live the spiritual qualities that strengthen thought against mental and physical contagions - purity, innocence, integrity, and courage. 
Envy, jealousy, anger, malice, and revenge have effect on the person who manifests them. The Bible says that he that hates his brother is a murderer, and can not inherit eternal life. Evil thoughts are not only murderous, but also have the most deadly effect upon the perpetrator himself. By reason of the bodily effects produced by evil thoughts, blood 
circulation is disturbed, bodily functions are obstructed, and organic actions impaired. These things interfere with and repress the healthy secretions of the body and clog the system with morbific substances. We have to stop malice, envy, lust and fear that breed contagion. We have to show compassion to victims of contagion, pray for them, and heal them.

Weekend Pioneer Friday Nov 19, 2004
Copyright 2004 Akwa Ibom State Newspaper Corporation, Uyo, Akwa Ibom State, Nigeria

HEADLINE: Mitigating witchcraft fear
AUTHOR: Chris Ugueze (chinweoda@yahoo.com)

BODY:
I have observed with thanks to Weekend Pioneer team the good work they are doing in informing, educating and entertaining the public. Recently, there were news of witchcraft-related killings and other witchcraft attitude in Akwa Ibom State. This calls for sober reflections on the subject of witchcraft.
In this modern day and age, it is very bewildering to find out that so many are bedevilled by the illusion of witchcraft. It is even more surprising to observe that people who profess to be Christians, and for whom Jesus Christ died on the cross, are not spared of these witchcraft activities. This raises a number of questions such as: What are the patterns of thought that prevent people as individuals or societies, from moving forward and realizing their full potentials? To what extent do religious and/or other belief systems affect those patterns of thought?
It is the opinion of this writer that the witchcraft fear so prevalent and so seemingly powerful and demoralizing in our communities emanates from the erroneous beliefs that we are helpless about doing something against it. In truth, are we really helpless?
Psychologists and spiritual thinkers have found out that, there is a positive correlation between a people’s belief system, and their life’s experiences. Let it be known that the concept of witchcraft is thriving because we harbour and perpetuate it in our beliefs. Anything that exists in our lives is there, because we sustain the idea of it in our own minds. When we eliminate the idea, we would have eliminated the thing itself, whatever it might be. Many of the discussions on witchcraft among the populace are bereft of adequate spiritualized information on the matter. It may not be far from the truth to say that some uninformed preachers in our churches today help to mislead and misguide their followers on the subject of witchcraft. This leads to false fears about witchcraft. It should be known that, “false fears are foes”. False fears are also hypnotic. Writing on the need to check this type of misinformation, Mary Baker Eddy, in her bestseller, science and Health, averred that, “disquisitions on disease have a mental effect similar to that produced on children by telling ghost-stories in the dark…As frightened children look everywhere for the imaginary ghost, so sick humanity sees danger in every direction, and looks for relief in all ways except the right one. Darkness induces fear. The adult in bandage to his belief, no more comprehends his real being than does the child, and the adult must be taken out of his fearness, before he can get rid of the illusive suffering which throng his gloaming.” She recognized that the shackles of false beliefs (about the nature of God and man) in the human consciousness pose the greatest threat to the freedom of all people, regardless of race or culture. The healing of witchcraft fear must therefore take place first, in human consciousness, because what we think and believe and talk about, is what we bring forth into outer expression in our bodies, lives, and affairs.
 The practice of witchcraft is the practice of spiritism or spiritualism, that is, involvement with so-called demons. In Deuteronomy 18:10-12, the Bible listed some of these practices as divination, magic, looking on omens, sorcery, binding with spells, consulting mediums and necromancy. It warned Christians to turn away from the spirit mediums or consulting professional fortune-tellers, so as not to be defiled by them. Let it be known that the practice of spiritism can, and do lead to demon possession or harassment (i.e. witchcraft). In actuality, when we comply with the counsel of God regarding spiritism, we spurn the bait of the demons. Resist the devil and it will flee from you (James 4:7). St. Paul assured of the protection when he wrote, “Who is he that will harm you, if ye be followers of that which is good? (1 Peter 3:13). In order to mitigate the menace of witchcraft, we must do away with demonic practices. The Bible tells us that, “Many of them also which used curious arts brought their books together, and burned them before all men…So mightily grew the word of God and prevailed.” (Acts 19:19, 20). Those who practice spiritism have to get rid of everything having spiristic overtones. These include: occultist materials, such as magazines, videos, posters, musical recordings, amulets, tattoos, idols, and other items supposedly worn for protection, gifts from known or professed practitioners of spiritism.
In the words of Richard Claude Haw, “an insect caught in a spider’s web, will struggle desperately to free itself, as will a wild beast that has fallen into a trap. But the belief in witchcraft and spirits has for centuries been a way of life for so many, that they do not even attempt to resist. Yet, there is a way out... Evil comes from believing the wrong things or being taught wrongly. If a child is taught that 2+2=5, he will make mistakes in his arithmetic, until someone comes along and proves to him that 2+2=4”. Such is the erroneous impression about witchcraft. It is said that the best way to stop thinking about something we want to throw out of our minds, is to think about something else.
We must therefore, consciously hold on to the law of loving our neighbours as ourselves, which the Bible said, is the fulfilling of the law of God. Let us practice compassion, empathy, forgiveness, and other virtues, and expunge from our though and actions, bitterness, resentment, revenge, hatred, petty jealousy, envy and other vices. Doing these things, always will give antidote to the fear and all the manifestations of witchcraft. Frankly speaking, those who practice witchcraft find it next to impossibility, affecting people who are good and pure, and whose hearts are loving.
In conclusion, let it be known that “today’s unpredictable times demand that we stay alert to the mental climate in which we live and work and travel – in other words, the atmosphere of though around us. But it is also important to link that alertness with prayer; letting into our hearts the power of God to counteract harmful influences and keep our lives on the right track.” Jesus said, “Watch and pray that you enter not into temptation.”