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W’s Post Scripts: See God face to face – know yourself as God knows you! (2)
Insights from Cobbey Crisler and Ken Cooper on select citations for
“Mortals and Immortals” for May 19, 2019


Warren’s (W’s) PS#1— Ken Cooper’s monologue this week—“Naaman’s Awakening”comes from the Golden Text as it applies to Naaman’s healing and other characters throughout this week’s Christian Science Bible Lesson. You can Download it in PDF text format from online versions of this week’s CedarS Met and this week’s online Post Scripts which are both always available to browse by author and year at CedarS Metaphysical website.]

Ken writes: “The Golden Text "then shall I know even as also I am known." just resonates with each of the Bible stories, and central to each is the need for humility. This is perhaps clearest in the story of Naaman, but for Ananias also the willingness to listen and obey was a game changer in Christian history.

Perfect love not only casts out fear, but reveals something of the immortality of man. When we love, we reach into knowing as we are known, for God is Love, and knows His own. When the servants of Naaman questioned his response to Elisha, that took great love, and Naaman responded by listening, and in humility obeying the divine instruction he had been given. Healing resulted.

Mary Baker Eddy wrote in her textbook, “One moment of divine consciousness, or the spiritual understanding of Life and Love, is a foretaste of eternity.” S&H 598:23-24 This is the result of humility and love. It was experienced by Naaman, the prodigal son, Ananias, and indeed Paul. And is ever available to all of us,

This week's monologue is Naaman's Awakening, taken from my music-based CD "In the Shadow of His Wing". The You tube reference is https://youtu.be/Mc3Jy2fsN4Q with the PDF versions attached in color and B&W” [as Downloads on CedarS online Met-page (upper right)].


W’s PS#2—Cobbey Crisler on I Cor. 13: 12 (Golden Text) “see face to face”
Verse 12. Seeing “face to face” is a mental thing…
“then I shall know even as I am known…” What God know of us, we know of ourselves and others…
[Transcribed from notes from Cobbey taken in the margin of Warren’s Bible]


W’s PS#3Cobbey Crisler on James (1:6, 1:8 &) 3:17 Responsive Reading (RR)
[From Book of Job]

… "We already know that James read Job because we read the verse (James 5:11) that mentions Job in it…
James 1:6 tells us how we should pray. You'll find when prayer is not prayer… "Let him ask in faith nothing wavering." Wavering suggests this to-and-fro state of mind… James 1:8 "A double-minded man is unstable in all his ways."…
James 3:17 (B1) "But the wisdom that is from above" all stems from the commitment to oneness."
“The Case of Job,”
by B. Cobbey Crisler**


W’s PS#4—Cobbey Crisler on James 1:17, 18 and “every full gift” Responsive Reading (RR)
James 1:17 “Every good gift and every perfect—free, large, full—gift is from above, and cometh down from the Father of lights, with whom there is no variableness, neither shadow of turning”—as in an eclipse.
As promised in scriptures:
“God is not a man, that he should lie…hath he not said, and shall he not do it? Or hath he spoken and shall he not make it good?” (Numbers 23: 19}
And, “For I am the Lord; I change not.” (Malachi 3:6)
James 1:18 “Of his own will begat he us with the word—logos—of truth, that we should be a kind of first fruits of his creatures”a sample of what He created to be consecrated to Himself.”
“The Case of Job,” by B. Cobbey Crisler**


W’s PS#5—Cobbey Crisler on Job 4:17 (B1)
In Job 4:17 let’s see what else happens in Eliphaz’s testimony. [“Shall mortal man be more just than God? Shall a man be more pure than his maker?”] We find what kind of a man from what his point of view is about man. We discussed that the Bible opens with a choice of points of view about man. The opening chapter [Genesis 1:26] clearly indicates that man is the product of God and related to Him as “image and likeness.” If that is logical, then one should not be able to find in the image and likeness of God anything that one would be unable to find in the Original, or you don’t have a good illustration.

However, in the second and third chapters of Genesis which are clearly another document, written by an entirely different author—and all Bible scholars are virtually agreed on that—you have an entirely different point of view. You have man “formed.” Just compare the use of those verbs and you get some idea of where these things are happening. When you use the word “create,” it certainly implies to us what is involved with the whole thing. Something that is creative is found where? In the realm of mind and of thought. But something that is “formed” automatically requires the use of hands, mani in Latin, hands, manipulation. We find that Eliphaz is talking about “mortal man” in verse 17.”
“The Case of Job,” by B. Cobbey Crisler**


W’s PS#6—Cobbey Crisler on Isaiah 1-2.22 (B2): “Cease ye from Adam”
Isaiah 1:5 and 6. Isn’t this a question of Isaiah asking all humanity, “Why should you be stricken any more? You will revolt more and more: the whole head is sick, and the whole heart faint. From the sole of the foot even unto the head [there is] no soundness in it: [but] wounds and bruises, and putrefying sores.” That’s Job’s problem written right out there. That’s his record that he that he didn’t want to have as his witness any more when he said [in Job 16:19] “my record is on high.” They must not have been closed, neither bound up, neither mollified with ointment.” Here is Isaiah even bearing witness that the application of medicine has not cured what humanity needs to have cured.

In Isaiah 2:22 maybe this is part of the solution? What’s the recommended solution? “Cease ye from man.” That word in Hebrew is actually the Hebrew word “Adam.” It literally reads, “Cease ye from Adam whose breath [is] in his nostrils: for wherein is he to be accounted of?”
“Heal the Sick”: A Scriptural Record, by B. Cobbey Crisler**


W’s PS#7—Cobbey on II Cor. 3:18+ (B5) with open-faced, reflected, inspiration and hope
“In Verse 13 it says that Moses had to “put a veil on his face,” because… they weren’t really ready to face the abolition of so much that we trust right now that doesn’t deserve our trust, so much that we depend upon, other than God.”

Instead of that veil, look what we must do in Verse 18, "We all, with," what? "Open face." Now here are the instructions; when in doubt, read the instructions. "We all, with open face," no veil, no mist. "Behold," how? "As in a glass." Immediately we're talking about what? Original and reflection. What are we supposed to look at? What's our model? "The glory of the Lord," and look what's going to happen.

Are we going to be changed into shame? No, the more we look at our Original, the more we will be "changed." It's passive again; we're not doing the changing. Our focus on God changes us. The more light we face, the more transparent we become for that light. We "are changed into the same image."

Does it happen over night, all at once? No, "from glory to glory." Here we have the word glory expressing the very steps of our way, not from crisis to crisis, but from "glory," that's victory. There is an identity that is showing its supremacy over everything that the world has calculated to suppress it. It's "from glory to glory" that we go down the way, making visible spiritual progress, because it's happening from "the Spirit of the Lord."

This verse has caused the Interpreter's Bible Dictionary to say that glory to Paul is "a partly fulfilled reality, although it is also a future expectation into which we enter by degrees."

We know when we've progressed just as we know when we've been inspired. We have already found glory palpable to our spiritual senses right here. Here is the link the human has with the divine, the link that we can tug on in the midst of kinds of bad news. This is why the gospel, or good news, elevates, uplifts our human experience because it is linked to facts that are quite applicable now, even though only partly fulfilled, perhaps some even tenuously based on what we think is hope rather than present fulfillment.”
“Glory: Divine Nature in The Bible,” by B. Cobbey Crisler**


W’s PS#8—Cobbey Crisler on Matthew 6.22-24 (B6): the light of the body is the eye
“(Verse 22). Should we be surprised when it says, ‘The light of the body is the eye: if therefore thine eye be single’? Haven’t we been prepared for that in Jesus’ theology up to now?

“Single, not double vision, duality. Commitment to something other than one God, dividing our sight between what is corrupt and what is pure. Because “if our eye is single,” here’s an equation again. You can make that into an equation. “if thine eye be single”, how does the body respond? Your body is whole. Your body’s single too. Not fragmented.
(Verse 23) But, ‘if your eye is evil,’ see the parallelism? His definition of evil is what? The opposite of single. ‘If your eye is single,’ he says, on one hand, on the other hand, he says, ‘if your eye is evil.’ So evil is something other than single. He is showing that it’s the devil’s outlook, ‘diabolos’ in Greek, the attempt to put dualism on the throne, or have a divided throne.

Isn’t that why in the Book of Revelation (4:2), one of the greatest revelations vouchsafed to John as a seer, was the fact he saw a throne in heaven and one sat on the throne. Just that single vision, according to Jesus, would result in instantaneous healing in our bodies, to see the throne in heaven and only one on it. No one, or no thing, or no thought other than what comes from God can have ascendancy or sovereignty, then, in our being, because ‘our body is full of light’ from the one that sits on the throne. (Matthew 6:22)
There’s something about divine logic that always coincides with divine revelation. The divine logic that Jesus is showing here was coincident with the revelation that John got.”

Matthew 6: “Verse 24. See the logic here. ‘No man can serve two masters: either he will hate the one, and love the other; or else he will hold to the one, and despise the other. You cannot serve God and mammon.’
“Book of Matthew, Auditing the Master: A Tax Collector’s Report,” by B. Cobbey Crisler**


W’s PS#9a— from PS#1: Ken Cooper’s monologue this week—“Naaman’s Awakening” Ken writes in part: “The Golden Text "then shall I know even as also I am known." just resonates with each of the Bible stories, and central to each is the need for humility. This is perhaps clearest in the story of Naaman…

… When the servants of Naaman questioned his response to Elisha, that took great love, and Naaman responded by listening, and in humility obeying the divine instruction he had been given. Healing resulted…

…This week's monologue, “Naaman's Awakening”, is on You Tube at https://youtu.be/Mc3Jy2fsN4Q with the PDF versions attached as Downloads on CedarS online Met-page (upper right).


W’s PS#9b—Cobbey Crisler on II Kings 5:1-27 (B10+) & Naaman’s healing of pride, leprosy
[In 2 Kings,] Chapter 5, we’re going to have another example of healing, of leprosy. This example involves a Syrian, a non-Jew. It is one that Jesus himself cites later on. Remember Jesus said [in Luke 4:27], “There were many lepers in Israel.” But, he didn’t go to them, he went to a Syrian. He wasn’t even an Israelite, showing the receptivity has no ghetto, no narrowly drawn lines.

We have an insight into what is going on in Naaman’s thinking here which is helpful, as far as studying the method used here in healing. When “Naaman comes [in Verse 9 of Chapter 5] with his horse, chariot,” only accoutrements of his position. Notice the accoutrements of his position had done nothing for his leprosy. Yet that’s what he came for. That was his priority for the moment. Elisha didn’t serve that priority, did he? He disappointed him.

Apparently, that’s the lesson of the story. If Naaman wanted a healing he had to change hos priorities. “Elisha merely sends a messenger out [Verse 10], ‘Go and wash in Jordan.’” Jordan you can go and leap across at some portions. Yes, “seven times.” For a man that was used to instant action, like Naaman: He orders, it occurs. You can imagine that this was not exactly as what he expected. But the promise is, if he does this, here’s the equation again, the result will be that his “flesh will come unto him restored and clean.”

Naaman says, “Forget it” [Verse 11]. Out go all the accoutrements with him. But notice in Verse 12 you at least get the name of one of the early ancient cars. We have Cougars, and various other names for our cars. In Verse 12, Naaman “turned and went away in a rage.” [Laughter] The same automobile manufacturer makes a huff. [Laughter] Some people go away in that. The servants, the humble thought, suggest to him [in Verse 13]. “You know, if the prophet had wanted you to do something really dramatic, you would have done that. Why quibble when it’s simpler?” The simple requirement for healing, perhaps being asked of us all through our lives, but we wait for more dramatic demands. They never come.

[In Verse 14] “He goes down.” He listens. “He dips himself seven times in Jordan and his flesh came again like the flesh of a little child.” Not even the flesh he, perhaps would have expected, but the pure, clear “flesh of a little child, and he was clean.”

[Beyond citation B10, FYI]
Of course, in Verse 15 he’s ready to give the world to Elisha. [In Verse 16] Elisha accepts none of it. But guess who does? [In Verses 20-23] his servant’s willing to deal under the table. Unfortunately, [in Verses 25-27] his servant gets the results of his thoughts and becomes leprous himself.”
newly transcribed from “Heal the Sick”: A Scriptural Record, by B. Cobbey Crisler**


W’s PS#10—Cobbey Crisler on Matthew 4:23 (B13) and ordered harmony at hand:
Verse 23. And “healing all manner of sickness and all manner of disease.” Here are human problems that had defied solution, and Jesus solved them all based on his concept of theology, namely the kingdom. Remember a kingdom is not chaos. It’s an ordered government of heaven and harmony at hand.”
“Book of Matthew, Auditing the Master, A Tax Collector’s Report,” by B. Cobbey Crisler**


W’s PS#11—Cobbey on Luke 15.11-24 (B14) Prodigal’s “pig pen cry” likened to Ps. 30:2!
“Psalm 30:2 Again, the appointment with the physician, the Great Physician, in the Bible is very often this, “O Lord my God, I cried unto thee.” It does not take our being attuned to God to make the appointment. Just as the Prodigal Son suddenly decided that his real right place was not in that pig pen when he came to himself [Luke 15: 16-18]. There’s a whole new view of one’s identity. He decided that his father’s house held much more. Then you notice the father did not go to the man with the swine to save the son. The son had to do something. Then the father ran to meet him as he was coming [Luke 15:20]. With your back to the Father, you’re not even heading in that direction. With your face toward the Father you’re looking at the Father’s face, which is part of the cure biblically, [that] is to see the divine nature. Then of course, you want to be nearer the source of your nature. Step by step the light grows brighter around your feet. We know where we’re heading. We may not have arrived yet, but it’s getting brighter, and lighter, and our problems are dropping away, our burdens, and the divine nature is becoming applicable nearer and nearer. “O Lord my God, I cried unto thee; you have healed me.”
“Leaves of the Tree: Prescriptions from Psalms,” by B. Cobbey Crisler**


W’s PS#12—Cobbey Crisler on Acts 9:1-20 (B16)—Paul’s conversion & healing via Ananias
“Acts, Chapter 9, introduces us to a prominent character in the history of Christianity. Although we have referred to him earlier, through his persecutions of the early Christians…

…The light that falls upon Saul may be as much a light within as without. Whatever it was, it leaves him blind, almost as if by contrast to what he has known before in his life.

When “Saul rises from the earth, he is blind, and they must lead him into Damascus.” (Acts 22:8, paraphrased) … Saul has plenty of time to think about what has hit him. “For three days he cannot see, and during that long period, he doesn’t eat or drink.” (Acts 22:9, paraphrased)
At this point, “a vision occurs to a disciple named Ananias, who is located at Damascus.” (Acts 9:10, paraphrased)
“Ananias is told to go and meet Saul and to heal him.” (Acts 9:11-12, paraphrased) … Now if you were Ananias, you’d think that you would be extremely eager to meet the one who had a warrant to arrest anyone who named the name of Christ and had the authority to take them back to Jerusalem.
Well, Ananias was no more eager than we would have been. In Acts 9, verse13, you can see that “he actually records what they knew in Damascus already about Saul’s reputation, how much evil he had done to the saints at Jerusalem.” (Acts 9:13, paraphrased) “And here he hath authority from the chief priests to bind all that call on thy name. (Acts 9:14)
But the message to Ananias gives us what Saul’s appointed mission will now be. “He is a chosen vessel.” Chosen to do what? Alright, (he is chosen) “to bear my name before the Gentiles.” (Acts 9:15, paraphrased)
We have seen Philip bring the gospel to the Samaritans, but here Saul is set apart, specifically, as being the one who will carry Christianity around the known globe. And this, as we know, he does, in less than a generation.

When Ananias meets him, speaks with him, in Acts 9, verse 17, “from Saul’s eyes fall scales – his past outlook dropping away completely. And he was seeing things from an entirely new point of view.”… “and he received sight forthwith, and arose, and was baptized. (Acts 9:17-19, paraphrased)
“It is not very long before Saul is actively engaged in preaching “the way.” (Acts 9:20, paraphrased) Notice in Acts 9, verse 20, where we are told “he straightway preached Christ, or the Messiah, in the synagogues, that he is the Son of God.” … You can imagine what those who heard him must have thought since they already had been well acquainted with Saul’s reputation earlier. Here was “the key persecutor of Christianity now preaching in the name of Jesus.” (See Acts 9:21, paraphrased)
After the Master What? – The Book of Acts” by B. Cobbey Crisler**


**You can buy your own transcripts of most of Cobbey Crisler’s 28 talks at this website: www.crislerlibrary.co.uk Email your order or inquiry to office@crislerlibrary.co.uk, or directly to Janet Crisler, at janetcrisler7@gmail.com

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