The Power of Christ
In the Bible book of Revelation (12:10) it says "I heard a loud voice saying
in heaven, Now is come salvation, and strength, and the kingdom of our
God, and the power of his Christ: for the accuser of our brethren is cast
down, ..."
What is this Christ? A man? A spiritual being? God? How does the healing
power of Christ - i.e. Christian healing - work?
There are many books and religious teachings about Christ, but I'm not
interested in human doctrine or theory. I want to find out for myself and
experience what this "power of Christ" is and does. The books that I
consult in my search are The Bible (any translation) and the writings of
Mary Baker Eddy (the discoverer of Christian Science) - mostly her book
Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures. The authors of these
writings speak from their experience. I'm interested in what they have
experienced and I want to experience Christian healing myself.
My most vivid experience with the healing Christ occurred about 12 years
ago. I was playing ice hockey when I fell and several players fell on top of
me. My knee was forcefully bent in a way that knees aren't suppose to
bend. I managed to get home, but soon my knee was so painful I couldn't
move. For three days I lay on my bed and prayed. I wasn't really afraid
because I had been healed through prayer many times in my life. I trusted
God to take care of me. This time as I prayed, I thought a lot about the
Christ. What is Christ and what did it have to do with healing?
An advantage of not being able to move for three days was that I could
really focus my thought. I couldn't go to work, I couldn't sit up and watch TV,
I wasn't comfortable holding a book - so I just lay there quietly and prayed
and listened. By the third day I had forgotten all about what needed to be
done at work or the chores at home, or the hundreds of other thoughts that
pass through my consciousness during the day. I had this incredible mental
stillness. It was in this condition of quiet, expectant listening that I became
conscious of a presence - not a person, but a presence, a power. It was the
Christ. I'm sure the Christ had always been there, but I was just now
conscious of it. My mouth dropped open with amazement and at first all I
could think of was "Oh my!".
For some time, I don't know how long, I just sat there feeling this awesome
presence of the Christ. Then I realized that my knee felt different. It had
been throbbing with pain and unmovable for the past three days, but now I
didn't feel anything. Slowly, I moved my leg to the side of the bed, sat up,
and then stood up! I still couldn't walk, but was I excited!
The next day I went to work with the aid of crutches and I came home at the
end of the day carrying those crutches. A couple of friends who had injured
their knees a year earlier told me that I should have therapy. I considered
this, but decided that all the therapy that I needed was to cling to this sense
of the Christ-presence - and I did. I started skating again in two weeks. In
three weeks I was playing hockey again with my team. Later that year I went
skiing and hiking. My knee is solid and strong and has not given me any
further problems.
So what is the Christ? Its difficult to put in human terms, but after this
experience I describe the Christ as "the power of God's presence and the
presence of God's power." Awareness of this power and presence enables
one to experience Christian healing.
