Almost daily I watch aircraft being launched from a carrier of the United States Navy; and if the wind is breathless, the planes are catapulted from the flight deck. This means an incredibly high rate of speed is induced instantaneously. The pilot must brace himself securely to minimize the jolt involved in take-off. Recently, while I watched an aviator position his body in the cockpit of his fighter as a last minute preparation prior to the expulsion which would bounce him into the air, my thoughts strayed back to the first known use of the catapult. I believe the Roman dictator, Julius Caesar, was one of the first to employ a crudely constructed wooden contrivance which catapulted iron missiles at his enemies.
Twenty centuries have elapsed since Caesar's time, and it is obvious that the catapult has been immensely improved in design and function. Likewise, history records the same comparable degree of advancement for all weapons of warfare. Today's armor-plated tank has replaced the simple chariot, and the soldier's new carbine now substitutes for the poisoned arrow. Our conversation is often monopolized by talk of the latest weapons. Every day finds us working with weapons; daily we read about weapons; and almost hourly our ears listen to rumors concerning secret weapons. But how much thought is given to the oldest, the only infallible, and the most accessible weapon of all, namely, intelligent prayer? Each time the smoke •drifts off the battlefield a progress in things material can be noted, but mankind has yet to find the basis for lasting peace. Why is this?
The answer was seen by a contemporary of Rome's Caesar, who changed his name to Paul when Truth was revealed to him. If he were here today, he would doubtless declare, as he did centuries ago (II Cor. 10:4), "For the weapons of our warfare are not carnal, but mighty through God to the pulling down of strong holds." Here Paul indicated the spiritual weapons or forces which could end war and establish enduring peace.
It is true that the current struggle has hurried the physical sciences into drafting startling and effective weapons for immediate use. It is also true that these material weapons are necessary and important to mankind at the present time. But first things must come first.
Prayer is our most effective weapon of offense, because, when we pray, we are wholly present with the one Principle, God, and absent from anything which opposes God. In prayer, Truth reveals its own allness and evil's fabulous existence, even as light dispels darkness. Such prayer recognizes God as omnipotent, omnipresent, and omniscient. This is the weapon that comes first, and this weapon alone can pull down evil's "strong holds." The truth we know already is sufficient to cast much evil out of the human consciousness.
This weapon is nothing new and was known to many characters in Biblical times. Moses used it to lead his nation out of the Egyptian bondage. David depended upon it for his victory over the aggressive giant, Goliath. Daniel used this weapon in the lions' den. His friends were benefited in their fearless love of God, and their confident prayers proved the nothingness of raging flames heated to a temperature seven times the usual degree. Shadrach Meshach, and Abed-nego stepped out of the king's furnace without even the smell of smoke in their clothes. With the same weapon of the Christ, Truth, Jesus successfully destroyed the claims of disease and death.
But what of this remarkable weapon— prayer? Is it more than a tribute of lip service, a cut and dried mumbling of memorized words? Indeed! It should be ceaseless, a fervent desire, for in Christian Science we learn that right desire and prayer are synonymous. Prayer is the realization and contemplation of the truth about God and man. It is the understanding that divine Principle, not material law, governs man, maintaining him and giving him victory in any contest of evil with good.
Our weapon is spiritual, and therefore it is not restricted to members of the armed forces or to any highly skilled technicians. Contrariwise, this weapon may be used by all who find the slightest inspirational value in the Bible.
Citizens of the Allied nations find satisfaction in the knowledge that they are contributing factors to the war between the forces of righteousness and those of evil. They sincerely want to do all they possibly can to help. At this point we should be alert to recognize the door which Christian Science opens to the fulfillment of such a desire, because divine Science gives us every opportunity to help. Here the individual may work unhampered by physical requirements and institutional red tape. There is no physical location to his work; no technical interference. The scientifically Christian effort is spiritual, and is conducted "under the shadow of the Almighty" (Ps. 91:1).
Today's events reflect such an upheaval that unconditional surrender is the only possible answer for error. Truth is our sword, and when we refuse to believe that man, the image and likeness of God, is subject to the wavering intrigues and malicious whims of mortal mind, we can successfully meet any challenge. The understanding of the truth about God and man destroys all forces which are opposed to the progress of Christianity. The Scriptures bear witness to the practicality of such a way of life.
Our crusade for freedom, yes, the popular four freedoms, is within each individual's consciousness. Indeed, every hour and at any place we are privileged to obey Christ Jesus' advice to his followers (Matt. 6:6), "Enter into thy closet, and when thou hast shut thy door, pray to thy Father which is in secret; and thy Father which seeth in secret shall reward thee openly." Obeying our Master's glorious Sermon on the Mount, we shall seek our mental closet, shutting out the material sense testimony of newspaper headlines, radio bulletins, and newsreel pictures, and pray that the divine Word be revealed to us in our fight for our God-given liberty.
Such prayers are potent weapons for the pilots, the soldiers, and the sailors. The subtle strategy of the enemy is rendered incapable of success through the prayer that understands the ever-presence of good; for God is omnipotent good, and God is All.
Today students of Christian Science all over the world are watching, praying, and working for a good life, a right way. It is not uncommon to hear Christian Scientists in the services, who have returned from overseas duty, testify to the magnitude of protection and success that results from this universal work. Moreover, seriously damaged aircraft return to home bases in spite of breaking the laws of aerodynamics. Why? Because, as Mary Baker Eddy tells us in "Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures" (p. 273), "God never ordained a material law to annul the spiritual law."
No man-made laws, no laws of matter, can touch the law of Principle, the divine law which recognizes God as the only Life of man. Paul knew this to be a fact and stated so when he wrote (Rom. 8:2), "The law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus hath made me free from the law of sin and death;" and Paul was not a little acquainted with the struggle for political freedom!
In Science man's individual rights are highly respected. Therefore a Christian Science treatment is given only at the request of the person concerned. But in the event of an extreme emergency, our beloved Leader, Mrs. Eddy, tells us that we may work specifically for our brother man, just as surely as we should do what we could to put out the flames if a neighbor's home caught fire.
I know of an ensign in the Navy, a student of Christian Science, whose battle station was at a microphone. Many times planes, returning from enemy action, riddled by bullets and flak, would call in, "Prepare for emergency landing." This was always the young officer's cue. Such emergencies called for a firm declaration of the truth. Many of the airplanes made crippled landings, ending up completely demolished and very often bursting into flames; yet not one pilot was harmed in any way when this student was "on the mike." Mrs. Eddy's statement in Science and Health (p. 290), "Life is the everlasting I am, the Being who was and is and shall be, whom nothing can erase," was often foremost in his thought.
We need not wait, however, upon an emergency to do our part in the contemporary struggle against the force of a would-be anti-Christ. Mrs. Eddy has given us a "Prayer for Country and Church" (Christian Science versus Pantheism, p. 14) which we can put to good use. "In your peaceful homes," she says, "remember our brave soldiers, whether in camp or in battle. Oh, may their love of country, and their faithful service thereof, be unto them life-preservers!"
