Resisting evil - from Concord

Transcription

1 Resisting evil Resisting evil Wednesday, March 4, 2015 Hymns #99 He that hath God his guardian made #258 Oft to every man and nation #396 Ye messengers of Christ The Bible 1. Jer. 29:8, 9, (to :) 8 For thus saith the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel; Let not your prophets and your diviners, that be in the midst of you, deceive you, neither hearken to your dreams which ye cause to be dreamed For they prophesy falsely unto you in my name: I have not sent them, saith the LORD. For I know the thoughts that I think toward you, saith the LORD, thoughts of peace, and not of evil, to give you an expected end. Then shall ye call upon me, and ye shall go and pray unto me, and I will hearken unto you. And ye shall seek me, and find me, when ye shall search for me with all your heart. And I will be found of you, saith the LORD: 2. Luke 4: AND Jesus being full of the Holy Ghost returned from Jordan, and was led by the Spirit into the wilderness, Being forty days tempted of the devil. And in those days he did eat nothing: and when they were ended, he afterward hungered. And the devil said unto him, If thou be the Son of God, command this stone that it be made bread. And Jesus answered him, saying, It is written, That man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word of God. Page 1 of 10

2 And the devil, taking him up into an high mountain, shewed unto him all the kingdoms of the world in a moment of time. And the devil said unto him, All this power will I give thee, and the glory of them: for that is delivered unto me; and to whomsoever I will I give it. If thou therefore wilt worship me, all shall be thine. And Jesus answered and said unto him, Get thee behind me, Satan: for it is written, Thou shalt worship the Lord thy God, and him only shalt thou serve. And he brought him to Jerusalem, and set him on a pinnacle of the temple, and said unto him, If thou be the Son of God, cast thyself down from hence: For it is written, He shall give his angels charge over thee, to keep thee: And in their hands they shall bear thee up, lest at any time thou dash thy foot against a stone. And Jesus answering said unto him, It is said, Thou shalt not tempt the Lord thy God. And when the devil had ended all the temptation, he departed from him for a season Peter 5:2 (to 1st,), 4, 6-9 Feed the flock of God which is among you, And when the chief Shepherd shall appear, ye shall receive a crown of glory that fadeth not away. Humble yourselves therefore under the mighty hand of God, that he may exalt you in due time: Casting all your care upon him; for he careth for you. Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil, as a roaring lion, walketh about, seeking whom he may devour: Whom resist stedfast in the faith, knowing that the same afflictions are accomplished in your brethren that are in the world. Page 2 of 10

3 4. Luke 6:38, Give, and it shall be given unto you; good measure, pressed down, and shaken together, and running over, shall men give into your bosom. For with the same measure that ye mete withal it shall be measured to you again For a good tree bringeth not forth corrupt fruit; neither doth a corrupt tree bring forth good fruit. For every tree is known by his own fruit. For of thorns men do not gather figs, nor of a bramble bush gather they grapes. A good man out of the good treasure of his heart bringeth forth that which is good; and an evil man out of the evil treasure of his heart bringeth forth that which is evil: for of the abundance of the heart his mouth speaketh. 5. James 1:12, 13, Blessed is the man that endureth temptation: for when he is tried, he shall receive the crown of life, which the Lord hath promised to them that love him Let no man say when he is tempted, I am tempted of God: for God cannot be tempted with evil, neither tempteth he any man: Do not err, my beloved brethren. 6. I Cor. 10: Wherefore let him that thinketh he standeth take heed lest he fall There hath no temptation taken you but such as is common to man: but God is faithful, who will not suffer you to be tempted above that ye are able; but will with the temptation also make a way to escape, that ye may be able to bear it. Wherefore, my dearly beloved, flee from idolatry. I speak as to wise men; judge ye what I say. 7. I John 3:4, 6, 7, 8 2nd For 4 Whosoever committeth sin transgresseth also the law: for sin is the Page 3 of 10

4 6 7 8 transgression of the law. Whosoever abideth in him sinneth not: whosoever sinneth hath not seen him, neither known him. Little children, let no man deceive you: he that doeth righteousness is righteous, even as he is righteous. For this purpose the Son of God was manifested, that he might destroy the works of the devil. 8. Rev. 12:3 There, 7-10, 12 3 there appeared another wonder in heaven; and behold a great red dragon, having seven heads and ten horns, and seven crowns upon his heads And there was war in heaven: Michael and his angels fought against the dragon; and the dragon fought and his angels, And prevailed not; neither was their place found any more in heaven. And the great dragon was cast out, that old serpent, called the Devil, and Satan, which deceiveth the whole world: he was cast out into the earth, and his angels were cast out with him. And 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, which accused them before our God day and night. Therefore rejoice, ye heavens, and ye that dwell in them. Woe to the inhabiters of the earth and of the sea! for the devil is come down unto you, having great wrath, because he knoweth that he hath but a short time. 9. James 4:6-8 God (to 1st.), 10-12, 15 6 God resisteth the proud, but giveth grace unto the humble Submit yourselves therefore to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you. Draw nigh to God, and he will draw nigh to you. Humble yourselves in the sight of the Lord, and he shall lift you up. Page 4 of 10

5 Speak not evil one of another, brethren. He that speaketh evil of his brother, and judgeth his brother, speaketh evil of the law, and judgeth the law: but if thou judge the law, thou art not a doer of the law, but a judge. There is one lawgiver, who is able to save and to destroy: who art thou that judgest another? For that ye ought to say, If the Lord will, we shall live, and do this, or that. Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures by Mary Baker Eddy 1. 5:30 We should follow our divine Exemplar, and seek the destruction of all evil works, error and disease included. 6:1 We cannot escape the penalty due for sin. The Scriptures say, that if we deny Christ, he also will deny us :32-21, 24 John the Baptist prophesied the coming of the immaculate Jesus, and John saw in those days the spiritual 562:1 idea as the Messiah, who would baptize with the Holy 3 Ghost, divine Science. As Elias presented the idea of the fatherhood of God, which Jesus afterwards manifested, so the Revelator completed this 6 figure with woman, typifying the spiritual idea of God s motherhood. The moon is under her feet. This idea reveals the universe as secondary and tributary to Spirit, 9 from which the universe borrows its reflected light, substance, life, and intelligence. The spiritual idea is crowned with twelve stars. The 12 twelve tribes of Israel with all mortals, separated by belief from man s divine origin and the true idea, will through much tribulation yield to 15 the activities of the divine Principle of man in the har- Spiritual idea revealed Spiritual idea crowned Page 5 of 10

6 mony of Science. These are the stars in the crown of rejoicing. They are the lamps in the spiritual heavens of the age, which show the workings of the spiritual idea by healing the sick and the sinning, and by manifesting the light which shines unto the perfect day as the night of materialism wanes. Also the spiritual idea is typified by a woman in travail, waiting to be delivered of her sweet promise, but remembering no more her sorrow for joy that the birth goes on; for great is the idea, and the travail portentous. Travail and joy :3-4, 24-26, As of old, evil still charges the spiritual idea with error s own nature and methods. 24 From Genesis to the Apocalypse, sin, sickness, and death, envy, hatred, and revenge, all evil, are typified by a serpent, or animal subtlety. The serpent is perpetually close upon the heel of harmony. Doom of the dragon :1-4 In the Apocalypse, when nearing its doom, this evil increases and becomes the great red dragon, swollen 3 with sin, inflamed with war against spirituality, and ripe for destruction :7-12, To infinite, ever-present Love, all is Love, and there is no error, no sin, sickness, nor death. 9 Against Love, the dragon warreth not long, for he is killed by the divine Principle. Truth and Love prevail against the dragon because the dragon cannot war with 12 them. 18 That false claim that ancient belief, that old serpent whose name is devil (evil), claiming that there is intelli- Page 6 of 10

7 21 gence in matter either to benefit or to injure men is pure delusion, the red dragon; and it is cast out by Christ, Truth, the spiritual idea, and so proved to be powerless. Dragon cast down to earth :2 In the words of Jesus, it (evil, devil) is 3 a murderer from the beginning. Error begins by reckoning life as separate from Spirit, thus sapping the foundations of immortality, as if life and immortality 6 were something which matter can both give and take away :4-6, The Science of Mind disposes of all evil. Truth, God, is not the father of error. Sin, sickness, and death are 6 to be classified as effects of error. Christ is the ideal Truth, that comes to heal sickness and sin through Christian Science, and attributes 12 all power to God. Christ the ideal Truth : If evil is real, Truth 27 must make it so; but error, not Truth, is the author of the unreal, and the unreal vanishes, while all that is real is eternal. The apostle says that 30 the mission of Christ is to destroy the works of the devil : If God makes sin, if good produces evil, if truth results in error, then Science and Christianity are helpless; but there are no antagonistic powers nor laws, spiritual or 15 material, creating and governing man through perpetual warfare. God is not the author of mortal discords. Therefore we accept the conclusion that discords have Page 7 of 10

8 18 only a fabulous existence, are mortal beliefs which divine Truth and Love destroy :10-18 Divine logic and revelation coincide. If we believe otherwise, we may be sure that either our 12 logic is at fault or that we have misinterpreted revelation. Good never causes evil, nor creates aught that can cause evil. 15 Good does not create a mind susceptible of causing evil, for evil is the opposing error and not the truth of creation. Destructive electricity is not the offspring of infinite 18 good. Logic and revelation :4-13 Science declares that Mind, not matter, sees, hears, feels, speaks. Whatever contradicts 6 this statement is the false sense, which ever betrays mortals into sickness, sin, and death. If the unimportant and evil appear, only soon to disappear because 9 of their uselessness or their iniquity, then these ephemeral views of error ought to be obliterated by Truth. Why malign Christian Science for instructing mortals how 12 to make sin, disease, and death appear more and more unreal? :13-24 Answer. Mind is God. The exterminator of error is the great truth that God, good, is the only Mind, and 15 that the supposititious opposite of infinite Mind called devil or evil is not Mind, is not Truth, but error, without intelligence or reality. There 18 can be but one Mind, because there is but one God; and if mortals claimed no other Mind and accepted no other, sin would be unknown. We can have but one Mind, if True sense of infinitude Page 8 of 10

9 21 24 that one is infinite. We bury the sense of infinitude, when we admit that, although God is infinite, evil has a place in this infinity, for evil can have no place, where all space is filled with God :12 12 Ignorance, subtlety, or false charity does not forever conceal error; evil will in time disclose and punish itself. The recuperative action of the 15 system, when mentally sustained by Truth, goes on naturally. When sin or sickness the reverse of harmony seems true to material sense, 18 impart without frightening or discouraging the patient the truth and spiritual understanding, which destroy disease. Expose and denounce the claims of 21 evil and disease in all their forms, but realize no reality in them. A sinner is not reformed merely by assuring him that he cannot be a sinner because 24 there is no sin. To put down the claim of sin, you must detect it, remove the mask, point out the illusion, and thus get the victory over sin and so prove 27 its unreality. The sick are not healed merely by declaring there is no sickness, but by knowing that there is none. Expose sin without believing in it : Resisting evil, you overcome it and prove its nothingness. Page 9 of 10

10 Printed from CONCORD: A CHRISTIAN SCIENCE STUDY RESOURCE, published by The Christian Science Board of Directors in Boston, MA, USA. This content may be under copyright and may not be further reproduced or distributed, unless permitted under the Concord User License Agreement. Page 10 of 10