WHEN, according to the Gospel of Mark, Jesus addressed the faithful eleven just before he "was received up into heaven," he said, "And these signs shall follow them that believe; In my name shall they cast out devils; they shall speak with new tongues; they shall take up serpents;... they shall lay hands on the sick, and they shall recover." These "signs" are following the study and practice of Christian Science today, just as Jesus promised they should do.
Man has God-given dominion over all the earth, and nothing has changed or can change this dominion. One may think he is helpless against evil, but that is not true, for God is infinite, supreme, and He cares for all. By the relinquishment of material beliefs and the acceptance of spiritual ideas, one discovers his true selfhood, which reflects God, divine Mind. Weakness, helplessness, and limitation belong to the illusion of life in matter, and can be destroyed as one grows in the understanding of omnipresent spiritual good. In the light of Christian Science it becomes a glorious privilege, instead of an unpleasant duty or necessity, to "take up serpents," and to prove man's present perfection and freedom as the child of God.
On page 594 of the Christian Science textbook, "Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures," Mary Baker Eddy defines "serpent" in part as "subtlety; a lie; the opposite of Truth, named error; the first statement of mythology and idolatry; the belief in more than one God; animal magnetism; the first lie of limitation; finity." Error, or evil, may assume many guises, but it is always "a lie," wholly untrue and unreal. Many errors are easily recognizable as errors, such as dishonesty, hatred, resentment, impatience. And sickness is likewise error, a false belief entertained only in mortal consciousness. Other beliefs of evil are more subtle, and greater alertness is necessary that we may handle them and prove their nothingness; otherwise, we may be deceived into accepting them as inevitable.
