DURING the reign of the Roman emperor Domitian the persecution of the early followers of Jesus' teaching was very bitter. John, who understood these teachings perhaps better than any other of the twelve, was a source of great concern to those who feared the Christian religion and desired to stop its progress.
Among other attempts to terminate his activity, this loving apostle, we learn from old historical manuscripts not included in the Bible, was subjected to boiling oil by his persecutors. But John had thoroughly acquainted himself with the powerful truth of the words of Jesus (John 17:3), "This is life eternal, that they might know thee the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom thou hast sent," and he was delivered from the boiling oil.
A great and lovingly revered revelator in our day, Mary Baker Eddy, gives us the explanation (Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures, p. 243), "The divine Love, which made harmless the poisonous viper, which delivered men from the boiling oil, from the fiery furnace, from the jaws of the lion, can heal the sick in every age and triumph over sin and death."
When the enemies of Christianity and its teaching of salvation in John's day finally persuaded the emperor to exile the apostle to the island of Patmos, he was consigned to hard labor in the mines, where he remained for eighteen months. But Patmos was not a place of persecution to John, for it was there, because of his spiritualized thinking, that he received the message to the seven churches and the visions which he later recorded, and which are now known as the book of Revelation in the Bible.
During those eighteen months John saw the new heaven and the new earth. He saw the whole belief in material creation as error, and he perceived the power of God as able to overcome all types of discord. John could not have been other than joyous as he recorded over and over his recognition of the presence of God and His Christ. He included in his description of the revelation such assurances as (Rev. 21:3), "Behold, the tabernacle of God is with men, and he will dwell with them, and they shall be his people, and God himself shall be with them, and be their God."
His experiences are deeply moving to those who are earnestly applying the teachings of Christian Science. Do they not startle us as we realize how very much more we can do than we are doing, since we have the same truths to utilize as did John?
It is quite apparent that John did not waste time thinking that some person or persons had caused his difficulty. He did not condemn himself for some omission or commission; he could not have pitied himself, neither was he afraid. We are sure he did not say, "Why did this happen to me when I have been trying so hard to think and live aright?" Instead, the island of Patmos and its experiences were clearly just another opportunity to prove what he knew about the ever-presence of God, good, and he apparently proceeded to spiritualize his' thought still further.
Only spiritualization and consecration could have prepared him to receive the great vision and its accompanying understanding and peace. Included in the vision was also a clear comprehension of the unreality and powerlessness of all evil. He saw all evil activity, including that which had exiled him, not as persons or as in any sense a reality. He saw it as the so-called malicious activity of the serpent which had tempted Eve in the allegorical garden of Eden, now grown to a dragon, but still belonging to the allegory.
He saw that this dragon seemed to have angels and an appearance of great power to harm and to deceive, even to oppose the omnipotence of the one God; but he saw that this, too, was unreal, because God is the only power, invincible and victorious throughout all time.
The term "dragon" may present such a mental picture as to startle a student and make him wish to avoid or evade that which it represents, but it is only a false mental picture, a symbol of the lie or false belief that there is life, substance, and intelligence in matter. For instance, of envy, which seems a frequent and often unrecognized temptation, Mrs. Eddy writes (Miscellaneous Writings, p. 254), "Envy, the great red dragon of this hour, would obscure the light of Science, take away a third part of the stars from the spiritual heavens, and cast them to the earth." It is necessary to be wide awake mentally to all appearance of evil, and especially to the fact that every phase of it is only part of the mortal mind legend which presents evil as real and creation as mortal and material. Spiritual understanding opens the door to the revelation of God, good, as the only reality and power, and of man and the true universe as spiritual, perfect, and eternal. Knowing the unreal nature of evil and the reality of infinite good enables one to maintain joy on any Patmos, as did John.
Sometimes it is lack or limitation that needs to be healed; at other times continued 'illness, pain, sorrow, discord in the home or in family relationships, frustration, or some other difficulty may claim attention. Each of these conditions is specifically handled in Science and Health and Mrs. Eddy's other writings as a false belief, and the student is clearly taught how to overcome it. Wrong thinking and its so-called results can be dispelled with spiritualized thinking, and the discord will disappear.
Every sincere student endeavors to think clearly and carefully, not anxiously; joyfully, not doubtingly, including in his work the affirmation of Truth and the detection and intelligent denial of every phase of error. This means specific work. Generalization in declaring the truth is not enough. Whatever the erroneous condition is that presents itself, it is only the result of wrong thinking.
If there should be a continued belief in limitation, for example, it is not enough to say or to think, "God is substance," and let one's efforts of overcoming it rest there. The false, fearful belief causing the material sense of limitation must be replaced with the specific right idea that nullifies it. Lack may be due to a lack of love or a settled acceptance of frustration, disappointment, self-will, age, incompetency, or some other such false belief. Then one should specifically discern and deny the wrong thinking and conclusively establish in his consciousness the facts taught in Christian Science about God, man, and the true universe. This requires scientific right thinking, but not morbid mental probing, which is never helpful. One's true self is an expression of divine Love, and that is the only real self.
Once the dragon is detected and seen from the standpoint of spiritual light and intelligence for what it is, namely, a delusion, revelation follows, and it is seen that right where the dragon claims to be is the actual presence of the Holy One and His manifestation. No Patmos experience of bondage or of discordant or laborious existence can seem real when the city beautiful, the dwelling place of man, and therefore of your true selfhood and mine, is to some extent envisioned and claimed as one's own.
Spiritualization of thought is externalized in human experience by relief from pain or by a normal adjustment of human affairs. Harmony replaces discord, and provision is made for whatever is humanly needful. As man's spiritual, holy habitation is seen and cherished, the fulfillment of the promise will be realized (Rev. 21:27), "There shall in no wise enter into it any thing that defileth, neither whatsoever worketh abomination, or maketh a lie: but they which are written in the Lamb's book of life."
