Christ Jesus foretold that a great fermentation would take place in the world as error resisted the advancing appearing of the Christ, God's divine ideal, and as Truth became known to all peoples. His vivid picture of the disturbance is recorded in the twenty-fourth chapter of Matthew. Here the Master warns of evil's attack from within and from without. False Christs would deceive many, "wars and rumours of wars" would engage the attention of men, the love of many would "wax cold," and strange phenomena of nature would be observed.
But the Master did not leave the threatening prophecy unexplained. He gave his parable of the fig tree putting forth its tender green leaves, thus encouraging his followers to see that such disturbances would only portend that "summer is nigh," that error, with its claim to destructive power, would be drawing to a close. These signs would accompany the second advent of Christ to mankind, the coming of God's divine ideal to all men.
Christian Science explains the world's unrest today as the moral fermentation which accompanies the revelation of divine reality, as the effect of Truth's action on human consciousness. Mary Baker Eddy says in "Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures" (p. 65), "The broadcast powers of evil so conspicuous to-day show themselves in the materialism and sensualism of the age, struggling against the advancing spiritual era." The spiritual or scientific era is now "even at the doors" (Matt. 24:33), and those who recognize the stirring effect of the impact of advancing Truth upon the material sense of life remain serene and untroubled. Their attitude, however, is not passive, but dynamic. They contribute spiritually forceful thinking to the problems of the age. They express strong moral responsibility in helping justice and purity and brotherhood find liberation.
