The world today yearns for the end of strife and material armaments. Thousands are praying earnestly for the fulfillment of the time pictured by the prophet Micah when it shall come to pass that "they shall beat their swords into plowshares, and their spears into pruninghooks: nation shall not lift up a sword against nation, neither shall they learn war any more" (4:3).
The successful accomplishment of disarmament is the responsibility of all men. But the laying down of material weapons, as well as the beating of them into plowshares, is only one of the phases of the subject of disarmament in its larger aspect. If every military weapon of offense and defense were destroyed today, there would still be no guarantee of permanent or even temporary peace in the world.
True disarmament can only be established as sin gives place to spirituality in the hearts of men; as fear and hate are displaced by love; as mortality surrenders to immortality in the consciousness of the individual.
To attain the ultimate of true disarmament requires the complete surrender of every thought which opposes itself to the omnipotence and omnipresence of God, Spirit. In the words of the apostle (II Cor. 10:5), it requires "casting down imaginations, and every high thing that exalteth itself against the knowledge of God, and bringing into captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ."
The contribution of the individual to the establishment of disarmament of weapons, as well as of all that opposes itself to God, calls for militant Christianity. It includes constant alertness, unceasing prayer, and the willingness to follow the Christ, as exemplified by our great Way-shower, Christ Jesus. In the textbook, "Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures," Mary Baker Eddy writes (p. 178), "In proportion to our understanding of Christian Science, we are freed from the belief of heredity, of mind in matter or animal magnetism; and we disarm sin of its imaginary power in proportion to our spiritual understanding of the status of immortal being."
The Christian Scientist's daily duties and responsibilities include the regular and systematic acknowledgment that God is Spirit and that His power is supreme on earth as well as in heaven. The student's work is to maintain consistently in all of his waking hours that all creation is constituted of spiritual ideas, dwelling together in eternal peace, harmony, and prosperity.
Building his daily life on the understanding of these basic truths, he supports every endeavor for righteous living and righteous government in the world. He proclaims with confidence that the executive, legislative, and judicial power of the world must yield to God, divine Principle, the unerring, unchanging, and unchangeable cause of all existence. He insists that every inhabitant of the earth must yield completely to the power of the Christ, the impelling activity of divine Principle, regardless of any hateful, selfish, or evil motives which may be entertained.
Referring to the might of God expressed through Christlike thinking and living, Mrs. Eddy writes (Science and Health, p. 225), "The powers of this world will fight, and will command their sentinels not to let truth pass the guard until it subscribes to their systems; but Science, heeding not the pointed bayonet, marches on." And later she adds, "Love is the liberator."
Christ Jesus devoted his entire career to the work of disarming human consciousness of its sinful, fearful, and mortal beliefs. With sublime courage, intelligence, and confidence in God's omnipotence, Jesus militantly and fearlessly faced his foes and defeated their diabolical purposes; he completely disarmed them; he also cast out devils (evils), healed the sick, and raised the dead. Thus he proved the so-called laws of matter or mortal mind to be powerless. And he accomplished all of this through unselfed love, through the understanding and power of the Christ.
Today the Christ, Truth, in its undiminished might, is available to all through the Science of Christianity, the Science of divine Truth, Life, and Love. Through the consistent practice of this Science in daily living, we learn to wage peace instead of war; to overcome hatred, discord, and lack through Love; to conquer sickness, sin, and ignorance through Truth; stagnation and death through Life.
Our weapons for peace are spiritual, not material. They are the angels, or pure, scientific thoughts of God's presence, which come to every receptive consciousness and impel it to good deeds. Even in these days of great military armaments, the Christian Scientist can demonstrate individually some measure of that time which Micah referred to when he said (4:4), "They shall sit every man under his vine and under his fig tree; and none shall make them afraid."
Those who make the greatest contribution to disarmament and permanent peace are the ones who, through daily prayer and practice, work to purge their own consciousness of materiality and sin and who help their fellow men to love and live the truth. They become a leavening influence in the home, business, church, and, in fact, in world affairs. They pray daily for all mankind and for the establishment of the consciousness of heaven at hand. It is through such practical demonstration that true disarmament will be established throughout the world.
When Nehemiah received permission from the king of Persia to rebuild the walls of Jerusalem, he continually looked to God for guidance and found thereby not only protection but also the solution to the many problems which confronted him. Although his enemies tried with open threats and with the cunning devices of evil to trick him and to defeat his work, he disarmed them at every point. And so great was the defeat of the enemy—without the use of a single weapon—that, it is recorded (Neh. 6:16), they were "much cast down in their own eyes."
Referring to the activity of the Christ and its ultimate destruction of all the lies of mortality, our Leader writes (The First Church of Christ, Scientist, and Miscellany, p. 185): "The peace of Love is published, and the sword of the Spirit is drawn; nor will it be sheathed till Truth shall reign triumphant over all the earth. Truth, Life, and Love are formidable, wherever thought, felt, spoken, or written,—in the pulpit, in the court-room, by the wayside, or in our homes. They are the victors never to be vanquished."
To this end each individual, inspired and moved by the Christ, has the opportunity of making a permanent contribution.
