An American general, the story goes, once answered the enemy's demand for surrender with an emphatic "Nuts!" The general in command of the enemy forces, not understanding American slang, was apparently puzzled by this brief, strange reply. The suggestion of surrender apparently aroused the American general to stand by his previous orders to hold his position. This proved to be the turning point in the battle.
If we believe that some mental or physical pressure is being imposed upon us or that we have enemies—either people or conditions; if we believe that we should retreat or give in a little to some of the commonly accepted remedies, such as sleeping pills or tranquilizers; or if we believe that we are confused and discouraged and unable to press on toward a victory over evil, we can remember the American general.
Rejoice and be glad, for none of these pressures have power! Instead of submitting to such erroneous suggestions, we can be aroused to action. We can halt our retreat and take a stand for Truth.
The circumstances in which we find ourselves are largely a result of what we have accepted in thought. The circumstances are either good or bad, depending to a great extent on the quality of our thoughts. If these originate in Mind, God—and all real consciousness does—they must be lovely and pure. In reality we reflect only the qualities expressed by our creator. Fear and hate or any untoward conditions are not part of God's creation and therefore cannot be expressed, except mistakenly as a belief. Mind expresses Godlike thoughts to all, including those who, unmindfully, believe in the reality of evil. Since there is no power to curtail God's illimitable reach, we are all part of His creation, whether we believe it or not.
A craving for pills or other material remedies is merely a false suggestion implying that God is not in absolute control. Christ, Truth, heals all discord without material interference or aid. Truth is the only real remedy and there is no substitute. Let us alert ourselves to a keener perception of the truth that is already present— that every thought and every situation is within the jurisdiction of divine Love.
What appears to present a problem— fear, hate, or disease—is nothing more than error being brought to the surface to be laid open to view, exposed as nothing. Being unconcealed and no longer having the protection of the mortal belief that it is something real, error fails to appear as a thing or a thought. Error—another name for mortal mind, animal magnetism, or evil—has no presence, no power, no reality. It fails completely to impress or distress us when unmasked and disclosed as illusion. It is nothing, posing as something. In Science and Health Mrs. Eddy tells us: "Error is the contradiction of Truth. Error is a belief without understanding. Error is unreal because untrue. It is that which seemeth to be and is not." Science and Health, p. 472
The mission of Christian Science is to prove the supremacy of Mind, Spirit, over materiality; to demonstrate the spiritual effect of Truth on the human mind and body. The premise that God is All and that He made all good is the basis of Mrs. Eddy's discovery. She perceived man as the perfect reflection of Mind, expressing the love, power, dominion, and wisdom that emanate from the one Mind, God. Man is therefore exempt from all evil.
Science teaches us to be alert to the mesmeric illusion of evil in its many guises, and when it presents itself to our thought, we can resolutely deny evil as false—only masquerading as truth. When the pseudo activity of evil appears to control our actions, we can know that in its very place the power of God's omniactive law is at work exposing evil as a deception. Truth is ever present and is the only true activity permeating God's atmosphere. This Christ activity is, even now, casting out false beliefs and lifting off shackles imposed by every suggestion of a power opposed to God.
Interpreting Isaiah 45, verse 7, "I make peace, and create evil: I the Lord do all these things," Mrs. Eddy writes: "The muddy river-bed must be stirred in order to purify the stream. In moral chemicalization, when the symptoms of evil, illusion, are aggravated, we may think in our ignorance that the Lord hath wrought an evil; but we ought to know that God's law uncovers so-called sin and its effects, only that Truth may annihilate all sense of evil and all power to sin." ibid., p. 540
Mentally contradict the belief that we can be pressured, that we can be discouraged, or that we must compromise with evil. God's love for us, His guidance and protection, is made plain to us through the action of divine law, and obeying this law, we see beliefs in corporeal selfhood disappear.
Through this law we are shown the way to understand His sustaining power, here and now. Unlimited resources are revealed as the answer to every human need. Ignorance, fear, and doubt vanish, allowing scientific facts to appear where blind beliefs seemed to have been.
When confronted by evil, Jesus relied on his understanding of his relationship to God. He identified himself as the Son of God, completely surrounded by Love. His steadfast adherence to divine Principle, Love, sustained him through trials and temptations. He counseled: "Watch and pray, that ye enter not into temptation." Matt. 26:41 More than those around him, he knew that the subtle traits of evil had to be met and overcome. When "led by the Spirit into the wilderness," Luke 4:1 Jesus refuted Satan's insidious suggestions, each time being more emphatic in his denials. At Gethsemane when he asked that "this cup" be removed from him, he immediately added, "Nevertheless not my will, but thine, be done." 22:42 Before, during, and after his agonizing hours on the cross, he was proving Life to be everlasting.
Like Jesus, we can use our experiences as stepping-stones to higher demonstration. We can pray more earnestly. In the Bible we find prayers that can be thoughtfully repeated to help in attuning ourselves to God and in patterning our lives after the Master, Christ Jesus. David's prayer of thanksgiving, found in I Chronicles (see 29:11-13), is one example. The Lord's Prayer with its spiritual interpretation, found at the end of the chapter on Prayer in the Christian Science textbook, is another example (see Science and Health, pp. 16—17). Most of all, we can offer our own impromptu prayers to fit particular needs and as part of our daily praising of God. In so doing, we will find ourselves in the atmosphere of Love.
Like Jesus, we can turn from earth to heaven. We can acknowledge Christ as the presence able to protect us and others from the erroneous supposition that there is a power apart from God. We should discipline ourselves to stop wondering what evil is and where it comes from, knowing that it has no divine source, therefore no existence. Filling our thoughts with goodness, holiness, and love leaves no place for evil. We need to be governed by the fact that we are made in God's image and likeness and that we are part of His spiritual creation, reflecting His omniscience, omnipresence, and omnipotence. Everything really happening is wonderful and joyful—God expressing Himself.
"Count it all joy when ye fall into divers temptations," James 1:2 we read in the Bible. Why? Because had error not raised its head demanding that we surrender to it, we might not have risen spiritually in order to defend ourselves against the mortal claim that evil is real. Mrs. Eddy reminds us: "Christian Scientists cannot watch too sedulously, or bar their doors too closely, or pray to God too fervently, for deliverance from the claims of evil. Thus doing, Scientists will silence evil suggestions, uncover their methods, and stop their hidden influence upon the lives of mortals. Rest assured that God in His wisdom will test all mankind on all questions; and then, if found faithful, He will deliver us from temptation and show us the powerlessness of evil,—even its utter nothingness." Miscellaneous Writings, p. 114.
