involves the coming into appearance
of the Second Advent of Christ. Coming into appearance means being made visible by
being proclaimed publicly.The Christian Science
Standard
“Escape for thy life; look not behind thee, neither stay thou in all the plain; escape to the mountain, lest thou be consumed.” — Genesis 19:17
Volume 17, Number 2 October 2009
Christian Science Endtime Center P. O. Box 27539, Denver, CO 80227
This Standard contains excerpts from previous issues of
The Christian Science Standard
Stanley C. Larkin, Author and Editor, 1989 - 2001
God’s Kingdom — A Destination to be Sought
The central theme in the life of Moses, was the deliverance of the children of Israel from Egyptian bondage by leading them out of the land of the Pharaohs and bringing them into Canaan. An even greater call is now upon the human race for a universal salvation from a world that is to undergo a prophesied divine judgment. Do not Christian Scientists today have a parallel responsibility in the events which are developing as a result of the Second Coming — the day of Christ?
Christian Science as taught by Mary Baker Eddy is not a religion established for the pursuit of materiality or mere worldly pleasure, but to establish the kingdom of heaven in individual consciousness.
The mission of Christ Jesus was to save the world, — the human race, — by bringing humanity safely into his kingdom.
— Stanley C. Larkin
The Christian Science Standard
April 2, 1990
THE DAY OF CHRIST
What is the day of Christ? The day of Christ
involves the coming into appearance
of the Second Advent of Christ. Coming into appearance means being made visible by
being proclaimed publicly.
Mary Baker Eddy writes concerning the second appearing on page 117 of Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures:
[Jesus’] parable of the ‘leaven, which a woman took, and hid in three measures of meal, till the whole was leavened,’ impels the inference that the spiritual leaven signifies the Science of Christ and its spiritual interpretation, ... Did not this parable point a moral with a prophecy, foretelling the second appearing in the flesh of the Christ, Truth, hidden in sacred secrecy from the visible world? (S&H 117:29-9)
She also writes on page 565 of Science and Health:
This immaculate idea [Christ], represented first by man [Jesus] and, according to the Revelator, last by woman [Mary Baker Eddy] , . . .
The dual Christ explains the seeming enigma in her definition of the two witnesses in Miscellany 346:30-2, “as Christ Jesus and Christian Science, His two witnesses,” and further says that the witnesses “reveal” or manifest the manhood and womanhood of God. This can be explained by realizing that these two natures of God are brought out or revealed by the two individual natures of Christ, — Jesus and Mrs. Eddy. This is corroborated in Mrs. Eddy’s reference, stated below, to the motherhood of God, — she is admitting that she is Christ because her statement links her to the motherhood of God.
As Elias presented the idea of the fatherhood of God, which Jesus afterwards manifested, so the Revelator completed this figure with woman, typifying the spiritual idea of God’s motherhood [which Mary Baker Eddy afterwards manifested]. (S&H 562:3-7)
Mrs. Eddy explains that Jesus brought out the manhood of God, and that she herself brought out the womanhood of God. Her statement that Christ Jesus is the first witness becomes clear when it is understood that Mrs. Eddy encompasses Christ Jesus as prophesied in Jeremiah 31:22, “for the Lord hath created a new thing in the earth, A woman shall compass a man,” which expresses the two natures of God.
There is only one Christ, and for Mrs. Eddy to be Christ as well as Jesus to be Christ, she has to encompass Jesus, as indicated in Jeremiah. It is not Mrs. Eddy who presents herself as Christ, it is the motherhood of God that is revealing her as Christ and causing her to encompass Jesus. The day of Christ is the point in time when she is recognized and acknowledged as she really is, — Christ in the Second Advent.
Mrs. Eddy writes in Miscellaneous Writings, page 84, regarding the Christ: “The spiritual Christ was infallible; Jesus, as material manhood, was not Christ.” Likewise, Mary Baker Eddy, as material womanhood, was not Christ. But, as Mrs. Eddy writes, the “immaculate idea [Christ]” is “represented first by man and . . . last by woman.” (S&H 565:18)
Further evidence that Mrs. Eddy represents the Christ is given in her book, Christ and Christmas, published in 1893, which is her own confession that she represents the Christ, especially the verse for Plate 9, “Christian Unity”:
As in blest Palestina’s hour,
So in our age,
’T is the same hand unfolds His power,
And writes the page.
The description in Science and Health, on page 577, reveals Mrs. Eddy as “the Lamb’s wife,” — one of the “two individual natures in one,” the other individual nature being Christ Jesus.
The Lamb’s wife presents the unity of male and female as no longer two wedded individuals, but two individual natures in one; and this compounded spiritual individuality reflects God as Father-Mother, not as a corporeal being. In this divinely united spiritual consciousness, there is no impediment to eternal bliss, — to the perfectibility of God’s creation. (S&H 577:4)
The meaning of the Lamb’s wife is revealed with the appearance of Mrs. Eddy as
the Christ.
Mrs. Eddy has a special meaning in the revelation of St. John who
recognizes in her the holy city, or kingdom of heaven as she comes into appearance in
individual consciousness. He states:
And there came unto me one of the seven angels which had the seven vials full of the seven last plagues, and talked with me, saying, Come hither, I will shew thee the bride, the Lamb’s wife. And he carried me away in the spirit to a great and high mountain, and shewed me that great city, the holy Jerusalem, descending out of heaven from God, Having the glory of God: and her light was like unto a stone most precious, . . . (Rev. 21:9-11)
In both the Old and New Testaments, Christ is symbolized by a stone. Isaiah says: “Behold, I lay in Zion for a foundation a stone, a tried stone, a precious corner stone, a sure foundation.” (Isa. 28:16) Mrs. Eddy as Christ, encompassing Jesus, is the “tried stone,” the “precious corner stone” of the “New Jerusalem” or kingdom of heaven.
THE DAY OF THE LORD
In contrast with the day of Christ, the day of the Lord is to come “with destructive power,” as is stated in I Thess. 5:2-3. The day of the Lord is referred to in II Peter 3:12, and it is called the “day of judgment” in II Peter 2:9, and I John 4:17.
The “Day of the Lord” will be an awful day of divine retribution,
vengeance, destruction and judgment. . . . God will bring this evil age to a
catastrophic end involving a final divine judgment.
The disciples of Jesus expected him to return to earth in their lifetime at his second coming, soon after which the world would end according to prophecies in both the Old and New Testaments. Because the return of Christ has now been made visible, Christian Scientists must now concern themselves with the disposition of the human race at the endtime, as is pointed out in the following extract from a Bible encyclopedia:
End of the world, day of judgment, Second Coming of Christ are referred to coordinately in the New Testament. ... The Second coming of Christ will be immediately followed by the end of the world. By the end of the world is meant the termination of earthly conditions as they now obtain [Note: Everything is wiped out]. . . .
The chief importance of this event lies neither in the theological nor philosophical theories concerning it, nor in the scientific facts affecting the physical phenomena which may produce or attend the consummation of human affairs, but rather in the final disposition of individuals and of the race.
It is a fact which should be unchallenged that the Scriptures foretell a great conflagration which is to destroy or purify the earth. It is called “the great and dreadful day of the Lord” (Mal. 4). The words of the Apostle (II Peter 3:10-12) are unmistakable, and any attempt to explain them figuratively must prove fruitless, for he places the event in distinct antithesis with the literal destruction of the world by water. [Note: Intellectual theologians prefer to think that the end of the world means the end of an age, instead of the destruction of everything].
In the same connection he also foretells the coming of unbelievers who should say, “Where is the promise of his coming? and then proceed to argue, even as so many do now, that the course of nature has been regular from the creation, and it will ever continue so, dependent upon well known and unchanging laws. Paul refers to the suddenness with which it shall come (I Thess. 5:3), and warns against unpreparedness.
The person who is justified before God [Note: He who is translating by
diligently seeking God, like Enoch, Heb. 11:5, 6] need fear no ill from either the
Judgment or the end of the world. The exaltation of Christ, who is our Redeemer,
must be to every loyal disciple of his an event of transcendent joy. Then, too,
[after translation] it will be the time of full, perfect, and eternal reunion with our
loved friends and the entrance into our final reward. It is wise to make our
preparation for the last accounting which all must make (I Peter 4:17, 18).
MRS. EDDY’S FOREWARNING IN 1903
Mrs. Eddy not only accepted the prophecies of the Old and New Testaments
concerning the end of the world, that is, the day of judgment, but added her revelation
to these. In her course in Divinity, given to the members of her household, Mrs. Eddy
made this statement on May 18, 1903: “I know what is coming. I dare not tell you what
I know; you are young yet, . . . You will know some day. We are told the world will be
destroyed. How? . . . We are told, like Mt. Pelee there is an internal fire (malice) that
will finally burst forth and will destroy the world.”
MT. PELEE: MRS. EDDY’S EXAMPLE OF A SUDDEN END
Mrs. Eddy is forewarning that the cataclysm that is to come at the end of the world will be of a type that is sudden, without warning and for the most part unanticipated. As an illustration she refers to the volcanic eruption of Mt. Pelee which occurred the previous year in 1902.
Called the most notorious volcanic eruption, it slaughtered in a few
minutes, almost silently, just before 8 a.m. on May 8, all but two of the 30,000 or
so inhabitants of the charming port city of St. Pierre on the Caribbean island of
Martinique. There was no lava and comparatively little ash, just a boiling black
cloud of superheated gas at a temperature between 2370 and 3270 degrees F. For
obvious reasons there are no eyewitness accounts, but a description of a further
outburst from Pelee two months later gives some sense of the monster. The
description was written by two British scientists from the Royal Society cruising
past the ruins of St. Pierre in a sailboat, who witnessed at dusk in microcosm a
repetition of the original. An avalanche of hot gas swept down the side of Pelee,
across the ruins of St. Pierre, bright red, tumbling, and emitting showers of sparks.
Within about a minute it reached the sea. The cloud was globular, and rushed
forward over the waters, directly toward the British scientists, boiling and
changing its form every instant. About a mile from the scientists the cloud
slowed. A short distance away it rose from the surface of the water and passed
right over their heads.
It is hard to believe Mrs. Eddy would get involved with comparing such a terrible picture to a “divine judgment,” and it can be said that a good and loving God would never allow such a thing to happen. Many people refuse to believe that civilization is going to be wiped out at the end of the world, — the day of judgment. However, many references in the Bible foretell just such a judgment. Jesus was very emphatic about the endtime which was to occur suddenly and without warning “as a thief in the night,” soon after the second coming, and told his followers to be prepared. Mrs. Eddy, however, knew she was the foundation stone of the holy city and that no matter how the world would end, those who saw her spiritually as revealing the holy city would be saved. That salvation is included in her expression of the motherhood of God.
The mission of John the Baptist and Christ Jesus was to save the human race from
“the wrath to come,” — i.e., the day of judgment, or end of the world.
Obviously, the
only means for accomplishing this is through the process of transfiguration or translation
before the end. Translation is one’s removal from the world of matter to heaven, from
the material sense to the spiritual. Both John the Baptist and Christ Jesus began their
world ministries with the words: “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.”
The
only way to save the people of the world is by their advancement to the kingdom of
Christ through spiritualization of thought. To do this, a sufficient interest in Christ’s
kingdom must be aroused, together with a spiritual understanding of the Lamb’s wife,
who manifests the womanhood of God and constitutes the holy city.
GOD’S KINGDOM — A DESTINATION TO BE SOUGHT
The theme of Jesus’ teaching throughout his three-year ministry was “the kingdom.” He said: “Seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you.” (Matt. 6:33) Reaching the kingdom should be the consuming endeavor of all mankind. Mrs. Eddy writes: “Jesus came announcing Truth, and saying not only ‘the kingdom of God is at hand,’ but ‘the kingdom of God is within you.’” (No and Yes 35:24-26)
The kingdom of heaven is the state of our true and conscious being which never left heaven for earth. The kingdom is explained in the “Glossary” to Science and Health as follows:
New Jerusalem. Divine Science; the spiritual facts and harmony of the universe; the kingdom of heaven, or reign of harmony.
Kingdom of Heaven. The reign of harmony in divine Science; the realm of unerring, eternal, and omnipotent Mind; the atmosphere of Spirit, where Soul is supreme.
There is, and can be, only one way to reach the New Jerusalem, or kingdom of heaven, which Mary Baker Eddy defines as “divine Science,” and that is through study and spiritual growth in the understanding of Christian Science.
Abraham looked for “a city which hath foundations, whose builder and maker is God.” (Heb. 11:10) This city is located in the inner regions of consciousness where we all should be eagerly seeking it. The foundations are Christ Jesus and Mrs. Eddy, the two-in-one Christ, and Christian Science.
Not understanding Christ’s kingdom, many believe it is a new world to be sought only casually and reached only after death. Mrs. Eddy says that: “Jesus’ true and conscious being never left heaven for earth. It abode forever above, even while mortals believed it was here. He once spoke of himself (John 3:13) as ‘the Son of man which is in heaven,’ — remarkable words, as wholly opposed to the popular view of Jesus’ nature.” (No and Yes 36:6) This points to the fact that in Science no one has ever actually left heaven for earth, for in the reality of being, all dwell safely in the kingdom of heaven, — in divine Science.
TWO AFTERLIFE OPTIONS
Man’s focus should be on heaven, and divine Science. In order to bring this focus into proper alignment we need to understand that there are two alternative afterlife experiences taught by Jesus and Mrs. Eddy.
OPTION 1. Repeating: Retracing, Traversing Anew
The teachings of the prophets, and of both Jesus and Mrs. Eddy, were to save humanity from this option. Christ Jesus and Mrs. Eddy taught that those who do not walk closely enough with God, that is, grow spiritually in the understanding of divine Science, must naturally, in order to reach that New Jerusalem which is “divine Science,” repeat their earthly experiences, as will be illustrated later in the case of Dives and Lazarus.
OPTION 2. Translating: Purifying
This is the option we are to take. It is the divine imperative. On the Mount of Transfiguration, Jesus transfigured himself from his material body to his spiritual identity to show his disciples “where he was before.” (John 6:62) This was to be their goal, and the process of reaching that goal is the process of spiritualizing and translating with rapid growth and progress, which also includes “fiery trials.” They were to reach this goal, if possible, without going through death, — by taking the necessary steps of translating, as Enoch had done. Those who are genuinely making progress in Christian Science to the utmost of their ability, but do not accomplish their translation before death, experience the award of option 2 in proportion to their degree of advancement.
In Mrs. Eddy’s teachings, which coincide with those of Jesus, she says that when we pass on, we initially go through a vestibule:
In the vestibule through which we pass from one dream to another dream [option 1], or when we awake from earth’s sleep to the grand verities of Life [option 2], . . . (S&H 75:29-32)
Mrs. Eddy makes it clear that in the vestibule the individual receives one of two awards depending upon the degree of spiritual progress and improvement he made in “earth’s preparatory school.” (S&H 486:9-10) Either, he will (option 1) “pass from one dream to another dream,” or he will (option 2) “awake from earth’s sleep to the grand verities of Life.”
OPTION 1
“ANOTHER” DREAM MEANS DIFFERENT CONDITIONS
In option 1, passing “from one dream to another dream,” means repeating material existence, but in “another” dream. That is, a different dream means different conditions which will more effectively lead to spiritual progress. We do not pick up the conditions of the new dream where we leave off the old. The new dream may be more difficult in order to compel spiritual progress. Note the two alternatives given by Mrs. Eddy in the following in Miscellaneous Writings:
After the momentary belief of dying passes from mortal mind, this mind is still in a conscious state of existence; and the individual has but passed through a moment of extreme mortal fear, to awaken with thoughts, and being, as material as before. . . .
If, before the change whereby we meet the dear departed, our life-work [our translating] proves to have been well done, we shall not have to repeat it; but our joys and means of advancing will be proportionately increased. (Mis. 42:5-10, 17-20)
When one passes on in accord with option 1, he awakes with life and thoughts as material as before. If he has not been diligent in advancing spiritually, Mrs. Eddy indicates that he is required to “repeat” the material life experience. Even Jesus, just before his crucifixion, was subject to the same terms. Mrs. Eddy says, “Yet he swerved not, well knowing that to obey the divine order and trust God, saves retracing and traversing anew the path from sin to holiness.” (S&H 20:20)
Had Jesus been capable of swerving, he would have been subject to option 1. So, definitely are we also subject to option 1. If we do not pursue option 2, then the path from sin to holiness becomes appreciably more difficult in the new afterlife. If we are
retracing and traversing anew, can we then be resuming the former life? If one starts “anew” the conditions are necessarily different.
Even the path of the Christian Scientist tends to be more difficult in the afterlife if one is not making rapid and effective spiritual progress before death, as is illustrated in the following account by Mr. John Randall Dunn, C.S.B., of Boston, a well-known Christian Science lecturer, and former editor of the periodicals. Mr. Dunn was also a distinguished and very spiritually-minded teacher. In the 1930s, he reported to his pupils an experience where a patient passed on while he was giving her present treatment. His account repudiates the notion that in option 1 — retracing and traversing anew — we resume our human life where we left it at passing. It shows that after the vestibule the process of traversing anew and retracing our life-work becomes more difficult. The following report is from one of Mr. Dunn’s pupils:
When he saw she had gone he redoubled his metaphysical efforts, declaring audibly and vehemently the truth in Christian Science. Before long she began to breathe again and regained consciousness. She related to Mr. Dunn that during the time that she appeared to have departed, she became separated from her body and found herself looking down at it and listening to Mr. Dunn declaring the truth to her. She felt such peace and harmony. Then there appeared to her a staircase. She went up the stairs and saw her deceased father earnestly studying the Christian Science Bible Lesson-Sermon with a Bible and Science and Health. Without an instant’s hesitation, when he saw his daughter, he rose from his chair and in a loving but emphatic manner told her to go back downstairs and take possession of her body; that it was not her time to pass. She was so at peace and felt so loved she said she wanted to stay, but he was persistent and told her she must return; that if he had known before his passing what he learned afterward he would have lived differently, that he would have struggled and sacrificed and made every effort to work out his salvation before the vestibule; and that she must go back to her body and do just that. So she went back down the stairs and returned to her body.
Had her father merely resumed his life at the point where he had passed on, he would not have spoken with such urgency that she had to make every effort to work out her salvation before the vestibule. Obviously the father’s experience in retracing his life was more of an ordeal than his first experience and he would have done anything to have avoided the experience. Christ Jesus, Mrs. Eddy, and the prophets came to spare us this great difficulty.
JESUS’ TEACHING: THE CASE OF DIVES AND LAZARUS
Jesus’ account of Dives and Lazarus gives a clear view of how our life-work
affects the award that is given us in the vestibule. Dives illustrates the first option which
involves repeating or retracing our life-work with much difficulty. The account is not
a parable,
and illustrates the two options given to man:
There was a certain rich man, which was clothed in purple and fine linen, and fared sumptuously every day: And there was a certain beggar named Lazarus, which was laid at his gate, full of sores, And desiring to be fed with the crumbs which fell from the rich man’s table: moreover the dogs came and licked his sores. And it came to pass, that the beggar died, and was carried by the angels into Abraham’s bosom: the rich man also died, and was buried; And in hell he lift up his eyes, being in torments, and seeth Abraham afar off, and Lazarus in his bosom. And he cried and said, Father Abraham, have mercy on me, and send Lazarus, that he may dip the tip of his finger in water, and cool my tongue; for I am tormented in this flame. But Abraham said, Son, remember that thou in thy lifetime receivedst thy good things, and likewise Lazarus evil things: but now he is comforted, and thou art tormented. And beside all this, between us and you there is a great gulf fixed: so that they which would pass from hence to you cannot; neither can they pass to us, that would come from thence. Then he said, I pray thee therefore, father, that thou wouldest send him to my father’s house: For I have five brethren; that he may testify unto them, lest they also come into this place of torment. Abraham saith unto him, They have Moses and the prophets; let them hear them. And he said, Nay, father Abraham: but if one went unto them from the dead, they will repent. And he said unto him, If they hear not Moses and the prophets, neither will they be persuaded, though one rose from the dead. (Luke 16:19-31)
The spiritual progress of Dives on the “path from sin to holiness” was so meager that “he was buried [in matter]” when he died. In the vestibule he received a very hard afterlife assignment with fiery trials. Lazarus, on the other hand, did his life-work aright, and accomplished his translation after passing and “was carried by the angels into Abraham’s bosom.” He had found no satisfaction in matter, and obviously received
sufficient spiritual illumination to translate. Before death, Dives could probably buy his way out of trials, while Lazarus had to work his way out.
Our Leader says under the heading of “Scientific purgation”:
Either here or hereafter, suffering or Science must destroy all illusions regarding life and mind, and regenerate material sense and self. The old man with his deeds must be put off. Nothing sensual or sinful is immortal. The death of a false material sense and of sin, not the death of organic matter, is what reveals man and Life, harmonious, real, and eternal. (S&H 296:6)
So, either through the fires of hell, “or Science,” we get into heaven. The fire burns away the materiality that must be destroyed. If we are not sufficiently purified in this life, the conditions in the afterlife experience compel this progress. Dives was in the fiery hell, a place best suited for his advancement. The case of Dives illustrated that fiery trials are necessary in this life and if we do not have them we will get them in the afterlife.
We must make the “most rapid spiritual progress” toward the kingdom of divine Science commensurate with our ability.
Mrs. Eddy writes, “Mortals waken from the dream of death with bodies unseen by those who think that they bury the body.” (S&H 429:17) Because of this statement, many Christian Scientists believe that after we pass on we walk off and resume our lives as they were before death. The same thought is inferred from: “Man is the same after as before a bone is broken or the body guillotined.” (S&H 427:16) Mrs. Eddy and Jesus state that the individual resumes material existence, but not the same conditions.
Our life-work according to Christian Science, is to make the trip from sin to holiness. If we do not make the trip in this dream, then it may be that we require more difficulty in the next dream to bring about the right result. This was the case with Dives and with the father in the John Randall Dunn account.
John the Baptist said, “. . . who hath warned you to flee from the wrath to come?” (Matt. 3:7) This is why God sent Jesus and Mrs. Eddy. If there were not something in the afterlife to be avoided, as in the case of Dives, why would God have sent His anointed ones? Were it otherwise, “the wrath to come” would be only momentarily wrathful, and the labors of John the Baptist, Jesus and Mrs. Eddy would have been of little purpose.
RESUMING OCCURS ONLY IN OPTION 2
Those who pursue option 2, and translate, resume their “true and conscious being” which “never left heaven for earth.” Mrs. Eddy writes:
[Jesus’] physical sufferings, which came from the testimony of the senses, were over when he resumed his individual spiritual being, after showing us the way to escape from the material body. (Mis. 105:8, emphasis added)
Those who recognize Mrs. Eddy as the Lamb’s wife, the two-in-one Christ, and therefore as the chief stone of the New Jerusalem, are making their escape from the material body and matter. To the degree they are doing this, in the afterlife their “joys and means of advancing” are proportionately increased.
THE GREAT PYRAMID: HOW TO AVOID THE CATACLYSM
The Great Pyramid is a Christ-centered prophecy in stone erected 4000 years ago
in the era following Noah’s flood, to warn of the cataclysm that is coming, and to reveal
the escape route through translation. It was known in ancient times as the “Pillar of
Enoch,”
named after the patriarch who walked with God and was translated. The
Pyramid was built to deliver the divine message to humanity, as the end of the world
approaches, that man must translate as Enoch did.
The structure and measurements of the Great Pyramid, according to archaeologist
David Davidson, are based squarely on the Bible. Mrs. Eddy also refers to the Pyramid
as “a miracle in stone.”
Students on this subject claim that the pyramid prophecies have special reference to Israel and that the English are descended from Ephraim, one of Joseph’s sons, while Americans are descended from Manassah, the other son. Manassah was camped for many years at the foot of the Pyramid; there is an age-old, traditional affection for the Pyramid which persists to this time.
The lack of a headstone on the Pyramid is referred to repeatedly in the Bible and Mrs. Eddy’s writings. Christ Jesus identified himself as the headstone that was rejected by the builders. Our nation, the nation of the Second Advent, has from the beginning revered this Pyramid and its Christ headstone, and placed them on the reverse of our national seal. In 1935 they became a feature of the one-dollar bill. Our nation is a nation
of prophecy, according to the Anglo-Israel studies accepted by Mrs. Eddy where she refers to the United States and Great Britain as “Anglo-Israel,” and our “brother,” Great Britain, as “Judah’s sceptred race.” (See Miscellany 337:20)
Scripture states that in the Second Advent, the Christ in its full individuality, must and will be accepted by way of a certain nation:
Jesus saith unto them, Did ye never read in the scriptures,
The stone
which the builders rejected, the same is become the head of the corner: this is the
Lord’s doing, and it is marvellous in our eyes? Therefore say I unto you, The
kingdom of God shall be taken from you, and given to a nation bringing forth the
fruits thereof.
The missing headstone represents the dual Christ, the two-in-one individuality of Christ, identified in this age as Mrs. Eddy, who manifests the motherhood of God. As this dual individuality is accepted, it effectually puts the headstone in place; the material world will disappear and the holy city will become visible. Christian Science will be the only universal religion in the end-time. Mrs. Eddy writes: “It is undoubtedly true that Christian Science is destined to become the one and the only religion and therapeutics on this planet.” (My 266:29-2) The acceptance of Mrs. Eddy as the representative of Christ in the Second Advent, will save many from the destruction of the end-time, by showing them the way of translation/transfiguration, — spiritualization of thought, — the only hope for avoiding the cataclysm. The false views of Mrs. Eddy circulating in the mainstream of Christian Science are seriously hindering the universal acceptance of the Second Advent.
ADVANCEMENT IN CHRISTIAN SCIENCE
THE ONLY GUARANTEE OF SAFETY
If we have not translated before the cataclysm, our only hope of safety through the endtime catastrophe and vestibule would consist of three conditions: we would have to (1) accept the prophecies of Jesus and Mrs. Eddy regarding the cataclysmic end of the world, (2) recognize Mrs. Eddy as the dual Christ, (3) accept Christian Science before the end as the only means of salvation, and be progressing as rapidly as possible in Christian Science as taught by Mary Baker Eddy.
These conditions would insure our safety through the endtime disaster and would guarantee that we would have Christian Science after the vestibule and would be able to continue to work out our life-work. This is the promise of Mrs. Eddy where she says that “if our life-work proves to have been well done, we shall not have to repeat it; but our joys and means of advancing will be proportionately increased.” (Mis. 42:18-20) Mrs. Eddy is making a qualified guarantee of a safe passage through the cataclysm, and safety after the vestibule for man to continue his life-work with joy and with the availability of the Scriptures and the literature of Christian Science.
The action of the prophesied cataclysm is Spirit destroying the belief and dream of matter. The purpose of God’s judgment is not a contest for matter’s preservation and ultimate triumph over His judgment. Rather, the aim of the Christ teachings is to “[translate] us into the kingdom of his dear Son.” (Col. 1:13) This kingdom includes man’s transfigured state which follows translation.
THE NEW-OLD CONCEPT OF CHURCH
The old concept of church is explained in the Bible encyclopedia:
The visible church, especially under the New Testament, is called a
“kingdom;” Christ and his Father rule in it, and maintain order, safety, and
happiness therein. It is called the “kingdom of heaven;” it is of a heavenly
original, has a heavenly governor and laws; and is erected to render multitudes fit
for heaven. (Matt. 3:2; 4:17; 13:47; 16:19; Col.1:13)
Another encyclopedia gives this definition of the church:
Jesus began his ministry in Galilee by announcing that “the Kingdom of God is at hand.” His ethics was ethics of the Kingdom, unfolding the kind of character God requires in those who belong to his Kingdom (the Beatitudes, for example), his parables set forth various aspects of the coming of the Kingdom and of men’s preparation for it by repentance and obedience to the will of God. Some scholars hold that Jesus believed the Kingdom had already begun, others that it was still in the future, though not remote. . . .
In the apostolic church, the Kingdom of God still means the future
consummation of the divine reign; at the same time the church, the new
community of the elect, the New or True Israel, shares in the good things of the
age [already at hand]; its powers are already manifest in the mighty works not only
of Jesus but of his disciples and the . . . community which represents [his
followers].
The disciples of Jesus lived and behaved as though they were already in the kingdom of God, — not just while they were in church, or once a week on Sundays, but every day and every hour. The church symbolized this state of mind, and held this concept before their thought. Likewise, in Christian Science today, the conviction that we are already in the kingdom of God, should be in the forefront of our thoughts and conduct.
Paul writes: “For our conversation is in heaven.” (Phil. 3:20) (In Elizabethan English “conversation” meant behavior, conduct.) The disciples conducted themselves as though they were already in the kingdom. Peter also writes: “Seeing then that all these things shall be dissolved, what manner of persons ought ye to be in all holy conversation [behavior] and godliness, Looking for and hasting unto the coming of the day of God.” (II Peter 3:11, 12) They were not to wait until the cataclysm in order to reach the kingdom; they were to be there now, and look for the termination of the evil world. Peter writes: “But the end of all things is at hand: be ye therefore sober, and watch unto prayer.” (I Peter 4:7)
If the disciple is dwelling in “the secret place of the Most High” he is not in fear of a vestibule or option 1. Nor is he putting heaven off into the future, but his conversation — conduct — is as in heaven here and now. In this way of thinking we will not be under fear or stress. The church should be the expression that the members see themselves already risen, translated, and not as lost sheep who are way behind in their progress. (Col. 2:12; 3:1)
The new direction of Science, primarily toward salvation, will require a more zealous student, a more serious and back-to-the-basics kind of living, a more rapid spiritual growth, a return to the original teaching of Mrs. Eddy, a new-old idea of church, and an emphasis on preaching to others that Mrs. Eddy is Christ of the Second Advent and our Saviour in the tumultuous years ahead.
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