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Volume 1, Number 4
THE EARTH SHALL
BE FULL OF THE KNOWLEDGE OF THE LORD In the same chapter Isaiah also states that this is to occur: "The earth shall be full of the knowledge of the Lord, as the waters cover the sea." (Isa. 11:9. See also Hab. 2:14) AT THE END OF
THIS CENTURY "One morning Mrs. Eddy was examining us in her study, putting various questions to us. Finally she said, 'Dear ones, you have answered well. Now that you have been so patient with Mother, what can she do for you? We were all surprised at the question, but Mr. Strang spoke up finally, 'Mother, will you prophesy for us?' Her face clouded for just an instant, and then she said, 'To perform the demonstration of prophecy always includes a temptation of animal magnetism....' "But next day she referred to this again, and said, 'My dear students. God has told me this much for you: At the end of this century, Christian Science will be the only universally acknowledged religion in the world, because the other religions have no demonstrating basis. But much work remains undone, much self-denial waits for us all before this end can be fulfilled. The main thing is for us to handle M.A.M. that would make us fold our hands till this manifests itself. But Truth demands work, work, work! Never forget that!'" (Divinity Course and General Collectanea Rare Book Company's "Blue Book" page 249) NOT TO BE A
GRADUAL PROCESS Many Christian Scientists believe it is too late now for Mrs. Eddy's prophecies given in Pulpit and Press 22:9, and in Mrs. Chanfrau's report from the Divinity Course, to be fulfilled in the allotted time, but Jesus has foreseen and made it clear there is to be "suddenness" in the "universality of recognition." MRS. EDDY
PROPHESIES THE END OF THE WORLD Three days after this prophecy, Mrs. Eddy said: "May 21, 1903. The true Science—divine Science—will be lost sight of again unless we arouse ourselves. This demonstrating to make matter build up is not Science. The building up of churches, the writing of articles and the speaking in public is the old way of building up a cause." (Notes on the Divinity Course, Edited by Lida Fitzpatrick. Cleveland, 1933. page 10; also, in the "Blue Book" page 3) Nine months later, on February 22, 1904, at the Course in Divinity, Mrs. Eddy said: "In the year twenty-one hundred I think will be the end [of the world]. ... God is making demands upon us. (Do not mention this prophecy.)" ("Blue Book" page 21) This decade of the 90's is the time "when the doctrinal barriers between the churches are broken, and the bonds of peace are cemented by spiritual understanding and Love;" a time when "there will be unity of spirit, and the healing power of God will prevail. Then shall Zion have put on her most beautiful garments, and her waste places budded and blossomed as the rose." (Pulpit and Press 22:16) According to Mrs. Eddy and Jesus the millennium is a spiritual state of being, referred to by Scripture as "the kingdom of heaven," to be reached by striving, by struggle, by victories and defeats, by both joy and sadness. In the process of salvation we "must have trials and self-denials, as well as joys and victories, until all error is destroyed." (Science and Health 39:8) In the Christian Science Movement there are at present two interpretations of the doctrine of the millennium, which were discussed in the April 2 issue of the Standard. TWO VIEWS WITHIN
THE CHRISTIAN SCIENCE MOVEMENT THE "CHICAGO
SCHOOL" ON THE SUBJECT OF PROPHECY "Christianity can have but one object, and that is redemption. It is redemptive both in Principle and in practice. Its whole purpose is to bring about complete satisfaction, or happiness in the fullest sense of the word. As a consequence it provides no period of waiting and prescribes no processes of suffering antecedent to the fullness of its joys. It has no theories by which complete salvation can suffer procrastination for a single hour. No factors other than Truth and the infinite ideas which reveal Truth are essential to that redemptive method of pure scientific Christianity, given to the world by Mary Baker Eddy in Christian Science. Consequently prophecy, considered in the light of Christian Science, assumes aspects unrecognized by any other system of religion. If the mission of prophecy were merely to tabulate future events chronologically and await their coming, or if it were true that what the prophets saw in mortal mind must inevitably happen, then Christianity would not be redemptive at all; it would be fatalistic; and that this is exactly what it has been to the Christian world, is constantly being illustrated. Let some unusual disaster happen to mankind, especially if it be of such a nature as to involve nations in war, then some one is pretty sure to inform us that it was foretold in the Bible, and therefore had to happen. "Now such theories are not only hopeless, but they tend to make mankind helpless. They give to Christianity the artificial aspects of fatalism and mysticism which belong to paganism only, whereas Christianity as explained in Christian Science is open, clear, and free as the noonday. ... For this reason its blessings are not to be postponed. They are His plan and purpose and express His omnipotence and omnipresence." THE
INTERPRETATION OF PROPHECY AND REDEMPTION BY Outside of this variant, the Bible and Mrs. Eddy's writings have a very different concept of "redemption." For Jesus, the above kinds of "blessings" inferred from this article were not only "postponed," they were rejected, as evidenced by his experience with the "tempter" and the three temptations (Matt. 4:1-11). Mrs. Eddy refers to his "bleeding feet." His followers did not look for "complete satisfaction, or happiness in the fullest sense of the word." They were busy following his command to seek first the kingdom of heaven; to take up the cross; to overcome the world, the flesh and the devil; and so on, and as a result, had a spiritual joy that could not be taken away. According to the above article by Mr. Young, all of the prophecies in the Bible, and Mrs. Eddy's prophecies, including the prophecies regarding the end of the world, would not be scientific. Also such statements in Science and Health as (page 96) that "earth will become dreary and desolate" could not be classed as scientific by this variant school. It must be recognized in this last decade of the twentieth century, when several prophecies are now scheduled for fulfillment (Mrs. Eddy's prophecy in Pulpit and Press 22:9, and from Mrs. Chanfrau' notes, as well as the Isaiah prophecies), that this variant teaching is euphoric, inadequate, and unscientific. History will doubtlessly place it in the category of "experimentation" referred to by Mrs. Eddy in her May 18, 1903 prophecy. In this decade of the 90's the "experiment" period is past. For the sudden recognition of Christian Science to occur in this decade there will have to be a rush to abandon this variant, as it is not supported by Mrs. Eddy's teachings. ISAIAH
PROPHESIES THE PROPHECIES
REGARDING JOHN THE BAPTIST Jesus likewise was thoroughly familiar with the prophets and quoted from them. As with John the Baptist, Jesus quoted prophecies from Isaiah concerning himself. Isaiah 6:9, 10 is quoted by Jesus in Matt. 13:14-16. Isaiah 29:13 is quoted in Matt. 15:7, 8. Isaiah 42 1-4 is quoted in Matt. 12: 17. Isaiah 42:6, 7 is quoted Matt. 4 14. Isaiah 53:1 is quoted by Jesus in John 12:38, and Isaiah 53 4 in Matt. 8:17. "THE DAY OF THE
LORD" In Matthew 24, Jesus tells of the coming Second Advent and of the end of the world. Scofield cross-references his use of the word "days" in verse 29 with the "Day of Jehovah" (i.e., the end of the world), where he cites Isa. 2:10-22; Rev. 19:11-21. Also, Peter explains the Master's statements on the end of the world theme, in his second epistle, titled by Scofield "The day of the Lord (Isa. 2. 12. refs.)." (Cf. II Peter 3:10-18) The "Day of the Lord," or "Day of Jehovah," etc., appears often in the book of Isaiah. Beginning at chapter 2, verses 10 through 22, these references continue and lead up to chapter 40 where John the Baptist is prophesied. Both Christ Jesus and John the Baptist would have been thoroughly familiar with these, and the following citations. Isaiah 4:1-6 states: "in that day [the 'Day of Jehovah']" the "Lord ... shall have purged the blood of Jerusalem from the midst thereof by the spirit of burning, ... And there shall be a tabernacle for a shadow in the daytime from the heat." Isaiah 13:6-11 reads: "Howl ye; for the day of the Lord is at hand: it shall come as a destruction from the Almighty. ... Behold, the day of the Lord cometh, ... to lay the land desolate; and he shall destroy the sinners thereof out of it. ..." Isaiah 25 speaks of "a shadow from the heat; ... he will destroy ... the face of the covering cast over all people, and the vail that is spread over all nations" (verse 7). Isaiah 34:2, 3, 4, 8, 9, 10 state: "The indignation of the Lord is upon all nations, and his fury upon all their armies" (verse 2); "and the mountains shall be melted with their blood" (verse 3); "And all the host of heaven shall be dissolved" (verse 4); "it is the day of the Lord's vengeance" (verse 8); "the streams thereof shall be turned into pitch ... and the land thereof shall become burning pitch" (verse 9); "it shall not be quenched night nor day; the smoke thereof shall go up for ever" (verse 10). Isaiah 40:3-5 Scofield, page 747, reads: "The Mission of John the Baptist. (Cf. Mt. 3. 3.)" After reading the foregoing citations we understand better these words of Isaiah: "The voice of him that crieth in the wilderness. Prepare ye the way of the Lord, make straight in the desert a highway for our God. Every valley shall be exalted, and every mountain and hill shall be made low: and the crooked shall be made straight, and the rough places plain: And the glory of the Lord shall be revealed, and all flesh shall see it together: for the mouth of the Lord hath spoken it." John, familiar with, and imbued with, the above citations regarding "the Day of the Lord," or "end of the world" from Isaiah, would understand the urgency for "a highway for our God" in "the desert" of a world to be "dissolved" (II Peter 3:11). John, who was of priestly descent on both sides of his family, rejected the life-style of his station, and assumed that of an Elijah, and carried out the work to which he was predestined. THE ELIAS
MISSION FOR In the April 2 issue of the Standard (page 11) reference is made to Matthew 17:10-13, and the place of Elias at the final revelation of Truth. These views, however, are only part of an account of major importance—namely, the transfiguration of Christ Jesus. On page 1022 of the Scofield Reference Bible (unrevised), footnote 3 reads in part: "The transfiguration scene contains, in miniature, all the elements of the future kingdom in manifestation: (1) The Lord, not in humiliation, but in glory (v. 2). (2) Moses, glorified, representative of the redeemed who have passed through [deep waters] into the kingdom (Matt. 13:43; cf. Luke 9:30,31). (3) Elijah [N.T. Elias], glorified, representative of the redeemed [specifically those] who have entered the kingdom by translation (I Cor. 15:50-53; I Thes. 4:14-17). (4) Peter, James, and John, not yet glorified, representatives (for the moment) of Israel in the flesh [who are to be translated into] the future kingdom (Ezek. 37:21-27). (5) The multitudes at the foot of the mountain (v. 14), representative of the nations who are to be brought into the kingdom [by translation] after it is established over Israel [following the Second Advent] (Isa. 11:10-12, etc.)." The Elias "rescue operation" enables all mankind to translate, by demonstrating the teachings of Mary Baker Eddy. This account in Matthew 17 states (verse 9): "And as they came down from the mountain, Jesus charged them, saying. Tell the vision to no man, until the Son of man be risen again from the dead." This was an experience requiring the state of thought reached in rising from the dead,—a state of spiritual translation. This is why the Elias type is to appear at the Second Advent of Christ. It calls forth translation as Jesus showed his disciples on the mount. The transfiguration we are told here by Scofield was a miniature experience foretelling the advance process of the Christ teachings in the latter days. The world was to be dissolved with a great heat, but salvation would come to the human race by the Elijah (Elias) process of translating mankind through Christian Science as taught by Mary Baker Eddy. It would be a process of spiritualizing vision. That is the only way of rescue, or salvation. Sight is not merely objective. It is both subjective and objective. In the first chapter of Genesis, God, Mind, good, is subjective in thought. All that God can see, therefore, are formations of good, of His likeness. In the second chapter of Genesis, in the allegory of the Garden of Eden, we find in the center of the Garden,—in subjective thought,—a tree of the knowledge of both good and evil. A mix of good and evil has become subjective in human thought here, and the objective sight believes it beholds forms of matter, with all of their limitations, sin, disease, and death. Each one has to translate his consciousness from the subjective state of Genesis 2 to that of Genesis 1. It is a scientific process which is the mission of Christian Science in a world where, to use the words of Mrs. Eddy, "human history is drawing to a close." (No and Yes 45:25-27) ADVANCES IN
TECHNOLOGY Webster defines "Microcosm" as "a little world, especially, man as a supposed epitome (i.e. 'a part which represents typically a whole') of the exterior universe or great world...." In his "Preface" Mr. Gilder states in part: "This book is an exploration of the meaning and future of modern technology. With its origins in quantum physics and its embodiment in the microchip, the exemplary product of this technology is the computer. ... Computer technology epitomizes the fruits of the microcosm of quantum physics. It was quantum theory early this century that revealed the inner structure of matter for the first time and made modern computers possible.... "The quantum era is still unfolding in a fourfold transformation of the world—in Science, technology, business, politics—and even in philosophy [religion]. But all the changes converge in one epochal event: the overthrow of matter." (pages 11, 12) In the near future, according to Mr. Gilder, the television set is going to be connected to the personal computer keyboard and the telecomputer will revolutionize the life of the individual. In his book Life After Television (Knoxville, Tennessee: Whittle Direct Books. 1990) he foresees the telecomputer with which you "could watch your child play baseball at a high high school across the county, view the Super Bowl from any point in the stadium that you choose ... You could fly an airplane over the Alps or climb Mount Everest—all on a powerful high resolution display ... Create a school in your home that offers the nation's best teachers imparting the moral, cultural, and religious values you cherish. Visit your family on the other side of the world with moving pictures hardly distinguishable from real-life images. ... Give a birthday party for Grandma at her nursing home in Florida, bringing her descendants from all over the country to the foot of her bed in vivid living color." (page 24) Mr. Gilder and other physicists foresee this occurring with the use of a "display" or "screen." Can not Christian Scientists foresee the time when events will be viewed as ideas without a screen or display, and entirely through the elevation and spiritualization of the individual consciousness? What Mr. Gilder and others foresee as individuals overcoming time and space through the telecomputer constitutes states and stages of developing human thought as it moves out of the material toward the consciousness of spiritual creation as the realm of Mind as unfolded in Genesis, first chapter. As thought better comprehends the fact of matter's unreality in the remaining years of this decade, and into the next century, and acknowledges and accepts Christian Science, there will be a declining need for the fibre optic cable, the central processing unit, and the screen. Humanity will have less interest in the material world and will reach out for that elevated transfigured level of thought which communicates with Moses, with Elijah, with Christ Jesus and Mary Baker Eddy,—and more. Moses and Elijah appeared to Jesus, as well as to Peter, James, and John without a screen or other material display device. This occurred as a result of Jesus' subjective thought reaching the scientific and absolute, described in Genesis first chapter. He was also able to reassume the relative state of human consciousness and descend the mountain with his disciples. In this descent he told his disciples: "Elias truly shall first come and restore all things [at the latter days]." Humanity will be able to see its way of escape "from the wrath to come." That way is the Elijah process of translation through "repentance" or change of mind—change of subjective thought. As subjective thought is changed from the tree of knowledge of good and evil with its objective world now headed for "dissolving"—changed to the light and glory of the knowledge of God described in the first chapter of Genesis-the individual escapes the "wrath". THE WHOLE EARTH
TO BE TRANSFORMED PHYSICAL SCIENCE
CONCURRING WITH SCRIPTURAL PROPHECY He quotes the
physicist, Sherwood Rowland,—working at the
University of California at Irvine, who
discovered—the degree to which Americans, and
others, are hurting the ozone layer. On page 140 he
writes: "The world was injecting
chlorofluorocarbons into the air at a rate almost a
million tons a year in the early 1970s. At that
rate we would eventually put a half a million tons
of chlorine in the stratosphere. In short, we were
chlorinating the stratosphere. Rowland and Molina's
first calculations suggested that this chlorine
would eat between 7 and 13 percent of the ozone
layer. If we allowed emission to rise
exponentially, doubling every five years or so,
then we would lose even more of the ozone layer.
'There was no moment when I yelled "Eureka!"'
Rowland told a reporter some years later. 'I just
came home one night and told my wife, "The work is
going very well, but it looks like the end of the
world."'" |
