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Volume 2, Number 1
THE NEW AND
FINAL CRUSADE This "new crusade" is not fanciful imagery of Mrs. Eddy's imagination used for the purpose of ornamenting her writings. Rather this crusade is every bit as real and momentous as the crusade just then concluded,—the American Civil War. This new crusade is encompassed in the "Elias rescue operation" referred to in the July, 1990 (page 7), issue to help humanity world-wide to reach Christ's kingdom, the "New Jerusalem;" to escape from a self-destructing world, through scientific translation, as taught and prophesied by Christ Jesus. THE FIRST
CRUSADE "Nation beloved by God, it is in your courage that the Christian church has placed its hope; it is because I am well acquainted with your piety and your bravery, that I have crossed the Alps, and am come to preach the word of God in these countries. You have not forgotten that the land you inhabit has been invaded by the Saracens, and that but for the exploits of Charles Martel and Charlemagne, France would have received the laws of Mohammed. Recall, without ceasing, to your minds the danger and the glory of your fathers; led by heroes whose names should never die, they delivered your country, they saved the West from shameful slavery. More noble triumphs await you, under the guidance of the God of armies; you will deliver Europe and Asia; you will save the city of Jesus Christ,—that Jerusalem which was chosen by the Lord, and from whence the law is come to us." Urban proceeded to arouse their sentiments. When he spoke of the captivity and the misfortunes of Jerusalem, the whole assembly was dissolved in tears; when he described the tyranny and the perfidy of the infidels, the warriors who listened to him clutched their swords, and swore in their hearts to avenge the cause of the Christians. Urban redoubled their enthusiasm by announcing that God had chosen them to accomplish his designs. I will not seek to dry the tears which images so painful for a Christian, for a minister of religion, for the common father of the faithful, must draw from you. Let us weep, my brethren, let us weep over the errors which have armed the anger of God against us; let us weep over the captivity of the holy city! But evil be to us, if, in our sterile pity we longer leave the heritage of the Lord in the hands of the impious! Why should we taste here a moments repose whilst the children of Jesus Christ live in the midst of torments, and the queen of cities groans in chains? At these words the multitudes displayed an enthusiasm that human eloquence had never before inspired. The assembly rose in one mass as one man, and answered him with a unanimous cry:—"It is the will of God! It is the will of God!" "Yes, without doubt, it is the will of God," continued Urban. "You today see the accomplishment of the word of our Saviour, who promised to be in the midst of the faithful, when assembled in his name; it is He who has dictated to you the words that I have heard. Let them be your war-cry, and let them announce everywhere the presence of the God of armies." THE SURETY OF
VICTORY The barons and knights who heard the exhortations of Urban, all took a solemn oath to avenge the cause of Jesus Christ; they forgot their private quarrels, and even they who were at actual war had no longer any enemies than the Turks. All the faithful promised to respect the decrees of the council, and decorated their garments with a red cross. From that time, all who engaged to combat the infidels were termed 'Bearers of the Cross,' and the holy war took the name of Crusade. From the Latin word "crux" comes their name of "crusader." Seven hundred years before, Constantine had seen this sign in the sky with the words: "In Hoc Signo Vinces,"—in this sign you will be victorious—and had all his soldiers place the emblem of the cross on their helmets and shields. It was a sign of the surety of victory. In August 1096 the crusaders set out for Jerusalem, and after nine months of travel, much privation, and hard fought battles, they entered Jerusalem in June 1097. MRS. EDDY CALLS
A CRUSADE Never was there a more solemn and imperious call than God makes to us all, right here, for fervent devotion and an absolute consecration to the greatest and holiest of all causes. The hour is come. The great battle of Armageddon is upon us. The powers of evil are leagued together in secret conspiracy against the Lord and against His Christ, as expressed and operative in Christian Science. Large numbers, in desperate malice, are engaged day and night in organizing action against us. Their feeling and purpose are deadly, and they have sworn enmity against the lives of our standard-bearers. She states here that the long prophesied battle of Armageddon is now upon us and that Christian Scientists are the God-appointed warriors called to fight this battle. Although it necessarily involves all mankind, this battle is being fought by Christian Scientists, as indicated by her words: "as expressed and operative in Christian Science"; and that the "salvation of the world" will not—cannot—occur without Christian Science. THE BATTLE OF
ARMAGEDDON A MENTAL CRUSADE This period of the battle of Armageddon referred to in Scripture is directly related, in practically all cross-references, to the end of the world; that is, such references as "the day of the Lord," or "the day of judgment," or "the wrath to come," the "battle of Armageddon," etc. In Scofield Reference Bible these references are regularly cross-referenced with Revelation 19:11-21. THE FINAL
REVOLUTION: THE ATTAINMENT OF HEAVEN Mrs. Eddy defines "New Jerusalem" in Science and Health as: "Divine Science; the spiritual facts and harmony of the universe; the kingdom of heaven, or reign of harmony." (592:18) This is the Jerusalem which our Leader's crusaders are to fight for and attain. KEYS TO THE
KINGDOM ADVANCEMENT IN
THE CONCEPT OF GOD The first English protestant articles of faith, "The Thirty-Nine Articles of Religion of the Church of England" adopted in 1562 (four years after the accession of Queen Elizabeth), reads in part: "There is but one living and true God, everlasting, without body, parts, or passions, of infinite power, wisdom, and goodness, the maker and preserver of all things both visible and invisible. ..." (Ibid. page 487) Subsequently, in the "Westminster Confession of Faith," published in 1647, this article was expanded to read: "There is but one only living and true God, who is infinite in being and perfection, a most pure spirit, invisible, without body, parts, or passions, immutable, immense, eternal, incomprehensible, almighty, most wise, most holy, most free, most absolute, working all things according to the counsel of his own immutable and most righteous will, for his own glory; most loving, gracious, merciful, long-suffering, abundant in goodness and truth, forgiving iniquity, transgression, and sin; the rewarder of them that diligently seek him; and withal most just and terrible in his judgments; hating all sin, and who will by no means clear the guilty. ..." (Ibid. page 606) Footnoting the above, to give the Scriptural authority for the words "without body, parts," are cited Deut. 4:15, 16; John 4:24; Luke 24:39; and for "passions" is given Acts 14:11, 15. While this reformed doctrine acknowledged and avowed belief in an incorporeal, bodiless God, the views entertained by English Protestant Christendom, in the centuries since its adoption four hundred years ago, tend heavily toward anthropomorphism. Nevertheless, this was a tremendous advance over the medieval traditional Christianity of southern Europe, which reformulated their doctrines in the "Canons and Dogmatic Decrees of the Council of Trent" in 1563, and thereafter these two distinct forms of Christianity moved separately. And what was the result of this acceptance of God as incorporeal, and the freedom to read the Bible? A
CHURCH-NATION "No history, no romance, no poetry, save the little-known verses of Chaucer, existed for any practical purpose in the English tongue when the Bible was ordered to be set up in churches. Sunday after Sunday, day after day, the crowds that gathered round Bonner's Bibles in the nave of St. Paul's, or the family group that hung on the words of the Geneva Bible in the devotional exercises at home, were leavened with a new literature. Legend and annals, war song and psalm, State roll and biography, the mighty voices of prophets, the parables of the Evangelists, stories of mission journeys, of perils by the sea and among the heathen, philosophic arguments, apocalyptic visions, all were flung broadcast over minds unoccupied for the most part by any rival learning. . . "But far greater than its effects upon literature or social phase was the effect of the Bible on the character of the people at large. . . The whole moral effect which is produced nowadays by the religious newspaper, the tract, the essay, the lecture, the missionary report, the sermon, was then produced by the Bible alone. And its effect in this way, however dispassionately we examine it, was simply amazing. The whole temper of the nation was changed. A new conception of life and of man superseded the old. A new moral and religious impulse spread through every class. ... THE WHOLE NATION
BECAME, IN FACT, A CHURCH." (p. 940) THE
INCORPOREALITY OF GOD:—THE SLOW
YIELD Even though some denominations of Protestant Christendom accept academically the fact that God is "without body, parts, or passions," human thought is slow to yield to this fact of God's incorporeality. The good results of doing so were realized, however, in the great advancements which came to the nation of England,—the progress and development in all areas of life,—at the time of the Reformation and with the overwhelming acceptance of the Book—the English Bible. There is no higher level of living than in a nation which has become a church-nation. THE SLOWER
YIELD: THE INCORPOREALITY OF MAN Despite the allegory in the second chapter of Genesis where it is narrated that man was made of the dust of the ground, Jesus and Paul condemned this lie and proved its falsity. JESUS DID NOT
ACCEPT THE PERSON [BODY] OF MAN "He overcame the world, the flesh [body], and all error, thus proving their nothingness. He wrought a full salvation from sin, sickness and death. We need 'Christ, and him crucified.' We must have trials and self-denials, as well as joys and victories, until all error is destroyed." (Science and Health 39:4) During his three year mission Jesus showed his followers that we cannot attain the transfiguration and our salvation until we crucify the flesh, in accord with his example. As Paul says, we must "mortify the deeds of the body." (Rom. 8:13) LAZARUS NEVER
LIVED IN THE BODY Mrs. Eddy also states: "It is contrary to Christian Science to suppose that life is either material or organically spiritual." (Science and Health 83:21-22) According to Mrs. Eddy's words about Lazarus, every treatment given by Jesus would have to be from the standpoint that no one ever lives in his or her body. He "mortified" the belief in Adam, and a man or woman made from the dust of the ground. THE CROSS OF
JESUS The Protestant Church of England and northern Europe, on the other hand, at the time of the Reformation discarded the medieval belief and acknowledged and avowed that "the bread broken represented his body so soon to be broken on the cross." (Popular and Critical Bible Encyclopedia. Chicago: Howard Severance Co. 1911. Page 1078) Protestant Christianity recognized the breaking of bread to mean that his body was to be broken BY THE CROSS; that is, "to be present with the Lord," he had "to be absent from the body"! He was requiring his followers to eat—to partake of—his broken body, his INCORPOREALITY. They had to do this individually for themselves in order to enter his Kingdom. No one can enter the Kingdom of Heaven without the Eucharist and Baptism, the two sacraments of Christ, in their spiritual significance. Christ Jesus was the Son of the incorporeal God; not of the Lord God who mythically made man in a fleshly body. We have to break this myth for ourselves. SOME OF PAUL'S
WORDS REGARDING BODY ("FLESH") To the Romans: "Knowing this, that our old man is crucified with him, that the body of sin might be destroyed, that henceforth we should not serve sin." (Romans 6:6) Also to the Romans: "There is therefore now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit. For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus hath made me free from the law of sin and death. For what the law could not do, in that it was weak through the flesh, God sending His own son in the likeness of sinful flesh, and for sin, condemned sin in the flesh: That the righteousness of the law might be fulfilled in us, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit. For they that are after the flesh do mind the things of the flesh; but they that are after the Spirit the things of the Spirit. For to be carnally minded is death; but to be spiritually minded is life and peace. Because the carnal mind is enmity against God: for it is not subject to the law of God, neither indeed can be. So then they that are in the flesh cannot please God. But ye are not in the flesh, but in the Spirit, if so be that the Spirit of God dwell in you. Now if any man have not the Spirit of Christ, he is none of his. And if Christ be in you, the body is dead because of sin; but the Spirit is life because of righteousness. But if the Spirit of him that raised up Jesus from the dead dwell in you, he that raised up Christ from the dead shall also quicken your mortal bodies by his Spirit that dwelleth in you. Therefore, brethren, we are debtors, not to the flesh, to live after the flesh. For if ye live after the flesh, ye shall die: but if ye through the Spirit do mortify the deeds of the body, ye shall live. For as many as are led by the Spirit of God, they are the sons of God. For ye have not received the spirit of bondage again to fear; but ye have received the Spirit of adoption, whereby we cry, Abba, Father. The Spirit itself beareth witness with our spirit, that we are the children of God: And if children, then heirs; heirs of God, and joint-heirs with Christ; if so be that we suffer with him, that we may be also glorified together." (Romans 8:1-17) And also to the Romans Paul writes: "I beseech therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service. And be not conformed to this world, but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God. (Romans 12, 1, 2) "I am crucified with Christ: nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me: and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God who loved me and gave himself for me." (Gal. 2:20) WHY RAISE
LAZARUS FROM THE DEAD? Jesus and his followers do not "perish [die] out of Jerusalem," they are perfected out of it; that is, they rise spiritually out of the belief of life in matter, of "body, parts, or passions." This is achieved as one "casts out devils" and does "cures" both for himself and for others. We do not reach his kingdom by dying, but by transfiguring, or transforming—changing our thinking from the standpoint of material sense and the corporeality of man to a clear apprehension of our incorporeality as in the first chapter of Genesis. The healing of the sick and the raising of the dead is for this purpose alone, and not to extend the enjoyment of materiality. It is for the purpose of laying off the body formed of the dust of the ground by the Lord God, and rising to the perception of our true spiritual identity as the incorporeal image and likeness of God. Jesus emphasized to his followers that there can be no transfiguration or salvation until each crucifies for himself the flesh, according to the example he gave. Paul does not hesitate to tell us that we must "mortify the deeds of the body." (Romans 8:13). THE UNITED
STATES TO BECOME A CHURCH-NATION EVENTS TO
ENCOURAGE CHANGE Although the teachings of primitive Christianity have been and are being taught in Christian Science, thought does not readily accept them. The threat of atomic war or any other similar catastrophe does not hasten or spur mankind, or Christian Scientists, to seek the God who is infinite Spirit or to seek man's incorporeality. American Christendom may not quickly or readily yield to the fact of man's incorporeality, but persuaders are closing in. GLOBAL WARMING:
ITS PROPHETIC IMPLICATIONS One wonders why Jesus permitted his disciples to believe he would return and the world come to an end during their lifetime. Undoubtedly the attitude of thought imbued with that conviction produces the greatest level of spiritual endeavor and spirituality. It was that attitude of thought which preserved the original spiritual language of his teaching. Had he said he would return in 2000 years it is most likely there would be no New Testament, surely not the one we have today. When it became apparent that his return, and the end of the world, were to be delayed, many variant interpretations of his teachings arose in Christendom in the form of denominations. Church historian, Robert Peel, indicates in Years of Authority, that even Christian Science has not been immune to the tendency towards variant interpretations. Despite this fact, Christian Science is a science and can be subject to only one method in its teaching (explanation). As Mrs. Eddy writes: "Those who depart from this method forfeit their claims to belong to its school..." (Science and Health 112:5-7) As the self-destruction of the world becomes more evident to present day Christendom the various interpretations of the teachings of Christ Jesus will yield to the scientific interpretation found only in Christian Science. Until that time no disaster, no wars or rumors of wars, no earthquake, famine, or pestilence will shake off divergent or variant interpretations of the teachings of Christ Jesus, or Mary Baker Eddy,—only the stark evidence of the coming end of the world. This is the same attitude of thought which inspired the early Christians; that produced our inspired gospels and the letters of Paul. It is the original teaching of Christ Jesus and Mary Baker Eddy that will be the saviour of humanity. As John the Baptist asked: "Who hath warned you to flee from the wrath to come?" THE CLOSING OF
HISTORY The answer to this is found in the Scriptures and in the teachings of Christian Science. "The spiritual status is urging its highest demands on mortals, and material history is drawing to a close." (No and Yes 45:25-27) Mrs. Eddy also writes: "The mist of materialism will vanish as we approach spirituality, the realm of reality; cleanse our lives in Christ's righteousness; bathe in the baptism of Spirit, and awake in His likeness." (Miscellaneous Writings 30:29) LUTHER'S BATTLE
SONG A mighty shield and weapon; He'll help us clear from all the ill That hath us now o'ertaken. ... 'And though they
take our life—
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