First Church of Christ, Scientist, La Cañada Flintridge
Wednesday Meeting Readings
January 6, 2010
Topic: Prayer addresses evil forces working in the world
The Bible:
(1) Isa 29:15-21,24
15 Woe unto them that seek deep to hide their counsel from the Lord, and their works are in the dark, and they say, Who seeth us? and who knoweth us?
16 Surely your turning of things upside down shall be esteemed as the potter's clay: for shall the work say of him that made it, He made me not? or shall the thing framed say of him that framed it, He had no understanding?
17 Is it not yet a very little while, and Lebanon shall be turned into a fruitful field, and the fruitful field shall be esteemed as a forest?
18 ¶ And in that day shall the deaf hear the words of the book, and the eyes of the blind shall see out of obscurity, and out of darkness.
19 The meek also shall increase their joy in the Lord, and the poor among men shall rejoice in the Holy One of Israel.
20 For the terrible one is brought to nought, and the scorner is consumed, and all that watch for iniquity are cut off:
21 That make a man an offender for a word, and lay a snare for him that reproveth in the gate, and turn aside the just for a thing of nought.
24 They also that erred in spirit shall come to understanding, and they that murmured shall learn doctrine.
(2) Esth 3:1,2,5,6,15 And
1 After these things did king Ahasuerus promote Haman the son of Hammedatha the Agagite, and advanced him, and set his seat above all the princes that were with him.
2 And all the king's servants, that were in the king's gate, bowed, and reverenced Haman: for the king had so commanded concerning him. But Mordecai bowed not, nor did him reverence.
5 And when Haman saw that Mordecai bowed not, nor did him reverence, then was Haman full of wrath.
6 And he thought scorn to lay hands on Mordecai alone; for they had shewed him the people of Mordecai: wherefore Haman sought to destroy all the Jews that were throughout the whole kingdom of Ahasuerus, even the people of Mordecai.
15 And the king and Haman sat down to drink; but the city Shushan was perplexed.
(3) Esth 5:1 (to :),2 (to .),4,5,9,14 (to :)
1 Now it came to pass on the third day, that Esther put on her royal apparel, and stood in the inner court of the king's house, over against the king's house:
2 And it was so, when the king saw Esther the queen standing in the court, that she obtained favour in his sight: and the king held out to Esther the golden sceptre that was in his hand.
4 And Esther answered, If it seem good unto the king, let the king and Haman come this day unto the banquet that I have prepared for him.
5 Then the king said, Cause Haman to make haste, that he may do as Esther hath said. So the king and Haman came to the banquet that Esther had prepared.
9 ¶ Then went Haman forth that day joyful and with a glad heart: but when Haman saw Mordecai in the king's gate, that he stood not up, nor moved for him, he was full of indignation against Mordecai.
14 ¶ Then said Zeresh his wife and all his friends unto him, Let a gallows be made of fifty cubits high, and to-morrow speak thou unto the king that Mordecai may be hanged thereon:
(4) Esth 7:1,2 (to :),3 (to ,),4 we are (to .),5,6,9
1 So the king and Haman came to banquet with Esther the queen.
2 And the king said again unto Esther on the second day at the banquet of wine, What is thy petition, queen Esther? and it shall be granted thee:
3 Then Esther the queen answered and said,
4 we are sold, I and my people, to be destroyed, to be slain, and to perish.
5 ¶ Then the king Ahasuerus answered and said unto Esther the queen, Who is he, and where is he, that durst presume in his heart to do so?
6 And Esther said, The adversary and enemy is this wicked Haman. Then Haman was afraid before the king and the queen.
9 And Harbonah, one of the chamberlains, said before the king, Behold also, the gallows fifty cubits high, which Haman had made for Mordecai, who had spoken good for the king, standeth in the house of Haman. Then the king said, Hang him thereon.
(5) Eccl 8:5 (to :)
5 Whoso keepeth the commandment shall feel no evil thing:
(6) Luke 4:33-35
33 ¶ And in the synagogue there was a man, which had a spirit of an unclean devil, and cried out with a loud voice,
34 Saying, Let us alone; what have we to do with thee, thou Jesus of Nazareth? art thou come to destroy us? I know thee who thou art; the Holy One of God.
35 And Jesus rebuked him, saying, Hold thy peace, and come out of him. And when the devil had thrown him in the midst, he came out of him, and hurt him not.
(7) Matt 27:1-4 (to ?)
1 When the morning was come, all the chief priests and elders of the people took counsel against Jesus to put him to death:
2 And when they had bound him, they led him away, and delivered him to Pontius Pilate the governor.
3 ¶ Then Judas, which had betrayed him, when he saw that he was condemned, repented himself, and brought again the thirty pieces of silver to the chief priests and elders,
4 Saying, I have sinned in that I have betrayed the innocent blood. And they said, What is that to us?
(8) Rev 12:7-9
7 And there was war in heaven: Michael and his angels fought against the dragon; and the dragon fought and his angels,
8 And prevailed not; neither was their place found any more in heaven.
9 And the great dragon was cast out, that old serpent, called the Devil, and Satan, which deceiveth the whole world: he was cast out into the earth, and his angels were cast out with him.
(9) Job 5:8,19,24 (to ;)
8 I would seek unto God, and unto God would I commit my cause:
19 He shall deliver thee in six troubles: yea, in seven there shall no evil touch thee.
24 And thou shalt know that thy tabernacle shall be in peace;
Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures
by Mary Baker Eddy
(1) 330:25 The
The notion that both evil and good are real is a
delusion of material sense, which Science annihilates.
27 Evil is nothing, no thing, mind, nor power. Evil
As manifested by mankind it stands for a lie, obsolete
nothing claiming to be something, — for lust, dishonesty,
30 selfishness, envy, hypocrisy, slander, hate, theft, adultery,
murder, dementia, insanity, inanity, devil, hell, with all
the etceteras that word includes.
(2) 539:10-14
God could never Only one
impart an element of evil, and man possesses standard
12 nothing which he has not derived from God. How then
has man a basis for wrong-doing? Whence does he
obtain the propensity or power to do evil?
(3) 306:32-24
The parent of all human discord was the Adam-dream,
1 the deep sleep, in which originated the delusion that life
and intelligence proceeded from and passed into matter.
3 This pantheistic error, or so-called serpent, in- The serpent's
sists still upon the opposite of Truth, saying, whisper
"Ye shall be as gods;" that is, I will make error as real
6 and eternal as Truth.
Evil still affirms itself to be mind, and declares that
there is more than one intelligence or God. It says:
9 "There shall be lords and gods many. I declare that God
makes evil minds and evil spirits, and that I aid Him.
Truth shall change sides and be unlike Spirit. I will
12 put spirit into what I call matter, and matter shall seem
to have life as much as God, Spirit, who is the only Life."
This error has proved itself to be error. Its life is found
15 to be not Life, but only a transient, false sense of an ex-
istence which ends in death. Error charges Bad results
its lie to Truth and says: "The Lord knows from error
18 it. He has made man mortal and material, out of mat-
ter instead of Spirit." Thus error partakes of its own
nature and utters its own falsities. If we regard matter
21 as intelligent, and Mind as both good and evil, every sin
or supposed material pain and pleasure seems normal,
a part of God's creation, and so weighs against our course
24 Spiritward.
(4) 93:13-17
Good never causes evil, nor creates aught
that can cause evil.
15 Good does not create a mind susceptible of causing
evil, for evil is the opposing error and not the truth of
creation.
(5) 476:6 (only)
6 Error, urged to its final limits, is self-destroyed.
(6) 234:31-3
Evil thoughts and aims reach no farther and do no more
harm than one's belief permits. Evil thoughts, lusts, and
1 malicious purposes cannot go forth, like wandering pollen,
from one human mind to another, finding unsuspected
3 lodgment, if virtue and truth build a strong defence.
(7) 571:15
15 At all times and under all circumstances, overcome
evil with good. Know thyself, and God will supply
the wisdom and the occasion for a victory The armor
18 over evil. Clad in the panoply of Love, of divinity
human hatred cannot reach you. The cement of a
higher humanity will unite all interests in the one
21 divinity.
(8) 470:13-16 If (to .),16-23 How
If God, or good, is real, then evil, the The divine
unlikeness of God, is unreal. And evil can standard of
15 only seem to be real by giving reality to the perfection
unreal.
How
can good lapse into evil, when God, the Mind of man,
18 never sins? The standard of perfection was originally
God and man. Has God taken down His own standard,
and has man fallen?
21 God is the creator of man, and, the divine Principle
of man remaining perfect, the divine idea or reflection,
man, remains perfect. Indestructible
relationship
(9) 76:6-10,18-26
6 When being is understood, Life will be recognized as
neither material nor finite, but as infinite, — as God,
universal good; and the belief that life, or Real Life
9 mind, was ever in a finite form, or good in is God
evil, will be destroyed.
18 Suffering, sinning, dying beliefs are unreal. When
divine Science is universally understood, they will have
no power over man, for man is immortal and lives by
21 divine authority.
The sinless joy, — the perfect harmony and immortality
of Life, possessing unlimited divine beauty and goodness
24 without a single bodily pleasure or pain, — Immaterial
constitutes the only veritable, indestructible pleasure
man, whose being is spiritual.
(10) 288:20-28
The chief stones in the temple of Christian Science are
21 to be found in the following postulates: that Life is God,
good, and not evil; that Soul is sinless, not The chief
to be found in the body; that Spirit is not, and stones in
24 cannot be, materialized; that Life is not subject the temple
to death; that the spiritual real man has no birth, no ma-
terial life, and no death.
27 Science reveals the glorious possibilities of immortal
man, forever unlimited by the mortal senses. The Christ-
element
(11) 134:21
21 The true Logos is demonstrably Christian Science, the
natural law of harmony which overcomes discord, — not
because this Science is supernatural or pre- Basis of
24 ternatural, nor because it is an infraction of miracles
divine law, but because it is the immutable law of God,
good. Jesus said: "I knew that Thou hearest me al-
27 ways;" and he raised Lazarus from the dead, stilled the
tempest, healed the sick, walked on the water. There
is divine authority for believing in the superiority of
30 spiritual power over material resistance.
(12) 325:2-7
He who has
3 the true idea of good loses all sense of evil, Abiding
and by reason of this is being ushered into the in Life
undying realities of Spirit. Such a one abideth in Life, —
6 life obtained not of the body incapable of supporting life,
but of Truth, unfolding its own immortal idea.
(13) 336:4-6,9 Immortal
The divine
Good never enters into evil, the unlimited into Ego
the limited, the eternal into the temporal, nor the im-
6 mortal into mortality.
9 Immortal man was and is God's image or idea,
even the infinite expression of infinite Mind, and immor-
tal man is coexistent and coeternal with that The real
12 Mind. He has been forever in the eternal manhood
Mind, God; but infinite Mind can never be in man, but
is reflected by man. The spiritual man's consciousness
15 and individuality are reflections of God. They are the
emanations of Him who is Life, Truth, and Love. Im-
mortal man is not and never was material, but always
18 spiritual and eternal.
(14) 398:32 Evil
Evil has
1 no power, no intelligence, for God is good, and therefore
good is infinite, is All.
From the Christian Science Hymnal:
Hymn 267: "…See baseless evil fall, And know that God is here."
Hymn 258: "…Though the cause of evil prosper, Yet 'tis Truth alone is strong"
Hymn 283: "Praise we the Lord, for His mercy endureth forever"
