Article September 9, 1939 Issue

"Resist the devil, and he will flee from you"

LAURA MC GEE POWELL

All through the ages what is termed "the problem of evil" has perplexed mankind. What evil is, where it came from, and how it can be overcome are questions which have engaged serious thinkers down through the centuries. These thinkers have evolved theories attempting to give an explanation of evil's presence and a method for its annihilation. That such theories for the most part have been speculative, and therefore inadequate to deal practically with the problem, is evidenced by the want and woe, the misery, the sin and disease, which continue to be so apparent.

Christian Science has brought the solution to the problem of evil by showing its nothingness; for Christian Science teaches that God, good, is All. Therefore, to engage in a mental struggle with evil as real is not the Christianly scientific method of demonstrating its unreality. Ignorance necessarily vanishes in the presence of knowledge, as darkness disappears with the coming of light. In like manner the suggestions of evil are destroyed through the spiritual understanding of the infinity of God, good.

That Jesus recognized evil as false belief and handled it impersonally is shown forth in his experience as related in the fourth chapter of Matthew's Gospel. We are told that he was "led up of the spirit into the wilderness to be tempted of the devil." Although three false suggestions were presented to the Master, it is related that he refuted each of them with Biblical authority. The first Satanic suggestion which asked for recognition was that of false appetite. Then came the insidious temptation to yield to vanity. Lastly came the temptation of false ambition. The Master could not, and would not, dishonor his Father, God, by accepting these arguments of mortal mind, which would have bound him to matter as the source of life and intelligence, pain, power, and pleasure. He immediately rejected them. "It is written," he said. And then, in each instance, came the Word of God which completely freed him from Satan's temptations. We are told that "the devil leaveth him, and, behold, angels came and ministered unto him." Thus we see that Jesus proved that evil suggestions are devoid of power or reality—incapable of harming or using anyone—not by ignoring Satan's suggestions, but by denying their reality, rejecting them quickly and positively, and affirming the opposite truth.

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"Resist the devil, and he will flee from you"

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