"In the material world, thought has brought to light with great rapidity many useful wonders" (Science and Health, p. 268). How timely are these words of Mrs. Eddy in the light of present-day conditions! The penetration of outer space staggers the imagination with its complexity and scope. Yet the presence of television sets in millions of homes has had a far more extensive effect on the lives of people in general. They have been given an unprecedented view of what lies beyond their immediate experience.

As a result, the viewer often finds himself faced with the necessity of separating the tares from the wheat—distinguishing between the false and the true. Young people, especially, seem to be the prize to be captured, for there are repeated attempts to gain control of their thinking and standards of conduct. They find they must continually stand guard lest they become the unwitting dupes of materialistic enticements, masquerading as real values and pleasures.

Although the means of presenting these challenges may be new, these subtle lies are merely echoes of those proffered by the serpent to Eve in the allegory of the Garden of Eden and repeated throughout the Bible.

In the book of Matthew we read that immediately after he was proclaimed by God as "my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased" (3:17), Christ Jesus was led up into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil. Three temptations are specifically mentioned.

It is interesting to note that in each instance Jesus answered the devil by quoting the Scriptures. As he stood his ground, secure in his understanding of the truths he uttered, the false, evil temptations receded into nothingness, and the presence of God's angel thoughts became evident.

The same temptations under different guises roam through many avenues today. The young person who is a Christian Scientist knows he has God-given ability to meet error's challenges to the supremacy of the truth. On page 123 of Science and Health, Mrs. Eddy explains the metaphysical method for the developing of this ability. She says, "Divine Science, rising above physical theories, excludes matter, resolves things into thoughts, and replaces the objects of material sense with spiritual ideas."

Following these instructions, the student is able to come out and be separate from the material world, as Paul advised (see II Cor. 6:17), not by going into physical seclusion, but by separating spiritual ideas from the objects of material sense in his own thought. Thus he finds his present experience one of joy and fulfillment.

One of the temptations frequently voiced is that man's life is dependent on matter; that matter, as food or drugs, has the power to sustain the life of man or the ability to harm or destroy it. Jesus met this temptation with these words (Matt. 4:4): "Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God." And the student of Christian Science learns to replace the material sense of life, dependent upon food or drugs, with the spiritual idea that God is the only Life of man.

At other times the challenge is to one's standards. The familiar argument runs: that abiding strictly by the precepts of Principle is old-fashioned and outmoded, that the use of human will produces results more quickly, and that to believe in the possession of a personal intellect makes more sense. As we follow Jesus' example, we shall find that the tender ministrations of God, divine Love, are not for an instant withheld from His beloved children.

Perhaps the most alluring and attractive challenge is the call to worldly living and personal popularity—"all the kingdoms of the world" promised by Satan many years ago in the wilderness. These fraudulent promises would attempt to delude one into believing that the indulgence of false appetites for tobacco and alcohol provides the key to successful living. But the spiritual discernment gained through the study of Christian Science shows that these fancied pleasures are not freedoms but are bondage, which holds its victim in a viselike grip and requires of him a mighty struggle to extricate himself.

Once the fallacy of these promises is detected, the student can issue the command of the Master (Matt. 4:10), "Get thee hence, Satan: for it is written, Thou shalt worship the Lord thy God, and him only shalt thou serve." Then he too will entertain angels. The joy and happiness of Love, the beauty and attractiveness of Soul, the complete perfection of Life, will not be abstract theories but demonstrable facts in his present-day experience.

The mastery of error's challenges in the way Christ Jesus demonstrated will bring a fuller understanding of the words of Mrs. Eddy which follow those quoted in the opening statement of this article (Science and Health, p. 268): "With like activity have thought's swift pinions been rising towards the realm of the real, to the spiritual cause of those lower things which give impulse to inquiry. Belief in a material basis, from which may be deduced all rationality, is slowly yielding to the idea of a metaphysical basis, looking away from matter to Mind as the cause of every effect."