Editorial April 4, 1964 Issue

Metaphysical Warfare

Helen Wood Bauman

In the book of Revelation the devil is described as "Satan, which deceiveth the whole world" (12: 9). This description comes in the midst of a prophecy of "war in heaven," in which Michael and his angels fight the dragon, or evil, and Satan is cast out, and his angels with him. God's divine message of spiritual strength, metaphorically pictured as Michael and his angels, overcomes the false messages of Satan that claim power to resist the coming of Christ, or Truth.

Here is no warfare carried out with physical weapons or by methods of economic rivalry. This prophecy is one of metaphysical warfare, a struggle that will take place in the mental realm between undeceivable and deceivable consciousness, the former being real, according to Christian Science, and the latter unreal. The discovery of the Christ Science by Mary Baker Eddy inaugurated the fulfillment of this prophecy with a struggle that deals with mental causes rather than with superficial effects. The struggle will continue in human thought until every deceived and deceiving aspect of evil is destroyed.

People are better warriors when they understand the issues at stake. And the knowledge that evil is nothing more than deception brings a fresh approach to Christian warfare. Spiritually scientific warfare is metaphysical because it penetrates beneath the physical surface and destroys the false sense of mind that produces material effects.

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A God at Hand
April 4, 1964
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