Article December 7, 1968 Issue

Evil's Claims Exposed and Nullified

LUCIEN P. CAILLE

Christ Jesus called the devil, or evil, "a liar, and the father of [lies]." ^{John 8:44;} Evil is not what it claims to be; it is not where it claims to be; it does not do what it claims to do. Once exposed and nullified through the power of Christ, Truth, false claims of evil can no longer deceive or affect us.

Evil, also named in the Bible Satan, serpent, red dragon, is a liar because it is the opposite of God, good, who is Truth. There is no truth in evil. All the claims of evil are without foundation because Truth is supreme. Mrs. Eddy writes, "Our Master, in his definition of Satan as a liar from the beginning, attested the absolute powerlessness—yea, nothingness—of evil : since a lie, being without foundation in fact, is merely a falsity; spiritually, literally, it is nothing."^{Miscellaneous Writings, p. 108;}

God, being infinite good, never made evil. Nor is evil self-made, for God is the only creator. God proclaims, "I am the first, and I am the last; and beside me there is no God." ^{Isa. 44:6;} Consequently, evil is not a reality but a false belief, the belief in a presence, power, and intelligence besides the divine. It is not a person, for individual man is the image and likeness of God, the one infinite individuality. Man is the very manifestation of His goodness and perfection. According to Christian Science a wicked mortal is merely a false view of man.