Article January 27, 1986 Issue

Frightening phone calls: no "terror by night"

JUDITH H. HEDRICK

Many years ago I received several frightening late-night telephone calls. As a student of Christian Science, I had a deep trust that God would guide me and help me in a very practical way, so I set aside preconceived ideas about what I should do and I prayed. I was trusting in good and was willing to let God bring a healing answer.

The answer that came was for me to hang up gently. That may seem like an obvious solution. But there was more to my response than a mechanical action. I was also taking a moral stand; I was standing for the spiritual fact that good is the only power and evil does not have to be indulged in or responded to. My refusal to listen or to be afraid—the caller had threatened to come to my house—was in fact my refusal to participate in the actions of evil or to be manipulated by evil, because I knew that evil is a lie. And soon the calls stopped.

How can I say that evil is a lie? God is good, all-powerful and ever present. God, who is divine Mind, guides us. He protects and delivers us from evil. In the ninety-first Psalm we find the gentle assurance of His protection: "Thou shalt not be afraid for the terror by night. ... Because thou hast made the Lord, which is my refuge, even the most High, thy habitation; there shall no evil befall thee, neither shall any plague come nigh thy dwelling."^{Ps. 91:5, 9, 10.}

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