Breaking the chain of aggressive suggestions

What If?

The question "what if?" is one of evil's subtle tools. What if this or that should happen? What if I don't get well soon? What if I can't find a job? Such suggestions would keep our thought in a state of perpetual fear. The remedy lies in turning away from the trouble, whatever it may be, and centering thought on God's all-power, which heals.

When error presents its suggestions, shouldn't we say, "All right, what if God is all-power, all-presence, always taking care of me?" The result then can only be perfection, illimitable good. This is the only kind of legitimate "what if?"

As we continue in this direction, acknowledging God's power, our thought will be turned away from error and we'll become convinced of the truth. Likewise, every statement of truth we embrace will strengthen our faith in and understanding of God's omnipotence. Our joy will return, and the trouble will vanish.

Christ Jesus said, "If ye continue in my word, then are ye my disciples indeed; and ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free." John 8:31, 32; Our part is to continue to work with the truth until we really know the truth without any doubt. Then Truth does its part. It frees us from the error, and we are healed.

Of course there is no "what if?" about God's omnipotence and omnipresence. Both the Bible and the writings of Mrs. Eddy make it clear that God is the only power, that He is totally good, and that He made everything good. In the words of the Old Testament prophet, "Thus saith the Lord the King of Israel, and his redeemer the Lord of hosts; I am the first, and I am the last; and beside me there is no God." Isa. 44:6; And Mrs. Eddy writes, "God is everywhere, and nothing apart from Him is present or has power." Science and Health, p. 473:

Christian Science teaches that evil is an error, a mistake or lie, and that by reversing error—denying its supposed reality and asserting the allness of good—we arrive at the truth. When error suggests "what if?" a quick reversal stops the train of aggressive suggestions and turns thought into healing channels. It is so important that we turn our thought around immediately before we are influenced by error's lies. Then our metaphysical work will be clear and effective, and the erroneous claim will dissolve.

God made all, and He made it good. We need to acknowledge this consistently in every phase of our lives. For when truth is active in consciousness, it excludes error, proving that error was never anything but a false claim. Evil can't operate in our experience if thought is actively contemplating the many wonderful answers to the question, "What happens when we know God is in control?"

The account of the children of Israel's journey to the Promised Land furnishes a good example of what happens when people yield to error's suggestions, as well as of what happens when they acknowledge God's absolute power and control through obedience to His commands.

After their escape from Pharaoh they stood at Mount Horeb on the threshold of their journey to the Promised Land. God had given them the Ten Commandments, and He now commanded, "Go in and possess the land which the Lord sware unto your fathers, Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, to give unto them and to their seed after them." Deut. 1:8; However, later the people listened to the suggestion that they couldn't overcome the inhabitants of the land, and they rebelled. Instead of going into the Promised Land, they wandered in the wilderness forty years.

At the end of that time the children of Israel stood at the borders of Canaan. But now they had faith and trust in God. In obedience to Him they marched around Jericho six days, and on the seventh—when the priests blew the trumpets and the people shouted—the walls of Jericho fell, and the city was taken. They had begun to take possession of the Promised Land.

Error would keep us out of our individual "promised land"— some right undertaking or forward step in our progress Spiritward. But if we realize that error's suggestions are always a questioning, a doubt, or a denial of God's power, we'll have no part of it. We'll refuse to break the first commandment by giving power to anything but God. Then the chain of aggressive suggestions is broken. Mrs. Eddy asks, "If thought is startled at the strong claim of Science for the supremacy of God, or Truth, and doubts the supremacy of good, ought we not, contrariwise, to be astounded at the vigorous claims of evil and doubt them, and no longer think it natural to love sin and unnatural to forsake it,—no longer imagine evil to be ever-present and good absent?" Science and Health, p. 130;

Since God is in control, disease can't be. God made man spiritual and perfect, and He maintains His own likeness. There is only one power—total good. There is only one Mind—the consciousness of total good. So how can man know anything but good? And if he knows only good, he can't experience anything else. Really feeling God's love, we realize that He wouldn't and couldn't permit sickness. And in this pure consciousness of God's boundless love troubles vanish.

When we're disturbed over some critical national or world situation, we can affirm that God is governing. This stimulates the activity of truth in our thought. We can realize that the world belief in many minds is only an inverted image, for God is the only Mind, forever governing all His children in peace and harmony. To know there is only one Mind, as Jesus did, establishes in consciousness a deep, genuine sense of harmony. One perceives that the government of divine Love is supreme, that Love dissolves self-will and all the errors that go with it, and that Love does meet the human need. Divine Principle is in control of everyone and everything, everywhere. God is the Father of all, hence the brotherhood of man is the spiritual fact.

Working along these lines, we find that the spiritual facts of being are indeed the reality. We find peace, because the aggressive sense testimony of an evil power and many minds has been silenced. We feel God's presence and His loving care for all His children and are assured that eventually all will be led into their promised land—the land of Christian Science.

Error's "what if?" is only a futile attempt to dethrone the Christ in our consciousness. But when we instantly counter it with the spiritual facts, our eyes are opened to spiritual realities, and we see and prove Love's omnipotence. Mrs. Eddy writes, "No hypothesis as to the existence of another power should interpose a doubt or fear to hinder the demonstration of Christian Science." ibid., p. 445.

NEXT IN THIS ISSUE
Poem
JERICHO REVISITED
March 27, 1976
Contents

We'd love to hear from you!

Easily submit your testimonies, articles, and poems online.

Submit