“Whence comes a talking, lying serpent to tempt the children of divine Love? The serpent enters into the metaphor only as evil. We have nothing in the animal kingdom which represents the species described, — a talking serpent, — and should rejoice that evil, by whatever figure presented, contradicts itself and has neither origin nor support in Truth and good. Seeing this, we should have faith to fight all claims of evil, because we know that they are worthless and unreal.” Mary Baker Eddy
At the Roundtable this last Sunday we talked about the danger of “ruminating” and “the accuser”.
I found the synonyms of “ruminate” a very helpful reminder of the many ways “…comes a talking, lying serpent to tempt the children of divine Love…”:
worry; dwell; stew; sulk; languish; bleed; fret; gnaw; speculate; think about; eat one; grieve; lament
These are habits of thought that pull us into the picture of a life separate from God. It is modeled all around us and considered justified. They were the habits of thought I entertained all my life until I came to Plainfield and have been able to break. I no longer see it as normal, necessary, unavoidable or incurable. Thanks to the correct teachings on the Bible and Mrs. Eddy’s writings I am gaining the tools to combat this evil. We can have dominion over this through Christ and the Word of God.
A Bible dictionary defined “accuser” as, “seeking to uphold his(satan) influence among men…with the view of weakening their influence and injuring the cause (christianity) with which they are identified.”
“Alertness to Duty – It shall be the duty of every member of this Church to defend himself daily against aggressive mental suggestion, and not be made to forget nor to neglect his duty to God, to his Leader, and to mankind. By his works he shall be judged, — and justified or condemned.”Church Manual, Article VIII, Sect. 6