THE CHRISTIAN SCIENCE CULT...
Provided by Kurt Van Gorden of
Jude 3 Missions
PO Box 780, Victorville, CA 92393-0780
SAVED FROM CHRISTIAN SCIENCE
A
PERSONAL TESTIMONY
By STANLEY D. MYERS
I
was a happy, prosperous, successful and enthusiastic adherent of the Christian
Science religion for thirty years. From
the time I was eight years old I knew nothing of the teaching of any other
religion nor of the Bible.
However,
my active interest and dedication to the cause of Christian Science did not
reach its zenith until 1945 when I was in Germany with the United States
Infantry. The proper term to use of
my experience at that time is that I caught on fire.
I read and studied every piece of Christian Science literature I could
find, haunted the Christian Science reading rooms and practiced all that I could
apprehend of the doctrine. I was
considered to be a “successful Christian
Scientist,” leading what I judged to be an “overcoming life” and
demonstrating the doctrines of Mary Baker Eddy.
Moreover, I was greatly influenced by the exemplary lives of those
wonderful people whom I could call my friends and who had the same zeal for
Christian Science as I had.
At
that time I had definite plans for the future.
First, I wanted to be a class-taught student, then a practitioner on a
full-time basis, a reader in a local church, first reader in the Mother Church
in Boston, a lecturer and a teacher of Christian Science.
I made out a time schedule and set about to reach these goals.
I studied twenty to twenty-five hours a week, rising at 5:00 A. M. nearly
every day and devoting much time to prayer and research.
I
was elected the first reader of the Second Church of Christ Scientist in Akron,
Ohio, when I was twenty-five years old. I
declined at that time but was again elected three years later.
I served on the board of directors as a vice-president and later as
president. Joining with another
young man, I opened an office as a practitioner in Akron and was considered to
be successful in this work. Having
completed all my paper work, I was on the approved list to be a Christian
Science Wartime Minister, and I had the final interview with the manager of this
activity. I was completely happy
and felt no lack in my life. I was
not looking for anything else.
At
this time I met and married a girl who was not a Christian Scientist, but I
hoped through my influence and her exposure to other Christian Science people to
win her to my beliefs. She had no
religious convictions that I cold discern, though there was a tendency toward
things religious.
Because
neither of us profited from the services of the other’s church, we finally
found a common interest in home Bible studies conducted by laymen.
Two things in this activity really impressed me.
First, I never heard a church denomination mentioned.
Among those who came to hear what the Bible taught about various subjects
were Jews and Catholics, even Hindu doctors.
I was also impressed because the men who conducted the class could give
the book, chapter and verse that would answer any question I asked.
Before
long I discovered that many of the questions that I could answer satisfactorily
to myself out of my background in Christian Science were in direct conflict with
the answers given from the Bible. While
this rankled me, I really believed that I had the greater light on these
particular subjects and that sometime these people would come into the light of
the truths of the Bible as I had done. After
all, I had participated in many wonderful physical healings through prayer and I
had known of outstanding healings in others who practiced Christian Science -
real miracles that defy explanation.
To
me this was the acid test. Healings
must follow prayer as a natural result if man is in a right relationship with
God, and since I had seen these healings take place and I did not see anyone
healed at these home Bible studies, I took my stand.
I thought I was better informed on the true meaning of the Scriptures
than the laymen instructors and those who believed the whole Bible.
But
one thing actually made me feel ashamed for the Bible teachers - the constant
reference to Jesus Christ. I very
seldom heard the terms for God, such as Father and Lord, but I did hear a lot
about Jesus and the Holy Spirit. I
rebelled in my heart when I first realized that these men considered Jesus
Christ to be God and were, in fact, teaching this very thing.
However,
I wanted very much to know how they came to this conclusion.
I knew that they believed that the Bible was inspired of God and that not
only the ideas expressed were inspired of God but that even the words were of
His choosing. In other words, it
was God’s Book, He was the Author, and therefore it contained no mistakes.
I had had contrary teaching. Mary
Baker Eddy had declared that so much human error and “mortal mind” (a
Christian Science term defined on page 591:25-592:10 of Science
and Health with Key to the Scriptures) had crept into the Bible that all of
the Bible could not be accepted (see page 129:15-27 of the Christian Science
textbook). However, I reasoned that
if I could not believe all of the Bible, I could certainly believe the words of
Jesus Christ and accept them as being without error.
Because
of different interpretations of some of His sayings, I settled on a plan:
I would search out only those statements of Jesus Christ that were
crystal clear, that without an element of controversy declared who He considered
Himself to be. My purpose was to
disprove the claims of the Bible teachers that Jesus Christ is God.
I was very diligent. I
screened every saying of Jesus in all four Gospels.
I was, of course, prejudiced, really looking for those statements that
would disprove the belief of these Bible teachers.
I could not believe that Jesus was God.
I was taught that He was a good Man, the Way-shower, the Examplar.
When
I completed this study and analyzed what I had found I was astonished.
Jesus Christ claimed to be God. I
could hardly believe this. I went
over the Scriptures again. I could
not honestly draw any other conclusion. My
interest now extended to the rest of the New Testament.
What did the disciples believe about him?
Do
you see God’s hand in this? I was
now seeking out His only-begotten Son, the Lord Jesus Christ.
Everywhere I turned I saw Jesus exalted as Almighty God.
Everywhere and in every place the Bible, the Word of God, bore testimony
that Jesus Christ is God. Intellectually
I could not argue the fact. I had no alternative but to admit that this is the record
which God gave of His Son.
At
this point I analyzed my feelings. I
had no desire to condemn Mary Baker Eddy for her teachings.
I did not want to deny what she wrote, but I could not defend what she
declared to be the truth. The
healings I had witnessed were no criterion because I was now dealing in eternal
values. The teachings of Christian
Science and the teachings of the Bible cannot both be true.
There
was one extremely important difference and this had to be resolved.
I read again Mary Baker Eddy’s definition of God (page 587:5-8):
“God: The Great I AM: the
all-knowing, all-seeing, all-acting, all-wise, all-loving, and eternal;
Principle; Mind, Soul; Spirit; Life; Truth; Love; all-substance;
intelligence.” To my utter amazement the personal claims Jesus Christ made
for Himself and the declaration of the disciples as to who Jesus Christ was
completely fulfilled Mary Baker Eddy’s definition of God.
By her own definition Jesus Christ qualified to be God!
Now
my heart and mind were prepared to ask God to reveal to me what He would have me
to know concerning Jesus Christ.
The
blessed Holy Spirit of God came upon my one day as I was driving my car to work. Although I did not hear a voice I knew I was in the presence
of God. An absolute heart
conviction overwhelmed me that the Bible is the Word of God. It is not a book written by men about God but a book written
by God. The Bible is not a book by
men seeking a lost God but a book about God seeking lost men.
I could therefore believe every word in the Bible because it was God’s
declaration to men.
Immediately
I cried aloud with great joy and enthusiasm.
“Well, praise the Lord - I’m a sinner!”
This so utterly surprised me that I was dumbfounded.
Why did I say a thing like that? It
was absolutely contrary to thirty years of indoctrination, for Christian Science
teaches that there is no sin. As I searched my heart and mind for an answer the Scripture
came: “For all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God” (Rom. 3:23).
And again, the conviction came that no matter how good a life I could
lead under the influence and practice of the high moral concepts of Christian
Science, this would not make me worthy to stand before a holy God.
A holy God! I realized my
utter hopelessness; I was lost.
I
was sincere. I was honest. I was striving. I
was taken up in spiritual things. But
I was just as lost as the man wholly committed to a life of sin and utter
degradation. No man could have
convinced me of this - only the Holy Spirit of God, of whom Jesus declared,
“When he [the Holy Spirit of God, the Comforter] is come, he will reprove the
world of sin, and of righteousness, and of judgment:
of sin, because they believe not on me” (see John 16:7-11).
When
I realized my lost condition before a holy God the Holy Spirit of God again
spoke to my heart and said, “It’s true, but Jesus Christ of Nazareth went to
the cross two thousand years ago and paid the debt for you.
God has said, “The wages of sin is death; but the gift of God is
eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord’ {Rom. 6:23].
God cannot forgive your sins just because you are a sinner. He knew your lost condition and because He requires a
sacrifice He sent His only begotten Son to die the death on the cross for you.
And if you will accept God’s plan for your salvation, His life for your
life, you shall be saved.”
I
cried out. “I accept Jesus and
Him crucified as the payment for my sins. I
don’t understand it, but I accept this if it’s true.”
On, the joy that overflowed me as I met Jesus as my personal Savior!
Like Thomas, I bowed my knee and cried out of Jesus, “My Lord and my
God” (John 20:28).
When
I opened up my heart to Christ and said, “Jesus, I accept You for all the
Bible declares You to be.” He
introduced me to the Father and my joy became complete.
For Jesus declared, “I am the way, the truth, and the life:
no man cometh unto the Father, but by me” (John 14:6). How I had struggled in earlier days with the Trinity, but in
a moment of time I met the Holy Spirit, the Son and the Father, and in just that
order. I felt as though I had been
an orphan and rejected all my life (I had a wonderful home - I am not referring
to that). Suddenly I was adopted
into a royal family and had all the rights and privileges of the most exalted
one in the house. Praise God!
There was rejoicing in heaven that very hour for one sinner saved by the
grace of God through the shed blood of His Son, Jesus Christ.
A
few months later some of the brethren questioned me on the doctrine of Christian
Science, and I found I was unable to answer their questions.
At one time I could have finished any statement of Mary Baker Eddy’s
that someone could begin, tell where it was found and the context in which it
was written. But in an instant of
time God completely removed this false doctrine from my mind.
God’s
promise is true - I am not a reformed Christian Scientist, nor one who has seen
the light. God’s Word says, “If
any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold,
all things are become new” (2 Cor. 5:27).
I am a new creation.
In
resigning from the local church and the Mother Church in Boston I wrote:
“I have come to the absolute conviction that Jesus Christ is more than
Mary Baker Eddy declares Him to be, and that He cannot be anything less than the
Bible declares Him to be.”
I
trust you can see by this testimony that man’s acceptance before the Father is
based on what we as individuals do with His Son Jesus Christ.
If I accept Him for what God declares Him to be, I let God be true.
If I reject Jesus Christ, then I have His blood on my hands.
Jesus plainly states,
“Whosoever
therefore shall confess me before men, him will I confess also before my Father
which is in heaven. But whosoever
shall deny me before men, him will I also deny before my Father which is in
heaven” (Matt. 10:32,33).
Eternity
in either heaven or hell depends on what we do about Jesus Christ and the blood
He shed at Calvary to pay the awful price required by the Father.