DOCTRINES
DEMONS
28
OF
Christian Science is one of the cults that deal in healing. Its aim and method is to persuade the patient that he is
not ill, but that he only thinks that he is. Cures are effected, but they are of the same nature as those wrought at
Lourdes, or at Pentecostal healing campaigns. Mrs. Eddy herself went to the dentist to have a tooth extracted, and
even had local anaesthesia. A beloved fellow-worker in Christ, who is also a medical practitioner, said, `Christian
Science heals all the diseases which do not exist', and one has only to become acquainted with folk to know how
many ailments are imaginary or mental. Christian Science has not succeeded in raising the dead. It did not prevent
its founder from bowing to the death which comes upon all men, `for that all have sinned'. These are limitations
which cannot be surmounted.
` ... they shall proceed no further: for their folly shall be manifest unto all men' (2 Tim. 3:9).
Pentecostalism and the Four Square Gospel
Pentecostalism differs from Christian Science, for it accepts the Word of God and believes the Scriptural
testimony concerning the Person and work of Christ. Its danger lies rather in the fact that it is undispensational.
Christians who would repudiate Christian Science in all its forms are not necessarily proof against Pentecostalism,
for the majority have been brought up in the tradition that `the church' began at Pentecost. This we have touched
upon on page 31.
The leader of one very great Pentecostal organization is Mrs. McPherson. Like many other leaders of
unscriptural cults Mrs. McPherson holds a high opinion of herself. In the early editions of the book, `This is that',
she speaks of herself as follows:
`Then I looked and, behold, a new creation, as of a beautiful woman ... Her lips were pure and dropped as the
honeycomb ... Her ears were kept for His alone, her lover, her bridegroom, her king. As she drew nigh I gazed
with amazement into her face and saw that it was MYSELF. I heard the voice of the Master speaking unto me,
saying, `This is my beloved'.
Scripture is definite and clear with regard to the headship of woman in spiritual things (1 Cor. chapters 11 and
14; 1 Tim. 2:12-14).
Mrs. McPherson claims that her movement is the fulfilment of Joel's prophecy of the latter rain. Divine healing
is to the fore in these meetings, and also the baptism of the Spirit, accompanied by speaking with tongues and other
manifestations. Here is an extract which deals with the question from the writings of Dean Clifton L. Fowler of
Denver, Colorado:
`I sent to Los Angeles and got all her printed material - books, pamphlets and tracts. I also subscribed to her
magazine, ordering back numbers for a year ... Mrs. Fowler, or my secretary, attended nearly every meeting
(held in Denver). We also attended the "tarrying meetings" for the baptism of the Holy Spirit. We were present
at a thousand or more of her "healings"; we investigated a large number of them; we heard her preach over and
over again. I am compelled to give it as my calm, unbiassed judgment that outside of perhaps Mrs. Eddy, there
has not been so dangerous a religious teacher in the United States in the past three hundred years. She talks
about the blood very much, but when you hear her say, "SALVATION AND HEALING ARE BOTH BY WORKS", then
you realise that "the blood" has very little power in her message. Her constant use of "the blood" is but a parrot-
like repetition of a familiar religious phrase. It has neither significance nor weight in her plan of salvation. She
talks very much about the "Holy Spirit" and about being "born again", but when she boldly declares before
14,000 people in the City Auditorium that "THE HOLY SPIRIT HAS NOTHING TO DO WITH THE NEW BIRTH OR BEING
BORN AGAIN" then the time has come for the child of God who knows his Bible to refuse to be identified with so
wicked and unscriptural a movement ... She said she believed in the inspiration of the Bible from cover to cover,
but she plainly showed that she did not believe the Bible in THREE different ways :
First. She said, "Paul is the only writer of the Bible with whom I disagree".
Secondly. In her printed writings which are at my office, she claims to put forth writings of which she is NOT
THE AUTHOR, but which were given to her when she was "entirely under the power of the spirit". This is most